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A Re(sponse)-Re-Re-Review, Re: The Terror (2018)

I’ve recently read through all of the gorgeous review posts of The Terror (2018) from @rhavewellyarnbag​ and I just want to say that I think they’re incredibly beautiful and thoughtful responses to this show – all three amazing rounds of them.

I started out simply collecting quotes that were amusing to me, but my notes document very quickly became full of my own responses and confessions. Basically, I ended up making my own response/review of the whole thing, which is what you’ll find in this post.

So, thank you @rhavewellyarnbag​ for your many insightful thoughts about this show and my responses are below the cut! (Also, your repeated efforts to drive Goodsir to the hospital are a truly noble service, and bring me comfort in these dark times.)

01x01 – “Go For Broke” (One, Two, and Three) 

“Ciaran Hinds looks like a grand old walrus.”

This was the line that made me realize I needed to start keeping track of quotes that made me laugh like a seal barking.

“‘You should cherish that man.’ I cherish that fucking line of dialog. I don’t even mean it in a filthy way. That line is so goddamn sweet, I could punch myself in the face.”

Amongst all the beautiful content produced about this show, almost nothing will ever surpass, for me, this description of this line of dialogue paired with that post about “Idiot Boat Caesar, who knows a slow-burn when he sees one.” Sir John has an astonishing capacity to be truly warm on rare occasions, and this is one of the few scenes in which we really get to see James experience that warmth, both genuinely and, here, in the form of a truly gentle, well-meant rebuke that probably cuts James far more than we see.

“This is an interesting scene with the diving suit. This could potentially go very badly. The man in the suit may be dispatched by the mysterious horror following them, or, in order not to give it away, and to show a scientific curiosity, he may die of decompression of the suit.”

Fun fact: one of my great-grandfathers apparently died of decompression from using an early-model diving suit. I learned this when I was word-vomiting to my mother about The Terror. I am now even more terrified of historical diving suits. All diving suits, really.

“If James’ characterization plays around with gender, it does so in this sense: James is constantly acted upon, by the bullet that wounded him, by the disease that fells him, by others’ opinions of him.”

Watch me attempt to cite your reviews of the The Terror in a dissertation, because everything about this description is exactly the gender framework around which I’ve draped the two historical men with whom I’ve fallen in love, one being my actual subject of research, the other being James Fitzjames.

“I’ve previously compared James’ bravery, his very person, to a woman’s beauty: bestowed upon her, not earned; understood to be temporary; dependent upon others’ admiring, desiring of it. Does James exist when no one is around to observe him?”

I adore everything about this description and also it makes me cry.

“There are a great deal of unfortunate classical references in this episode.”

This is my entire mood about The Terror, always. The nods to Philoctetes and Medea as components of the Argonaut myth that Sir John invokes are also distinctly worth exploring in this context, though I’m not going to do so here because the Argonautica (broadly speaking) is not my speciality.

01x02 – “Gore” (One, Two, and Three)

“James and Sir John are about the same height. They look not dissimilar, which James probably liked.”

Oh James.

“Strangely, [Sir John] doesn’t seem particularly pleased with James, who adores him.”

It’s true, and it’s quite painful. I don’t think Sir John is a good role model for James, but it doesn’t lessen the fact that I know James is perceptive enough to know that he’s not being adored in return, and that’s a brutal thing to know.

“You don’t have to be a drunk redheaded sea captain to see that James is empty, hollow, aching, desperate to be the things he tells you he is, desperate to see himself reflected back at himself. Desperate to be loved.”

I have a type, and this is it, apparently.

“Goodsir is a character from another sort of work, entirely. That’s its own kind of tragedy, the tragic juxtaposition. Goodsir is a sweet, gentle, utterly ordinary little pudding, an incidental character plucked from a more innocent narrative, and he’s no-doubt going to die horribly.”

This is the early impression of Goodsir, before any of us see what’s beneath Goodsir’s surface, but it’s also not wrong at all. In another sort of work (perhaps, as noted, a work by Jane Austen), Goodsir is (uniquely, among these men, perhaps) capable of living a sweet, gentle, utterly ordinary little life, with a more innocent narrative.

“It’s strongly implied that Irving’s imagination is so open that he has to work to close it.”

That’s certainly true of the historical Irving, as I read it. I have many more complex thoughts and feelings about Irving now than I did after just watching the series through the first time, but I’m not sure whether that’s because his story-line is actually rich, or because I’ve come to like him separately. (Unlike, for instance, Fitzjames, whom I have come to adore separately, but I can safely say does also have a rich story-line in these ten episodes.) The real Irving is more elusive than I think I at least gave him credit for originally.

“Oh, James Fitzjames, you overly-familiar little strumpet, you.”

I’m sobbing.

“Scurvy doesn’t care what kind of person you are.”

In many ways this is true, because we do see scurvy acting indiscriminately on different men, here, without a care for age or station or morality. But also scurvy, in this narrative, attacks most vividly those with some sort of previous wound that the scurvy can reopen. Notably James, but also Morfin, whose flogging-scars we never see but can assume from his conversation (also, for that matter, Jopson, who, historically, had a major scar on his leg, of unknown origin). Scurvy may not truly care what kind of person you are, but if you’ve led a dangerous life, scurvy has one more way to hurt you.

“Who among us has not been desperate to discuss our interests, to the point where there is almost a flirtatious edge to the broaching of the topic?  One must be careful, so as not to give away too much, both for the gentle handling that one’s interests require, and for the sake of not alienating some poor rando who made the mistake of asking a bland, vague question simply to be polite.”

Ah, so I see you understand, then. I’ve taken to apologizing in advance of discussing the gorier elements of the Franklin expedition, as though I’ve exposed myself in public. (But seriously, this is the most excellent description of the discomforting feeling of very more obsessed with something than is socially acceptable.)

01x03 – “The Ladder” (One, Two, and Three) 

“John Ross is the Jacob Marley figure, I take it.”

The beginning of many intriguing resonances between this show and Dickens’s Christmas Carol, and I think, one of the most elegant. The actor who plays John Ross would be an excellent Jacob Marley.  

“Jopson would not talk about Francis’ drinking! You take that back, Gibson.”

This is what I adore about Thomas “Mr. Hears Everything” Jopson – he’ll only ever tell things about others to Francis; he’d never tell things about Francis to others. That’s a moral compass upon which we can unerringly rely, and one that is in no way affected by the magnetic changes at either pole.

“The spyglass sticks to the skin above Francis’ eye, as though it wished to force him not to look away.”

This is an amazing take, especially re: the way spyglasses are used to show foresight and the future in this show. Francis is forced to know look at what is coming for them, the future that waits ahead, hungrily salivating for his men.

“James is completely shattered, but he looks luminously beautiful.”

He does, doesn’t he?

01x04 – “Punished As A Boy” (One, Two, and Three)

“Lady Jane’s response is: ‘Fuck you. I know Charles Dickens.’”

Much as I detest Dickens, and much as I have my own problems with Lady Jane, she is never anything less than badass, particularly here.

“Lady Jane, clad in burgundy, ‘the wine-dark sea,’ stands between Francis and Sophia.”

Oh good god that’s it, though? It was through Lady Jane that I first found the Franklin Expedition, oh, four years ago (it feels like four hundred), and the first thing I ever said about the matter was “I’m confident that she knew Greek.” I’ve never been able to prove it, but she writes, in her letters, like someone who reads Greek. Lady Jane is well and truly our Homeric Hera. Brilliant and vengeful and matronly and brutal. I do adore her.

“Of course Goodsir’s never been lashed.  He’s a nice man.  He’s probably had the opposite of a flogging.  People probably throw roses at him when he walks down the street. I know I would.”

I’d be happy to attend this rose-throwing Goodsir-parade. I already have a bad habit of bringing roses to the pseudo-graves of historical men whom I love; we can add Goodsir to the list without too much hassle.

01x05 –  “First Shot’s A Winner, Lads” (One, Two, and Three) 

“[Re: James and “Your nails are a terror, Mr. Wentzall]…the checking of collars and fingernails is a very maternal duty.”

I love spotting feminine traits in James, but what I’m getting out of this is actually imagining James’s adoptive mother Louisa Coningham examining the fingernails of a very young James. It’s an adorable, if slightly tragic, image.

“Irving doesn’t seem like a hard man, but like a man trying desperately to be hard, and often failing. He should have forgotten about the navy, stayed on land, gone to France and become an early Impressionist painter.”

This fantastic description of Irving makes it even more tragic that he DID try to forget about the navy and stay on land, and it didn’t work. Canon divergence AU where Irving moved to France instead of Australia?

“We’re told, repeatedly, including by Goodsir, himself, that Goodsir isn’t a doctor.  It’s a fundamental misunderstanding: people think they know who Goodsir is, or who he wishes to be, but Goodsir has no desire to be anything but what he is. Perhaps appropriately, it’s Hickey who recognizes and names Goodsir (“You’re an anatomist.”) One may say that Hickey ‘reads’ Goodsir. Though, Hickey’s understanding is, as it often is, flawed.  He may know what Goodsir is, but he doesn’t know who Goodsir is.”

I very genuinely wonder – did Goodsir want to be thought of as a doctor, by any of them? What were Goodsir’s thoughts and preferences on the matter?

01x06 – “A Mercy” (One, Two, and Three)  

“What Sir John left them was a means of dissembling, a facade. Cheer in a cheerless time, which holds the dangerous allure of forgetting.”

This is perfect, because Carnevale, at its center, is “the dangerous allure of forgetting,” in no small part because, structurally, Carnevale fills the role of the Homeric island of the lotus-eaters. (It is also a labyrinth, though, and that’s an interesting doubling.)

“The half masks in the trunk have the semblance of the faces of dead men we’ve seen. The creature has the habit or practice of biting a man’s head in two, or biting off part of the cranium.”

I had never noticed this but it’s entirely true.

“Francis is bracketed by Thomas’, neither one of them a doubter.”

I will SCREAM

“‘I don’t like to hear a woman laughing now.’  I suppose it’s fortunate that Jopson’s professional life allows him to be around men, exclusively.  What would Jopson have done later in life?  Marriage is obviously out of the question if women’s mirth causes him such distress.  Would he have stayed on boats?  Francis promotes him to lieutenant, but would that have made him happy?  He has a love of, an instinct for caring for others that obviously can’t be transposed onto a marriage, both because of Jopson’s limits and because of Victorian gender roles.  The best possible course for Jopson would have been valet, a gentleman’s gentleman.  His rank and background would have made him an asset, and no more devoted valet would there have been.”

The fanfic writes itself. (I have nothing to say yet, I just adore this speculation; more below, though.)

“The drop of blood falling from James’ hairline onto the mask’s cheek to make a kind of morbid beauty spot is a gorgeous image, like a piece of decadent poetry.”

I personally find James unbearably beautiful, and the whole extended sequence with the dress and the drinking and the blood dripping is so subtle and lovely and I think, like with poetry, what we get out of it is never simple.

“James is dressed as Britannia. Which makes James mother to them all.”

Though I, selfishly, would have loved to see James in something more scandalous than his Britannia costume, I think it’s symbolically the best possible choice for him. This is an outfit that is technically crossdressing, but it’s very subtle thanks to the choices James makes – we don’t see any dramatic woman’s wig or other feminine elements. This is an outfit that reminds the men of home; reminds James of home, and of his adoptive mother, whose poetry was full to the brim and spilling with Britannia.

“Blanky looks great. I wonder if the visual reference to the Ghost of Christmas Present is intentional.”

I’ve always assumed he was meant to be Bacchus, but of course the Ghost of Christmas Present has more than a little Bacchus in him also. All of these Christmas Carol overlaps are exceedingly interesting – John Ross’s Marley warning Franklin’s Scrooge, and now the Ghost of Blanky Present reminding Crozier that others are – for good or ill – having fun without him.

“One may imagine that Edward has disguised himself as someone who enjoys parties.”

OH GOD.

01x07 – “Horrible From Supper” (One, Two, and Three)  

“Hickey can’t move on from humiliation, because he would see that as more humiliation. Keeping the humiliation alive in his mind is the only way to gain some mastery over it. He holds the wound open, so that no one can deny that it’s a wound, that it happened, that it mattered, that he matters, but it means that he can never heal, never be whole. Scurvy.”

The Hickey/Fitzjames parallels are STRONG here. Also, this resonates really well with a conversation I had with a friend about Eleanor Guthrie from Black Sails – she’s unable to move past being hurt and I just can’t fault her for it, even as her stubbornness just hurts her more. And I feel that sympathy for James, too – he’s bottled up so much hurt inside, and it has kept hurting him his entire life. If Hickey didn’t “hold the would open” by, you know, making wounds in other people, literally, I’d probably even feel bad for him.

“There is an emotional and psychological toll, which Francis tries desperately to reduce by keeping the men together, reinforcing the bonds between them, persistently humanizing them.”

The Jopson’s promotion scene warms me on cold nights. That’s all.

“Jopson’s role is the opposite of Lady Silence’s: the fact of her gender alters nothing about it; Jopson’s informs it.  Make Jopson female, and he clearly functions as Francis’ wife.  If Jopson is male, though, what is he?  A paid servant, in the literal sense, but his obvious pleasure at caring for Francis long ago eroded the patina of duty.  I think we can safely say that Jopson loves Francis, loves and cares deeply for him.  Is invested in Francis’ safety, well-being, happiness.  Enjoys the details of his service to Francis, beyond the enjoyment of a job well-done.  Add a sexual component, and it becomes a marriage.  Leave it out, and the relationship is something else.  Drop Jopson into a marriage with a woman, and he becomes a husband.  Leave him with Francis, and he remains Francis’ wife.”

This is what I find so fascinating about Jopson – everything about his identity has the potential to be contingent, to change, but as the expedition’s tragedy unfolds, we see all of the possible threads of Jopson’s future cut off, one by one. From the beginning, Jopson can’t be female, and thus can’t serve a wifely role in British society, even though he’s clearly fit for it. We learn that Jopson has some very specific PTSD triggers related to women that might prevent him from ever being married to one, even if he wanted to be. Jopson seems to wish to continue serving Francis in perpetuity, to continue being as close to a wife as Francis will ever have, but Francis, sober, no longer needs the same kind of care that Jopson used to provide, and, eventually, Jopson becomes unable to care for Francis at all, so that Francis has to care for him. Jopson is all change, all tragedy.

“I would like to thank the director, cinematographer, anybody else who may be responsible for that stunning shot of James in profile. James really is beautiful, even, maybe particularly, at this stage of his infirmity. I’ve said it at other times, but there’s something, well, I suppose, romantic about his illness, because he is young, and beautiful, and heroic, so desperate to be loved, and so loved, in the end.”

*sighs* I’m not okay about James.

01x08 – “Terror Camp Clear” (One, Two, and Three) 

“I don’t know how I didn’t notice before, but James is a leggy creature.”

I will still treasure the term “a leggy creature” when I am in my grave.

“Sir John was not a top, and I know that for a fact, because I just got Lady Jane on the Ouija board, and she told me.”

I WILL SCREAM.

“[Francis] doesn’t look on James as a sick person in need of careful handling. There’s no sense of the separation necessary for pity between Francis and James. He is this way toward James because he cares about James.”

I know we all joke about the quote “it’s rotten work” / “not to me, not if it’s you,” but this is what that quote has always meant to me (the Anne Carson of it, that is, not the original Greek). Caring for someone via pity, via distance, takes effort, is painful, is rotten, even though it is sometimes worth it. Caring for someone via care, via love may still take effort, and may still even be painful, but there is no separation, no alienation, from the service of providing care. That’s where Francis’s tenderness comes from, I think. That closeness.

“James, you big, beautiful racehorse.  Even chapped and cracked, he’s radiantly beautiful.  He has such a warm quality.”

In the confessional spirit of this review, I will admit: I find James more attractive than I am capable of expressing. The interesting thing, to me, is that I don’t have the same response at all to Tobias Menzies or to any other character I’ve seen him play. He’s a great actor, certainly, but he doesn’t do it for me. But James does. I’m still puzzling this out.

“James’ bravery is treated somewhat like a woman’s beauty, in that he believes it to be conditional, temporary. It’s dependent on others’ appreciation of it; when he’s alone, James doesn’t feel brave.”

I will say, admitting that it’s probably James’ femininity that is attractive to me gets you a long way toward understanding why I do find him so terribly appealing.

“Oh, please, baby Jesus, don’t let Jopson flip. Jopson’s one of the few things I have left to hang onto, here.”

Jopson will never flip, such that Jopson’s death really is the point of no return, here. He’ll die before he flips. (Notably, it’s important to be clear that by “flip,” I mean turn his loyalties away from Crozier. I have reconciled myself to the idea that, though Jopson is upright and innocent in a way even my James isn’t, he is capable of violence and even unjustified, offensive violence. But only ever in the service of his captain.) And again here, Jopson very well might not be immune to the seduction Hickey’s definitely attempting, but bending to Hickey’s wiles means betraying Crozier, and that’s an impossibility for Jopson.

“Bridgens, who’s a cozy old piece of furniture…”

….and Henry Peglar would like to sit on him. (I get it Henry, I do.)  

01x09 – “The C, the C, the Open C” (One, Two, and Three) 

“Oh, Bridgens. Where’s Henry? Where did Henry go?”

I think a real triumph of this show is getting you to know, by this point, that when you see Bridgens, you should ALWAYS ask yourself, “Where’s Henry?” Because yeah, “They are each other’s loved one,” and there can’t be either one of them without the other. Bridgens knows this, and makes himself into a memorial for Henry. The only kind of monument Henry Peglar can ever have: Bridgens, with his own body, preserves Peglar’s words for the future, for us. I’m just going to cry for Bridgens and for Peglar for a minute, that’s all. Please excuse me.

“Hartnell watches Bridgens pick up Peglar, Peglar’s arm around Bridgens like, ‘… Wait a minute…’ Hartnell also misses Hickey’s innuendo about Armitage.  Tom Hartnell tragically has no gay-dar.”

Oh precious Hartnell. This lack of gay-dar is part of why Hartnell had to get written out of what I’m currently writing (I’m sorry Hartnell! It’s not you it’s me.)

“There’s something of a horrible wooing about it: Goodsir, like an unwilling bride, forcibly taken from his own people by unscrupulous men, installed in as luxurious surroundings as can be had, with his trousseau, for the purpose of catering to an unspeakable hunger.  His innocence is taken from him, and he’s turned against himself. His body is stripped naked and consumed.”

(a) What a horrible and horribly accurate description. (b) This is another one of those places where this show is unafraid to place male characters into narrative metaphors of womanhood. For me, the most vivid is always Jopson, but Goodsir is also often made to face this sort of feminine role, and for Goodsir it’s so much more often about violence and shame.

“James says “I’m not Christ,” before he tells Francis to feed the men his body.  It seems like something of a non sequitur, until one imagines James’ train of thought.  As the impulse to give his body to the men occurred to him, so may have also come a last flicker of self-mockery: “What, James, do you think you’re Christ, now?”  So that his announcement that he’s not Christ comes in response to this: he knows who he is, and who he isn’t.  Finally, he knows this.”

I think that’s exactly what went through James’s head. And more than that, I think back on that beautiful gif-set that placed James’s “I’m not Christ” beside Francis’s “Like Christ, but with more nails.” Francis, whose self-hatred is clear and undisguised, begins to heal by recognizing what is Christ-like in himself: his suffering, and the compassion that is borne from the suffering. James, whose self-hatred is buried under masks and lies and stories and gilded dresses, begins to heal by admitting what is not Christ-like about him: his mortality, his humanity; and that doesn’t make James any lesser, and James finally, finally begins to see so.  

“Can’t Jopson’s story end differently, this time?”

That’s what hurts. In no version of this story that happens with Hickey AND the Tuunbaq AND the inevitable deaths of 129 men, should James die any different, or Goodsir, or Bridgens. If they were going to die, they should do so showing bravery and brotherhood; agency and defiance; commitment and love. There are other men who deserved so much better than the ignoble deaths they got (Irving comes to mind) but Jopson is the warmest light and receives the coldest death. There’s no reason for his story NOT to end differently, except for the sheer narrative cruelty of it all. The Terror is brilliant because it knows to reserve this sort of agony for the worst possible gut-punch. Any more than one, or maybe two, utterly, pointlessly cruel deaths, and we would be immunized. But we have no immunity to prepare us for the dizzying nausea of Jopson’s death.

“The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death.  Death, ultimately, isn’t mysterious. Whatever might happen to one afterwards is immaterial to the living, still bound to this plane of existence.  One may fear it, but once it happens, it’s over.  Love is a way of life, though.  It changes over time.  It changes the person who feels it, and the person they feel it for.  Both Francis and Jopson were changed by their love for each other.  Jopson goes to one mystery still in the grip of the other: it’s Francis he sees, reaches for, cannot touch.”

Jopson’s death is still haunting me. It’s like Tantalus, all that food that would save Jopson’s life, if only he could eat it, and yet he crawls right past, toward Crozier. What does that say about Jopson? The way the world tortures him is to hold Crozier just outside of his reach – what on earth is Jopson being punished for? (These aren’t intelligible thoughts anymore; I’m just broken-hearted for my boy.)

“In a narrative that encourages empathy for everyone and everything from a colonial expedition to a monkey to an eldritch monstrosity that rips men’s heads off, why should Hickey be exempt?”

A beautiful way of putting it. I’m still working through my initial disgust at Hickey, but intellectually, I can’t help but agree.

01x10 – “We Are Gone” (One, Two, and Three)

“…the experience of being through so much with these characters that I care about so much has been like living several lifetimes.”

My mother, who has not yet watched this show, told me recently that she thinks these characters have become my family. In part, this is due to the historical research I’ve been doing on the real men of the Franklin expedition, but the show played its own large role in making me fall in love with these men, making me desperate to live as many lifetimes with them as possible.

“Why does Goodsir do it, though?  He seems to have made up his mind before Francis appears, and with Francis comes the hope that Edward will rescue them.  If anything, Francis’ presence makes Goodsir more resolute.”

As another dear friend said, Goodsir definitely had the plan in mind before Francis showed up, but the plan needed a trigger: it needed Francis, a good man worth dying for. Someone for Goodsir to look at and say, “Maybe my actions will help this man.”

“I think I just confessed to being in love with a man who doesn’t exist.”

Ahh, this lovely club. Even the men I’m in love with who actually lived two thousand years ago don’t really exist, at least not in the way I love them.  

“The Terror is like a play put on by a theater company that has no female actors, so all of the men must play female roles…without any women to place in certain contexts – caretaker; lover; victim; object of desire – those dramas necessarily play out on the bodies of the men.”

Watch this space. The Terror is a classical Greek tragedy, and I can prove it.

The description of Goodsir’s preparation for death is richer and more complete than anything I will ever write. GO READ IT.

I also think it’s fascinating to see this scene through the eyes of a reviewer who readily admits “This is an unusual case. I like Goodsir. I don’t usually like the men I’m looking at. I care for Goodsir.” I confess that, though I also like and care for Goodsir, when I am looking at “eroticized male bodies” in media, I only really “feel at home in a text” when I also like and care for those men. If a male character is too morally objectionable to me, I find no erotic appeal to viewing him, because I am so distracted by my own sense of his evils. I simply cannot find anything to pull me, aesthetically or sexually, to someone like Hickey. (I can never find anything sensually appealing about Hickey/Tozer, for instance.) I am pulled to James, in contrast, because he is beautiful to me visually, and because his life (as far as I can see) shows me a person who cared, who tried, who loved. Who is worthy of my care and trust.  And though I don’t think I’m in love with Goodsir in the same way than I am with James, I care deeply for Goodsir and thus can find the appeal in watching him, visually.

“‘There is wonder here.’/ ‘Then, there will be the angels.’ The first thing angels ever tell any human being who beholds them is not to be afraid.  Wonder isn’t always delightful, isn’t always something that humans can understand, or possibly, even, survive.”

Fear is something I don’t often enough examine closely with this show, though it is so terribly central. “Be not afraid” and “We have too much fear.” How can one dispel fear? Wonder obviously isn’t enough; wonder might even make it worse. Being told not to fear rarely works out so well for those visited by angels. I think, sometimes, that all we can do is – as Peglar does – admit to those we love that we have too much fear, and hope that they can help us carry it.

I can’t NOT give you the end of the first round of these reviews, because, like the description of Goodsir’s preparations, it’s literature: 

“The Terror, a show taking place one hundred, sixty years ago, manages to be timely without even trying.  Lead poisoning.  Environmental catastrophe.  The baggage of colonialism.  The treatment of indigenous people by white people. Information and misinformation.  What it means to be a leader.  What it means to be in a marriage.  The role of women in society.  Gay marriage.  Income inequality.  Ethical consumption.  Consumerism. Members of the armed forces working far from home.  Mental health. Addiction.  All of these fit neatly into what can also be taken at face value, a well-constructed and -acted tale of adventure and loss set in a faraway place and time.  The Terror never tries to force meaning on the viewer, never struggles under the weight of its lofty aspirations- because it has no aspirations.  It’s an utterly guileless production, seeking nothing but to present its characters and situations honestly.  In doing such a simple thing, it has created the world.”

And, finally, I leave you with: “I’m not looking for a way out.  I just want more time with the characters. I don’t want to leave them.” To me, this gives an answer to David Solway’s question “Do you have a tolerance for ongoing narratives which generally turn out to be the same narrative?” And that answer is “yes.” I think there’s a tolerance – or, even, a hunger – for ongoing narratives that turn out to be the same narrative, in this fandom, because why would anyone want a way out anymore, if it means the end of our time with these characters?

I know I don’t.

“The end of The Terror isn’t a sad end, nor is it a hopeful one.  It’s not even properly an end, because we know what comes next. What comes next? Well, we do.”

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Includes both the Degree 2 Gym as well as Level 3 Personal training course. Just tell us your recommended course and area as well as we can bring the training to you. All these following salaries are relying on place, experience as well as sessions each week. We utilize cookies to make sure that we give you the best experience on our internet site. If you remain to utilize this site we will certainly assume that you more than happy with it.

What skills do you need to be a gym instructor?

Five Key Skills for Becoming a Standout Personal TrainerEmotional Intelligence and Empathy. First, we start with the big one Communication Skills. Linked closely with EI, communication is one of the most important skills a personal trainer can possess. Motivation. Patience. Technical Knowledge.

Start a workout with the incorrect songs as well as all hell can break loose. Healthy body, healthy mind ... but we're sure none of us can develop the theory of relativity if we wanted to. At the end of the day, enjoying other individuals making the blunders that you would certainly never desire for making has you seeming like some sort of pro (even if you're not). In raw comparison to cooling in the house, you might also require the motivation to stop considering the fitness center way too much. If they're mosting likely to be that discourteous then they're essentially asking to be made right into one of the very best health club memes.

Level 3 Certificate In Personal Training.

Ahh, texting in the gym when there's a line for the squat rack ... if that's out your pet peeve checklist then we don't understand what is. This internet site utilizes cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are classified as required are stored on your web browser as they are essential for the working of standard performances of the site. We additionally use third-party cookies that assist us examine and also recognize exactly how you use this website. These cookies will certainly be stored in your browser only with your approval. But opting out of some of these cookies may impact your browsing experience.

Now healthy, Habib steps into new role for North Allegheny Trib HSSN - TribLIVE

Now healthy, Habib steps into new role for North Allegheny Trib HSSN.

Posted: Sat, 16 Jan 2021 14:13:37 GMT [source]

Have a look at connerbrandPT for Instagram and Conner Brand on Facebook to see all of my clients results from collaborating with me. I aim to aid lead you with routines, shows and also applying a selection of training methods in order to meet your objectives. Complying with excellent structure as well as consistency is crucial when it pertains to outcomes.

Take A Tour Around Our Personal Training Health Club In London.

The CMS puts together log file info from all our visitors, which we utilize to make renovations to the layout of the site and to the information in it, based upon the way that visitors move around it. If you get the HTML-formatted variation of an e-newsletter, your opening of the e-newsletter email is alerted to us and also conserved. These and also the open statistics are utilized in aggregate form to give us an indicator of the popularity of the material and also to aid us make decisions concerning future content as well as format. When we offer solutions, we want to make them very easy, useful and dependable. Where services are provided on the web, this in some cases includes putting small amounts of details on your device, for instance, your computer or mobile phone. Aide Swimming Teacher V1.0 The Aide Swimming Teacher will certainly support the swimming instructor in the delivery of swimming lesson activities to individuals of any ages and also capabilities. This website utilizes cookies to supply you the very best experience online.

I consider myself well equipped to offer an effective service to a broad variety of people wanting to get in form. To tip on as many phases as a swimsuit rival expressing my feelings and sass with a much better physique each time towards a professional card and afterwards Olympia stage. Having actually functioned as an Individual Trainer for over a decade as well as have actually been educating myself for over 20 years ... Along with your Personal Instructor, you can then utilize those outcomes and the targets you desire to set some brand-new fitness goals and track your advancement. He has actually assisted me be the fittest and also the toughest I have actually ever been.

Find A Personal Trainer Near Me, Select Your Excellent Stamina Or Physical Fitness Trainer As Well As Hit Your Personal Training Objective!

By tailoring your specific needs, we can get over any type of barriers that might have stopped you from reaching your full possibility in the past. gym coach wendover for me is more than just the hrs you spend gym based. I leave the health club trying to find means to enhance sessions, recoup much better and difficulty myself better. This is what I define as a passion as it is a natural though process and is what you take pleasure in day after day. I love what I do as well as I am enthusiastic about every aspect of being a Personal Trainer.

Do personal trainers sleep with clients?

There is a lot to unpack and that's going unsaid with this question but the definitive answer is YES, personal fitness trainers do sleep with their clients more often than is being mentioned. Because it's easy to see that contact proximity makes personal training an easy target for intimate interactions to occur.

By continuing to utilize our web site, you agree to using cookies. If you wish to know more about cookies please watch our Privacy & Cookie Plan. by visiting this website you will discover how knowing choice that we provide at Diverse Trainers has taken our consumers by storm for a selection of various factors.

Property Deed Transfer Solihull Birmingham

If you desire to see a checked copy of the actions that HM Land Registry have on documents, start by looking their property info data source and finding your property's title number. The Land Register is the clear-cut document of land as well as property ownership in England and also Wales. If there is a mortgage on the property, this too will require to be transferred right into the remaining proprietor's name.

If the property was collectively had as joint renters and also there is a making it through joint owner, he/she will end up being the single legal proprietor of the property. If a Recipient is qualified to acquire the property, they can have it moved right into his or her name.

HM Land Registry is really very positive and is utilizing electronic modern technology to change exactly how land enrollment works. Many people are commonly let down to find out that HM Land Registry do not have their initial title deeds, saved in a collection of dusty ledgers!

What are title deeds, where are they maintained, and do you need them? What are title deeds?

Title deeds are paper documents showing the chain of ownership for land and also property. 

They can include: - wills. - conveyances. - contracts for sale. - home mortgages. - leases.

Where are my title deeds?

HM Land Registry documents are electronic, so they don't save paper title deeds.

Normally, they only have the original title deeds when land or property is registered for the first time, as they require them to prepare the register. The registry develop scanned duplicates of some deeds and after that return all the initial title deeds to whoever lodged them. This is typically the solicitor or conveyancer acting on part of the buyer.

So, if you're trying to track down your original actions, they could be with the solicitor who represented you when you acquired the property, or perhaps with your mortgage business if you have a mortgage.

If the property was already registered when you bought it, the seller may not have actually turned over the initial deeds. There's no need for them to do so. Tracing the original deeds for a property that has been bought and sold sometimes is likely to be a difficult task.

If you wish to see a scanned duplicate of the actions that HM Land Registry carry data, begin by looking their property information data source and locating your property's title number. If the register refers to actions being filed, the HM Land Registry ought to have copies. You can after that obtain a duplicate of your actions.

Do I require my title deeds?

The Land Register is the definitive record of land and also property ownership in England as well as Wales. If your property is signed up with the registry, you don't need the acts to verify your ownership. It's an excellent idea to keep the original actions though, as they can hold additional information, concerning legal limits or that the previous proprietor was.

You'll require to submit the original actions if your property isn't on the register and also you choose to use for initial enrollment.

As this is the lay of the land as for property ownership is concerned the process of property deed transfer is a crucial one that must not be ignored or dealt with inefficiently.

Transfer ownership of your property.

You have to inform HM Land Registry when you alter the registered proprietor of your property, for instance if you're moving it right into another individual's name, or if you want to add your companion as a joint owner.

How do you transfer a property deed?

There are a number of reasons why you might wish to transfer the possession of a property right into another person's name. It could be as a result of a property sale or acquisition, or maybe due to a divorce or a death.

In this post we explore a few of the most usual reasons you could want to transfer possession of a property, and just how to go about doing it.

Moving a Property that has actually been Acquired or Marketed.

You will require go via the Conveyancing procedure when you market a property or get.

Conveyancing is the legal term used to describe the buying and selling of property, and also this work is accomplished by a Conveyancer or a Conveyancing Solicitor.

In the lasts of the conveyancing procedure, the customer's Conveyancer will sign up the property for the buyer with HM Land Registry. When this is done, possession of the property will have been legitimately transferred from the seller to the customer.

Moving a Property right into Someone's Name.

If a property is possessed collectively by two or more individuals, yet several names need to be eliminated from the title there is a set treatment for this. This usually takes place following a separation or splitting up. It can likewise happen if brother or sisters or buddies have actually bought a property with each other as well as particular people later on wish to be released from the ownership.

A Conveyancer will certainly able to assist you complete the property transfer if you have actually found on your own in this scenario.

If you are moving a property right into a single person's name adhering to separation or separation, you should additionally speak with a Household Attorney about how finest to safeguard your setting. This is necessary, despite whether you are the one that is vacating (in which situation, you might wish to declare your share in the property) or you are the one staying (in which situation, you will wish to avoid your ex lover making a case later on down the line).

In order to transfer a property into a single person's name, you will certainly require to complete a 'Transfer of Whole of Registered Title' kind and also send it to HM Land Registry, along with the correct charge and also identification verification forms.

In some cases, there might likewise be Stamp Obligation Land Tax to pay. This will not apply if the transfer of property possession becomes part of a separation settlement, however if the transfer is happening for one more factor then this is a crucial factor to bear in mind. If there is a mortgage on the property, this too will need to be moved right into the staying proprietor's name. Moving a Property right into Joint Names.

Additionally you may intend to include a name to the title register if, as an example, you wish to make a spouse, family members or partner participant a joint owner. In this scenario, you will require to complete a 'Transfer of Whole of Registered Title' kind and also send it to HM Land Registry, along with the right fee as well as identity verification forms. Once again, a Conveyancer can aid you do this.

In certain situations Stamp Responsibility will certainly be payable, so it's important to examine whether this applies to make sure that you can budget plan suitably. If there is a mortgage, you will need the approval of the lender as well as the brand-new joint proprietor will certainly require to be added to the mortgage.

Transferring a Property to a Relative.

You may desire to transfer ownership of your property to a household participant.

This is commonly done to reduce the quantity of Estate tax (IHT) that will schedule on the person's Estate after their death. As long as you live for seven years adhering to the transfer, the property will not be considered as part of your Estate.

Or you might have various motivation-- as an example, you may want to assist your kids by giving them with their inheritance early.

It is possible to transfer the possession of a property to a relative as a present, implying no money exchanges hands. This differs to a Transfer of Equity, where the owner stays on the title and also merely includes somebody else to it. To transfer a property as a present, you require to fill in a TR1 type and also send it to the Land Registry, together with an AP1 form. An ID1 kind will certainly also be needed if either side is not making use of a Solicitor or Conveyancer.

Nonetheless, there are a lot of implications of gifting a property, which is why it is exceptionally vital to get specialist recommendations from an Estate preparation professional first.

You will certainly no longer be the legal proprietor of the property, so your household member could theoretically evict you. If he/she ever faces a divorce the property might require to be offered to elevate funds, and also their ex might even have an economic case over it.

Consequently you require to assume thoroughly prior to transferring ownership of a property to a relative.

Moving a Property after Fatality.

What takes place to a property after the proprietor's fatality depends on whether there are any type of surviving joint proprietors, as well as how the property was jointly possessed if so.

He/she will certainly end up being the single legal owner of the property if the property was jointly had as joint occupants and also there is a surviving joint proprietor. It's still necessary to notify HM Land Registry so that the title can be upgraded to eliminate the departed person's name. To do this, you will certainly need to fill in a DJP type as well as send it to the Land Registry, with an official copy of the fatality certification.

HM Land Registry will certainly once more need to update the title to eliminate the deceased person's name from the register if the property was collectively possessed as renters in typical. The departed person's rate of interest (their share) will be safeguarded by a restriction on the share and the register will certainly after that form part of their Estate.

If there isn't an enduring joint proprietor, the property will require to be administered according to the terms of the Will, if there is one, or inheritance legislations called the Rules of Intestacy if there isn't. They can have it moved right into his or her name if a Beneficiary is entitled to acquire the property. This is called an Acceptance.

An AP1 kind as well as an AS1 type need to be sent to the Land Registry, together with the Give of Probate or Letters of Management. The proper cost will likewise need to be confined (in addition to the ID1 if not represented by a Conveyancer).

A Probate Property Conveyancer can help you Assent a Probate property.

Anthony Stockton Solicitors

First Floor, 2 Manor Square, Solihull B91 3PX

0121 289 3088

How to Lose Weight Fast, But Safely

The trouble with diet programs,' I listen to a number of girls claim, 'is that it needs a very long time. If following month I want to look great for my anniversary, I will've begun dropping weight way. Now that I am ultimately focused on how to lose weight fast, it is also late.' Well, it depends. Take a look at my preferred no-neglect jump starts.

View you're Fluids

1. Researchers now understand the body doesn't reveal calories that are fluid in exactly the exact same way it does calories that are audio. Drinking a caffe mocha that is grande, for example, will certainly not make you notice satiated the manner eating a plate of pasta will. Which indicates that even though the mocha truly has a better quantity of calories compared with pasta, you are nevertheless mo Re probably to require an extra mug than still another complete dish of linguine from Star-Bucks? So track your consumption of wine and also juice, pop, coffee beverages. If you eat among each of these drinks during the day, you will have used at the very least 800 included calories by evening-- as well as you will still not be complete. (By the way, alcohol could curb the metabolic process of fat, creating it harder that you burn off those calories.)

2. Consume alcohol eco-friendly tea extract. Obtain this: When an existing research study compared the metabolic influence of green tea extract (in mixture) with that of a placebo, researchers found the green-tea-drinkers burnt concerning 70 added calories in a 24hour interval. It is not magic, it is scientific discipline: Detectives take into consideration metabolic process causes the distinction -improving anti-oxidants called catechins, which are found in green tea extract.

Begin Lifting

3. Sodium causes water-retention, causing you to sense as well as look swollen. Would certainly you eat a too much quantity of salt? Keep a watch in your sodium consumption, and also it doesn't simply indicate disposing the salt shaker. Concealed sources consist of soups, tinned products as well as drinks (did you recognize a part of normal V8 juice h-AS 800 milligrams of sodium?), salty snacks like chips as well as pretzels as well as numerous pre-packaged meals.

4. It is an one-time expense you will never repent. Here's why: Power training builds muscle mass tissue, which sheds off a lot more calories-- at do or jail-- round the clock, a week weekly. The more muscle you have actually obtained, the quicker you will shed weight. Just how do you begin bodybuilding? Attempt some pushups or numerous squats or lunges. Utilize your weights that are cost-free to execute simple arms tricep or swirls draws appropriate in your workplace or residence. Do you will soon find an instant improvement in your body, as well as these workouts 3 to four-times each week.

Heat Issues Up

5. As entertaining as it appears, sleep-deprivation might make you fat-- and perhaps not only since you are at risk to instances of the late evening munchies (although there is that additionally). Do not skimp on your Hz's, and you will absolutely be awarded with an added edge in terms of losing extra pounds immediately.

6. The rationale? What is mo-Re, your hunger might be decreased by eating warm peppers, Tremblay declares, assisting regulate your desires. So enhance your stir fried veggies, consume reduced-calorie chili or salsa (effort them on salads and baked potatoes), watching the pounds come off quicker.

Move Approximately

7. Pay attention up: Skipping foods won't make you slim down quicker. That system backfires since the body assumes diet plans is an issue, s O your metabolism slows to make sure that you could save electricity. If your agitated day makes a sit down dish helpless, stow away an item of good fresh fruit in your bag or brief case - anything that could avoid you from going hungry or a power bar.

8. Select a night wander. Since many individuals's metabolic rate decelerates towards the end-of the day however evening activity might be specifically valuable.

9. Include 20 minutes of workout daily. You are most likely exercising several times weekly, if you get on an eating plan. (No? Well, you must start!) However whether you work out or otherwise, it is possible to obtain an advantage on those various other weight loss wannabes additional every day by doing something. Taking outside the pooch, the amount of calories you expend rises. You do not have to choose a jog (even though that would aid!) to increase weight-loss. Twenty minutes of modest workout a day indicates you will burn regarding 700 calories.

Drink Up!

10. At any time, you can locate heaps of weight loss hypes in sector that assure to discover a means to take 10 lbs in 10 pauses, or whatever. Anguish could lure us to attempt anything, but I and also you equally understand these systems do not execute. Save your useful cash money, however additionally, when these tricks fail save yourself in the psychological pain. Be functional. Dive begin your fat burning strategy in good manners that make sense, as well as maybe not solely do you wish to not be fatter, you will certainly be more pleased also.

11. H20, H20, H20. You have heard it previously, as well as you will hear it. That is because consuming 6 4 oz of water is amongst the simplest techniques to enhance weight loss. Your body requires water to be able to effectively metabolize. When you short-change your offer, you are possibly to slow that process down, indicating it really is harder that you burn calories. Will certainly maintain your program operating smoothly.

Confidentiality Laws in a Texas Divorce

If you want to related guideline confidentiality Texas Child Law experience, So you can better suggestions in Confidentiality Laws in a Texas Divorce

Kingwood Divorce Attorney: Most civil cases in Texas are open records, meaning that the filings made into the case by either party or the Court itself are viewable by the public.

While this may seem invasive at first, the motivation behind this policy is that an open courts system will keep the judiciary accountable to the citizens it is supposed to be serving.

Categories of Documents in Texas

There are four categories document types:

> Public > Confidential > Restricted > Sealed

Public

These documents can be viewed by anyone. Depending on the county they may be viewed as long as they are logged onto the website.

In Harris and Montgomery county attorneys can long onto the website and print uncertified copies for free.

Confidential Documents

These documents are restricted to the attorneys of record and the parties of the cases only.

In Harris County attorneys use a pin number to verify that they are someone who should have access.

Restricted Documents

Restricted documents are created when a document is filed and marked as a sensitive data document.

Identifying Certain Documents as Sensitive Data Documents

The process of keeping documents confidential in a divorce begins with stating at the top of each pleading that this document contains sensitive data. Examples of sensitive data include:

> birth dates > driver’s license numbers > social security numbers and > any other pieces of information that is personal in nature

Stating this at the top of a document will not seal a record completely but it will keep these documents from being posted on the website of the district or county clerk’s office.

Additionally, the Final Decree of Divorce offers ample opportunity for a person with the motivation to cause harm to invade the privacy of a person and potentially hurt them a great deal.

Do Not Provide More Information than Needed

A simple method to avoid providing too much information to people who don’t need it is to only identify social security numbers, bank accounts and other sensitive items with only the last three or four numbers of each being used.

This way information can be identified but the full extent of these items can be kept from the general public.

Texas Rules of Civil Procedure

The Woodlands Divorce Attorney: The Texas Rules of Civil Procedure in Rule 76(a) have this concept codified as State law. In some instances, though, the parties to a lawsuit may want their proceedings to be made confidential and may ask the Court to allow this to occur.

The judge will make a determination on whether or not their request will be granted.

Sealed Documents

Seal documents are not available to view.

Keeping it Confidential

There are exceptions to the above rule that allow a case to be kept confidential.

In Re Bain

In the case, In Re Bain, 144 S.W.3d 236, 241 (Tex. App.—Tyler 2004, no pet.)it was found that family law cases have a lower burden of proof on requests for confidentiality.

In that case it was discussed that documents filed in an action that arises under the Texas Family Code are exempt from the open records requirement that applies to most civil cases in Texas.

The basic rule in this case is that a Court has complete discretion on whether or not to seal the record.

Sealing the Record

Under Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 76(a) court records may be sealed only upon a party's written motion.

Motion

Court records may be sealed only upon a party's written motion, which shall be open to public inspection.

The movant shall post a public notice at the place where notices for meetings of county governmental bodies are required to be posted, stating:

> that a hearing will be held in open court on a motion to seal court records in the specific case; > that any person may intervene and be heard concerning the sealing of court records; > the specific time and place of the hearing;

What Must be Proven

The standard that a party must meet to keep a record confidential is that in doing so:

> the sealing of the record will not have an adverse effect on the public health or safety of the citizens of this State and > that the matters involved should not be made available to the general public > there is no less restrictive means than sealing records will adequately and effectively protect

the specific interest asserted

Protective Oder

A protective order is also something that one party can request from the Court or the parties can simply agree to between themselves.

These orders can list the items that are to be kept confidential including particular documents. This type of order will keep particular documents from being posted online.

Texas and Federal Wiretapping Laws

Spring Divorce Lawyers: On a completely different subject related to confidentiality, both federal and state laws protect individuals from having their private information accessed by other people- including their spouse.

In a Texas divorce case, for example, where one party is alleging that the other spouse committed adultery it is not uncommon for a person to tell their attorney that they’ve been reading emails or tracking the keystrokes of their spouse in an attempt to catch them in some bad behavior. +

Either fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your perspective) this type of behavior is illegal and can put the persons who initiate it and possibly their attorney in a position of being liable for both civil and criminal penalties. It is understandable that when going through a divorce emotions will be running high and people will want to get an advantage over their spouse.

It is Important to Stay on the Right Side of the Law

However, having a representative available to counsel a party on proper use of technology is crucial to staying on the right side of the law. This means that before installing software on the computer to track the websites viewed by a spouse or sticking a tracking device on the muffler of the family vehicle it is probably best to speak to an attorney first.

Can I Record Phone Calls?

What is allowed under both federal and state law is the recording of telephone calls with the consent of one party to the conversation. That means that a spouse can record any phone call that they themselves are a part of.

Interestingly enough a parent can record the telephone conversation of one of their children with their other parent. The recording party must only have a good faith rationale for doing so and a belief that they are acting in the best interests of the child.

If the reader of the article is familiar with the blog posts from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, then he or she will know that the best interests of the child standard is one that has been adopted by the Courts of our state as a matter of public policy. It is assumed that parents always act in the best interests of their child and that presumption must be rebutted in order to show otherwise.

Enforcing Privacy Agreements

Divorce Lawyer in Spring TX: A settlement agreement between parties can also be sued in order to ensure that the privacy of both parties (and their children) is maintained through the end of a divorce. The parties to a divorce can agree in mediation to a settlement and those agreements are done outside of court and beyond the open records of the courts system.

While a final decree of divorce may be made public, it is possible to draft this document to contain only the basic, boiler plate language that a final decree of divorce must contain to be valid. The actual terms of the agreed decree may be referenced in a separate document that is not made available online for the general public to view.

Confidentiality is one of many wrinkles in the fabric of a Texas Divorce case. With a family and other prior priorities to keep in mind, a person going through a divorce is best served by having effective representation from the beginning to the end of the process. The Houston divorce attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC value the privacy of our clients and their families and will do everything possible to ensure that their privacy is maintained. To learn more about our office and how best we can serve you, please contact our office today for a consultation- free of charge ... Continue Reading

Selling on Amazon – I : Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)

Selling on Amazon requires many important decisions that you’ll have to take at each step. If you’re worried about choosing the right shipping method for your products, you’re at the right place.

In this blog, we will walk through everything that you need to know about Fulfillment by Amazon, a service provided to sellers for shipping their products.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)

As the name suggests, Fulfilment by Amazon is a service offered by Amazon to third-party sellers to ship, pack and deliver their products.

If you’re worried about how to pack and ship your products to the customers and are considering fulfillment by Amazon, there are few basic things you need to know before proceeding further.

FBA or Fulfilment by amazon is especially advantageous for sellers who do not have room for storage of inventory. It is different from the merchant-fulfilled network or MFN where the seller takes care of everything including packing, shipping, and customer service. With FBA, all that you will have to do is ship your products to amazon’s fulfillment center or the warehouse and the rest will be taken care of by Amazon.

Should you choose FBA for all of your products?

You must consider all the options available and weigh the pros and cons before deciding the next step. Now that we’re talking about amazon’s fba, there are few things that you must consider before you decide on this.

Size of the goods

FBA is beneficial for amazon sellers whose products are small and light in weight and that can sell easily.

Feedback

With FBA, amazon even handles almost all the seller feedback and you do not have to worry about receiving negative feedback. However, if you want to see and respond to every feedback that you get for your product, you can go for FBM (fulfilled by merchant).

Control

With Fba, amazon is in total control of the shipment process right from receiving the order to delivering the product to the buyer. If you are okay with amazon controlling the process, then FBA is the best available option to go for.  Otherwise, you always have the option of doing it yourself.

Multi-tasking

Sellers also prefer fba when they have occupied with something else like launching a new product or creating your brand. Since Amazon handles everything else you can just focus on the task at hand.

Fees

Since you store your products at amazon’s warehouse, it is quite obvious that you will have to pay for the storage fees and fulfillment fees.

FBA costs

If you want to choose fba for your products, you have to know how much you will be charged for it. You can then decide whether or not to choose fba by comparing the total costs incurred for both FBA and FBM.

Amazon seller central has fba cost calculators that vary from country to country. However, the cost of fba depends on :

Order handling

Storage fees.

The storage fee also depends on how long you store the item in Amazon’s warehouse

Picking and packing

Outbound shipping

The cost that you have to pay if you want to ship your products outside amazon like e-bay, etc. is higher than shipping within amazon.

Weight handling

Standard-size products weigh fewer than 20 pounds after packaging and their dimension is less than 18” x 14” x 8”.

The ones that exceed 20 pounds in weight after packaging or have a dimension larger than 18” x 14” x 8” are considered oversized.

The cost of oversized products is slightly higher than standard-size products.

If this fee costs less than what would have costed you when you handle everything yourself, then fulfillment by amazon is something you should consider.

What do you get in return for this fee?

24/7 Amazon customer service

All fulfillment and shipping costs are included in this fee (pick, pack, and ship)

Customer’s trust as your product seems reliable with Amazon’s Fulfillment Label.

You get access to one of the most dynamic fulfillment networks in the world

Let’s dive in and look at how to set up FBA.

How to set up FBA for your products?

1. Create an Amazon seller account, if you didn’t already.

2. Once you’ve created this and decided on what product you are going to launch, click on set up FBA.

3. Pack the products that you want to transport to amazon’s fulfillment centers abiding by the rules and regulations of packaging and shipping,

4. Amazon will allow a specific warehouse for your product from where all your products will be shipped to the buyers.

What are the pros and cons of FBA?

Let’s look at the merits and demerits of Amazon FBA to help you decide if you should consider choosing FBA for your business.

Advantages of FBA:

Effortless Shipping:

Since Amazon does all the shipping work for you, you can just keep track of it, make sure your product is in stock, and let Amazon take care of the fulfillment from start to finish. You get a huge job done for a small fee.

Reliable:

As it is fulfilled by amazon, its name will be associated with your products and makes your product appear more reliable to the buyers.

Damage Reimbursement:

You can store your inventory at amazon’s warehouse and in case your product is damaged at the warehouse, Amazon will reimburse you.

Prime Customers

You will have access to new prime eligible customers. Prime customers shop twice as much as regular customers. By gaining access to new prime customers, you gradually

Super-fast delivery

Your products would be delivered to customers within a day or two. You also need not worry about not being able to ship heavy objects without damage.

Multi-Channel Fulfillment

You even have the facility of MCF or multi-channel fulfillment that is you can ship your products outside amazon too. For instance, you can ship your products on other shopping websites like e-bay, etc.

Unlimited Storage Space

This is one of the most beneficial advantages of FBA as Amazon has warehouses all over and can hold a lot of goods, you will have access to unlimited storage for a cost. This would otherwise be not possible if you rent a room or a warehouse for storing your inventory.

Disadvantages of FBA:

It is always more important to know the disadvantages of selecting a certain choice. Here are a few demerits of Amazon FBA:

FBA Cost

Amazon’s FBA service isn’t a good choice for low-cost products because of the way FBA fees are calculated, especially for those who are just getting started in this business. Though it is a handy privilege, it comes at a cost.

No control over the process

Since the entire fulfillment process is carried out by Amazon, you will have no say in the shipping process, receiving and responding to customer responses.

Long-Term Storage Fee

Amazon doesn’t like storing products that aren’t actively for sale. It will charge you for this and this will negatively adjust your metrics. Thus, you will have to pay more for items that sit longer. However, you can view all of this in your seller console and arrange for products to be shipped back to your own facility in case of longer storage time.

Fee Payment Method

You cannot postpone or manage what you owe Amazon. You can neither use the next or previous sale to pay off the dues. Amazon deducts the fees you owe and pay you the rest. If you do not have enough balance to cover the dues, you need to provide a credit card. Though this makes sense, it sometimes isn’t beneficial to the sellers.

Product Requirements

You must meet the list of requirements Amazon has for products that are to be fulfilled through FBA. You must pay attention to all of your products you are sending off to Amazon, including how packaging, proper labeling, and shipping by following the FBA inventory warehousing guidelines.

Amazon’s Branding not yours

The packaging box for the products delivered by FBA contains the Amazon Brand logo instead of yours. This seems like a hindrance in promoting your brand.

Best Practices to increase FBA sales:

Choose the right product:

Product always comes first in the priority matrix of the most important elements to run a successful business. The product that you wish to sell has to be in accordance with the needs and wants of the customers. It is always a good idea to brand and improvise a product before selling it on amazon. A buyer would prefer to spend his money on an upgraded product rather than the most basic version of it.

If you wish to surpass other competitors, sell a product that is in demand and trendy in the market. For example, if iPhone 12 is the new trend in the market, you should consider selling its cover case over that of an iPhone 6 or iPhone 5. Hence, keeping yourself updated with the new trends in the market is the key to bloom your business.

Choose the right price

Needless to say, price is one of the most significant factors that the customers use to decide whether or not to consider your product. It also influences everything from cash flow to inventory. Whether you incur a profit or loss is solely dependent on how you price your product. How does the product’s price affect your sales? If your product is too low priced, the chances that the buyers would assume it to be of low quality are highly likely. Likewise, if you overprice it many of them wouldn’t bother to spare a glance.

Now, the question is, how should you price your product?

You should check if the price is reasonable from both your and the customers’ perspective. Firstly, calculate all the costs involved like the cost of raw materials, shipping costs, and fixed costs. In this case, calculate the FBA fees using the FBA calculator. Do not forget to include the promotional cost as you will have to pay a certain amount to amazon in the form of PPC and keyword bids. Incorporate a certain percentage of profit margin. Sum up all of these to set your product price.

Marketing using SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the best ways to stand out in the Amazon selling business. Using SEO, you optimize your content based on how your customers would search online. SEO makes you more relevant to the buyer.

Including your brand name, simple and clear product description, bidding on relevant keywords increases the chances of converting your click to purchase. This gets you relatively more attention than the others and increases your sales.

Seller-Fulfilled Prime

The Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) option is an Amazon fulfillment option that allows you to store, pack, and ship your own products while allowing your products to be listed as “Prime”. For those who want access to new prime customers and want to exercise control over the shipping process, customer feedback, etc., Seller-Fulfilled Prime is the best option to go for.

Basically, you get to use the Amazon Prime label and have to follow shipping guidelines, but you get to do all of the picking, packing, and shipping of your products. You also have to manage all of the returns and cover all of the shipping costs. Since the customers see the prime label, they expect Prime treatment. So you have to meet their standards no matter how you fulfill the item. So basically, SFP is a lot of work.

However, if you are selling low-cost items, large and oversized products that would cost you high storage fees with Amazon, SFP is a great way to get the “Prime” label while keeping your costs down.

In short, depending on the products, SFP can either be the best of both worlds or too much work done.

Summing Up

Every Amazon Seller is unique so is the sale. There are several ways in which Amazon sellers can successfully achieve what they’ve dreamt of. This blog aims to help you decide if choosing FBA is one of the decisions that you can make in the journey of becoming a successful Amazon Seller.

8 WAYS To Achieve Your Dream Life:-

What is Cloud-based POS Systems and Things to Consider before implementing Cloud-based POS Systems?

Cloud-based point of sale (cloud-based POS) is a kind of point-of-sale system where data for transaction processing comes from a remote cloud service. In common, POS refers to the point where buying happens, for example, at a cashier’s kiosk or at a hostess desk (or side table) at a restaurant.

One reason that cloud-based point of sale (POS) is getting such an influence in retail surroundings is that numerous firms are recognizing the comfort and advantages of utilizing mobile devices as modern cash registers. This is driving a huge transformation in retail and, in numerous cases, to the obsolescence of legacy systems that include specific cash register machines at the POS. In an expanding number of business conditions, these are being replaced by the usage of a smartphone or a mobile device running modern POS software.

The POS software on mobile devices is usually composed of cloud-based POS solutions. Cloud computing providers allow Web-delivered retail financial services for POS systems, where the information is adequately backed up in remote vendor servers. For numerous corporations, the overall advantages of cloud-based POS are evident — security, data storage, and many other features of the software development can be outsourced to vendors. However, it is necessary to check the service level agreement to refine uptime and other service provisions.

Many investigators demand cloud-based POS to proceed to proliferate in various different industries. Replacing old cash registers with mobile devices operating cloud-based POS can make a batch of sense because it streamlines the asset claims for retail business — in different words, instead of purchasing registers, the business can utilize personally owned or otherwise combined mobile devices in the store during business hours as required.

Things to consider before implementing a cloud-based POS system

Matched with the traditional POS system that has been approximated since the 1970s, the cloud POS system is a new class of technology that, despite being almost young, has shown dramatic growth over the past few years. According to Research and Markets, the global cloud POS market size is projected to rise from USD 1.34 billion in 2018 to USD 3.73 billion by 2023, at a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.7%.

A cloud-based POS system has brought about various positive developments to businesses, simplifying multiple methods, providing excellent flexibility, and performing a broad, helpful range of functions that traditional systems could not adequately accomplish. Whether you’re a businessperson planning to obtain a cloud POS system for your personal retail store, or just completely needing to completely understand this kind of technology, this article is just for you. By the end of this article, you’ll discover the solution to the question of what to consider before implementing a cloud-based POS system.

I. Costs of cloud-based POS system

As a matter of truth, the first cost of a cloud POS is cheaper than that of a traditional POS. Instead of spending hefty fees for setup, licensing, and maintenance, which is the case of traditional POS, traders opting for cloud POS only require to spend a monthly subscription for access to the software. This offers cloud POS a practical choice for small, newly-established companies.

However, just like any buying decisions to be performed when operating a business, there are a number of factors that a business owner should keep in mind. First, see for the plans allowed by the POS merchants that stay within your budget. A cloud POS can cost you any expense between $20 and $200 per month. After you have narrowed below your choices, search the features that occur with your preferred plans in more detail. You’d require to learn if the merchants charge more for add-ons such as loyalty functionality, 24/7 customer service, or attaching third-party services. Another point to examine is whether to sign a long-term service contract with the merchant, as the amount can be decreased for committed consumers.

Business owners also require credit card processing payment selections. With various processors come various prices and benefits. Make sure to pick the best fit for your company which gives you open credit card processing charges, dependable customer support, and no demand for long-term contracts.

II. Functionality and features

However pleased you are with the convenient price you’ve accomplished to trade with the merchant, or with the highest customer service, if the system can’t work as you assumed, then your investment would mean zero. Functionality and features are positive of the key factors before buying a cloud POS system, yet it’s nearly too simple to overlook these essential factors. Below are some general questions to address:

1. Is an open application programming interface (API) blended into the cloud POS?

Open APIs provide a bond between all the programs that customers require to drive their business. They help with many business assistance taking place throughout the POS, such as accounts, inventory, sales, orders, loyalty, tracking, tables, mobile, or online ordering/payment and delivery. As the business grows, business owners can streamline a special method by developing specific apps using open APIs.

2. Which advanced integration is available?

Modern technology has created it possible for traders to combine an amount of advanced business and marketing functions into their cloud-based POS systems. For instance, any consumer can make a fee from anyplace within a business premise and not just at the head counter as they’d have to do including a traditional POS system, and then get receipts via their cell phone. External accounting, digital loyalty programs, and premia systems can also be combined into the cloud POS.

3. In which language is the software written?

For the system to work accurately and to assure ease of integration with third-party merchants, look for providers who give software written in a modern, cloud-native language and steer clear of those utilizing the no-longer maintained legacy code.

4. Is it possible to upgrade existing systems or do I have to entirely replace them?

Numerous merchants are not accurately willing to obtain rid of their current devices which have priced them thousands of dollars. Therefore, instead of driving them away, vender can investigate cost-effective upgrading selections to improve the current systems to advanced cloud POS systems.

5. How much offline functionality do I retain if network connectivity is unavailable?

Cloud POS is mostly internet-based systems, and as connectivity problems occur from time to time, your cloud-based software will also be affected. Therefore it’s essential to have your merchant explain what will happen in case of a disrupted Internet connection. Ask the merchant if you’ll yet be capable to access data, make sales or achieve other business duties; when and how will the knowledge be backed up or synced, and if additional fees are needed for offline solutions.

III. Data security risks

Getting your POS to the cloud indicates having to convey your data to a remote server, and to several business owners, this doesn’t sound very appealing. The company’s information is among the most important assets and it’s important to keep data security a prime superiority. You’ll be required to recognize how your data will be conveyed, what risks are associated, and what answers the merchants have to assure the safety of your data.

IV. Customer service after executing the system

Although cloud POS systems make a batch of a business method much easier, that does not surely mean that working this system will forever be plain sailing. Difficulties might occur along the process, and this is where consumer service comes in. Make assured that you’re operating with a reliable vendor who is able to provide you powerful and timely assistance. Study their maintenance options, learning if they allow a written user guide, live chat assistance, or how much time it needs for an answer, etc. Don’t believe the provider’s self-advertised, impeccable consumer service right away. Sometimes you require to check reviews or even test out the consumer service before electing to sign a contract.

Though relatively modern compared with traditional POS systems, cloud-based POS has attained important market penetration and will proceed to grow exponentially, giving superior answers that support companies streamline methods, operate with higher performance, and ultimately yield a greater profit. The Cloud POS system appears to be a classic choice, notably for small business owners. However, before you choose to use your POS to the cloud, it’s only fair to fully realize the benefits and gauge all the perils that come with cloud technology.

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Order Summaries and Purchase Order

Creating Delivery Routes and Routing on Google Map

Markups and Pricing based on the customer segment

Multiple payment gateways

Suppliers

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Read More: Why are most People Attracted to IT Outsourcing?

Original Content Source: What is Cloud-based Pos Systems and Things to Consider before implementing Cloud-based Pos Systems?

Mercy Rant

Okay I give up, i’m posting those Opinions™ I’ve got.  I’m putting them under a read more because I don’t want to annoy y’all with a really long post.  And I’m warning you, I’m gonna get in depth with arguments and hypotheticals…this is a really long post.

Real quick before I start I just want to say that I will be mentioning her most recent ptr changes as well as her rework because I never made a rant post about the rework and I’m still kind of upset about that. However, I have everything sectioned off with page breaks, so if you want to skip that and get to my Opinions™ on her latest changes, just scroll to the last section.

I also want to mention that this post is coming from someone who plays Mercy and dps, so I do have experience on both sides.

So, what were the reasons for giving her a rework in the first place?  Well, a lot of players (especially dps players, though they obviously weren’t the only ones) got really frustrated with the fact that if they got a team wipe, it could instantly be undone by Mercy swooping in with a five-man rez.  

Another issue is that people who were playing Mercy weren’t really playing her the way Blizzard intended.  They wanted Mercy players to be in the fight supporting her team instead of healing everyone until she got her ultimate and then running off and hiding until everyone died.

A similar issue people were upset with is that because Resurrect was such an important ability, Mercy players didn’t want to “waste it” by only rezzing one or two people (even if they had ult) and instead waited for the team wipe to rez. While I agree that there are some instances where you should wait to rez (for example, two teammates are already down and everyone else is on critical.  You can focus healing on one target, bringing them to full health and making it more likely they will survive the team fight and then rez the others that die while you are doing this), you shouldn’t be doing it every time.  There’s nothing wrong with rhythm rezzing. (Plus, Mercy gets her ultimate so fast that it isn’t really much of a waste anyway).

As both a Mercy player and a dps player, here are my issues with some of these arguments.  Mercy gets her ult very quickly.  In as little as thirty seconds, depending on how much damage output your team is doing.  So you can assume that Mercy will always have at least one rez in a team fight, possibly more depending on how long the fight lasts.  So if your team kills most of the enemy team and then their Mercy comes in and rezzes them all, it’s an issue of target priority on your team’s part.

I can’t tell you how many times I haven’t been able to get a rez off when I needed to because I was dead because the enemy Winston/Genji/Tracer/whoever was hard targeting me and making sure I died. With Mercy dead, her team isn’t getting any heals at all (if she’s solo-healing), or they aren’t getting nearly enough heals (Lucio and Zen cannot solo heal a really big team fight, especially if there are two tanks on their team.  Unless you’re a god Lucio or Zen I guess, but for the most part that isn’t the case.  Ana has a bit of an easier time keeping everyone alive, but they have to have really good aim…and team fight get pretty hectic, so that causes difficulties for Ana players, too).

Without getting the amount of healing that they need, the enemy team will probably either all get killed or at least mostly get killed before the Mercy comes back, as long as your team is good at focusing targets.

If you haven’t killed the enemy team before the Mercy comes back, there could be a number of issues:

Your team doesn’t have enough damage output

Your team doesn’t understand target priority/focusing

Your team comp just isn’t working against theirs

Poor teamwork in general, honestly

Lack of skill (I’m not going to get mad at anyone for being bad at video games.  I literally could not care less.  It’s just a fact that sometimes you’ll be paired up against more skillful opponents)

None of these issues are Mercy’s fault.

And if Mercy does come back before the entire team is dead?  Notice that she has come back (situational awareness) and focus her and kill her again.

If she comes back in time to rez everyone but her entire team is dead?  There are usually only two outcomes to this.  The Mercy doesn’t feel like it’s worth it to bring everyone back (”just regroup, the point’s already lost”) or she’ll go in and rez and then probably die almost immediately afterword.  She might even die before she’s able to get the rez off.  She’s flying into the entire enemy team.

If she rezzes and then dies again, her team won’t have heals again.  Since she just rezzed, if you kill everyone before she gets back, she won’t be able to rez them again.  Even if you only manage to kill a few of them, your team still has the advantage.

On the other hand, I also can’t tell you how many times I’ve been able to get off really big rezzes because I was one of the only ones still alive…because the enemy team wasn’t targeting me like they should have been.  Mercy should be one of your number one priorities.  If Mercy dies, her team dies.  Your team not focusing the Mercy is not the Mercy’s fault.  Mercy has a pretty low survival rate when she’s being focused.  (As someone who plays Mercy, trust me on this.  Get someone with a lot of mobility to focus Mercy and she doesn’t stand a chance).

I know I’m going out of order here, but I want to bring up rhythm rezzing real quick before I talk about hiding Mercys since I have less to say on the matter.  And what I have to say on the matter is: if your Mercy isn’t rhythm rezzing your team (by this I mean solo or double-rezzing when it can turn a fight in your favor, whether due to outnumbering the enemy team once your teammates are back or due to the teammate being rezzed having ult and being in a good position to use it)…then they are a bad Mercy.  That’s all I really have to say about that.  You’re going to get bad teammates or teammates that don’t play their hero the way they should.  That’s just something you’re going to have to get used to.

(Obviously this behavior is reinforced by the ability to get bigger rezzed in the first place, but I still say that the issue is the player, not the hero.  There are players who will refuse to use their ult for any hero unless they can be sure they’ll be able to get a good multi-kill.  In the same way that Mercy should be rhythm rezzing, these players should also use their ult if they have a good opportunity to, even if it means only getting a double-kill.  Mercy isn’t the issue here).

Anyway, on to the matter of hiding Mercys.

Does the enemy team have one of the Mercys that will leave their team once they have rez and wait for them to die, only to swoop in and rez them all? Situational awareness is part of the issue here.  If you don’t notice that Mercy isn’t with her team when she probably should be (you haven’t seen her in a while and it doesn’t say that she’s dead), then you need to work on your situational awareness.  It may not seem like it, but situational awareness and the ability to track ultimates are very important skills to have when playing Overwatch.  Of course, some heroes require more situational awareness to play than others, but all heroes require good situational awareness to a certain extent. 

If you do have good situational awareness, and you do notice that the enemy Mercy is missing when she probably shouldn’t be…go find her.

But even if you don’t have good situational awareness, chances are that someone on your team will.  There are six players on a team.  Odds are, someone will notice that the Mercy is missing, and if they have any common sense they’ll tell their team.  Either way, if it is brought to your attention that Mercy is missing, go and find her.  You don’t even have to kill her!  Best case scenario, you do kill her.  Well, now she’s dead and won’t be able to rez the team.  If you don’t kill her? You’ll probably at least scare her into rezzing early, (”I have to rez now, I’m about to die”), which will probably only bring back a few of her teammates instead of all of them, and then she won’t have rez when everyone is down.

Another thing I’ve heard people argue: “It’s really frustrating when you use all of your team’s ultimates and get a team wipe and then Mercy just comes in and brings them all back!”

I get that.  Trust me, I know it can be really frustrating to constantly have your kills brought back.  But here’s the thing.  It isn’t the Mercy’s fault your team wasted their ultimates.  If you know Mercy has rez, either don’t use your ults or only use one or two of them.  Bait out a rez, then use your main ults.  Kill the enemy team with say, a really good Death Blossom or something.  Mercy comes in and rezzes, and then use your Grav and ult combo.  Kill them all again.  Now they’re all dead and Mercy doesn’t have rez.

Again, your team wasting your ults isn’t the enemy Mercy’s fault.

Now I’m going to talk a bit about how I agree that Mercy needed some changes; just not these changes.

Yes, people hiding for rez as Mercy is a big issue.  People have always done it, as far as I’m aware, but she was never intended to be played that way.  She’s meant to be with her team supporting them throughout the entire team fight. And I completely agree that Mercy hiding is a bad thing.  (Obviously hiding from ults isn’t a bad thing; who wouldn’t run for cover as soon as they hear “it’s high noon”?  But hiding during the entire fight just isn’t what you’re supposed to do).

Part of me wants to say “again, they’re just a bad Mercy.  Sometimes you’ll get bad teammates/opponents and you just have to work around it.”  But Mercy players disengaging from fights once they had ult was such a common practice that it caused serious issues.  I will agree with that.  But I think that there could have been other solutions to the problem.

One thing that they changed before giving her her rework was they made it so that she couldn’t rez from spawn.  While this only really mattered on Anubis and Gibraltar, I think it was a step in the right direction.  (Although I also think that if Mercy can’t ult from spawn, no one should be able to ult from spawn.  Looking at you, Junkrat).

Further changes that could’ve been made on top of this that I think could’ve helped the issues people have with Mercy are:

Making rez completely line-of-sight based.  Not only could Mercy not rez from spawn, but she wouldn’t be able to rez through any walls.  (No more rezzing from underneath the last point on Dorado, among others).

Making the distance that she has to be from a soul in order to rez that teammate a bit smaller.  If she has to be even a little closer than previously in order to rez people, it’ll be harder to get team rezzes.  (Teammates would have to die closer together or she wouldn’t be able to rez them all.  And having to be closer to them to rez means that if she’s flying into a group of dead teammates to rez them, your team has a little more time to try and kill her before she can rez).

Making it so that rezzed teammates don’t come back at full health.  I feel having teammates coming back at half health would probably be the best option, but even if they still have two thirds of their health they’ll still be easier to kill once they come back.  Especially if you kill Mercy right after she rezzes, because then she couldn’t bring them back to full health anyway.

Obviously I have no proof that any of these would have fixed the issues people were having with Mercy,  but I think it would have been a step in the right direction and that they at least should’ve tried something like this out of the ptr (at the very least).

But instead, they completely reworked her.

Quick recap of the changes they made (even though I’m sure you all know already, or for those who don’t play but are interested anyway):

Resurrect is no longer her ultimate and is instead a secondary ability.

Resurrect has a 30 second cooldown

You can only rez one person at a time, forcing Mercy to rhythm rez

You need to be very close to your teammate to rez them.  Like, practically on top of them.

Her new ultimate, Valkyrie:

Allows her to fly up into the air and move freely without limitation (as in she doesn’t have a “fuel” meter like Pharah)

Increases Guardian Angel’s movement speed from 20 meters per second to 40 meters per second

Makes her healing aoe as long as teammates are close enough together

Makes her damage boost aoe as long as teammates are close enough together

Gives her pistol infinite ammo (and I think a slight damage boost and increases the fire rate, but I could be wrong about this)

Resets Resurrect’s cooldown

Lowers Resurrect’s cooldown from 30 seconds to 10 seconds

This new ultimate can be used in a variety of situations for a variety of reasons.

It can be used similarly to Transcendence or Sound Barrier. (The enemy Orisa throws down her Supercharger?  Valkyrie.  Your whole team is on critical?  Valkyrie.  Etc.)

It can be used similarly to Orisa’s Supercharger.  I’m not sure if Mercy’s damage boost stacks on top of a Supercharger, but if it does than you can even use it with Orisa’s Supercharger if you want.

It can be used offensively.  Take out your pistol and make yourself feared by all.

Use it to “double rez.”  Because using Valkyrie resets Resurrect’s cooldown, you can rez, ult, and then rez again.  (And since it lowers the cooldown time, you can rez someone else in within 10 seconds).

While this is very interesting, I have some issues with it.

We already have Transcendence and Sound Barrier.  Using Valkyrie to heal is essentially the same as using one of those abilities.  (Although it doesn’t have the ability to delete ults like Transcendence).

We already have Supercharger.  Using Valkyrie to damage boost would essentially be the same as using that.

While using Valkyrie offensively can produce some nice results, you usually won’t make much of an impact by using it. 

I feel like Valkyrie is basically a big mashup of abilities that other heroes already have.  Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, but I think it’s a little boring.  Plus it makes it so that the healers all have similar ultimates (with the exception being Ana).  Again, kind of boring.

Really, the biggest reason that you would want to use Valkyrie is to get a “double-rez.”  And I think that’s a pretty good ability for an ultimate.  If you can’t bring back the entire team anymore, at least you can bring back your tank and second support when they go down.

Now, I would say that this is a pretty big downgrade from being able to bring the whole team back.  (Which was, admittedly, a little op considering there weren’t many limitations like the ones I suggested.  But I still stand by what I said about a lot of it also being lack of skill on your part if you can’t deal with a Mercy).

So people who were complaining should be happy with this, yeah?  Nope.

People are still complaining about their picks being rezzed.  If Mercy can’t rez at all, then what’s the point?  You’ve already complained enough that they gave her a major nerf, and now that she isn’t able to do the one thing you complained about the most, you’re still complaining? Seriously?

So, since people are still complaining, what did Blizzard decide to do?

Using Valkyrie will no longer reset Resurrect’s cooldown

Using Valkyrie will no longer lower Resurrect’s cooldown.  Resurrect will always be on a 30-second cooldown.

Using Valkyrie will no longer increase Guardian Angel’s speed. (Obviously this last one isn’t quite as big of a deal, but it’s still a change they’re making).

This means that you can no longer get a “double-rez” by ulting and you can no longer rez someone again in 10 seconds.

By taking away the extra rezzes, you’re basically making Valkyrie useless.  Yes, you can still use it for heals and damage boost and to get some kills…but all of those things aren’t ultimate-worthy.

Zenyatta’s Transcendence does 300 healing per second.  Mercy only heals 60 health per second, and it doesn’t increase when using Valkyrie.  And you can’t give your team extra health like Sound Barrier can.  Orisa’s supercharger does +50% damage.  Mercy’s damage boost only does +30% damage and it doesn’t increase when using Valkyrie.  All that using Valkyrie will do is make her healing and damage boost aoe…something that Lucio already does without having to ult (not the damage boosting, of course, but in place he gets an aoe speed boost).  And again, you’re not likely to get many kills using Valkyrie, if you even get any at all.

So what’s the point of even using Valkyrie now?  Well, there isn’t really.

They’ve taken Mercy and made her go from having one of the highest-impact ultimates in the game to having one of the lowest-impact ultimates in the game.  What did she do to deserve this?

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

sarahf (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): One bit of political pageantry that could undergo a pretty dramatic makeover this year if the coronavirus remains a persistent threat is the party convention. Democrats have already postponed theirs from mid-July to mid-August and are now entertaining the possibility of hosting a remote convention. (The Republicans’ convention was already scheduled for late August and currently remains on track, although that could change.)

But considering in-person campaign rallies have already been suspended and fundraising events have gone entirely online, is this that big of a deal? After all, what happens at a convention that is important for a party?

julia_azari (Julia Azari, political science professor at Marquette University and FiveThirtyEight contributor): It’s a really tricky question in some ways. Conventions are kind of a holdover from a past era when delegates really picked the nominee, but the transition from “conventions as real events” to “conventions as infomercials” has been kind of messy and slow.

sarahf: So just how big of a deal would a remote convention be?

julia_azari: It’s hard to say without knowing the electoral context of the late summer.

If it’s close, everything matters, including the possible convention bounce.

And that could be particularly important if Democrats do a virtual convention and Republicans don’t, which seems possible.

nrakich (Nathaniel Rakich, elections analyst): But a big part of the reason why Democrats moved the convention to be immediately before the Republican one is probably to avoid that situation, Julia.

sarahf: I was thinking about that earlier, though, as the Republican National Committee said on Monday it is pushing “full steam ahead” in planning its convention. So I think Julia is right that one party could choose to host their convention remotely while the other doesn’t.

nrakich: On the question of what happens at a convention that is important for the party, I think there are two broad categories: the formal/bureaucratic part of actually selecting a nominee, and the public-facing infomercial part.

Sabato’s Crystal Ball had a great article the other day on this and how remote conventions could work. I recommend reading the whole thing, but the TLDR version is that the four important formalities that a convention must address — certifying delegates, approving the convention rules, electing convention officers and, of course, nominating the presidential and vice-presidential candidates — could all be done remotely but will require lots of advance planning.

As for the glitzy, self-promoting elements … I think that’s more of an open question.

geoffrey.skelley (Geoffrey Skelley, elections analyst): Right, the party still officially picks its presidential and vice-presidential nominees at the convention and gets hours of television coverage in the process. But it’s really more of an opportunity to generate enthusiasm and support for the ticket and the party as a whole, as everyone already knows who the nominee will be.

There’s almost always a convention “bounce” in the polls for the party, too, which reflects this enthusiasm for one side to some extent. That bounce doesn’t fully stick around, but part of it can. For instance, some recent national polls have pegged Biden’s support among Democrats at about 80 percent. We would expect that to be closer to 90 percent on Election Day, and past elections have shown partisans coming home at convention time.

nrakich: One big question I have is, does a virtual convention produce the same kind of bounce?

I assume the networks will still carry the biggest highlights of the convention, like the presidential and vice-presidential candidates’ speeches. But the scope of their coverage will almost certainly be scaled back, right?

And there will inevitably be less energy surrounding those speeches if they’re delivered from, say, Biden’s living room than before an adoring crowd of thousands.

julia_azari: I think this depends quite a bit on context. Is everyone still at home watching TV all the time? Can the virtual convention convey the same energy — or possibly something different? I think a lot of us are learning that virtual may not be worse in all cases, but it does provide something different, as you’re saying, Nathaniel.

geoffrey.skelley: The pageantry part will be much harder to pull off virtually. And yeah, there won’t be the cheering crowds and energy that are part of that. No balloon drop.

sarahf: Parties definitely seem to fear losing the pageantry by going remote. But I keep going back to what you were outlining earlier, Nathaniel — so much of what happens at a convention is about intraparty rules that I don’t think your average person cares that much about — so I’m not sure there actually is that much of a downside.

Geoffrey was getting at this earlier, but isn’t the evidence on the effect of a post-convention bounce kind of mixed, too?

geoffrey.skelley: Historically, after the convention, one party has gotten at least some sort of gain that lasts; that is, it isn’t just an ephemeral bounce. That may be less true now, though, given how polarized and partisan our politics are. For instance, recent bounces have tended to be smaller.

Additionally, when conventions are held in back-to-back weeks, as will be the case this year, there’s evidence that a bounce can be stunted.

julia_azari: Yeah, it’s messy. If it’s close in the polls and one party gets a larger bounce, then that could still matter. Although it might also be worth noting here that our presidential elections are not determined by popular vote.

nrakich: Wait, they’re not?

sarahf: And as we were talking about earlier, if one party held their convention remotely while the other proceeded to have theirs in person, that could be … very messy.

Presumably, Democrats have more to lose from a remote convention, considering they’re not currently in control of the White House, right?

Or put another way, they have more to gain from a convention, right?

geoffrey.skelley: I think that’s right. There’s definitely more of an opportunity for Democrats to use the convention to showcase the party coming together. Remember, most Republicans are already set to rally to the incumbent.

nrakich: If Democrats hold a virtual convention but Republicans hold an in-person one (I think this is unlikely, but if they do go opposite ways, that’s probably the way it would go), it could mean Republicans get a convention bounce and Democrats don’t.

julia_azari: A lot of this is pretty contextual, though. For example, if things are still pretty bad with the pandemic, and Democrats did hold their convention remotely while Republicans didn’t, Democrats could still gain, as maybe they’d look like the party that’s making cautious decisions.

geoffrey.skelley: The fact that Biden is super well-known — more so than, say, Bill Clinton or Michael Dukakis going into their first or only conventions — might make the remote aspect less of a setback, too.

julia_azari: Can we talk geography for a minute? (As I sit a couple miles from where this is scheduled to happen.) It’s not obvious that convention locations shape electoral fates, but holding the convention in Milwaukee was supposed to signal the importance of the Midwest to the Democratic Party.

And while this might have been a gamble to begin with, taking the location out of it removes the significance of deciding to host it there. And for a small city to have been preparing for this for a year and not have it — there are likely to be devastating consequences. I don’t know that people in Milwaukee (a deeply blue city) will be put off the Democratic ticket because of this, but it just creates a very different effect than what was intended.

nrakich: That’s a great point about the economic consequences of canceling the conventions for their host cities — that’s something that gets lost in all this. But I think any electoral boost that a party gets from holding its convention in a swing state is extremely small to nonexistent.

julia_azari: Yeah, I agree with that. But like with so many things with campaign that probably don’t matter — parties and politicians can’t step away from the symbolic importance.

sarahf: And I suppose that neither can the media. Because that’s what we’ve all landed on as the real downside at stake here, right? That is, if the convention is held entirely online, it may not take up as much of the news cycle and might not result in as much of a bounce.

geoffrey.skelley: Yeah, it’ll be harder for cable news to cover the conventions if many journalists and hosts aren’t gathered in Milwaukee or Charlotte.

nrakich: That’s a good point, Geoffrey.

geoffrey.skelley: I mean, how can we have a convention without the CNN Grill?

julia_azari: I do wonder, though, how much media coverage is linked to anything that actually happens — like, visible tensions between different camps or unexpected things happening on the floor. Those are really rare, admittedly.

geoffrey.skelley: Well, 2016 was unusual in that there was some convention drama on both sides, even if the nominations were never in doubt. Some Republican rebels were trying to get an open convention vote to stop Trump, while some of Sanders’s supporters were fighting Clinton tooth and nail at the Democratic confab.

sarahf: Of course, this year Trump is the incumbent and Sanders has conceded sooner than he did in 2016. So in some ways, if there is going to be an election with a remote convention, this would be the one to have it, as party unity seems to be less of an issue this year.

julia_azari: Yeah. I am not sure what I would expect from a live Democratic National Convention, since the Sanders camp has been pretty conciliatory with Biden, and I think Democrats perceive the stakes pretty differently this year.

That said, if party unity were in jeopardy, a virtual format could actually help with that, making off-script events like Sanders supporters chanting during 2016 less likely. It might even be a relief for party leaders, but it would definitely be a disappointment for those of us who applaud democracy being at least a little messy.

sarahf: So whether they’re remote — or not — what’s the role of the parties’ conventions this year?

geoffrey.skelley: The role is the same in the sense of promoting the nominee, bringing the party together and uniting for the fall campaign. But if they’re remote, it remains to be seen how the parties carry that out. We’re in uncharted territory.

And just to reiterate the points above, earned media coverage will be much harder to come by if it’s remote. You won’t be able to turn to a 10-person cable news panel on site to discuss something or show clips of people at the convention during a segment on it.

sarahf: That’s true, but I guess I keep wondering what the actual downsides of a remote convention are. Most of what we’re talking about can still be done online, particularly the big keynote addresses from the presidential nominee and the vice-presidential nominee. I guess I’m just not sure if a remote convention is any bigger of a deal than a remote campaign rally or a remote debate.

nrakich: I agree, but I just think the optics will be different — probably in a way that we can’t quite predict until we see it.

Or maybe we can — think about how much more natural a State of the Union address (delivered before an audience) looks than the State of the Union response (often just delivered to a camera).

julia_azari: Though everyone may be used to stuff like that by August! I also think talented TV professionals can still make it interesting. And if we’re still mostly staying at home… well, I’ve watched three things on live TV in the last week, which probably hasn’t happened since 1998.

That said, while a virtual convention might be better at highlighting party unity, it might also double down on the superficial nature of a convention and push aside brewing conflicts to a later date or a different venue. Not to mention, a virtual convention might help the more powerful within the party, meaning the less-powerful factions won’t be able to use the in-person gathering to develop their political connections and networks of groups in different parts of the country. They also won’t be able to generate as much media attention.

I’m not really sure of the importance of national conventions for this stuff, especially in the digital age, but politics has always been about interpersonal relationships in a way that’s hard to quantify.

geoffrey.skelley: It’s tough to say what the impact might be, but I can see why the parties don’t want to go virtual if they don’t have to. There’s potentially less coverage of the event and less of a chance to get their message across.

nrakich: Yeah, it’s a risk, so it’s understandable if a party isn’t eager to take it. That said, sometimes taking a risk works out fine. It’s such an unprecedented situation that I don’t want to make any firm predictions.

julia_azari: I will say, though, that a big campaign point for Democrats is likely to be that the status quo under Trump is not good for a lot of people. A virtual convention could be a pretty good ad for that point of view.

geoffrey.skelley: Conventions are also arguably pretty archaic at this point. I remember the 2012 GOP convention lost a day because of a hurricane, and it wasn’t a big deal because who needed a fourth day?

sarahf: Exactly, Geoffrey. I can’t help but wonder whether we overplay the importance of the convention, when it’s really the speeches from the nominee and running mate that people tune in for, and if a remote convention wouldn’t actually be that big of a deal, especially when so many other things (remote debates, voting by mail) could be ushered in as changes.

nrakich: I suspect that, if we get virtual conventions this year, it will be good for at least a handful of political science dissertations.

julia_azari: It’s important to focus on the real impact. Research.

I’m being a little sarcastic, but I actually think there’s a lot we could learn from this.

It’s hard to apply any political science literature on the roles conventions play to our current moment, as studies tend to be about overall trends and ordinary conditions. And it’s hard, for me at least, to imagine that this campaign will be totally ordinary. There are just so many factors that depend on the context — for example, the economy and the new nature of virtual life under this pandemic. Then there’s also the unusual nature of the incumbent and the fact that Biden is really well-known.

sarahf: OK, to wrap — a remote convention is a very real possibility this year, but like so many other things that are being tossed about as alternatives to how we normally conduct business, there are also a lot of unknowns, i.e., will both parties do it remotely? And what would a remote convention even look like? But say it does happen — what do you see as the biggest downsides for the parties?

nrakich: Well, there’s the loss of the convention bounce as we have already discussed.

But one long-term downside for the parties could be that the networks realize how much of the convention is just pomp and circumstance and they decide they don’t have to cover it nearly as much in the future.

julia_azari: There will be downsides in terms of media coverage, in particular as to what is signaled to moderately attentive voters. When races are close, conventions can remind those who aren’t as plugged in that an election is happening, in addition to what the parties stand for, all while creating a familiar theater of politics.

There are also more subtle and interesting questions for parties about what happens when people don’t meet and have the kinds of informal interactions they usually do, and I think that could mean changes in the ways that parties handle internal conflicts that will have small but long-term effects.

geoffrey.skelley: Yeah, for me it’s coverage, coverage, coverage. That’s probably going to be the biggest casualty of a remote convention, among the other things that Nathaniel and Julia mentioned.

Race Like A Pro: Top Tips From Mike Barnow

The Westchester Track Club coach talks racing strategies, pacing and also establishing a finishing kick.

If there's any person that understands concerning racing, it's Westchester (New York) Track Club's coach Mike Barnow. Barnow has actually been helping joggers of all capabilities because he started the club back in 1973. He currently coaches exclusive jogger Lindsey Scherf, that won the Gasparila Half Marathon earlier this year.

What are some pointers or approaches that runners can try out to stop them from going out too fast in a race? How could they learn how to keep back early as well as not obtain mesmerized in excitement?

Our club trains out at Rockefeller Park. We have these lengthy loopholes. One that I really like is 40 backyards over a mile, and I commonly have my joggers doing two laps on there. Depending on their race. For marathoners, I could have after that doing 4 x 2 for instance. I tell them that I want them to run a negative split for them. If I'm talking to Lindsey [ Scherf], she runs with a team of rapid people, I will certainly inform her to run it just under 12 minutes, so maybe the very first lap is 5:55 to 6 mins. It rolls and it's uneven. We'll do three of them and also I desire the last one to be the fastest of all 3. If she comes via the very first lap in 5:30 and their following lap is 5:58. That's a 28-second downturn. That's no good. So I tell them, "Allow's attempt it once again." They will inform me, "However this is so very easy." As well as it does really feel easy at an early stage. So I want to do long repeats on a loop where you are running the same loophole a 2nd time-- or perhaps a 3rd time. The clock does not exist. In a long race, it ought to not feel hard at the start.

What do you inform your athletes at the beginning line to consider this advice?

I tell them this the moment. I assume in the big races, everyone is really excited. The majority of joggers head out too quick. I inform them, "Do not fret if so as well as so is ahead of you at the start. You obtained to run something realistic early. You could get involved in difficulty. You need to run fairly also splits." Below's an instance: Lindsey was down at eviction River Run this year. Before the race, I told her, "Shalane Flanagan is completely from your organization, exact same with Janet [Bawcom]" Lindsey has this thing in her head that she's visiting beat Janet. I claimed, "Maybe at some point. I know that Janet remained in Kenya for the last few weeks training in warmer climate. This is her initial race and also she will certainly be most likely extremely in shape. I think right now that she's a bit far better compared to you. I stated that if Lindsey ran reasonably also [divides], then possibly she might damage 50 [minutes for 15K] The day of the race, I went to practice [in New york city] and also a bunch of the club participants were asking just how she [Lindsey] did. I told them that the race is taking place. I obtain a text 5 minutes later from her that she obtained 5th place. I was actually delighted. After that she created that she made the blunder and competed Janet. After practice I called her as well as asked her exactly how rapid she ran the first mile. I was believing also pace like 5:15 or 5:18, and also she informs me 4:57. She claimed that Janet preceded her.

Lindsey desired that if Janet heads out that quick, she will go with her, yet I said that following time, Janet will go out as well quick and maybe you capture her. Lindsey admits to me that if she hadn't have gone out so quickly, she might have obtained 3rd or 4th. She ran great despite that opening up mile and also the warmer climate, but she requires to gain from it. Still, I'm really delighted keeping that outcome and also I informed her that she need to be, as well. So from all this, you reached be realistic and your race needs to be fairly even paced unless the training course is like a Boston training course where you recognize that the very early divides are sometimes quite quick, since it's downhill.

About the race itself: When is a great time to draft as well as when is a great time to lead?

The easy response is that you want to prepare on a windy day. It's nice if you understand a few the joggers that you are competitors with as well as you accept work with each other as well as share [the lead] each mile. You want to make your run for house at a certain factor. If you know that a person can outkick you right at the end, then you have to make your step earlier in the race. You need to evaluate your personal level of fitness as well as that you are competing.

Is there ever a hard time to lead?

Yes. I would state if I have a professional athlete as well as they are everything about even in regards to health and fitness. I would certainly tell them do not lead the entire way. It's difficult to judge the pace right. You view these races where individuals head out as well fast as well as you state, "Child, they would certainly like to have that back." They open up this substantial lead as well as the wheels come off. When you enter problem, you are powerless.

How could you work on your finishing kick in training?

I don't care what kind of form you are in, you have to rate your race. You have to be reasonably fresh at the end. You have to discover by doing. So I have people dealing with adverse splits in method. So the loop I was discussing, I would desire them running something like 6:10, 6:10, and also 5:55 for example. Do that a couple of times.

Can you do various other points besides running adverse divides for that kick? Can you do quarters or something shorter?

Lindsey pertained to me with a similar inquiry. She say that [Renato] Canova was having his half marathoners do 400s and also 200s. Really quick things. I informed her that I don't want her doing that at all. You do not require to do 200s for 400s to build up your speed. The many things that I've been making use of for several years and years at the Rockies [Rockefeller State Park] is a hillside with just like 3 or 4 degrees. It's an uphill, but it's not steep. It's softer surface area without any turns. It merely climbs, as well as I have the joggers doing 2-minute or 1-minute runs up it and also jogging back and also going once again. I state to them that it need to seem like the last 30 secs of that 2 minutes is your finest running. Do it once more, as well as again, and also again. That's exactly what I've been doing. I have actually gotten away from the track for quite a few years now. When I was running, back in the ancient times, the tracks were cinder. They were dirt, and you could possibly do a great deal of quarters. They are all-weather now. They are great for racing, however very hard for doing extreme exercises and not getting hurt. That's my take. You see on social media all of [Galen] Rupp's exercises after a race. [Alberto] Salazar has him training after a race. I believe all the senior high school instructors are considering this. The children are considering this, and I assume it's a great way to obtain harmed. Exactly how do you do an extreme race on an interior track, a hard track, and then do a HALF AN HOUR exercise on the same surface?

Are there any other racing approaches that you could suggest?

How concerning this: Unless you remain in Central Park as well as run there at all times, I recommend to my runners that they should heat up on the program in reverse. They require to understand the last 2 miles of the course. Know where you are. If you've run the training course 5 times and I've never ever been there, then you have a benefit over me. If you start pressing at the end, you have to recognize where you are. You have to know the surface of the course if you are really competitive. Another point I would say is to relieve right into your season. As soon as you have actually got a few races under your belt and also you are much more in shape, you could be much more hostile. In early-season races, you are so much better of running traditional.

(via The Afterlife: A Definitive Guide) A Guide to the Afterlife (Channeling)Stories about the afterlife -- and what life is like on the other side -- can be found in almost every culture across the world and have circulated in texts and religious doctrines throughout history. We all want to know what happens after we die. For many people, then, it is enormously life-affirming to know that our brief sojourn on Earth is not just a series of random events without meaning, and that a greater purpose lies ahead for us in another world. To help draw my own conclusions about the afterlife, I decided to ask the Michael entity for their input, and channeled the following answers using twenty-six questions. Descriptions of the afterlife are as varied as they are similar, and often impossible to validate. In the end it comes down to what resonates the most for you. Some of the answers may be surprising -- even startlling -- but in either case, a fascinating journey lies ahead. What is the afterlife? Following the death of the physical body, the soul is released from its earth-bound vessel of flesh and bone, and with the assistance of a guide, passes through the etheric tunnel (the familiar passage with a beckoning light at the end) that exits into a higher plane of existence -- often referred to as the spirit world, the astral plane, the afterlife, or in your Christian terms, heaven. During a near-death experience, is the person getting a glimpse of the astral? Near-death experiences, if not hallucinatory, do offer glimpses of the astral. Although, as the soul is still corded to the physical body, the visions get skewed with interpretations related to earth-based belief systems and expectations. More so, the vision lacks clarity and often assumes elements of fantasy and mysticism. This is no fault of the viewer. Unless otherwise trained, a soul still connected to the body tends to see the astral with a little distortion. Is Heaven the same as the astral plane?Yes and no. Common depictions of heaven, as recorded in religious doctrine, are fictitious representations of how the astral was perceived from a religious perspective. In some communities on the astral, where beliefs about a Christian deity are deeply ingrained, pearly-white gates may surround the property. Baby souls or young soul priests looking for congregations to inspire, tend to flock to these areas, the astral equivalent of the mid-western United States. Belief systems, especially those backed by deep emotional convictions, are allowed to manifest on the astral unfettered till the nature of the beliefs change and soul feel ready to choose the next stage of development. Is Hell a real place? Hell, under the guise of its biblical associations, is just a way of deferring guilt and not taking responsibility for the evil doings of man. Hell is not real in the sense that the physical is real or the astral is real. In some instances hell can be the internal suffering of a tortured soul made manifest using the malleable clay of astral energy, but these hellish constructs are fleeting and illusionary. In a more real sense, hell is the state of a mind disconnected from essence (or the true self). What is the afterlife like? Is it similar to Earth?The astral plane (or afterlife) is roughly positioned over the same terrestrial space which you would call Earth (or in our terminology, the physical plane as it pertains to the cycle of incarnations in your system). The essential difference is that the astral sphere vibrates at a higher rate, transcending the vibrational rate of the physical plane's molecular structures.The other notable difference is that areas of terrestrial space are unlimited in this dimension, and the geographical terrain can greatly expand. While the familiar landmarks and other distinguishing features of the Earth still remain (the oceans, the mountains, and so forth) the malleable nature of the plane allows for unlimited deviations of the geography, all dependent on the imaginative and creative desires of those occupying a particular region. On the astral plane, beach front property is available to all who can imagine it. Limitations of space, far too common on earth, do not exist on the astral. Think of the astral as a giant erector set whose only boundaries are those of the imagination. As we said, certain Earth coordinates still exist, but all familiar landmarks may get enhanced and re-envisioned, dependent on the whims of an individual creator or host of co-creators. Your cinematic depictions of the astral as an ever-changing canvas, with each color and brush stroke charged with emotional intensity, is not far off the mark. The astral is more about the inner manifestations of its inhabitants, whereas the physical concerns the outer. This is why physical existence is so chaotic and seemingly without order. A connection to the inner self doesn't easily manifest on Earth, giving physical existence a sense of randomness that seems solely driven by Nature. Is there night & day on the astral?Since there exists an astral version of the sun, the moon and all the celestial wonders in the Universe, yes, an earth-like equivalent of night and day does exist on the astral. Not all souls choose to abide by such familiar cycles, and in their individual world they may surround themselves with an endless sun or an endless night. Visitors to these unexpected defiances of natural cycles may feel off-kilter or out of sync, so most souls choose to reside where natural earth cycles still continue. Does the afterlife feel solid to souls? Solidity is just an illusion and only pertains to the corresponding experiential plane where one resides. For all intents and purposes, this is solid enough for most. The astral plane, then, does have a feeling of solidity for those who vibrate at that level. Unlike the physical, though, the astral has more give and take, and while the walls of a dwelling will feel solid, with a little effort an astral body can pass through them. What do we look like in the afterlife? Do we have bodies? Many souls prefer the use of recognizable bodies in the afterlife, although they are not necessary. On the higher levels these bodies are often traded for light forms, but this is the personal choice of the soul. For souls still in the reincarnational cycle, the use of bodies is more common and helps keep the soul in touch with their former and future lifetimes on earth. As far as a particular look, most souls assume the age level from a previous lifetime where they felt most in the prime of their life. But there is no rule of thumb here. Souls often present themselves differently to people depending on how they were most remembered by that person. Can souls on the astral see what's happening on Earth? Earth-time events are not seen as much as they are felt energetically, like waves that crash against a shoreline. The stronger the event, the larger the wave. To actually SEE what's happening on earth requires visitation, and outposts operated by astral ambassadors routinely monitor what's occurring on earth, charting current events to gauge probable outcomes. Spiritual guides, of course, also help track life on earth at a microcosmic level, and an enormous body of collective information can be passed on to interested parties. In other words, networks in place assist in exchanging and retrieving information, not dissimilar to the information superhighway you know as the Internet. While some bleed-through from the physical to the astral occurs, these are two different worlds and their natural life rhythms run separately. Can our deceased loved ones hear us? And do they ever visit? An energetic bond exists between all loved ones that is even more pronounced on the other side. The connection is well-established and not easily removed. This could conceivably become a nuisance if the channel of communication was perpetually open, and certain buffers are in place. Hence, communication with a loved one is more successful when directed with strong intent and immediacy. Loved ones do watch over you in an energetic sense, taking note of fluctuations in your auric field that deviate from what is normal for you. They can also make personal visits, and they see into your world from the outside looking in, a quasi-fourth dimensional perspective, as if your life were contained in a fish tank. Do the souls of animals exist on the other side? Animals (and beloved pets) do exist on the astral, since all living creatures are endowed with a soul. Animals, however, differ from human beings in the way that their souls are energetically configured. Dogs, for instance, evolve under the umbrella of a collective group known as a hive soul. Lacking the complexity of the human soul, non-sentient creatures rely on the collective experiences of their hive soul to help guide their perception and understanding of the world. The natural instinctive mechanism so apparent in animals comes from this connection to the hive soul, which allows them to quickly tap into the past experiences of their greater soul group when faced with an obstacle or challenge. The dispersion of animals across the astral is generally in select areas chosen for their continued development as a species. This does not mean animals never intermingle in human populated areas of the astral, but their home base is mostly among their own kind. Domesticated animals are seen more frequently in co-habitations with human souls, but these arrangements are visitations rather than the lifetime durations encountered on Earth. How do people live in the afterlife? In towns? In homes?Souls tend to congregate according to belief systems and energetic connections. It is not unusual for astral cities and towns to develop based on ties to cadre groups, cadres, and entities. These groups often incarnate together so the connections naturally draw them together again on the other side. Some souls are content to reside in these comfortable arrangements, but more adventurous souls may choose to live in out-lier regions -- an astral wilderness of their own creation -- yet they are not as isolated as it may seem, since souls can be together within a flash by mere thought or intention. Do they live in homes?Many do, especially on the lower astral. What do people do in the spirit world?On the astral plane, a soul -- now removed from the daily struggles of survival that once demanded so much -- explores more authentic aspects of self formerly repressed during an incarnation (either out of necessity or from a lack of opportunity). Latent talents, select interests, or personal causes are now nurtured and developed, laying the groundwork for further exploration. What people do, however, is as varied and unlimited as the stars in the heavens. With no agendas imposed or deadlines to reach, all that spurs a soul to seek another lifetime is an internal mechanism, like a ticking clock still connected to Earth-based time, that nudges and creates a yearning to reach for something more. Can people read books, watch movies, or otherwise enjoy previous earthly pleasures? The earthly pleasures once enjoyed do exist on the astral, and in many cases are even grander and more emotionally expansive than they were on the physical. Music, for instance, can reach heights of emotional ecstasy unavailable to those on earth formerly bound by the limitations and audible spectrum of sound waves. As spectacular as the music on the physical can be, when compared to the vibrant richness and wonder of the astral, it is like a flawed imitation of the real thing, similar to paint-by-numbers renditions of great works of art.What about books and movies on Earth?Souls who have developed archival skills, that is, souls with an affinity for accessing Akashic energy, can retrieve earth-based documents and related minutiae, such as books and movies. Specialists are also available who will retrieve these records for you, similar to the way a document is downloaded on the Internet. This retrieval is not as popular as you might think, since the choices for entertainment on the astral are exceedingly more vibrant and rich. An example would be comparing the scratchy reel of an old silent movie to a Blu-Ray disc-- except even the Blu-Ray pales when compared to what's possible on the astral. Regarding earthly pleasures, what does it look like to see a performance of a musical in the afterlife? Are there cast members or is it all in the mind of the creator? Are performances scheduled? Musicals, or any live performance for that matter (such as theatrical plays, orchestral concerts, or solo acts) will energetically attract souls most in alignment with the aesthetic values associated with the work. In other words, all expressions of art will resonate with others on a similar wave-length and they will feel drawn to attend a particular performance, without the need of advanced promotions or scheduling. Since a soul on the astral can be several places at once, getting pulled to an impromptu performance by Beethoven, for example, is not the interruption it would seem, and is diametrically opposite from the perspective of those on the physical, where the level of focus is one thing at a time. In some theatrical plays and musical performances, the writer or composer indeed engineers the entire performance themselves, dividing parts of self to act the roles or perform the instrumental parts. Such virtuosic displays, however, are more rare, and most creators choose collaborative performances where -- in the case of a musical -- familiar performers that the composer once worked with gather for the show. Rehearsals are rare, mainly because on the astral the physical limitations of a vocal instrument or the memorization of dialogue is not a hindrance. On the astral, the idea of practice or rehearsal is more akin to exploring new ways of expressing the work. The stage sets used in live performances, such as musicals or plays, are holographic in nature, where the backdrops and props change to suit the settings and context of the story. The phrase live performance is perhaps a misnomer in the exact definition, as these shows can be tuned-in on a psychic level without attending in person, and a resonance of the event can also be found and replayed, the astral equivalent of the TIVO or DVR. Overall, artistic works are generally performed in two ways: a standard interpretation of the work, where performance practices during the period of its conception are honored and adhered to, and a more improvisatory interpretation, where the writer or composer performs the work in the ways he originally conceived it -- but later rejected for various reasons -- or in a new way that evolves the work further. On the astral, all acts of creativity continuously change and evolve and are never static. Is there a form of entertainment enjoyed on the astral that's not found on Earth? Yes. One form of entertainment (that's also highly instructive) is to play out the many forks in the road not taken during a physical incarnation. In some sense this is actually a serious form of study, but many souls also use this as a diversion or a form of play. So many instances occur during a lifetime where a certain choice may have led to interesting (even delightful) experiences that it can be fun to see where these divergent paths may have led. The possibilities are endless for a soul that wishes to explore every nook and cranny of a particular lifetime. And some souls will replay these experiences, almost like a form of comfort food. Do these forms of play involve following parallels?The sense of play we refer to here may involve certain potentialities or parallel threads in a lifetime, but in most cases do not. Parallel paths are likely charted to completion when a certain choice would have led to significant change in that lifetime. The playful scenarios we mentioned are less significant and more like what might have happened if you had gone to the prom with Jennifer rather than Susan -- or similar escapades that would be fun to explore but are not necessarily significant in a life changing way. As mentioned earlier, these scenarios can also be instructional, and souls on the astral routinely reconstruct events from their life where they choose to behave differently in a situation, or learn, through practice, to handle a difficult encounter with a mindset that is more spiritually awake.As I channeled about life on the astral, the term Epochal Layers came to mind. Is this valid? The concept of Epochal Layers is valid. Significant periods in the timeline of any culture leave indelible markers in the fabric of the astral that resonate long after their ruination on earth. They may be visited and explored. An astral visitor to Egypt, for instance, would encounter an area similar to modern Egypt, save for the obvious modifications due to the consensus reality of those residing there. With a little training, however, referred to as the shimmering effect, one will receive glimpses -- that seem to shimmer in an after glow -- of what once was in a particular area. It is possible, without getting too technical, to dial through these significant epochs of time that still resonate, and thoroughly explore them. These time loops, so to speak, are historically factual representations of the area. Some souls even choose to live in these timelines from the past, mostly because they were once comfortable with them or just feel nostalgic. Ancient Greece is a popular epochal layer on the astral, both for visitors and those who choose to live there. Adventurous souls may even visit earth when it was once an enormous super continent and encounter some of the strange creatures that once roamed the planet. Many find the large insects more unsettling than the surprisingly docile dinosaurs. The astral plane seems like a joyous place to exist. Is there a dark side? Some souls on the astral do lack the sophistication and spiritual awareness of others, and souls returning from earthly incarnations where their darker sides ruled their personal choices and behavior, leave karmic wakes of devastation and anguish. Even these souls, however, who now face lifetimes of karmic repayment, are partially cleansed of their prior actions by the healing light of the astral, a universal solvent that helps to restore balance in even the most troubled and damaged souls. This is not to say that the gravity of their prior actions is ignored, but with help from guides and wisdom teachers, their original soul agenda can be restored. Do people still judge and exclude others? People are still people, even on the astral. Despite the availability of unlimited love and support, angry souls do exist and their fear may override better judgment. Unlike the physical plane, however, no one on the astral can be harmed when angry outbursts escalate to acts of violence. The astral body cannot be broken. The violence of the emotion is still not a comfortable encounter, and intense sessions of counseling are suggested for those that wallow in destructive, emotional states. Unresolved issues brought back to the physical for reexamination are not always met in a favorable light, and the vicious circle will continue. Are there places on the astral that are not safe to visit? Not as much on the astral. Although earth-bound fragments, bloated by the weight of their ignorance and malice toward those still living, have become too dense in vibration to exist on the level of the astral world. Neighborhoods inhabited by these lost souls are located somewhere between the vibrational midpoint of the physical and astral realms. It is a spiritual dead zone that those visiting the earth plane are advised not to visit. In many ways it's similar to the skid row districts on earth, and special envoys of missionary souls periodically canvas these areas, searching for souls to save. It is not a place of purgatory or even a hellish region, just a bleak repository of sad and misguided souls whose disheartened beliefs about their reality have temporarily exiled them to a forgotten land. Eventually these tortured beings are rescued from their plight. How is the astral body constructed? Could it be explained scientifically? The closest thing in science that would explain the structure of an astral body is particle physics. To simplify our answer, all molecular and atomic structures have astral counterparts that exist at higher vibrational levels. In layman's terms, this means that what exists on the physical is in some ways a carbon copy of what already exists on the astral. The energy has simply been stepped-down to accommodate physical plane constructs and the physics associated with it. The key to understanding this process is simple: nothing is truly solid. Solidity is just a parlor trick of the physical universe. The table before you, for instance, feels solid, but a life form whose molecular structure oscillates at lower or higher vibrational rates could easily pass through the table. This illusion of substance allows separate worlds of experience to exist together simultaneously in a single unit of mass consciousness, despite their apparent separateness. Is there a form of government in the afterlife? Governing bodies do exist in the afterlife, but they are not based on hierarchical positions of ever-increasing power. Instead, these positions are volunteer-based and perfectly matched to the particular talents and personal attributes of the soul temporarily seeking the position. There are no laws passed or contentious legislature to bicker over, just a collective body of like-minded souls with an interest in serving others. A detailed description of these job positions would be too numerous to list, but the general thrust of most volunteer activities involves an infrastructure of cross-networks that support the spiritual development and aspirations of its residents. Cooperation is perhaps the chief organizing principle of these governing bodies. Does the astral consist of multiple levels of development? Levels of development do exist on the astral, as well as on other planes of existence. Each level consists of certain milestones that act as markers of that development, and souls gradually become lighter and decrease in density as they progress up the ladder, so to speak. There are seven levels in total, with stages in between. These stages of learning, all in multiples of seven, continue throughout the planes of evolution. The lower levels of the astral are used for the reincarnational cycle involving the earth-plane. The first level is for new arrivals (and some astral projection occurs here), the second level is for temporary settlements (day to day living), and the third is for guides, teachers, or more advanced souls finished with their incarnations but still reincarnating for special purposes or select missions. Graduation to the fourth level comes after the completion of the reincarnational cycle, with the potentialities of the astral now fully realized and brought to bear. Levels five through seven brings an increased awareness to connections between larger soul families, and these groups are gradually reunited and energetically coalesced into a unified whole. Students of the Michael teachings would call this the recombining of an entity, a group of around a thousand souls or more. If Earth were to become uninhabitable as a result of any of a number of catastrophes, would there still be an associated astral plane? Or if it is just not habitable for humans, but some plant and animal life remain, would there be an astral for them?Understand that the region known as the astral extends well beyond the comparatively small space encompassing your planet Earth. The veil of the astral, in effect, shrouds the entire Universe. In a mass extinction event, which we do not see as a major probability at this time, the astral does not close its doors for business. The locality is simply less occupied. Any life forms remaining on earth would continue their cycle as long as environmental conditions remained somewhat livable and provided viable opportunities for growth from the experience. Since astral realms are heavily governed by the consensus reality of its inhabitants, the general appearance of the locality would change to accommodate those life forms still participating in a cycle. Why is the Universe so big? And does the astral mirror it all?The enormity of the physical Universe can not even be measured in mathematical terms. The Universe as you know it is just one microcosm of many other universes, all staggering in their enormity, all expanding and evolving in a perpetual state of creative outpouring that, to be quite honest, we don't entirely understand. The astral is indeed a part of it all, as are the other dimensional realms, reaching all the way back to the Tao (or God). What is the purpose of an afterlife? In terms of the reincarnational cycle, the afterlife is a temporary layover (although this can involve centuries) where the soul can regroup, recharge, access what was learned, and lay the groundwork for the next lifetime. Considerable growth results from not only having the experience but from revisiting those life experiences from a place removed from the original drama on stage. Considerable preparation also goes into planning the next lifetime -- at least on an essence level (or higher self). This involves charting the life task, choosing the overleaves to accommodate, vetting suitable parents, making agreements with others that facilitate the life plan envisioned, and setting up appropriate obstacles for continued growth.

A Boy and His Shadow: Part 1

So… I’m new to this. And I wanted to start off by saying that I don’t post on things like this much. But… I want to work on my writing some more. So… once in a while… I’d like to be social and post some of my works. So… here’s something I wrote up today as a little test. Just a quick excerpt. Nothing fancy.

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His hands gave another violent tremor as more footsteps marched past the far tree to his left. This world’s sky was unusually dark at this time of night, and its people were relentless in their search for his position. Even now, as he continued to press his back against a strangely smooth, square stone, his senses continued to work overtime as his heart pounded harder with each footstep that came within several steps of his poor hiding place.

Another tremble erupted through his hands, this time moving its way up to his shoulders, through his chest, and to his neck. He instantly grabbed his left arm at his wrist and squeezed it for dear life. “Not now,” he thought to his arm as the tremble faded again. He had been in this strange world too long. He needed to gather enough power to summon a portal back. But obtaining that level of power required a full amount of concentration in order to tap into his years of focus at keeping his power in a state of tranquility and calmness. However, in the state his body was in, he knew that should he summon his power at that very instant… well… if his mistress could see him now. The only other word that came to his mind at that moment was “Fool”, as she had grown quite fond of saying when she referenced him in any way. “Fool this, fool that. Fool, can you take out the garbage? Fool, can you control your own power? Fool, can you stop being as weak as your parents for one second?”

He let out a chuckle as his body gave off a full tremor just as one more footstep sounded ten steps to his left, followed by another set of approaching footsteps. There were two of them that he could see from where he was, each holding metallic weapons that held mechanical movements he had never seen or heard before. However, he knew that they were weapons… and he had the marks to prove it on his arms and a small gash on his left leg. Yet though they were healing at their usual rate, he needed more time before he could counter them with his full mindset still intact.

“Do you see it?” the first one said. Luckily, they spoke a language quite old in his own world, yet their vocalized usage of the language held a strange pep to it that felt almost… juvenile.

“No,” the other replied, a slight quiver in his voice. “Did you see how it moved though?”

“Yeah.”

“I mean…,” the second one gulped before speaking again, “It was like the night was swirling around us! I’ve never seen anything like that. Should we even be out here?”

The first one knocked the second on their shoulder. “Control yourself, man! The higher ups send us out here to do this kind of thing all the time. A portal opens, we go. And our orders are always the same. Capture or eliminate depending upon cooperation. We’ve done this a million times.”

“Yeah, I know… but…,” the second one took a second to look about the woods. From the looks of it, his vision wasn’t the best. Then again, none of these strange beings appeared to be that capable under the protection of the night waves. Even with their strange mechanical devices attached all about their bodies, they still seemed unsure of their surroundings, even unsure of their own potential. It was a useful fact to know right now and perhaps for the future as well.

“No buts!” the first one shouted. “HQ has a high priority for this one and it’s our job to do whatever it takes to bring this Class 0 Otherworldly Being in.”

“But…”

“What did I just say?”

The second one sighed before hoisting his metallic weapon up to his shoulder as he pointed it towards the Otherworldly Being’s hiding spot. The being braced for what was to come, but strangely, the second one’s weapon veered off slightly to the right as a third set of footsteps soon approached. Soon, a thinner third individual stepped into view. This one held two smaller weapons on their hips and had a white piece of stone on their right shoulder.

“Captain!” the second one stated.

“Soldiers,” the third individual stated. Their voice was a much higher pitch than the first two, perhaps a female of their race. But the strength the being sensed from her was… intense… and also “contained” in a strange sort of way. But based on their common form of ranking that he had encountered many times before, he assumed that this one held control that far outweighed the power of the first two. “Status report.”

Both soldiers reached their hands to their heads in a strange motion before the first one answered first, “No sign of the subject yet, Captain. But it couldn’t have gotten far with the number of constructs we hit it with.”

“Yeah!” the second one piped with bizarrely renewed vigor. “I’ve never seen anyone escape you like that though, Captain. Even with your accuracy and ability, I guess a Class 0 really does outshine anything we have in this world. I mean for starte—.” The second one gave the first a pop on the head, silencing him immediately.

“Quiet! We aren’t here to gloat or to earn brownie points, Johns. We are here with an important job. So stop wasting the Captain’s time.”

The second one, now identified as Johns, rubbed the metallic covering on top of his head before speaking once again, “You didn’t have to hit me so hard, ya know, Mack.”

“Hmph,” Mack bellowed as he repositioned his weapon closer to his chest, “We both know that the only way to knock some sense into you is literally. But I digress. Captain, there are no signs of the Class 0. But our sensors tracked its movements to this part of the woods. Its powers are unlike anything we’ve seen. Its movements and abilities are almost… monstrous.” The being would have almost felt a tad bit of offense if Mack’s words hadn’t been… well… okay… they were a bit true… but only in certain situations… like this one for instance.

“Well keep your eyes open for anything. This one seems truly extraordinary. If possible, I’d like to track it down before it causes any more commotion for us. We don’t want the masses seeing anything like this. And we definitely don’t want such a rare Class to get away like this. Not when we are at such a crucial point in the HQ’s research.”

“Do you think we’ll be able to prepare for what’s to come if we are able to capture the Class 0, ma’am? Mack asked.

“Of course not,” the Captain replied. “Thinking that we can prepare for the worst is what caught us off guard like this in the first place. No, the only way to prepare for the worst is to encounter the worst head on and think about the consequences later. Waiting for the worst to come to us first will only bring us to another massacre. And I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of burying our own.”

“True words, Captain, “Mack proudly stated as Johns gave a jubilant nod next to him.

“Now, stick together and head North. I’ll check the East again. ETA to our next rendezvous is 20 minutes.”

Both men gave another strange salute before proceeding North. But… strangely, the Captain did not move from her position. Instead, she drew her left arm close to her face and removed her metallic cap from her face, revealing a pale face with a heavy scar down the left side. Her hair was a dirty red almost approaching brown, and her eyes were heavy, as though the whole world were on her shoulders and no one else’s. It was a look the being had seen on his mistress’ face for many years, a look he hoped to see once again if he could one day… assuming that she… well…

His body reacted before he consciously thought about it as he whirled behind just as the loud crunch of a footstep came but three steps away from him. It was one of them, a new soldier he hadn’t seen before that had slipped past his senses as they had been preoccupied with the reflection into past memories in his mind. How he hated being in a flustered state like this. But he had wanted to test his prowess in another world. He wanted to show off just how powerful he had become and that no matter the place or time in space, he could handle it. But obviously, he had bargained for more that he had sought.

“Soldier 5.23 of the Divinity Unit calling headquarters, I have found the suspect. Moving in for suppression and containment.” As the soldier finished speaking to a person unseen by the being, the being put up his hand and held it widely before himself, which caused the soldier to clasp its weapon tighter, its center point aimed directly at the being’s hand.

“No— now see here,” the being stuttered. It had been so long since it had spoken in a common dialect like this. So it took a while for his brain to find the right words again. “I don’t want to do this. Please let me be on my way. I mean you no harm.”

The soldier’s weapon made a loud click as the soldier pressed the back end of it more into their shoulder. “Do not dare to speak to me, Class 0. You are an otherworldly threat that has entered our world without permission. Lay down any weapons you have and put your everything on the ground, now!”

“Without permission?” The otherworldly being laughed, despite the situation. “Does your kind control the borders between worlds?”

“What?” the soldier clumsily asked.

“I said… does your kind control the borders between worlds?”

“Who cares about the borders?” the soldier rudely stated. “All I care about is protecting this world. And if you come here uninvited, then you should be prepared for the consequences. Is that clear?”

The being sighed before speaking again. “You are not listening at all. If your kind does not control the borders between worlds, what gives you the right to tell another world’s beings what to do and not to do? Who gave your kind the permission to dominate a full world to yourself?”

A hard, shell-like mass whizzed out of the soldier’s weapon and hit the stone structure just above the being’s right shoulder. The being’s body began to tremble all over, only this time, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop it. It was a feeling he had thought he had grown to have full control over. But… he didn’t think another world would throw his emotions so out of his control… nor his own power. And so… if he didn’t use all of his concentration here and now to halt his body… well…

The being grunted once at the spot where the shell had hit before looking back at the soldier. “Please don’t do that again. I have grown quite tired of those devices.”

“I give the commands here, Class 0. Now, as I said before, everything on the ground!” The soldier tightened his grip upon the weapon once again. “Or this time… the next one is going in your head.”

The tremble in the being’s arm was at a point he knew he couldn’t stop. But if he could just escape this one soldier, then maybe… just maybe… he wouldn’t have to hurt him in any way. After all, it had been years since he had last had an outbreak. And if he ever did lose control again… well… he didn’t dare think of what his mistress would say if he did.

“Hey, who is over there? Identify yourself this instant!” The being had forgotten that the Captain had still been quite close to his current position.

“Captain!” the soldier began, “This is soldier 5.23. I have the subject over here!”

“Do not engage!” the Captain began to yell as the being heard her footsteps begin to close in, “I repeat… do not engage!”

“But, Captain! The subject is cornered and… huh? Where is…?” The soldier looked down at his weapon, then grew a sense of confusion upon himself as he realized that his weapon was now in the snow before him, along with one of his arms. “Wha… what? WHAT?!” Though the being couldn’t visually see the soldier’s face due to the metallic cap the soldier had covering his whole face, the being’s senses were still easily able to sense the fear beginning to disseminate about the soldier’s entire body.

But it was far too late for the soldier before the being, and the soldiers about the woods as well. The being gave a sniff of the soldier’s second arm in his hands before throwing away in disgust. The trembling had stopped… but that was only because his body had finally moved completely into a state of fight or flight unique to him and him alone. The shadows began to wrap around him, their cold touch permeating his body down to his very cells… their embrace beginning to warp his mind into a state of kill or be killed. In this state, all he could do was sit back like a passenger in his own body as instinct took over, the instinct to live. And though the soldier before him was helpless now, the being knew that his instincts did not distinguish between defenseless and a threat in this state.

No, the only thing his body cried out to his mind right now was the will to survive, the will to live, and the will to kill anything that stood in his way. Another footstep sounded two steps away from the being. But the Captain was far too late for the being was already five steps away from her, then ten steps away, then… well… he could barely hear her heartbeat from where he now stood. But, as he looked at the head clutched between his fingers, a sense of intrigue flooded its way into his instincts. It felt almost as if… yes… he knew without a doubt. This world… perhaps this world held more for him than he thought. He threw the head away as another heartbeat came within several steps of him. And… without another thought… the shadows wrapped themselves around him again as the night became his once again.

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Once again, nothing fancy. Just… a quick thing I thought of. I should end this first post with something nice. Let’s see… dank memes make the world a better place!

Grelle Sutcliff~

=BASIC INFO= FULL NAME: Grelle Sutcliff  NICKNAME(S)/ALIAS(ES): Red Reaper PRONUNCIATION(S): Gr-elle AGE: over a century old looks to be in mid twenties GENDER: Trans woman  SPECIES: grim reaper BIRTH DATE: May 30th SEXUALITY: Pansexual =PERSONALITY= PERSONALITY: Teasing, flirty, trouble making, twisted, bloodthirsty, depressed EMBODYING QUALITY/IDEA: A god of death, one for a lust for blood and a knack for causing trouble.  LIKES: Blood, red, drawing, fashion, sewing, singing, makeup, shopping, fighting, her chainsaw, love, romance DISLIKES: Paperwork, uniforms, rules, boring people, weak people, getting in trouble (caught breaking rules more like), getting told “no”, overtime, her work as a reaper, being a man, people who call her a male, transphobic and homophobic people FEARS: Never finding love WEAKNESSES: She has too much of a heart—or at least, she’s too quick to jump into love. She also just does whatever the hell she wants to do.  STRENGTHS: is really tough and stubborn with her beliefs, is open to new ideas an experiences, is supportive of anyone and everyone’s sexuality and preferred pronouns despite living in an era where that’s unheard of SPECIAL/SIGNIFICANT BELONGINGS: Grelle adores her custom made death scythe, a red chainsaw. She also commonly wears red, and will most likely be donning the coat of her late mistress, Madam Red. =PHYSICAL AND HEALTH INFO= HEIGHT:  5′9 WEIGHT: 146 BODY TYPE: Slim body with toned muscles hidden under her clothes. She’s quite strong and muscular, just doesn’t seem that way.  JEWELRY: Earrings, necklaces, bracelets, whatever she can find or buy in her spare time. She loves to look beautiful.  PIERCINGS/TATTOOS: She doesn’t really have piercings, or for long at least. There have been a few times where she pierces her ears, nose, lips, and other areas over time. However, if she leaves the hole open with no ring, it will fill up in a day due to her being a reaper.  SCARS/DISTINGUISHING MARKS: She has various scars along her body due to cuts with her own death scythe when she was training with it. She also has lots of freckles on her cheeks and nose, as well as shoulders, but she covers the ones on her face with makeup and the ones on her shoulders with clothes.  =RELATIONSHIP INFO= RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Verse dependent  PARENTS: Élisa Sutcliff (mother, deceased), Maurice Sutcliff (father, deceased) SIBLING(S):  Christine (eldest sister), Sophia (second oldest sister), Rose (third oldest sister) – BEST FRIEND(S): Ronald Knox, Madam Red, verse dependent FRIENDS: William T. Spears (?), verse dependent ACQUAINTANCES: Ciel Phantomhive, Sebastian Michaelis, Undertaker, the Midford family, verse dependent ASSISTANTS: Verse dependent GUARDS: N/A ALLIES: Verse dependent  PETS/SPECIAL ANIMALS: Verse dependent – ENEMIES: Ciel Phantomhive, Sebastian Michaelis, Undertaker, herself, her parents, verse dependent MAIN ENEMY(IES): Sebastian Michaelis, verse dependent MOST HATED: her parents, verse dependent =STORY INFO= STORIES THAT THIS CHARACTER APPEARS IN: Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji STATUS: Alive (well...dead, but alive) BACKSTORY: Grelle was born in late 18th century France, way out in the country. Her family lived on a farm, and she was the youngest out of four children and the only boy. As being the only son, she was forced to do all of the hard and draining chores. Her parents didn’t care about her in the slightest and only thought of her as someone to take care of the farm, not as their own child. Her sisters loved her though, and they would play dress up with her and play fun games that most little boys would cringe and complain about. But Grelle (or just Grell at the time) loved it. However, when she grew older, she found that she just didn’t feel...right in her own body. And to make matters worse, she seemed to have developed feelings for some of the boys in the nearby town. Way back then, homosexuality was a crime punishable by death, and being trans was just unheard of. So, Grelle had to keep it a secret from everyone. When her family finally found out, she was kicked out and told to go die somewhere. She stole some of her parents’ money and used it to go to London, as the English always fascinated her and her sisters had begun to teach her how to speak the language. There, she became a murderer and killed happy women who were in a happy relationship, something Grelle would never have. When she was almost caught, she hung herself in the hopes that she will be reborn as a woman. But that never happened. She awoke as a grim reaper, still in her male body, and has been trapped like this ever since. – PLACE OF BIRTH: France PAST LIVING QUARTERS: France, London, Madam Red’s Manor CURRENT AND FUTURE HOMES: Reaper world – NATIVE LANGUAGE(S): French LANGUAGES SPOKEN: French, English, German, some Russian, some Japanese. =TALENTS/OCCUPATION/EDUCATION= OCCUPATION/JOB: Grim Reaper BOSS: Reaper Council TALENTS: An excellent student back in her academy days, and an excellent fighter. She would be a great reaper if she would just do as told. YEARS OF EDUCATION: No formal education, was in the Reaper academy as a grim reaper for eight years LEVEL OF EDUCATION: Graduated the reaper academy =COMBAT= SKILLS/TECHNIQUES:  Fights typically with her death scythe, a heavy chainsaw that requires two hands to hold. She’s better with heavy weapons and uses that to her advantage. Her style of fighting is a bit more barbaric as she goes straight for her enemy and will swing relentlessly at them. SPECIAL POWERS: As a grim reaper, she has super strength, speed, agility, and endurance. Also, and this is a headcanon of mine, all grim reapers have a secret and special ability that is unique to them and how/why they died. Grelle died with the hope of changing who she was. As a result, she was born with the ability to manipulate her appearance. However, grim reapers don’t know of this power to prevent an uprising. Grelle knows faintly of her ability to change her appearance, but just assumes all reapers can do that. She doesn’t have many friends to ask about this power to. She also doesn’t know of the extent of this power. WEAPON(S) OF CHOICE: Her customized death scythe, a red chainsaw (of death~~) STRENGTHS: Heightened Speed, agility, strength, and pain tolerance/healing speed. WEAKNESSES: Since her weapon is so heavy, her attacks are a bit slower and leave her vulnerable mid attack. But her reflexes are so fast that it almost doesn’t even matter. =VERSES= ~hσld чσur вrєαth αnd cσunt thє dαчѕ; wє‘rє grαduαtíng ѕσσn~ [High School Verse]—A modern day high school Verse!! Grelle is a popular and outgoing theatre girl who loves drama, on and off stage. Everyone knows her, but no one REALLY knows her. She’s also transgender, but doesn’t talk about it much so most people don’t know.  

~í‘vє gσt α вlαnk ѕpαcє вαвч; αnd í‘ll wrítє чσur nαmє~ [Death Note! Verse]—Grelle is a Shinigami in the Death Note universe, so naturally this au is divergent from DN canon. For instance, there is so Ryuk or monsterous Shinigami. Instead, they are all humans that committed suicide and became reapers. I’ll explain in further detail if you’re interested~

~ѕσund σf mч hєαrt; thє вєαt gσєѕ σn αnd σn~ [Band Verse]—Grelle is a human who loves to play the drums and sing—as well as try to find a lover who gets her love for music. But finding a band who’ll accept her weirdness may be harder than she thought.  

~í’m α crєαturє whσ‘ѕ up tσ nσ gσσd; í‘ll lσvє чσu líkє α vαmpírє wσuld~ [Vampire Verse]—This verse is very simple and the same for all of the muses that have it: the character is a vampire. This verse is very flexible, so if you have ideas please let me know so we can incorporate it into the thread!! But it’s nothing major, I just love vampires lol

~íf í tσld чσu whαt í wαѕ wσuld чσu turn чσur вαck σn mє?~ [Monster! Verse]—An AU where the world is humans/monster hunters vs. monsters. Grelle is a flamboyant and messy vampire who loves to tease and play with her food before drinking their blood. She doesn’t really care about monster hunters as she is excellent at avoiding them, and so she tends to mind her own business a lot. 

~í cαn вє hαppч wíth чσu; вut í cαn‘t вє hαppч íf í‘m dєαd~ [Simulation Verse]—Do you want to ship your muse with one of my four girls? Then this is the verse for you!! That is, if you’re prepared for some REALLY messed up shit and triggers like suicide, abuse, murder, blood, and many others. This verse is not at all for the faint of heart, and it’s best if you don’t really know what you’re in for. If you want to learn a bit more about this verse, you can find it here.

~wє‘vє вєєn ѕpєndíng mσѕt σf σur lívєѕ lívíng ín thє gαngѕtα‘ѕ pαrαdíѕє~ [BSD! Verse]—Taking place in Bungou Stray Dogs, Grelle works for her cousin, Anne, as a Reaper. Grelle goes to different places and takes note on the Abilities in that region. Find more info here.

~tαkє mє thrσugh thє níght; fαll íntσ thє dαrk ѕídє~ [Villain! Verse]—Grelle is a villainess that mostly does mercenary work. Loves killing and making a mess of it all. Her quirk allows her to change her appearance, so you never know if she actually looks like herself—which she doesn’t, all the way—and people also can’t track her down.

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We tell Merkel to go piss up a rope// So what if things got REALLY bad and we had to have a throw down with Germany and the EU forces and all the troops we have are the ones already there or near by (also including Naval forces). No WMD or Nukes allowed. How well would it go in the first 24 hours?

Oh, you mean a true theoretical “what-if” war scenario? I’ll admit I’m not very good at those - it’s very hard for me to decouple from the political/alliance angles required for “just-for-fun” comparisons. However, there’s other people out there who are good at it, so for starters, we can turn to Comrade Binkov’s analysis of a 2017 war between modern Germany and Poland. This video is a good watch to quickly acquaint oneself with the modern German armed forces. 

However, answering your question requires a knowledge of American assets already over there that I just don’t have. I’ve done extensive research on it (for making CMANO scenarios, or attempting to) and I’m still unable to find a unified resource that keeps track of what military assets are where at any given time. It’s far from impossible - civilian armchair analysts even maintain twitter feeds for this kind of thing, and stitching together sources like that into a constantly-updated picture is a job they give to the New Guy in state intel agencies - but far as I can tell, you’d have to make it your day job. I know snippets of it - we’ve been flying AWACS missions over Poland; to monitor Russian air activity over Ukraine, from bases in Norway. Norway also houses a ton of Marines heavy equipment (tanks, trucks, crew-served weapons, etc.) to enable very rapid deployment of a Marine battalion to Norway to counter a Russian push into the Baltics (soldiers are a lot lighter than all their heavy gear, natch.) But even that takes longer than just 24 hours to deploy. Plus, many of our biggest overseas bases, that are most heavily relied on as transit points to the Middle East, are located in Germany itself. So it depends heavily on if those assets are allowed to evacuate from Germany first, and how much of their support equipment can be brought with them in whatever time window they get. We’ve also got most of our European-stationed ground forces based in Germany - do they get to evacuate, or are they set upon immediately? 

Frankly, I don’t think anything would happen in the first 24 hours, because not only would we not have nearly enough assets in-theater to stage any immediate, substantive strikes against Germany, but also because Germany would be pants-on-head retarded to provoke these so-called “EU forces,” as they’d probably include France, and France has more than enough assets to make life difficult for Germany. As Binkov’s video noted, German defense spending cuts have been very harsh on their military readiness - they have good equipment, but their people are not being kept in a high state of competency with them. When your pilots log less flight hours a year than the fucking Poles, something’s amiss. From what I’ve seen posted on /k/ (take with a bucket of salt,) by an alleged German tanker, Germany’s newest, greatest Leopard tanks are sitting in mothballs because they don’t want to pay for the training programs on the new equipment. So in case of war, the older, obsolete Leopard units will be ordered into action to hold the line while other tankers are very quickly trained on the new tanks. (This brilliant plan has not earned Merkel much love from the military.) So despite Germany having top-notch equipment; a mix of NATO-alliance tech and American toys, it might overstate their initial capability a bit. 

But home-ground advantage more than compensates for this, and many other problems. For instance, Germany’s force structure is shaped around the concept of being in NATO. NATO “shares” a fleet of 16 E-3 AWACS planes, for instance; spreading out costs and time-sharing their usage (the aircraft are actually registered in Luxembourg,) so Germany doesn’t maintain an AWACS fleet of its own. On the other hand, the NATO E-3 fleet... is based in Geilenkirchen AB, Germany. See, it’s hard to disentangle Germany from NATO in terms of military assets - but, to make the point, assume the E-3 fleet is evacuated. It still doesn’t make it much easier to penetrate German airspace, because it’s their airspace - their entire ground radar network is still operable, which includes everything from military radars to air-traffic control stuff. 

So even with a lopsided force structure built around the assumption of NATO participation, you’re probably not going to be kicking in Germany’s door even with stealth aircraft. Yes, the B-2 can hit Germany from the US mainland in a round-trip strike (with air refueling,) but it takes longer than 24 hours just to prep those aircraft - and with F-22s in-theater (all six of them, last time I checked,) you’re likely to get your ass shot off flying over Germany. That’s because stealth isn’t some magic absolute; it’s relative to the other side’s detection capability. Stealth reduces the range at which radars can detect you, so the denser a concentration of radars they have, the harder it is to find “gaps” to slip through. In addition, the more radiation being pumped into the air, the more easily something up there’s detected. There’s also angles; aircraft are less stealthy from the sides (larger profile) than front or rear, so a dense radar network has more chances to get a “look” at an aircraft. So you can’t just sneak into the heart of Germany like AMERICAN NINJAS and ram an SBD up Merkel’s ass (more the pity.) Germany doesn’t have a lot of SAM batteries - ten or so - but they’re modern PATRIOT systems, which simply can’t be ignored, and then there’s the good-sized numbers of modern Eurofighters to contend with, so... no. Inside the first 24 hours the only real option is immediate airstrikes (unless you have a carrier group parked in the North Sea or something) and those just aren’t feasible with whatever we’ve got on-hand over there. A Burke in the North Sea could unload Tomahawks, but those things are not stealthy. Sure, lack of airborne radar makes their chances a lot better; as they can fly “under” most of the radar, but again, you’re attacking the homeland of a first-world NATO nation; they’ve got ground radars out the ass. Those missiles will have Eurofighters on them like ticks on a Turk. 

Offensively, Germany’s not much better off. They operate the very, very, very good KEPD 350 cruise missile (think “a JSOW but with an engine”) with longer range and less signature than a JASSM-ER... but they’d also be firing at first-world NATO homelands, and NATO members that have AWACS support, to boot (if not the NATO E-3 fleet, than American AWACS out of Norway.) And honestly they don’t have much in the way of air strike capability anyway - their Eurofighters are fine, and so is their Tornado fleet, and they do operate the HARM and such, but their EW ability is 24 specialized Tornadoes, and that’s not going to cut it against - again - a NATO nation’s homeland. So their best option would be a ground offensive against... France, I guess? Except France has not skimped on spending, and won’t have to stage emergency training of their fucking tankers, so I doubt Germany would rattle that cage. 

So... yeah. I’m not very good with these “theoretical what-if” scenarios. They always seem too much like two faghammer 40gay players comparing army lists and that’s just... not me. Morale, alliances, and above all, goals  are too embedded in actual modern warfare to be ignored. These what-if scenarios really, really require a removal of context so severe that I just can’t follow, most times. 

But, there is one last thing to speak of - the Pole Boner. When this rumble starts, Poland - as one nation - will pop a boner. Even the women. As one raging lusty dick, they will race towards the border with rifles, tanks, knives, sharp sticks and wolves balanced for throwing. No “Random Omnipotent Being,” no fiat of the scenario creator, can prevent the reality-rending, murderous, unholy glee of Poland as it moves as one soul to crash the party.