Hey everyone,
Let's talk about the elephant in the room: the sorry state of India's education system. It's no secret that our education system is in dire need of reform, and politicians are largely to blame. Here's why:

1. Underfunding: Despite promises of increased funding, our education system remains severely underfunded. Politicians allocate funds elsewhere, leaving schools and universities with outdated infrastructure and inadequate resources.
   
2. Politically Driven Curricula: Politicians often use education as a political tool, shaping curricula to suit their agendas rather than focusing on quality and relevance. This results in a skewed education system that fails to prepare students for the real world.
   
3. Lack of Accountability: Politicians are quick to make grand promises about improving education but slow to take responsibility when things go wrong. There's a lack of accountability for the failures plaguing our schools and universities.
   
4. Teacher Neglect: Teachers, the backbone of the education system, are often neglected and undervalued. Politicians prioritize other interests over investing in teacher training, support, and fair compensation.
   
5. Inequality: The education system perpetuates inequality, with access to quality education often determined by socio-economic status. Politicians pay lip service to inclusivity but fail to address the systemic barriers faced by marginalized communities.
   
6. Overemphasis on Rote Learning: Our education system emphasizes rote memorization over critical thinking and practical skills. Politicians prioritize exam scores over holistic learning, stifling creativity and innovation.
   

It's time for politicians to stop playing politics with education and start prioritizing the future of our nation. We need leaders who are committed to investing in education, empowering teachers, and creating a system that nurtures every child's potential.
What are your thoughts on the state of India's education system?

The evolutionary psychologist Mads Larsen writes:

Sex ratio theory suggests why mating practices have become dysfunctional in the West and other regions. [...] Statistics from the Nordic countries—the world’s most gender-equal region—indicate that subjective perceptions of the sex ratio in modern environments drive singledom and low reproduction. Scandinavia has the world’s highest occurrence of one-person households: 43–46%. In the past decade, the Norwegian fertility rate dropped from 2.0 to 1.5. Sex ratio studies suggest that women’s perception of there being few acceptable partners activates a polygynous mindset, which in prosperous, monogamous societies drives promiscuity to the detriment of pair-bonding.
Statistics show that women are increasingly unwilling to copulate or pair-bond with less attractive mates. Although women desire relationships, as they have gained equality, their standards have increased. Today’s rising economic stratification motivates further discrimination of certain men. With improved gender equality, women sorted away the poorest men. Rising economic inequity makes women exclude those men who are just below average (Brooks et al., 2022). Being a high-value man in the modern environment is about more than financial capital. Women generally want men with high education and status, financial success, greater intelligence, a tall stature, independence, and self-confidence (Buss, 2016; DeSantis, 2021). Those unable to attract such a man may forego pair-bonding and reproduction to prioritize other sources of fulfillment, such as a rewarding career or financial independence (Sng and Ackerman, 2020).

The increased social status of women makes them choosier resulting in a growing number of men being excluded from the mating market.
On the flip-side, a growing number of women remains unpartnered because they find themselves unable to find a man who meets their expectations. But this wealth of unpartnered women also affects the cognition of men.

Instead of raising their standards to attract a higher-value partner, men would lower their standards to have more promiscuous sex. Instead of lowering their standards to attract a mate, women would raise their standards to avoid being deceived by men who seek short-term mating (Stone et al., 2007).

The high status men, desired by women, become more promiscuous and less likely to commit to a single partner. Women respond to this by becoming choosier and more promiscuous at the same time.

They compete more fiercely and do so by catering to male mate preferences. Women permit more uncommitted sex (Schmitt, 2005). They signal promiscuity, for instance, by wearing shorter skirts (Barber, 1999). A novel expression of such female–female competition, informed by male preferences, is that when high income inequality reduces the proportion of attractive bachelors, women post more sexualized selfies (Borgerhoff Mulder, 2018). Early pregnancy is another competitive means. In low-ratio contexts, women appear to compete for males through teenage pregnancies and pregnancies outside of marriage (South and Trent, 1988; Barber, 2000, 2001; Chipman and Morrison, 2013).

As a consequence both men and women become frustrated with the opposite sex. Women because they can't get the long-term relationships with the high status men they desire and men because they find themselves confronted with a increasingly competitive dating market from which certain men are excluded in entirety.
In liberal circles people often blame plummeting birthrates on economic hardship but the Nordic countries serve as a counter-example.

In the Nordic countries, generous welfare frees more women to break out of, or avoid, burdensome bonds (Trägårdh 1997). Similar to the way in which early hominin females could make do without paternal care, modern women can raise children on their own. Buss (2016) wrote that with long maternity leave, subsidized daycare, and other forms of support, Nordic “taxpayers effectively provide women with what partners otherwise would.” In Norway, social democratic governance on average transfers $1.2 million more to each woman over a lifetime than she pays in tax. The average man pays more in tax than he receives in benefits (Statistics Norway, 2022d; national oil revenue also counted as tax).

Instead of the birthrates being raised, they dropped even further.

In 1974, the typical Norwegian woman was 23 years old when she married. In 2020, she was 34 (Statistics Norway, 2015, 2022a)—although her first birth was at 30 (Statistics Norway, 2022b). Over this period, her fertility rate fell from 2.13 to 1.48 (Statistics Norway, 2022e).

And the poorest men were sorted out instead of being enabled to have families.

Nordic women being less dependent on male provisioning influences how their mate preferences play out. From 1985 to 2012, the number of Norwegian men who failed to reproduce by age 45 increased from 14% to 23% (Amundsen, 2014). Three times as many men as women suffer involuntary childlessness (Håkonsen and Krekling 2017). Experts attribute this inequality to women’s recycling of high-value mates (Jensen and Østby, 2014)—which can be viewed as a form of temporal polygyny. Norwegian men with high salaries have a 90% chance of being pair-bonded by age 40—those with low salaries, a 40% chance (Almås et al., 2020). Danes experience a similar marginalization: 45% of low-skilled men live alone (Forum for Mænds Sundhed, 2017).

tl;dr - the inability of men and women to pair bond results in demographic collapse. And immigration does not help remedy this problem either but introduces other negative externalities.

Experts give an impression of not knowing why this is occurring or which policies could counter the demographic collapse. Their most common recommendation has been to increase immigration (Grant et al., 2006; Grunfelder et al., 2020; Vollset et al., 2020). Since many developing countries still have high fertility rates, transferring parts of their population to developed nations appeared as a viable solution. From 2000 to 2015, Norway’s immigrant population tripled (Midttun, 2018), yet the fertility rate kept falling. Today, 15% of residents are immigrants (Statistics Norway, 2022c), which increases the population, but without motivating reproduction near replacement levels. A cultural change across Europe after the 2015 migrant crisis has made continued large-scale immigration a less compelling proposition. Recent long-term-cost estimates have shown that instead of improving national finances, many groups of immigrants undermine the future viability of Western welfare states (NOU 2017:2, 2017). Eastern European and Asian cultures have been less willing to open their borders to counter low fertility (Vollset et al., 2020).

Rachel Wilson writes:

To understand the modern-day political movement we call feminism, we must go back to the beginning. Early pagan religious ideas gave birth to feminism, and it is always out of paganism and the occult that feminist ideas and movements emerge. What is “the occult,” anyway? The word “occult” simply means hidden, but when I refer to “the occult” I am speaking of religious beliefs that claim to have hidden knowledge, or which claim to allow the practitioner to gain this knowledge, power, or god-like personal deification from its practice. This is the reason feminism is born of occult belief, because at its core, feminism seeks to make women gods over men, or at the very least to deify women. The very essence of feminist thought is a worldview where women and men struggle for dominance. This is the Hegelian master-slave dialectic, and it defines the feminist struggle no matter how often feminists want to convince us that it’s about “equality.” Feminism, in various forms, has appeared throughout human history. It is only modern technological advancements, however, that have made it possible for feminism to become the dominant, accepted political ideology governing society as it does now. More on this later, but for now let’s explore the origins of feminism found in the world’s oldest religions.
Goddess worship was once part of many of the world’s oldest religions. You can find elements of goddess worship in Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as in Jewish mysticism and paganism, among others. These goddess figures represent everything from love, creation, and motherhood to sensuality, war, and death. Goddess worship is seeing a huge revival in accordance with the rise of modern feminism, which is why it’s important to understand where these myths come from, and why women in the west are reviving them in a modern era which normally thinks of such ancient myths as superstitious. Wicca and other forms of witchcraft are the fastest growing religions in the United States[iii]. This is directly due to many decades of feminist propaganda demonizing traditional religions such as Islam and Christianity as patriarchal and oppressive toward women. Christianity has been the main target of feminists due to its domination in the west. Most women buy into feminism first, having been taught in public school and university as well as through pop culture that the women who came before them fought a brave grassroots war against the patriarchy. They are told that it is only because of these brave women and all that they sacrificed that you even have the right to speak or put words on paper, therefore you have a duty to carry on this fight.
Christianity is a patriarchal religion, with all things being created by God the Father, rather than some earth mother goddess, which would mean that not only is patriarchy the natural and divine order of the created world, but that feminism is a battle that cannot be won against an omnipotent Heavenly Father. So, feminists need to find a new religion that fits their feminist worldview, and Christianity becomes an enemy and a target of destruction for more serious practitioners of witchcraft. Feminist scholars and intellectuals interested in religious systems that can replace patriarchal Christianity adore ancient goddess worship because, as I’m about to demonstrate, it is rife with vengeful female supernatural beings whose main motivation always seems to be domination of men and male gods. It makes perfect sense that the modern feminists would be drawn to tales of such powerful beings who have been fighting the patriarchy since the dawn of time.

...

The impact of Theosophy on feminism cannot be overstated. Even though most regular Americans probably haven’t heard of it, Theosophy was the perfect bridge from the radical reformers who embraced spiritualism in the first half of the 19th century to the New Age religious movements of the 20th century. It brought the world’s oldest religions together, attempting to combine them with newly burgeoning science and anthropology, but also with transcendentalism and mysticism. If you could create a religion specifically for feminists at the turn of the century, Theosophy would be the perfect recipe. Even today, almost 150 years later, women all over the west embrace at least parts of Theosophy, perhaps without even realizing it. Things like tarot cards, astrology, horoscopes, and all sorts of New Age phrases and trends such as yoga, vegetarian and vegan diets, or “sending good vibes” to your friends are concepts that can be attributed to Theosophy bringing those things from places like India and Tibet to the new world. Theosophy was very popular with men as well, but it was particularly alluring to women. It was founded by a woman, and it gave equal standing to both men and women. The Theosophical Society had many prominent female leaders and it claimed to teach its adherents to develop their psychic abilities and innate intuitions- characteristics that were considered naturally stronger in women due to their sensitivity and emotionality. It offered women of the time a sense of personal power and importance that many did not get from the Christianity which dominated the west at the time.

...

The funding of feminist movements has been somewhat hidden for a reason---the feminist agenda, and suffrage in particular, are always spoken of as grassroots movements driven by the collective will of the people, therefore making it sound like a democratic tool of liberation. The opposite is true. People would naturally reject a top-down ideology which pushed such radical changes to the structure of society and the family if it was openly known that it was the trans-national banking elite who were behind it. The next logical question is "why?" What motivated the elites of the Victorian era to create this campaign for women's suffrage and present it as a natural, grassroots movement? I will explore more about the funding of feminism and why the wealthy elite of the world put so much money and effort into propagating it, not only in the west, but around the world as we continue.

....

To definitively examine the effects of the women’s liberation movement in the west would require a whole separate book, but I can give you a snapshot of some of the biggest changes which have happened over the last several decades since feminism really took hold.
According to data from the U.S Census analyzed by Pew Research Center, 72% of all legal adults in the U.S. were married. By 2016, that number had decreased to just 50%. The Centers for Disease Control statistics say that in 1960 only 5% of babies born in the U.S. were born out of wedlock. That number has now increased to 41% in 2010. CDC data also states that in 2012, one third of all children living in the United States live in homes without their biological father present. The risks for children growing up without fathers has been studied extensively, and we have plenty of data showing over and over that the risk of poor outcomes increases dramatically for children raised in fatherless homes. For instance, CDC data say that 90% of children who are homeless come from fatherless households, along with 85% of kids with behavioral disorders, 70% of children in juvenile incarceration facilities, and 71% of children in adolescent substance abuse treatment centers. Another consequence of children growing up without their biological fathers is that they tend to end up in living situations which include the mother’s boyfriend. CDC statistics also show that children left with male caregivers who are not their biological father suffer more frequent and more severe physical abuse than any other care situation. They also show that the living situation with the lowest overall rates of child abuse are for children living with both married parents.
A 2012 study called The Effects of Family Structure on Mental Health of Children: A Preliminary Study by Bahere, Basnet, and Campbell conducted a retrospective chart review of 154 children admitted to the preadolescent unit of Lincoln Prairie Behavioral Health Center over a six-month period. The study found that only 11% of the children came from intact families, with the other 89% having a disruption to the traditional family structure. Two-thirds of the children had been exposed to trauma, with physical abuse seen in 36% of patients. The study highlighted the role of disrupted family structure and its adverse effects on the mental health of children. In addition, children in both the U.S and Europe now overwhelmingly grow up in daycare settings rather than at home with their mothers. In 1940, the number of children under age 6 with mothers working full time outside the home was 6%. In 2103, that number had jumped almost tenfold to 58%. In 2016, a report by Care.com, a daycare service finder, found that 20% of U.S. households spend more than a quarter of their income on childcare. It is also interesting to note that U.S. government welfare spending has increased in lock step with the rise of out of wedlock births, from $50 billion per year in 1950 to a whopping $700 billion in 2010.
But women are happier now than they were before feminism, right? Well not exactly. A 2009 paper called “The Paradox of Female Happiness” by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers caused quite a stir when it was released by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The abstract summary of their findings says that, despite objective measures of well-being in America over the prior 35 years increasing, the subjective overall happiness among women in the study had decreased both absolutely and relative to the happiness of men.

tl;dr —
I don't have time to spoonfeed all of this to you. The point is that feminism started as an attack on the general public back in the 1700s. It was started as a movement by those familiar with the alternatives to Christianity, almost as a spiritual attack against Christianity. The "patriarchy" that they fight is not human man, but godly man.
The ultimate designers of said plans are not, of course, "goddess worshippers". However, they inject that into the culture. Why? Population control. This is a predictable thing. Christianity was the ideology, like it or not, that led to stable two parent households and lifelong marriage. I am not a fan of organized religion, but it is what it is, and this is precisely what Nietzsche ruminated about so much, describing "god" as dead. Feminists killed him, and now we are left with a demographic collapse now that the propagation of the counter culture has reached its final stage.
Going back to Christianity is not an alternative. "Christianity" was never necessary to uphold family tradition. However, faith put in good philosophy usually leads to good outcomes, even if the faith aspect lacks epistemology. We should look at Christianity as philosophy and consider alternative ways of preserving it in our culture.
You could say "But why? Let's just focus on reproduction." Well, because the god of Christianity is positively masculine, and what replaces this when it dies is negative masculinity. "When the cat is away, the mice will play." The cat is positive masculinity, the mice are negative or toxic masculinity. Women cannot complain away toxic masculinity. Only positive masculine men can enforce such an arrangement. Which is to say, only men can police other men. That's why the battle in the Bible as well as any other mythological text is not "divine feminine vs divine man"; it's "divine man type A vs divine man type B". Actually reducing "type A" and "type B" to positive and negative is a bit reductive if you understand mythology (it comes down to psychological archetypes which are not purely good or bad), but it's good enough for our purposes.
And so ultimately, the philosophy of the most important character of the bible is the key to solving feminism, the birth crisis, and really the cultural and political crisis at large.

I was a bit of an asshole in high school... I said it a few times. I even took joy in it.. now I'm 23 and I don't know how to explain it. Im reformed.. I've learned better but... I really just want to say the n word.. I know this may seem foolish but I'm actually concerned, I really don't know why this is happening. Im not racist. I don't know what is happening

Mostly Gen Z and Millennials, but Gen X too (cause now that they're coming up on retirement, they can't)
If you find this helpful or informative, feel free to send a few dollars my way cashapp @ $paceforADs
Here's what you can do. To protect your friends and family and ensure they may have a better chance of owning a home someday, you have to call congress and introduce an idea for them to write into law and codify.
Step one: Since Congress thinks its cool to ban TikTok, they can stop corporations from owning large quantities of empty homes. To make it illegal for them to engage in the buying and selling of homes for profit. Because you want to ensure something as vital and important as housing for citizens doesn't become a mechanism to manipulate the market for profit, at the loss of housing opportunities for the average consumer in the fair market.
Start by calling your representatives in your state. Their numbers are listed on Google. Call for your area. Relentlessly call. During your breaks at work, if you have them, between your day job night job and your third job. In between bites of your bread and ice sandwiches, whatever you get a chance to stop surviving for a second.
Make sure they understand that they need to get a bill to these specifics through to congress and signed by the president, or you will NOT be voting for them. And even will be actively campaigning for the representative who endorses such a bill.
NO businesses, corporations, or any business entities shall conduct business in the buying and selling of homes. And that the buying and selling of homes remains a private exchange between home owning citizens. (with the assistance of licensed realtors if they so choose to do so)
Now, there are 535 members of Congress: 100 in the Senate and 435 in the House of Representatives. If done at all, there should be a few of these bills being introduced. But if enough people from every state start calling, there should be about 535 similar bills introduced to end this corporate owned housing. If they are all introducing a bill similar to this. They should ALL be for it, right?
Now, if that's something you can agree with, you can also add these:
Introduce price gouging laws for all medical equipment and pharmasudical medicines and anything that isn't a service conducted by a human. Price.gouging laws for insurance costs. You don’t need universal healthcare. You just need to end the price of gouging markup costs. Shouldn't be $116 for guaze rolls and $90 dollar for tongue depressors..wtf You don't need universal health care. You need to end the profiting off of people at their detrimental expenses.
Also, you can throw in there, make it law that medical schools studies, not just the medicine and treatments. But specifically the origins and causes of these diseases and influctions. That schools will have this as a part of the education. Practicing their own independent studies of issues. So as not to only be taught but to investigate ailments on their own.
You can do this with all educations as well. It’s still a free market, but put an end to excessive costs for materials and tuition costs.
You can also reform the free market around food. Improving qualities of food without the uneeded added chemicals. That there are warning lables on food now. Clearly lusted ingredients by natural products and unatural ingredients. Demanding healthier origins of food production and processing. Ultimately helping the environment.
Step two. Monitor them. Watch. Listen. Did they hear you? Did they pay attention to their constituents? Or did they just disregard what you and millions of tired and exhausted Americans had to say? The older generations haven't really done you any favors and have even set you up for failure.
But whatever if you like these idea and think they could help you. let me know by tossing a few buck my way via CashApp @ $paceforADs 😏 Thanks, guys!

Mostly Gen Z and Millennials, but Gen X too (cause now that they're coming up on retirement, they can't)
If you find this helpful or informative, feel free to send a few dollars my way cashapp @ $paceforADs
Here's what you can do. To protect your friends and family and ensure they may have a better chance of owning a home someday, you have to call congress and introduce an idea for them to write into law and codify.
Step one: Since Congress thinks its cool to ban TikTok, they can stop corporations from owning large quantities of empty homes. To make it illegal for them to engage in the buying and selling of homes for profit. Because you want to ensure something as vital and important as housing for citizens doesn't become a mechanism to manipulate the market for profit, at the loss of housing opportunities for the average consumer in the fair market.
Start by calling your representatives in your state. Their numbers are listed on Google. Call for your area. Relentlessly call. During your breaks at work, if you have them, between your day job night job and your third job. In between bites of your bread and ice sandwiches, whatever you get a chance to stop surviving for a second.
Make sure they understand that they need to get a bill to these specifics through to congress and signed by the president, or you will NOT be voting for them. And even will be actively campaigning for the representative who endorses such a bill.
NO businesses, corporations, or any business entities shall conduct business in the buying and selling of homes. And that the buying and selling of homes remains a private exchange between home owning citizens. (with the assistance of licensed realtors if they so choose to do so)
Now, there are 535 members of Congress: 100 in the Senate and 435 in the House of Representatives. If done at all, there should be a few of these bills being introduced. But if enough people from every state start calling, there should be about 535 similar bills introduced to end this corporate owned housing. If they are all introducing a bill similar to this. They should ALL be for it, right?
Now, if that's something you can agree with, you can also add these:
Introduce price gouging laws for all medical equipment and pharmasudical medicines and anything that isn't a service conducted by a human. Price.gouging laws for insurance costs. You don’t need universal healthcare. You just need to end the price of gouging markup costs. Shouldn't be $116 for guaze rolls and $90 dollar for tongue depressors..wtf You don't need universal health care. You need to end the profiting off of people at their detrimental expenses.
Also, you can throw in there, make it law that medical schools studies, not just the medicine and treatments. But specifically the origins and causes of these diseases and influctions. That schools will have this as a part of the education. Practicing their own independent studies of issues. So as not to only be taught but to investigate ailments on their own.
You can do this with all educations as well. It’s still a free market, but put an end to excessive costs for materials and tuition costs.
You can also reform the free market around food. Improving qualities of food without the uneeded added chemicals. That there are warning lables on food now. Clearly lusted ingredients by natural products and unatural ingredients. Demanding healthier origins of food production and processing. Ultimately helping the environment.
Step two. Monitor them. Watch. Listen. Did they hear you? Did they pay attention to their constituents? Or did they just disregard what you and millions of tired and exhausted Americans had to say? The older generations haven't really done you any favors and have even set you up for failure.
But whatever if you like these idea and think they could help you. let me know by tossing a few buck my way via CashApp @ $paceforADs 😏 Thanks, guys!

Please let me know if you guys have any advice on how to strengthen my application though!!
Demographics: Female, Asian, International, Private school
Hooks: URM
Intended Major(s): Poli sci (ik it's basic), history, anthropology, socio, any pre-law majohumanities major
ACT/SAT/SAT II: Not taken test yet - aiming for a 1530+
UW/W GPA and Rank: 4.0/4.0 UW
Coursework: Will have 12 APs by Senior Year and plan on dual enrolling at Uni
Awards: I'm gonna be vague so I don't get doxxed

1. one of the top teams at a prestigious ivy league uni debate tourneys
2. public speaking - one of the top public speakers at an international competition and is quite prestigious too
3. first place at a national music festival (kinda irrelevant but it was nationals)
4. Top global score for this test that I took related to music

Extracurriculars:

1. Debate - qualified for nationals and represented state equivalent, also competes in prestigious ivy league highschool debate tournaments
2. Public speaking - just tapped a lot internationally and did pretty well
3. Model UN - participated in the largest model UN in my country that is recognized by our country's PM
4. Summer research program at ivy league uni for policy/social justice
5. started a international foundation online with hundreds of followers and 25+ members advocating for feminist rights and freedoms
6. founded a non-profit summer camp that has been able to raise thousands in donations and donated all profits to various local charities
7. selected to referee a sport at the national championships and was also the youngest there
8. co-captain of a sport that I love but probably won't continue due to courseload and all that
9. I'm trying to publish research right now on social justice/policy reform

Essays/LORs/Other: idk, probably like 7-8/10??
Schools: UPenn, Yale, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern, Georgetown, Stanford, Dartmouth, Duke, NYU, Amherst, Northeastern, UMich, Brown, UBC, UofT, UCs, UNC, Oxford, Cambridge, ICL, UCL, but these are gonna change probably

I am a Protestant non-denominationalist and according to my dad my belief falls most in line with reformed Baptist. I have been raised my whole life listening to a pretty competent pastor that has pretty strong statements that almost always I can’t find a real counterargument that I myself can work out. I never questioned my belief until my closest friend converted to Catholicism. He is very intellectual and anytime I ask him questions, he responds with bible literature that I don’t know, and is under the assumption I know what he’s saying. I’ve never heard the word catechism until he said it and I got really confused. I am currently wishing to become a better man every day and strengthen my relationship with the lord, and I’m doing so I feel the need to figure out what I truly believe. As it stands, I believe that the personal relationship with god is more important than any tradition and supersedes eveything. The thing that most confuses me about Catholicism which is of course the relationship with the saints. That’s something foreign to me, and I haven’t gotten an answer from my friend that goes into enough depth to change my opinion at all. From my understanding it seems like they are used in place of god to pray to as if god doesnt have the time to listen to school and every prayer. I doubt that’s the actual case which is why I ask for a bit better of an explanation for their purpose. From my current point of view, it seems like a waste of time to care about anyone else that isn’t the one and only god. why should I bother to even recognize someone when they are nothing compared to the lord himself. Shouldn’t I only care about the one that truly matters and the one that actually judges me instead of asking some guy to take care of me? Please give me a better understanding of their purpose and maybe some more background on Catholicism as a whole.

🌿 Detailed Overview:
A provocative critique of traditional medical education and practices. Dr. Lufkin, leveraging his extensive experience in the medical field, challenges the efficacy and safety of many conventional medical treatments and practices that he believes are not only outdated but potentially harmful. He argues for a paradigm shift towards more personalized and preventive healthcare.
🔍 Key Themes and Insights:
Critique of Conventional Medical Practices: Dr. Lufkin examines the standard practices and dogmas in medicine that are often accepted without question. He points out how some of these practices may lead to overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and dependency on pharmaceutical interventions that do not necessarily improve patient outcomes.
Evidence-Based Shortcomings: The book highlights the gap between medical education and the latest scientific research, questioning how well medical schools prepare physicians to evaluate and integrate new research findings into their practices effectively.
Impact of Pharmaceutical Influence: A significant portion of the book discusses the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on medical education and practice. Dr. Lufkin critiques the pervasive nature of this influence, which can skew treatment protocols towards profitability rather than optimal patient care.
Advocacy for Preventive Medicine: Dr. Lufkin champions preventive medicine and lifestyle interventions as foundational to health. He stresses the importance of addressing the root causes of diseases through diet, exercise, and other non-pharmaceutical means, rather than merely treating symptoms with medications.
Patient Empowerment and Education: The book encourages patients to take an active role in their healthcare by becoming well-informed about their conditions and treatment options. Dr. Lufkin advocates for greater transparency and patient education, which he believes are essential for making informed healthcare decisions.
Proposals for Medical Education Reform: Dr. Lufkin calls for reforms in medical education to emphasize critical thinking, continuous learning, and the integration of holistic and personalized medicine approaches. He suggests that such changes are crucial for developing healthcare professionals who can adapt to and implement the rapidly evolving body of medical knowledge.
Audience Takeaway:
"Lies I Taught in Medical School" by Dr. Robert Lufkin is a must-read for healthcare professionals, medical students, and patients who are interested in understanding the limitations and potential dangers of conventional medicine. It serves as a call to action for a more informed, ethical, and patient-centered approach to healthcare. This book is especially valuable for those looking to advocate for themselves or their loved ones in navigating the healthcare system.
💌 Your Experiences and Reflections:
If you have encountered the limitations of conventional medical practices either as a patient or a healthcare provider, how have these experiences shaped your views on medicine? Share your thoughts on the need for change in medical education and practice, and discuss any steps you've taken to integrate more holistic or preventive measures into your own health care or practice. Let’s explore how we can collectively move towards a healthier, more informed healthcare system.
- Purchase

So I finished my first game and I was happy with the results. I stopped the economy from getting any worse, I stopped the debt from increasing, I fixed inflation, I privatize Healthcare, Schools an sold majority shares in both of the state owned companies and dealt with the the corrupt Oligarchs. I also managed to ally Lespasia and Agnolia and defeat Rumburg with them. The game also told me I fixed the economy and increased democracy in my second term.
However, I failed to reform the constitution and there was a bunch of unrest at the end and I also had less than 20% approval rating and I think the military was going to coup me if I didn't go to war with Rumburg. Anyways I want to do another run where I reform the constitution and I had some questions.
First of all what do I need to do to get the conservatives to support. The Conservative leader said something about not privatizing stuff but how much can I privatize? Can I get away with only not privatizing healthcare or do I need to not privatize the corporations as well? Also what synergies are in the economy? I took every chance to invest into Agnland that I could but I don't know what to do with my other investments. Is there some kind of economy guide where I can see all the synergies? My last question is how can I avoid the unrest and the military couping me?

22-minute read to cover the latest developments in Armenia beyond headlines.

Azeri public continues to discuss the possible return or exchange of Armenian exclave Artsvashen currently under Azerbaijani control

Context in Monday news digest. A ranking member of Azerbaijani parliament suggested returning Artsvashen to Armenia in exchange for the Azeri exclaves, or swapping them so each side can keep what it currently controls. An Azeri analyst called it dangerous to allow Armenians to return to Artsvashen because he believes it would make the entire territory of Azerbaijan "up to Ganja" vulnerable.
AZERI JOURNALIST (Fatima Movlamli): There are currently [Azeri] military positions near the entrance of the village [Artsvashen]. Although the local population is not strictly checked upon entry and exit, some control appears to be in place. The army checks "strangers". The village is also observed from far away. All the houses are empty; they are crumbling. There is no one around. The only people you see are nearby villagers who take their cattle to [Artsvashen's] pasture.
NEARBY AZERI VILLAGER: I visit the [Armenian] village to feed my cattle and my family. If they give it to Armenians, it will be my end. This is our source of bread, and these areas will no longer be safe for us. Many of us rely on these territories for a living. There is total unemployment and none of us have other jobs. We will have to emigrate if they give this village.
NATIN JAFARLI (ReAl party): There are two reasons why the village was not populated [by Azeris, after the capture in 1992]. The first is for legal reasons because Armenia could claim it's their land and demand compensation. There are also socio-economic components that have forced the population to migrate to Baku over the past 30 years. If there was a normal socio-economic policy, there would be no migration. It's not easy to create social infrastructure in Bashkend [Artsvashen] for natural reasons. If we decide to swap the enclaves, then referendums must be held in both countries. Can you imagine the Armenian police or army marching 30 kilometers deep into Azerbaijan? It doesn't sound realistic. The same about Azeris entering the exclaves inside Armenia. How will you guarantee the population's food, banking, communication, gas, etc.? It doesn't seem realistic.
ELKHAN SHAHINOGLU (Atlas research center): Even if Armenians return our 4 villages [presumably within Azeri exclaves], it will be difficult for Azeris to live in them because we will be forced to reach the villages through Armenia. The same is true if we transfer [Artsvashen] to Armenia. Therefore, I believe this issue can be resolved if the lands are exchanged.
AZERI RESIDENT: I used to work as a nurse in [Artsvashen]. I remember how I attempted to save the lives of the soldiers who captured it. I don't want it to be returned to Armenia because I'm concerned that the same events will repeat. Nothing good will happen if Armenians return here. This place connects Shinikhi to the entire Ganja region. Should we allow Armenians to stand between the two? I'm 65 so the future generations will have to live here but no one will dare to come if they hear about the presence of Armenians.
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Azerbaijan is still reluctant to include the Almaty Declaration in the final peace agreement despite the April 19 separate agreement to use it for border demarcation

FM MIRZOYAN: Recently we agreed that the demarcation should take place on the basis of the Almaty Declaration and the Regulations of the border commissions should also refer to the Almaty. This is one of the principles, and if we manage to include Almaty in the peace agreement, then we will get very close to a final resolution. Our neighbor is still reluctant to make a clear reference to the Almaty Declaration in the peace treaty, which is a more comprehensive document.
The second issue is with the unblocking of communication routes. Armenia is ready to become a part of the international transit route. The Crossroads of Peace will benefit Armenia and the entire region. Turkey and Azerbaijan would also benefit by connecting East and West. If this is implemented, it will be another interesting way to connect the Persian Gulf countries with the Black Sea economic region.
QUESTION: You froze your participation in CSTO. Do you plan to join NATO?
MIRZOYAN: We do not want to be part of a dysfunctional mechanism [CSTO]. But we are still a CSTO member so it's necessary to take steps to make it function; we are discussing the issues on the AM-RU agenda. Simultaneously we have launched a process to strengthen AM-West relations and to diversify Armenia's economy.
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interview with Azeri opposition activist-in-exile Arif Yunusov

REPORTER: Azerbaijan had long refused to use 1991 Almaty for delimitation but on April 19 they agreed to launch the process based on Almaty. Why did they change their position?
YUNUSOV: Because of the problems Aliyev developed with the West. When Blinken makes a phone call, that means extensive work was done prior to the call. The issue of sanctions raised earlier this year was also raised after months of work. The collective West is pressuring Azerbaijan. We have entered the decisive phase of the West-Russia confrontation. The physical fights are taking place in Ukraine, while diplomatic wars rage in the South Caucasus.
Russia attempted on several occasions to destabilize Armenia's internal stability by using Azerbaijan but their efforts have failed and there hasn't been any serious escalation on the AM-AZ border. Pashinyan was not exaggerating the possibility of a war in Tavush a few months ago; there was indeed a real threat. However, the likelihood is much lower now and Azerbaijan has given its approval to launch the delimitation process. The ongoing delimitation process is part of the effort to regulate AM-AZ relations and push Russia out of the region.
REPORTER: Blinken spoke on Sunday with Aliyev and Pashinyan. I'm under the impression that this AM-AZ delimitation, despite being called "bilateral", is actually being moderated by the US.
YUNUSOV: Absolutely agree. Aliyev has a lengthy history of rejecting many Western efforts and being close with Putin, so the fact that he didn't reject it this time indicates serious pressure from the West. By the way, Aliyev became president in February but Biden hasn't congratulated him yet. For Aliyev, it's very important to receive a congratulation personally from Biden.
The US is moderating this process step-by-step. This process began in 2022 when Pashinyan recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan; that was part of the US plan to normalize AM-AZ relations. Under this plan, Azerbaijan announced the formation of a commission to "integrate" Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians. Obviously, it all changed later and the US officials began to raise the issue of Aliyev being too close to Russia and about a need to pull him away from Putin. It appears the US is gradually getting what it wants because the US's role in this demarcation process is huge.
REPORTER: Is this also why Azerbaijan asked Russia to withdraw its military base from Nagorno-Karabakh? Was it under the US pressure?
YUNUSOV: I'm not entirely sure about the full details behind their withdrawal. I don't even know if they are truly being withdrawn because there is a motive to calm the Azerbaijani public that's anti-Russian.
There is also the fact that Russia was unable to deploy those peacekeepers on the AM-AZ border and push out the EU border monitoring mission from Armenia. Russia attempted to achieve this in December 2023 during a meeting in St. Petersburg but Pashinyan rejected Putin's efforts. Moreover, Pashinyan said that Armenia is no longer interested in the fate of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh and that this topic must be resolved between Russia and Azerbaijan. This was followed by Pashinyan's order to remove Russian agents from Yerevan's airport by August 2024. So Russia's effort to pressure Armenia with the hands of Azerbaijan has totally failed.
It's a strange situation, the withdrawal of peacekeepers. We don't know how many were removed and how many remain. I do not have information that the US pressured Azerbaijan to remove the Russian peacekeepers. [audio cuts off] The US is only strong when there is Armenia, during meetings, and we tend to receive information whenever Armenia is part of a negotiation process, whereas Azerbaijan-Russia talks are more secretive.
It appears Russia is withdrawing the equipment first because they need it ahead of the May offensive in Ukraine, before possibly a wider withdrawal by September.
Regarding the demarcation of the AM-AZ border, Russia understands that if the parties reach an agreement, that could mean the end of Russian presence in the South Caucasus. The AM-AZ border is a geopolitical issue. Russia will publicly formally welcome the delimitation efforts but it's not in their interest.
REPORTER: Why is France silent about the April 19 delimitation agreement?
YUNUSOV: France has adopted the correct position. First of all, Western states coordinate their policies [including on delimitation], but in each region, each Western state takes up a different position. For example, on the Ukraine issue, France provides support to Ukraine but the main locomotive is the US. In the South Caucasus, it's the opposite: the US provides the moderation efforts while the main locomotive - in this case, support for Armenia - is France. There is a crisis in FR-AZ relations. So France doesn't want to hinder the delimitation effort by intervening; they let the US handle it. There is currently an anti-French hysteria in Azerbaijan. The French endorsement of the AM-AZ delimitation agreement would be a big blow to the process.
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ruling party rejects opposition's motion to conduct the AM-AZ border delimitation based on 1993 "de facto" borders instead of 1991 Almaty borders

Context and debates in April 23 news digest. The opposition is against delimiting borders with the 1991 Almaty maps.
The opposition accuses the ruling party of serving Turkey's interests while the ruling party accuses the opposition of attempting to derail the 1991 delimitation process so they can drag Armenia into a new conflict before bringing the Russian "empire" as a savior to establish their rule in Armenia.
One thing that struck the ruling party's nerves was the opposition's narrative that "Armenia ends where the Armenian soldier stands". The ruling party believes that this principle is both dangerously expansionist [in the case of 2.5 Azeri villages] and would also endanger the fate of occupied Armenian lands. "We have a clear border with Azerbaijan, and it must be reproduced on the ground," said a ranking ruling party MP. Yesterday the government said over 50% of the task was done on a section of the Tavush-Gazakh border.
In response to the opposition's accusations that the ruling party serving the interests of Azerbaijan by "surrendering lands", a ruling MP accused the opposition of pressuring the government to surrender a corridor to Russia and Azerbaijan.
RULING MP: Mr. Sharmazanov [ex-president Serj's party] routinely says the quiet part out loud. At first, he spoke about the need to give a corridor [to Azerbaijan and Russia, via Syunik], and more recently he made another fantastic statement. Sharmazanov said "a homeland is eternal while a state is variable. The state's borders can expand or shrink." This stems from their mentality that today they are MPs of the Armenian parliament but tomorrow they could just as easily be Russian Duma MPs, representing the Armyanski Oblast. This is the clash of values: a stable state with borders vs. a "homeland" with variable borders. For us, the Republic of Armenia is irreplaceable and the independence of Armenia is non-negotiable. //
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the independent TV & radio regulator was summoned to parliament to report the 2023 activities

REGULATOR: Last year the broadcasters under our watch operated freely, without government intervention. The TV outlets stated that they were not pressured or obstructed by any branch of the government to limit their freedom of expression.
The issue persists with misinformation and hate speech, but our 3-year-long monitoring reveals that this negative content has been significantly reduced in public multiplex. This positive trend has multiple reasons, including our Committee's fight against the abuse of "freedom of speech". This type of negative content has, by in large, moved from television to the internet and social media.
We are strongly against the government's electoral code amendment that required private media outlets to allocate a limited number of free hours to candidates during electoral campaigns. How is this different from requiring gas stations to provide free gas to candidates? The media outlets are deprived of hours that they could use to generate income.
We've been calling for reforms in the law regulating the media. The 2020 law on liberalizing media regulations is a welcoming change. The field is free, with minimal intervention from the Committee (regulator) or the government.
However, this liberalization also endangers Armenia's media security. For example, foreign channels broadcasted over Armenia's public multiplex and cable often spread content illegal under Armenian law and against the Republic of Armenia's interests. The law does not grant the Committee enough powers to curtail this. At the moment, the Committee has jurisdiction over public multiplex TV and licensed radio channels only. This creates an uneven competition field with channels broadcasted over the net, which do not have to follow the same rules. Under European directives, a minimal level of regulation of internet content has become a requirement for European countries. We advise the government to follow European practices.
The public often wonders what share of cable TV content is in Armenian or made in Armenia. Our research reveals the content based on the country of origin: Armenian 71 (vs 68 last year), Russian 174 (vs 167), European 75, American 38, Other 15. As you can see, relevant parties should take steps to increase the share of Armenian content.
We have very important progress in another metric: Armenian-language programs aired over Armenian channels, nationwide or in Yerevan. The Armenian-language programs accounted for 95% of the air. This includes foreign content translated into Armenian or with Armenian subtitles.
2018: <60%
2020: 79%
2021: 81%
2023: 95%
We have progress in another important area. Over the last 3-4 years, on the public multiplex, the share of partisan ideological content has been gradually replaced by content more beneficial to the general public. For example, (1) we now have a sports program that promotes the development of local sports and provides coverage of local events. (2) We have a family channel called Noor available in Yerevan. Despite some challenges and flaws, they are doing their best to establish themselves as a family channel. (3) We have an educational channel Bun. (4) We have a music channel Dar21.
By in large, the public multiplex still falls short of delivering what we envisage. We believe the time has come to adopt a new state strategy on media to prevent a crisis. We could have a crisis because the state has too many regulations and not enough incentives to allow channels to use their slots to generate income and produce quality content.
We fear that during the next auction for slots in 2027, several slots could be left uncontested, which could pave the way for the entry of propagandistic channels or clearly weak channels unable to deliver quality content. If the channels fail to generate income, they could also be sold to foreign buyers. Therefore, some channels could begin to serve the interests of foreign states and serve foreign propaganda to Armenian citizens.
We advise the government to...
(1) reduce the number of channels on public multiplex. It's an unreasonably high number for a country size of Armenia. Fewer public multiplex channels means each channel would receive more ad dollars, which would raise the quality of content.
(2) establish a media assistance fund to incentivize quality content over the public multiplex.
How do we monitor media channels for compliance? The monitoring phase lasts 2 months per year. In Lithuania and Georgia, it's 1 month. The rest of the time the monitoring is done by NGOs, the public, and other institutions.
We penalized 34 companies for broadcasting pirated content. This is a shamefully high number. There are unfortunately companies that do not respect intellectual property. The only option left is to ramp up the enforcement. The atmosphere of impunity among channels is driven by the fact that the size of the penalty is only $130, which is a lot less than what they'd spend on obtaining the rights to the content.
We've been enforcing rules more vigorously, and in 2023 alone there were 64 administrative proceedings. In comparison, between 2011-2018 there were a total of 17 such proceedings.
2011-2018: 17
2021: 84
2023: 64
Reasons for administrative proceedings: copyright violation, illegal ads, content harmful to children, gore & violence, cussing on air, failure to meet the minimum threshold of 20% for certain types of content, etc.
In December we made a decision to suspend the re-broadcasting of [Russian] Sputnik Radio for a month. We were accused of violating their free speech [by Armenia's opposition factions], however, the radio's leadership visited Armenia, apologized for their content, and agreed to exclude the violating show [Kremlin propagandist Tigran Keosayan] from their programming aired in Armenia. We lifted the suspension.
Once again, the Committee reminds that it will suspend any foreign outlet that broadcasts content that spreads hatred towards the Republic of Armenia or its people, interferes with Armenia's internal affairs, questions Armenia's sovereignty, or engages in provocative actions.
Along with increased enforcement, we also have more complaints filed against our decisions in courts, which shows that the enforcement & appeals process is functioning freely. Sometimes we lose these trials. We learn and gain experience.
We recently signed the first-ever agreement with a country outside Eurasia. The agreement with friendly Argentina's state media agency will allow Armenia's public channel to film a big սերիալ.
The Committee is cooperating with the high-tech ministry to use AI in our work to save resources and raise efficiency.
ASSYRIAN-ARMENIAN MP: The law requires television to provide content in the Assyrian language. Similar programs exist for Yezidis but not Assyrians.
REGULATOR: The law requires the content to be either in Assyrian language or about Assyrian culture. The latter requirement was met.
ASSYRIAN-ARMENIAN MP: But we would like to hear content, speech, in Assyrian language.
REGULATOR: We want to do that by requiring local television channels [presumably where Assyrians mostly live] to provide content in Assyrian language, rather than requiring the public channel to broadcast that content nationwide, because the vast majority of nationwide consumers would not be able to consume content in a language they do not speak. It should be more targeted. Assyrian subtitles on public nationwide channels are also an option so submit your suggestion and we'll negotiate with H1.
RULING MP: I welcome your decision to take action against [Kremlin's] Solovyov and Keosayan for their anti-Armenian and anti-Armenian Republic content, but people wonder why you don't take similar measures against others, like [Kremlin's] Kisilyov. What have you done in this regard and what suggestions have you sent to the high-tech ministry?
REGULATOR: Our Committee has the authority to suspend re-broadcasted radio channels, as in the case of Sputnik, but we cannot suspend television channels. We can only send complaints to the high-tech ministry so they can take action against TV channels based on the AM-RU interstate agreement. We have been frequently sending reports to our high-tech ministry, and after 3 years of inaction, they finally decided to take steps recently. You already know about their actions against Solovyov's content. The ministry is working with Russia to replace the [empty] Solovyov timeslot with other cultural or entertainment content. You can forget about Solovyov. As a reminder, this program was banned in Armenia not for being "anti-Armenian", which is a vague term, but for violating specific laws of Armenia. They often call for violence, incite steps to launch a war, etc. Even Armenian channels are not allowed to broadcast such content. We need to revise the AM-RU interstate agreement to grant the Committee more powers to regulate foreign channels as well. In the future, we should entirely ban all foreign channels on Armenia's public multiplex.
RULING MP: What is Shoghakat TV, who owns it, and does its content meet the requirements? [It's the channel operated by the church]
REGULATOR: Shoghakat was formerly called a religious-cultural channel. Under the new law, it must broadcast cultural-educational content; its genre legally is not religious-cultural. A recent study shows that the share of religious content is too high and it must be reduced by raising the share of cultural-educational programs to meet the requirements. The channel is receiving funds from the state and must therefore meet the cultural-educational programming requirements.
RULING MP: In other words, Shoghakat is a public channel, at least in part financed by the taxpayers, and does not provide the content it is legally required to? Religious content is not a bad thing but we must be mindful of the state resources.
REGULATOR: It's co-financed by the church and state. Shoghakat is also operating from a building owned by the church, and not the public TV.
OPPO MP: Isn't it time to also regulate the TV channels' social media accounts on Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok? They get more views than the content aired over the public multiplex. Children consume dangerous content on YouTube and TikTok. There are countries that are attempting to regulate it. Can Armenia do this? There are also unlicensed channels on the internet that spread whatever they want. How do we regulate all of this?
REGULATOR: This morning the EU's Ursula von der Leyen announced the possibility of banning TikTok in the EU. The same about the US. Even the most democratic states restrict platforms that pose a danger to their societies. It will be expensive to technologically restrict these platforms in Armenia but we must consider any measure that would protect the Armenian society. Armenia is falling behind the EU directives in terms of content restrictions.
OPPO MP: Today a 9-year-old boy sees as many naked girls in one day as the world's richest sultan throughout his whole life. This is going to have a negative impact on children. The same about narcotics. When are we going to amend the law to regulate this?
REGULATOR: In the case of the 9 y/o boy, the most important institutions are the school, parents, and the surrounding environment. As for regulating the media field, I've been saying this for 4 years and this appears to be a bipartisan issue so let's get together and decide how to regulate it.
RULING MP: Under the existing media regulation law, foreign companies are not allowed to operate a cable service in Armenia. Why is Rostelecom able to operate? Should we lift the ban on all foreign firms or should we ban Rostelecom?
REGULATOR: I believe they meet the requirement by not owning over 49% of the company shares. I believe 51% of their shares belong to an Armenian resident company. In their defense, Rostelecom has voluntarily banned Solovyov's show in Armenia.
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անախորժ միջադեպ պառլամենտի բակում

The bodyguard of Armenia/ARF MP Levon Kocharyan, the son of ex-president Robert Kocharyan, is accused of punching and knocking down a journalist in the backyard of the parliament building after the outlet's criticism of opposition churchman and his portrayal as a corrupt agent of Russia.
REPORTER (Davit Levonyan, civic.am, affiliated with ruling party): After finishing an interview with a ruling party MP, I noticed that Levon Kocharyan's assistant/bodyguard Arthur Sukoyan was waiting nearby. He approached me and asked to speak for 2 minutes. I asked my operator to stand a bit further from us so we could talk. The bodyguard attempted to provoke a fight. He was unhappy about my opinion about churchman Bagrat [the co-organizer of the opposition's road closures in Tavush] and he said my actions were blasphemy. I said dear Arthur I have the right to free speech and I don't force my opinion on others, and that he can express his own opinion and that I don't really care about his opinion. He went on to escalate it into a physical fight in a way to present it as "two boys fighting" rather than hooliganism. He began to cuss at me. I said, "If you think I'm that type of person then I can say the same about you". I never punched him, knowing well that it was a provocation. He punched me and knocked me to the ground. I got up and cussed at him but chose not to fight. I told him that "you and the likes of you will answer for this". I wanted to verify whose assistant he was so he said Kocharyan's, and he invited me to his office to "settle the dispute". I told him to get the hell out of here and that he will answer later pa lyubomu.
QUESTION: Were there witnesses and is there a video recording?
REPORTER: My operator witnessed it and it was in front of the parliament building's security cameras. //
The alleged suspect, Arthur Sukoyan, is the son of Judge Alexei Sukoyan whose duties as a judge were terminated by SJC last year for "severe violations".
OPPO MP (Mher Sahakyan): That guy has no right to be called a journalist because I've seen his video [about the opposition churchman] and as a Christian Armenian, it's prosto unacceptable for me. Are you telling me you can describe a representative of a church any way you like and not answer for it? //
MP Mher Sahakyan himself was arrested last year after punching a ruling party MP and forcing him to get stitches.
What was the outlet's report that angered Kocharyan's bodyguard? The outlet accused the churchman of serving Russian interests and owning a meat production business in Tavush. A fact-checker has found that the churchman is indeed reported as a 25% shareholder of the company but the company says the churchman hasn't received profits. The ruling faction accuses the church of unethically using the church's media resources to advertise the "churchman's meat business".
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PM Pashinyan hosted the European Commission's Director-General of EU Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations

Pashinyan considered the AM-EU-US high-level meeting held in Brussels on April 5 as key and emphasized the need for effective implementation of the agreements reached.
Koopman noted that the European Commission is ready to contribute to the implementation of the priorities of the Armenian government to strengthen the resilience of Armenia and its economic growth.
Koopman expressed confidence that Armenia-EU relations will continue to develop and expand dynamically. The interlocutors discussed a wide range of issues related to Armenia-EU cooperation.

... On Tuesday Armenia, the EU, and Germany signed an agreement to reduce the Armenian rural population's reliance on imported Russian gas

They want to help low-income villagers and municipal buildings of Tavush, Shirak, Gegharkunik, and Syunik provinces to switch to solar energy. It will include solar water heaters, etc.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION rep.: The EU-Armenia relations are stronger than ever and the EU's dedication to Armenia is reflected in the agreements reached on April 5 in Brussels. This is a 3-year program worth €12.5 million.
GERMAN EMBASSY: Why not use the sun's energy for daily activities? Yesterday we noticed on our faces and skins how powerful the Armenian sun is. [please SPF 100 yourselves]
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World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a $116 million program for Armenia to enable reforms aimed at promoting green, resilient and inclusive development

It includes a $100 million loan from IBRD and a $16 million grant. This budget support will help the Government of Armenia to build climate resilience and reduce vulnerabilities to future shocks, as part of the 2021-2026 plan.

It includes actions that will fortify anti-corruption measures by implementing a robust framework with a whistleblowing system and gift monitoring mechanism for public servants. Further, it is aligned with the Paris Agreement.

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Azerbaijani regime arrested another pro-democracy activist as part of a crackdown on an independent outlet

Mammadli, the head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre, had his home raided by the police and was detained on Monday on charges of smuggling.
EUROPEAN UNION: This detention is the latest in a series of arrests of independent journalists & activists, and a matter of concern for the EU. All those imprisoned for exercising their fundamental rights should be released.
UNITED STATES: We are deeply concerned about the ongoing arrests of representatives of the Azerbaijani political society, in particular, Anar Mammadli. We call on the government of Azerbaijan to immediately release all those unjustly arrested. We continue to call on the government of Azerbaijan to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all.
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Armenia's Ambassador to the US Lilith Makunts met the experts of the US-based analytical center RAND that recently advised the West to provide defense assistance to Armenia and not to pressure Armenia to cut all ties with Russia prematurely

Ambassador Makunts presented the latest developments in the AM-AZ peace process and the Crossroads of Peace logistics process.
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Hungary is blocking the €10 million military assistance to Armenia

Context in April 17 news digest. Hungary is so far preventing the transfer of European Peace Facility resources to provide Armenia with a mobile field camp capability for a battalion-size unit, including a medical treatment facility as well as relevant services and facilities
Armenia submitted the application for funding in 2023. Georgia had earlier received €30 million in assistance as part of the same fund. They received equipment for controlling artillery divisions and engineering equipment.
Hungary, led by Turkish-Azeri-Russian ally Orban, demands that Azerbaijan receive assistance with demining activities in exchange for authorizing the transfer to Armenia. However, since Azerbaijan has not formally requested assistance with demining, it's possible the process could reach a dead end. The internal negotiations continue.
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Armenia's Defense Minister discussed AM-FR defence cooperation and army reforms with a French Senator

MOD Papikyan hosted Ronan Le Gloyot from the French Senate Committees on Foreign Relations, Defense, Armed Forces and European Affairs. The parties discussed AM-FR defense ties, the AM-EU ties, the Armenian army reforms, etc.
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Armenia and France discussed cooperation in military industry and aerospace (🤔)

High-Tech Minister Mkhitar Hayrapetyan hosted the French Senate delegation led by Ronan Le Gloyot. They discussed cybersecurity, digitization, the establishment and operation of French high-tech firms in Armenia, defense, military industry, and aerospace cooperation.
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France donates 4 diesel power generators with 100 kW to city halls and hospitals in Syunik

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Saudi Arabia's ethnic Armenian Prince Abdulaziz bin Talal Al Saud will visit Armenia

The agreement was reached during the recent visit by Armenia's Labor Minister to SA. The Prince and the Minister also agreed to establish cooperation between the Prince's AGFUND and Armenia's labor ministry.
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Armenia's Central Bank continues to cut the refinancing rate

2020: 4.25%
2022: 10.75%
2023: 9.25%
Jan 2024: 8.75%
Mar 2024: 8.50%
Apr 2024 8.25%
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Armenian migrant workers are sending fewer remittances from Russia and could find working in Armenia more beneficial

The net inflow of individuals' remittances from Russia in Q1 2024 amounted to $656.6 million compared to $1.1 billion in Q1 2023.
CENTRAL BANK: There is a decline this year due to economic and geopolitical issues, the exchange rate, and the ratio of salaries. It is necessary to have an understanding of whether Armenian migrant workers plan to continue working in Russia. Some prefer to return to Armenia and work here, as the difference in salaries now is much smaller than, for example, 10 years ago.
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agreement is signed to build a World Trade Center in Yerevan

Details in September 7 news digest.
Construction company RenShin presented the $212 million project to the government for approval. It's expected to create 10,000 jobs. There will be 4- and 5-star hotels as well.
PASHINYAN: It will be in place of the HayPost [post office] building on 22 Saryan St. Modern construction standards will be introduced in Armenia. Since our independence, there has never been a complex of this scale. It will help Armenia raise the "we are open for business" flag.
MHER GRIGORYAN: Armenia is the only country in the region without a World Trade Center. Being the last means we can have the best quality and newest technology. //
Armenia-based Renshen will invite the international architectural giant Norman Foster, known for developing the Apple Park in California, Germany's Reichstag Building, New York skyscraper Hearst Tower, the City Hall of Southwark (London), Millennium Bridge in London, Bilbao Metro, and more.
Who will own the complex? 50% investors, 30% HayPost, 20% Government. The company will buy HayPost's shares within the next 5 years. The revenue will help develop HayPost. It will have a new modern sorting facility to handle more parcels.
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16-year-old boy survives a fall from Kievian Bridge

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Yerevan's Yeritasardakan subway station has new lighting: VIDEO

It's the first of several to come.
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i have to pick my partner or my family
hi i (22f) am from conservative muslim family. my parents r immigrants who struggled very hard to make it here in the west, and to this day we are still struggling as a lower income household. for a bit of background my family consists of my mom (43f) my dad (55m), and my three younger siblings. i have been financially cut off since i was 18 and have a history of being a « trouble child ». i was abused at age four by daycare workers and later on by my islamic school teacher, and can vividly remember receiving beatings from my mom at a very young age if i recited wrong or misbehaved. these beating continued up until i was around 14/15 and it stopped but i was beat again for failing maths multiple times in highschool at age 16. thats the last time i recall either parents trying to physically harm me.
i have had multiple breakdowns in front of my parents over the way they treat me. the biggest one happened one week into lockdown march 2020 where my mom caught my trying to cut myself with a knife in my room and she dragged me n my sister in front of my father n proceeded to yell at me while i cried. saying if i want to die that im going to hell, that self harm is haram, that im sick for doing this in the precence of my sister. since then ive distanced myself greatly from my parents and family. my dad follows her lead and had never stood up for meto her, but he can get violent and reckless as he has a history of mental illness. multiple things over the years have built up to this point. my mother believe i will corrupt her other children and that i need to be reformed and seek god. as a result i pulled away more and only leave my room to eat food and shower. i used to help around the house alot but now i hide so she thinks ive become lazy when really id rather not deal with her micromanging everything i do. in highschool and middle school i was not allowed to hang out with friends, go to the mall, visit friends houses, or go out on my own. as a result i was very depressed, hardly ate and spent all my time isolated from her.
now i am 22 and am almost done university, i have a partner (22m) i love very much and am very blessed to have. since starting uni at 19 ive been taking steps to be independent. my bank account, devices, and schooling are all in my name, purchased and handled by me. they have no access to any of it. my bf is of a different race, we have a one year age gap, hes more independent than me but also lives at home w his parents. (cost of living is terrible here so moving out solo or renting an apt is impossible). since before meeting my bf was intending to revert to islam at his own pace. meeting me however changed things and he says im the blessing from god that hes needed to make his choice. me and him have alot in common and we havent gone one day without talkin since we met last winter. he truly is my bestfriend and ive introduced him to all my friends including my chilldhood bff who knows exactly what my household is like and parents. my younger sister as well approved of him and while shes grossed out by seeing my giggle on the phone, shes happy for me.
our plan was to date for a yr or so and then gradually open discussion to meeting my parents(ive met his and his family is v accepting of me). my bf is very alternative in terms of style and is covered in tattoos. my father will never accept it depite islam allowing children free reign to pick their own life partner. my mom has since found out about my bf about a week ago and yday gave me an ultimatum. she said if i pick him and choose my « temporary feelings » that my dad will flip out and probably go to jail in an attempt to ruin my bf and his familys lives. she said if i go that i can never come back and that i will lose acess to my siblings because she wont allow me to corrupt them. that she will tell the community that i went abroad and i can go n live with him. since the beginning however, my bf n his mom have made it clear if i have nowhere to go that i can live w them and pay 300 a month in rent, that i can continue going to school. back to my mom, if i pick my family she expects me to sacrifie essentially everything ive worked for including my financial independence, she means no job, no university, no seeing friends, not allowed to ever see my bf, and only leaving the house under supervision of a family member. she also says ill have to go back islamic school, that i will need to reform and change my myself into a religious person. that after that maybe if he converts and is sincere that she will not stop us from getting married. she says rn that we have her support on the bais that we get married and do things the “right” way. i cant tell if she bluffing but my bf and friends say this is her again trying to control me. yesterday i broke down n read her some of the passages of my childhood diary from ages 9-15 n she cried hearing that ive been suicidal ial for ages and that i know she resents me. she apologized for letting me think she hates me. she asked me to write a list of things i want to change n boundaries and whatnot and that we can work to a solution together but i have a feeling its just a front mt bc of what she said to me initially. im heartbroken i genuinely do not want to lose my family but i also question how long i can continue if i pick her terms. i am severely depressed and still struggle with suicidal thoughts. what is the best course of action from here? any advice is appreciated and im open to answering any questions.

hi i (22f) am from conservative muslim family. my parents r immigrants who struggled very hard to make it here in the west, and to this day we are still struggling as a lower income household. for a bit of background my family consists of my mom (43f) my dad (55m), and my three younger siblings (20f,14m,5f). i have been financially cut off since i was 18 and have a history of being a « trouble child ». i was abused at age four by daycare workers and later on by my islamic school teacher, and can vividly remember receiving beatings from my mom at a very young age if i recited wrong or misbehaved. these beating continued up until i was around 14/15 and it stopped but i was beat again for failing maths multiple times in highschool at age 16. thats the last time i recall either parents trying to physically harm me.
i have had multiple breakdowns in front of my parents over the way they treat me. the biggest one happened one week into lockdown march 2020 where my mom caught my trying to cut myself with a knife in my room and she dragged me n my sister in front of my father n proceeded to yell at me while i cried. saying if i want to die that im going to hell, that self harm is haram, that im sick for doing this in the precence of my sister. since then ive distanced myself greatly from my parents and family. my dad follows her lead and had never stood up for meto her, but he can get violent and reckless as he has a history of mental illness. multiple things over the years have built up to this point. my mother believe i will corrupt her other children and that i need to be reformed and seek god. as a result i pulled away more and only leave my room to eat food and shower. i used to help around the house alot but now i hide so she thinks ive become lazy when really id rather not deal with her micromanging everything i do. in highschool and middle school i was not allowed to hang out with friends, go to the mall, visit friends houses, or go out on my own. as a result i was very depressed, hardly ate and spent all my time isolated from her.
now i am 22 and am almost done university, i have a partner (22m) i love very much and am very blessed to have. since starting uni at 19 ive been taking steps to be independent. my bank account, devices, and schooling are all in my name, purchased and handled by me. they have no access to any of it. my bf is of a different race, we have a one year age gap, hes more independent than me but also lives at home w his parents. (cost of living is terrible here so moving out solo or renting an apt is impossible). since before meeting my bf was intending to revert to islam at his own pace. meeting me however changed things and he says im the blessing from god that hes needed to make his choice. me and him have alot in common and we havent gone one day without talkin since we met last winter. he truly is my bestfriend and ive introduced him to all my friends including my chilldhood bff who knows exactly what my household is like and parents. my younger sister as well approved of him and while shes grossed out by seeing my giggle on the phone, shes happy for me.
our plan was to date for a yr or so and then gradually open discussion to meeting my parents(ive met his and his family is v accepting of me). my bf is very alternative in terms of style and is covered in tattoos. my father will never accept it depite islam allowing children free reign to pick their own life partner. my mom has since found out about my bf about a week ago and yday gave me an ultimatum. she said if i pick him and choose my « temporary feelings » that my dad will flip out and probably go to jail in an attempt to ruin my bf and his familys lives. she said if i go that i can never come back and that i will lose acess to my siblings because she wont allow me to corrupt them. that she will tell the community that i went abroad and i can go n live with him. since the beginning however, my bf n his mom have made it clear if i have nowhere to go that i can live w them and pay 300 a month in rent, that i can continue going to school. back to my mom, if i pick my family she expects me to sacrifie essentially everything ive worked for including my financial independence, she means no job, no university, no seeing friends, not allowed to ever see my bf, and only leaving the house under supervision of a family member. she also says ill have to go back islamic school, that i will need to reform and change my myself into a religious person. that after that maybe if he converts and is sincere that she will not stop us from getting married. she says rn that we have her support on the bais that we get married and do things the “right” way. i cant tell if she bluffing but my bf and friends say this is her again trying to control me. yesterday i broke down n read her some of the passages of my childhood diary from ages 9-15 n she cried hearing that ive been suicidal ial for ages and that i know she resents me. she apologized for letting me think she hates me. she asked me to write a list of things i want to change n boundaries and whatnot and that we can work to a solution together but i have a feeling its just a front mt bc of what she said to me initially. im heartbroken i genuinely do not want to lose my family but i also question how long i can continue if i pick her terms. i am severely depressed and still struggle with suicidal thoughts.
any response is appreciated n my dms r open n i can answer any questions so pls ask

So a while back my laptop died and I lost all my save files (including one where I had been slowly remaking all the townies and EA builds 😭) and screenshots and since I have been reluctant to play the game at all, particularly because I was fully invested in a particular family of mine and I'm devastated no record of them exists anymore. However the other day I was admiring the flowers that are starting to bloom where I live and I had a flash of inspiration to make a legacy based on the meaning of flowers. So I sat down and wrote it one in nearly one sitting (with a break for dinner).
Now I made this specifically for myself, including packs I own (only Horse Ranch, City Living, and Spa Day are actually needed for this), putting in options of packs I hope to buy in the future where I thought they could fit, and based on the way I play (so guidelines are more story based than challenge based) but I still wanted to share it in case anyone else was interested. If you are interested/inspired by it in anyway, feel free to play it fast and loose with the rules - I really made it to be fun for me personally so whatever changes, cheats, or tweaks help it work for you go at it!
I also have to shout out the Sims in Bloom challenge, because while mine is not based off of this challenge in anyway, it is one that I have had bookmarked for a while as looking fun to play and is based on the same/similar concept as mine. If the idea of a flower based legacy intrigues you check that one out- there is a base game version as well!
Now without further ado:
Sims 4 Floral Legacy Challenge:
Gen 1: Bluebell
-humble beginnings and everlasting love-
Choose one of more of these traits: generous, good, loyal
Career: something that means humility to you - ideas: education, gardener, barista/babysitteother part time careers, self employed by selling collectibles
Aspiration: Soulmate
Style: any, but live whole life in a small home (not necessarily by the game's standard but no more than 3 bedrooms), blue should be a main color, stay away from pricey furniture as well
You are a simple sort of sim. All you ever wanted is a place to call home and someone to love. Moving to a new place was scary, but you think you are starting to figure it out. However, things get a little more complicated when a choice you make on a lonely night results in a surprise pregnancy. Even though you aren't sure you're ready for single parenthood, you are going to give it your best shot, you already love the kid to bits after all. Luckily, your kind neighbor is there to help out. Wait, they're kind of cute...
-Start on an empty lot or in an unfurnished house with 0 simoleons
-Recommended: live in willow creek
-Make money to build/furnish your house through your career
-Have a child from a one night stand with someone you meet at a public lot before your house is fully finished (this is the next gen heir).
-Never date your child's other parent but optionally remain good friends.
-Err on the side of leniency as a parent (e.g. if you have parenthood, hug it out to discipline your kid, use the permissive family dynamic from growing together).
-Fall and love and get married to one of your neighbors, completing the soulmate aspiration. Stay together in a happy marriage until death.
-Optional: have 1-2 more kids with your spouse
-Until you switch to the next gen, go on at least one date every week with your spouse.
Gen 2: Crocus
-playful childishness-
Recommended Traits: lazy, goofball, outgoing, family oriented, childish, cheerful
Career: any except entertainer - do not reach level 10 in your career, continually neglect work tasks and goof off/socialize at work to lower work performance if need be - optional (or if laid off): switch careers several times
Aspiration: Big happy family - optional: if you have high school years you can complete the live fast aspiration as a teen
Style: any as long as its casual, shouldn't look too put together, t-shirts would be good
As a kid you were loved and admittedly somewhat spoiled by your doting parent. At times you neglected your responsibilities and your homework preferring to goof off with your many friends. Growing up... well, you never really did that did you? You did eventually get a job (even though you aren't the best employee) and you gave dating the old college try as well. Unfortunately, just like working, being in a relationship doesn't seem to come easily to you... Luckily though there is something you're good at: parenting. Being part kid yourself, you find it easily to connect to your many kids and you're always ready to cheer them up with a laugh when they are feeling down. That, at least, is something worth devoting your time too.
-Neglect homework as a child (optional: age up with the irresponsible trait if you have parenthood) but have several friends at school
-Perform poorly in a career of your choice (NOT entertainer) - do not reach level 10 in any career (if you get close, lower job performance or quit and start a new job)
-Live in childhood home until parents die or until you have too many kids for everyone to fit
-Get divorced from / break up with every partner you have (your choice how many people to date, but must die single)
-Have 3-6 kids - at least one should be adopted and one should be biologically yours but the exact ratio is up to you
-Be best friends level with all kids
-max out comedy skill
-Complete happy family aspiration (may require temporarily returning to this gen after some kids are adults)
-Optional: whenever someone leaves the household, get a pet so the household is continually at 8 members (the idea of this gen is chaos after all)
Gen 3: Dahlia
-creativity and true love-
Required traits: noncommital, Recommended: creative, maker, art lover, green fiend
Career: Something creative - recommended: making money through painting or fabrication or photography
Aspiration: Any in the creativity category (or the jewelry one, which is IMO creative but not in that category)
Style: Colorful and eclectic, feature warm colors and travel nick knacks, bohemian
You grew up in a chaotic but joyful home surrounded by your siblings and raised by a parent who loved and accepted you as you were. Your creativity was able to bloom and flourish in this environment and you learned the value and power of familial love. However, you never quite understood romance in the same way as you watched your parent struggle to maintain a loving relationship. In high school you found someone special, but your relationship was too important to put through the trials of romance. You maintained your friendship into adulthood as you followed your passions into a career and your heart into several (failed) relationships, all the while standing by each other. Then one day you realized, what if this elusive goal of romantic love had been right besides you all along?
-Complete the creatively gifted aspiration as a kid
-Briefly (briefly) date your best friend in high school, then decide to be just friends (option in social menu) Maintain friendship (remaining just friends) into your young adulthood and adulthood, spending lots of time together.
-Have a creative job and max out your career / chosen creative skill
-Get married and divorced at least once and date and break up with at least 3 people total
-Have at least one kid
-After a midlife crisis start a relationship with your best friend and get married - this time stay together until death do us part (optional: at this point swap out the non commital trait with the loyal trait via cheats or self discovery moment)
-Go on vacation at least twice with your family and your best friend/best friend's family
Gen 4: (white) Lily
-beauty, mourning, and rebirth-
Recommended traits: gloomy, romantic
Career: something you associate with beauty - ideas: actoactress, style influencer, social media
Aspiration: any - ideas: soulmate, world famous celebrity, master actoactress
Style: classic, somewhat minimalistic, elegant (think Kennedys)
Growing up in an artistic household, you quickly developed a keen eye and a strong asethetic and sense of style. Unlike your parent however, you were very interested in what was popular. You built your knowledge of trends and used it to cultivate your own look until it became your passion, and ultimately your career. You were becoming quite successful, loving your job more and more every day, when you met... them. The love of your life. You remembered watching your parent dance around their love all their life, and had seen how much time they wasted because of it. You weren't going to make the same mistake. You had a whirlwind romance, engagement, and marriage that grew into a stable, enduring love. You had everything, a great career, a wonderful relationship, and you and your spouse had just welcomed a child when tragedy struck. And now, without your love, you don't know what to do. How will you go on?
-Enter and max out a career that is associated with beauty
-Optional: if you have get famous, become a celebrity with a good reputation
-Meet your spouse through your career
-Date, get engaged to, and marry your spouse quickly (within 1-2 sim weeks)
-Have a relationship with your spouse at the soulmate level
-Have exactly one kid with your spouse
-Before your kid is a teen, your spouse dies
-Mourn your spouse for the rest of your life (at least 3 times weekly visit grave/urn) and never get into another romantic relationship
-Optional: after spouse's death, change outfits to be all black for mourning colors (or what ever mourning colors are in your culture)
-Neglect child emotionally because of your sadness (less than good friends level friendship)
-Repair relationship with child after they move out and your grandchildren are born (they return the spark to your life)
Gen 5: Dandelion
-resilience and recovery-
Required trait: horse lover Optional: active, loves the outdoors, adventurous
Career: Rancheself employed
Required aspiration: championship rider
Style: western, rustic farmhouse decor, country
You grew up in the midst of a tragedy. All you remember is the dark cloud that seemed to surround your parent everywhere they went and the loneliness that came from all but raising yourself. As soon as you could, you got away, following your heart to the countryside. In the picturesque small town of chestnut ridge you built your own life, learning to ride the horses you had grown up loving, and making a living by building a ranch. The solitude of nature was like a balm to your wounded soul. Eventually, you fell for one of the locals and got hitched. They moved in to help grow your ranch and before long you were building a family as well. As you discovered the joys of parenthood, it brought your mind back to your own parent, and you started to wonder if those bonds could be reformed...
-move out to Chestnut Ridge as soon as you become a young adult
-Complete the championship rider aspiration and max out the riding skill
-Fall in love with an marry a sim you meet in Chestnut ridge with the rancher trait
-Have 2-4 kids with your spouse
-Optional: name one of your kids after your deceased parent
-After your first kid is a toddler, start to reconcile with your parent (inviting them over to meet grandkids)
-build back your friendship with your parent before they pass (good friends level or higher)
-run a thriving ranch
Gen 6: (red) Carnation
-justice-
Recommended traits: good, hot headed, self assured
Career: Politics, charity organizer branch
Aspiration: any - ideas: neighborhood confident, city native
Style: any - alt fashion would work well, esp. punk, dark colors with red accents also good
Life as a child in the countryside was idyllic, but you always had bigger dreams. Bright eyed and with a zest for life you moved to the city as soon as you could. But once there, your idealistic nature quickly shattered. The world wasn't as nice outside of your small town bubble. Rather than fall into despair over it however, you decided to rise to the occasion. You would dedicate your life to fighting for change and making the world a better place. Even if it was just a drop in the bucket, you would do everything you could to make a difference. After all, what better way to spend your time than speaking truth to power?
-move to San Myshuno as a young adult
-Join and max out the charity organizer career
-meet your spouse at a protest
-fall in love and move in together, but don't get married
-adopt at least one kid (can have bio children as well)
-join or start a protest at least once a week
-have at least one wealthy enemy (bonus points if they are in the politician career or a landlord)
-Optionally: have a midlife crisis / burnout (via growing together mechanics or imaginative storytelling) during adulthood and change your life around (stay in same career, but protest less and pick up a hobby, spend more time with family)
Gen 7: Iris
-intelligence and prestige-
Required trait: genius Optional traits: perfectionist, ambitious, neat, overachiever, loner, hates children, bookworm
Career: something you associate with intelligence - ideas: doctor, scientist, law, engineer, astronaut
Recommended aspiration: any in the knowledge group or bestselling author Optional: complete the goal oriented aspiration as a teen and the academic aspiration as a young adult
Style: academia (dark or light), traditional, have at least one library / study in the home
Your parents were smart people, you'll give them that, but they didn't care enough to do anything with it! They could have been something great, but instead they decided to waste their time fighting for 'justice' without making any real change. You wouldn't be making that mistake. From an early age you dedicated yourself to your studies, determined to learn everything you possibly could and become someone important. Learning fascinated you, and you loved using your intelligence to figure out solutions to hard problems. This was what was important, not love, or family, or doing good, or whatever other nonsense your parents and grandparents believed. This was how you really changed the world, intelligently. Now just to get that one coworker of yours to stop pestering you at work and challenging your ideas. Wait, why do they want to meet you for coffee?
-Complete the mental aspiration as a child
-Enter and max out a career related to intelligence - optionally: then switch careers and max out a second
-max out at least four skills of your choice, writing and publishing skill books related to them as you do so (this may require you to max out the writing skill, if so this counts towards your four skills)
-Date and marry one of your coworkers who also has the genius trait (bonus points if this is a former workplace rival)
-Have exactly one child with your spouse via the science baby option
-Be a strict parent (maintain this family dynamic if you have growing together) and be emotionally distant from your kid (less than good friends friendship level ideally)
-If you have discover university, attend university and complete the academic aspiration before beginning a career
Gen 8: Lotus
-rebirth and self-love-
Required trait: high maintenance Recommended: perfectionist
Career: start in something you see as a high stress job - ideas: salary person, business, anything that uses the logic skill - then switch to making money via spa day activities
Aspiration: any or all in the wellness category
Style: minimalist, biophilic (plant parent), 'zen'
To say your parents had high expectations growing up would be putting it lightly. Nothing you ever did seemed good enough for them. Even so, you continued to try, pushing yourself towards excellent grades and into a career (and relationship) they would approve of. It was hard but you were managing it, and you kept pushing and pushing until... One day you just couldn't do it anymore! You quit your job, ended your relationship and changed trajectories. Now you are focused on healing and self-love, and on helping others on their self love journey as well. It might take some time, but you are learning to be happy with yourself. Next, to start building a new family, one you'll be happy to be a part of.
-maintain an "A" level grade throughout your education
-Enter a high stress career as a young adult
-Start a relationship with someone in a 'respectable' career as a young adult (you decide what counts as 'respectable') - if you have growing together you should have bad compatibility with this person
-sometime during young adulthood (bonus if after in game burnout) while your sim is feeling badly (tense, angry, uncomfortable, or sad), quit your job and end your relationship
-Optional: before this switch dress and decorate in your parents style, afterwards, change to your own style
-Switch to a wellness career - continue this until retirement
-max out wellness skill
-complete at least one of the wellness aspirations
-marry someone you meet at the spa
-have 1-3 children with them
Gen 9: Lavender
-family and home-
Required trait - at least one of three: loner, paranoid, socially awkward Recommended traits: family oriented, foodie, loves the outdoors, animal enthusiast
Career: make money through cooking and/or baking - this can involve running a bakery, the culinary career, or using the food stall from home chef hustle OR be a stay at home parent and partner makes money
Choose one or more of the following aspirations: Appliance whiz, master chef, country caretaker, super parent
Style: French country, cottage core, pastels
You grew up in a peaceful and tranquil home with caring and kind parents. Lucky for you because as it turns out - the rest of the world? Not so peaceful. Being outside your home and surrounded by strangers was always stressful for you, and as you grew up you learned to retreat towards the things you knew: your family, your pets, and the delicious things you loved to cook. Another support for you was always your best friend turned love; you've promised to stay by each other's side through thick and thin and you can wait to build a home together. Will these supports help you get through the stresses of adulthood? Will be able to find a build a home that's peaceful and safe for your new family? Only time will tell...
-From teenagehood to death have at least one pet at all times (including non household animals like cows)
-Marry your childhood best friend / high school sweetheart and stay together until death do us part
-max out the cooking skill (and baking if you have get to work)
-have 3-5 kids with your spouse
-maintain best friends level friendship with all kids, spouse, and any cats or dogs you have
-don't maintain friendships with anyone outside the household (this can change when you switch to playing sunflower gen if need be)
-make sacked lunches for all family members at least twice a week
-Make money through food (chef career, bakery, or food stall) OR be a stay at home parent
-Recommended: live in Henford-on-Bagley
-Max out one or more of the following aspirations: Appliance whiz, master chef, country caretaker, super parent
Gen 10: Sunflower
-friendship and loyalty-
Required trait: loyal and choose at least one of: cheerful, outgoing, generous
Career: any
Aspiration: one or more in the social category Optional: Additionally complete successful lineage or big happy family and continue gameplay
Style: any - home with lots of space for hosting gatherings, yellow as a focus color would be a good choice
You had a pretty perfect childhood - supportive parents, siblings to play with, space to roam, the whole nine yards. Only... it was still a little lonely. There's a whole world out there, and as much as you love your parents, they didn't really expose you to it, preferring to stay home. Well, you're grown up now, and you are going to bring the world to your family and your family out into the world. There's so many cool people out there and you are going to be friends with them all.
-Complete the social aspiration as a child
-Maintain a group of friends (use club system if you have get together) your whole life, adding members as you age and make more friends
-maintain good friends level friendship with all club members
-Fall in love with and marry someone with the family oriented trait
-have at least two kids
-take at least one family vacation
-maintain friendship levels with all family members (siblings, parents, spouse, kids) at at least the good friend level
-host family and friend gatherings frequently - if you have growing together: have a family reunion at least every 4 sim weeks - if you have seasons: host gatherings for every relevant holiday (e.g. no gathering needed for lottery day or love day, but harvestfest yes)
-Optional: have one parent die as an elder and move the other in to live with you and your family, take care of them until they die
-Optional: have a pet dog all your adulthood
-Recommended: complete an aspiration in the family category as well (successful lineage or big happy family) - this will require continuing to play a bit beyond the 10th generation

Today we’re opening applications for the 2024 cohort of The Roots of Progress Blog-Building Intensive, an 8-week program for aspiring progress writers to start or grow a blog.
Last year, nearly 500 people applied to the inaugural program. The 19 fellows who completed the program have sung the program’s praises as “life-changing” and “accelerating my career path as a progress intellectual.” They’ve started new Substacks and doubled their writing productivity. They’ve written about urbanism, immigration, defense-tech, meta-science, FDA reform, blue-color jobs, NEPA, AI regulation, pharmaceutical innovation, and more.
Now, you can join this optimistic intellectual community. You will launch (or re-launch) a blog/Substack, get into a regular writing habit, improve your writing, and make progress on building your audience.
You will meet and learn from progress studies leaders, authors, and industry experts. You’ll participate in a structured eight-week course on How to Think Like a Writer, which will teach you how to write more, create writing habits, and develop a writing system. You’ll write and publish four essays, one every other week, and you’ll receive feedback from professional editors, the Roots of Progress team, and your peers. At the end of the program, you’ll meet your peers in person in San Francisco, and get to attend the 2024 progress conference, where you’ll join authors, technologists, policy experts, academics, nonprofit leaders, and storytellers.
Why: To keep progress going—in science, technology, and industry—we have to believe that it is is possible and desirable. Today much of society has lost that belief, and lacks a bold, ambitious vision for the future.
It’s time for a new generation of writers and creatives to help the world understand and appreciate progress. The Roots of Progress Fellowship is the talent development program for these intellectuals.
Themes: In addition to a general focus on progress studies, this year’s fellowship features two themes: AI and “heavy industry” (manufacturing, construction, transportation, logistics, energy, defense, etc.) We will accept fellows writing on any progress-related topic, but will give preference for a handful of spots to applicants focusing on these areas, and we will have dedicated programming for these tracks.
Advisors: We have a fantastic group of advisors for you to meet and learn from:

• Progress thinkers, writers, and media leaders, including Max Roser (Our World in Data), Tyler Cowen (Mercatus Center), Virginia Postrel (author, The Future and Its Enemies), Noah Smith (Noahpinion), Tomas Pueyo (Uncharted Territories), and Chandler Tuttle (Freethink Media)
• Industry experts, including Andrej Karpathy (formerly of Tesla and OpenAI), Blake Scholl (Boom Supersonic), Bob McGrew (OpenAI), Brian Potter (Institute for Progress), Delian Asparouhov (Varda Space Industries), Holden Karnofsky (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Kanjun Qiu (Imbue), and Timothy B. Lee (Understanding AI)
• Writing and audience-building experts and professional editors, including Rob Tracinski, who is teaching the 8-week writing course

Who: This program may be for you if you’re excited about progress studies and you love to write.
Maybe you’d like to explore a career in writing about progress, or maybe you’re already blogging but would like to get to the next level—find your own topic area, increase your productivity, get more plugged into the community, and grow your audience.
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Learn more and apply: 2024 Roots of Progress Blog-Building Intensive
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Historic doubts relative to Napoleon Bunoparte
Excerpt:
"Was Europe at that period peculiarly weak, and in a state of barbarism, that one man could achieve such conquests, and acquire such a vast empire? On the contrary, she was flourishing in the height of strength and civilization. Can the persevering attachment and blind devotedness of the French to this man, be accounted for by his being the descendant of a long line of kings, whose race was hallowed by hereditary veneration? ISio; we are told he was a low-born usurper, and not even a Frenchman ! Is it that he was a good and kind sovereign ? He is represented not only as an imperious and merciless despot, but as most wantonly careless of the lives of his soldiers. Could the French army and people have failed to hear from the wretched survivors of his supposed Russian expedition, how they had left the corpses of above 100,000 of their comrades bleaching on the snow-drifts of that dismal country, whither his mad ambition had conducted him, and where his selfish cowardice had deserted them? Wherever we turn to seek for circumstances that may help to account for the events of this incredible story, we only meet with such as aggravate its improbability.^ Had it been told of some distant country, at a remote period, we could not have told what peculiar circumstances there might have been to render probable what seems to us most strange; and yet in that case every philosophical sceptic, every free-thinking speculator, would instantly have rejected such a history, as utterly unworthy of credit. What, for instance, would the great Hume, or any of the philosophers of his school, have said, if they had found in the antique records of any nation such a passage as this? *' There was a certain man of Corsica, whose name was Napoleon, and he was one of the chief captains of the host of the French; and he gathered together an army, and went and fought against Egypt: but when the king of Britain heard thereof, he sent ships of war and valiant men to fight against the French in Egypt. So they warred against them, and prevailed, and strengthened the hands of the rulers of the land against the French, and drave away Napoleon from before the city of Acre. Then Napoleon left the captains and the army that were in Egypt, and fled, and returned back to France. So the French people took Napoleon, and made him ruler over them, and he became exceeding great,"" insomuch that there was none like him of all " that had ruled over France before.""
Points made in the book range from the untrustworthiness of newspapers of the time (not a new problem) who often quoted unnamed sources, to the improbability of feats credited to Napoleon, his ability to garner support for seemingly unpopular moves, and for to the contradictions in accounts of the events. It discusses what a convenient enemy Napoleon made for every political party involved saying that to raise taxes in the future one would simply have to invoke some new Napoleon figure( We have always been at war with Eastasia**).**
Excerpt:
"There is one more circumstance which I cannot forbear mentioning, because it so much adds to the air of fiction which pervades every part of this marvellous tale; and that is, the nationality of it."^
Buonaparte prevailed over all the hostile States in turn, except England; in the zenith of his power, his fleets were swept from the sea, by England; his troops always defeat an equal, and frequently even a superior number of those of any other nation, except the English ; and with them it is just the reverse; twice, and twice only, he is personally engaged against an English commander^
and both times he is totally defeated ; at Acre, and at Waterloo; and to crown all, England finally crushes this tremendous power, which had so long kept the continent in subjection or in alarm; and to the English he surrenders himself prisoner! Thoroughly national, to be sure! It may h^ all very true; but I would only ask, if a story had been fabricated for che express purpose of amusing the English nation, could it have been contrived more ingeniously? It would do admirably for an epic poem ; and indeed bears a considerable resemblance to the Iliad and the JEneid; in which Achilles and the Greeks, iEneas and the Trojans, (the ancestors of the Eomans,) are so studiously held up to admiration"
Surely this is just some one off 19th century conspiracy theorist and no others have ever questioned the incontestable figure of Napoleon. The above book seems to lend credence to the notion that the book "Did Napoleon Ever Exist? " by Pérès, Jean Baptiste written in 1885 and touted as a satire is instead a true telling of the allegory that props up the myth of Napoleon. The use of humor and satire to speak truth to power is not a new concept.
Excerpt:
"That he triumphed in the south, and succumbed in the north ;
That, finally, after a reign of twelve years, which he had begun on arriving from the east, he disappeared in the western seas.
It remains, then, to be seen if these different particulars are borrowed from the sun, and we hope that whoever reads this writing will be convinced that they are.
In the first place, every one knows that the sun is called Apollo by the poets. ' Now, the difference between Apollo and Napoleon is not great, and it will appear still less if we go back to the significance of these names, or to their origin.
It is certain that the word Apollo signifies exterminator ; and it appears that this name was given to the sun by the Greeks, on account of the evil which it did to them before Troy, where a portion of their army perished through excessive heat, and from the contagion which resulted therefrom at the time of the outrage committed by Agamemnon upon Chryses, priest of the sun, as ja seen at the beginning of Homer^s Iliad ;
and the brilliant imagination of the Greek poets transformed the rays of the siin into fiery darts, which the irritated god hurled from all sides, and which would have exterminated everything if, to appease his anger, liberty had not been rendered to Chryseis, daughter of the sacrificer Chryses.
It was apparently at that time, and for that reason, that the sun was named Apollo. But, whatever may have been the circumstance or the cause which gave the star such a name, it is certain that it means " the exterminator."
Now, Apollo is the same word as Apoleon. They are derived from ApoUyo {AttoXXvco) or Apole6 (ATroXeo)), two Greek verbs which are but one, and which signify to destroy, to kill, to exterminate ; so that, if the pretended hero of our century were called Apoleon he would have the same name as the sun, and would fulfil, moreover, all the signification of this name ; for he is depicted to us as the greatest Exterminator of men who ever existed. But this personage is named Napoleon ; and consequently there is in his name an initial letter which is not in the name of the sun."
lastly we show the work of a Russian revisionist who found over 200 nearly exact copies of the the events of the lives of Napoleon 1 and his nephew Napoleon 3.
Excerpt:
REVISION OF THE 19TH CENTURY.I. FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM. Traditional historical science considers the chronology of events of the 19th century, as well as these themselves events established correctly (not falsified) not only in general terms, but also in particulars (such as, for example, the identification of the current city of Sevastopol with the “Sevastopol” that was taken during the Crimean War). Task: produce analysis of the history of the 19th century for the presence of falsifications. Objects for analysis - stories Napoleon I and Napoleon III, as well as related events.
II. INITIAL DATA.
A partial selection of well-known historical data is provided as initial data, considered by traditional historians to be true. For ease of analysis, the data is grouped in pairs of events with a step between events in a pair of approximately 50 years.

1. November 1799: Napoleon I becomes head of France. December 1848: Napoleon III becomes President of France.
2. 4 years after the start of his reign, Napoleon I is proclaimed emperor France. The Republic turns into an Empire (1804). 4 years after the start of his reign, Napoleon III is proclaimed emperor France. The Republic turns into an Empire (1852).
3. On the eve of Napoleon I coming to power (1799) - an uprising in Ireland (1798), depressed. On the eve of Napoleon III coming to power (1848) - uprising in Ireland (1848), depressed
4. Barras contributed to the rise to power of Napoleon I. The first prime minister under Napoleon III was Barrault.
5. February 1798: proclamation of the Roman Republic with the support of the acceding to the Papal States of the French army; The republic lasted about a year. February 1849: proclamation of the Roman Republic; the republic lasted less years and was destroyed by the French army that entered the Papal States.
6. On the eve of the birth of Napoleon (1769), the Russian during the fleet the war with Turkey carried out the so-called "First Archipelago Expedition" (since 1769), during which there was The Turkish fleet was defeated (in the Battle of Chesme). On the eve of the birth of Napoleon (1808), the Russian fleet during the war with Turkey carried out the so-called "Second Archipelago Expedition" (since 1806), during which there was The Turkish fleet was defeated (in the Battle of Athos).
7. About 10 years before the birth of Napoleon I (1769), Germany formed literary movement "Storm and Drang", which quite sharply broke with classicism. A more moderate position was taken by the "Union of the Grove" ("Göttingen Commonwealth of Poets"), which arose a little later and collapsed a couple of years after the birth of Napoleon. About 10 years before the birth of Napoleon (1808), a literary circle was formed in Germany "Jena Romantics" who created the theory of early romanticism, contrasting it bourgeois reality. The Heidelberg circle had more moderate positions. romantics", which arose a little later and disintegrated a couple of years after its birth Napoleon.
8. During the reign of Napoleon I, a war was organized for almost all of Europe against Russia (1812 Patriotic War). On the European side, the war is led by Napoleon I, and on the Russian side - brothers Alexander and Konstantin. During the reign of Napoleon III, a war was organized for almost all of Europe against Russia. (Crimean War). On the European side, the war is led by Napoleon III, and on the European side Russia - brothers Alexander and Konstantin.
9. Only son of Napoleon I, never to reign as Napoleon II, born in 1811 (one year before the end of the Patriotic War) and lived only 21 years. The only son of Napoleon III, never to reign as Napoleon IV, born in 1856 (in the year the Crimean War ended) and lived only 22 years.
10. Napoleon I was an artillery officer who published a couple of pamphlets on ballistics. Napoleon III was an artillery officer who printed a couple of pamphlets on his specialty.
11. Napoleon I suffered from stomach cancer, which brought him to the grave. Napoleon III suffered from kidney stones, which killed him.
12. Just before the fall of Napoleon I (1815) - Bonaparte is forced to announce liberal reforms During the "Hundred Days", on April 23, 1815, the Constitution was published. very liberal compared to how Bonaparte ruled before. The Constitution was approved in a plebiscite in May 1815 (a month before the final abdication). The last years of Napoleon III's reign were marked by liberal reforms. In 1869 (a year before the fall of Bonaparte in 1870) a new Constitution was published, which was approved in a plebiscite held in May 1870 (a couple of months before the fall of Napoleon in September 1870). continued

One point of interest was not enough to secure a spot on this fine sub reddit. Nor was two, let us see if 3 points made in favor of my argument that Napoleon is a historical pseudo character are enough to remain up.
culturallayer

So I’m working in a document which discusses why my school’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies and stances are wrong. I am hoping to get a wide variety of reputable and academic sources talking about how different the understanding of homosexuality (and being trans ideally) is today from Ancient Rome and Greece, discussing the clobber verses, historic and cultural contexts of those verses, and why using Christianity to be anti-LGBTQ+ is wrong. I have checked out the sources on this sub’s resources page, and The Reformation Project. I am hoping to gather more sources to strengthen my essay.

I (21M) have been dating my girlfriend (21F) for about a month and a half now and things are going great but i am having trouble getting over her past. Im going to try and be short about it but essentially shes had quite a few boyfriends since high school. All generally toxic relationships. Before we met she was a party girl and hit the frats and got blacked out drunk often. I currently live with one of the frats (but not a part of it) that she was at often. I know she hooked up with 2 of the guys in it and its just eating me alive. Since her last boyfriend she claims to be reformed and it is evident that she is but her past is still there. Her parents can already tell that i am lot better than her previous boyfriends without having met me and she says she is happier than shes ever been. I have no issues with the relationship or how its looking to go but i simply am struggling so much with her past.
Does anyone know how to overlook this?

Nwedo all, as the title says I want to know how you fanfic writers would've changed some story arcs or plot points in your fave stories how and what would you do with this power. I've heard of and read some exceptional fanfics of the few months that I discovered fanfiction (it's not exactly a common concept in my country so I recently I just recently discovered it) that I wish were canon so bad, but then again fanfic is just in hindsight which is 20/20 so maybe it might not be much better, who knows.
Let me know what you would do and what you'd change in the comments below, from here on I'll be rambling about the series I'll change and my thoughts on it, you can skip of you don't care to read on.
Now there's a lot of series that I'll change, but one that still annoys me to this day was and probably forever be the stakes arc from Adventure Time keeping it as true as canon as I can make it.(I am an AU slut that loves restructuring canon to something similar, but different enough)
This one especially pisses me off to no end and you might be thinking to yourself, why? it was a great arc. And you're right, the stakes arc was great and fun, but the thing that pisses me off was that nothing much had changed due to it for the star of the arc Queen Marceline. She was still a vampire after getting devamped and somehow all the vampires died and got stuffed back into her. I'm sorry what? I can't stand for this so I'll do a quick run of the plot beats of what I'd actually do for the arc, it might be better, the same or worse for some, but hey might be a fun read.
———————————————————————
Okay to start off with my soft rewrite I want to alter how the arc starts. To my knowledge I believe the arc starts with Marceline wanting to be mortal again and age normally which doesn't even make sense to me. PB somehow gets the tech from her old lab to help her with this and does so and the town people that Bonnie lives with somehow decided to burn Marceline on a cross with the sun after that they go and defeat the vampires, Bonnie gets her kingdom back and Marceline I think changes her mind on vampires, but nothing changes for her much in the arc.
Now to start Finn, Jake, Bonnie, Marceline, Simon and Gunther are fight an evil wizard of some sort or maybe Marjon the witch, might be fun seeing her again in a villainous role.
(Also if you're wondering why IK and Gunther are doing here, I decided that I'll add them more as mainish cast, cause I like them a lot okay. Also would like to note that Gunther would be in her bird form and the other penguins too. My thought process was that after the events of the Orgalorg/ 4th catalyst comet arc Simon would undo the spell he accidentally put on the Penguins. I think, I'm grasping on straws with this, especially since some parts of the plot contradict itself a bit about how the penguins in the ice kingdom came to be.)
While fighting her she blasts Marceline a powerful spell of an inscription array on her and while the others gets distracted Marjon makes her escape.
While Marcie is on the ground writhing in pain Simon confirms that Marjon has done something to the souls with her body tied to her vampirism. (yes I'm making Simon more knowledgeable about magic stuff due to his wizard eye, I think that IK would know how magic works with knowledge he's gathered over time and the eyes he developed.) The team would take Marcie back to Bonnie's shack where they'll head to her basement that they all helped her develop into another lab. Simon and Bonnie would work together to make a new machine to syphon the vampiric essence within her and purify it before stuffing it back in her.
After a few hours of working at sun down and night time quickly approaching they finished the machine and were ready to fire it up and run some tests. Bonnie would inform a waking up Marcie about the plan where she'll ask her to not put the vampire juice within her, that she'd like to live as demon spawn with the unaging and vampiric weakness that the power gave her, Bonnie would chuckle, peck her cheek and inform her that it's not possible to store anywhere or how but in a vessel.
Once the vampiric essence is extracted from Marcie who was screaming the entire time the black goo will begin to bubble and explode, destroying the machine and knocking everyone back, Marcie was fatally wounded, but healing slowly due to her demon blood.
From the explosion stood 5 vampires now infront of her which Gunther informs them were the souls that were in Marceline, but have now emerged from her and they went to battle with each other. The king vampire would be saying some not so evil vampire things about the adventurers but decides to fight them anyway.
Bonnie would use magic to get them all out if their, Jake would use his stretching powers to grab Marcie and move to the center of the room where Pep but would activate the sigil and teleport them outside of the shack and activate a barrier to the shack.
While they havesome time on their hands they begin weighing their options and formulating a plan for dispatching the evil vamps in the basement, when the house explodes and walking up from the blown basement and half destroyed house comes the vampires that used to reside in Marceline.
The vampires were talking all kinds of shit and the others not yet having a plan developed went to fight the evil vampires.
Finn and Jake would be fighting Fool, Gunther would fight King, Bonnie would fight the old school vampire, Pep but would fight Moon and Simon would fight the gem vampire lady (I can't remember the names of the 2 last vampires)
After a quick scuffle and nice team work the adventurers loose one after another, the vampires are just too much for them. First down was Finn and Jake, next was Bonnie, Peppermint butler followed soon after, Gunther as powerful as she could be couldn't beat King at her current state and last was Simon who while very powerful was running out of steam and while changing the landscape in his battle who was defeated with a combined effort of the other vampire's.
The vampires moves in to kill them, but were obstructed by King that informs that to survive in the world they needed a new way of life and can't just continue the way that they were and that Marceline was the key to that. The others attacked him, believing that he's betrayed the way of a vampire and has sided with the mortals, King quickly defeats and lets them flee for their safety after the failed attempt.
He gathers the adventurers around Marcie and heals them all together and waits for them to wake up, once they do they find themselves inside the still partially destroyed house and King in with them, after calming them down thanks to Pep but and Gunther he chats with Marcie where she tells him to survive amongst people in the new age was to eat the color red. King laughs informs her that that's not possible, Marcie would hand him a red ball from Finn's bag pack where he bites into and finding that he couldn't drink the color red and informs her that it was probably her vampiric powers that she unconsciously using to sustain herself. King informs her that he's just stick to animal blood from now on like people who feed on animals as well.
The rest I think part 3 or 4 at this point would be of King exploring life in this new world with his Finn and Marcie being accompanying him, where he was teaching Marcie demon magic that she could use to fight the vampires and experiencing life where he offered her to be a vampire again, where Marcie would take offense to that now that she was free from that curse. He would shrug and offer the same thing to Finn who would also reject it, where she'll begin to reconsider her stance seeing as King truly want to turn over a new leaf and wasn't forcing his curse onto others anymore or harming anyone despite being the strongest one here and has agreed to help put a stop to his former allies once and for all of they do anything to harm the people of this world.
Later on Marjon the witch comes to inform the other vampire's that she brought them to the world of the living again and demanded that they serve her ave help her conquer Ooo, they laugh at the delusional witch and the Fool is about to obliterate her. Marjon shows her trump card against them, that is she has fool control over their souls and cause them to submit to her. When she is informed of King's rebellion against the vampiric way Marjon uses her powers to cause him pain too and informs him to join her.
Back at the cabin in the woods with Finn and the rest Ice King moves to disrupt the link that Marjon has on King, but encasing him in ice so he couldn't follow them to stop his brethren. He makes ice brooches from Kings ice encasement and gives everyone to wear so he could still talk to them and give them information.
With his magic still on King he was able to trace the link of the source of the magic to Marjon and the gang travels to thwart her plans, while on their way there they come across many a evil vampire thralls and wizards, facing them and defeating their various vampiric powers and magic thabks to Simon and King. They'll head to the vampire castle that was now stationed at the candy kingdom and facing the vampires head on. (This part was actually influenced by Jojo, so yes another Jojo fan created another Jojo refremce). They all managed to beat them, reformed Fool and Moon who were more open to the idea of living as King would and don't want to destroy the world. The old school vampire and gem vampire lady however were staked and Marceline refused to devour their souls, instead deciding to fight with her own power from now on.
Bonnie kicks Marjon's butt and dethrones K.O.O and Marceline would move on from her past and stop viewing being a vampire as a curse and would let King turn her and move into the new Vampire kingdom a few weeks after the adventure, where she'll be made the first royal guard of the growing Vampire kingdom and made crowned princess or heir to the kingdom while Fool and Moon would be of nobility there.