#i also wanted to talk about how the Moon Landing can act as a gateway drug conspiracy theory but I didn't know how to bring it up 😔 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lunarkreatures · 3 years

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So did this a while ago, did everything by hand cause i didn't know i could download templates from storytellers vault. I wanted to do a fake cover just to test out CSP.

So the idea of it is something like the rage across books from werewolf the apocalypse that are supplements for many places in the world. rage across worlds would be completely different scenarios and worlds for werewolf the reclaimed that would basically be a tweaked version of forsaken that I am working on.

That aside I even wrote a full story that would be the introduction to the scenario of the red pyramid. you can read it after the read more.

The chronicles of the red pyramid

This is a tale from the old times, ages ago. A time when the red pyramid, the palace of the god king wasn't the nest of horror it is today, it's red shine would invoke adoration not fear. People would look at it's red light and feel safe, protected, but people sleep turned away from it's light, it's said that just sleeping looking at it is enough to give nightmares, or even invite the dark presence to from that place come after you.

There are many variations of this tale, many different interpretations, though the true story only the cursed heir and the warriors who decided to commit the first act against the gods know the truth. And I will tell you a tale, that you probably heard before...

The first slaying took place during the night, under the watchful eyes of the two moons, inside the red pyramid. Right after dinner, people tell stories of how the heir to the throne and her warriors just suddenly started attacking the soldiers in the castle one by one. Until it was only them and the king, the attack inside the castle was sudden, brutal, the hallways inside the red pyramid are still red to this day from the bloodshed. The bodies of the guards completely torn apart in pieces, the work of a true beast.

The savage warriors and their leader arrived at the top of the pyramid, the throne room, where the king awaited. The king pleaded to his child to stop this madness but the heir didn’t hesitate, she raised her blade stabbing the king, her warriors watched everything happen, all quiet.

The king fell unmoving on the floor, blood pooling around the unmoving body, the scene illuminated by the lights inside the chamber and the moons covered by the clouds. The heir however, was not satisfied with the death of the king, her blade went down one more time, this time cutting off his head, blood came out of the severed head, pooling around it.

She raised her blade towards the moons in victory. At that time the clouds stopped blocking the moons view. You know, many say that the small red moon was actually the previous queen's ascended form. Some say she is the direct daughter of the nameless god, the huge moon in the sky, and she was granted a flesh body to protect us from the spirits and once her duty was done she went back to the sky, others say she was mortal and due to a great sacrifice she ascended. Though that's not important for our tale, what is important is what happened when the clouds covering the red moon cleared. The light shone into the chamber, filling it with a red ominous glow.

Many things happened in seconds, the direct rays of moonlight changed all those in the room. It's said the moon went mad from the scene she witnessed, and cursed her child to take a bestial form. The heir, once a proud warrior, became a monster. Her loyal knights were also punished becoming animals. The dead king, it is said that the moon tried to bring her lover to life but something went wrong, something that was never alive was born out of this, a paradox itself. Something not made of flesh and yet it bled, could pass through walls and yet it was solid, was not of its world, and yet, it merged with it.

The now monstrous heir fought that, made it bleed and tried to kill that once again. The warriors also fought and suddenly the presence vanished along with the king’s severed head. When the guards arrived they saw the animal knights and the heir, and the dead king body. They prepared to attack but the animals vanished, the heir escaped through the window and to this day roams the land, cursing others to its same fate.

The red moon went mad from grief, cursing all who she felt deserved to be punished with the same curse she did to her child. Since then weird creatures roam the land, not the cursed, but incorporeal beings, abominations of flesh that hunt anything alive that they can find, twist the world around to grotesque things. It is said this is all the work of the cursed heir and her minions so tell me are you ready to spread the horror in the world and feast upon your loved ones?

...Uhm? What is with that face? HAHAHAHA I am joking with you, you feel deep down that this story is not true, right? Well that's the story many believe, but there is another version, like i said many versions. But because of this story we are monsters, the culprits of what has happened to the world, we are the cursed. We are always being hunted, and yet we are hunters of our own, we have a purpose.

You see, let me tell the other side of this story. First the heir we don't even know if she was cursed in the first place, just that she exists and almost seems to avoid us...i don't know why. Where i come from we refer to the heir as the moon’s daughter but others refer to her through other names.

And what could have caused her to do what she did? It is said that the king made the unthinkable, he opened a gateway between our world and another place, a place that is the reflection of our own, where the abominations live. He was able to break the protection the gods put in place, they sacrificed being able to talk to us to protect us from the creatures that come from the shadow, in many places the barrier between these worlds is weakening and things are changing. However it's not just monsters that live in the shadow the gods envoys usually talk to us and help us, teaching us the power of gods.

They say the heir to this day regrets what she had done, but there was no other way, the king was not himself anymore, he died long ago and something else was in its place, it said when she served his head, a black liquid oozed from it, taking form and shape ready to escape, the heir then pleaded the moon for power to fulfill her destiny, to give her a weapon capable of killing whatever that was that was when she changed, her blade merging with her, claws and fangs getting the power to slay even a god. And she attacked, giving a permanent injury on that thing that to this day bleeds, but was not able to kill it … heartbroken from what she had to do and feeling the pressure of her failure she ran away. Her loyal knights understanding her pain ran after the dark presence to not lose track of it.

That was when the moon trying to help her daughter kept a watchful eye one those she deemed worthy of helping, that's where we come in. We are blessed by the moon with a cursed responsibility. We need to hunt the creatures that cross to our world, kill the root of all evil, and restore the barrier. Only then we will be free of this curse, or so legends say. I hope you understand this, the moon chose us to be the protectors of our world, the fierce hunters of the shadow, some deny the hunter nature and their duty, and pay a high price by denying that, I hope you are different from the fools I met before.

What is this?

The umbra, the spirit world, a reflection to the world shuddered in darkness that we know. Still even to those who enter the umbra it's a complete alien place where things might or might not make sense, many planes and pocket dimensions, who can say that it's just the world we know that has a reflection there?

Rage across worlds is a collection of scenarios about other worlds, sometimes worlds similar to what we know and others completely different. However The primal fear, the beast, the hunter, the warrior is a reflection in many words, each have their own version of a werewolf. The umbra is a nexus to many worlds, with many stories to tell.

The chronicles of the red pyramid is a scenario of a different world where gods are much more closer to the world of flesh, where gods are much more flesh than spirit, where normal mortals can ascend to godhood. Where the werewolves were cursed into existence to roam between two worlds never belonging to any. The chronicles tell the tales of what happened, the current state and ways to break the curse.

#werewolf #Werewolf the Apocalypse #werewolf the forsaken #werewolves.#monster #monsters

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trouvelle · 5 years

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Emogust 22.08 — First Time

A/N: DCMK Emogust 2019 — First Time! Here’s some MakoSono as part of the ATLA!AU. Makoto is a true fullblooded Earthbender and no one can convince me otherwise lmao. @mintchocolateleaves @sup-poki !!

The sweltering sun stood high in the sky when Makoto walked along the shore of the Northern Water Tribe, such was the scene of his current mission. Everything was white and blue as far as he could see, and only some parts where the sunlight touched was shining a pale yellow. The Palace stood way above the coast, glistening like an enormous chunk of diamond hidden in the midst of all the ice in the region. The city itself was protected by huge ice cliffs which formed all around it as its walls. It had worked, Makoto knew; the Northern Water Tribe had remained standing without ever suffering any seizes from the other nations.

Its position surrounded by all those icebergs had more than its fair share of advantages. Under the cover of darkness the night before, Makoto had arrived in a bay a little sideways from ice gate which functioned as the only entrance into the city. He’d hidden his dinghy, folding the sail carefully and covering the whole boat with anything he could find to keep it out of plain sight. He had left his Earth Kingdom tunic behind, too.

Now he’s sauntering around the village in a grayish blue Water Tribe robe, not attempting to find his target just yet, but opting to take in the layout of the town and the people that live in it. The water flowed smoothly in the canals, slithering here and there, connecting the whole city like a giant blue snake. Makoto supposed he shouldn’t be surprised to see the ambienceband tranquility of the whole city, considering its peaceful history and close proximity to the hidden gateway to the Spirit world. It’s almost like the war never reached this place at all, with how calm it seemed. Makoto knew he would be willing to stay here if he had the option to. Then again, war made people do strange things. He averted his eyes and kept walking up the main road in the middle of the city.

As he climbed his way up the tier to the courtyard, the entrance to the Northern Royal Palace came into view. It’s a stately place on the highest tier of the city, built in a true Water Tribe structure with ice paneling and statues, and a large, open staircase in the middle of it. He walked past some younger students, all of whom looked no older than twelve, practicing waterbending in the courtyard. He made his way around the palace. He knew precisely where to go and let his feet take him away. Although, if he must say, he felt really strange in these boots he’s wearing. The ice beneath his feet felt fragile and a little too smooth for his liking.

He reached another yard, this one not as open nor as wide as the main one in front of the palace. Another thing that was also missing here—the crowd. There was not a single person there. This one had multiple small fountains with pillars bordering the area, and he knew this was probably a private yard only accessible to the Elders, Council members or the royal family of the chiefdom. Makoto kept walking, until he can see around the to the very back part of the—

On one of the fountains near the east corner of the yard, sat a girl in an elaborate lavender kimono-like tunic over a light purple dress, with short and light brown hair. Instinctively, Makoto knew who she’s looking at. It’s Suzuki Sonoko, daughter of Chief Suzuki Shiro, ruler of the Northern Water Tribe. She was talking and laughing with another girl who looked the same age, but this one had a long hair that reached her waist. In order not to draw any attention to himself, Makoto kept walking until he found himself a bigger fountain to hide behind. He was careful to keep in the shadows that allow him to observe the Chief’s younger daughter without giving himself away.

Nothing much happened. The so-called princess kept talking, cracking big laughters as she conversed with the other girl, her short hair tickling her cheeks. Makoto watched with interest as the two of them chatted animatedly as if nothing that’s wrong in the world could ever reach them. The air is rife with rumors of the Air Temples dissipation, Makoto knew it’s all part of an elaborate conspiracy. The Fire Nation had been at the height of its power and the world’s peace was starting to be shaken.

Sonoko was still sitting in the same spot, still talking with her friend who occasionally guided some water to and away from the fountain, probably trying some new waterbending tricks. The sun was starting to set now, creeping lower and lower towards the horizon with every passing minute. It’s almost time. Soon enough, the long-haired girl stood up and waved her goodbye, running to the direction of the main courtyard. The chief’s daughter, now all by herself, slowly walked back into the Palace.

Now’s the time. He checked his surroundings one last time, heaved a deep breath and made his way forward. There were guards stationed outside the front entrance and no doubt within the palace as well. Makoto disregarded them; chances were they’d grown slow in the illusion of peace that this entire city seemed to have fallen under.

Eventually, Makoto found himself perched on a balcony that gave him a prime view of the chief’s daughter’s bedroom, where she was brushing her hair in front of a mirror. After deeming her hair acceptable, she made way to the balcony. There was no one around and no one with her. Twilight had descended by now and the moonlight softly framed her figure. After a long moment of consideration, Makoto decided to abandon what he had come here to do. With the rising moon that gives the whole city its power, Makoto turned around and got ready to jump down.

“Show yourself,” he froze in action when he heard her say.

Was he not as silent as he thought?

Makoto swung himself over the railing of the balcony in one swift jump, landing in front of Sonoko. To her credit, she didn’t look too shocked, though she immediately sprang backwards many steps, hands held in front of her body defensively. “Who are you?” Her voice is squeaky and raspy, but she sounded more confused than scared.

“You are Sonoko,” Makoto said as she approached Sonoko slowly. “Second daughter of Chief Suzuki Shiro.”

“Yes,” Sonoko said, stepping backwards with each step Makoto took. “But wait, please. I’m sure we can talk this out.” At Makoto’s confused look, she continued. “You don’t have to kill me. You don’t have to kidnap me. You can have whatever you’re after. Money, food, coins, all you have to do is tell me and I will ask my father for it, please.”

“Those mean nothing to me,” Makoto murmured, never once taking her eyes off the girl. “I’m here for you. And there’s nothing you can say that will make me change my mind. Especially if it concerns a mission I have to accomplish in the future.” Sonoko’s gaze slid from him to his hands. They were big, rough and calloused. They look nothing like the hands of someone who grew up in a Water Tribe environment, let alone be a waterbender.

“Ah,” she said. “So that’s what this is.” He must be sent from another nation to kidnap her and ask her father to give up their land in exchange for her life. Or, to kill her to reduce the chances of their hereditary chiefdom continuation down the generation.

“Then, let me ask you something,” Sonoko continued. “Tell me, what have I done to you, or your people? Did I steal something from you? Did I hurt you in some way? Why do you have to kill me?” She looked at him intently.

“I never wanted intended to,” Makoto responded, his voice silent instead of strong now, quelled by the resilience he saw in the blue eyes of the girl. “And I’m not here to kill you, or whatever you’re thinking.”

Sonoko knew she shouldn’t trust anything coming from a stranger, especially one who had been spying on her in her room, but she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in. “Okay. Then why are you here? If you think you can get any information out of me, then I swear on the Spirits of the Ocean and Moon, that I know absolutely nothing.”

Sonoko looked hopeful and beautiful at once, and she’s not at all like what Makoto had pictured, apparently. He had heard that the younger of the Chief’s daughters was the one most spoiled, a good-for-nothing lady who couldn’t even be a trophy daughter simply for the fact that she wasn’t born with the ability to waterbend. It’s also been said that she had a shallow and brash attitude. But this girl in front of her seemed nothing like that: to him she appeared trusting, and optimistic.

“I am Makoto from the Kyogoku family in Ba Sing Se, Capital of Earth Kingdom.” Makoto suddenly continued, and he thought about what he had to say next, after telling her who he really was. “Please forgive my intrusion. And I apologize for the disturbance and unease that I have caused you, My Lady.”

He watched as her soft blue eyes widened in realization as she too, was probably recounting the last time she’d heard his name. “You’re… Are you the man I’m supposed to marry?”

“It appears so.” Makoto looked away shyly, and his right hand rubbed at his nape in an act of nervousness. Coming from a pretty influential family in Earth Kingdom’s capital city and equipped with years of battle experiences at a young age, he was deemed an excellent choice to be wed into a family member of the Water Tribe chiefdom. He was initially against the idea, but politics are politics, and there wasn’t much he could do except hope that the other side would reject the idea. Because normally, offsprings of a chief had to marry within the tribe to ensure the continuation of the chiefdom’s power. So, he’s surprised when the Water Tribe Chief agreed on it too himself. Makoto thought that the Chief probably had his city’s interest at heart. The marriage would ensure a small, albeit steady alliance between the two cities. And at the brim of a war like this, who wouldn’t want that?

After a brief silence, Makoto dared to sneak a glance at the girl. Soft blue eyes found his again, as she said, “I thought we weren’t supposed to meet until next month, on the agreed date of our engagement.”

“Yes,” he spoke, voice barely above a whisper, “that’s right.” If only he was patient enough, he wouldn’t have to waste his time and energy to come all the way from Ba Sing Se. “I just had to see what kind of person I am going to be married to.”

To be honest, Sonoko wasn’t looking forward to the day of her marriage either. It’s approaching unbelievably fast, and with every day, she’s getting more and more worried about having to marry someone she’s never even met. She sighed deeply and had accepted her fate.

This rugged man, however, was handsome and mysterious; she’s intrigued.

So was he. The young Lady stood in front of him with pride, although her eyes were full of uncertainty. She was probably just as nervous as he was. They barely knew each other and in a month, they’d have to be living together already. The thought of it sent him to a frenzy and he turned around, ready to leave the Palace, once and for all. “I suppose I have to leave now.” He murmured incoherently.

A cool hand touched his shoulder and Makoto was returned to his current situation, the tension in his shoulders dissipating at the contact. He looked down into Sonoko’s kind eyes, and for some reason it did make him feel better. Makoto decided not to think about it too deeply. Not yet.

“Actually,” Sonoko started, softly, “I’d rather get to know you more first, rather than at our engagement reception. I’m sure you think so too, or else you wouldn’t have come all the way here.”

He silently shook his head and Sonoko smiled in delight, tentatively. The hand on his shoulder squeezed in a gesture of comfort. “Then stay! I’m pretty sure we’re not so different, you and I!” She helped Makoto down even though she knew he was capable of doing so himself.

Her hand lingered around his arm as she pulled him through the corridors of the Palace, expertly weaving around the pillars whenever any guards came into view. Before he knew it, they were at the open space at the very top, overlooking the entire Northern Water Tribe City and the broad Northern Seas. They stared at the night sky, where the stars were splattered liek random dots on a dark blue canvas, surrounding the moon that looked bigger than he’d ever seen before.

“So, future husband,” Sonoko said teasingly, deciding to start off easy. “Do you have any hobbies?”

Makoto’s eyes left the familiar constellations and took in the childish expression on Sonoko’s face. For the first time that day, he smiled.

I ✥ II

#DCMKEmogust2019 #Detective Conan #Suzuki Sonoko #Makoto Kyogoku #MakoSono #Sonoko x Makoto #bender au #atla au #it's makosono's first time meeting each other #Earthbender Makoto #and Sonoko as a Water Tribe princess #they cute aaa

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dfroza · 5 years

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An ancient Letter that illuminates spiritual truth

conserved for us to know, here & now Today

and this is from Today’s reading for September 2 in the Letter of First John where we see our True identity in Love as children of Light:

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to.

But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.

All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God’s order. Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in him, and sin is not part of his program. No one who lives deeply in Christ makes a practice of sin. None of those who do practice sin have taken a good look at Christ. They’ve got him all backward.

So, my dear children, don’t let anyone divert you from the truth. It’s the person who acts right who is right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah. Those who make a practice of sin are straight from the Devil, the pioneer in the practice of sin. The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil’s ways.

People conceived and brought into life by God don’t make a practice of sin. How could they? God’s seed is deep within them, making them who they are. It’s not in the nature of the God-begotten to practice and parade sin. Here’s how you tell the difference between God’s children and the Devil’s children: The one who won’t practice righteous ways isn’t from God, nor is the one who won’t love brother or sister. A simple test.

For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.

We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous. So don’t be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.

The way we know we’ve been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don’t go together.

This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.

[When We Practice Real Love]

My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.

The Letter of First John, Chapter 3 (The Message)

to be accompanied by these lines of inspiration from Today’s reading in the Psalms and Proverbs:

God is my King from the very start;

he works salvation in the womb of the earth.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 74:12 (The Message)

The day and the night are both Yours—

You fashioned the sun, moon, and all the lights that pierce the darkness.

You have arranged the earth, set all its boundaries;

You are the Architect of the seasons: summer and winter.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 74:16-17 (The Voice)

For the Eternal is a great God,

and a great King, supreme over all gods.

Within His control are the very depths of the earth;

the mountaintops too—they all belong to Him.

The sea belongs to Him, for He created it—scooped and filled it—

with His hands He made the dry land—every valley and mountain.

Come, let us worship Him. Everyone bow down;

kneel before the Eternal who made us.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 95:3-6 (The Voice)

My son, if you accept what I am telling you

and store my counsel and directives deep within you,

If you listen for Lady Wisdom, attune your ears to her,

and engage your mind to understand what she is telling you,

If you cry out to her for insight

and beg for understanding,

If you sift through the clamor of everything around you

to seek her like some precious prize,

to search for her like buried treasure;

Then you will grasp what it means to truly respect the Eternal,

and you will have discovered the knowledge of the one True God.

The Eternal is ready to share His wisdom with us,

for His words bring true knowledge and insight;

He has stored up the essentials of sound wisdom for those who do right;

He acts as a shield for those who value integrity.

God protects the paths of those who pursue justice,

watching over the lives of those who keep faith with Him.

With this wisdom you will be able to choose the right road,

seek justice, and decide what is good and fair

Because wisdom will penetrate deep within

and knowledge will become a good friend to your soul.

Sound judgment will stand guard over you,

and understanding will watch over you as the Lord promised.

Wisdom will keep you from following the way of evildoers,

of those who twist words to pervert the truth,

Of those who reject the right road

for a darker, more sinister way of life,

Of those who enjoy evil

and pursue perverse pleasures,

Of those who journey down a crooked path,

constantly figuring out new ways to trick and deceive others.

The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 2:1-15 (The Voice)

to be concluded by the paired chapter in the Testaments (with 1st John 3) and a time in ancient History when Jeremiah was falsely accused and arrested:

King Zedekiah son of Josiah, a puppet king set on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the land of Judah, was now king in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. But neither he nor his officials nor the people themselves paid a bit of attention to the Message God gave by Jeremiah the prophet.

However, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Pray for us—pray hard!—to the Master, our God.”

Jeremiah was still moving about freely among the people in those days. This was before he had been put in jail. Pharaoh’s army was marching up from Egypt. The Chaldeans fighting against Jerusalem heard that the Egyptians were coming and pulled back.

Then Jeremiah the prophet received this Message from God: “I, the God of Israel, want you to give this Message to the king of Judah, who has just sent you to me to find out what he should do. Tell him, ‘Get this: Pharaoh’s army, which is on its way to help you, isn’t going to stick it out. No sooner will they get here than they’ll leave and go home to Egypt. And then the Babylonians will come back and resume their attack, capture this city and burn it to the ground. I, God, am telling you: Don’t kid yourselves, reassuring one another, “The Babylonians will leave in a few days.” I tell you, they aren’t leaving. Why, even if you defeated the entire attacking Chaldean army and all that was left were a few wounded soldiers in their tents, the wounded would still do the job and burn this city to the ground.’”

When the Chaldean army pulled back from Jerusalem, Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go over to the territory of Benjamin to take care of some personal business. When he got to the Benjamin Gate, the officer on guard there, Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, grabbed Jeremiah the prophet, accusing him, “You’re deserting to the Chaldeans!”

“That’s a lie,” protested Jeremiah. “I wouldn’t think of deserting to the Chaldeans.”

But Irijah wouldn’t listen to him. He arrested him and took him to the police. The police were furious with Jeremiah. They beat him up and threw him into jail in the house of Jonathan the secretary of state. (They were using the house for a prison cell.) So Jeremiah entered an underground cell in a cistern turned into a dungeon. He stayed there a long time.

Later King Zedekiah had Jeremiah brought to him. The king questioned him privately, “Is there a Message from God?”

“There certainly is,” said Jeremiah. “You’re going to be turned over to the king of Babylon.”

Jeremiah continued speaking to King Zedekiah: “Can you tell me why you threw me into prison? What crime did I commit against you or your officials or this people? And tell me, whatever has become of your prophets who preached all those sermons saying that the king of Babylon would never attack you or this land? Listen to me, please, my master—my king! Please don’t send me back to that dungeon in the house of Jonathan the secretary. I’ll die there!”

So King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be assigned to the courtyard of the palace guards. He was given a loaf of bread from Bakers’ Alley every day until all the bread in the city was gone. And that’s where Jeremiah remained—in the courtyard of the palace guards.

The Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 37 (The Message)

my reading in the Scriptures for September 2, day 74 of Summer and day 245 of the year:

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davidmkelly · 5 years

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New Post has been published on David M. Kelly

New Post has been published on http://davidmkelly.net/2019/04/30/lunacy-back-in-style/

Lunacy-Back In Style!

Last week China announced its intention to establish a base on the Moon within ten years. Exciting news for sure, conjuring up images of a lunar colony (dare I say Moonbase Alpha?), and certainly an idea set to warm the cockles of any sci-fi fan.

The timeline would have to be described as aggressive, though. Certainly, NASA’s Apollo program managed to land astronauts on the moon in that time-frame, but that was only a “simple” land-and-return mission. Still, China has demonstrated many times that it is willing to spend money to achieve big results, so they probably have as good a chance as any.

Launcher

And now, barely a week later, we hear that under direction of the Great Cheeto, NASA plans to do the same, and they’re going to do it in five years. This timeline isn’t aggressive, it;s insane and quite possibly suicidal. There are three things necessary to envision a lunar mission, and here’s where things start to falter right-away.

First of all, you need a launcher capable of taking a large payload (by space standards) to the moon. In the Apollo days, this was the mighty Saturn V rocket. But now? The US doesn’t have anything currently capable of such a mission. NASA says it’s looking for partners in the industry, which basically means either the United Launch Agency (ULA), the SpaceX Dragon Heavy, or Boeing’s Space Launch System (SLS).

ULA Delta IV Heavy

The ULA currently has the Boeing-built Delta IV Heavy rocket. This is probably NASA’s best option as it is NASA Launch Services Program (LSP) certified (but only for non-crewed launches). The SLS hasn’t carried out a single launch yet, and delays in the program presently put the first launches in 2020, at the earliest and, according to some observers, the program may even get scrapped entirely.

The only other possibility would be SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. This rocket has only launched once, and future launches are all listed as TBD. Plus, the system has no LSP certification (crewed or uncrewed). The Falcon Heavy program is also suffering from delays, and the company recently had to defer what would have been the rocket’s first commercial launch.

So, for any of these options to be viable, they would have to go through NASA LSP certification–not an easy or short program, although possible given the five-year timeline, if resources were thrown at it.

Capsule

SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule

To get people to and from the moon, you need some form of capsule. Again, the US doesn’t have one. SpaceX has the Crew Dragon, and Boeing is developing the CST-100 Starliner, but neither is close to being ready. The Crew Dragon has a slight advantage because it’s based on the Dragon capsule used to deliver cargo to the ISS, but it isn’t LSP crew certified and recently suffered a setback when it exploded uring ground testing, seriously delaying its certification chances.

So the question here becomes “Is NASA going to rush testing both the launcher AND capsule?”

Lander

Lunar Lander (visualization)

Now we get to the real kicker in all of this. Forgetting the issues of the launcher and capsule, the US has no lander–not even a design on the table. And here, even the commercial options fail. Neither SpaceX, Boeing, nor the ULA has a lander even on the drawing board. The only people who (maybe) do are the Chinese, and I’m pretty sure they won’t be rushing to help the US. It’s worth remembering that it takes somewhere around three years to design, certify, and build a new car–and all that has to do is sit on the ground. Building a craft capable of landing a crew safely on the moon is several orders of magnitude more difficult.

Bigelow Moon Habitat (visualization)

So far I’ve not discussed the idea of creating a station for the astronauts on the moon. Both Bigelow and Sierra Nevada Corporation have expandable units that might work, but again, none of these have been tested or validated for crew use, plus they’re more designed for operation in orbit rather than on the lunar surface. And if the plans don’t include setting up some kind of station, that would make the whole exercise pretty much a win for the Chinese efforts. Let’s face it, we don’t need another mission to the Moon just to leave dusty footprints.

Sustainability

Lunar Orbital Gateway (visualization)

There are no new funds for this project. NASA is already operating at a shoestring level compared to the Apollo era and in fact their funding peaked in 1966! The Apollo lander alone cost $11 billion–half the current estimated allocation for 2020. So, in order to do this, NASA would have to cut back on almost every other program it operates, and that would include the planned Lunar Orbital Gateway.

The Gateway is an international project with the goal of building a space station in lunar orbit. Building this would offer untold scientific opportunities and also act as a staging post for lunar operations, as well as missions to other planets such as Mars. I talked about this idea in a previous post discussing sustainable approaches to space travel. Essentially, any mission that works on the idea of traveling directly from Earth to another celestial body can only ever be a glorified publicity stunt.

The cost in terms of resources and hardships involved make such ventures so risky and unsustainable that they really aren’t worth contemplating. So, returning to the idea used on the Apollo program to rush through yet another badly thought-out lunar flag-waving exercise is not only a step backward, but also, given the potentially disastrous short timeline, precipitates an unconscionable risk.

Unfortunately, this is a continuation of the space pissing contest that has plagued NASA from its early days. First, they were in a competition with the Soviets. Now its China (or maybe Space ISIS…). All its major programs and missions were designed to push political goals with any scientific ones entirely secondary, and sustainability and safety have always been compromised. As a result, less viable missions have been pushed forward, while better ones that would have supported sustainable strategies have been notoriously underfunded or defunded entirely.

Certainly the certification process could be rushed, but I hope that won’t happen–that kind of approach almost inevitably costs lives. As my character Joe Ballen says “space is always dangerous, and a single mistake can easily kill you.” The big problem with all of these systems is that this is rocket science, and that isn’t easy.

I’d love to see the US pull this off. I’d be overjoyed to see humanity developing its first permanent off-world base. But with this timeline, such a program will only likely puts people in danger, and no one wants another tragedy in space. It will be interesting to see how this story develops.

#5 years #china #critique #landing #moon #NASA #safety #space

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theconservativebrief · 5 years

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Recently, while talking to the New York Times, a marijuana company called CBD the “Bitcoin” of the wellness world. But here is a counterproposal: Adaptogens are actually the cryptocurrency of the wellness world.

Sure, CBD is a bizarrely opaque “miracle” treatment, but many people have some idea what it is, or at least know that it’s a derivative of cannabis. Adaptogens are just as mysterious as CBD or the cryptocurrency Ethereum, and the high-minded promises driving their sales are similarly wild and overreaching. Heck, adaptogen names even sound like crypto names: eleuthero, schisandra, rhodiola.

Broadly speaking, adaptogens are a class of herbal and plant ingredients in supplements that claim to help your body adapt to stress more efficiently. What they supposedly specifically do is cloudier, because there are at least a dozen or more different ones.

Some have long histories as healing modalities over multiple cultures and thousands of years — which gives them a veneer of legitimacy. They act nonspecifically in the body, meaning they don’t work on one single body system or organ, at least according to their proponents. There’s debate among adaptogen believers about which substances can even be considered adaptogens and how they actually work.

As a society, we’re all just really tired and stressed out and looking desperately for some relief, as the rise of viral anxiety products like fidget spinners has shown. Supplement manufacturers have always preyed on those who are looking for a fix that they think they can’t find in the mainstream. Adaptogens have stepped in as a new/old remedy to fill the need for stress relief in the market.

You can buy coffee at Sephora containing adaptogenic mushrooms that will supposedly increase your focus. You can buy adaptogenic coconut butter to “empower your busiest day.” You can buy “dusts” containing adaptogens and other herbs to supposedly help your brain function better and improve your sex life. Ladies, you can even buy an adaptogenic oil “to keep your yoni delicious and supple.”

You can find adaptogenic products at Sephora, Nordstrom, Barneys, and Urban Outfitters. They’re fashionable. You don’t have to hunt them down in natural food stores.

They’ve even proven equally appealing to acolytes of actress and wellness “guru” Gwyneth Paltrow and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, both of whom prominently feature adaptogen-containing products for sale on the Goop and Infowars websites, respectively. When adaptogens landed a feature in the New York Times this past summer, it was a true sign that the fringe interest has finally bled into the mainstream.

Adaptogens are now a growing sector of the $4 trillion wellness industry. According to statistics reported by the American Botanical Council and based on market research, herbal dietary supplement sales were about $7.45 billion, up 7.7 percent from the prior year. In 2017, that number jumped to about $8.1 billion, up 8.5 percent.

It’s difficult to determine a breakdown of how much of that can be attributed to adaptogens since there are so many — up to a dozen or more, depending whom you ask. The most popular, ashwagandha, was the sixth most popular herbal supplement sold in so-called “natural” retail outlets, with more than $10 million in sales just in natural stores, up 25 percent from 2016. (Most popular adaptogen products are sold in combination with other ingredients, so it’s hard to drill down into their exact sales.) It’s still a small market, but it’s definitely growing.

Adaptogens fall perfectly into the gray area that wellness envelops. The language is often vague and invokes mysticism. Users say they can calm you down and also perk you up, depending on which one you need.

It’s easy to see how this could be incredibly appealing to someone who may be simultaneously stressed and exhausted. It’s also easy to see how marketing them can be used to manipulate people into buying them. As with so many wellness trends, they can’t possibly live up to the hype.

It’s common for proponents to talk about this class of ingredients — usually found in powders, capsules, and now even topically — as if they have magical properties. Definitions tend to be vague and broad, and they’re often applied to more than a dozen different ingredients.

“It’s kind of like your invisible internal shield,” says Elena Severin, the director of branch partnerships at the Detox Market, a chain of “clean beauty” and supplement boutiques that is growing quickly and has stores in LA, New York, and Toronto. It carries multiple brands of adaptogen supplements, including the two most popular, Moon Juice and Sun Potion. (Celestial names maybe not coincidental.)

Severin estimates that over the past year or so, the interest in and questions customers have about adaptogens have tripled.

So an invisible shield, got it. Let’s drill down a bit more.

“The simplest way to understand adaptogens is that they help your body to adapt to life,” writes Tero Isokauppila, the co-founder of the adaptogenic mushroom coffee Four Sigmatic, in an email to Vox. “Rather than serving a single purpose, they give your body whatever it needs right now to bring your body in balance.”

Hmm. Let’s hear from the ultimate authority on them.

“An adaptogen is an herb or mushroom that helps the body find homeostasis,” says Amanda Chantal Bacon, the founder of Moon Juice and arguably the godmother of modern adaptogen awareness, on a call with Vox.

Her viral 2015 Elle interview left the internet agog at the words she used — like “Shilajit resin” and “quinton shots” — in a food diary for the magazine. She’s since been covered in multiple publications, including features in the New Yorker in 2016 and in the New York Times magazine in mid-2017.

Much like Gwyneth Paltrow, who sells Moon Juice products on Goop, she’s taken the negative attention and lowkey ridicule and actually turned it into a booming lifestyle brand. Hers happens to be centered on adaptogens.

Bacon continues. “They’re bidirectional,” she says. “They’re going to move energies both ways.”

She explains that this means the same plant can make one person feel invigorated if they need energy and will calm another one down if they’re a “nervous wreck.”

It should be clear now why this class of substances is difficult to understand. Not surprisingly, these substances might not be the powerhouses that these various evangelizers say they are.

Dr. Rashmi Mullur is an assistant professor of medicine in the department of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism and associate chief of integrative medicine at UCLA. She is one of a handful of board-certified endocrinologists who also have integrative medicine certification.

She has an interest in adaptogens and a practice in LA, the city that is basically ground zero for wellness trends. She doesn’t sell or promote any supplement brands, but she does occasionally recommend them for patients.

“Practically everything is listed as an adaptogen online, but an adaptogen is any herb or supplement that helps the body’s response to stress,” says Mullur.

She says there is no standardized medical definition for adaptogens, and that even the concept of “stress” is defined pretty broadly. It can be caused by endocrine issues (cortisol is the usual hormonal culprit there), physical problems, mental problems, and even temperature. They all can cause the sensation we think of as “stress” and make us feel like crap, to use a layperson’s term.

Adaptogens can be derived from plants, herbs, or mushrooms. The most commonly used ones include ashwagandha, rhodiola, a slew of ginseng varieties, eleuthero, cordyceps, and reishi.

The science on most of these is conclusively inconclusive. Many have only been studied on cell lines or in animals, and if there are human studies, they tend to be published in tiny, niche journals. A science writer who reviewed some of the studies for Self noted that many were not “compliant with international criteria for proper clinical trial reporting.”

“I really don’t recommend anything to a patient unless it has some human studies,” says Mullur.

Ashwagandha, which the Detox Market’s Severin says is often a “gateway” into adaptogens for people, is one of the best-studied, and even has a couple of well-designed modern studies, but that’s not saying much. The subject groups were small, meaning you can’t draw any generalized, meaningful conclusions, and there haven’t been follow-up studies to see if the results could be replicated.

But Mullur explains that it’s thought to work along the pathway called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), a neurological and hormone feedback loop that mediates the stress response. There are still some pretty major caveats here.

Studies “don’t always translate to clinical utility,” Mullur says. A lot of the time, patients assume they’re stressed because of an HPA-induced cortisol response, and they try to self-medicate with adaptogens. “I always want to know what the underlying root cause of the fatigue is. Very rarely is the cause of the fatigue a hormonal imbalance,” says Mullur.

Even if someone does have a stressed-out HPA, it’s really not clear from the small amount of available evidence what dose would be effective, how often it should be taken, or who should or shouldn’t take it.

Plus these substances can have side effects, the way a drug does. Ashwagandha has been reported to potentially cause miscarriage. Mullur explains that because it binds to steroid receptors, it can affect hormonal function. “I certainly wouldn’t advise anyone to take it in pregnancy.”

Unlike many of her contemporaries in endocrinology who don’t know much about adaptogen supplements, though, Mullur does sometimes let her patients take them. However, she discourages mixtures of several ingredients because then it’s hard to know what, if anything, might be helping or causing harm. Many of the most popular formulas, like Moon Juice’s, are sold in mixtures and combinations, and there’s no guarantee what is in the formula and in what quantity.

“I’m helping guide patients through the online mess of information,” Mullur says. And this is the most important point here. Most people who are self-medicating willy-nilly with supplements will likely get no real benefit, and could possibly even harm themselves. Mullur is at least an educated medical source, able to evaluate people’s symptoms, consider the other supplements they’re taking, and try to make some sense of it.

When asked if, ultimately, she thought this new trend of adaptogens everywhere was good or bad, Mullur says, “Probably bad. I don’t want to come across as if I hate all herbal supplements, because I don’t, but I think whenever you have trends in medicine that are unregulated, it’s a breeding ground for misuse and abuse.”

Timothy Caulfield would agree. He’s a professor of health law and science policy at the University of Alberta in Canada and an outspoken advocate against the proliferation of pseudoscience. He wrote a book called Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?: When Celebrity Culture and Science Clash and hosts a Netflix documentary series debunking various wellness trends called A User’s Guide to Cheating Death.

“In total, the solid science is lacking, particularly in the context of many of the marketing claims associated with adaptogens — like the idea that they can induce calm and focus,” he says in an email to Vox.

The bottom line is that you can’t really broadly apply the promise of vague benefits across an entire class of substances without real evidence. But the wellness industry capitalizes on the existence of a gray area and is adept at claiming things without actually claiming anything.

“When it comes to supplements, the law is that you can market it for just about anything, as long as you stay away from saying it can treat or cure a disease. Without any human data on safety, much less efficacy, it’s entirely legal to advertise a supplement as if it is good for your health,” Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who has studied dietary supplements, writes in an email to Vox. “It’s very lucrative for companies but very unfortunate for consumers looking for something that will actually work.”

A three-tiered definition of what can qualify as an adaptogen actually does exist, dating back to some secretive USSR research on adaptogens. It’s still pretty vague, though. According to NutraIngredients, a business-to-business site geared toward supplement and food-based businesses, to be classified as an adaptogen an ingredient must be “nontoxic”; it must work on a variety of bodily systems rather than just one; and it must “normalize” bodily functions. (The adapto-preneurs above also all echoed this definition.)

But, again, it’s not a recognized definition by any official governing or medical body; it’s just the common classification among those who use and study them.

Adaptogens weren’t always called adaptogens, though. Some, like ashwagandha and ginseng, have been long used and studied as healing substances in ayurvedic and Chinese medicine respectively. The modern iteration, however, all started at laboratories behind the Iron Curtain in the mid-20th century, according to a comprehensive 2010 review paper in the journal Pharmaceuticals.

During World War II, Soviet pilots and submarine crews were given schisandra in pill form, for energy and as a “tonic” to calm them down. The Soviets first apparently became interested in it in the late 19th century after learning about its uses in the Far East.

Dr. Israel Brekhman is often credited as being the godfather of adaptogens and the person who coined the term and clarified the definition. He and his partners apparently racked up more than 1,000 studies on the plants, and won the highest award in the Soviet Union at the time for his work.

According to the review article, “The aim of the stress research was to develop drugs and methods able to stimulate the intrinsic adaptive mechanisms of the organism to help it survive in situations of intense or prolonged stress, whilst preferably maintaining the capability for physical and mental work.” The “organism” in question, presumably, was people.

Which brings us back to Amanda Chantal Bacon. What started out as a personal interest for her, exploring supplements for an autoimmune disease, became the Moon Juice empire in only a few short years.

(There is also Sun Potion, which is a staple in trendy wellness stores. The founders stay more out of the limelight than Bacon, but one co-founder told Racked he considered himself “an avenue for these plants,” setting up shop in Santa Barbara several years ago.)

“I wasn’t concerned with the allopathic science behind it, and the plants really worked for me,” says Bacon. Allopathic medicine, otherwise known as the mainstream kind served up in hospitals and by pharmaceutical companies, is highly suspect in some adaptogenic circles.

Bacon started Moon Juice as a shop in LA, but the now-famous — or infamous — Brain Dust, Sex Dust, and other dusts are sold in mainstream beauty and wellness emporiums like Sephora, Urban Outfitters, and Nordstrom.

Her newest offering, a blend of four adaptogens and other ingredients like sunflower oil, is called SuperYou. She says it sold out multiple times at its several retailers and was out of stock on Moon Juice’s website for several weeks. “People were calling shops and driving to stores just to find one in stock,” she says.

The interest in adaptogens by a mainstream, not particularly granola/crunchy consumer has ballooned this year, according to both Bacon and the Detox Market’s Severin. Severin says this is reflected by the customer who is buying SuperYou. “You’re not going to engage in a 30-minute conversation on what adaptogens do. They just want the pill,” she says. Bacon says another capsule formula is in the works.

Adaptogens, as happens with trendy food and wellness ingredients all the time, have now found their way into skin care. Youth to the People, an indie brand popular at Sephora, has an “adaptogen deep moisture cream” that contains ashwagandha, reishi, and rhodiola. Moon Juice has a skin care line too, as well as that “yoni” oil. It includes a serum and facial acid.

Bacon had been against using skin care for a long time, saying she didn’t believe in it. But when she hit her mid-30s and started to see signs of aging, she caved and tried P50, a popular facial acid beloved by beauty editors and celebrities. She was appalled when she discovered she loved it because, in her words, it’s “so dirty, it’s outlawed in Europe.” (There are different versions of the product because one of its original ingredients, phenol, is indeed banned in topical skin care in some countries.)

So her Moon Juice version is the adaptogenic version. The reishi in it supposedly “combats signs of oxidative stress.”

Perhaps the biggest sign that adaptogens are bleeding into the mainstream is that they’ve already penetrated both the far left and far right sides of popular culture. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop and Alex Jones’s Infowars both sell supplements containing adaptogens, which Quartz broke down in 2017.

Goop sells Moon Juice products and Four Sigmatic super-mushroom-adaptogen coffees. Infowars sells a product called DNA Force Plus for $75, containing cordyceps, reishi, and other adaptogens, that claims to “support optimal energy levels while adapting your body to handle the daily bombardment of toxins.”

Amazon spits out more than 1,000 results for dozens and dozens of supplement brands when you search for “adaptogens.” But in the end, they have the same major limitations that all supplements do.

“This is a largely evidence-free industry,” says Caulfield, the University of Alberta professor. “Despite the marketing claims, most of us do not need to consume boatloads of supplements. On the contrary, it can be harmful.”

As with all supplements, adaptogens are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and they can’t make drug-like claims, which is why the bottles are filled with vague words like “well-being” and “calming.” There’s not a guarantee that the ingredients a company says are in the supplement will be there, and there can even be cross-contamination with prescription medications and other substances.

And, as an article on the University of California Berkeley’s wellness site notes, plant-derived supplements like adaptogens have a lot of potential for substance variability due to different plant species used, which may result in different compounds being derived. There’s even a difference in chemical composition depending on what part of the plant is used. There’s no standardization of this and no universally agreed-upon dosing, so it’s essentially a crapshoot, like all supplements are.

Supplement companies have little motivation to study their own products. “They can just say it works,” says Mullur, the UCLA doctor. “They can sell it or they can spend a bunch of money to study it and potentially find that it has no benefit. There’s too much risk.”

So should you buy ethereum (the cryptocurrency) or eleuthero (the adaptogen)? Sure, but only if you’re comfortable with spending money on the unknown.

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Original Source -> Adaptogens, the mysterious herbs that supposedly alleviate your stress, explained

via The Conservative Brief

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