This is party 2 of a discussion regarding how poly could have been handled a little better in BG3. I recommend you read through the first part here: https://new.reddit.com/BaldursGate3/comments/1crb2s7/how_the_polyamory_could_have_been_handled/ so you can get context and I sound like less of a rambling weirdo.
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Astarion:
Out of all the discussions, people were the most confused by this choice. Not only does making him poly at the last minute feel contrary to a lot of statements he himself makes throughout his romance arc, but it also runs counter to what other characters say about him and his backstory as a whole. He is one of the most insecure characters in the game, he was trained for two hundred years to lie in order to avoid punishment, and he has far more trauma and healing to do than the other characters. Astarion is the most likely to lie about the Halsin relationship in order to avoid appearing weak or demanding. Out of the poly players who expressed disappointment, Astarion was the one that bothered them the most, since many felt he wasn’t fully consenting.
Most of my reasons for why he’s not a good poly option (from a development standpoint) have already been stated in earlier sections, so most of this will be spent diving into the “Is he fine with poly or not?” debate, which had me intrigued. (This will be the longest section and won’t be as connected to the overall topic, so if you want to skip to the Halsin part, feel free.)
I’ll start with the main arguments I see defending him being poly.
Argument 1: He says he’s fine with Halsin and the twins, so we should take him at his word.
While this can definitely be argued, and it’s not good to treat an adult man like a baby, his constant lying as a defense mechanism and current issues with sex/relationships do need to be taken into account (if not by the players then at least by the developers). There were plenty of people (some of them victims of SA) who talked about their own experience of tolerating poly because they were scared of their partner leaving or finding them too demanding/narrow minded. This led to their self-esteem and views on relationships growing worse rather than better. For someone like Astarion, who outright admits he has never had a healthy relationship and doesn’t want to lose this one, it’s understandable that people view his response as a coping mechanism rather than his own genuine feelings. There were also two different mental health professionals who reminded players that although a few victims of abuse do enter poly relationships, statistically most do not and it is far more common for them to agree to poly relationships out of pressure (which often make the person’s mental issues even worse in the long run).
Argument 2: He claims to be fine with open relationships during Act 1.
This is countered by the fact that everything he says about himself in Act 1 is a lie (unless he’s specifically talking about Cazador). He lies about wanting to sleep with you, he lies about his identity until he bites you, he claims to only care about sex (then later admits it makes him feel disgust and loathing), and he brags about his former conquests (which you later find out he regrets and feels guilt over). His statements that he’s fine with open relationships are made when choosing between him and another Origin character in Act 1 or 2, but this is also said at a time when his act is still up and he isn’t in love with the player. If you choose between him and another Origin character AFTER he confesses and let’s his guard down, he insists that he is NOT fine with sharing. “You’ve decided to replace me?” If the player says they care about both him and the other person, he’ll say, “Don’t give me that. I can see what this is.” Then he promptly breaks up with them. This second reaction is not only said using his genuine voice (whereas before he was still using his fake one), but a few poly people mentioned that this isn’t a normal reaction from someone who is fine with poly.
This isn’t to shame people who want to think Astarion is fine with it, or to judge players who went through with the poly relationship. Instead, this is once again asking the developers why they chose this option, rather than someone who wouldn’t spark so much debate or remind abuse victims of their past without giving them a dialogue option to address it. (This is a similar issue with Astarion’s brothel scene. They should have either removed it by having him say he’s not comfortable again, or at the very least, let players talk to him about it after.)
I think it’s pretty clear that after reading the discussions and evidence both sides provided, I myself lean heavily to one side. However, the main defense I personally have for the opposite side is that the writers were sometimes vague about Astarion’s true preferences and wishes. I especially felt this during the origin playthrough, where his narrator would constantly flip between him liking hedonism and despising it. It gave the impression that two opposing authors were wrestling while writing him, unable to decide where he truly stood on things. It felt similar to how the devs tried to write a respectful story of overcoming abuse and the fear of being sexualized, only to turn around and repeatedly sexualize the character in both the game and promotional material. I really wish the writers and developers had picked a lane and stuck with it.
Now I’ll get into the evidence for the counter theory: That he’s not actually open to sharing, but says he’s fine with it to avoid appearing weak or losing his partner. I personally prefer this theory because it makes the writing seem more intentional, adds more nuance to an already complex character, and feels more realistic. However, even if this is what the writer or actor were trying to convey, it’s still a far worse alternative to simply keeping him out of the poly options in the first place.

1. His hedonistic playboy persona is stated to be a façade. Anything he says in act one about being poly and wanting open relationships is stated when he is both wearing his mask and before he trusts the player. Every statement about relationships here has to be taken with a grain of salt because his mask is centered around attracting victims for Cazador. Since he hated bringing “sweet innocents” to his master, it makes sense that he would initially try to attract the opposite (“criminals and brothel goers”) by sleeping around and making a show of wanting casual relationships.
   
2. Once he gets comfortable in the relationship, he makes it clear he is looking for someone who will make him feel safe and value him for his personality over his body (“I don’t want you to think of me in terms of sex. I don’t think I want anyone to.” “How do you want me to see you?” “As a person. Is that so much to ask?”). If the player chooses to sexualize him, he will go through with it, then regret it later and break up. He makes it very clear in Act two that he’s not actually looking for casual hookups because they make him feel “ashamed and alone”. So it is odd that he’s fine with Halsin (who seems to care more about the sex and the body than the emotional bonding) and the brothel (which is solely about sex). One can argue that he’s fine with the poly relationship because he’s not taking part, but Halsin DOES wish for him to take part ‘eventually’.
   
3. Jumping off of that, Astarion’s dialogue makes it clear he wants a partner who cares about more than just sex, but if you tell him you want to date Halsin solely for the sex (and because Astarion’s not doing it with you), he will say that’s fine and he doesn’t mind the player seeking sex from others. This seems to counter his previous statements and arc. It’s especially strange that even if you reinforce his greatest insecurity (that his refusal to have sex has made his partner immediately seek out other people), he will still claim to be fine with it.
   
4. In terms of dialogue, the actor for Astarion seems to be very intentional when using the fake theatrical masking voice vs. the more genuine softspoken voice he uses when he’s comfortable and being honest. The fake voice is blatantly obvious throughout the Act 1 romance, in Act 2 if you force him to obey the blood merchant (his voice goes from genuinely scared to flirtatious and over the top within seconds), and in Cazador’s mansion where he’ll speak genuinely to you, then be over the top when addressing Cazador’s servants. He’ll often use jokes and loud laughter to conceal his true feelings and insecurities. Meanwhile his laughter in the confession scene, graveyard scene, and Spawn epilogue is quiet and subdued because he’s being genuine. It feels like a strange coincidence that when addressing both the Halsin situation and the brothel situation, his voice becomes very loud and high pitched again, he immediately starts making jokes, and his laughter is over the top. This hints at him not wanting to go along with either situation, but he’s putting himself through it because this is what his partner wants and since he’s tolerated sexual stuff he hated before, he can do it again. Plus, after killing Cazador, he wants to ensure no one views him as weak. He has to prove to himself and his lover (at least in his mind) that refusing to take the Ascendant powers was good and he’s strong enough to not need it. I can understand players not picking up on the voice changes (because not everyone is going to replay the game or even care) but those who did notice it believe it’s done intentionally (either by the actor or the writer or both). If it’s not intentional, then it’s a strange decision to make from a developer’s standpoint.
   
5. Throughout the threads I read, most poly people made it clear that poly relationships require complete trust, clear communication, and general confidence. Astarion himself admits to lacking all of those traits to some degree. If you don’t romance him, he will literally not trust any of the characters right up to the epilogue (he’ll hold a knife behind his back while talking to the Dark Urge). Even though he does seem to genuinely trust his lover by Act 2, he will still lie to them several times. He lies about being fine with the drow twins (he states he’ll leave if he hates if but never does despite disassociating), feigns confidence when the player says they’ll become a mind flayer (he says he only cares about them becoming ugly but expresses his true fears only after the fight, that he’s worried they are no longer the person he fell in love with by losing their soul), he manipulates his lover when confronting Cazador despite being conflicted about it himself and wanting reassurance, and (on a more minor note) he continuously claims he’s doesn’t care about Yenna or the Gur children despite getting upset when they’re in danger. This is a character who, even after he kills his tormentor, struggles to be honest with his partner. That isn’t a good combination when addressing poly. (Again, it could be worked through in real life, but is better avoided in video games where there isn’t time to address it).
   
6. There are also plenty of situations where he agrees to do things he outright hates. In Act 1, we know he is (at least somewhat) disgusted by having sex with the player or Laezel, but he’ll do it. In Act 2, he tries to be genuine about not wanting to touch the player until he no longer feels disgust, but if the player pressures him, he will cave and obey. He does break up with the player afterwards, but it is only after he has gone through with the act. In Act 3, he will state three times that he doesn’t want to take the tadpole, but if the player pressures him by bringing up his darkest fear, he will give in. Worse, he will give in and STILL stay with the player romantically despite them clearly manipulating him to do something they know he fears. He does thankfully break up if you fail the checks, but if you succeed, he goes through with it. If he’s willing to cave to something as huge as altering his entire body, it makes sense that he would cave to something he views as more minor (like tolerating unwanted sexual acts in a brothel or sharing his partner).
   
7. I didn’t know this until I saw others mention it but there are points where he will flirt with NPCs if he is single (the girl in the sewers), but he uses neutral dialogue if he is dating the player. This reinforces the theory that he doesn’t actually plan to sleep around or be with others as he claims (though there are some dialogues that I think slipped through the cracks where he still flirts with others despite being in a committed relationship).
   
8. If Halsin propositions you after Cazador has been killed, Astarion no longer asks if you’re doing this because he hasn’t been fulfilling your sexual needs. However, he does give another response that feels out of place: “I’ve realized it doesn’t matter if anything (in our relationship) changes.” Parallel this with what he said at the graveyard, that “no matter what happens, I don’t want to lose this (relationship).” It’s very odd to have him say he doesn’t want to lose the relationship, but then the next day he is totally okay with losing it. Granted, it is nice to know that even if the characters break up, he’ll be fine, but it does feel contradictory for his character, especially with how devastated he acts if they DO end the relationship. If the Halsin statement is just an act and he’s overcompensating, however, then it feels more intentional on the writer’s part.
   
9. I’ve seen lots of people say that Ascended Astarion also shouldn’t be fine with poly, and I agree, though it’s for different reasons than Spawn Astarion. Unlike SA, I think Ascended would absolutely do the brothel scene because 1. He’s actively suppressing his trauma and playing a new character and 2. He feels in control in the brothel and is the focus. However, with Halsin, he doesn’t have any control. For someone obsessed with possessing his lover and ensuring they can never leave him, letting them sleep with Halsin doesn’t fit his writing. He isn’t participating. He doesn’t know what they’re doing behind his back. For all he knows, Halsin and the player might be discussing how to kill Astarion or escape him. In some deleted party banter, Halsin literally tells Ascended Astarion he doesn’t approve of the abusive spawn/master relationship they’ve formed. With that knowledge, not only should Halsin not be willing to join a poly relationship that he thinks is unhealthy, but he has a motivation to help the player get away from AA (and AA would know this). I could see Spawn Astarion hesitantly agreeing to the Halsin thing despite not wanting to share, but AA just wouldn’t. It feels contrary to both his and Halsin’s writing.
   
10. This is the second most convincing piece of evidence for me: The Drow twins. If you ask Astarion to join a ‘group activity’, he’ll use his fake voice and flighty laugh and agree to go through it, saying he’ll run away if he doesn’t like it and comparing the act to burning in the sun (a little concerning that he’s already comparing the two). Then during the act, he will immediately ask the player what they want “us” to do. Not only is he lumping himself in with the prostitutes, but he is also doing something that an Origin playthrough reveals is a trigger for him (he tells the drow twins that being ‘told what to do’ reminds him of his time as a slave). If the player tries to check up on him, he ignores them and says he wishes he was drunk. Then he disassociates and never brings it up again. This has been viewed two ways: either he doesn’t want to have casual sex anymore and wants to be in a one-on-one relationship, or he does want to do stuff like this but just needs to heal more before he can. I lean toward the first assumption because he is acting flighty and fake BEFORE the sexual act even begins. If he really wanted to do it but changed his mind after, it makes more sense for him to sound genuine at first, then fake halfway through.
    

But the main thing that sticks out to me is his reaction to you asking for only ONE drow twin. If you do, he will accuse you of having a thing for prostitutes and call it embarrassing, then glare at you for the rest of the conversation. This is especially sad because not only have the player’s actions made him feel like a prostitute again, but now he seems to be wondering if you started dating him BECAUSE he was a prostitute, not for who he really is.
Compare this to the Halsin situation and the drow ‘group activity’. For Halsin, he says he was expecting this for months. He’s had several months to plan his reaction and decide what he’s willing to tolerate. Hence, he has a very rehearsed reaction. With the twins, he had less time to anticipate this but probably also worried about it (especially if the player asked about them earlier and he said no. Now he expects the player to try again and has planned accordingly). Again, this response feels rehearsed and fake. The only response where he uses his real voice is when you ask for one of the twins alone. This is something he likely wouldn’t plan for, so we get to see his gut reaction for the first time: he doesn’t want you to do it.
Now some people argue that he’s fine with Halsin and not the other Origin characters because Halsin is just a fling and won’t try to take his spot. If that’s the case, he should be fine with the twins too. If anything, they are even less of a threat. Yet he doesn’t want you to do it and responds accordingly. If he truly was poly, he would respond like Karlach did and tell you to have fun, or like Shadowheart telling you to give him a heads up first. But we don’t see that.
One other thing about the twins that I felt I could point out: if you or the twins ask to do a group activity before Cazador is killed, Astarion says he’s not comfortable with this yet. The “yet” part has been pointed out to show that he’s fine with it after Cazador has been killed (even though he still disassociates later). However, another explanation of the “yet” part is that he’s trying to soften the blow because he’s scared of using a blunt NO. We see this with Araj, the blood merchant. Even though he is absolutely disgusted with her treatment of him and how she’s “defiling” him with her fantasies, his rejections of her are very soft and nervous. Even when reinforced by his friend/lover, he says “It’s still a no, I’m afraid” with a smile. Turning down sexual encounters is tough for him, even when he has people backing him up, so I can see him using words like “yet” or “I’m afraid” to soften the blow. I know several people in real life who do this, despite later admitting there was no “yet”.
There’s another part of this dialogue with the early twins that I want to point out (really overanalyzing here but if we want to believe the writers do things intentionally/with a lot of forethought, I think it’s okay to read into the words they use). When Astarion says he’s not comfortable with the twins, the player’s response is “I wouldn’t ask such a thing of you”. This will raise his approval and make him respond positively. The promise you give him is not “I’ll ask them later, after we’ve killed Cazador” or “I would have liked to but okay” (that one doesn’t trigger his positive response). He only approves of you saying you won’t ask him to do things like this (stated in a tense that implies you will NEVER ask him to do such a thing, regardless of Cazador’s stabbed or unstabbed state). This could have been the writer hinting that if you bring him back after, you’re going back on your promise and thus have to see the disassociating scene. That…or the writer wasn’t thinking too hard and we are simply thinking too much.

1. With all that out of the way, we’ll get to the final point that solidifies this theory for me personally. It’s the statements of Shadowheart and Minthara if you ask to do a three-way relationship with one of them and Astarion. Shadowheart’s response is: “I think you’re overestimating his willingness to share. He may seem like a carefree hedonist, but there’s something fragile beneath the façade.” Minthara says something nearly identical, that sharing would wound his pride and he is far too fragile to handle it. You could even add Astarion’s line from the other end, where if you ask Astarion to share with you and Karlach, he will say they shouldn’t because Karlach loves the player and relationships are fragile (implying that he either thinks open relationships don’t work if there’s love involved, or perhaps he himself can only do open relationships if he doesn’t love the other person).

The main argument I’ve seen disproving these statements by Shadowheart and Minthara is that they’re just plain wrong about him. If so, it’s a strange writing choice to not only have both of them be wrong about the exact same thing, but they’re both high wisdom characters who are proven to understand Astarion in a lot of ways other characters don’t. (All three of them have been enslaved and manipulated, Minthara comprehends the depths of his relationship with Cazador within minutes of being in the camp, and Shadowheart is one of the closest to Astarion in terms of friendship and liking him.)
If Astarion actually is fine with poly, then it means both Shadowheart and Minthara are wrong. That means the writers either made a mistake or made a very weird writing choice.
However, if Astarion is actually pretending to be fine with sharing as they say, not only is the writing consistent but these dialogues become very clever foreshadowing. I want to give the writers the benefit of the doubt and believe they did a good job with Astarion, so I prefer to lean into the theory that he’s pretending because it makes more sense for him overall.
That was quite a long tangent and somewhat unnecessary, but he’s a character whose mannerisms and statements are meant to be heavily analyzed, so it’s fun to go more in depth. Let’s move on.

1. ISSUES WITH HOW HALSIN WAS PRESENTED

We’re finally at the last point, and in a way the direct cause of this entire thread: Halsin. Now, I have no issue with Halsin being poly (again, he’s listed as one of my four ideal options for it) but I do have several issues with how he was written and presented. The Shadowheart part I will skip over because I already got into it, but there are many other problems to address and most of them could have been fixed very easily.

1. He is not presented as poly until Act 3. I was reading through a thread full of people who loved him and several of them were early access players who had requested he become a romance option. However, the reason they requested him was very important. In EA, all three of the male options seemed immature (Wyll), condescending (Gale), or straight up evil (Astarion). Meanwhile Halsin was, in their words, a mature man who seems like the type to settle down with them in a cottage and help raise their kids. This is the impression he gives and what drew many people to him. As a result, many of these players were extremely disappointed to reach Act 3 once the game was out and discover that not only was he the complete opposite of their initial impression, but he won’t even stay with the player after the game ends (in most cases). Honestly, if I was a developer and saw that they liked him for those earlier reasons, I wouldn’t make him strictly poly because that wasn’t what the players wanted. They wanted him because he was muscular and a good, stable man. It was a very odd choice to turn around and give the players the opposite of what they asked for. But if the devs were truly determined to go the poly route, they should have at least gone back to Act 1 and 2 and slipped in some hints that he was poly. I saw some newer players who recently played the game for the first time and wanted to romance him for the aforementioned reasons (stable, mature, kind, huge). They ignored all other romances until Act 3, then got hit with the “I’m only poly” discussion. Had they known he wasn’t monogamous, they wouldn’t have blown off all the other options.
   
2. But let’s ignore that. We’re focusing on the world where he IS completely poly (though some were arguing that it should at least be an option to ask if he’ll try being monogamous with the player.) The way he is presented still has a lot of issues according to poly players. For one, the way he tries to butt in on the relationship is done in a really sketchy manner (especially considering what some of the Origin characters have gone through/are currently going through). It would have been far better to do what they did with Minsc and give the PLAYER the option to hit on Halsin, rather than the other way around. Have them offer poly to him, and then he can discuss it from there. Having the proposition come from Halsin himself puts him in a negative light, and it’s pretty clear the writers didn’t actually want to portray him as a bad person so they messed up here.
   
3. The flagging for Halsin’s dialogues is awful and despite seeing people report it for eight months, that hasn’t changed. Even if you pick the most neutral option, he will still hit on you by saying “I think you feel the same way”. Not a good idea. “I HOPE you feel the same way” would have been infinitely better. Women often have to deal with people assuming their friendly, professional conversation is something more when it isn’t. It’s not a great idea to bring that into fantasy games too. It hit too close to home for some.
   
4. Even if you use the most neutral option at the Act 1 party (“Go have fun and mingle”), your main dialogue option the next day is “Sorry for coming on so strong last night”. It’s a strange thing to say. Again, I’m not sure how developers missed this and why it was never patched out. I saw people reporting it since the release.
   
5. He will also ask for a relationship at neutral approval. In most of my playthroughs, I stopped talking to him beyond the Thaniel quest and avoided asking about his personal life. He still led his proposition with “I think you feel the same way”. How does he know when we only spoke to him three times? They should have at least required you to go through all his extra dialogues before triggering this.
   
6. When Halsin says he loves you, you have two options: reject him straight away, or ask about his opinions a little more. Oddly enough, if you ask a bit more and THEN reject him, he’ll have a proper response. “That’s fine. I understand. I won’t ask again.” However, if you reject him as soon as he starts talking to you, his response is very off putting. He’ll protest and say, “but you asked me about my former lovers” or, if you didn’t even do that, he’ll claim “you looked after me with the care of a lover, not a host.” These pushy assumptions turned a lot of people off. This is entirely on the writer, in my opinion. He should have realized how weird these sounded.
   
7. Halsin is the only person you can’t dismiss from your camp at any point through dialogue. All of the origins have to be pursued and recruited intentionally. Halsin is the only exception. This makes some sense because you need him to cure the Shadowlands, but for Act 3, he literally has nothing to do. They should have given players an option after the Ketheric fight to dismiss him and tell him to take care of the Shadowlands. It makes a lot more sense narratively and would help avoid a lot of the more awkward parts later.
   
8. Halsin’s initial dialogue about monogamy vs. polyamory is mostly fine, with him comparing it to gardens and wolves vs. bears. But (and don’t quote me on this because I can’t recall the specifics), if you ask your partner to do poly and they say no, Halsin will be a little more judgmental about your partner, saying he was hoping they would be more “open minded”. Statistically, the majority of BG3’s players are going to be monogamous, so it’s strange to see nearly every character (monogamous or poly) criticize monogamy in some way. It is called selfish, narrow minded, and old fashioned by at least 3 characters to my knowledge (Halsin, Act 1 Astarion, and even Gale (who is monogamous himself)). If the developers truly wanted to be inclusive, criticizing one’s lifestyle and having no characters openly defend it in the game (even those who practice it) is a disappointing choice. In this case, it might be an unintentional mistake (maybe they feared that by defending monogamy, they were somehow demonizing polygamy or polyamory), but it would have been better to just leave the criticisms out of it entirely if that was the case.
   

And that’s it. I think that’s all the points from myself and others that I wanted to compile. I don’t think any of this will be changed in BG3 but I hope all of these points and opinions will at least improve any future games. It’s great that BG3 was able to make nuanced characters with their own opinions and preferences—I much prefer it to “everyone is poly and no one gets mad if you cheat” games where characters feel more like statues than living beings—but I do wish they thought the poly options through more carefully (trying to make poly people comfortable while leaving room for monogamous players to enjoy the romances too).
The only feasible fix the developers could make at this point to avoid all the issues mentioned is keeping Halsin poly but removing his connections to other Origin romances (or at least Karlach and Astarion). At this point, that’s the only thing that could realistically be done. I also wish they made characters break up with you if you cheat on them in the brothel, since that’s what many people including myself would do.
Again, these opinions are my own (and those that aren’t come from a variety of comments across Youtube, Reddit, and Larian’s forums). I enjoyed getting to see so many different viewpoints and appreciated how civil (most of) the people on both sides were. It’s an interesting topic and here’s hoping game studios handle it better in the future.
If anyone reads this far and wants links to the threads, forums, and youtube comment sections, let me know.

Introduction:
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Source: The Science-Backed Benefits of Red Light Therapy

Trigger warning: some instances regarding mental health.
I recently turned 20 and also just came back to the Philippines. After graduating senior high school and turning 18, my family sent me to study abroad and complete college/university/tertiary education in Australia.
My journey there was definitely an experience. I basically had to learn how to fend for myself in almost every aspect. There, I lived with an aunt that I was close with growing up. She happily provided for me the basic necessities like food and a place to stay, but every other expense I needed like transportation, tuition fees, savings, tax, bills, were all up to me. I made some friends along the way and grew close with some of my relatives there, but there were still those days where I felt so alone and I couldn’t bear the stress, pressures, and expectations of adulting in a completely different place and society pretty much on my own. My mental and emotional health was already low at the time, but having a strained relationship with both parents that never got resolved before I left, intensified the feeling of loneliness and the pressure to be independent. It was already a given that everything there was going to be difficult, but I was also so lonely all the time, until I met him.
We met on Tinder and thankfully when we matched, he was the one that initiated the first move. Our first conversation went by smoothly and we had out first date a week after that. After a couple months of dating and seeing each other, I asked him if he would be willing to enter a serious relationship with me, and much to my delight he agreed. I’ve never felt that way towards anyone before. I’ve had my fair share of intimate interactions ranging from failed talking stages to regular friends with benefits, but I eventually developed thick skin and lowered my expectations that none of those will lead to anywhere meaningful and long-term.
As always, there is an exception to every rule, and that was him. He showed me love like I have never received before. He’s always there when I need someone to talk to. He always reassures me that I’m doing my best despite the struggles of adulting in a new country. He’s always there to console and comfort me when I couldn’t take life anymore. He’s always there whenever I need to vent all my problems and stresses away. He’s always so patient and understanding with me whenever I have anxiety attacks or when I start to spiral downwards and lose control. He also always reminds me that I’m attractive despite all my insecurities. In short, he filled that empty void that I needed for the longest time. Someone to be there with and for me. Someone to love me and never leave me despite how difficult it gets.
We were pretty much in a very healthy relationship until one day I received news from my family that I’ll have to abruptly stop my studies abroad and return to the Philippines. I won’t delve anymore into the specifics of that because that’s a completely new story, but obviously, and for many reasons, the decision ruined me. It took me two months, a lot of tears, and dozens of hours of calls with people just to come to terms with what was going to happen to me. Despite being only a relatively short amount of time, I managed to build and maintain a life there. I have friends and a social life there. I had a part-time job that paid well and I enjoyed most of the time. I became close with some relatives there. I had complete freedom away from my parents like an adult. I had a clear path of what I’m going to do with my future. And most important of all, I had him.
It’s already a given that we both didn’t take it well at the start, but we also went through the difficult journey of accepting that I’ll have to leave eventually. We agreed to see each other as often as our schedules and finances would let us before I needed to leave. But it was also such a bittersweet experience. From then on, every moment I get to share with him, every time I get to hold his hand, every instance we share a kiss, every second I get to look at his handsome face was suddenly significantly more meaningful and precious, but at the same time, also grim and tragic, because at the back of all of those moments, we knew that our days are numbered.
Somewhere along the way of coming to terms with me leaving, we agreed to enter and maintain a long-distance relationship until we can be reunited again with my goal of moving back to Australia. Which brings us to where we are now. Over 5000 kilometers and 2 timezones apart, but still chatting on a near-daily basis and calling each other more than once a week. We also agreed that he’d come visit me here when he can, but he has to sort out a lot of stuff with his own life beforehand, and I completely understand and trust him that he’ll still make the effort to see me. I really miss my boyfriend. The sheer longing to feel him next to me and make more memories together makes me so depressed late at night. It’s so hard not being able to physically be with him now, but still, I love him ever so deeply, and despite it being difficult, I want to commit to doing my part to maintain and progress our relationship, just like how he does his part for us.

Again, cautiously I proceed, believing there is a danger in applying anything from one of the novellas in The Fifth Head of Cerberus to one or both of the others. With that caveat out of the way, let me explore the potential provenance of “‘A Story’ by John V. Marsch” in light of the revealed situation in “V.R.T.”
​
“V.R.T.” gives us a Soviet model of crime and punishment which recasts “A Story” as being a work of rehabilitation rather than one of anthropology. I sketch some of this territory in “Appendix VRT8: A Soviet Model” (part of Gene Wolfe’s First Four Novels: A Chapter Guide), but I would like to expand it a bit here.
​
I believe “V.R.T.” is largely patterned on Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon (1940). Koestler reveals in his novel that with the Soviet system, a court case could not advance to the show trial stage until after the prisoner had signed a false confession that had been crafted entirely by the authorities. This fantastical document of made-up crime is referred to as “The Grammatical Fiction,” and by definition it is not written by the prisoner, it is written by his jailers, in order to justify his pre-determined fate.
​
I pause here to note that George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) is really a “happy ending” version of Darkness at Noon. Be aware that there will be spoilers ahead for both 1984 and Darkness at Noon.
​
Robert Borski is on record arguing that prisoner 143 wrote “A Story” while in prison. I am on record arguing against that, both author and setting, but I will go through a steelman argument of what I think such a thing would look like, using elements I have already published, bending and combining them in service to this new task.
​
To prepare the way, I will engage in a long-delayed response to Borski’s “Marschian Sexuality” (2006), a brief article that detects in the Earth anthropologist Marsch a homosexual nature (The Long and the Short of It, 49). Borski notes that Marsch’s journal describes teenage Victor as “handsome in a rather sensitive way,” and that later entries show Marsch increasingly agitated by the idea that Victor might be sexually engaged with the suspected abo girl, an agitation that rises in intensity to the point Marsch writes about shooting them both if he catches them together. As telling as that is, for Borski, “the clincher is he reports in his journal that he’s noticed Victor is uncircumcised.”
​
This is the first I saw such an idea, and I applaud Borski for his textual detective work. I will build upon this, going in a different direction than Borski goes.
​
If a reader believes there are two distinct personalities in prisoner 143, it makes sense that there be differences to distinguish between the two, differences in voice that will appear in text. Both Marsch and Victor are male; one is in his twenties, the other a teen; one is highly educated, the other is barely educated; both are beardless. Totaling these up, they are practically twins, so a difference in sexual orientation could show which personality is writing a given sentence.
​
Borski assigns the misogynistic remark about Celestine Etienne to the Victor side (49), whereas I take this as expressing the Marsch persona, along with the other misogynisms, such as “Most medical men . . . [only] prolong the lives of ugly women” (5HC, 205).
​
By my reframing, prisoner 143 is ostensibly a misogynistic homosexual, yet during his extra-harsh time in the tomb-like underground cell he writes about dream women (5HC, 210-11) and a prostitute he hired on Ste. Anne (212). After this he gets positive reinforcement, being moved back to his original cell (231), being given the best food and a bath (231), and being given an intimate visit by Celestine Etienne (232). Then, when he is about to burn his uncollected notes, his jailers confiscate them (233).
​
This technique employed by the jailers to break him down is not special, it is their standard way, as declared by the letter: “We are pursuing the usual policy of alternately lenient and severe treatment to produce a breakdown” (242). Yet the resulting breakdown might actually serve to wean Victor of the Marsch persona; or to exorcise the Marsch spirit, in possession terms; or, in actor’s terms, to relegate the role into a mere mask. If Victor’s mother can shift between multiple roles, it shows the importance of not confusing a mask for the core.
​
One model I looked at in my chapter guide was that the government fears prisoner 143 is a human sniper disguised as an abo klutz (“Appendix 5HC2: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”). The opposite to this would be a sheep-in-wolf’s-clothing, which looks like Red Riding Hood in the belly of the wolf.
​
Returning to the Soviet model of “V.R.T.,” perceptive readers will have been arguing for nine paragraphs that “A Story” does not look like a Grammatical Fiction; it looks more like a fictionalization of a personal psychological reintegration, ending in the killing of an ogre and the subduing of a shadow twin. In a sense, this puts “A Story” in company with I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1964), a famous fictionalization of a personal psychological reintegration. As such, consider this mapping of “A Story” to Victor’s point of view in “V.R.T.” (similar to the table in the aforementioned “Appendix VRT8”).
​
=A Story: V.R.T.=
Quest to become a man: expedition starts (find abos/mother)
Become a shadow friend: Marsch as patron (*)
The girlfriend (Seven Girls Waiting): the cat/abo girlfriend
Vision of mother in danger: clue in Roncevaux
Trip by river: starcrosser to Ste. Croix
The trap (capture by marshmen): murder of Number Four
The prison: #143
The family reunion in prison: the incoherent neighbor as mother
The girlfriend in prison: Celestine Etienne
The miracle: (black box**, reality breakthrough)
The execution of Last Voice: (black box, the killing of the ogre)
The switch: (black box, the subduing of the shadow twin)
​
* for “Become a shadow friend: Marsch as patron” I am especially struck by the parallel scenes where the hero, facing a threatening male, weeps and is comforted. In “A Story” this is where Sandwalker prepares to fight the intoxicated Shadow Child (5HC, 86); in “V.R.T.” this is where Marsch asks Victor what he will do when he is a man (5HC, 159), and six days later they talk about an anthropology book Victor has read (223). In addition, the way that the Old Wise One of “A Story” speaks in scientific jargon forms an unexpected link to Marsch-as-tutor; and Victor’s imitation of Marsch and Hagsmith swells their camp number to four, similar to the fluctuating number of phantom-like Shadow Children.
​
** by “black box,” I mean that science and technology term wherein an input goes into a black box and the black box emits a transformed output, but the internal working of the box remains mysterious and opaque. One explicit “black box” in “V.R.T.” involves the murder out in the field: we witness events leading up to that incident, and notes after the incident, but the incident itself remains mysterious and opaque.
​
Continuing beyond this mapping, the letter from the jailers to the junior officer names two solutions: execution of 143 as an agent of Ste. Anne; release of 143 as a scientist from Earth, “at least until he further incriminates himself” (241): in effect, the Darkness at Noon option (execution), or the 1984 option (release for eventual execution). In his response, the junior officer writes that neither is acceptable, and that, “Until complete cooperation is achieved we direct you to continue to detain the prisoner” (243). This “complete cooperation” sounds like the prerequisite for “Grammatical Fiction,” but it also could imply an implied third option, a “fork ending” of the sort promoted by Damon Knight (who, you will recall, grew Gene from a bean), where the third ending is not named but subtly foreshadowed. So, if the end result, the black box output, is the production of “A Story” (foreshadowed by appearing in the text before “V.R.T.”), then the implied off-the-page ending of “V.R.T.” is not a list of imaginary crimes to warrant 143’s execution as a sniper agent, but an anthropological romance to allow 143’s release as a scientist from Earth. Yet this is not the simple release of 143 as the 1984 option, it is a third way: to avoid the possibility that he “further incriminate himself,” the jailers must actively remake him as a scientist from Earth, if only as a stable role. According to my thought chains on Manchurian Candidates (ibid “Appendix 5HC2”), the government therefore must first determine that prisoner 143 is not, in fact, capable of being a sniper (i.e., an Earthman with proven skill at long range rifle use), but is an abo klutz.
​
Given that Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) is a “happy ending” version of Koestler’s Darkness at Noon, I hope I have made clear the likely stages required for an even “happier ending” in “A Story” as a rehabilitation document for prisoner 143. The “Grammatical Fiction” has turned into I Never Promised You a Rose Garden; the Soviet-style prison is revealed to be more like a healing mental health hospital, if only for this one exceptional case where the government finds itself in a bind.

Hi all, long time lurker and first time poster from a throwaway as my main account has a lot of identifying information on it :) I hope this is the right place to post this.
TDLR: 1) I'd love feedback on my own finances right now to make sure I'm set up for success and 2) how to help my partner plan for a change in financial situation. Apologies in advance for the long post, but hoping I've shared most of the relevant info.

My own finances:

I (25F) live in a VHCOL and have been working for almost three years. My W2 TC is $122,000 (Salary $112,500 + $9500 bonus) and I anticipate that it will increase due a promotion to at least TC of $150,000, but I'm not counting these chickens before they hatch. I also have a side business (LLC) that brought in $40,000 last year, and I forecast will bring in a bit less this year (maybe around $30,000). Below is a breakdown of my savings and expenses:
Savings:
TDLR: Maxing my 401K and Roth IRA. I keep $25,000 in a HYSA for emergencies. I'm not sure if I'm sitting on too much cash.

• 401K: Currently at $42,000. I haven't always been able to max it out, but always have done at least the company match + a little bit extra. Will max it out this year, so $23,000 + 6% company match ($6750).
• Roth IRA: Currently at $27,000. I max it out every year; I was using my own Roth IRA in Fidelity and had not realized that my company also provides a match for this, so I've stopped my own contributions to the Fidelity for now and am instead doing the 6% for the match. I know the limit for Roth IRAs generally is $7000 per year - I've already contributed $1940 toward this year's limit and plan to get the full match now. How does having two Roth IRAs work? I've tried to research it and am still very confused.
• Brokerage: $76,000, all in ETFs/index funds except for $5700 which I keep in SPAXX. Should I invest the $5700 instead of letting it sit in the MM?
  • I auto transfer $800 per month into brokerage and if my checking account has too much in it, I'll toss a few thousand in.
• Primary HYSA: Emergency fund: $25,000 + Additional rainy day fund: $8,100 @ 5.5% APY
• Secondary HYSA: $1000 14% APY (14% only up to $1000, so once it's over $1000, I re-level it back to $1000 and move the money into my main HYSA)
• Checking account: $4400 to cover off credit card and rent. I use credit cards for everything, but treat them like debit cards. They are paid off every month and have never missed a payment.
• I don't have a HSA as I am still on my parents' insurance, but will move off of this onto my partner's starting next year, so may be able to open one after that move.

Monthly Expenses:
Some of these are not costs incurred monthly (such as clothes and travel - we don't travel every month and I'm not buying clothes every month), but roughly how much it would be per month from the annualized amount. No debt: No student loans, CC debt, we rent and likely will for awhile, and do not have a car.

• Rent: $1250 (We split, this is my portion)
• Clothes: $500 (My main hobby and in the middle of a wardrobe refresh. A lot of this is deducted from my LLC as the business is event planning related)
• Restaurants: $500 (My main way of hanging out with friends and how my partner and I spend time together)
• Travel: $400
• Groceries: $250
• Entertainment: $250
• Self-care: $200
• Health: $170 (Gym + fitness classes)
• Commute/transport: $125 (pre-tax benefit)
• Utilities: $120
• Uber: $50
• Subscriptions: $25

I'd love to hear any feedback or advice you have for me: Am I sitting on too much cash/how much should I keep in my checking account? Am I right to continue to prioritize putting money in the brokerage over the HYSA? What should I keep doing and what should I do differently?

My partner's finances:

My partner (25M) has been a student until now and will be starting a potentially very lucrative career in October after graduating. We've been very fortunate that both of us do not have any student loans or debt and that his expenses have been taken care of by a mix of largely scholarships and family support, so he is essentially starting from scratch. His starting TC will be around $245,000 (Salary $225,000 + Bonus $20,000) with a salary ladder for increases each subsequent year after.
We'll continue living in the same place, so rent will be the same ($1250) and we spend around the same amount on groceries ($250). Besides that, the only other expense he has is transport (~$120/month) and the gym ($10/month). I cover utilities/subscriptions for us). His only other expense is travel, which is probably around $2500 annually, which his internships in school have covered for him).
I had him set up a Roth IRA last year that he maxed out in 2023, besides that he has modest savings (~$5000 in a general savings account that likely generates next to no interest). This is the plan that I've helped laid out for him after he starts:

• Build emergency fund: I'm thinking around $25,000 in HYSA?
• Max Roth IRA since he'll be starting in October and his salary will still be below the income threshold (Am I thinking about this correctly?)
• Max 401K
• Set up a brokerage account and start chucking money in there once we get a handle on what his expenses will look like once we've not living the student life.

Beyond that I'm really not sure that makes sense and could use advice.
Thank you for reading if you've made it this far, and really looking forward to hearing any advice you have!

I apologize beforehand for the long winding post!
A little background for which influences my opinion, I'm very very new to the fandom and although I was aware of RIIZE (all those hype about Wonbin) and lowkey enjoyed their music, I was not sold on fully supporting them beyond listening to their music on random spotify playlist. I have always been a single group stan type (I only follow and spend money on 1 group) and since I left my previous fandom (member's sexual harassment scandal) I have been following K-Pop very casually without getting "into" any group so to speak. I was also aware of Seunghan's (and Sohee's and Eunseok's and Anton's) "scandals", but I only read the news in passing without being invested in any of it. However, I've been obsessed with 'Impossible' since it was released and youtube algorithm somehow showed me their newest WE RIIZE content and I love playing boardgames irl so I clicked on it. Let's just say that they "get" me with that and so, yes--my first genuine introduction to RIIZE is that of OT6.
I found them really sweet and funny in their own ways and started a deep dive on their contents and following them on social media. I have never followed NCT so I did not know who either Sungchan or Shotaro was until RIIZE and only after that I started reading stuff about their experience in NCT too. Let me begin to say that I agree that the reaction to Seunghan's "scandal" is proportionally harsh and SM's decision to put him in hiatus is unfair considering how other idols are given second chance with worse behavior. I totally understand the opinion of OT7s that wants him back. I agree that he's very talented and I can see from their old contents that's he's a mood-maker with hosting duties in the group. He is a valuable member of the team. I am sure the rest of the members love him and miss him too.
I totally understand all of these points, however I personally think he has been in hiatus for too long so I want SM to give us either an update or closure whatever that might be, whether it is OT7 or they are moving on with OT6. This has been dragging for too long to the point he has been in hiatus longer than being active and also while the group is in a critical stage of their career. As fans are aware RIIZE is about to release a new mini album--so, honestly, the talk of boycott scares me. I understand that the point is to make SM listen to fans' demand but honestly I am more worried about how it may impact SM's treatment to RIIZE. The group has been mismanaged so far (and SM keeps adding more problems to RIIZE's plate with the Japan tour schedule) and I just do not want it to get worse. They are successful rookies but they are just still rookies now without any power, what if SM decides that it's not worth it to promote them well and put them on a backburner? I realize that this is a very pessimistic POV and they probably will end up getting mismanaged anyway (because SM) but the members just seem so eager and happy to promote and as long as it's not impacting their health, I want them to achieve everything they want to achieve.
This is gonna get me some backlash but I am not gonna lie, after watching their more recent youtube contents, recent performance clips and reading reports about the fan-con I am more attached to OT6 and less to Seunghan since I haven't been seeing as much of him. Perhaps it's because I am more used to RIIZE without Seunghan, I don't find them really lacking in anything--they are hardworkers who will keep growing and improving and they are already getting more and more comfortable with each other and with the camera. I find them funny and endearing in their own chill way and I enjoy their songs and performances. It's not that I am against Seunghan coming back because if he does I will gladly celebrate OT7 and learn more about him--however my current concern is the stability of the group and the atmosphere surrounding it. They are Gen Zs so I am sure they are hyper aware of social media and I selfishly want the fandom to focus on them and their hard-work without all these controversies surrounding them. The rest of the members are experiencing so many of their first achievements together now as OT6, idk if Seunghan still lives in the dorm but being in this weird limbo must be hard for both him and the members. Seeing the members cry in fan-cons broke my heart, they have been through a lot and they only debuted like 8 months ago? I feel like the longer this is dragged out, the worse it will become.
I am aware that it is not uncommon for SM to put their artists in long hiatus, but at this point I just want SM to give some update or closure--when is Seunghan coming back? Is Seunghan ever coming back? It's ok if it will take him a while to comeback because he needs to prioritize his mental health. But still, I want to know what the decision is as soon as possible.

In a world where health and wellness are paramount, it's no surprise that people are turning to natural remedies to support their well-being. One such remedy gaining popularity is Chaga tea – a powerful elixir brewed from the nutrient-rich Chaga mushroom. In this blog post, we'll explore the numerous benefits of drinking Chaga tea and why it's becoming a staple in the wellness routines of many.

What is Chaga Tea?

Chaga tea is made from the Chaga mushroom (Inonotus obliquus), a fungus that grows on birch trees in cold climates, particularly in Siberia, Russia, and parts of North America. Revered for centuries in traditional medicine systems like Russian folk medicine and Chinese herbalism, Chaga mushrooms are packed with beneficial compounds that offer a host of health benefits.

The Benefits of Drinking Chaga Tea

1. Immune Support

Chaga tea is rich in antioxidants, including polysaccharides, polyphenols, and beta-glucans, which help strengthen the immune system and protect the body against infections and illnesses. By boosting the immune response, Chaga tea can help ward off colds, flu, and other common ailments, keeping you feeling healthy and vibrant year-round.

2. Anti-Inflammatory Properties

Chaga tea contains potent anti-inflammatory compounds, such as betulinic acid and triterpenes, which help reduce inflammation in the body. Regular consumption of Chaga tea may help alleviate symptoms of inflammatory conditions like arthritis, joint pain, and gastrointestinal disorders, promoting overall comfort and well-being.

3. Antioxidant Protection

Antioxidants play a crucial role in neutralizing harmful free radicals in the body, thereby protecting against oxidative stress and cellular damage. Chaga tea is loaded with antioxidants, making it an excellent choice for promoting skin health, slowing down the aging process, and reducing the risk of chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease.

4. Energy and Vitality

Unlike caffeinated beverages that provide a temporary energy boost followed by a crash, Chaga tea offers sustained energy and vitality without the jitters or caffeine-related side effects. Thanks to its adaptogenic properties, Chaga tea helps support adrenal health, balance stress hormones, and promote overall energy levels, keeping you feeling alert and focused throughout the day.

5. Digestive Health

Chaga tea contains soluble fiber, polysaccharides, and prebiotics that support digestive health by promoting a healthy gut microbiome, improving digestion, and alleviating gastrointestinal issues like bloating, constipation, and indigestion. Regular consumption of Chaga tea can help maintain a healthy digestive system and enhance nutrient absorption.

6. Liver Support

The liver plays a vital role in detoxification and metabolic processes in the body. Chaga tea contains compounds that support liver health and function, including enzymes that aid in detoxification and antioxidants that protect liver cells from damage. Incorporating Chaga tea into your wellness routine can help support overall liver health and promote optimal detoxification.

How to Enjoy Chaga Tea

Brewing Chaga tea is simple and straightforward. Start by obtaining high-quality Chaga mushroom pieces or Chaga tea bags from a reputable source. Then, steep the Chaga pieces or tea bags in hot water for at least 15-20 minutes to extract the beneficial compounds. You can enjoy Chaga tea hot or cold, plain or with added flavors like honey, lemon, or spices.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Chaga tea is a nourishing and therapeutic beverage that offers a myriad of health benefits for both body and mind. From immune support and anti-inflammatory properties to antioxidant protection and digestive health, Chaga tea is a true superfood elixir that can enhance your overall well-being. Whether you're looking to boost your immune system, reduce inflammation, or simply enjoy a soothing cup of tea, Chaga tea is a delicious and convenient way to support your health naturally. Embrace the power of Chaga tea and experience the transformative benefits for yourself!
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Helldivers 2 has gotten a little stale recently with the Polar Patriots warbond new additions being mostly bad, the Airburst Rocket Launcher also being bad, and the new anti-tank mines actually look decent but will probably have to long of a cooldown so they will be niche. I'm proposing changes that could spice up the game by changing up enemies, modifiers, and weapons. Let me know what you think about the changes and what could be improved as I'm not a game designer and just want to see Helldivers 2 be better.
Assault Rifles
Assault Rifles are probably the worst class of guns in Helldivers, they don't excel at anything and aren't even that good allround. They need massive help
Liberator: Currently the base Liberator is just a worse Sickle. Not only does the Sickle have infinite ammo but for some reason it has higher DPS. I would reccomend changing its damage to 70 per shot and 11 shots per second bringing up its damage to 770 DPS. To go with the higher firerate, changing the reload time to 1.5 seconds on tactical reload and 2 seconds on a full reload would make the gun feel much better as a starter gun because it would just feel faster and kill better.
Liberator Penetrator: Liberator Penetrator is one of the worst weapons in the game. It has medium armor penetration but lacks any stopping power for it to be useful. Bringing the damage per shot up to 60 and upping the ammo to 35 bullets per magazine will take it a long way, having 640 DPS and medium armor penetration but having less bullets
Liberator Concussive: Liberator Concussive has the same probelm as the Liberator Penetrator in that it can't kill but even worse. I would reccomend bringing its damage up to a whopping 90 damage per shot. This sounds crazy but the changes to enemy spawns makes this more fair which i will discuss later. This increase in damage would give it a niche of a long range way of stunning bot enemies and actually being able to kill them. DPS would be 480 which isn't that crazy but the concussive ability would help. If I'm being honest this one might still be to weak so tell me what you reccomend changing for this gun.
Tenderizer: Tenderizer is in a very bad spot because it's an inferior Liberator even without my changes. I would reccomend bringing up its damage up to 70 per shot giving it a DPS of 700. In addition, because the DPS is lower I think giving it a small amount of stagger where enemies can't move or shoot back could go a long way in differentiating itself from the Liberator. Making the Tenderizer stagger enemies such as Hunters, Brood Commanders, Scout Striders (Striders wouldn't be damaged because of the lack of medium armor penetration but would be staggered if hit from the front), and standard Devastators would make the gun much more fun. Also make it fully resupply when refilling with resupply boxes like all other weapons.
Adjudicator: Adjudicator is in a pretty bad spot right now. It has poor handling and the damage isn't high enough to reliably one shot trash mobs, but it also doesn't have good enough damage to deal with more serious threats. I would reccomend bringing the damage up to 100 per shot for a total of 916 DPS. This would help justify the lower than average 25 bullets in a magazine.
Marksman Rifles
Marksman Rifles are in a decent spot with only the Diligence needing some help so that's what I've focused on.
Dilligence: The Dilligence is hard to balance as it is decent on bugs and bots but excels in neither of them. In addition it's hard to juggle balancing the Adjudicator, Dilligence, and the Diligence Counter-Sniper to make sure they're all good in their own ways. I think it might be fun to make the Dilligence the "easy medium armor penetration rifle". Get rid of almost all of its recoil and sway to promote more aggresive playstyles. The Dilligence would have lower DPS than the Adjudicator but it would be much easier to control and would just feel fun.
Dilligence Counter-Sniper: Honestly this weapon is perfect right now. It fulfills its role on bots perfectly and is fun to use. I worry that the Adjudicator changes would make this gun obsolete but I think it would still have its own niche. No changes
Sub-Machine Guns
One of the most consistent weapon types in the game with really only the Knight needing some help.
Defender: One of the most well balanced weapons in the game. No changes
Pummeler: It might be to early to say but the Pummeler feels good to use and fulfills its role, being worse at trash clear compared to the Defender but better against heavier targets thanks to the stagger. My opinion could change but for right now I don't think it needs any changes. no changes
Knight: The Knight is right now pretty bad just because it has a low ammo count for its firerate and fairly long reload time. These 2 factors just make the gun feel unfun to use because you are spending so much time reloading. It takes only 2 seconds to unload a full clip and 2.5 seconds to reload a full clip so you literally spend more time reloading than shooting. I would reccomend increasing the ammo per magazine from 50 bullets to a staggering 100 bullets per magazine and lowering the total number of magazines to 5. This would change the weapon's problem from "I have no ammo" to "I need to control my recoil so that I can kill better". This gun would reward close range play and good recoil management, being able to deal massive DPS if you can hit your shots.
Shotguns
Shotguns are probably the best class of weapon, issue being that some shotguns heavily outclass others. My goal is to equalize the difference between the shotguns and give them their own niches
Punisher: The most forgettable shotgun, the Punisher really just doesn't feel special. I admit that I don't have much experience with this gun so please tell me what you think about this gun currently. I think it would be cool if this shotgun was a jack of all trades shotgun. Reduce the spread but still have it be there and increase the firerate to 2 shots per second for a DPS of 810. It wouldn't have the range of a Slugger or the close range damage of a Breaker but it would have a little bit of both.
Slugger: Honestly just give it back its old stagger. This gun would functionally but the "precision shotgun" staggering and killing larger targers but having lower DPS in exchange
Breaker: Really the Breaker doesn't need help. It tears through trash mobs and does well against larger targets as well. The Breaker is fun and fair. It has lower ammo and not the greatest range but it's 100% workable. No changes
Breaker Spray & Pray: Breaker S&P isn't a bad weapon at all but it's 100% outclassed by the Breaker Incindiary. The only change I would make is to give it a 30 round magazine with 7 magazines to further lean into the "Spray and Pray" aspect of the gun.
Breaker Incindiary: This gun needs nerfs. I love the thing but it outclasses the Breaker Spray & Pray and fulfills its own niche at the same time. I would reccomend bringing down the firerate from 5 shots per second to 4, lowering its DPS from 1200 without accounting for fire damage to a DPS of 960 without accounting for fire damage. This lowered firerate would make the gun lean into its gimmick and have the fire do more work.
Explosive Weapons
Explosive weapons are probably the hardest to balance due to all of the recent nerfs to the Eruptor and Crossbow. I've decided to skip these weapons as I don't fully understand how explosive damage works
Dominator: A gun with good strengths and a fair amount of weaknesses to hold it back, making it fair. No changes
Energy Weapons
One of my favorite types of weapons and one that doesn't require much balancing.
Blitzer: The only change I have in mind for this weapon is the way that targeting works. Make it so that when you aren't aiming it the gun will always try to target as many enemies as possible and when aimed in it will aim all of the shots at the crosshair
Purifier: This weapon needs more testing but is unanimously agreed to be trash. If the gun works the way I think it does then the damage is much lower than people think it is, with the bolt dealing a respectable 250 damage but the explosion dealing much less. I would reccomend making the bolt and the explosion do 250 damage, essentially one shotting any low or medium level bot including Scout Striders. This should be fair because it has a large charge up time inbetween shots
Punisher Plasma: One of the most underrated weapons and a personal favorite of mine. I love what they did to the weapon but it deserves a small nerf. Revert the projectile speed to the way it was before it was buffed or find a middle ground from where it is now and where it was before
Scythe: The problem with the Scythe is really the way damage is dealt. It deals 350 per second. The issue with this is it's slow to kill anything because it at minimum takes 1 second for damage to be applied. I would reccomend making it so that damage starts as soon as the laser touches something for the first time. This could be abused so i would also reccomend raising the charge up time to .6 seconds. I'm not 100% sure if this would work how I think it would so please let me know what you think. I'll try and illustrate what this looks like
Current version
(Laser touches, 1 second passes, damage)
Changed version
(Laser touches and damages at the same time, 1 second passes, damage)
Sickle: Fantastic weapon that is fun to use. No changes
Scorcher: Fantastic weapon, great all around with low ammo to balance it. No changes
Pistols
Pistols are in an ok spot right now but some overshadow others largely
Peacemaker: I bet you don't even know what the Peacemaker is because nobody ever uses it. The Peacemaker needs some massive help. I would reccomend raising the Peacemaker's total ammo to 25 rounds per magazine, raising the magazines to 7 magainzes total, and raising the damage anywhere from 80-90 per shot. The damage would still be just ok, being good on trash mobs, but would be a big help on builds that waste a lot of ammo. I want the Peacemaker to one shot Hunters and Pouncers as I think that's the only change that could make it actually strong and not overshadow other secondaries
Redeemer: No changes. It's very useful as an "Oh shit" tool. It would have lower DPS than the Peacemaker but would be easier to use in a pinch because it's full auto where the Peacemaker is semi auto
Senator: No changes. Great gun with it's own niche
Dagger: Literal trash, it has the lowest DPS in the game, has a large cooldown, and builds heat quickly. I would change it so that it can't overheat at all and even then it might still be trash. Let me know if there are any better ways to balance it
Grenade Pistol: Great utility weapon. The only change I would make is to make the explosion radius a little bigger to more reliably destroy bot fabricators
Verdict: It's to early to tell but the Verdict looks strong, being similar to the Senator with a better ammo economy but no medium armor penetration. Making it a reliable anti medium target weapon. No changes
Grenades
Grenades are in a weird spot right now, with some being amazing and some being bad and I aim to raise the lower end of grenades to be in line with the rest
High Explosive: No changes. It's decent having a larger blast than impacts but being slower
Frag Grenades: These things are bad. I would change the max number of grenades from 4 to 6 when holding these grenades, making them great against fabricators and bug holes
Incindiary Grenades: Raise the blast radius and it's good
Incindiary Impacts: As long as the Impact grenades radius is smaller than the normal version, it's good
Impact Grenades: No changes
Stun Grenades: No changes
Thermite Grenades: These things need help. They really only have 2 uses. 1-2 well placed Thermites and and an anti-tank shot will kill a Bile Titan and 1 Thermite will destroy a Cannon Turret. I would reccomend increasing the final explosion blast radius size, damage, and the thermite burn radius. This would cause 1 anti-tank shot and 1 Thermite to consistently kill Bile Titans, it would be easier to hit Hulk eyes with Thermites and 1 shot them, and Thermites should kill with 2 grenades if hitting a Tank heat vent. Thermites should also strip Charger armor with 1 Thermite
Support Weapons
Expendable Anti-Tank: No changes, great support weapon
Recoiless Rifle: Increase the size of the explosion making it easier to hit weakpoints, Making it stronger than other anti-tank options in exchange for the backpack slot
Spear: Fix the tracking to be much more consistent. The Spear just doesn't have enough ammo and should have 6 shots instead of 4
Quasar Cannon: No changes, has unlimited ammo but has a cooldown and charge up time
Airburst Rocket Launcher: This thing is so dogshit. It requires a backpack slot, needs to shoot enemies far away from allies or you'll kill them or yourself, doesn't gurantee killing everything in the blast radius, etc. This thing needs a massive damage buff to be worth using. Increase the amount of cluster bombs to gurantee that whatever is in the radius is dead including Hulks. Increase the armor penetration value to at least strip Charger armor and do big damage to it, if that's not enough it should kill Chargers outright
Grenade Launcher: Increase the amount of magazines from 2 to 3. This thing is great but the low ammo makes it unviable so increasing the magazines by 1 will go a long way
Railgun: This thing needs help. It should require only 2 level 7-8 shots to strip Charger leg armor. It should 4 shot a Bile Titan in the face when using max charge shots. and 3 max charge shots should kill tank vents
Stalwart: The Stalwart is IMO an underrated pick on bugs. Its main issue is really that it's only good at unarmored horde clearing, leaving the user prone to being attacked by armored and high level enemies. I would propose that giving it medium armor penetration would take it a long way as one of the best horde clearing weapons, being able to deal with Hive Guards, Bile Spewers, and Scout Striders easier
Machine Gun: The Machine Gun might be the least used support weapon in Helldivers 2. It just doesn't really do anything special that another support can't do better. I would reccomend giving it heavy armor penetration, allowing it to kill Hulks when hitting the eye and it would go through devastator armor
Heavy Machine Gun: Unfortunately, from its inception the HMG has been bottom tier. It recently got a crosshair but even still it just gets outclassed by the Anti-Material Rifle, Laser Cannon, and even the Railgun. I think it could be cool to up the ammo to 100 rounds per magazine and add an optional backpack. This backpack would add an extra magazine and would increase the armor penetration to go through Charger & Hulk armor
Anti-Material Rifle: The AMR probably needs a small nerf. It 1-2 shots anything on the bot front. I would reccomend reverting its damage so that it needs to headshot devastators to one shot them
Autocannon: No changes
Laser Cannon: No changes
Arc Thrower: Make the Arc Thrower staggestun lock Hulks again and its great. Right now it's useless on bots
Flamethrower: The Flamethrower is great because it can horde clear and kill Chargers very efficiently. This is most likely unintentional but it is very fun. I would reccomend lowering the total magazines from 4 to 3 to balance out the Flamethrower's strengths.
Backpacks
Guard Dog: Guard Dog is currently just overshadowed by its Rover variant. I would reccomend changing the gun from the Liberator to the Liberator Penatrator, with the damage being the same but giving it medium armor penetration. Ammo boxes should also refill its ammo
Guard Dog Rover: No changes, the nerfs were justified. This is still a great horde clearing weapon but it doesn't play the game for you anymore
Supply Pack: No changes, you give up a backpack slot but you get 4 resupply boxes which is a big help and is balanced
Ballistic Shield: No changes, it fulfills its niche on bots and will get even better as time passes with new 1 handed weapons
Jump Pack: No changes, the Jump Pack is decent but it becomes much better depending on the primary weapon you use
Shield Generator Pack: No changes
Emplacements
Anti-Personnel Mines: Mines are completely terrible right now, their damage is decent but the cooldowns are just to long to be useful. I reccomend reducing their cooldown from 3 minutes to 1 minute
Incendiary Mines: Just like the Anti-Personnel Mines, the cooldown should be brought down to 1 minute but also since fire damage is weaker than explosive damage, there should be more Incendiary Mines in a larger radius
Machine Gun Sentry: The Machine Gun Sentry is just a weaker version of the Gatling Sentry. Instead of bringing the power of the MG Sentry up, I think it would be cool to lower the cooldown of the MG sentry. The idea with this sentry is to be the disposable horde clear sentry, similar to how EATs are the disposable anti-heavy support weapon
Gatling Sentry: No changes
Autocannon Sentry: No changes
Mortar Sentry: No changes
EMS Mortar Sentry: No changes
Rocket Sentry: Right now the Rocket Sentry is just largely inferior to the AC Sentry. I think it could be cool to increase the range and projectile speed of the Rocket Sentry massively. This would make it a lower DPS but longer range sentry with more ammo compared to the AC Sentry. The AC Sentry would be better in terms of DPS but would require better positioning and defense while the Rocket Sentry is something you could put farther away that would help with larger targets, which is what a missle should do.
Tesla Tower: I haven't used the Tesla Tower enough to discuss what should be done about it, please let me know what ideas you have for it
HMG Emplacement: Really just make the HMG Emplacement affected by sentry upgrades. These upgrades would give the HMG Emplacement more ammo, a better turn speed, and more health
Eagles & Orbitals
There are to many to list so I'll only be listing Offensive Stratagems that should be changed
Eagle Strafing Run: Give it heavy armor penetration. It would be good way to horde clear and kill larger targets but wouldn't excel at either role
Eagle Airstrike: Reduce the uses from 2 to 1. This thing is just to good to have 2 uses. It horde clears, kills bosses, destroy fabricators and bug holes, has multiple uses, etc. Nerfing the amount of uses before it goes on cooldown brings up a lot of other stratagems
Eagle Cluster Bomb: Reduce uses from 4 to 3
Orbital Gatling Barrage: The OGB should target and move around instead of being a stationary stratagem. Instead of targeting high level enemies it should target groups of low level enemies.
Enemy Changes
I might be in the minority but I feel like the main game mode (Helldive difficulty, 4 players) is to easy. I would reccomend buffing up the enemies to not only account for all of these new buffs but also to make Helldive hard again. All of these changes would only apply to Helldive difficulty as that's the only difficulty I have enough experience to have a good idea of what should change
Increased spawns on objectives: Objectives currently need to have more spawns, there is just to much downtime. Of course each objective will need its own spawnrates based on how long and how difficult each objective but generally there needs to be less enemies
Pouncers: Low level bug enemies are currently not threatening enough. They have low health, low damage, and are slow. I would reccomend increasing the Pouncer's movement speed to increase their ability to swarm players.
Warriors: Just like the Pouncers, Warriors just aren't very scary and should have increased movement speed to make them still a threat with their ability to swarm
Bile Spewers: These things need to be shot. Their spit attack is 100% broken. Damage on the spit attack needs to be reduced so that it isn't a one shot. I think a cool change though to make them still a threat is that diving would get rid of the slow debuff, but it would also increase the DOT from the acid, giving the player the choice between their movement or their health. Slow debuff should only be applied if the acid attack hits, not if the acid is in your general area
Bile Titans: These things are honestly just to tanky and completely define bug missions. There are to few ways to kill these. You either need an anti-tank support weapon or an anti-heavy stratagem. I think a good change would be that the legs should have lower armor (maybe heavy armor penetration and explosive weapons can do damage) and that if a leg is hit enough the Bile Titan would die. Hitting the head with anti-tank weapons would still be faster and leg shots would probably require 2-3 people to shoot the leg to kill the Titan at a reasonable pace but Titans wouldn't be unkillable.
Heavy Devastators: Devastators just need an accuracy nerf. They kill incredibly quickly and they frequently spawn so nerfing their accuracy would make them more fun to fight
New Additions
These are a few new additions to the game that I think would be cool
Gas Grenade: A portable version of the Orbital Gas Strike. It would have a larger AOE compared to incindiary grenades but a lower DPS
Thermite Breacher: A new support bolt-action sniper rifle that uses large thermite bullets. There would be 3 shots per magazine and 4 magazines total. Shooting this weapon sticks a large thermite bullet that deals high damage over time that explodes, similarly to the thermite grenade. No 3rd person scope. 1 leg shot would strip Charger armor, 2 headshots would kill. 3 headshots would kill a Bile Titan. One eye shot would kill a hulk, 2 shots would destroy heat vents
Incindiary Grenade Launcher: A grenade launcher with 4 magazines that shot incindiary grenades
Gas Grenade Launcher: A grenade launcher with 4 magazines that shot gas grenades. These grenades would have a larger AOE compared to the Incindiary Grenade Launcher but a lower DPS
Arc Spitter: An arc assault rifle that had lower damage per shot and firerate, but would also fire arc shots that could arc to 1 other target per shot
Glide Pack: A varaint of the Jump Pack. It doesn't have as much vertical height but you can hold the space bar to slowly glide back to the ground
Roman Exosuit: A new Exosuit meant to be used against bots. The left hand would have a shield that could block bullets from the front and would break after taking enough damage. The right hand would have a large Laser Cannon that could overheat and would have a long cooldown when overheated
Angel Support: A Pelican would come down from the Super Destroyer to hover over the player for 30 seconds. Would have unlimited ammo and a 4 minute cooldown. So far the 2 weapons I think it could have is an Autocannon and Gatling gun
Care Package: Once every 1.5 minutes, call down a Care Package that gives the player a random one time use stratagem that goes away upon death. Can only hold 1 Care Package stratagem at a time
Fido: A new stratagem that summons an AI controlled car. This car would go around spotting enemies, finding side objectives, collecting ammo, supplies, and samples
Sharpshooter: A new armor passive. Hitting weakpoints on medium and high level targets would reward the player with ammo, stims, & grenades. If a weakpoint breaks such as a brood commander leg or the target dies due to being hit in weakpoint, get some supplies back. This effect does not apply to low level targets. 5% chance to get a stim, 15% chance to get a grenade, 20% chance to get a support weapon magazine, 60% chance to get a primary and secondary magazine.
Thick Skin: A new armor passive. 25% damage reduction when being hit in the back or side
Extrasensory: A new armor passive. Gain the ability to detect enemies offscreen in a 25m radius
End of thread, please let me know what you liked and what you think should be changed

Liv Pure For Weight Loss
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In light of the skepticism towards social democratic ideals in the US, largely due to historical biases and a misunderstanding of its principles, I propose a rebranding of social democratic policies to make them more appealing. Social democracy has proven successful in various countries and offers practical solutions that align with core American values. Let's face it, the Cold War irrevocably tainted any ideology even tangentially related to the word "social", and one could argue that this deeply ingrained aversion to terms such as "socialism" or "social democracy" is a major contributor to Sanders' loss in 2016, even though his policies would objectively benefit the lower 50% of the population.
Rebranding social democratic policies and other social democratic safety nets in a way that makes them more appealing to demographics wary of the terms like "socialism" and "social democracy" involves a strategic communication approach that emphasizes shared values, practical benefits, and relatable messaging. Here are some key points that I think we should implement in order to successfully enact socialist policy that would overwhelmingly benefit the lower 50%:

• Use Inclusive and Familiar Language:

Instead of terms like "socialism" or even "social democracy," use language that resonates with American values, such as "freedom," "security," "opportunity," and "family support." Phrases like "economic security," "family benefits," and "health assurance" can frame these concepts in a more positive and accessible light. This is what the ultraconservative billionaires do with their private foundations and political non profits (Americans for Prosperity, etc.)

• Emphasize Fairness and Equality of Opportunity:

Many people are motivated by the idea of a fair playing field. Highlight how safety nets are about giving everyone a fair shot at success, not just providing handouts. For instance, explain how access to healthcare and education enables all citizens to contribute more effectively to the economy. Emphasize the fact that a lot of these "self-made" actually started out with significant family resources at their disposals (Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, etc.)

• Highlight Economic Benefits and Efficiency:

Discuss the economic rationality behind safety nets, such as reducing emergency healthcare costs through preventative care or boosting economic productivity through better-educated workers. Show how these measures can save money in the long run and stabilize the economy. Investment in education = more efficient workers = more efficient economy; therefore, it is in America's advantage to make higher education more accessible.

• Use Success Stories and Relatable Examples:

People connect with personal stories more than abstract concepts. Share success stories of individuals and communities that have benefited from these programs. Highlight examples from conservative or traditionally right-leaning areas where social programs have led to positive outcomes. The New Deal policies enacted under FDR come to mind as they were remarkably beneficial to the lower class before being systematically dismantled during the Reagan Era.

• Focus on Family and Community Values:

Frame safety nets as a way to protect and uplift families and communities, ensuring that no one is left behind during tough times. This can appeal to communal and familial instincts, which are strong in many conservative areas. Republicans LOVE family values, so finding a way to promote these policies in the name of "family" is a must.

• Stress Independence and Self-Sufficiency:

Rather than presenting safety nets as charity, frame them as tools that help people become self-sufficient. For example, job training programs can be branded as "career advancement networks," emphasizing their role in helping individuals climb the economic ladder on their own terms. This one is huge. Self-sufficiency and independence are a major reason cars are still so prevalent as apposed to public transit in this country. Figuring out a way to emphasize the importance of social policies as pivotal to these ideals is crucial.

• Leverage Bipartisan Support:

Where possible, highlight bipartisan support for certain measures, demonstrating that they are not about partisan politics but about common-sense solutions to shared problems. This can help reduce the fear of a "socialist" agenda. This one is difficult due to how obdurate Republicans can be, but garnering Republican support is essential.

• Avoid Patronizing or Condescending Tones:

When communicating these ideas, it’s crucial to respect the intelligence and concerns of the audience. Avoid talking down or dismissing their fears. Instead, acknowledge their concerns and provide thoughtful, evidence-based responses. Look, I get it - it can be hard to deal with many conservatives without feeling an air of haughtiness. But rather than contempt I propose pity: these poor people lack the requisite critical thinking skills to recognize corporate propaganda, and patronizing them only leads to further division.

• Use Local Influencers and Leaders:

Messages are often more persuasive when delivered by familiar and trusted voices. Engaging local leaders, religious figures, and influencers who can speak to the benefits of these policies in a culturally resonant way can increase acceptance and understanding. Social media is also a must. TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Youtube shorts have proven invaluable in disseminating ideologies.

• Demonstrate Government Efficiency:

Many fears around social democracies relate to perceptions of government inefficiency. Demonstrate cases where government intervention has been efficient and effective, and highlight improvements and reforms that aim to enhance government accountability and performance. Again, think FDR's New Deal.
By addressing cultural values and speaking directly to the needs and concerns of skeptical demographics, it's possible to reshape perceptions of social democratic policies in a way that emphasizes their practicality, necessity, and alignment with broadly held American values.
Rebranding our core ideals as "patriotic" and renovating them with a big Red White and Blue veneer should be our sole focus. In order to effect meaningful change, we need to use tried and true tactics borrowed from the conservative billionaire ruling class. Using their strategy of adopting ambiguous and broad-sounding yet seemingly innocuous names is essential (think "American's for Prosperity", "Club for Growth" "Institute of Economic Affairs", etc.).

Bee pollen, often hailed as nature's superfood, is packed with a multitude of nutrients, making it a popular supplement among health enthusiasts. This tiny, granular substance collected by bees from the stamens of flowers is not only a food source for the hive but also offers various health benefits for humans. In this blog, we delve into what makes bee pollen so special, its benefits, and how to incorporate it into your daily diet.

What is Bee Pollen?

Bee pollen is made by honeybees and is the primary food source for the hive. It consists of pollen that bees collect from flowers, bee saliva, and nectar. Each granule contains a vast array of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, lipids, and protein. It comes in small pellets or granules and can vary in color depending on the flowers the bees have visited.

Nutritional Profile

Bee pollen is remarkably dense in nutrients. It contains over 250 active substances, including a high concentration of vitamins B, C, D, and E, and is rich in proteins, lipids, fatty acids, enzymes, carotenoids, and bioflavonoids — making it a potent antioxidant. Its protein content is higher than any animal source and contains more amino acids than beef, eggs, or cheese of equivalent weight.

Health Benefits of Bee Pollen

Enhanced Energy and Stamina:

Bee pollen is a powerhouse of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, making it an excellent energy booster. The B vitamins, in particular, can help enhance stamina and endurance, which is why many athletes use bee pollen to increase energy levels before competitions.

Boosts the Immune System:

With its antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties, bee pollen can strengthen the body's immune system. Regular consumption can help reduce allergies, thanks to its ability to counteract the effects of histamine in the body.

Supports Digestive Health:

Enzymes in bee pollen help aid digestion by breaking down food substances and enhancing nutrient absorption. This can lead to improved gastrointestinal health and prevention of digestive disorders.

Promotes Healthy Skin:

Bee pollen is used in various skincare products due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties, which can help reduce acne, eczema, and psoriasis. Its amino acids and vitamins can promote cell regeneration, leading to healthier, more youthful skin.

Helps in Weight Management:

Its lecithin content helps dissolve and flush fat from the body, which aids in weight management. Additionally, the phenylalanine in bee pollen acts as a natural appetite suppressant.

Cardiovascular Support:

The rutin found in bee pollen strengthens blood vessels, assists with circulatory problems, and helps correct cholesterol levels, thereby supporting cardiovascular health.

How to Use Bee Pollen

Bee pollen can be consumed in its natural granule form or as a supplement in capsules. It can be sprinkled over breakfast cereals, blended into smoothies, or mixed into yogurts and desserts. Start with a small amount (a teaspoon daily) and gradually increase as your body adjusts to it.

Precautions

While bee pollen is generally safe for consumption, those with pollen allergies should approach it cautiously as it may induce allergic reactions. It is also advisable to consult with a healthcare provider before starting any new supplement, especially for pregnant women or those on medication.

Conclusion

Bee pollen is a versatile and nutrient-rich natural supplement that offers a wide range of health benefits. Whether you're looking to boost your energy, enhance your skin health, or support your digestive system, bee pollen might be the supplement you need to add to your daily regime. Remember, natural doesn't always mean safe for everyone, so it's crucial to monitor your body's response to bee pollen and consult health professionals as needed.
Bee pollen, often hailed as nature's superfood, is packed with a multitude of nutrients, making it a popular supplement among health enthusiasts. This tiny, granular substance collected by bees from the stamens of flowers is not only a food source for the hive but also offers various health benefits for humans. In this blog, we delve into what makes bee pollen so special, its benefits, and how to incorporate it into your daily diet.

What is Bee Pollen?

Bee pollen is made by honeybees and is the primary food source for the hive. It consists of pollen that bees collect from flowers, bee saliva, and nectar. Each granule contains a vast array of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, lipids, and protein. It comes in small pellets or granules and can vary in color depending on the flowers the bees have visited.

Nutritional Profile

Bee pollen is remarkably dense in nutrients. It contains over 250 active substances, including a high concentration of vitamins B, C, D, and E, and is rich in proteins, lipids, fatty acids, enzymes, carotenoids, and bioflavonoids — making it a potent antioxidant. Its protein content is higher than any animal source and contains more amino acids than beef, eggs, or cheese of equivalent weight.

Health Benefits of Bee Pollen

Enhanced Energy and Stamina:

Bee pollen is a powerhouse of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, making it an excellent energy booster. The B vitamins, in particular, can help enhance stamina and endurance, which is why many athletes use bee pollen to increase energy levels before competitions.

Boosts the Immune System:

With its antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties, bee pollen can strengthen the body's immune system. Regular consumption can help reduce allergies, thanks to its ability to counteract the effects of histamine in the body.

Supports Digestive Health:

Enzymes in bee pollen help aid digestion by breaking down food substances and enhancing nutrient absorption. This can lead to improved gastrointestinal health and prevention of digestive disorders.

Promotes Healthy Skin:

Bee pollen is used in various skincare products due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties, which can help reduce acne, eczema, and psoriasis. Its amino acids and vitamins can promote cell regeneration, leading to healthier, more youthful skin.

Helps in Weight Management:

Its lecithin content helps dissolve and flush fat from the body, which aids in weight management. Additionally, the phenylalanine in bee pollen acts as a natural appetite suppressant.

Cardiovascular Support:

The rutin found in bee pollen strengthens blood vessels, assists with circulatory problems, and helps correct cholesterol levels, thereby supporting cardiovascular health.

How to Use Bee Pollen

Bee pollen can be consumed in its natural granule form or as a supplement in capsules. It can be sprinkled over breakfast cereals, blended into smoothies, or mixed into yogurts and desserts. Start with a small amount (a teaspoon daily) and gradually increase as your body adjusts to it.

Precautions

While bee pollen is generally safe for consumption, those with pollen allergies should approach it cautiously as it may induce allergic reactions. It is also advisable to consult with a healthcare provider before starting any new supplement, especially for pregnant women or those on medication.

Conclusion

Bee pollen is a versatile and nutrient-rich natural supplement that offers a wide range of health benefits. Whether you're looking to boost your energy, enhance your skin health, or support your digestive system, bee pollen might be the supplement you need to add to your daily regime. Remember, natural doesn't always mean safe for everyone, so it's crucial to monitor your body's response to bee pollen and consult health professionals as needed.
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In the bustling world of health and wellness, antioxidants play a pivotal role, and among them, L-Glutathione stands out as a "master antioxidant." Often overlooked in everyday dietary discussions, L-Glutathione is a compound that offers numerous health benefits, ranging from detoxification to skin health and immune support. If you're looking to boost your health regime, understanding and incorporating L-Glutathione could be a game-changer. Here’s why you should consider adding our L-Glutathione supplement to your daily routine.

What is L-Glutathione?

L-Glutathione is a tripeptide composed of three amino acids: glutamine, cysteine, and glycine. It is naturally produced by the liver and is involved in many body processes, including tissue building and repair, making chemicals and proteins needed in the body, and immune system function. It is also present in many fruits, vegetables, and meats. However, dietary consumption often falls short of the therapeutic levels needed for significant health impacts, which is where supplementation comes in.

Benefits of L-Glutathione

Powerful Detoxification: L-Glutathione plays a critical role in detoxifying harmful substances in the liver. It works by binding to toxins and facilitating their excretion via bile and urine. This detoxifying effect is crucial for preventing liver and kidney damage, managing side effects of chemotherapy, and overall health maintenance.
Enhances Immune Function: By protecting cell mitochondria and reducing oxidative stress, L-Glutathione strengthens the immune system. It aids in the proliferation of lymphocytes, which are cells crucial for your body’s immune response, ensuring that your body can fight off infections and diseases more effectively.
Skin Health and Aesthetics: One of the most popular reasons people turn to L-Glutathione is for its skin benefits. It is known for its skin whitening effect by converting melanin to a lighter color and deactivating the enzyme tyrosinase, which helps produce the pigment. Regular supplementation can lead to brighter, more radiant skin.
Anti-Aging Properties: L-Glutathione levels in the body decrease with age, which contributes to the aging process and the onset of age-related diseases. Supplementing with L-Glutathione can help to restore healthy levels of this essential antioxidant, reducing oxidative stress that leads to aging and promoting a more youthful appearance.
Supports Overall Well-being: As a master antioxidant, L-Glutathione supports overall health and well-being. It can improve energy levels, enhance mental clarity, reduce inflammation, and help manage symptoms of conditions like Parkinson's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Why Choose Our L-Glutathione Supplement?

Our L-Glutathione supplement is formulated with the highest quality ingredients to ensure optimal absorption and effectiveness. It's manufactured under strict quality control standards to provide you with a reliable source of glutathione that can help you achieve your health and beauty goals.

Conclusion

Whether you're looking to enhance your skin, boost your immune system, or detoxify your body, our L-Glutathione supplement offers a multifaceted solution that caters to a wide range of health needs. Embrace the power of this incredible antioxidant and start experiencing the profound benefits it can bring to your life today!

In the bustling world of health and wellness, antioxidants play a pivotal role, and among them, L-Glutathione stands out as a "master antioxidant." Often overlooked in everyday dietary discussions, L-Glutathione is a compound that offers numerous health benefits, ranging from detoxification to skin health and immune support. If you're looking to boost your health regime, understanding and incorporating L-Glutathione could be a game-changer. Here’s why you should consider adding our L-Glutathione supplement to your daily routine.

What is L-Glutathione?

L-Glutathione is a tripeptide composed of three amino acids: glutamine, cysteine, and glycine. It is naturally produced by the liver and is involved in many body processes, including tissue building and repair, making chemicals and proteins needed in the body, and immune system function. It is also present in many fruits, vegetables, and meats. However, dietary consumption often falls short of the therapeutic levels needed for significant health impacts, which is where supplementation comes in.

Benefits of L-Glutathione

Powerful Detoxification: L-Glutathione plays a critical role in detoxifying harmful substances in the liver. It works by binding to toxins and facilitating their excretion via bile and urine. This detoxifying effect is crucial for preventing liver and kidney damage, managing side effects of chemotherapy, and overall health maintenance.
Enhances Immune Function: By protecting cell mitochondria and reducing oxidative stress, L-Glutathione strengthens the immune system. It aids in the proliferation of lymphocytes, which are cells crucial for your body’s immune response, ensuring that your body can fight off infections and diseases more effectively.
Skin Health and Aesthetics: One of the most popular reasons people turn to L-Glutathione is for its skin benefits. It is known for its skin whitening effect by converting melanin to a lighter color and deactivating the enzyme tyrosinase, which helps produce the pigment. Regular supplementation can lead to brighter, more radiant skin.
Anti-Aging Properties: L-Glutathione levels in the body decrease with age, which contributes to the aging process and the onset of age-related diseases. Supplementing with L-Glutathione can help to restore healthy levels of this essential antioxidant, reducing oxidative stress that leads to aging and promoting a more youthful appearance.
Supports Overall Well-being: As a master antioxidant, L-Glutathione supports overall health and well-being. It can improve energy levels, enhance mental clarity, reduce inflammation, and help manage symptoms of conditions like Parkinson's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Why Choose Our L-Glutathione Supplement?

Our L-Glutathione supplement is formulated with the highest quality ingredients to ensure optimal absorption and effectiveness. It's manufactured under strict quality control standards to provide you with a reliable source of glutathione that can help you achieve your health and beauty goals.

Conclusion

Whether you're looking to enhance your skin, boost your immune system, or detoxify your body, our L-Glutathione supplement offers a multifaceted solution that caters to a wide range of health needs. Embrace the power of this incredible antioxidant and start experiencing the profound benefits it can bring to your life today!
https://nutridom.ca/products/l-glutathione-60-vcaps?_pos=1&_sid=54725334b&_ss=r

To preface, this situation is a result of my unsuccessful attempt to get the "Give Peace a Chance" achievement for Gandhi. The requirements for it are as simple as they are impossible to meet: you must get +35 faith from Gandhi's leader ability on a Huge map, which awards +5 faith for every religion founder you have met that is currently at peace. Not just with you – with everyone else as well. I am not sure about city-states, but it would make sense that they are included in the requirement as well.
In this game, I won the diplomatic victory. I thought it was only fitting for Gandhi to pursue that victory condition, but I wish it did something to actually help with the conditions of the achievement, because as soon as the game continued, not a single AI player recognized it, to the point that every session of the World Congress kept unanimously making me lose 2 diplomatic victory points. I spent most of the game on Monarchy boosted with an additional slot from the Potala Palace for that influence generation boost; I had an insane economy that was miles ahead of any AI empire, and avoided grievances for the whole game.
That did nothing to advance me towards the achievement. AI players would engage each other in endless feuds, and I don't think I've ever seen more than +25 faith from this ability. The game does not give you any tools to speed up peace processes or prevent wars from breaking out. I've seen accounts of others who went for the same achievement, and I didn't want the save file to "go to waste," so to speak. Thus I decided to play World Police a little. Just to see if some military action would be enough to make warmongers stand down.
Basil II of Byzantine was the worst offender in that regard, possessing two capitals of Civilization he had entirely wiped out. I built up my tank armies, sent two GDRs their way in the hopes of a swift campaign, but my hopes were crushed by the sight of 4 GDRs stationed across the border. Even worse yet, my spies reported that at least 6 more were in production.
Here is the first issue of Future Warfare in Civilization VI: the AI always overbuilds. As long as you, the player, keep your strategic resource income positive, you will always have an edge over the AI whose units will be suffering from maluses due to depleted strategic reserves. Unfortunately for me, sometimes that doesn't matter, and the case of Basil was a stellar example of that: his ability, Taxis, gives +3 combat strength for every holy city Byzantium has converted into its religion. That buff stood at a proud +9 CS in my game, and stacked with Crusade (because I was liberating cities) and the difficulty bonus of +2 CS from the Emperor difficulty. The overall +21 CS bonus completely invalidates the -20 CS penalty from severe lack of Uranium for GDR maintenance.
Thankfully, at that point Byzantium did not have the anti-air GDR promotion yet, which enabled me to pick apart their mechs with jet bombers. But still, Basil II basically instituting the Adeptus Mechanicus corps with techpriests that maintain GDRs in battle was probably the most insane mental image I've ever had playing Civilization. I managed to prevail in that conflict and captured all sources of uranium that they had, and just in time, because by the end he had researched that promotion.
Two civilizations were liberated and Basil was banished to his colony on a small continent with barely any strategic resources and his entirely military dismantled due to the excessive reparations of the peace treaty forcing him to disband units. Did that pacify him? No, of course not: right now, about 40 turns after that war had concluded, he was targeted by a city-state emergency. Other AI players did not take my actions kindly either: despite my efforts to liberate two civilizations from a warmongering empire, merely occupying Basil's cities was enough to send half of the world into a denouncement spiral for me. And with the widespread adoption of Giant Death Robots, an era of terror was ushered upon that cursed world...
Here is the second issue of Future Warfare in Civilization VI: the AI catches up quicker than you think. I managed to build up more than twice as much science per turn as the next highest player was generating, and yet I still had to use spies to delay science victories of other players. I have no idea about how the catch-up formula works, but it feels like it rubberbands computer players into an equal footing with you technologically, which leaves a very short window of opportunity to utilize your robots with impunity. That meant that while I was busy dealing with Byzantium, everyone else started building up their GDRs.
It doesn't matter that there is not enough uranium to support them all, which quickly results in combat strength maluses ramping up and no healing for the unit (I haven't seen the GDRs of other units receive bonus health once). The computer oppotents treat GDRs as their golden ticket to overturn the game in their favour, so much so that even if you take their capital and most of their cities, then propose a peace where you give all of them back in exchange for a sieged city with a uranium source in it, the AI will refuse: the city is not a deal-blocking clause, but the uranium worked by it is.
The unfortunate consequence of this is what I called the "Mech Wars." Every single computer opponent thought it was their time to settle their disputes once and for all, and the entire world became a battleground for GDR skirmishes. I stayed out of that conflict, and very quickly, due to the issues above, it ran its course: the health of GDRs would drop low, prompting the empires to hide the robots inside the cities in their state of extreme disrepair. With a negative income of uranium, they would turn to training Modern Tank armies, and when oil runs out, they would keep training units with no resource requirements for as much as their gold income allows.
Seriously, why don't Nuclear Submarines require uranium for maintenance? It's so ridiculous that whenever my destroyers go by, there are submarine armadas every few tiles around them.
I have honestly tried to salvage this. I made up alliances with the most peaceful and thus powerful civilizations in the game (they didn't lose their units in pointless feuds). I brought two Nuclear Emergencies to success, using both times as opportunities to take away whatever uranium those civilizations had. But in the background, other wars would rage. Cree, a longtime ally of mine and a generally peaceful Civ, went on to raze several of the cities that I had liberated from Basil in a war of their own, which I had to put a stop to, despite the threat of a Betrayal emergency. Liberated civilizations are generally weaker, and I thought that would make them less likely to start wars, but what really happened is that they formed a sort of "minor league" where they think that the outdated units of their small militaries are enough to take each other out.
Emergencies happen all the time, and while declarations of war are joint, the peace is always separate, and I can't prompt any of my allies to make peace after the emergency concludes. It is honestly infuriating how little tools you have for influencing diplomacy that is not your own. It would be sensible if the Diplomatic victory established World Peace in the "Just One More Turn..." mode, and in that case the player would be encouraged to take on the slight challenge of achieving a diplomatic victory by a Civilization that has no bonuses towards it (Gandhi's India) for the sake of an achievement.
Since this isn't the case, though, I'll either have to try this again on a lower difficulty, maybe even on Settler; or I'll simply give up and run a game with eleven clones of Wilfried Laurier. That's a strategy I've seen too.

Hi! My name is Estevan and I live in France. For my end-of-studies project, I wrote a small article about the situation of women in Colombia. My mother is Colombian and I felt it was important to discuss this in various places like Reddit.
This text has been translated using the internet, so there is a good chance of language mistakes. Sorry about that!
Colombia, a dynamic nation in South America, has been at the forefront of significant changes in women's political participation in recent years. However, behind these advancements, deeply rooted challenges persist that threaten to compromise gender equality in the political sphere and society at large. In this exploration, we will examine the progress made and the obstacles Colombian women face in their quest for equal political participation, while also analyzing the complexities of the struggle for gender equality in everyday life. From combating forced marriages to the persistent threat of femicides, this journey will lead us to understand the complex intersection between politics, culture, and gender justice in Colombia in a condensed manner.
The Fight Against Femicides
Femicides remain an alarming issue in Colombia, with a significant number of women and girls falling victim to gender-based violence. Although measures have been taken to strengthen legislation and increase penalties for perpetrators of these crimes, the culture of machismo and impunity remain major obstacles in the fight against this extreme form of gender-based violence. It is essential to address sexist attitudes and behaviors that perpetuate this violence, as well as to ensure women's access to resources and support services to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. In 2023, there were 401 femicides in Colombia, compared to 103 femicides in France. This abnormally high number proves the sad and significant presence of persecution against women in Colombia.
Advances and Challenges in Women's Political Participation in Colombia
In recent years, Colombia has seen a significant increase in women's political participation. Various measures have been implemented, such as gender quotas and incentive programs, aimed at increasing their representation in political positions, which has allowed the number of women in politics to rise to 30% compared to 11.5% in 1991. However, significant challenges persist, hindering their full participation in the political sphere. Among these challenges are gender stereotypes entrenched in Colombian society and cultural barriers that hinder women's access to decision-making spaces. Additionally, the lack of institutional support and resistance from certain political sectors remain significant obstacles to gender equality in Colombian politics.
The Fight for Gender Equality in Colombia: Beyond Wage Inequalities
Gender equality remains a priority on the Colombian agenda, and significant progress has been made in areas such as education and employment, where women earn 5% less than men for the same position. However, entrenched challenges persist in sexist practices that affect women's daily lives. In many cases, these practices are perpetrated by men and manifest through discriminatory behaviors and patriarchal attitudes. From condescending comments to the unequal distribution of domestic tasks, these actions reflect the persistence of gender inequalities in Colombian society.
To complement this article, I was able to discuss with a Colombian woman about some social aspects of the situation of women in Colombia;
How would you describe the participation of women in current Colombian society?
The participation of women in Colombian society has experienced remarkable growth in recent years. They hold increasingly prominent positions in various sectors, especially in politics, like Marta Ruiz, Vice President of Colombia, but also in the economy, education, and culture. However, challenges persist in our quest for gender equality and full participation at all levels of society.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges facing women in Colombia today?
The main challenges facing women in Colombia include gender-based violence, workplace discrimination, lack of access to education and health, which are complex issues for both women and men. We also face cultural and social barriers that perpetuate gender inequality, but lack of respect for women is the most common. For example, when I tried to build a house and reported defects in the workers' work, I was told that I couldn't understand because it was a man's job. Although this has improved over time and young people understand feminist causes better, there is still much to be done if we want to live without discrimination.
How has gender equality evolved in your personal experience and in your environment?
In my personal experience and in my environment, I have seen significant advances in gender equality, especially in the fields of education and employment. However, there is still much to be done to combat gender-based violence and disparities in terms of power and political representation. The situation has improved over time, but it is still difficult for every woman. It is necessary to understand that the street is like a jungle and that these behaviors must be faced to improve the situation and educate young people.
What is your opinion on the representation of women in Colombian politics?
Although there has been progress in the representation of women in Colombian politics, we are still far from achieving gender parity. Women face additional obstacles, such as lack of funding and entrenched sexism in political culture. It is crucial to take concrete measures to promote women's participation in politics and ensure that our voices are heard and respected. In addition to the role of Marta Ruiz as Vice President of Colombia, Colombian women are increasingly standing out on the national and local political scene. Figures such as Claudia López, the first woman elected mayor of Bogotá in 2019, illustrate this empowerment. López, formerly a senator and recognized activist for transparency and the fight against corruption, embodies a significant change in Colombian politics.
How does gender-based violence affect women in Colombia and what measures do you believe are necessary to address this issue?
Gender-based violence is a serious problem affecting many women in Colombia. It is necessary to implement effective measures to prevent and combat gender-based violence, including effectively enforcing existing laws, strengthening support services for victims, and promoting gender equality at all levels of society. Authorities should be firmer against these behaviors, but the Colombian police is sorely lacking in awareness in this area and here the state has a role to play in this fight also in terms of education on future generations.
How do cultural expectations and traditions influence the lives of Colombian women in terms of marriage, motherhood, and family roles?
Things like traditions and social expectations can really impact our lives, especially when it comes to marriage, motherhood, and family roles. Often, women are expected to take on the bulk of the work at home and with children, which can really hinder our opportunities in terms of education and career. We really need to question these preconceived ideas about gender and push for equal rights and opportunities for everyone, men and women. We need to make people understand that there are other ways to do things, other possibilities to explore.
What is your perception of the accessibility of education for women in Colombia and its impact on personal and professional development?
Access to education for women in Colombia has improved in recent years, but there are still hurdles, especially in remote areas. Education is super important for women to fully develop, professionally and personally, and contribute to the country. But the cost of school is a real concern for many kids, girls, and boys, and it deprives them of a complete and satisfactory education.
Thank you for taking the time to read my article!

I'm an Electrical Engineer working in the Defense & Aerospace. I've been at my current company for 5 years. We recently had a 1000 layoffs at my location and my workload has increased exponentially. I've been split across roles that were originally held by two senior engineers (I'm a T3, they were both T5). After the layoffs, my department approached me about splitting my time between two programs and I declined. The following day they told me that I "needed to be flexible to help save other people's jobs". Felt very manipulative. I still refused, but they forced it on me anyway.
My reservation was that supporting multiple programs essentially feels like having two full-time jobs each with their own deadlines and priorities. From a program perspective, nothing changes whether I was 100% on one or 50% on two. They still have set deadlines that need to be met. I was in this situation before and I worked 10-12hr days 5-6 days per week and it was miserable.
I've been supporting both of these programs for the past 2 months and it's exactly the same experience as before. I. Hate. It!
My department made all kinds of promises that they would help manage my time, but it's all bullshit. The programs operate independently of the department.
To add insult to injury, the department also told me that's it's unlikely I'll get a promotion or a raise this year since the department doesn't have money.
My mental health is deteriorating daily. I've been applying to jobs and I've gotten a couple of interviews, but no offers. It's been incredibly taxing applying and interviewing. I finish work and then I have to study for EE concepts that I haven't touched since undergrad. It's been very rough working a full day then studying until midnight. I don't even feel like I'm retaining anything because I'm exhausted. I don't look forward to weekdays at all anymore.
I never thought I would even consider leaving a job without one lined up, but I'm getting to the point where I need to prioritize my mental health. What should I do?

I feel like I'm losing and you're the only people who might understand the pain.
I'm very attached to my ex husband. I'm that awful type of person who wants her cake, and wants to eat it as well. I've always been like this, I've always had someone very close by my side. I'm diagnosed autistic and likely ADHD too. I didn't have modelled what a healthy relationship is like growing up.
We've been separated for 18 months. In that time I've had mental health snap when we were living together and he started seeing someone online. I completely broke and did some stuff I'm not proud of.
Fast forward to over a year later. I noticed he didn't message me back as regularly recently... I can tell when he's lying to me. He confessed to me he went on a date this weekend and was scared of how I'd react, which is fair enough. It's really painful because it triggers a sense of rejection and abandonment within me.
I spoke with my friends about it who have been a solid bunch of rocks for me. I think I'm only just realising that we're actually seperated, like we're not together and he's not mine. For example I said to him 'youve found someone else' and he said someone else implies we were together right now ... And he's right.
I feel like he's winning. He's literally finding a new person, getting promoted, he's happier when I chat to him. He's happy without me.
And I'm trying to remove the rose coloured glasses I have about our relationship but I find myself thinking, will I ever find someone who loves me (in the good times) like he did? Does anyone else ever think this?
He doesn't need me or want me anymore and that for me is so heartbreaking. The idea that he could have a relationship that's healthier than me, that someone would love him better than I could is devestating to me.
I've not flown off the handle because I've learned from last year but I just wish I didnt feel like this. This past month, I've hit a new level of hatred for being me. I genuinely feel lazy, I feel stupid compared to him, I feel like I'm unstable and that no one would want that.
I'm working full time, I look after our dog 85% of the time, I am doing a degree part time. I'm doing all of the things they say you need to do.
I've not given myself permission to move on and I don't know how I'm supposed to do that without resulting in completely hating him because I'm wounded on the side from his actions?
The thing is, apart from yes the toxicity we had, I don't want him because he's a man and that's the raw truth of it. I have internalised homophobia that creeps up. Keeps me thinking I could love with him happily together again... It wasn't 'all bad'. That I hate myself for coming out as a lesbian. That I wish he was a women.
Ive been thinking and chatting with people the past few weeks, and I finally filed for a joint divorce last week. I think that's going to help a little. I just, I needed to vent this and feel as if it's going to be okay. That I don't constantly need someone to hold my hand.