#covid-19 is doing our dirty work

[theculturedmarxist]

Although many Canadians act as though the pandemic has ended, the airborne virus that causes COVID-19 continues to evolve at an amazing pace with devastating consequences for both individuals and the public at large.

The pandemic may no longer be a major conflagration but it still kills about 140 Canadians a week while morphing into a steady viral blaze sustained by dirty air, waning immunity and overt political indifference.

What was once a giant wave of acute illness has become a series of often unpredictable wavelets driven by ever-changing variants that can cause chronic illness. Long COVID, a disabling health event that can affect multiple organs and destabilize the immune system, now affects millions and continues to claim new victims.

A 2023 Danish study recently confirmed that about 50 per cent of those diagnosed with long COVID fail to improve 18 months after infection regardless of the variant.

Long COVID has taken a huge toll among health-care workers. Anywhere from six to 10 per cent of Quebec’s health-care workforce, for example, has been derailed by long COVID.

Seventy-one per cent of health-care workers impaired by long COVID reported that their state of health now interferes with their ability to function. Another 16 per cent said that they are often unable to work. Multiply this data across the country and then ask: How sustainable is this trend?

The cost of living in a ‘viral soup’

While the media focus concern on the potential next big nasty viral wave, evolutionary biologist T. Ryan Gregory says that threat seems less likely than before, but the current reality is nothing like normal.

“We are not dealing with Omicron-like waves but a viral soup,” Gregory told The Tyee. “We are seeing a near-constant high level of hospitalizations that falls just below overwhelming them but is nonetheless unsustainable. More health-care workers are getting sick and that just adds to the strain on the whole system.”

What worries Gregory, an expert on the evolution of COVID variants at the University of Guelph, “are the long-term effects of multiple infections and the sustained pressure on the health-care system and well-being.”

Yet the current impact of COVID — measurably higher than at some previous points during the pandemic — remains largely ignored or poorly reported.

Tara Moriarty, a University of Toronto infectious disease expert and co-founder of COVID 19 Resources Canada, recently tallied the imperfect data, and it is bracing. She calculates that about one in every 23 Canadians is now infected with COVID. We are not at the low point of the pandemic in Canada. To the contrary, compared with a previous time during the pandemic, infections are 25 times higher and the rate of long COVID is 19 times higher. Meanwhile the hospitalization rate is 13 times higher and deaths are 25 times higher.

In the middle of October, Moriarty calculated that COVID patients occupied about nine per cent of intensive care beds and 21 per cent of hospital beds across the country. (The average hospitalization rate during the pandemic has been seven per cent.) The estimated cost of this sustained viral assault is $274 million a week.

Governments peddling denial

Most governments seem intent on diminishing or hiding these realities. They avoid any talk about the effectiveness of masking in public places or the value of improved ventilation and filtration in schools and workplaces. It’s a demonstrated fact that the virus travels through the air in tiny smoke-like aerosols that can infect people at much greater distances than six feet, but the natural responses to this reality are not encouraged by our leaders.

Alberta, for example, now pretends that COVID is just another mild respiratory disease and reports its doings along with influenza and RSV activity.

Despite this push for “normalization,” only one disease stands out as a routine killer and dominant occupant of hospital beds on the province’s “respiratory virus dashboard.” And that’s COVID. COVID also dominates outbreaks in Alberta’s hospitals and long-term care facilities where masking and attention to ventilation have become haphazard practices.

Lumping COVID in with other respiratory diseases is also patently misleading. A recent Swiss study compared hospitalized patients infected with COVID and those infected with the flu. Those with COVID had a 1.5-fold higher risk of dying in hospital up to 30 days after infection than patients infected by influenza A. The death rate was even higher for unvaccinated people.

A 2023 Swedish study also found the death rate from Omicron greatly surpassed that of influenza patients.

And next comes the increased risk of cardiovascular problems. Medical researchers have long observed strokes and acute myocardial infarctions in patients after respiratory infections, such as influenza. But COVID breaks the mould here. Compared with patients with the flu, the risk of stroke is more than sevenfold higher in COVID-19 patients.

This is likely tied to the fact that COVID can inflame the vascular system through which the body’s blood travels. New non-peer-reviewed evidence suggests that even a mild infection can temporarily damage endothelial cells that line the interior of blood vessels.

COVID may begin with the symptoms of a cold or flu for most people, but it often ends as thrombotic or vascular disease in a small percentage for reasons researchers don’t clearly understand. The virus can therefore infect multiple organs from the brain to the kidneys.

Immune systems and long COVID

COVID can also unsettle the immune system by damaging T-cell response, as recent studies have illustrated.

These findings make all the more illogical the current, widespread blasé attitude towards the ever-evolving virus.

Let’s begin with diabetes, which itself stresses the immune system and makes it less effective.

Early in the pandemic, researchers suspected there might be a connection between having COVID and later developing diabetes. Now it’s confirmed. Earlier this year the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai organization in Los Angeles found that a COVID infection dramatically increases the risk for developing Type 2 diabetes and that this risk continues with Omicron variants.

“The trends and patterns that we see in the data suggest that COVID-19 infection could be acting in certain settings like a disease accelerator, amplifying risk for a diagnosis that individuals might have otherwise received later in life,” noted Susan Cheng, a senior author of the study and a professor of cardiology.

Another study found that the incidence of diabetes in Black and Hispanic youth has increased by 62 per cent since the pandemic. The authors noted that COVID can bind to receptors in the pancreas, resulting in damaged cells.

A Canadian study also found steep increases in diabetes after COVID infections. University of British Columbia researchers examined a large population of British Columbians (more than 600,000) and discovered that people infected with COVID had a 17 to 22 per cent higher risk of developing diabetes within a year compared with uninfected people.

Concluded the researchers: “SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with a higher risk of diabetes and may have contributed to a three per cent to five per cent excess burden of diabetes at a population level.”

Related research has also demonstrated that COVID infection can trigger or lead to a variety of autoimmune disorders.

One recent Lancet study that looked at nearly a million people who were unvaccinated between 2020 and 2021 found that COVID cases experienced much higher incidence of autoimmune disease than non-infected people.

These autoimmune conditions included rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, vasculitis (inflamed and swollen blood vessels), inflammatory bowel disease and Type 1 diabetes mellitus.

A similar German study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, evaluated a cohort of 640,701 unvaccinated individuals with PCR-confirmed COVID infection during 2020 for the risk of autoimmune conditions. The researchers identified “a 42.6 per cent higher likelihood of acquiring an autoimmune condition three to 15 months after infection” compared with a group of 1,560,357 individuals who weren’t infected.

The researchers also found that a COVID infection “increased the risk of developing another autoimmune disease by 23 per cent” in individuals with pre-existing immune conditions.

The autoimmune studies confirm that COVID can be a significant immune deregulator. The Yale University immunologist Akiko Iwasaki, who has dedicated her lab to studying long COVID, notes that “there's misfiring of the immune response happening in the severe COVID patients that lead to pathology and lethality.” Even a mild infection can lead to this misfiring and long COVID, and this group tends to be women between the ages of 30 and 50.

Reinfection is no trifle

The autoimmune studies, of course, don’t tell us anything about the current crop of variants and what autoimmune or cardiovascular diseases they might trigger in the future. But the precautionary principle would suggest avoiding infection.

The highly regarded U.S. epidemiologist Ziyad Al-Aly, who also studies long COVID, has been very clear about the hazardous consequences of reinfection in terms of chronic disease such as diabetes, brain inflammation and heart disease: “Two infections are worse than one and three are worse than two.”

His most recent research shows that people with mild infections are still at risk for chronic disease two years after the fact. Patients who were hospitalized with COVID were at even greater risk for chronic complications.

“The concern here is that this pandemic will generate a wave of chronic disease that we did not have before the pandemic,” Al-Aly, chief of research and development at Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System, recently told Euronews Next.

“Even when the pandemic abates and is in the rear-view mirror, we will be left with it after the fact in the form of a chronic disease that for some people may last for a long time or even a lifetime,” added Al-Aly.

The Tyee has repeatedly reported evidence that immunity to COVID from natural infection or vaccination is not long-lasting because of the nature of the virus.

The research now confirms that infections can even leave some people more vulnerable to reinfection. A startling Canadian study published this year looked at 750 vaccinated elders at long-term care facilities where COVID deaths continue to be high. They found infection with Omicron in its first wave actually made these inmates more susceptible to reinfection in subsequent waves. Counterintuitively, these people were more prone to reinfection than patients who had never experienced COVID.

“Our current vaccine schedules are based on the assumption that having had an infection provides some level of protection to future infections, but our study shows that may not be true for all variants in all people,” noted Dawn Bowdish, an immunologist and one of the study’s authors.

What our health leaders should be saying

The implications of these findings are plain enough. The pandemic has a long tail, and it can be found in a growing population of people experiencing chronic disease. Therefore, limiting transmission is still the most important public health goal.

We know how to do that but are reluctant to employ the tools. Masking in crowded public spaces or poorly ventilated buildings during periods of high infection is a proven viral risk reducer. Cleaning dirty air in workplaces and schools removes the virus and other pollutants such as wildfire smoke and should be an urgent public health crusade.

We might all take inspiration from what happened at one Australian school. Concerned parents studied airflow and then installed HEPA filters with the result that improved air circulation stopped COVID transmission dead.

Rigorous surveillance testing is also essential to inform citizens of the advancing or retreating COVID risks.

Vaccinations play a role because they can significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization, death and long COVID. But current vaccines will not stop transmission. Or end the pandemic.

In a recent study a group of U.S. researchers modelled a variety of paths that COVID might take in the future.

If repeat infections and vaccinations actually work to improve immunity and dent the pandemic over time, then models suggest infections and the incidence of long COVID should decline too.

But as Omicron demonstrated, community immunity is unlikely to be achieved via existing vaccines and especially at a time when vaccine hesitancy is rising.

In one pessimistic scenario the researchers posited that “a first infection may provide partial protection against a second infection” but the combination of new variants and complexities surrounding immune responses “could then increase the susceptibility to tertiary and quaternary infections.”

That means a good proportion of the population could end up with long COVID in the absence of effective public health measures and the development of a durable, transmission-blocking vaccine.

“More pessimistic assumptions on host adaptive immune responses illustrate that the longer-term burden of COVID-19 may be elevated for years to come,” added the researchers.

#covid #covid 19 #pandemic #long covid #public health

[jamesrodayrodriguezpresents]

A theater company born out of the pandemic will soon start rehearsals for its first mainstage production of 2023. On May 25, The Legacy Theatre will debut the world premiere of “Masters of Puppets,” a riveting drama by Laurence Davis that explores the dirty underbelly of professional wrestling.

A brief history

The aptly-named Legacy Theatre was one of the few companies producing shows following the first full year of the COVID-19 lockdown, according to Managing Director Jeff Provost. Before they set up shop in the former Stony Creek Playhouse — a historic haunt of Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre Players — Legacy staged productions at the nearby Stony Creek Museum and outdoors on the Guilford and Branford greens.

Co-Founders Keely Baisden Knudsen and Stephanie Stiefel Williams spearheaded the company’s renovation of the playhouse while preserving its “fabled history,” Provost said. And while audiences were slow to return amid pandemic-era restrictions, the theater’s production mix proved successful.

“Keely has made a commitment since Day One to do at least one new play as part of our mainstage series,” Provost said. “It really tells you how daring and willing we are as a theater company to explore new ideas and works onstage.”

‘Masters of Puppets’

Davis’ work follows a husband and wife (played by Kurt Fuller of CBS’s “Evil” and Amanda Detmer of Fox’s “Empire”) who are “the masters” of a large-scale wrestling organization, Provost said. The couple engage in a power struggle with an executive from the professional sports network (played by Dana Ashbrook of Showtime’s “Twin Peaks”) over who’s pulling the proverbial strings.

“There’s always been questions as to what’s real and what’s fake in the world of wrestling, and those questions continue to this day,” Provost said. “This piece explores the topic in a really thought-provoking way. It’s a gritty, no-holds-barred approach to the subject matter.”

“Masters of Puppets” comes to the Legacy stage via James Roday Rodriguez (of ABC’s “A Million Little Things”), who will assist Legacy behind the scenes as a producer. Rodriguez and Knudsen grew up together; they performed alongside each other in middle school and eventually studied together as undergraduate students at New York University. Director Gabe McKinley was at NYU with them as well.

Provost explained that Rodriguez initially intended to produce the show with a theater company out in Los Angeles, but then COVID hit. Rodriguez connected with Knudsen about debuting “Puppets” at Legacy, and the rest, they say, is history.

“All of these connections and relationships that James has in the industry will play out really beautifully in this production,” Provost added. “The actors know each other very well and already have that base established.”

The world premiere of “Masters of Puppets” debuts at The Legacy Theatre on Thursday, May 25, at 7 p.m. Performances run through June 11, with shows on Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Tickets are on sale now; season subscribers receive a 25 percent discount. For more information, visit www.LegacyTheatreCT.org.

[Anyone who wants to go please heed the content warning on their website: For mature audiences. Contains violence, harsh language, and drug use. There is no puppetry in the production.]

#Legacy Theatre #Masters of Puppets #Amanda Detmer #Kurt Fuller #James Roday Rodriguez #Dana Ashbrook #Michael Hogan #Gabe McKinley #thank god they got a new poster #this whole CT thing makes much more sense now knowing the play was supposed to be produced for RDS originally #looks like david rock decided to go with a pseudonym in the end #the name change really confused me for a bit there #also while we knew that james and AD keely went to NYU together this is the first i heard they actually went to school together as well #pretty cool #love that the theatre specified that there is no puppetry in the production #probably based on the fact it was a puppetry theatre in its previous life

[lemonsnmatcha]

Enough

March 2020 is a period,

A period that speaks for itself.

People lost their jobs,

Their homes, 

Their entire lives,

Their worlds flipped upside down.

But what about Yao Pan Ma, 

Michelle Alyssa Go,

GuiYing Ma,

Christina Yuna Lee?

Brutally beat,

An act of unnecessary violence,

Patients pronounced dead.

What about the people?

To some, these names mean nothing, 

But to the Asian community, they sting like a nasty cut.

A slice to their pride, 

A slash to their history,

A shattering to their lives in the US.

5.7% of the United States’ population is Asian.

Such a miniscule percentage and yet it holds a multitude of subcommunities in its hands.

5.7% of the United States,

Eighteen million nine hundred eighteen thousand three hundred people,

People who are constantly mistreated and jeered at.

The countless hours my family worked to make a living,

Enduring the physical and mental assault from the outside world,

Holding onto their belief in the future,

Belief in a society,

That would protect and accept their children,

Suddenly washed away in the crowd of people chanting “Chinese-virus”.

My parents were now teaching me to fear the unknown.

To fear the possibility,

To live a life full of “What if”’s,

Because like their lives thirty years ago, being Chinese was now a liability.

The world that seemed to progress so far had taken all but three steps back.

The phrases “go back to your country” and other racial slurs spewed off tongues like an all too familiar poison.

In turn, I took to TikTok.

I watched hundreds of thousands of videos, senselessly scrolling.

Videos of my culture,

Of my tongue,

Were flooded with comments saying “bing chilling” and “don’t let them get to the dogs”.

Videos of Chinese creators were reduced to the “pretty korean girl” title.

Videos sexualizing qipao and “submissive Asian women”.

I easily became resentful.

Korea, China, and Japan, the “top three”!

K-pop and anime, there's so much to see,

Except for the fact that China never holds any power.

Our creations? They will never be seen as ours.

Manhua lashes are suddenly manga, and no one bats an eye,

They say “Asians are pretty and aesthetic!”, but that doesn’t always apply.

Tiktok is great, but Douyin is weird?

I don’t get it,

What about my culture is there to fear?

They love to hate and hate to love,

But with China? There’s always so much push and shove.

Spies, concentration camps, and what more?

How much do my people possibly have to endure?

How much do my people possibly have to endure,

Before the rest of the world can finally mature?

Foreign enough for the Chinese Exclusion Act,

“Shameful” enough to be criticized for the extremities of poorer districts,

Dirty enough to be the cause of Covid-19,

Weird enough to be the butt of the joke,

Privileged enough to receive backlash for our success,

Pretty enough to be fetishized,

And yet not enough to be recognized.

We’ve worked hard and we’ve earned our right,

We too are people, and we will continue to fight.

If #korean #yesstyle is all we will be,

Then we will continue until it is my nation they see.

#poetry #anonymous poetry #beginner poetry #spoken word #chinese #writing #creative writing #original poem

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Josh Gerstein

Published: Jun 6, 2022

An advocacy group that has spent more than two decades fighting for free expression on college campuses is broadening its efforts to fight so-called cancel culture and other perceived threats to free speech across American society.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is renaming itself the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and keeping the “FIRE” acronym as it launches a drive to promote greater acceptance of a diversity of views in the workplace, pop culture and elsewhere. Part of the push may challenge the American Civil Liberties Union’s primacy as a defender of free speech.

“To say the least, we have not solved the campus free-speech problem, but we started to realize if we wanted to save free speech on campus we have to start earlier and we have to do things not on campus,” the group’s president, Greg Lukianoff, said.

Lukianoff said FIRE has raised $28.5 million for a planned three-year, $75 million litigation, opinion research and public education campaign aimed at boosting and solidifying support for free-speech values.

“There’s a very strong belief in not just the First Amendment, but a culture of freedom of speech that — black or white, liberal or conservative — that most Americans think you should be entitled to your own opinion and not have to lose your job over that,” Lukianoff said. “The voices that think of free speech as a dirty word on campus or on Twitter are actually a pretty small minority.”

The new initiative includes $10 million in planned national cable and billboard advertising featuring activists on both ends of the political spectrum extolling the virtues of free speech, officials said

One TV spot includes a former Emerson College student, K.J. Lynum, whose conservative group was suspended by the school’s president for circulating “China kinda sus” stickers promoting the theory that a Chinese government lab caused the oubreak of Covid-19. “Freedom of speech is our right as Americans and we must do everything we can to protect it,” Lynum says over images of Martin Luther King Jr. and a young anti-abortion activist.

Another ad features a Montana State University student, Stefan Klaer, who was ordered to take down a Black Lives Matter banner from his dorm room window. “If you silence people, you never get to hear the other side,” Klaer says.

FIRE’s move seems likely to face an uphill battle with many on the political left disillusioned about unfettered free speech following former President Donald Trump’s successes at perpetuating misinformation. The megaphone social media platforms have given to voices spouting untruths has also prompted some former free-speech devotees to reconsider their views.

“Thinking that free speech is the problem here is, I think, missing the point,” Lukianoff said. “Do I believe bad actors are abusing this? I do. ... It’s always been the case that some people have believed absolutely crazy things. ... I’m more afraid of top-down attempts to control Twitter than I am of the cultural harm it produces.”

FIRE’s new expansion is also a challenge of sorts to the ACLU, which has faced criticism in recent years for drifting from its unapologetically pro-free-speech roots and taking a more direct role in partisan political fights.

Many of FIRE’s founders and backers are former leaders of the ACLU who have grown disillusioned with the group under its current executive director, Anthony Romero, who left the Ford Foundation to take over the storied civil liberties organization in 2001.

In 2020, FIRE released “Mighty Ira,” a laudatory documentary film about Romero’s predecessor, Ira Glasser, focusing on the ACLU’s work from the 1970s through the 1990s.

Glasser, who serves on a FIRE advisory board, said in an interview that he “strongly encouraged” FIRE to broaden its free-speech work in part because the ACLU seems to be abdicating that role.

“Once the ACLU backs off its traditional role, who else is there?” Glasser asked. “It’s great to have the ACLU fighting for racial and reproductive justice and gay rights. …The notion that you have to reduce your vigor with which you defend First Amendment rights or you will damage the strength of your advocacy for equal rights for women, gays, and Blacks, et cetera is just demonstrably not true and, yet, they’ve done that. It has created a vacuum in the viewpoint-neutral defense of free speech, which FIRE has filled.”

Romero, the ACLU chief, said Monday that he agrees free speech is under increasing attack in the U.S. and is pleased that FIRE is branching out.

“This is a welcome development,” Romero said in a statement. “Challenges to free speech are proliferating from both the left and the right, and the nation needs more organizations dedicated to upholding our most fundamental right.“

The ACLU faced internal upheaval in 2017 after its Virginia chapter provided legal assistance to white-nationalist groups seeking a permit to demonstrate in Charlottesville, Va. The “Unite the Right” rally they held ended with violence, including the death of a 32-year-old woman who was run over by a car driven by a far-right demonstrator whose friends said he was obsessed with Hitler.

The ACLU later recalibrated its free-speech advocacy, urging that its lawyers considering what cases to take also consider “offense to marginalized groups.” Romero also said it would not defend those seeking to engage in protests while armed.

Among those endorsing FIRE’s expansion are former ACLU President Nadine Strossen and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

“I think for FIRE to spread its wings is very constructive,” said Summers, who served as president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006 and was National Economic Adviser for from 2009 to 2011 under President Barack Obama.

Summers told POLITICO he’s troubled that “a stifling conformity” in discussions about issues related to identity on college campuses seems to be spreading.

“We’re seeing some tendency to some of the same imposition of orthodoxy beyond college campuses and some elevation of comfort-seeking relative to truth-seeking much more broadly,” Summers said.

Even with the planned expansion by FIRE, the ACLU will continue to dwarf the upstart organization in size and funding. The ACLU enjoyed a massive surge in funding following Trump’s victory in 2016 and now brings in almost $400 million to its coffers each year. FIRE, by contrast, raised under $16 million in its last fiscal year.

And while the ACLU and its affiliates are involved in hundreds of court cases each year in 19 policy areas ranging from voting rights to privacy to immigration, FIRE had only six cases in active litigation in the last fiscal year, according to its annual Internal Revenue Service filing.

FIRE contends that since it debuted in 1999 it has won over 500 public victories for students and faculty members, secured 425 campus policy changes, and helped drive down the prevalence of highly-restrictive campus speech codes.

While FIRE has received praise from many free-speech advocates, some critics have said the group is a thinly veiled front for conservatives looking to promote their political agenda. Since its inception, FIRE has received funding from a variety of conservative foundations, including millions from some linked to billionaire Charles Koch.

Lukianoff declined to detail who has contributed the $28 million for the new initiative or what prompted them to offer funding.

However, he said in the last fiscal year, about 69 percent of FIRE’s funding came from individual donors and about 31 percent from foundations.

Lukianoff acknowledged disappointment with major liberal foundations, who have balked at supporting FIRE’s efforts. “It’s been frustrating,” he said, adding, “Most of FIRE’s staff leans to the left politically.”

Lukianoff said his group also regularly defends left-leaning students and faculty members when their freedom of expression is threatened.

“We’re genuinely nonpartisan in the cases we take,” he said.

==

Excellent news, considering the ACLU has been ideologically captured and surrendered its mission and values.

In 2013, the ACLU said of sex education curriculum, that "the process will be transparent and that members of the community are involved - as they should have been from the beginning," and "we are all well served when decision on the appointment of sex education advisory committee members is subject to public scrutiny, rather than the result of the presentation of a narrow range of interests."

In 2022, the ACLU said of curriculum transparency, that "curriculum transparency bills are just thinly veiled attempts at chilling teachers and students from learning and talking about race and gender in schools."

#FIRE #Foundation for Individual Rights in Education #Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression #Greg Lukianoff #freedom of speech #free speech #First Amendment #ACLU #american civil liberties union #freedom of expression #academic freedom #religion is a mental illness

[wyrmfedgrave]

Pics: Republikkkan Corruption.

1. The Rump Reps are literally looting the GOP dry!

Sob.

Sob.

Hooray!!

2. The Rep reprisal attempt is still wasting so much time.

Time they could have better used to help their own voters.

But, it's no more than a distraction attempt.

An attempt to buy their 'grand leader' some time...

For whatever they're plotting.

3. Since the Rep's Covid-19 'advice' killed thousands of their own voters, they certainly don't care about folks fighting for their country.

Then, there's that whole "agents of Russia" bit...

That doesn't mean we have to turn a blind eye to what's happening.

Surely, there's helpful ideas that Ukraine can use. Something like -

Can they barter, their performing of future military service (in the UN, EU or Nato) for the needed weapons?

4. Why are all of these sick, forgetful government suits still working?

Shouldn't they already have been re- tired?

They obviously need help.

Hopefully, in some dank prison cells.

5. We now know of the Rep's plans for turning our country into a fascist state.

So, it's obvious they must be planning some other trick by which they'll try to win the presidency...

But, worse, the Rep's have already shown that they'll try several different avenues to steal the election...

We'll need to be vigilant.

So, don't be surprised by whatever dirty tricks they try...

6. Reich Rep's promises & threats has only revealed their true intents.

So, why do the Reich Reps not look any more worried?

After all, they face being hung til they're dead, shot, etc.

So, what other nastiness are the GOP going to put into play?

7. Heh...

#political corruption #political cartoons #history #aside

[michaelcosio]

Amazon is using union-busting Pinkerton spies to track warehouse workers and labor movements at the company, according to a new report

Katie Canales Nov 23, 2020, 11:42 AM PST

Amazon is hiring detectives from the notorious Pinkerton agency to spy on warehouse workers and monitor them for labor unionization efforts, according to a Monday Motherboard report.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to the outlet that Amazon has indeed recruited operatives from Pinkerton, the spy agency that has a centuries-long history of upending worker union activities, among other services.

Per Motherboard, Pinkerton spies were "inserted" into a warehouse in Wroclaw, Poland, in 2019 to look into an allegation that job candidates were being coached for job interviews.

Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski told Business Insider that the firm partners with Pinkerton to "secure high-value shipments in transit," not to gather intelligence on warehouse workers, and that all activities are "fully in line with local laws."

Motherboard obtained internal emails written by members of Amazon's Global Security Operations Center in 2019. The leaked documents reportedly show Amazon analysts tracking union organizing activity of workers in Europe, with members having the ability to stay updated on labor organizing efforts conducted at warehouses, right down to the date, time, location, and the number of workers involved.

The report also revealed that the data analysts used Facebook and Instagram to monitor the activity of social justice and environmental activist groups, including Greta Thunberg's Fridays4future and Greenpeace. Amazon said the company's analysts do not create social media accounts to track social movements.

Some of the documents suggest that the same monitoring tactics used in Europe could be being used in the Americas, according to the report.

Levandowski told Business Insider that "like any other responsible business, we maintain a level of security within our operations to help keep our employees, buildings, and inventory safe. That includes having an internal investigations team who work with law enforcement agencies as appropriate, and everything we do is in line with local laws and conducted with the full knowledge and support of local authorities."

The Pinkertons were used as a resource by 19th-century industrial bigwigs to spy on unions and to break up worker-held strikes. Steelworkers held a strike in 1892 that devolved into violence and the death of a dozen people when Carnegie Steel Company recruited 300 Pinkertons to act as armed guards, according to History.com. The event led to some states passing laws to prohibit the use of third-party security forces in labor disputes.

As Christy Hoffman, the general secretary of UNI Global Union, told Motherboard, Amazon's deployment of Pinkerton spies to monitor workers' strikes echoes the same tactics used by 19th-century industry tycoons and comes as the company remains under the microscope of anti-trust investigators in the EU and in the US.

"For years people have been comparing big tech bosses to nineteenth-century robber barons, and now by using Pinkertons to do his dirty work, Bezos is making that connection even clearer," Hoffman told Motherboard.

The developments are the latest in a string of evidence that highlights Amazon's robust efforts to monitor and crackdown on its workers unionizing. The retail giant has been staunchly opposed to labor unions — the firm listed, but quickly removed, a job opening earlier this year for an analyst that would monitor employee's efforts to organize.

While CEO Jeff Bezos and his ecommerce giant have profited heavily from home-bound customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon workers have been advocating for better working conditions, staging strikes and protests. Christian Smalls, a former warehouse worker at Amazon's New York fulfillment center, was fired after the company said he ignored social distancing recommendations during a walkout in March. Leaked documents, obtained at the time by Motherboard, revealed an internal effort to mount a PR campaign against Smalls. The documents reportedly revealed that Amazon's top lawyer called Smalls "not smart or articulate" and said the company should "make him the face of the entire union/organizing movement."

A separate Motherboard report from September found that Amazon had been using a tool to monitor dozens of private and public social media groups to find drivers that were organizing strikes or protests.

[fussclasscleaning]

24 Hour Cleaning Services in Burnaby

Welcome to FussClass Cleaning. We provide a wide array of house and commercial cleaning services in Burnaby. So if you are looking for any kind of cleaning services for your home and commercial place at reasonable prices. So contact FussClass Cleaning which provides a clean and healthy environment to its customers through cleaning services.

At FussClass Cleaning, we understand that everyone has different cleaning needs. That is why we offer a wide range of custom and flexible cleaning services as per the requirements of our clients.

We use High-standard cleaning techniques and eco-friendly products to do the job. Our non-harmful products are safe for your family, pets as well as the environment.

Our professional cleaners clean clients' homes and professional workplaces in a very well manner. So that they can get a clean and healthy environment and can utilize their important time to spend with their loved ones, do some important work, and work on their goals to achieve something in their life.

Best House Cleaning Services in Burnaby

FussClass Cleaning provides the best home cleaning services in Burnaby. Our cleaners are highly skilled and professionals who do their job very efficiently so that you get the utmost clean and healthy environment in your home.

We use only natural and environment-friendly cleaning products that will make your home fresh and clean. These products contain only natural ingredients that are safe for you and your surrounding environment.

We make a better relationship with our clients through our High-standard cleaning services. We aim to provide 100% satisfaction to our clients with our cleaning services. We provide all kinds of home cleaning services with a pocket-friendly budget. We are available 24*7 to provide disinfection services to our customers. We also help you to become more productive through our services because if you live in fresh and clean surroundings then you feel more energetic and give proper focus to your goals.

Home Cleaning Services that we offer

Complete House Cleaning Services

Condo and Apartment Cleaning Services

Office Cleaning Services

Spring Cleaning Services

Post-Construction Cleaning Services

Carpet Cleaning Services

Baseboards Cleaning Services

Post Construction Cleaning Services

Carpet Shampooing Services

Floor Mopping Services

Best & Affordable Professional Cleaning Services In Burnaby

Are you looking for commercial cleaning services in Burnaby? Look no further than FussClass Cleaning. Our experienced team of cleaning professionals provides specialized cleaning services tailored to your needs. We also ensure that your business location is always clean and welcoming. We specialize in all types of cleaning services like office space, retail outlets, industrial cleaning, and educational institutions.

Office and Commercial Cleaning Services Burnaby

Office Cleaning

Carpet Cleaning

Restaurant Cleaning

Commercial Building Cleaning

Commercial Janitorial Services

Post Construction Cleaning

Retail Store Cleaning

Educational Institutional Cleaning

Covid-19 Cleaning

Office Cleaning:

We aim to provide a clean and welcoming environment for your employees. We understand that health is the key to success. And we also know that dirty office areas cause many diseases. That's why we use high-standard and efficient technologies to clean your workplace so that you get a clean and healthy work environment and also increase your work productivity.

Carpet Cleaning:

Carpet cleaning is done to remove stains, dirt, and allergens from the carpet and we use different methods to clean the carpet like vacuuming with hot water, dry-cleaning, and shampooing the carpet. All these carpet cleaning techniques depend on the needs of the customers. If they demand to clean the carpet in less time then we prefer dry-cleaning method as this method makes it easier to use the carpet after a short time of cleaning and if we have enough time to get the carpet cleaned then we use other methods that we have already told above.

Restaurant Cleaning:

Cleanliness is very essential in the restaurant as a neat, clean, and safe environment helps in gaining the trust of the customers and also attracts more customers. And we clean our customers' restaurants very well. So that they get a healthy environment and their business grows. And cleaning the restaurant is not a one-day job. This is done daily as some parts of the restaurant such as washrooms and kitchen areas require cleaning on a daily basis. Because the chances of infection are more in these areas. So we use Eco-friendly cleaning products to clean your restaurants and other areas. so that you get a clean and healthy atmosphere in your restaurant. so if you are looking for restaurant cleaning services in Burnaby then contact us and avail top-notch cleaning services at decent prices.

Commercial Building Cleaning:

Commercial building cleaning covers many areas such as offices, stores, hospitals, and other public and private companies. And we offer our cleaning services according to the size of the building and its requirements. Because all these areas are visited by a large number of people and a single person cannot meet the cleanliness requirements of these areas. Hence our experienced cleaning team caters to all the cleaning requirements of all these business sectors. and provides a clean and welcoming environment to all these businesses so that they can be more productive, grow in their field, and help better the betterment of their country.

Commercial Janitorial Services:

FussClass Cleaning has been providing great commercial janitorial services in Burnaby from many times. and We understand the commercial and cleaning needs of Burnaby because this city is the hub of many large corporations and head offices all of which required a trusted and experienced janitorial partner.

We provide commercial cleaning and disinfection services for small offices to large companies according to their cleaning needs like once a week or seven times a week and we are dedicated to providing clean and healthy surrounding for yourself, your employees, and your customers. With experienced and certified staff, you can be sure that your facility is in safe hands.

Post Construction Cleaning:

FussClass Cleaning has been turning New Construction into new homes for many times. We do top-quality cleaning work and take pride in delivering outstanding service to our clients. Our well-trained staff pays attention to customer cleaning needs and provides top-notch cleaning solutions to their space.

We know when the construction work is done. It leaves a lot of clutter and debris behind. And then it is difficult to clean it. Because there is not only garbage but also dust and other materials left over.

That's why it's important that a professional cleaning service with the necessary resources and knowledge to clean up properly after the project is finished helps you deal with the mess.

And when it comes to cleaning up after construction in Burnaby. Contact FussClass cleaning because we know how to handle the debris left behind. This may include drywall dust, sawdust, dirt, mud, nail clippings, and other materials that require special attention to be properly cleaned from your space and our professional cleaning team will consider these items as they use special tools and equipment for the most effective cleaning.

Retail Store Cleaning:

A clean Retail Store attracts more customers to your store as well as shows your brand image because when customers first open your door and take their step into your store, they want to feel like their home: clean and comfortable. Whether you run a large or small retail store in your town its image is very important to its prosperity.

If you don't maintain your retail store cleaning then you can't attract good customers to your store.  Even though you offer the best discounts as compared to the market.

Our expert team of cleaners understands your requirements and provides the best cleaning solutions for your retail and all types of brand stores. so that you and your customers get a clean and healthy ambiance all the time, and you and your staff are free to help your store flourish. So if you are looking for a dedicated and professional team to meet your retail and brand store cleaning requirements in Burnaby then you can contact us and show your brand identity differently as compared to your competitors.

Educational Institutional Cleaning:

Schools and Colleges are the most important place where students most of their time spend in studies and extracurricular activities and all these educational institutions needs special cleaning services.

Because students come in contact with throughout the day of various surfaces so due to this they can be infected with some diseases like colds, coughs, and sneezing. and all these infections can be transmitted to other students as well.

So our professional cleaning team especially takes care of all these educational institutions during their cleaning. so that students and teachers get a clean and healthy atmosphere, and students can focus on their studies as well as other activities and achieve their educational goals.

At FussClass Cleaning, we are dedicated to providing clean and well surrounding to educational institutions so students and staff can maintain perfect attendance, and work on their life goals. so if you are looking best educational institution cleaning service provider in Burnaby then you can reach us and avail high standard cleaning services.

Covid-19 Cleaning:

We offer professional and high-standard cleaning designed to disinfect your business from Covid-19.

In these unparalleled times, it has been more important to focus on keeping a clean environment for the safety of your employees, customers, and clients. We create a safer environment for your customers and employees through our services.

Our COVID-19-specific cleaning services are performed by professional cleaners at affordable rates. So avail of our cleaning services today in Burnaby and make your space free from Covid-19.

#24 hour cleaning services burnaby #Cheap cleaning services burnaby #cleaning services burnaby #cleaning services #house cleaning #house cleaning services burnaby #FussClass Cleaning

[yifangtheanimator]

Summer Homework: Current News Story

The story of the homework is based on a current news. It is a challenge to me because I rarely play and make animated film with news since the days people got breakdown because of COVID-19.

This topic aim to allow us to step out of our comfort zone on making animations. I have reviewed the works I made last year and found I made digital animations a lot. This is a kind of inertia, because it is very convinient that I use iPad to draw and I can making films everywhere.

Therefore, I decided to return to my original intention. The first step is reviewing the first animation I made in my foundation year at Middlesex, which is a flipbook animation about a fisherman and a big wave.

I made that film with markers, and I am satisfied with the colour and the way to show the film with flipbook.

I do have another blank flipbook and ready to use. Making a flipbook is more tiring than a digital animated film, which means I can no longer copy and paste an existing layer. However, I like making animation traditionally and very enjoy it, so obviously I will try flipbook this time.

Now that the medium of production has been decided, the next step is to choose the subject matter of the story. It is a recent news story, but in my expectation it needed to resonate with me and the audience.

So I started looking for interesting articles on various online news sites. Soon, I noticed the article I needed in The Guardian News Online.

First story: A homeless man suspected of shoplifting

The story is telling about a man was accused of stealing in a supermarket. It shows unfair truth to homeless people and citizens at the bottom of society. Surrounding the article I made up more contents for my film, because there are many details that were not explained clearly in the original story.

With the help of the script, I quickly designed the characters in the story. It includes the protagonist who looks haggard and has stubble on his face.

And other characters......

Also, I recorded the initial ideas of colour,especially the numbers for each markers I will use. Which help me a lot when I do colouring works. some notes about the story are also there, including teaser of the main story.

Finally I made a storyboard based on my script. Now is the time to start making the filpbook.

Outcome - Flipbook Film

I shot the film with my phone (Stop Motion Studio) and edit with Premier Pro. The film including flipbook (Traditional way), digital part (Modern way) and even I made a scene props with tea bag box and a fan with ice cream sticks. Which allow me to shot in a interesting high angle.

Second Story: Double Winner

The second story is more positive, reduced nervous and serious feeling on first story and mainly based on the sticker event that McDonald's currently doing.

Because I am currently in love with collecting the stickers of that event and I really interested on the way differently and creatively that McDonald's doing with their business.

The stickers are basically will appear on almost every food packages and you might get vouchers from the sticker that can be redeemed instantly for free food as well as grand prize vouchers will require collecting all the pieces.

People tend to be more willing to collect food rewards from the former than the latter. They are normally easier to obtain.

Back to the story. At the beginning A homeless man is begging for money from people passing by. He is starving and exhausting, and feeling dizzy. Until a young man passing by, and pulled him to help him stand up. The man begged the young man for change, and the young man offered to take him to a feast. They went direct to the McDonald's, but the homeless man looking at his dirty hands, he didn't dare to go in.

Later, the young man arranged for the homeless man to be seated inside the restaurant. The man was so hungry that he picked up the burger and ate it regardless of his dirty hands. There were tears in the corners of his eyes, and his face was filled with gratitude.

Seeing that he was engaged in eating, the young man left the restaurant. When the man realizes he is alone in a busy restaurant, he becomes uneasy and disoriented. It seemed like the people around to be whispering, looking at his dirty appearance and his shabby clothes.

After clearing away the remains of the food on the table and putting the packaging boxes into paper bags, the man just wanted to leave the place quickly. He went to the trash can and wanted to throw them away, then realized the stickers were there.

He peeled off the sticker on the package, and his expression changed.

The next moment, the perspective comes to another beggar. People walked past him indifferently, as if they didn't notice him. Afterwards, a man's figure arrived and handed the beggar a piece of hot food. Facing the beggar's thanks, the man finally smiled.

You're welcome, we all have difficult times.

StoryBoard

Sending kindness and love......

#flipbook #animation #digital painting #digital art #drawing

[nityarawal]

7/21/2023

King Isha's Birthday xo

Morning Songs

Just A Scribe 

For Mommies

Who Don't Lie

Just A Hoover

For England

We Need A Scribe

For The Globes A Prize

And It's Demise

Is Detrimental

To You And Me

We Got Lawyered

The King Caught

With His Pants Down

But Why Should Ukraine 

#FreeBritney Or I

Tehrangeles 

My Loves

Pay For These Idiots

Downfall

Laughing Stocks

Officers

Banging On Bathroom

Doors

For A Peek

Suffering

Broken Ankles

One More

Scaredy Cat

Chubby Cops

You Got Your Weapons

On Your Ankles

But You Got No 

Pride

For Civilians

Tribes

You Broke Our Vows

With Cambridge Spies

You Broke Our Laws

With Domestic Bribes

You Broke Our Laws

With Fake Scandals

On A Britney Economy

We Say "No Wars

No More"

You Broke Our Laws

Real Estate Bribes

Probate Insurance

Federal Banking 

Fraud

You Broke Our Laws

Big Brother Lied

From PNC Bank

To BBVA

You Broke Our Laws

At Airbnbs

Dirty Waters

Bugs

Ticks

Militia Slum-lorders

Got Me

You Broke The Law

Breeders

You Labeled Us

And Attacked

Our Families

Gay Bigots

Not Just Breeders 

Not Just Birthers

Lovers; Water Mammas

Brought You Into

The World

They Might Say

I'm Pretty

Not Believe Me

Glowing Skin

When I Suffered

Gave Birth 40 Hours

To You

Thai Sages

Buddha Babies

On Full Moons

To New Shiva Moon

Slivers Of Light

They Might Not

Believe Me

Say I'm No Mamma

They Might Drug Me

And Pull EncinitasBeachHome.com

Off The Market

Terminators

Hacked Off The Internet

They Might Be Terminating

Deleting My Best Articles

Coding

Down -

An Enlightenment Editor

No Relief 

With A Mid-Atlantic 

Accent From North 

Carolina Enlightenment  To

Relief In New Hampshire And

Hawaii Maharishi Magazines

They Might Say I'm

A "Nobody" - "Nitya- Who?"

Where'd Your Brains Go?

'Metropolitan' State Hospital Drugs

Got Best Of You

Night You Were Roofied

By God Only Knows What Miscellaneous Drugs

Pouring Black From Veins

Night You Were Beat

Frontal Cortex opened

Thank The Lord

Day You Testified 

To The Dozen Rapes

Calls From Big Brother

"Listen To The Cops

Do What They Say,"

My Nanny Brother

Advised

"Don't Be Spoiled

Don't Act Up

Don't Be A Target

For Their Victim Stuff,"

Toilette Like Brushes

Scouring Up Our Noses 

Every Week

Covid 19 Disciplines

No Dr's To Speak Of

Caged In A Gym

Walking In Circles

Restless Leg Syndrome

For 18 Months

Would've Liked

To Watch You Lady Gaga

One Last Time

With Tony Bennett

But We Were All Tired

Patients

Like Zombies

Asleep by 7pm

Hard To Smile

Laugh

Dance

From Forced Court Drugs

Walking In Circles

Restless Leg Syndrome

Our Po Has Seen

Far Too Many

Covid State Showers

Maimed 6 Months

A Jail Guard

Walking With A Cane

Not Good Karma

My Loves

To Work With Brokers

Of Mammas Caged

Not Good Karma

My Little Brothers

Camp Eternal Love

Will Retrain Your

Pirates

Vows

Drunken Ships

Imaginations Heal

For Parents

With "Mommy Juice"

Jungle Gardens

You're Safe

Children Camp

In Camp Suites With Us

Moroccan Tent Villages

Persian Carpets

Camp California

One Last July

Of Last 12 Year

Rain

Before Radio Stations

Ration Our

Showers

With Communist Ads

Police 

Recruitment

And DJs Guilt Message

To Cut

Our Water Orgasms 

Down

From Their Draught

Cops Blocked

Beef Eating Cannibals

Say Thankyou

Grascious Madres

Say Thankyou

Grascious Padres

Even If It's Only

For A Name

Say Thankyou

We Stand By Our

Kings

Pahlavis

Moezzis

Qajars

Isha Kyan June

Huntley Rawal

We Stand By Our Persian

Kings

Loyal Sisters

Emancipating

For Big Brothers

New Tehrangeles

Half Persians

Royal Matriarchal

Army With

Princess Meghan

And King Harry

Until Little

Lisbhet Knows What

To Do

Little Loyal Sisters

Watching

Always Muses

Pure Hearted

Anjali

Thankyou

Gracias Sisters

Camp Bros

Aunties

Uncles

Madres

Padres

For What 

You Do.

(PS Song)

Might Be A Walrus 

Might Be A Scarab

Might Be A Pink Glow

Worm

Residual

From Paul McCartney's 

Birthday

Don't Jump On Me

Like A Cougar

Might Be A Knight

Not A Granite

Spotted Rock Tree Frog

Might Be Britney

Divine

Not A B

Or A B***

But 

A $$$ Billionaire!!!

Peace & Namaste,

Nitya Nella Davigo Azam Moezzi Huntley Rawal 

[all-things-marketing]

Five Tips That Settled My Fear for Networking Events

“Boss plays favourite”, “…but she joined only a year ago”, “Just because she has a charismatic personality…”, “…but I did more work than her”, “She loves to be a center of attraction”, “so what if I am shy…”—and the list goes on during watercooler conversation every appraisal cycle. We all did good work, some outperformed, and some went above and beyond. We all got appraisals—big or small. However, we failed to shine like that one person who recognized the power of networking and built rapport far and wide within the organization.

The need for networking makes so many of us uncomfortable. Networking is named phony, exploitative, unauthentic and even dirty by executives, professionals and MBA students, as explained in a Harvard Business Review article. However, in the competitive world, networking is still an important factor and many a times part of job role KPIs. Some professions depended on it—Lawyers, their success depends on their ability to network with clients and bring business to the firm. It’s the same for sales professionals and many other occupations that make direct or indirect sale.

My mindset towards networking changed as I advanced in my digital marketing seminar series course. My professor Nicole invited renowned and distinguished marketing professionals from varied industries every week. Students got a chance to learn from their experience and case studies. I got inspired by the connections Nicole had, which also gave students the opportunity to form our own network. In this article, I would like to share five tips that helped me overcome an aversion to networking:

Curiosity: Conversations led with curiosity often end with learning outcome. Networking is as simple as meeting someone new and being curious about many things an individual may possess (professionally, in this context). Think about questions on a professional’s journey, how they like what they do, what challenges they encounter, how you can help, if there is a skill or quality the you can learn from the person or include in your professional life, etc.

Preparing for the networking events and learning a little about participants could naturally spark curiosity and the event could be approached with excitement and an open mind about all the possibilities that might unfold.

2. What can you offer: To start with, it is good exercise to make a list of your strengths and skills. Even when you do not share an interest with someone, you can probably find something valuable to offer by thinking beyond the obvious. For example, if you are an application developer, you may help an executive solve a problem through coding. If you are in market research, you may have some great market insight to provide. To the least, if you are the most junior at the event, you may have gratitude to express towards your boss or superiors.

3. Set small goals: Often, thinking of talking to a room full of people may trigger anxiety. Networking itself may sound like a negative term because of its association to a formal event. The trick is to keep your goal small and think of every small event you are good at as networking, be it birthday parties, a gaming event at your office, or simply meeting a likeminded professional on LinkedIn. Go with the goal of having a conversation with only two new people at any event, and if you end up enjoying it, expand your reach.

4. Embrace the power of virtual world: The post Covid 19 world has opened up virtual avenues. We have the opportunity to avoid physical meeting as most events take place either online only or are hybrid these days. It is easy to participate in an online event, ask questions, meet new people and connect with them at mutual convenience. Besides, online events save so much time. Also, if you realize the event is not for you, it is easier to move out and on without any awkward moments.

5. Find your purpose: Whether networking in an event or on social media, it is imperative to know your purpose. Think about what you need or what can be imparted prior to participating in the event. Basically, finding value in what we do is of utmost importance. For example, only promoting a firm may feel selfish, but promoting a firm which does good for the planet may feel like working on a purpose. Similarly, cultivating a relationship for your career growth may not feel appropriate, but knowing that your skillset is unique and should be known and valued may establish a sense of purpose.

To conclude, there is no need to fear the term networking as it is something we do in our daily lives, sometimes subconsciously. Taking interest and finding your comfort zone when connecting with people is the key. If you find this article helpful, don’t shy away from connecting with me with your purpose.

#networking #networkingforintroverts

[kevinszabojrplumbing]

Bad habits that are making your home messy

Certain habits are hard to overcome, and when it comes to cleaning, we may have caused the mess! Don't worry, you're not alone; we've included some typical poor cleaning behaviors below to help you get rid of them, Bad cleaning habits are the breeding grounds for pests in a messy home.

Reusing your kitchen sponge

When did you last buy kitchen sink sponges? Last month? 6-months-ago? Many assume sponges become clean by using soap. Sponge bacteria multiply, so this myth may really hurt you. Germs thrive under continual wetness. Replace kitchen sponges every three weeks to wash the dirty dishes.

Leaving clothing in the washing machine

Laundry is undoubtedly one of your least favourite duties, and we bet you leave your clothing in the washer longer than you should.

Putting them in for too long might cause the garments to smell bad and need rewashing. Moisture just like sponges! When moist clothing is allowed to dry in a confined location, you must run the washer again without cleaning products.

Tabletop mess

Most families have everything right there, usually a tabletop full of knickknacks, shopping bags, school supplies, and more! It's simple to pile everything in one place, but it affects your home's appearance.

Put items in their places and your house will appear clean in no time. For tidy households, "a place for everything and everything in its place" applies.

Dirty cleaning tools

Do you clean your cleaning tools too? Cleaning items, like the kitchen sponge, need maintenance and replacement.

Cleaners often cross-contaminate. Would you clean your dining room with a bathroom brush? If we don't clean properly, germs in high-traffic places like bathrooms might hurt us. Sanitize and clean instruments after use to avoid COVID-19. Replace kitchen and bathroom sets regularly.

Ignoring fridge cleaning

Food may rot and contain bacteria even in a cold, dry fridge. Leftovers, overripe produce, and unsealed food packages in the fridge are health risks. Clear out old items. Monthly, clean the fridge with water and white vinegar.

Hoarding

We know your definition of hoarding is keeping everything to the point of being overrun, yet everyone has modest hoarding tendencies, whether they realize it or not. 

Look at your cupboards, drawers, and shelves. How many things can you claim you use every day? You probably have stuff you haven't touched in months or years. They sit in the garage or storage closet, collecting dust. We know that now is the best time to declutter and get rid of unneeded stuff.

Outside shoes indoors

A second pair of shoes or slip-ons for home can help keep the floor clean. Outdoor shoes may leave dirt on the floor and carpeting, which is unsightly and difficult to clean!

Carpet stains settling

Carpet fibres are absorbent and difficult to clean if not treated immediately. Pressing the paper towels may make the stain harder to remove. After removing most of the stain, try DIY cleaning (link).Dirt2tidy.com.au

Unmade bed

Making your bed in the morning might help you be more productive. According to some research, bedmakers sleep better, nap less, and are happier. We think it's because you crossed something off your to-do list.

Oven storage

Ovens aren't storage spaces. Make room in the kitchen for grocery overbuys. If you store unwanted dishware in the oven, you may have too many plates and pans and should declutter.

Cleaning isn't habitual

Inconsistent cleaning is the main cause of an untidy house. Oven cleaning must be done regularly to develop a habit.

We understand if your work, kids, or relationships are your top priorities right now. Pristine Home understands life's many responsibilities. Trust us for weekly or biweekly cleaning. Our reliable house cleaners clean your home to the best of their skills.

Guest Contributor: Chelsea Rogers

#This Summer #Guest Author #Guest Blogger #Guest Contributor #Guest Post #Guest Writer #Best Ways To Prevent The Most Common Plumbing Problems #Plumbing Problems #broken pipes #leaking pipes #clogged toilets #garbage disposals #prevent drains from clogging #plumber in tinley park #tinley park plumbers #plumber in orland park #orland park plumbers #plumber in homer glen #homer glen plumbers #plumber in frankfort #frankfort plumbers #plumber in mokena #mokena plumbers #plumber in lemont #lemont plumbers #plumber in new lenox #new lenox plumbers #plumber in oak forest #oak forest plumbers #plumber in homewood

[biglisbonnews]

Sylvan Esso Isn't Making Their Mirror Face Anymore Sylvan Esso, the North Carolina-based electro-pop duo, kicked down industry doors in 2014 with their eponymous debut studio album, Sylvan Esso. It's one of those special captures-a-moment-in-time records, where escaping into the rousing, body-moving tracklist, a folksy mixture of skillful (yet unpretentious) electronic production, felt like discovering an untapped reserve of talent. The album has since accumulated over 250 million streams on Spotify and propelled the band into mainstream success.Ten years into their career as Sylvan Esso, singer Amelia Meath and engineer/producer Nick Sanborn have gotten married, toured the country and sold out shows around the globe. Yet somehow they feel like they're just getting started.I meet Meath and Sanborn — "Sandy," as she calls him — for lunch at preppy Upper East Side institution J.G. Melon. Squeezing puffer coats and backpacks through the tightly arranged floor plan, we wedge ourselves into a corner table with views of East 74th Street. The band is in town for a whirlwind visit of record signing, an Electric Lady Studios Spotify session, a CBS Saturday Morning live show and, most importantly, to see the physical release of their most recent record, No Rules Sandy. Even in the mustard-tinged lighting, the two glow with the frenetic flush of maneuvering a tightly scheduled press trip. No Rules Sandy, Sylvan Esso's fourth studio album, which dropped this summer, was immortalized on January 20th in its physical form. Now, the band is gearing up for their summer tour (with major venues like Red Rocks and London's Electric Brixton already selling out) and has newfound confidence in the longevity and durability of the band."Can I have a dirty Beefeater martini?" Meath asks the aproned waiter. She turns back to us and says, "I know it’s only three, but we did TV already." They’ve just come uptown from a CBS live taping in Times Square. "Fucking genius," Sanborn says, smiling from across the table. They decide to split a cheeseburger with a "fuck yeah" and a satisfying menu pile. "Your hair is just crazy," Sanborn says jokingly to Meath, who tousles her wispy, blonde hair into a more chaotic position."There's something exciting about being a band, coming up on 10 years old, and feeling like there’s still so much for us to discover together," Sanborn tells me. There was a period of time before they started working on No Rules Sandy where he began to worry about playing decade-old songs and fighting to reclaim and relate to a distant version of himself. "This feels like a completely new way of working together, like cracking the knuckles of our band," he says. In January 2022, Meath and Sanborn road-tripped from North Carolina to Los Angeles to attend the Grammys, as they'd been nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Music Album. With a spike in the Omicron COVID-19 variant, the Grammys were postponed, plans and hangouts dashed and the pair was left in their California rental with nothing to do. Three short weeks later, they had recorded the first version of No Rules Sandy. "It was a complete accident," Sanborn says. "It began as just something to do that day," Sanborn says, sipping his Budweiser with raised eyebrows. "We were just playing around to make the other laugh or to be impressed.""They're the most personal songs I've ever written," Meath says. "The first taste of every idea we had, we would just follow." Sanborn recalls that he’s never seen her write lyrics so fast, explaining that nearly all of the vocals on the album were from the first take, even sometimes the first time she ever sang them aloud. "Whatever microphone we had, wherever she was sitting in the house, we would record there. There's like leaf blowers and shit on the album," Sanborn says, laughing. "And birds!" Meath adds. "I would write something and we would both be shocked by it," Meath says. "And then I'd be like, 'Well, we need to change this because it's too close." After multiple rewrites in hopes to distance herself from some of the more vulnerable lyrics, Meath says the songs would always end up worse. "I had to stop doing my mirror face at them," she says. "And even if it wasn’t as ‘cool,’ it’s what I was feeling.""If we re-recorded anything, it just wouldn’t be the moment," Sanborn says. "It was true improvisation. And with improv, if you're doing it right, I think you’re being your most honest, raw self." Witnessing how the polishing and refining of their improvisational work was always to the detriment of the track, both Meath and Sanborn relaxed into the process and let go. "The craziest thing... is that it worked," Sanborn says. The two sneak a glance across the table, a check-in or a shared moment of gratitude. The waiter comes over and Meath orders the cheeseburger. "Just from the tone of your voice, I’m detecting you want your own," Sanborn says with a chuckle. The symbiosis of the pair can be felt in the adventurous nature of the record, intensely intimate and uniquely experimental, created by a partnership that thrives on trust and playfulness. The name of the album, partially an homage to Sanborn's nickname, is a representation of the band's new mentality that accepts and even welcomes the uncertainty of sonic risk-taking and improvisation. If their first record embodied joyfulness and exultation, this album invites unabashed exploration. The epitome of Sylvan Esso's new ethos can be found in the track "Your Reality," an enigmatic synth-pop song with a swelling string quartet that holds the prophetic and titular hook, "Surreal but free?/ It's your reality (no rules lately, no rules Sandy)."When Sanborn first produced the track, the two discovered that each had heard the downbeat differently. Meath had already written lyrics exploring the individual experience of one’s perceived reality and so, in an audacious gamble, decided to protect the disputed downbeat, constructing the baseline and vocal track in a way that validated both interpretations. The song quickly became the symbolic apex of the album — evidence of the duo's playful philosophy and keen experimentation. "Ninety-nine percent of people who listen to the track won't ever think about this. But it made the song both really simple and massively complex. And I think that's the hallmark of our band at this point," Sanborn says. "There's a way to hear our band and kind of dismiss it. For better or worse, we write the type of songs that allow you to enjoy them on a surface level if you want. But if you want to dig into it, every step you go, there’s something for you to find," Sanborn says of the album. "I'm too Midwestern to be this cocky, but it’s a song I don't think any other band could have written."It’s a stark contrast to their last album Free Love, an earnest and tidy project that relied dutifully on the structured tradition of indie-pop. "In a lot of ways, it feels like this record is deeply a return to our first record, in that our first project was really asking, Well, what sounds good? What does this mean to me?" Sanborn says. "I really don't feel like we're confined anymore," Sanborn says. "It feels like we can keep changing because no matter what we do, if the two of us make it, it's gonna sound like a Sylvan Esso record. And knowing that makes all of the other questions go away," Sanborn says. The album still remains acutely close to the two, as it’s yet to be performed in front of their fans. "Songs creep up on me. And I’m still so deeply in the record because we haven't gotten to tour it yet," Meath says. "There's so much more to be discovered."Photos by Alessandra Schade https://www.papermag.com/sylvan-esso-no-rules-sandy-2659297999.html

#Jg melon #No rules sandy #Electro-pop #North carolina #Electric lady studios #Sylvan esso #Alessandra Schade #PAPER

[canceramorem]

COVID -19. what a fucking shit show that was and still is. It figures I would have to be incarcerated when something like that would happen. Not an epidemic a fucking PANDEMIC! any way you look at it , the COVID really sucked. . They even gave us masks that were jail stripes. At this point , I had been in jail for some time. The lawyer they gave me at first was Andrew Moses, ( currently, he's a judge- figures! ) So he was decent, but he didn't handle felony cases. So they appointed me this other fucking ass -clown named Keith Massey Jr. This guy used to work for the prosecutor, so I was fucked. It was at that point. That I lost my mind. They were trying to give me years, yes six years and all the bullshit that goes along with it. Probation, parole, post release, what the fuck ever. I knew if I had just been honest to begin with then they probably would have just let me go. It was an accident, I just wanted her to go to the hospital and get the fucking tampon out. I had no idea where she was or who she was sleeping with. Of course it's too hard for her to spend fifty cents and drop me a line. And besides that, I wanted to at least see her before I went to prison or killed myself one. I had planned out my suicide and I fell into a deep state of depression. (I found out later that she had gotten her disability benefits and got a huge amount of money, an apartment, and some new friends (GUY FRIENDS! and that she was out partying- going to bars, doing cocaine and even got caught with a bunch of Methamphetamines) I knew she was a slut, but I still loved her. ( Maybe I'm the crazy one!) YEAH, she literally had thousands of dollars and couldn't spend a measley 50 cents on the guy that saved her life and travelled thousands of miles to be with her. She used the excuse of "they told me if I contacted you then my kids would get taken. - NEWSFLASH - your kids already are with this douchebag that won't let you see them because you did him dirty too! It's whatever, she's a piece of shit anyway. She could have easily wrote an anonymous name on the letter.

The year before at the same time was when her and I did our little "outlaw"deal, and fled misdemeanor charges by going to Fayetteville from Asheville. She did like she always does and had the fucking cops come to our place we had just got( she didn't call she just caused a scene and the guy renting is the room called. ) So they came and left , but came back two hours later and arrested her. I stayed in the room and did not even let them get a glimpse of me ( remember, I had a warrant too!). So the next day, I rounded up about 12$ and took the trip to the jail which was about a half an hour away by bus. Before I went to the jail, I went by the post office and got a stamp and mailed her a letter telling her how much I love her. I then went to the kiosk and put my last and only ten dollars in the inmate kiosk, so she would at least be able to get something to eat and maybe write to me. ( She claims she wrote me and put money on my books , yeah right- fucking liar!) Remember, I have a warrant for my arrest in Asheville (3 hours away). I went to the jail and did a television visit with her. She was begging me to bond her out, her bond was like one hundred dollars.

It scarred me so bad from the fact that she just abandoned me that even to this day, I have heart problems t's my own fucking fault for falling in love with such a grimy, slimy, bitch like her. But yeah, I didn't get not one visit, letter, or phone call. Add that on top of being so heartbroken

#jasonleeplaster #streetloveandseaglass #pizzlelovedope #ashevillelovedope #valeriejanegreen #duanekennethclookey #@marieclaracamp #jeypizzle #marieclaracamp

[melbournenewsvine]

An elderly couple stays in a flooded house and spends 16 hours a day cleaning

“We lost a lot but we saved some things too,” said their daughter Monica. More than 240 homes were submerged in Maribyrnong on Friday. Many victims chose to go outside temporarily while cleaning, but Sue and Hon refused to leave their home for nearly 40 years. They continue to sleep on the second level, where most of the living spaces are located. Su and Hon Loi have been working every day for up to 16 hours since the floods hit Friday.attributed to him:Luis Enrique Asqui Their children said they were worried about living on the damaged property, but understood why they were staying. “We offered to move them because it’s dirty and smelly and they don’t have hot water, but they don’t want to go,” said Monica. “It is their home. You have to respect what they want. Their priority now is to get their home back.” Their son, Mark, added: “It’s emotional but dad and mom are safe, that’s the main thing and they decided to stay here.” Cleaning a flood-ravaged home is a daunting task at any age, not to mention your 83 and 85, but it’s perfectly fine to have both Hon and Sue in the cleaning process. The leather bag is placed on top of a pile of discarded belongings that did not survive.attributed to him:Luis Enrique Asqui Monica said that despite her parents’ great support, “they don’t know how not to work.” They ran restaurants and even a few years ago they ran a laundry. “As far as they can remember, they worked. They worked as children and their whole lives,” said Monica. “So even though it’s not reasonable to do at their age, getting them to relax is almost impossible. “They are very resilient people, they’ve been through wars, they’ve had hardships all their lives and they’ve come to a country that can’t speak the language.” Sue and Hon Lowe have lived in a house on Clyde Street for nearly 40 years.attributed to him:Luis Enrique Asqui Mark agreed. “That’s just Mom and Dad. That’s what they do, they can’t sit still for a second even though they are in their 80s. It’s just in their nature.” If they felt physical pain, you wouldn’t know it. Su and Hoon are not the ones to complain. However, this latest tragedy is devastating having just gotten back on their feet after dealing with COVID-19 isolation and grieving the death of close friends and family. loading “We’re upset and worried about what’s coming next,” Sue said. When the age Visited, and the ice cream truck stopped by offering free sweets. Sue said she was grateful for all the help she and Hon received. “They are very good. People keep bringing food and drink,” she said. Pat Ardino, who lives in an unaffected part of Maribyrnong, didn’t know the Lowe’s family before Saturday, but he’s been at their home every day since then to help them out. For him, the couple is very inspiring. “Their attitude is very positive,” Ardino said. “At their age, they could just sit back and do nothing, but they’re here, persevere slowly and get the job done.” Monica Lowe with her mother Sue.attributed to him:Luis Enrique Asqui Monica smiled proudly. “They never want anything for themselves and are always very grateful to anyone who would do anything for them,” she said. “A lot of 80-year-olds can’t do all this. I think my parents are great people.” The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the most interesting daily stories, analysis and insights. Register here. Source link Originally published at Melbourne News Vine

#Melbourne News Vine