#and he then predicted covid 19

[theculturedmarxist]

Eugenics is still the rule of the fucking day.

"People 65-plus and people who are immunocompromised should strongly consider masking during flu, RSV, COVID season while in indoor public spaces," said Dr. Céline Gounder, a CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News. "And for everyone else — it all depends on what their risk tolerance is."

"Depends on what their risk tolerance is." Are you fucking kidding me?

CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook says he likes to use the "weather report analogy" for the general public. "What's the weather out today? If it's raining, you will probably want to bring an umbrella. If you are in an area where there is an uptick in airborne respiratory infections like COVID, flu or RSV, you may want to take extra precautions, such as wearing a high-quality mask in indoor public spaces," he said.

People should be masking up before there's a fucking "uptick." That's how you prevent a fucking "uptick". Especially considering testing isn't the metric the people in power are going by any more, but hospitalizations, which are always going to be lagging indicators. By the time the "uptick" is registered these diseases are going to have been present and active for days or even weeks.

After COVID hospitalizations climbed nearly 22% this week, the CDC is predicting further increases over the coming month as new variants spread. This replaces previous projections from the agency that admissions would "remain stable or have an uncertain trend."

Oh, cool, so things are already bad and the are predicting that things are going to get worse, but the decision is being made to not do a fucking thing about it.

In a 2021 "60 Minutes" interview, virologist Paul Duprex explained the current (and future) emergence of new variants — a concept applicable to the current situation. "Is there anything we can do to stop the virus from mutating so much?" LaPook asked Duprex at the time. "We can certainly stop it making as many mutations by stopping it infecting as many people - if we block its transmission, if we wear a mask, if we get vaccinated, if we do social distancing," Duprex said.

None of which will be happening because "Covid Is Over" and doing any of the necessary things to prevent it are voluntary at best.

After news broke about the BA.2.86 variant earlier this month, the CDC said the agency's advice on protecting yourself from COVID-19 — which includes wearing a high-quality mask among other recommendations listed on its website — "remains the same."

Oh alright let's see what the CDC recommends

In addition to basic health and hygiene practices, like handwashing, CDC recommends some prevention actions at all COVID-19 hospital admission levels, which include:

Ugh. At least its recommendations implicitly admit that covid is airborne.

Still, some experts fear it could be hard to convince Americans to don masks again even if COVID cases continue to rise. Dr. Danielle Ompad, an epidemiologist at the NYU School of Global Public Health, said "It's a bit like putting the genie back in the bottle." Still, she has personally started wearing a mask again recently in crowded places, where the risk of exposure is greater.

Huh, I wonder why it would be hard to convince people to mask up again. Who's responsible for letting the genie out of the fucking bottle? Maybe they should be taken to task for this fucking decision?

"If I were with people who aren't public health-trained, I would wear a mask, particularly in crowded situations, because I really don't have time for COVID. Mask mandates are challenging because they make people really bent out of shape out of proportion to the ask."

What people are getting "really bent out of shape" by mask mandates? Just "people" huh? No specific people at all? Okay then.

"Who wants to get sick while on vacation?" she says. "If you're going to be in a crowded public place — the subway, an airplane, a crowded theater — those are the kind of places I would at least consider wearing a mask."

Hey maybe these fucking super-spreader places shouldn't be open especially with multiple variants spreading across the country with no mask mandates in place.

Though increased cases and hospitalizations are prompting precautions, Gounder says she doesn't see another lockdown in our future. "That ship has sailed. Has sailed for years now," she said. 

"That ship" just sailed itself, huh? Another development with no cause and no active participant? Just up and sailed on its own, did it? And there's no one to sail it back? Man, that's crazy.

#covid 19 #covid is airborne #pandemic

[trickricksblog08]

🚨HOLY… SHIT…🚨

Nathan Wolfe, Virologist, Metabiota founder, and Epstein associate, was a consultant for the film “Contagion” in 2011.

The film is about a new virus that starts at a wet market in China, then rapidly spreads worldwide killing millions…

Sound familiar?

This is the same guy who was hunting down animal viruses all over the world, was studying bat coronaviruses in Ukraine for 5 years PRIOR to the C19 outbreak, and was accused by the Russians of creating Covid-19 in Ukraine.

He helped make this movie… which was essentially fear porn to scare the American public about potential future pandemics.

If “Predictive Programming” is real… this is the proof.

#nothing can stop what is coming #no rest for the wicked #when you know you know #now we know #wwg1wga

[elitehanitje]

Astonishingly, a lot of people are freaking out that Christian hooked up with Shayna. I predicted this after what happened to them, so lemme tell everyone that Christian and Shayna don't care about one another. But they need to be together because revenge is soapy and delish. Shayna and Nick are the pawns for Christian, and we'll see what happens in the next stage.

Christian Cage craves a family. That is clear as day.

Especially after his divorce when he lost his family, moved out to an island, trained like crazy, changed his body, no longer retired, and was given another opportunity to start a new life in a new company.

But he needs a family that he can control.

Isla Reso was never interested in the wrestling world, and how dare she want to touch his TNT belt. Denise probably wouldn't want her daughter to follow in her father's footsteps, especially after he almost died and couldn't wrestle anymore.

Jack Perry was someone he couldn't control in the end, so he needed to get rid of him. As Luke Perry's son (the man Christian was in love with back then), Jack wanted more. Christian would not let him overshadow him - he already had a partner in the past who overshadowed him. So he tried to kill him.

He is keeping Luchasaurus because the lizard is super loyal, and Christian definitely controls him with substance abuse, or something like kinky sex - but he would definitely throw him away the second he shows a sign of betrayal and weakness. And it seems his loyalty wavered nowadays.

He dislikes Darby Allin because, in a way, Darby reminds him of himself. Darby is a reckless, vampire goth who is an adrenaline junkie. The reason Christian hates Darby is that the younger man can see right through him. Christian is an insecure veteran who has self-sabotaged every relationship and sabotaged every match to be on top, and Darby knows it.

It was when he saw Nick Wayne; Darby's protégé. At first, it was more of a revenge against Darby. Christian's plan was to steal Nick and turn him into a younger version of himself, as a form of revenge against Darby. Nick is fast, bright, smart, young, and easy to manipulate, which makes him the perfect candidate for Christian's scheme. However, when Nick got angry at Darby for abandoning him after being attacked by the Mogul Embassy, Christian saw an opportunity to draw him closer to himself.

Nick's patience was up to his neck when Darby for the second time abandoned him and even forgave AR Fox after almost killing him. To him, Darby betrayed him and his mother. Nick made a decision after All-In (when Lucha kidnapped him during the match between Christian/Swerve vs Sting/Darby) to join Christian.

In his eyes, Darby failed to become a superior figure, and Christian stepped up. Nick betrayed Darby and joined Christian, and for the first time in his life, he felt appreciated. Christian also found someone he could leave a legacy to. Nick is really the son he wanted.

When he flirted with Shayna, and she rejected Christian, it didn't bother him much. Sure, she's her type: BLONDE. Trish was blonde, Denise was blonde, Gangrel was blond, Jericho was blond, Adam was blond... But Shayna was too bland for his taste. He needed a raging fiery bitch to complete his family collection.

And speaking of a blond bitch... Adam Copeland suddenly appeared in AEW. Adam interrupted him when he was in the middle of murdering Sting and Darby. Adam, whom he didn't talk to for almost 3 years, basically after COVID-19 and the birth of the company. When Christian joined AEW, Adam was on top of the world in WWE and he was going to retire. I don't need to rehash my opinion about Adam coming to AEW, but I was so excited and scared at the same time.

Shayna hates Adam more than she likes Christian. The man almost murdered Nick. That's the reason why she joined his group and is by his side. The best place to be with her son is to be with his Father figure. If she has to...be Christian's waifu or something, blech, then so be it. Nothing more than that. So what she almost got murdered herself by Christian and Nick? It didn't matter. IT MADE SENSE from a PoV of a mother.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

(Personally, I don't see any chemistry between Shayna and Christian. I think because deep down inside she's a good woman or a bit bland. She's not a bitch like Trish who can go toe to toe with Christian. The way Christian smiles at her is more like a respectful smile, not really a lusty one or even love, and he is just happy to have the mother of his son around).

This storyline is good if you like slow-burn soap. Not everything has to be quick and then move on to the next plot. This is the equivalent of 22 episodes of drama, which I enjoy so much.

#Christian Cage #Adam Copeland #Nick Wayne #Shayna Wayne #Luchasaurus #KillSwitch #AEW #All Elite Wrestling #AEW Dynamite #AEW Rampage #AEW Collision #The Patriachy

[notwiselybuttoowell]

In Europe, Pringles has 34 active flavours in seven can sizes (one of which is called “David” for reasons no one can explain). Not all of these flavours are available in every European country – prawn cocktail only really sells in the UK and Ireland, while bacon is found in most places except Belgium, the Netherlands and strongholds of vegetarianism Austria, Denmark and Sweden. Salt and vinegar has spread everywhere except Norway and Italy. “They don’t have the habit of doing vinegar on their crisps; they just eat them plain with salt,” says Julie Merzougui, lead food designer at Kellanova. If an employee in Italy wanted to explore bringing salt and vinegar to the market, they could – they’d simply have to ask. As of yet, they haven’t.

Multiple times a year, Pringles releases limited-edition flavours known internally as “insanely accurate analogues” – Merzougui and Peremans come up with these for Europe. “People think we have the dream job,” Merzougui says (she has dark hair, round glasses and an easy laugh, a personality akin to an experimental flavour – perhaps a chorizo Pringle). Peremans, who has worked at the company for 26 years, has a salt and pepper beard and a Salt & Shake personality. He speaks quietly and pragmatically, but has a subtle playful streak: “My young son, he wants to become my successor.”

Like Lay’s, Pringles starts with data – in Asia, the company uses a Tinder-like tool with 200 consumers at a time, asking them to swipe left or right on potential flavours. Lucia Sudjalim, a senior Pringles developer in Asia, says she does a lot of “social media listening”, observing trends among influencers and bloggers. Kellanova also uses AI, which Merzougui says can predict trends up to 10 years in advance. Things aren’t always this sophisticated though – both Lay’s and Pringles also look at what’s on the shelves in countries they want to break into, copying flavours and identifying gaps to fill.

Yet just because the world wants a flavour doesn’t mean it’s made. In December 2020, scotch egg sales soared in the UK after Conservative ministers ruled the snack a “substantial meal” (providing punters with an excuse to be in the pub under Covid-19 lockdown rules). Peremans was challenged to make scotch egg Pringles and pulled it off; Merzougui says they tasted “really authentic”. Ultimately, however, the potential order volume was not high enough to justify a production run. (This, incidentally, is why it’s hard to get Salt & Pepper Pringles in the UK, even though they’re delicious.)

Another unreleased flavour was part of a collaboration with Nando’s that petered out for reasons Peremans is unsure about. Sometimes, logistics get in the way: the perfectly blended seasoning might clog the machines or create too much dust, causing sneezing fits in the factory. Belgian legislation mandates that every seasoning has to be put through a dust explosion test – it is set alight in controlled conditions to ensure it won’t blow up.

Inside the plant, manager Van Batenburg shows me giant cube-shaped bags of seasonings that arrive ready to be cascaded on to the crisps. At the end of his video presentation, he made a passing comment that rocked my world. We were talking about other crisp companies, big name competitors. “In essence,” he said, “they’re using the same seasoning houses we do.”

I leave Belgium with the names of three seasoning houses Pringles work with. At home, I discover that their websites are obscure – they speak of flavours and trends, but don’t even mention Pringles. I haven’t so much stumbled upon a conspiracy as been invited into it, but I am still shocked. After two months’ cajoling by the Pringles team, two representatives from a seasoning house agree to speak – but only on the condition of total anonymity, in line with their contractual obligations.

“It’s quite secretive,” food scientist Reuben admits via Zoom, wearing a pink shirt and a thoughtful expression (the only crisp I can compare him to is a Quaver). “Everyone has their own crown jewels that they protect.”

As a marketer, Peggy has always found the company’s secrecy “strange”. She speaks clearly, in a way that is reminiscent of a teacher or a steadfast multigrain snack. “It’s always been a bit of a puzzle to me … I was like, ‘Why aren’t we shouting about this?’ But I was told, ‘Oh, no, we have to keep it very quiet.’”

This is because – just as Van Batenburg hinted in Belgium – the seasoning house Reuben and Peggy work for provides flavours for Pringles and Lay’s, as well as other brands. When asked whether their clients know, Reuben says, “They do and they don’t.” “It’s just not really talked about,” Peggy adds. However, this doesn’t mean that a Salt & Vinegar Pringle is flavoured with the same seasoning as a Salt & Vinegar Lay’s. In fact, the seasoning house is strictly siloed to guarantee exclusivity. Reuben’s team work on the Pringles account; the team making flavours for PepsiCo is in an entirely different country. “So the recipe, if you will, of the Pringles salt and vinegar can’t be seen by the other team,” Reuben says.

#excerpts #food science

[atlanticcanada]

Canadian families will pay $1,065 more for groceries in 2023, report says

Canadians won't escape food inflation any time soon.

Food prices in Canada will continue to escalate in the new year, with grocery costs forecast to rise up to seven per cent in 2023, new research predicts.

For a family of four, the total annual grocery bill is expected to be $16,288 -- $1,065 more than it was this year, the 13th edition of Canada's Food Price Report released Monday said.

A single woman in her 40s -- the average age in Canada -- will pay about $3,740 for groceries next year while a single man the same age would pay $4,168, according to the report and Statistics Canada.

Food inflation is set to remain stubbornly high in the first half of 2023 before it starts to ease, said Sylvain Charlebois, lead author of the report and Dalhousie University professor of food distribution and policy.

"When you look at the current food inflation cycle we're in right now, we're probably in the seventh-inning stretch," he said in an interview. "The first part of 2023 will remain challenging ... but we're starting to see the end of this."

Multiple factors could influence food prices next year, including climate change, geopolitical conflicts, rising energy costs and the lingering effects of COVID-19, the report said.

Currency fluctuations could also play a role in food prices. A weaker Canadian dollar could make importing goods like lettuce more expensive, for example.

Earlier this year the loonie was worth more than 80 cents US, but it then dropped to a low of 72.17 cents US in October amid a strengthening U.S. dollar. It has hovered near the 74 cent mark in recent weeks, ending Friday at 74.25 cents US.

"The produce section is going to be the wild card," Charlebois said. "Currency is one of the key things that could throw things off early in the winter and that's why produce is the highest category."

Vegetables could see the biggest price spikes, with estimates pegging cost increases will rise as high as eight per cent, the report said.

In addition to currency risks, much of the produce sold in Canada comes from the United States, which has been struggling with extremely dry conditions.

"The western U.S., particularly California, has seen strong El Nino weather patterns and droughts and bacterial contaminations, and that's impacted our fruit and vegetable suppliers and prices," said Simon Somogyi, campus lead at the University of Guelph and professor at the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics.

"The drought is making the production of lettuce more expensive," he said. "It's reducing the crop size but it's also causing bacterial contamination, which is lessening the supply in the marketplace."

Prices in other key food categories like meat, dairy and bakery are predicted to soar up to seven per cent, the researchers found.

The Canadian Dairy Commission has approved a farm gate milk price increase of about 2.2 per cent, or just under two cents per litre, for Feb. 1, 2023.

"The increase for February is reasonable but it comes after the unprecedented increases in 2022, which are continuing to work their way through the supply chain," Charlebois said of the two price hikes of nearly 11 per cent combined in 2022.

Meanwhile, seafood is expected to increase up to six per cent, while fruit could increase up to five per cent, the report said.

Restaurant costs are expected to increase four to six per cent, less than supermarket prices, the report said.

Rising prices will push food security and affordability even further out of reach of Canadians a year after food bank use reached a record high, the report said.

The increasing reliance on food banks is expected to continue, with 20 per cent of Canadians reporting they will likely turn to community organizations in 2023 for help feeding their families, a survey included in the report found.

Use of weekly flyers, coupons, bulk buying and food rescuing apps also ticked up this year and is expected to continue growing in 2023, the report said.

"We're in the era now of the smart shopper," said Somogyi, also the Arrell Chair in the Business of Food.

"For certain generations, it's the first time that they've had to make a list, not impulse buy, read the weekly flyers, use coupons, buy in volume and freeze what they don't use."

Last year's report predicted food prices would increase five to seven per cent in 2022 -- the biggest jump ever predicted by the annual food price report.

Food costs actually far exceeded that forecast. Grocery prices were up 11 per cent in October compared with a year before while overall food costs were up 10.1 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.

"We were called alarmists," Charlebois said of the prediction that food prices could rise seven per cent in 2022. Critics called the report an "exaggeration," he said.

"You're always one crisis away from throwing everything out the window," Charlebois said. "We didn't predict the war in Ukraine, and that really affected markets."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2022.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/276zLTk

#new brunswick #prince edward island #nova scotia #news #politics #canada #CTVAtlantic

[tomorrowusa]

Donald Trump has never had a high regard for the health or even the lives of his supporters. We recall how he told them to take quack medicines during the pandemic emergency and retweeted anti-mask conspiracy freaks after he horrifically mismanaged the early response to COVID-19 in the US.

To Trump, nothing counts except Trump. His supporters are just disposable pawns in his political, legal, and business struggles.

He demonstrated this again by telling Iowa caucus goers that it's okay if they die — as long as they caucus for him first.

Donald Trump urged voters to get out to the Iowa caucuses even if they are “sick as a dog” in a defiant rally on the eve of his first major election test. The former president said that even if people “passed away” shortly after voting it would be “worth it”, and once again launched attacks on the New York judge who had denied him a delay in his civil trial so that he could attend his mother-in-law’s funeral. His remarks came during an in-person rally in Indianola on Sunday afternoon. Mr Trump was previously forced to swap out other planned events in Iowa with tele-rallies due to severe bad weather conditions in the state. “You can’t stay at home,” he told those gathered. “[Even} if you’re sick as a dog and you say ‘darling I can’t make it…’ “Even if you vote and then pass away it’s worth it.”

It wouldn't be surprising if somebody DID die because they were sick and were told by Trump to caucus for him in sub-zero weather. In Des Moines, not the coldest city in the state, the temperature at 7 PM CST is predicted by the NWS to be -7°F/-22°C. It may be even colder when people are returning home from caucus locations. If you're not in good health, you shouldn't be outside in such conditions.

Despite being a lying gluttonous adulterer who hasn't been to church in decades except for weddings, funerals, and political events, Trump is treated as a god by many nominal Christian fundamentalists. Trump is their Baal.

The only way to counter such irrational fanatics is to outorganize and outvote them. Despite their willingness to die for Trump, they are still a minority. If we remain focused, determined, and (most of all) united, we will fend off the threat to democracy in 2024.

#iowa #iowa caucuses #donald trump #baal #gop presidential nomination #republicans #no empathy trump #sick as a dog for trump #it's okay if you die voting for trunp #trump zombies #fundamentalist christians #threat to democracy #trump's botched response to the covid-19 outbreak #pandemic emergency #trump's quack covid cures #disregard for human life by trump #election 2024

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Moderna will keep its COVID vaccine on the market at no cost to consumers, even after the federal government stops paying for it, the company announced Wednesday.

"Everyone in the United States will have access to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine regardless of their ability to pay," the company said in a statement.

Last month, the vaccine maker was slammed for reportedly considering a dramatic price increase for the shot, which it had developed with the help of the federal government.

The proposal was also bad timing: The Biden administration was moving toward ending its designation of a public health emergency on May 11, which meant that federal funding for vaccines would soon dry up and uninsured Americans would have to pay out of pocket for their boosters.

Among the critics of Moderna's reported consideration of a price increase -- from about $26 a shot to as much as $130 -- was Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has long advocated for government-funded health care and alleged the move would result in deaths.

"How many of these Americans will die from COVID 19 as a result of limited access to these lifesaving vaccines?" Sanders, I-Vt., wrote in a January letter to Moderna.

"While nobody can predict the exact figure, the number could well be in the thousands. In the midst of a deadly pandemic, restricting access to this much needed vaccine is unconscionable," he added.

Now, Moderna will be the sole manufacturer of COVID vaccines offering its shot for free to the uninsured. Under federal regulation, insurance companies are already required to foot the bill for COVID vaccines.

"Moderna remains committed to ensuring that people in the United States will have access to our COVID-19 vaccines regardless of ability to pay," the company wrote in its statement.

"Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines will continue to be available at no cost for insured people whether they receive them at their doctors' offices or local pharmacies. For uninsured or underinsured people, Moderna's patient assistance program will provide COVID-19 vaccines at no cost" after the public health emergency expires.

To date, the federal government paid for all COVID vaccines for Americans, whether they were insured or not using emergency money passed by Congress. But President Joe Biden says he plans to let the nationwide public health emergency expire May 11.

Once that happens, federal support ends for many of the programs put in place to help uninsured Americans, including expanded Medicaid, testing and treatments.

Last month, the World Health Organization said COVID-19 remains a public health emergency worldwide, but that the pandemic was at a "transition point."

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the "global response remains hobbled because in too many countries, these powerful, life-saving tools are still not getting to the populations that need them most – especially older people and health workers."

#us politics #news #abc news #2023 #moderna #covidー19 #coronavirus #coronavirus pandemic #covid vaccine #coronavirus vaccine #get the vaccine #get the shot #sen. bernie sanders #us healthcare #us health insurance #us health system #biden administration #World Health Organization #Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

[gatheringbones]

[“Having been out of the baby-catching game for some decades, I was caught off guard by a phrase Stanger-Ross used when we spoke: “obstetrical trauma.”

“That has become a term,” she said. “Unfortunately, a lot of women feel that their birthing experience was one of trauma, which, of course, is going to have impacts on the parent-child relationship. If the birth was traumatizing, then how does that translate when now you have a newborn in your arms?”

Right on cue, I was given a textbook illustration of this alarming trend via a conversation I had the day I finished this chapter. I was being interviewed over video conference by a New York journalist reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic, which at the time was engulfing her city.

At one point, Courtney, as I’ll call her, proudly showed off her three-month-old cherub. When she learned what I was working on, she poured out the awful story of her recent experience at Mount Sinai Hospital at the hands of one of New York’s most prominent and well-regarded obstetricians. It is as clear a tale of normalized obstetrical trauma as can be imagined.

Thirty-seven years old and healthy, Courtney was expecting an uneventful delivery. At thirty weeks the physician phoned her to announce, as if by decree, that, given her age, labor would be induced at thirty-nine weeks. This, the doctor said, was “the office protocol here” for anyone older than thirty-five. “She had known my age from the beginning, since I walked into her office last May,” Courtney said. “I was so shocked that I hung up the phone—I barely said a word. I had to have half a glass of wine. I was so upset, I didn’t sleep all that night.”

It went downhill from there. Courtney recalled with pain “the sudden disappearance of flexibility and the imposition of a tyrannical dictate. It was not the kind of care I expected. I’m not used to being bullied by doctors or talked down to. The tone became so toxic . . . and then she also kept saying, ‘The baby is huuuge. He’s going to be huuuge.’ I said to her, ‘Wait, I heard that growth scans are notoriously bad at predicting weight.’ She responded, ‘Not at Sinai. He’s going to be nine pounds at least.’” (The baby’s actual birth weight: less than eight pounds.)

Courtney considered looking for a new physician, but this late in pregnancy and still in awe of the specialist’s credentials, she stayed put. “By week thirty-eight, she was saying, every week, ‘This is really not looking good for vaginal, it’s really not. I don’t know what to tell you.’ I just kept saying, ‘I really don’t want a C-section.’ And this was our dynamic week after week. I was in a terrible state of mind for the last three or four weeks of the pregnancy: sobbing, nervous breakdown . . . At the appointed time, we show up at Mount Sinai, and it’s a horrible scene. We’re in this waiting room for three hours, a million different things going on, and I kept saying to my partner, ‘Why the fuck am I here? We are totally within our rights to go back to Brooklyn and go into labor naturally.’”

Feeling disempowered, having her intuition invalidated at this most vulnerable time of her life, being intimidated by a highly extolled medical specialist, and having been raised in a culture where “expert” authority trumps one’s own, Courtney lacked the wherewithal to assert herself. She finally acceded to the induction and, after fifteen hours of fruitless labor, the inevitable surgery. “I was so weak. I’d been throwing up. Everything about this was like the biggest nightmare. I said, ‘Fuck it—let’s just do the C-section. Like, what choice do I have at this point?’ So we roll into the OR, and I’m throwing up on the table, and I’m a basket case, sobbing. Scared out of my mind, shaking. They start the surgery; it takes forever. She then says to me, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize your abdominal muscles were this strong.’ They were, because I’ve done Pilates for twenty years. I’m thinking, ‘Why didn’t you realize it? You’ve been examining me regularly for nine months and anticipating this surgery for weeks.’ And the following morning she said to me—can you even make this up?—‘I’m going to call the Mount Sinai scanning department and complain about how inaccurate your growth scans were!’ All that week in the hospital I would just lie awake at night, sobbing at how violated I was.”

I asked Courtney whether she had thought of working with a midwife. “I’m not that left-wing,” she said. “I’m not that far-out. I completely bought into the system.”]

gabor maté, from the myth of normal: trauma, illness, and healing in a toxic culture, 2022

#gabor maté #brainspace #cw abuse #currently reading

[veggiefritters]

Ray Bradbury, an opinion by me.

There is little that I like about Ray Bradbury's work (I have only read two by the way, my opinion is based on those (All Summer In A Day and The Pedestrian)). I personally think that yes, his writing is well-constructed and a good example of how to use figurative language and metaphors, but beyond that the ideas he writes about feel too outlandish for me to really appreciate his work for what it is.

In no world are humans ever going to become as addicted to their televisions as he suggests in The Pedestrian. Humans always have and always will experience the urge to not only rebel against authority, but but also return to nature and creativity.

Perhaps Ray Bradbury intends to make his audience upset with these writings. Perhaps their purpose is to deter humans from letting this become our future. If that is what he intends, then I respect him for it.

However, from the two that I've read, it doesn't come across as that. Maybe this is because both stories were published in 1950, but regardless, if these are not satirical, it seems foolish to think that humans would really become that attached to being inside and listening to authority (as seen in The Pedestrian) or allow themselves to be in a place where they can only go outside for one hour every seven years (All Summer In A Day).

This has been shown very well in the past few years. Covid 19, with people being stuck in their houses - and not even permanently, allowed out for short periods of exercise on the daily for some parts of the lockdowns - caused so many mental health issues and suicides related to the pandemic.

Looking at how governments all over the world are reacting to what has been happening in Gaza, for example, or the USA's anti-abortion laws, and laws that are so harmful to the LGBTQ+ community (specifically transgender people), a lot less people are willing to trust the government than Ray Bradbury seems to have predicted in The Pedestrian.

Not only this, but governments all over the world are putting restrictions on the media that the people of their countries are allowed to engage with. The plot point of people being encouraged to watch their televisions so much is no longer realistic.

Ray Bradbury's work is impressive in that it uses good narrative techniques. Part of the horror in dystopian fiction comes from the chance that it could actually happen at some point in the future. The world has changed considerably in the past 70 years. Much of it is for the better, and a lot of it is for the worse. The changes we as a society have faced have made it incredibly unlikely for something similar to the two books, The Pedestrian and All Summer In A Day, to play out in real life. This removes much of the horror from those books, thus making them far less interesting to read now than they would have been even 40 years ago.

Oh my lord I am so sorry about this. I got really bored trying to answer questions about All Summer In A Day for English. Don't come at me, pretty please.

#ray bradbury #rant #rant post #oh what the fuck #480 words of suppressed anger #i am so #so sorry

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New SpaceTime out Monday

SpaceTime 20240122 Series 27 Episode 10

Lessons from the dark energy survey

Astronomers taking part in the recent release of data from the Dark Energy survey say the findings closely follow existing predictions of the properties of dark energy but still can’t answer if it’s changing over time.

Titan’s “magic islands” finally explained

A new study claims ethane, methane and other organic compounds can accumulate as chunks on the ground on Saturn’s moon Titan, and may even calve like glaciers at the edges of the moon’s methane lakes, forming ephemeral, floating “magic islands.”

Peregrine lunar lander burns up above Australia and the South Pacific

Mission managers have confirmed that the troubled Peregrine lunar lander has made a fiery return to Earth on Thursday burning up over eastern Australia and the south Pacific Ocean during atmospheric re-entry.

The Science Report

A new study shows that Greenland's ice sheet has been shrinking at an ever accelerating rate.

Chinese scientists say they’re experimenting with a new mutant COVID-19 strain that’s 100% lethal

Scientists have successfully cloned a healthy rhesus monkey which has survived for more than two years.

Skeptics guide to Narcissists and conspiracy theories

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

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SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States.  The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science.  SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research.  The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network.  Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor.  Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. Later, Gary became part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and was one of its first presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.  The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually.  However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage.  Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently.  StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016.  Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #nasa #esa #astrophysics #spacetimewithstuartgary #starstuff #spacetime

[vomitdodger]

There are very few issues I have with Trump, eg some exceptionally bad choices in key personnel, but I’m willing to accept the swamp did it’s thing to trick him (basically). And he still was the among the best presidents ever (difficult to exactly compare to the achievements of Washington and Lincoln) but THIS IS HUGE. His continued support of the vaccine will likely be his undoing with his base and a target for his distractors. I can’t believe that Trump, his aides and influencers/advisors don’t see this. He needs to just come out and say, “we did what we thought we had to do in the face of unprecedented events, in hindsight I was given exceptionally bad information and lied to by the media and others (Birx and Fauci specifically), and there’s now clear undeniable evidence of a risk to the vaccines that don’t appear to necessarily be safe or efficacious”. That’s all he needs to say. The narrative went from “don’t get trumps vaccine” to “get the vaccine or we will cancel your life and you’ll kill grandma” and it’s gonna swing back to “trumps vaccine is killing people”. It’s so predictable it’s laughable.

[justinssportscorner]

Laura Clawson at Daily Kos:

Taylor Swift left Arrowhead Stadium with Kansas City NFL star Travis Kelce after cheering him on in his Sunday game while seated next to his mother. And yes, there’s a political angle here, thanks to the likes of right-wing personality Charlie Kirk—and thanks to Kelce’s own decisions. At age 33, he’s presumably contemplating what his life after the NFL will look like. Swift’s attendance at the game followed rumors that she and Kelce were dating, as well as him publicly reiterating an invitation to her to come to a game. All this focused attention on Kelce and his recent endorsement decisions, which are legitimately interesting. In the wake of the right-wing boycott of Bud Light for its promotion with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, Kelce appeared in an ad for Bud Light. Last week, he appeared in a Pfizer commercial for COVID-19 and flu vaccination. “With my schedule, saving time is key,” Kelce wrote on Instagram, alongside the video. “The CDC says you can get this season’s updated COVID-19 shot when you get your flu shot if you’re due for both. That’s why I got two shots in one stop! Ask your doctor or pharmacist if it would be right for you. You can also visit CDC’s vaccines.gov to learn more and schedule an appointment.”

This is not a guy looking to steer clear of controversy—he’s making money while telling us something about his values. He surely had other, equally lucrative endorsement offers. Kelce had taken some incoming fire over the Bud Light endorsement, including predictable labels like “woke.” But having Swift show up cheering for him renewed the attention on those decisions in predictably gross ways. [...] But here’s the thing: Swift and Kelce are huge stars—one a wee bit bigger than the other—in their respective fields, and they’ve made the decisions they’ve made, including Kelce’s endorsements and Swift pushing voter registration and making sure her “Eras” tour movie was made under an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA, all with an understanding of the likely political fallout. The rage that we see at a big macho white guy daring to not stay in line with the right-wing culture wars is telling, as is the specific attack on his masculinity. But Kelce clearly decided that he was fine with that when he made his endorsement decisions. Basically, this is yet another thing Republicans are welcome to die mad about.

Right-wing perpetual fit-throwers are up in arms about Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce for a multitude of reasons: his alleged romance with Taylor Swift and sponsoring Bud Light and Pfizer.

#NFL #Kansas City Chiefs #Travis Kelce #Taylor Swift #Clay Travis #Charlie Kirk #Pfizer #Bud Light #Coronavirus Vaccines #Coronavirus #Dylan Mulvaney

[tsunflowers]

[zvaigzdelasas]

The left-wing government of President Luis Arce decided to push the census date back after local authorities raised concerns about COVID-19, the challenge of incorporating Bolivia’s Indigenous languages, and the fact that many rural workers travel in November for the sugarcane harvest. But the Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee, the powerful right-wing group leading the strike, believes the delay is politically motivated. Its members predict the census will show population growth in cities like Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s most populous city and a major agricultural hub.

Voters in Santa Cruz are more likely to oppose the current government. In the 2020 general elections, the ruling party, Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), obtained 55 percent nationally but just 36 percent in Santa Cruz.

Meanwhile, Creemos, a Christian conservative coalition led by former Civic Committee president Luis Fernando Camacho, obtained 45 percent of the vote there. [...]

The strike has become violent in some areas, as demonstrators block roads and clash with the police and opposing groups that are trying to clear the routes. For many in Bolivia, the dispute carries echoes of the conflict that forced long-running left-wing president Evo Morales out of power amid controversial fraud allegations in 2019.

Minister of the Presidency Maria Nela Prada said on November 10 that four people had been killed in the strike, which started on October 22. A rural workers’ union building was set ablaze on November 11, and the government ombudsman’s office says it has registered 42 cases of human rights violations, including murder, sexual assault and attacks against journalists. [...] Ana Paola Garcia Villagomez, director of the Casa de la Mujer women’s refuge in Santa Cruz, told Al Jazeera that nearby protesters were attempting to prevent survivors of domestic violence from passing the roadblocks and were harassing the shelter’s workers for not adhering to the strike. [...]

When Casa de la Mujer staff cut a rope that barred the last open route to the women’s shelter, a large group of men came and screamed at them, threatening to occupy the building, Garcia Villagomez said.

Since then, protesters outside have been setting off firecrackers and rockets every 15 minutes to disrupt the shelter’s activities. “It’s a display of the far right that exists in Bolivia, together with a point of view that is fascist even,” she said.[...] Strike organisers have been holding “supply days” periodically, allowing movement through the blockades to enable locals to stock up on food, gasoline and other basic goods. But many of the city’s poorest residents, who rely on daily work for their income, are struggling to survive, Garcia Villagomez said. Nunez Saenz said he feels the strike is justified despite its impact on the poor and most vulnerable. He worries that, elsewhere in the region, “zurdos” – loosely translated as “Commies” or “leftists” – are “destroying” countries like Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Citizens there “don’t have work or good food”, he said.

18 Nov 22

#have any anarchos gone 'wow cool flaming buildings' yet

[almost-a-class-act]

I got COVID. Predictably, I handled it about as well as Joe Liebgott is about to in this ficlet I wrote.

Webgott || Modern AU || 1,512 words

--

“I brought soup,” David announces as he nudges the door open with his elbow, edging his way into the kitchen with his hands full. There is no response, but since Joe has spent the last few days in a terrible mood when he’s not sleeping, David wasn’t really expecting one. He sets down his bounty from the café and the pharmacy on the counter next to the window and shrugs out of his jacket. When he turns around from hanging it up, he discovers that Joe is standing in the kitchen doorway, arms folded and shoulders hunched in a threadbare oversized homemade sweater that he has pulled on over the Giants t-shirt and sweatpants he wears as pajamas. His hair, unwashed, is standing straight up at the back, and he’s glowering at David through watery eyes that are underlined by dark circles.

“You should stop testing until you feel better,” David tells him.

Joe’s frown deepens, and he unfolds his arms to brandish a rapid test with two very red, very angry lines. “What is this, the sickness that never fuckin’ ends?”

Since it’s only been four days is something that David knows far better than to utter in the face of Joe’s unbridled rage over his own body’s audacity to not recover from COVID-19 in a timely fashion, what he says instead is, “If it doesn’t, I brought snacks.”

“Good for you.” Joe tosses the used-up test into the kitchen trash bin. “I’m going back to bed.”

David rolls his eyes up toward the heavens very momentarily, but as he watches him go, he reminds himself of last night, leaning in the bedroom doorway and watching Joe toss and turn, shivering from a fever that made him soak through his shirt three times before morning.

Joe is not the ideal patient, maybe. But they’ve made it this far at least partly because David understands what things to take - or not take - personally.

“Hey,” he says, following Joe into the hallway, where the latter is shuffling along like some green-sweatered ghost of his usual self. “Eat the soup while it’s hot. I was going to change the sheets anyway.”

Joe turns to eye him, sniffing and wiping at his nose with the sleeve of his sweater, one of the less charming aspects of his run-in with COVID. “Oh, he does know that the sheets don’t get changed by magic.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re even funnier when you’re sick?” David asks, which earns him a snort instead of a glare, at least.

“Yeah, yeah. Fine. I’ll eat the fuckin’ soup.” Joe shuffles past him back toward the kitchen. “It better be chicken noodle,” he adds, over his shoulder.

David doesn’t deign to respond to that – he’s known Joe for four years, of course it’s chicken noodle – but he does hurry off to the bedroom because he definitely needs to figure out how to change the sheets before Joe makes it back in here to watch him and mock.

By the time he returns to the kitchen, Joe has nearly finished his soup, and he pauses with his spoon halfway to his mouth and eyes David beadily. “You figure it out?”

“It’s not rocket science,” David says primly, because he will never admit that putting the clean duvet cover on nearly bested him.

Joe smirks like he knows, shaking his head slightly as he returns to finishing his soup.

“I got you some clean pajamas out,” David says, pretending like he hasn’t seen. “And I think you’d feel better if you had a shower.”

Joe, for once, seems to let himself see the sense in what David is saying rather than arguing. “Fine. But I’m not washing my hair.”

“Then I’ll run you a bath,” David says. “And I’ll wash it for you.”

Joe taps the side of the bowl with his spoon. “I don’t need a nurse, Web.”

“Maye one day a year, you let me wash your hair,” David says patiently. “We’ll see if whole city slides into the bay. I bet it doesn’t.”

Joe rolls his eyes, but doesn’t push it further. Even he can sometimes work out when it’s no use.

David takes himself into the bathroom to start running the water and fetches a fresh towel down from the high shelf over the toilet. He turns around just in time to see Joe step onto the bathroom tile and flinch very slightly.

“Floor’s cold,” he mutters. Something about it pulls hard at David’s heart in a way he hadn’t been expecting, this small vulnerability. He reaches out and tugs gently at the hem of Joe’s sweater. “Up,” he murmurs, and Joe raises his arms without argument so that David can wrestle his sweater off over his head. He gets the t-shirt, too, before Joe can decide that this is too much being taken care of for his liking, and the sweatpants are a team effort, Joe bracing himself on David’s shoulder so that he doesn’t lose his balance.

David reaches out to turn the water off, testing the temperature by dipping his hand in. It’s maybe just this side of too hot, but Joe is trembling slightly and David doesn’t think he’ll mind. He reaches out and lets Joe use his hand for balance as he gets in, his grip tighter than David was expecting as he lowers himself into the water. Easing back, he rests his head against the back of the tub and closes his eyes. He’s in water up to his collarbones with only his knees otherwise visible. David sits down too, on the floor next to the tub, his back against the wall.   

“Remind me why I never take baths again?” Joe murmurs, eyes still closed.

David hums. “Because it’s a waste of water and you don’t like marinating in your own filth?”

“I used that word?” Joe asks. “Marinating?”

“I’m not sure,” David admits. “Sometimes when you start on one of your rants, I don’t hang on every word.”

Joe cracks one eye open. “I’m a fucking sparkling conversationalist and you’re lucky to have me.”

“I know,” David says, in a tone of voice that might be sincere. “You’re also full of shit. Probably… sixty, seventy percent of the time.”

“The fuckin’ irony of you saying that to me,” Joe mutters, without any heat. After a moment, he lifts his hand out of the water and lays it, palm up, on the side of the tub. David reaches out and folds it up in his own. After a beat, Joe adds: “Thanks for the soup. Sorry for being a dick.”

“Are you telling me being sick doesn’t bring out your best side?” David asks.

“Shut up.” Joe clears his throat, the one symptom that’s been consistent over the last four days, and when he speaks, it makes his voice thread in and out. “I thought you were gonna wash my hair.”

“Well, get it wet, then,” David replies, and because Joe sounding like that gets to him, too, he doesn’t let go of his hand as Joe slides under the water for a moment, his hair spreading like an oil slick on the surface.

David climbs onto his knees and reaches across the tub for the shampoo with his free hand. When Joe surfaces, he maneuvers himself a little more upright, and David gently pushes Joe’s hair out of his eyes before he lets go of his hand so that he can squeeze shampoo into his own palm. He begins to lather it into Joe’s hair, massaging it into the roots at his temples, gaze intent. Joe doesn’t open his eyes, and for once he is silent, arms folded around his bent knees.

The funny thing is that Joe has washed David’s hair probably dozens of times. He doesn’t let David pay a hundred bucks for a haircut anymore, and Joe’s haircuts come with a wash. But it is unusual for him to let David return the favour.

“Tip your head back,” David murmurs, and when Joe obliges, David runs his fingers through his hair, rinsing the shampoo out into the water. When he finishes, Joe eases himself up just enough that he can rest his head on the back of the tub, the rest of him still submerged. He still looks tired, David notes, but maybe some of his frustration has eased a little. That little frown between his eyes is gone, at any rate.

“What are you looking at?” Joe asks, with his eyes still closed.

“I just thought – you might want to get out before it gets cold,” David lies, because he wants Joe to let him do this again sometime, and that means expressing minimal sentimentality.

“I’ll get out as soon as you go back into the bedroom and put the duvet cover on the right side out,” Joe says.

Of course, David thinks, trust Joe not to let a moment last. “It’s not too late for me to drown you,” he warns.

Joe looks like he might almost have tricked himself into a good mood.

#webgott #band of brothers #fanfiction #roaroftheninth