#deadliest virus in history

[tarotenvelhecida]

pick a card– which book speaks to your soul?

You read something which you thought only happened to you, and you discover that it happened 100 years ago to Dostoyevsky. This is a very great liberation for the suffering, struggling person, who always thinks that he is alone. This is why art is important.

—Conversations with James Baldwin.

this is my love letter to all the bookworms in the tarot community— pick a pile & i'll give you a list of genres + book suggestions carrying important messages to you.

I. THE FIRST

To the daydreamers and the escapists; to the ones that need to rest before following what you need follow.

RELEVANT GENRES & CONCEPTS– fiction in general; romance; fantasy; fairytale; poetry; ‘happy ever after’ endings; hopeful endings; fantasy; magic; dreamy.

AUTHORS – Ursula K. Le Guin; Louise Gluck; Mary Oliver; Jane Austen.

BOOKS FOR YOU–

‘The Paper Garden: An Artist Begins Her Life’s Work at 72 – Molly Peacock'

‘Good Bones – Maggie Smith’

‘If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho – Translation by Anne Carson’

‘Owls and Other Fantasies – Mary Oliver’

‘Dog Songs – Mary Oliver’

‘Emma – Jane Austen’

‘Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones’

‘The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’

‘Death Comes for the Archbishop – Willa Cather’

‘Sonnets from the Portuguese – Elizabeth Barrett Browning’

‘The Hawk and the Dove – Penelope Wilcock’

‘The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright’

‘The Ink Dark Moon – Ono no Komachi & Izumi Shikibu’

‘Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll’

‘The Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf’

‘Little Women – Louisa May Alcott’

‘Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery’

‘Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins – Emma Donoghue’

II. THE SECOND

For the ones that carry the ache to learn and know everything; to the ones bored with life's commodities & seriousness. For the ones that question everything around them – as they should do.

You do not need to fit in. Don't change yourself for other people. If they want to see you this way, then become the proud witch in the edge of the woods.

RELEVANT GENRES & CONCEPTS– books on 'niche' knowledge; science; philosophy; true crime; drama; scandalous romances; adventure, magical realism; YA thriller & horror; comedy & sardonic comedy; ‘controversial’/'weird' books.

AUTHORS– Carmen Maria Machado, Kate Moore, Grady Hendrix.

BOOKS FOR YOU–

‘My Sister, The Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite'

‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales – Oliver Sacks'

‘St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves – Karen Russell'

‘Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife – Mary Roach’

‘The Hitchhiker Guide to Galaxy – Douglas Adams'

‘Inferno – Dante Alighieri'

'Magic for Beginners – Kelly Link'

‘Lace Bone Beast: Poems & Other Fairytales for Wicked Girls – N.L. Shompole'

‘Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found – Frances Larson’

'The Woman They Could Not Silence – Kate Moore'

‘The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams'

‘She Kills Me: The True Stories of History’s Deadliest Women – Jennifer Wright’

‘Anatomy: A Love Story – Dana Schwartz'

‘Pretty Dead Queens – Alexa Donne'

‘I’m Glad My Mom Died – Jennette McCurdy'

'Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus – Bill Wasik'

‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina – Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’

III. THE THIRD

You need to put your sadness somewhere. If you can't, remember that someone has done it before – and transformed it into a story. Let the words you'll read be the resting place for whatever you're feeling right now; let yourself remember that not even your pain is lonely in this world.

RELEVANT GENRES AND CONCEPTS— poetry; gothic horror; thrillers; murder mysteries; tragedies; cathartic stories; biographies.

AUTHORS– Shirley Jackson, Osamu Dazai, Clarice Lispector, Sylvia Plath.

BOOKS FOR YOU—

'The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion'

‘The Dead – James Joyce'

‘What The Living Do – Marie Howe'

‘The Hour of the Star – Clarice Lispector'

‘Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector’

‘Some of Us Did Not Die – June Jordan'

Somewhere Towards the End – Diana Athill'

‘We Have Always Lived in The Castle – Shirley Jackson'

'Heaven: A Novel – Mieko Kawakami'

'Journal of a Solitude – May Sarton'

'Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte'

'Grief is the Thing with Feathers – Max Porter'

‘Carrie – Stephen King'

'Of Dogs and Walls – Yuko Tsushima'

'Frankenstein – Mary Shelley'

'The Stepping Off Place – Cameron Kelly'

'Letters to Milena – Franz Kafka'

‘Beloved – Toni Morrison'

#pac #pick a card #pick a card reading #pick a pile #pick a pile reading #pick a deck #tarot reading #tarot #tarot reader #cartomancy #divination #witchblr #witchcraft #witch #tarotblr #tarotdaily #intuitive #tarot community #tarot cards #tarotonline #free tarot readings

[liminalweirdo]

Endangering Disabled People’s Lives is a Policy Choice

The ongoing rate of COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths we are seeing in the US isn’t inevitable; it’s a policy choice.

It’s a policy choice to lift mask mandates while we’re still seeing over 50,000 new cases and over 1,500 new deaths due to COVID each day – likely underestimates due to unreported cases. It’s a policy choice to ignore COVID as the ongoing mass disabling event that it is, by not funding research and resources for those struggling with long COVID. It’s a policy choice to not enact paid sick leave and paid family leave to cover all workers. It’s a policy choice to not invest in free childcare for all and healthy conditions for teachers and children in schools. It’s a policy choice to not continue recurring, direct cash stimulus payments so that people don’t have to put their lives at risk in their workplaces. It’s a policy choice to lift eviction moratoriums, conduct encampment sweeps, and fail to invest in affordable housing for all. It’s a policy choice to continue incarcerating people in the pandemic hotspots of jails, prisons, and detention centers, instead of decarcerating as many people as possible as quickly as possible, as countless organizers and public health professionals have demanded. It’s a policy choice to invest more into policing than public health, even in the midst of one of the deadliest disease events in US history.

Public health must do better at challenging and undoing our field’s entrenched ableism.

We can choose a different way forward, a way that protects the health of all of us, starting with disabled people, those most at risk of morbidity and mortality, and those who have been historically and structurally marginalized. We must hold our government accountable for the policy choices that have led to the thousands of lives lost to COVID-19 every day in the US. We must create pathways for disabled people to enter the fields of public health and medicine and to help shape the policies that affect us. We must invest in public health research that addresses gaps in data about disabled people so that we can create inclusive evidence-based policy towards health equity. We must center disability and racial justice not just in word, but in action. We must continue to wear masks, get vaccinated and boosted, and engage in hard conversations with our families, our friends, and our communities to do the same.

The pandemic isn’t over. Not for disabled people, immunocompromised people, children under 5, elders, or our families and loved ones. Not for the millions of people who have lost a loved one to COVID in 2022 alone. Not for the millions who have developed long COVID and continue to struggle with physical and psychological symptoms, months or years after having the virus. We must stop acting like the danger has passed.

- source

#covid #ableism #disablism #eugenics #canada loves eugenics

[kingoftheu]

"Old king plague is dead

The Smallpox plague is dead

No more children dying hard

No more cripples living scarred

With a mark of the devil′s kiss

We still may die of other things

But we will not die of this

Raise your glasses high

For all who will not die

To all the doctors, nurses, too

And all the lab technicians who

Drove it into the ground

If the whole UN does nothing else

It cut this terror down."

- Leslie Fish (who is really cool give her a google)

On this day Smallpox was dexlared extinct in the wild. Years of effort by scientists and health workers around the globe were certified as complete on ghis day in 1979.

One of the greatest killers of humans in history, only Malaria and the Bubonic Plague really rival it. The Deadliest Virus in History.

And we killed it.

#smallpox #disease #pandemic #history #world health organization #virus #viruses #victory #humans #humanity #humans are great #Youtube

[crimson-ace-reviews]

Not the Oldest, Just the Best: A Tommy Oliver Retrospective

On November 19th, 2022, Jason David Frank was found dead in Texas, the cause of death being ruled as a suicide. It obviously came as a shock to everyone, 90's kids and tokusatsu fans alike. He was a man of many talents, and he will be sincerely missed.

In addition to his career in the MMA, Jason David Frank was an TV icon back in the 90's, essentially becoming the main character in the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers in spite of how limited his role was intended to be. He's reprized his role as Tommy Oliver countless times, has had multiple sets of powers, and is easily the most popular character in the entire Power Rangers franchise, for better or for worse.

But how did he get so popular? What was the appeal of this character that kept us wanting to see him again and again? I say we should take a little walk down memory lane and see how Tommy Oliver went from a pawn in one of Rita Repulsa's deadliest schemes to arguably one of the most iconic characters in tokusatsu history. This is going to be a pretty long retrospective, so I decided to split it up into five parts to make it easier. With that being said, It's Recappin' Time!

(Part 1: Green Up Your Act)

Tommy's first appearance was in the five-part Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers episode, “Green With Evil”, the very first multi-part episode in the franchise. He was introduced as a rival and potential equal to Jason, AKA, the original Red Ranger (Played by Austin St. John). The two's first interaction is during a “martial arts expo”. Yeah, they don't specify what kind of martial arts any of these characters practice, but come on, look at this.

Isn't this some cool martial arts stuff? I dare say it's even an “awesome display of martial arts”, like what the announcer says.

In all seriousness, Tommy was a participant in this expo, and was introduced as the hot new kid in town whose skills were no laughing matter. He went up in a karate sparring match against Jason, and the two were pretty evenly matched. It's a really good way to establish Tommy's prowess, as earlier episodes like “A Pressing Engagement” showed off how strong Jason was on his own. What I like about the first act of this episode is that it doesn't make Tommy too overpowered, since the match ends in a draw. Yeah, Jason was struggling to pull through, but at the same time, it shows that him and Tommy are equal in many ways. It also shows Tommy as a virtuous person, as when resident bullies Bulk and Skull (Played by Paul Schrier and Jason Narvy respectively) start bothering Kimberly, AKA, the original Pink Ranger (Played by Amy Jo Johnson), Tommy steps in and gets them to back off. Even though he seems like a hotshot, he's a good person at heart. Unsurprisingly, Kimberly falls for Tommy partially because of this, and the two make plans to hang out.

Unfortunately, Tommy's prowess in martial arts attracts the attention of the evil Rita Repulsa (Voiced by Barbara Goodson), who chooses him to be his brainwashed servant. After brainwashing Tommy, Rita grants him Ranger powers of his own thanks to having a lost Power Coin, the source of the other five Rangers' powers. Granted, it's never explained how she came into contact with the Coin, but it's hinted that she stole it from the Rangers' mentor, Zordon (Voiced by David Fielding).

Either way, Tommy becomes the Green Ranger, and proceeds to, for lack of a better work, ABSOLUTELY WRECK THE SHIT OUT OF THE OTHER RANGERS. Like, I can't understate how deadly of a threat Tommy was in his first episode alone. As soon as he gets the powers, Tommy breaks into the Rangers' Command Center, and just tears into all the wiring in all the control panels, even infecting Zordon's assistant robot, Alpha 5 (Voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz), with a virus. Not only does this mean that the Rangers' communicators are offline, not only does this prevent them from teleporting to the Command Center and back, but because the technology in the Command Center is needed for Zordon to communicate with the Rangers through his time warp, the Rangers have pretty much lost all of their support. It doesn't help that Tommy manages to beat up all five Rangers with ease, even breaking into their Megazord just to throw them out. And this is all done with his bare hands, before Rita even gives him the Sword of Darkness.

This arc in general gives a lot for the Rangers to do. In addition to Kimberly trying to reach out to Tommy (unaware that he's the Green Ranger), you have moments like Zack, the original Black Ranger (Played by Walter Jones) taking charge when Jason is busy fighting Rita's general, Goldar (Voiced by Kerrigan Mahan), and Billy and Trini, the original Blue and Yellow Rangers (Played by David Yost and Thuy Trang respectively) working to repair the Command Center, with Billy's growing knowledge of Zordon's technology playing a big part in later seasons. You also have Jason struggling to find a way to best the Green Ranger, with the added irony that we know how hard it was for him to keep up with Tommy in civilian form early on. There's really tense scene where an unmorphed Jason tries to fight Tommy, and if it wasn't for the last-minute intervention of Billy teleporting him out, he would have died.

The conflict in this five-parter just keeps escalating. It starts off like a standard monster of the week plot with Tommy, only for Rita to use more tools and assets on her side to make things harder and harder for the Rangers. It all culminates in Part IV, where she uses a solar eclipse to drain the Megazord's power, while Tommy, Goldar, and a new enemy, Scorpina (Voiced by Wendee Lee), tear it apart and send the individual Zords plummeting into lava. Oh, and that's before Rita gives Tommy the Dragon Dagger, allowing him to summon the Dragonzord to attack the city.

Thankfully, Alpha manages to reestablish contact with Zordon, who finds a way to restore the damaged Zords, giving the Rangers an even playing field. Once the Dragonzord is subdued, Jason and Tommy have their final duel, and Jason destroys the Sword of Darkness, freeing Tommy from Rita's control. While hesitant to accept thanks to what he did, Tommy is offered a place on the team, and soon accepts, so the five-parter ends with Tommy being given his own communicator.

This arc is just fantastic from start to end. It was the kick in the pants Power Rangers needed to go from a typical monster of the week show to something with more story-driven episodes down the road. Tommy himself was also a welcome addition to the cast thanks to his friendship with Jason and eventually relationship with Kimberly.

I think now's a good time to talk about the Green Ranger's design. It's nothing short of amazing. I absolutely love the way the gold armor looks on him, as well as the gold armbands and the little speck of red on the helmet. There's also the Dragon Dagger, a dagger that doubles as a flute capable of playing a theme that's just as iconic as his design.

Of course, like the other Rangers, another suit was made for American scenes, and it's worth talking about for all the wrong reasons.

The armor for this suit is very flimsy, and you can tell when it's being used due to how cheap it looks. Supposedly, it was done so it would be easier for the actor to move around in, but don’t quote me on this.

Anyway, while Tommy still joined the team, there was a bit of a problem. His Sentai counterpart, Burai, wasn't able to go outside and fight with his teammates for too long for reasons that are way too complicated to explain, so long story short, the writers for Mighty Morphin' decided to work around that by always having Tommy be busy with something, usually karate practice. It honestly made it hard to really see him as part of the team initially with how distracted he seemed to get.

Of course, there were some exceptions to this, with a couple episodes focusing more on Tommy, like “The Spit Flower”, which focused on his friendship with Kimberly. A float Kimberly was working on to be in a parade to meant promote world peace is targeted by Rita (being the petty bitch she is), and after her Putties lay waste to the float design, it devastates her. Kudos to Amy Jo Johnson's performance in this scene. Generally, Tommy and Kimberly have some great interactions here, and their actors work well together. While the Rangers deal with Rita's new monster, Spit Flower, Tommy secretly works to repair the model used for Kimberly's float in order to surprise her when the Rangers watch it on TV. Overall, a pretty wholesome episode, and one that would further the romance between Tommy and Kimberly.

“Gung Ho!”, is an episode that focused on Tommy's growing friendship with Jason. In this episode, the two are training for the Team Ninja Finals, but keep butting heads. Trini says they need to “gung ho”, claiming it's Chinese for “work together”... a term which is wrong for several reasons as while the original term was taken from “gōnghé”, the shortened term for the Gōngyè Hézuòshè organizations established in China. But putting aside the misuse of a Chinese term in an episode of an American TV show adapting footage from a Japanese TV show, Bulk and Skull then show up Tommy and Jason with the two ninja competitors who are shown to be far better at being ninja thanks to being dressed up like stereotypical ninja straight out of Miami Connection.

As for Rita, her latest plan involves sending upgraded versions of the Putty Patrollers after the Rangers. These Putties are nearly indestructible, so Zordon sends Jason and Tommy to find the Thunder Slingers, new weapons that should be able to destroy them, while the other Rangers try and hold them off. Once they get near the Thunder Slingers, they struggle to beat the guardian of the weapons, Titanus, a new Zord themed after a brachiosaurus. Deciding to take Trini's advice, Jason and Tommy come up with a new plan. While Jason runs up the hill while wearing Tommy's Dragon Armor, Tommy borrows Jason's Power Sword to distract Titanus. The two pass, get the weapons, and once the Rangers use them to defeat the Super Putties, the Thunder Slingers are never used again. But hey, at least now they can get the help of Titanus when they need it. The episode ends with Jason and Tommy taking on Bulk and Skull's ninja in the competition in a very well choreographed fight scene. Overall, a pretty fun episode about teamwork.

Unfortunately, the writers of this show were running out of Green Ranger footage, and rather than kill him off like what happened with his Sentai counterpart, they decided to go a different route in the two-part episode, “The Green Candle”. A nervous Tommy's plans to ask Kimberly to a dance are interrupted when Rita's forces kidnap him, and Goldar gives him an ultimatum: Serve Rita and keep his powers, or permanently lose them, thanks to the titular Green Candle. While Tommy was under Rita's control, he touched this magic candle that connected it to his powers. Once the Candle burns out, Tommy's powers will be transferred to Rita. Why it took her this long to break it out is anyone's guess.

Being the only one who has been to Rita's base of operations before, Jason volunteers to break into the palace and take the Green Candle in order to save Tommy's powers. In spite of this, Tommy doesn't want Jason to take the risk when it's his powers that are on the line. It's interesting to see Tommy in this position where he doesn't want Jason to get hurt for his sake, as it implies that he could still have some guilt for his actions while he was brainwashed by Rita.

While the other Rangers set up a way for Jason to enter Rita's palace, one of her monsters, Cyclops, forces Tommy into action, even though he's all alone. Eventually, Zordon forces the Rangers to abort the mission, with Zack going in and pointing out that even if they get the candle, Tommy could still die. While the Rangers manage to defeat Cyclops, by that point, it's too late. The candle burns out, and the only way to stop Rita from getting Tommy's powers is if they're transferred to another Ranger, Jason. In spite of him losing his powers and being surrounded by the transformed Rangers, they all reassure Tommy that he will always be a Ranger. After losing his powers, Kimberly meets up with Tommy while he is training in the park, and after the two talk a little (with Tommy trying to reassure Kimberly that things will be okay without him), we get the first kiss in the history of the franchise. With his confidence renewed, Tommy asks Kimberly to go to the dance.

“The Green Candle” was a great episode, with a very personal conflict that didn't just rely on a monster Tommy had to punch, but a tiny object capable of stopping him from beating Rita forever. The ending where Tommy had to give up his powers is bittersweet, but we see him trying his best to keep himself busy to deal with the big change in his life. The kiss with Kimberly also serves as a great start to their budding relationship since she and Tommy first met at the start of “Green With Evil”. If this was the final appearance of Tommy in the franchise, I don't think I honestly would have minded, as it was executed brilliantly.

However, it wasn't the end for Tommy. Because of how popular the show was, this caused Saban Entertainment to commission Toei to film new footage with the Rangers and new monsters, after they had exhausted all the remaining footage from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. While Jason did get to use the Dragonzord and Dragon Dagger when needed for a few episodes, it wasn't long until the new footage paved the way for a return of an old friend.

The two-part episode, “Return of an Old Friend” features, what else, the return of Tommy. In this episode, Rita's latest monster, Dramole, helps Goldar steal the Dragon Dagger, and Goldar uses it to sic the Dragonzord on Angel Grove. In addition, Dramole helped to brainwash and kidnap the parents of the Rangers, and Goldar demands they give up their Power Coins in order to get their parents back. Goldar, being evil, lies about giving them back as soon he has the Power Coins, meaning the Rangers are now helpless to stop them.

However, Jason reveals they still have the Dragon Power Coin, as the first part ends with a dramatic reveal of Tommy that was kind of ruined by the opening crediting Jason David Frank as a guest star, in addition to me saying he returns in this episode. In the second part, Tommy is teleported to the Command Center and gets briefed on the situation. With the Green Ranger powers still being heavily drained, Zordon uses his own energy to jumpstart Tommy's powers, but not only does doing so nearly kill him, but there's a chance that the powers will run dry completely during a fight.

So yeah, this isn't exactly a triumphant return for Tommy as a Power Ranger, and his first fight in this episode will set the stage for the rest of his tenure as the Green Ranger. While he was able to take out the other five Rangers in the first part of “Green With Evil”, here, he struggles to keep up with Goldar and a group of Putty Patrollers. Tommy barely manages to get the Dragon Dagger and the other five Power Coins, and even then, it took a temporary power boost from Alpha. Afterwards, he's knocked unconscious just as he's teleported back to the Command Center.

While the other Rangers take on Dramole, it turns out that after being electrocuted by the force field set up by Goldar designed to protect the Power Coins, Tommy's powers were recharged once more. They're still temporary, but now, they're far more stable. After helping the Rangers defeat Dramole, Tommy is welcomed back into the team.

All and all, this was a pretty creative way to bring back Tommy. It still reintroduced the character and gave him back his powers, but the story made it clear that they weren't just going to ignore what the Green Candle did to him. Once the second season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers started, it became clear that it was only a matter of time until the Green Ranger powers were lost permanently.

The first major warning sign came in the three-part second season premiere, “The Mutiny”. When a new villain, Lord Zedd (Voiced by Robert Axelrod), usurps command from Rita and focuses his sights on Earth, Zordon gives the Rangers new Zords to fight his monsters with, but Tommy isn't able to access one for himself, as his powers are too weak to convert his old Zord into a Thunderzord like the others. The next sign came in “The Green Dream”, where Tommy wasn't even able to summon the Dragonzord to help the Rangers during a Megazord fight. The next few episodes have an underlying sense of dread to them, as it's established that the Green Ranger powers have almost run dry, not helped by the fact that Lord Zedd has been directly targeting Tommy to ensure he would lose his.

This all culminates in the two-part episode, “Green No More”. While Kimberly tries to comfort Tommy one day, an image of the latter appears, claiming to be from the future. All he can say is he's in the middle of “the final battle”, and that Tommy needs to remember to bring his communicator. The message rings true, as Zordon informs Tommy that he only has enough energy to morph into the Green Ranger one last time. Lord Zedd planned for this, sending the monster Turbanshell to draw Tommy out to morph one last time, only to transport him and steal the powers for himself. Part I ends with Lord Zedd using the siphoned Green Ranger powers to use for his own team of evil Power Rangers, and Tommy is cornered by Turbanshell, sweating heavily and very afraid.

In Part II, Goldar shows up to order Turbanshell somewhere else while he deals with Tommy himself. It makes sense, as not only has Goldar been a consistent threat to the Rangers, but the very first battle Tommy fought after getting the Green Ranger powers back involved Goldar. Rather than simply kill him now, Goldar takes the opportunity to mock the powerless Tommy by reminding him of how strong he used to be, all to further punctuate that Tommy's time as the Green Ranger is over. And right before he prepares to finish him off, Goldar tells Tommy that he wants to hear him say that Goldar is his superior. Tommy hesitates for a few seconds, before he defiantly tells Goldar that he is out of his mind. With a reinvigorated spirit, Tommy jumps into action against Goldar as his theme song, “Go Green Ranger”, plays, showing that whether he has the powers or not, Tommy will always be the Green Ranger.

During his last stand, Tommy manages to steal the device Goldar used to show Tommy footage of his old battles, and sends him away. Realizing it's a time device, he uses it to contact his past self and get his communicator, using it to teleport to Lord Zedd's hideout and smashes the Green Crystal powering Zedd's evil Rangers. While he gets enough energy for one more one more fight, after Turbanshell is defeated, Tommy's tenure as the Green Ranger officially ends.

Overall, this arc was a real highlight for Tommy as a character. The way his insecurities were explored was very compelling to watch, and seeing him save the day even after losing his powers was a triumphant sight, as was his realization that powers don't make the hero. While he would miss being a hero, just like at the end of “The Green Candle”, he's shown to be moving on. The very next episode, “Missing Green”, shows Tommy writing a letter to Jason letting him know that he doesn't blame him for not getting the Green Candle back in Season 1. This whole arc really showed Tommy growing as a person, showing that he wasn't the forgetful hothead we were first introduced to.

But because Tommy was easily the most marketable character in the show, and because Gosei Sentai Dairanger also had a Sixth Ranger, it was a no-brainer on Saban's part on how they could adapt this character.

(Part Two, A White to Behold)

After being absent for a whopping three episodes, Tommy returns in the two-part episode, “White Light”. After some secret keeping from Zordon and Alpha during the first part, they reveal the fruits of their efforts: A new White Ranger. And while it's well known by now that Tommy is the White Ranger, it was a pretty shocking twist for audiences thanks to the intrigue built up by the first part, in addition to the other characters introduced as potential allies to the Rangers. In fact, I'm pretty sure this was what was going through a lot of kids' heads back when “White Light” first aired.

The way that the White Ranger is introduced is nothing short of awe-inspiring. The way he's initially shown in a flash of white light and descends from above, giving him a bit of an otherworldly presence. It's a brilliant way to contrast the more sinister introduction the Green Ranger got in “Green With Evil”, where he was shrouded in smoke and was introduced with Rita's evil chanting.

While I personally prefer the Green Ranger's design, I still think the White Ranger's suit looks really damn sleek. I love the way the armor looks, and the gold goes perfectly with the white and black. He gives off the impression of a truly heroic figure.

Not only is Tommy presented with a talking sword named Saba in order to control his own Thunderzord, the White Tigerzord, but Zordon also declares that he will be the new leader of the team. This was most likely done for two reasons: One, it was obvious that Tommy was the most popular character in the show, and two, there were some behind the scenes issues with Austin St. John, Walter Jones, and Thuy Trang even before they all left the show out of protest for their unfair treatment and minimal pay, so this could have been the writers subtly trying to give less focus to Jason, Zack, and Trini to prepare for their actors walking off.

Tommy uses his new White Tigerzord to destroy Lord Zedd's latest monster, Nimrod, and afterwards, is welcomed back into the team. Also, Rita was freed from her dumpster prison for like a minute or two, but that wasn't really as important as it sounded. Overall, a pretty solid way to welcome Tommy back into the team.

The very next episode, “Two for One”, develops Tommy's relationship with Kimberly as the two go on a date. It's some pretty cute stuff, and Jason David Frank has some great chemistry with Amy Jo Johnson. The two even dance for a brief moment before they fend off some Putties. This episode also shows off the physical prowess of the White Ranger powers, as Tommy is able to take care of a monster, Pursehead, on his own, albeit with a little help from Saba.

Surprisingly, despite becoming the main character at this point, Tommy didn't get a lot of focus episodes for a while. I think this was mainly because of the aforementioned departures of Jason, Zack, and Trini's respective actors, so the main priority of the writers was focusing more on the introduction of their replacements, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha (Played by Steve Cardenas, Johnny Yong Bosch, and Karan Ashley respectively). Tommy still took charge of the team during the action, but he more or less got less focus than he did at the beginning of the season.

That changed after a while, as he got a three-part episode dedicated to focusing on him, “Return of the Green Ranger”. Rita (Who at this point, had returned and married Lord Zedd) summons the Wizard of Deception to help Lord Zedd in his plan to send the Rangers back in time, but she points out that with Tommy to lead them, the plan will only work if he's out of the picture. The Wizard sends a squadron of Putties to ambush Tommy, knocking him out so he can steal a lock of his long-ass 90's hair to create an evil clone of him. Uh... you know you could have just killed him while he was unconscious, right? I mean, yeah, the Wizard's initial attempt to brainwash Bulk and Skull into cutting it off for him, but if the Putties had already restrained him, what was stopping you from deep frying him with your magic while he was unconscious? I just think it would have made more sense if the Putties managed to cut off some of the hair during the heat of the battle, instead of a plan that would make this Wizard look like an idiot.

The clone, called Tom Oliver by most fans, tricks the Rangers into falling for the Wizard's trap, who sends them back to colonial Angel Grove, specifically around the late 18th century, as it's being invaded by British troops... even though California wasn't officially recognized as a state until around the mid-19th century, and before then, it was a Spanish colony. Also, this might be due to the fact that I'm a New England native, but I'm pretty sure the original American colonies were on the eastern coast, not the western coast, which the British never invaded. Did I mention that this episode was the result of Saban needing to cobble together another few episodes as a result of filming for the 1995 movie in Australia taking longer than expected?

While the Rangers are trapped in a historian's worst nightmare, Tommy is confronted by Tom, and we see that Tom serves as a way to show the audience how Tommy could have turned out if he stayed under Rita's influence back in Season 1, a cruel and bitter man who flaunts his superiority over others, eager to pick a fight with someone. Both Tommy and Tom morph, and while I'm not a fan of how complicated the setup is, I can't deny how awesome the fight between the Green Ranger and the White Ranger is. The action is fast-paced, and both of them get a lot of good blows in to the point where sparks fly from their punches.

After knocking out Tommy, the Wizard of Deception once again forgets to actually kill him and leaves him unconscious while ordering Tom to hijack the Dragonzord to attack Angel Grove with. Tommy eventually comes to, and he's noticeably exhausted from the fight, which Zordon explains is a result of the clone draining Tommy of his energy when the Wizard created Tom. It gets to the point where he can barely stagger up a flight of stairs, and while morphing should revitalize him, it'll only be temporary. Tommy morphs and summons the White Tigerzord to fight the Dragonzord with, and this is another impressive fight. Yeah, it's pretty short, but I'm surprised at how well the editors managed to blend the Zyuranger and Dairanger footage together. I question how the Tigerzord in Warrior Mode was able to lose to the Dragonzord when it's supposed to be stronger, but then again, the writers just established that Tommy isn't at 100% at the moment, so that could be a possible explanation.

Tommy is cornered by Tom and the Wizard, and when given the chance to surrender, Tommy tricks them into telling him what time period the other Rangers are in, stealing the Wizard's wand and traveling to rescue them before traveling back and killing the Wizard himself. Tom feels remorseful for being controlled by the Wizard. I guess it's meant to parallel how Tommy felt at the end of “Green With Evil”, but it doesn't work because unlike Tommy, Tom was born evil from the start. The two go back in time to deal with some mutant rat monsters they left in colonial Angel Grove (Which might sound like a big deal, but it really isn't), and afterwards, Tom decides to stay with the colonists. I'd question how this will affect history, but this isn't even the first or last time Mighty Morphin' will screw up the timeline, to say nothing about what would happen in future seasons like Time Force or Dino Charge.

Overall, while the actual fight between the Green and White Rangers was fun, this three-parter just wasn't that good. It dragged on, and once you learn that it was created to fill in a gap of episodes while the cast and crew were in Australia, it explains why there are so many plotholes. I'd still recommend at least checking out the scenes between Tommy and Tom to see how much the former has changed, but it's just a very forgettable episode that really didn't need to be three parts long.

Not long after this episode, Season 2 ended, and Season 3 kicked off with the destruction of the Thunderzords, forcing the Rangers to go on a quest to meet the creator of the Power Coins, Ninjor (Voiced by Kim Strauss). He gives them a new set of Zords, the Ninjazords. Tommy's Ninjazord was the Falconzord, which would actually play a bigger role in the season's story than the Dragonzord or Tigerzord.

It was mostly business as usual after the Rangers got their new Zords, until the two-part episode, “A Ranger Catastrophe”. Aisha takes in a stray cat, which is secretly one of Rita's newest minions. Why would Rita have a cat spy on the Rangers? Well, the cat is actually a girl in disguise, creatively named Kat (Played by Catherine Sutherland). She pretends to flirt with Tommy, only to lure him into a trap set by Rita, who is currently brainwashing her. After Tommy escapes, Rita turns Kat into a cat-themed monster called Catastrophe, who the Rangers easily defeat. While it seems like Kat is free, it's all a ruse that leads into the next episode, “Changing of the Zords”.

In that three-part episode, we see Kat is jealous of Tommy and Kimberly's relationship, though it's unclear how much of it is thanks to Rita's spell. Her next order is to steal one of the Rangers' Power Coins, as it's part of Rita and Zedd's plan to activate a new set of dormant Zords, the Shogunzords, which they need a Power Coin and the Ninjazord technology to use in order to reawaken them. While the Rangers are busy fighting Zedd and Rita's new footsoldiers, the Tengas, Kat steals Kimberly's Power Coin, which immediately weakens Kimberly, just like what happened with Tommy back in Season 2. Not long after stealing the Power Coin, Kat hijacks the Falconzord as well, while Ninjor is captured by Lord Zedd to be used as a power source for the new Zords. Also, did I mention that for some reason, without the Falconzord, the Rangers can't access the other Ninjazords?

We get a pretty interesting character moment showing how Tommy comprehends the defeat of the Rangers, showing his determination to keep fighting. In general, Tommy is very protective of Kim with everything that's happened, especially since Zordon revealed that because the new Power Coins are connected to the Rangers' life forces, Kimberly is in even more danger than Tommy was in Season 2. It gives Tommy a more personal stake in this conflict, and adds more drama to the story.

Eventually, the Rangers take back the Shogunzords from Zedd, giving them a small victory even though he still has Kimberly's Power Coin and Ninjor, while Kimberly (now in less danger since Alpha severed her physical connection to her Power Coin) has to draw from the other Rangers' powers in order to morph until they get her Coin back. Overall, a very important episode that furthers Season 3's story, and shows how much Tommy cares for Kimberly.

Long story short, over the course of the three-part episode “A Different Shade of Pink”, after the spell on her is broken, Kat takes back Kimberly's Power Coin, and when an opportunity to train for a major international gymnastics competition in Florida comes up, Kimberly transfers her Pink Ranger powers to Kat. Tommy admits that while he doesn't want to say goodbye to Kimberly, he still is willing to say goodbye in the hopes that they can make things work long-distance. While this arc does focus primarily on Kimberly and Kat, it's still worth watching as it's the last time we'll really focus on Tommy's relationship with Kimberly. Well, second to last, but trust me, we'll get there.

“Master Vile and the Metallic Armor” is another three-part episode that is focused more on the team's conflict with a new villain, Master Vile (Voiced by Simon Prescott) while trying to save Ninjor. It also has a really important moment for Tommy's character. Master Vile's plan is to obtain the powerful Zeo Crystal, which is protected by a force field that can only be bypassed by someone pure of heart. Tommy attempts to get the Crystal, and while it initially puts him in unimaginable pain as he's forced to relive the evil deeds he committed as the Green Ranger, the force field soon eases as it recognizes all the good he's done as the Green Ranger and the White Ranger, letting him get the Crystal. It's short, but it's a powerful scene that illustrates how far Tommy has come as a character.

Tommy's tenure as the White Ranger ends abruptly in “Rangers in Reverse”, as Master Vile casts a spell to reverse time and turn the Rangers into kids, meaning they can't use their powers. After Rita and Zedd destroy the Power Coins as well, the Rangers are forced to search for the fragments of the Zeo Crystal they scattered through time in order to get new powers. During his Zeo quest, Tommy also gets a half of a Native American arrowhead which will be important later on. Although the Zeo Crytsal is reassembled and time is restored, the villains ultimately get the last laugh as they set off a bomb that destroys the Command Center, truly signaling the end of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers... for about two months, then Power Rangers Zeo premiered, giving Tommy a new set of powers.

Also, Aisha was replaced by a new girl, Tanya (Played by Nakia Burrise) because of time travel stuff he wasn't part of, but it's not that important right now.

(Part Three, Red-Ey or Not, Here He Comes)

Power Rangers Zeo opens with the two-part episode, “A Zeo Beginning”. Even with the destruction of the Command Center, it turns out that Zordon and Alpha had a backup base of operations, the Power Chamber. Using the Zeo Crystal, they then create new Morphers, the Zeonizers, for the Rangers to use, albeit without Billy since the Crystal only has enough power for five Rangers, so Tanya steps up as Aisha's replacement. Like Rocky and Adam, Tommy is given a new color with the Zeo powers. In this case, he's Zeo Ranger V, Red.

I really like the designs of the Zeo suits, and Zeo Ranger V is no exception. I love the use of white and gold near the top, and the star helmet makes the suit stand out compared to the previous two animal forms.

Surprisingly, while he became the leader, Tommy didn't get as much focus as he did in Mighty Morphin', mostly due to the show trying to settle into the new status quo in addition to establishing Tanya as a character and the new villains, the Machine Empire. That changed in a seven-part arc focusing on Tommy's mental conflict. “There's No Business Like Snow Business” was a three-part episode that opened with one of the biggest flaws of Zeo as a whole: Kimberly writing a “Dear John” letter to Tommy, announcing she met someone else while in Florida, and that she's breaking off their relationship. Why would they have Kimberly dump Tommy offscreen without the dignity of an actual breakup? To set up a new romantic subplot with Kat, of course!

Yeah, this is where a lot of fans believed the Tommy focus got to be too much, as not only was the Tommy/Kat ship hard for viewers to get used to after how well-written Tommy's relationship with Kimberly was, but it was very easy for the writers to pair Kat up with someone else instead, like Billy, Rocky, Adam, or another side character entirely. It also didn't help that there were a lot of plans to confirm the two tied the knot, mainly both of Kat's planned cameos as Tommy's wife in Wild Force and Dino Thunder (although neither came to fruition), a hint at that happening in Ninja Steel when the two hold hands near the end of “Dimensions in Danger”, and this was all after the infamous Christmas special, “A Season to Remember”, which showed that Tommy and Kat got married and became grandparents in the future.

“Inner Spirit”, “Challenges”, “Found and Lost”, and “Brother, Can You Spare an Arrowhead?” is a four part story arc that follows up on the arrowhead half Tommy got at during his Zeo quest. After Tommy has a strange dream about the Rangers being defeated, which soon comes to pass as the Rangers fight the Machine Empire's newest soldier, Main Drain. Zordon and Billy reveal that they've been working on a new Zord for Tommy, the Red Battlezord. However, because of the technology syncing up with his brainwaves, all the stress of the past few episodes has gotten to Tommy, causing him to crash the Zord into the ground. With advice from the man who helped him on his Zeo quest, Sam Trueheart (Played by Frank Salsedo), Tommy soon musters up the calm state of mind needed to properly use the Red Battlezord. Over the course of the next few episodes, Tommy reunites with the person who had the second half of the arrowhead, his long lost brother, David (Played by Jason David Frank's late brother, Erik Frank). Although it's interesting to see Tommy learn more about his Native American heritage, this arc hasn't exactly aged well thanks to relying on a lot of stereotypical depictions of the culture that were prevalent in the 90's, specifically the whole “vision quest” and wise old man with magic powers connected to the land.

Later on, a new mysterious Ranger is introduced, the Gold Ranger. While there's some initial speculation on his identity, “Revelations of Gold” reveals him to be an alien with three distinct personalities known as Trey of Triforia (Played by triplets, Tom, Tim, and Ted DiFillippo). In order for the three personalities to reunite as one again, Trey needs to transfer his powers, and Tommy has an idea for a candidate: the former Red Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger, Jason. The powers don't last for long, as Jason's body soon starts to reject them, putting him in a similar position to Tommy when he was losing the Green Ranger powers, so eventually, he has to transfer them back to Trey in the finale of Zeo, “Good as Gold”. We also get a really nice scene where Tommy tries to comfort Jason after the final battle, citing his own experiences losing his powers. It's really interesting to see their positions flipped here, especially since Jason took failing Tommy hard back in “Missing Green”.

Generally, Zeo furthered Tommy's character into more of a leader who was more sure of himself and wasn't nearly as headstrong as he was back when he was the Green Ranger or White Ranger. While Tommy was already leader when he became the White Ranger, this was when his role as team leader was truly cemented in my opinion, and was one of the high points of his character. The next season would try to focus on this... with mixed results.

Tommy's next set of powers would come in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, the pilot to Power Rangers Turbo. After the Rangers defeat the Machine Empire, space pirate Divatox (Played by Hilary Shepard Turner) kidnaps an alien wizard named Larigot, along with Jason and Kimberly, in order to use them as sacrifices to awaken the demon Maligor. The Rangers give chase, albeit with new powers and Zords to replicate the magical key needed to enter the mystical island, turning the Zeo Rangers into the Turbo Rangers. Tommy, of course, stays the Red Ranger.

The Red Turbo Ranger suit is... okay. It doesn't really stand out other than the chrome lining on the helmet. I never really got the trapezoid emblem on the chest either.

While most of this movie is pretty boring, the climax is interesting because of how Jason and Kimberly are involved. Originally, they were the ones who had the closest ties with Tommy, and they were the ones who wanted to save him the most while he was under Rita's control. Now, Tommy has to step up and show how much he's grown as a hero in order to save the people who once saved him. After he does, he and Jason easily win a karate tournament to raise money for a local shelter, showing how far their teamwork has come.

In the actual Power Rangers Turbo show, Tommy was tested as a leader as soon as the fourth episode, “Shadow Rangers”. When the other four Rangers were cloned, Tommy tries to get guidance from the team's new mentor, Dimitria (Played by Carol Hoyt), but all she does is ask questions, showing she's less of a hands-on mentor than Zordon was. This forces Tommy to figure things out himself, part of the theme of this show's first half, growing up and learning to do things on your own.

Compared to his last three Ranger forms, Tommy's tenure as the Red Turbo Ranger would be short-lived, as he would transfer his powers to T.J. Johnson (Played by Selwyn Ward) in “Passing the Torch”. This was because Jason David Frank wanted out of the franchise after almost four years, and let's be honest, despite having nineteen episodes to build up to it, the actual transfer really could have been handled better. There's no real in-universe explanation as to why Tommy had to retire other than him supposedly being too old for the role, judging from Dimitria's statement at the end of “Passing the Torch”, and Tommy barely got to know T.J. before the latter became the new Red Turbo Ranger. It makes the whole transfer seem less impactful when compared to Kimberly transferring her powers to Kat in Mighty Morphin', and the fact that Adam, Tanya, and Kat were also written off for the same reason with just as little fanfare didn't help things at all.

Nevertheless, it seemed like Tommy's time as a Ranger was over, and it was for a few years, not counting a guest appearance in Wild Force. However, he would return for one more season as a regular down the line and prove that while he may be old, but he can still pull it off.

(Part Four, Black Into Action)

Tommy's major return to the franchise came in Power Rangers Dino Thunder's very first episode, the two-part “Day of the Dino”. Between the events of this season and Turbo, Tommy got a degree in paleontology and became a high school science teacher at Reefside High School. How he managed to get through all that in seven years is anyone's guess. Maybe Zordon put in a letter of recommendation for whatever university Tommy chose?

Here, Tommy is much more calm and composed, but he isn't afraid to snark if the situation calls for it, and he hasn't lost his martial arts prowess in the slightest. At the same time, this show established  a more intellectual side to him, which helps play into his backstory. While working with Dr. Anton Mercer (Played by Latham Gaines), Tommy attempted to try and fuse dinosaur DNA with technology, but the project soon got out of hand after Mercer tested it on himself, giving him an evil split personality, Mesogog. It's clear that Tommy has a lot of regret regarding what happened to the project he worked on, and is trying his best to stop it.

After his first day as a teacher, Tommy would be forced to supervise three of his students, Connor, Ethan, and Kira (Played by James Napier, Kevin Duhaney, and Emma Lahana respectively), during detention. He takes the three to a museum, but while he sends them off to do some investigating for a mission, he encounters a robotic T-Rex, and does what only Tommy Oliver could do: KICK IT IN THE FACE!

Goddamn it, I love this character.

While he fends off the robot, Connor, Ethan, and Kira accidentally stumble upon Tommy's underground lab where they find a trio of colorful gems which give them superpowers. These gems, appropriately called the Dino Gems, bond with the three, which is bad because that's what Mesogog wants to use in order to bring Earth back to the prehistoric era. The new recruits get the hang of being Rangers pretty quickly, but their first major challenge came earlier than expected when Tommy is kidnapped by Mesogog's forces at the end of the next episode, “Wave Goodbye”, with Mesogog intending to force Tommy to help him unlock the secrets of a mysterious stone.

In the next episode after that, “Legacy of Power” while trying to figure out where he is by having Ethan hack into his computer, the Rangers learn that Tommy used to be a Power Ranger after he alluded to it a few times earlier. While the episode is mostly a clip show to commemorate the franchise's 500th episode (the clips in question coming from a video log Tommy set up going over the history of the Power Rangers), we get a really strong scene at the end where he says he believes that Connor, Ethan, and Kira can protect the planet as a team, showing how much trust he has in the new generation.

The Rangers go and rescue Tommy in the very next episode, “Back in Black”, and when it seems like he's killed by one of Mesogog's generals, Zeltrax (Voiced by James Gaylyn), Tommy reveals that the stone Mesogog was so determined to use was actually a new, black Dino Gem. Tommy bonds with the Gem, and once again, becomes a Power Ranger.

And so Tommy morphs into his final Ranger form, the Black Dino Ranger. This is honestly my second favorite of Tommy's Ranger suits, the first being the Green Ranger suit. I love the way it has more of an armored look with the shoulderpads and the golden scales make him stand out compared to the other Dino Rangers. It probably wasn't the intention, but it almost looks like an evolution of the Green Ranger suit with how the gold is used.

So Tommy goes back to kicking ass and taking names as a Ranger, but he's more in a supportive role and not the leader outright. He does his best to mentor the Rangers and even connects a little with another one of his students, Trent (Played by Jeffrey Parazzo), showing how much he cares about the kids he's in charge of.

Of course, things would go south for Trent and the Rangers in the three-part episode “White Thunder”, as he accidentally discovers Mesogog's lair, and becomes the White Dino Ranger after finding a white Dino Gem. Like Tommy all the way back in “Green With Evil”, Trent isn't fully in control of his actions thanks to the Gem's influence, but would still go on to ABSOLUTELY WRECK THE SHIT OUT OF THE OTHER RANGERS. Not only does he beat the crap out of them, he steals two of the Rangers' Zords, the Dragozord and the Stegozord, and to top it all off, traps Tommy in an amber cocoon before he can tell the others who the White Dino Ranger really is. To make things worse, two episodes later, he's freed from the amber, but now he can't demorph.

This was something Jason David Frank had actually requested behind the scenes. He wanted to spend more time with his family and run his martial arts school back in America, as opposed to being in New Zealand to film the entire season. Therefore, the decision was made to keep Tommy morphed permanently so all Jason David Frank had to do was record some lines to dub over his suit actor's performance in post-production. So for the next ten episodes, Tommy stayed morphed, and not much really changed aside from that. He still stayed in a supportive role, but had to step back from the school scenes, and wasn't as involved with the action in some episodes. The only problem I really had with this was that they never really showed any downside to this. I guess if I had to write this subplot, I'd make it so Tommy has to conserve his energy in order to sustain himself instead of eating or drinking, sort of like what he had to do back when the Green Ranger powers were starting to run out. I think it would justify his absence from certain episodes better.

That being said, they still give Tommy focus here, and it leads to other cool moments. In the very first episode after he's freed from the amber, “Burning at Both Ends”, Tommy sees through a ploy from Trent giving him a new ATV as a way to show he turned a new leaf by asking Trent a false question about said ATV, because “they don't make twelve-stroke engines”. Another interesting moment comes in “Bully for Ethan”, where Kira helps him go through some old pictures, and we get to see a picture of the original six Power Rangers.

It's small, but it's a nice bit of fanservice, as is the picture of Tommy's ancestor seen in “Wild West Rangers”, the White Stranger.

They also focus more on why Zeltrax hates Tommy so much. It turns out that Zeltrax is actually an old friend of Tommy's, Terrance “Smitty” Smith, and Smitty hates Tommy thanks to Anton Mercer choosing him for a job instead of him, not knowing that his new boss, Mesogog, is actually Mercer. Not much really comes of this rivalry (it doesn't help that we barely know who Smitty is outside of flashbacks), but it's interesting to see Tommy try to reason with his old friend like what Jason did with him all those years ago, only to be forced to seemingly take him down by himself in “A Star is Torn”.

In “Disappearing Act”, the Rangers find a mysterious slime that manages to get Tommy to finally demorph... but now his Dino Gem's invisibility power is active 24/7. This leads us to the next episode, and one I can imagine Power Rangers fans have been waiting for me to talk about for a while now, “Fighting Spirit”. Using the black Dino Gem, they turn him back... but this sends him into a coma. While the Rangers head out to fight a new monster, Tommy starts to dream about fighting his old Ranger forms, Zeo Ranger V, the White Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger, and the Green Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger.

The scenes in Tommy's mind have been interpreted in different ways, and here's my take on the conflict. Zeo Ranger V represents the leader Tommy has become over the years, being calm and courteous when he greets the veteran Ranger, and refusing to use any weapons in their fight. The White Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger represents Tommy's headstrong nature, being the most aggressive of the three, and at one point, shouts at Tommy to get up and keep fighting. And the Green Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger represents Tommy's sense of personal discipline, almost like a mixture of the first two, as while he is the most direct about wanting to fight Tommy, he is courteous enough to lend him the Dragon Dagger before the two fight. Compared to V's question about being able to keep up the good fight or White aggressively demanding he keep fighting, Green also gives Tommy the chance to give up, testing his spirit instead of his body. Even in the face of adversity, Tommy refuses to give up, revealing the three Rangers were testing him. Tommy gets his Dino Gem back, and beats Mesogog's newest monster on his own.

Afterwards, the Rangers keep up the good fight until Tommy, like the other Rangers, is stripped of his powers in “Thunder Struck” when they all use the combined power of their Dino Gems to defeat Mesogog (who had already been separated from Mercer) once and for all.

(Part Five, Always a Ranger)

Now that we've gone over most of Tommy's tenure as a Ranger, it's time to talk about the way he is seen as an icon, in and out of universe.

Tommy's first return since his retirement in Turbo was in Wild Force's iconic 10th anniversary special, “Forever Red”. In this episode, the Red Rangers from the past ten seasons of the franchise team up to stop the remnants of the Machine Empire from unleashing Lord Zedd's old Zord, Serpentera. While the Red Wild Force Ranger, Cole (Played by Rick Medina), is introduced to all the older Red Rangers, T.J. specifically introduces Tommy as “a legend”, and earlier, when Tommy is called over by another Red Ranger, Bulk and Skull (who were running a little club he was relaxing at), they seem very hesitant to disturb him.

Tommy's next major return after Dino Thunder was during the finale to Megaforce, “Legendary Battle”, the 20th anniversary special. Here, he led the army of Legendary Rangers to help the Megaforce Rangers deal with the rest of the Armada's forces, essentially serving as the representative of the veterans giving their approval to the new generation... as unearned as it was, given how poorly the anniversary aspect of Megaforce was handled, but I digress. Although to be fair, while I'm just as critical of Megaforce as everyone else is, Tommy telling the Megaforce Rangers that “They'll always be with them” was pretty heartwarming, and is a testament to how long the franchise has been going for.

And the final televised appearance of Tommy Oliver before Jason David Frank's death would be Ninja Steel's “Dimensions in Danger”, the 25th anniversary special. When several veteran Rangers go missing, the Ninja Steel Rangers are contacted by three other veterans, and they explain for this mission, they specifically mention needing Tommy's help, the current team of Rangers seem to hold him in high regard. Later on, when Tommy is the one to save all of the captured Rangers, and later uses the Falconzord to save the day.

Obviously, these three anniversary specials seem to hold Tommy in high regard, but why is that? How did Tommy get so popular that he essentially became the face of the franchise?

For one thing, I'd say it's the first impression he made. Like I mentioned earlier on, “Green With Evil” was a big deal, and even though Tommy was brainwashed, he still got to show off a lot, and most of it was before he even got the iconic Dragonzord. Power Rangers has always been about teamwork, that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, but with Tommy, and pretty much every other Sixth Ranger after him, he stood out thanks to his more unique arsenal that put him on par with some of Rita's strongest monsters. He did just enough to shake up the cast during his first run as the Green Ranger, and let's be honest, he was pretty cool. Tommy was sort of like Batman or Wolverine, a hero who is recognized for being a total badass that kids love to see. I think that's why so many children wanted to see more of Tommy after “The Green Candle”.

At the same time, Tommy clearly had some depth to him. We saw him struggle to work together with Jason, he showed a level of dedication to making Kimberly happy while showing an artistic side to him, and when his Green Ranger powers were being drained in the first two seasons, he was put in a very vulnerable situation. This kind of drama made things more interesting to watch, and it made kids want to watch the show more to see what would happen to Tommy when Lord Zedd was personally targeting him in an effort to drain his powers entirely. Yeah, we know what happens now, but back in the 90's, kids didn't know if Tommy would get to stay a Power Ranger or not, which was what also made his debut as the White Ranger so shocking.

I think this was why Tommy was eventually promoted to Red Ranger in Zeo and Turbo, to solidify his role as leader of the team, although I do think the focus got a little out of hand in Zeo. Like I said, the romance subplot with Kat was very unnecessary in my opinion, and the four-parter with Tommy's Native American heritage coming right after a three-parter that set up his feelings for her really didn't help the perception that all he did was steal screentime from the other Rangers. I still feel like it got better in the first half of Turbo, as there was more focus given to the other Rangers before they all left, but I think more could have been done to place a greater emphasis on Tommy transferring his powers to T.J. instead of how rushed his exit was planned.

To me, I think Tommy was handled almost perfectly in Dino Thunder. Yes, there was a little bit of worshiping with him being built up as a legend in “Legacy of Power”, and yes, the whole thing with Zeltrax/Smitty was pretty pointless, but here, more emphasis was placed on his role as a close advisor to the team while there was plenty of focus given to the other four Dino Rangers. He was given the right amount of focus as a main character, but it wasn't enough that the other Rangers felt neglected by the writers.

Tommy Oliver is a character whose reputation precedes him for good reasons. He's been a huge part of the franchise ever since his introduction, has a surprising amount of depth to him, and he has essentially become the face of the franchise for years. I think that's one of the reasons why people were so shaken by Jason David Frank's death compared to other Ranger actors like Thuy Trang and Pua Magasiva. Generally, when we got the news that Jason David Frank died, it was like a huge part of the franchise died with him. It's hard to imagine what the franchise would have been like if Tommy wasn't so popular, but we can at least rest knowing that Jason David Frank and Tommy Oliver both played a huge part in getting the legacy of the Power Rangers started.

May the power protect you always, Mr. Frank.

#crimson ace reviews #power rangers #mighty morphin power rangers #power rangers zeo #power rangers turbo #power rangers dino thunder #tommy oliver

[theministerofwellness]

(BREAKING!!!) The NEXT Super VIRUS For The PLANNED 2024-2024 Pandemic Has Been CONFIRMED!!! from The Minister Of Wellness on Vimeo.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR EMAIL LIST - theministerofwellness.com/subscribe/ MARCH 25TH "MEDICAL DECISION" DETOX HEALTH SERMON - theministerofwellness.com/product/the-weaponzation-of-the-covid-19-vaxxine-how-to-detox-from-the-deadliest-shot-in-world-history-tickets/ DISEASE FREE IN 23 HEALTH SERMON - vimeo.com/789454753 The EXACT PARASITE KILLER DETOX Package The Minister Of Wellness Recommends!!! - zumanutrition.com/?ref=theministerofwellness use the code BLACKHEALTH BIO-WAR on BLACK HEALTH Sermon - vimeo.com/780540430 EAT YOUR FRUITS, JUICE YOUR VEGETABLES, AND TAKE YOUR HERBS - youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVlIzFBI54qVrkJ1-gcupHZbTEcI5DSQY Immune Support Emergency Package - theministerofwellness.com/product/immune-support-emergency-stash-package-50-off-regular-cost/ Biblical Principles That Eradicate Obesity & ALL Disease Book - theministerofwellness.com/product-category/books/ Lose 100 Pounds In 100 Days Bible-Based Program Book - theministerofwellness.com/product-category/books/ If The Minister Of Wellness Ministries has blessed you, donate so others can also be blessed - theministerofwellness.com/give/ "A GENEROUS MAN WILL PROSPER, he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed" - Proverbs 11:25 VIMEO - vimeo.com/theministerofwellness UNLEASHED News Channel - theministerofwellness.com/the-minister-of-wellness-unleashed/ WE ARE Different by Prophet Dr. Llaila Afrika - youtu.be/CV1aEp7S4OI. GENOCIDE BY DIET: THE SATANIC AMERICAN DIET HAS CREATED AN EPIDEMIC OF MENTAL ILLNESS & VIOLENCE - vimeo.com/507690394/7b11441af4 MEET YOUR MEAT - youtu.be/ykTH_b-cXyE 21-DAY REVERSE DIABETES CHALLENGE - youtu.be/DlwkPzW0jhI ALL RED-FRUIT HEAL-IT TO REVERSE HEART DISEASE AND ALL BLOOD DISORDERS - youtu.be/kCLbw-nQA4g PREVENT AND REVERSE ALL DISEASE PLAYLIST - youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVlIzFBI54qWwFebRxhoGxzxSb98dNOgy USING THE POWER OF THE WORD OF GOD TO OVERCOME ADDICTION - vimeo.com/580088362 BIBLICAL PROOF JESUS DID NOT EAT FISH OR FEED "THE MULTITUDES" FISH - HE WAS A VEGAN - youtu.be/eihajtQ7K8s

[laughshop]

Lame Covid Masks - Was Covid Bad or Silly?

Lame Covid Masks Covid masks were to dumb, How dumb were they? Glad you asked. When you lok at masks for virtually anything else you realize just how lame covid masks were! Masks for smoke, painting, mining, pesticides, radioactive work, all so serious and robust. But for the “deadliest virus in history’? Lame. Exciting Kitchen Items @native.free.thinker #greenscreen #foru #foryourpage ♬ Funny…

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[stevelevi]

Every era has medical challenges. In 1918-20, America and the world were pummeled by the Spanish Flu, also known as influenza. Worldwide, the disease would kill as many as 100 million people, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in world history. No one knew what to do. So, a wide range of cures were tried. Including, in the United States Army, gargling. There is no evidence gargling did anything to avoid the virus.

👉Learn more: https://bit.ly/3u6kL4V

SteveLevibooks #readersandwritersbookclub #authormasterminds #thrillers #Mysteries #crimebooks

[goddamnwebcomics]

Misbegotten Kittens

It’s a post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, fantasy webcomic by Javier Hernández Aceituno (AKA DrJavi).

Years ago, after a threat from rebels in Europe who had grown tired of the American Empire’s ceaseless blackmailing of other foreign countries with their purposeful creations of viruses for selfish profit, the empire released one of their deadliest viruses onto the entirety of the European continent as an attempt to quell any further resistance. Unfortunately for them, a nanobot device was released by the rebels ahead of time. This quickly spread and killed all citizens in America within a short span of time. This, however, left other countries as part of the Afro-Eurasian Union and nearby territories without a vaccine for the man-made virus, soon leading to an event known as The Extinction.

The only civilizations properly shielded from the virus were merely small areas safe from the disaster, except one. A massive scientific station turned into the only thriving city located in Spain, called Esperanza. It’s basically a technocratic utopia free from scarcity and external conflict where its main goals are to find any survivors who are lost and/or broken from their past, grant them asylum, and guide them into recovery so they can become functioning members of society. Whether you’re a deserter, criminal, crippled in any way, mentally broken, or just have a strange amount of misandry, Esperanza welcomes all, provided that you don’t try to cause any internal trouble for the city and its people. The people in charge aren’t ones to turn down anyone who needs salvation and could provide some usefulness in their growing society, witches, demons, literal aliens, or freak science accidents especially.

What I find unique about this comic is that, unlike most webcomics with a post-apocalyptic setting, this one is really focused on rehabilitation. It’s not spending its time being sardonically miserable or not really using the setting for anything outside of the humorous antics of fantasy. It’s trying to be a lot more focused on sociological commentary (for better or worse), talking about the minds of human nature, criticizing the negative impacts of following your beliefs blindly or sticking to an unhealthy mindset, and the ability to reform and start anew when you’re given a second lease on life. It can get a little esoteric and ambiguous at times, but it’s at least present. Besides all that, though, it’s still dystopian fiction in a futuristic-fantasy setting, so expect the usual high amount of gory violence and violent acts, as well as some angst here and there. It’s kind of just going to happen if the comic needs it, so fair warning.

The comic can be read from the beginning through here and *here. If you want, you can just read from chapter two onward through the artist’s Furaffinity, DeviantArt, or Inkbunny (no, I’m not linking the Inkbunny page. You can find it yourself pretty easily.).

*The PDF version doesn’t have all the pages found on the site and lacks some of the animated pics, but it’s there if you want to rip out the more static pages included.

At first I presumed this comic might be too competent for me, The first chapter might be difficult to riff due to amount of animation and exposition. This comic also has distinct well written lore and themes that are much more complicated than your usual webcomics.

On the other hand, the artstyle is pretty rough and way too cheery and bright for a dystopia comic. The themes also could sound clever but are secretly very poorly executed and turns what could be a good story into preachyporn.

This is the biggest Maybe in the Rifflist history. I need to find out more before I make my final decision.

#weird webcomic #furry webcomic #not exactly safe for work #submission

[judgestarling]

How to Ignore More than a Century Worth of Scientific Literature and Make Headline-Grabbing Claims on One of the Deadliest and Exhaustively Studied Pandemics in History Based on Flawed Data and Questionable Analysis

The 1918 influenza pandemic, also erroneously referred to as the “Spanish flu,” has affected up to one billion people—half the world’s population at the time—and has killed an estimated 20–30 million people in the Western World and God-only-knows-how-many people in other countries. Previous and subsequent influenza pandemics usually hit infants and the elderly the hardest. The 1918 influenza pandemic was a weird one because of the atypically high mortality among young adults. The peak mortality rate during the fall wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic in Canada and the USA was 28 years. The death of young adults lowered the average life expectancy in the United States by more than 10 years. Numerous studies have confirmed these findings.

A typical picture illustrating the haunting age peculiarity of this pandemic is shown below.

Even in poor, medically underserved communities, it was the young healthy adults that perished leaving many very young orphans behind.

In the early 2000s scientists started looking for samples of the 1918 virus. They reasoned that their best chance was to find it inside an influenza victim buried in permafrost. Brevig Mission in Alaska had 89 inhabitants in 1918 of which 87 died of influenza. It was a good bet that some sequenceable genetic material could be recovered from the graves of these flu victims. Indeed, genomic RNA of the 1918 virus was recovered from frozen lung tissues of an Alaskan influenza victim who was buried in permafrost in November of 1918.

In 2005, scientists used reverse genetics to generate an influenza virus bearing all eight genome segments of the 1918 virus to study its properties. The deadly 1918 virus has thus been resurrected!

The reconstructed virus turned out to be as deadly as the original one with a 100% mortality in mice. Another conclusion of this “resurrection” study was that the virus kills by overreaction of the body’s immune system, which explained the weird age distribution of deaths due to the "Spanish Flu." The strong adaptive immune systems of young adults ravaged their body, whereas the underdeveloped immune systems of young children and the weakened immune system of old people resulted fewer deaths. It was inflammation that killed people, not the viral infection directly or secondary infections. These studies seemed like the end of the 1918 influenza story.

Imagine my surprise, then, when at the end of 2023, I started noticing that the 1918 influenza pandemic is in the news again. “Killer 1918 flu didn't pick on the healthy, after all,” declared Science (the same Science that “killed” Junk DNA a decade earlier). “History Says the 1918 Flu Killed the Young and Healthy. These Bones Say Otherwise,” quipped WIRED. And US News and World Reports headlined the findings as “Contrary to Popular Belief, 1918 Flu Did Not Target the Healthy Young.”

The origin of these headlines was a 2023 paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science entitled “Frailty and Survival in the 1918 Influenza Pandemic” by Amanda Wissler, currently an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and Sharon DeWitte, Professor of Anthropology at University of Colorado in Boulder. The paper was largely based largely on Wissler’s PhD dissertation at Arizona State University under the supervision of Professor Jane Buikstra.

One would have thought that a study that purports to discard more than a hundred years of observations, refute dozens of analyses, refute the conclusions in about 18,000 peer-reviewed articles, and generate headlines in serious news media would require a great amount of unimpeachable data and an analysis that is—if not infallible—close to infallible. If you thought that, you will be sorely disappointed.

Let us start with the Materials and Methods section. The study is based on a bone sample from the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection which contains skeletons of people who died in Cleveland, Ohio between 1910 and 1939. The skeletons belong to people whose bodies were not claimed within 36 hours of death (i.e., the poor, the homeless, the socially isolated, the incarcerated, the institutionalized as “mentally defectives,” and those whose relatives couldn’t possibly collect their loved ones’ bodies within a day and a half. Black and indigenous people most probably made the bulk of this collection. Wissler and DeWitte euphemistically called their sample as consisting of “individuals of low socioeconomic status,” who mostly “died in almshouses or public hospitals.” Is this sample representative of the population in Cleveland between 1910 and 1939? I very much doubt it. And don’t even start me on the ethical crimes committed to assemble this collection. Of course, the bodies in this collection were legally obtained following an Ohio legislation that permitted people whose bodies were not claimed within 36 hours of death to be “donated” for scientific study, but was the collection ethically assembled? I think not! The ethics of this collection reminds me of a joke my dad used to tell. “A religious Jewish woman goes to the Rabbi in a panic. ‘Rabbi, the chicken I cooked for Shabbat dinner fell into a soiled baby's diaper. Is it still kosher?’ she asks. The Rabbi replies, ‘It's kosher, of course, but I would I eat it?’” But, I digress.

Wissler and DeWitte’s sample consisted of 369 individuals: 310 males (84%) and 59 females (16%). This fact immediately tells the reader that something is off; the sample is not representative of the general population.

Curiously, the Materials and Methods section also contains the following statement, “to maximize the sample size, both the 1918 flu and the control groups include individuals who died from influenza and pneumonia as well as other diseases such as tuberculosis and myocarditis.” (No data is provided as to how many individuals were included for the purpose of padding the sample size.) Finally, medical history for the individuals in the study is mostly not known. Thus, it is impossible to know whether “an individual suffered another disease during life unless it was listed as the cause of death or left diagnostic evidence on their skeleton.”

Finally, we have the problem of missing data. In the previous paragraph, we have seen one method of padding the data. Here comes another one. The last sentence of the Analytical Methods section states that missing skeletal data “were imputed using the ‘pmm’ function of the mice R package following previous recommendations.” Now, I need to tell the reader that I get hives and homicidal thoughts whenever I read the terms “imputed” or “imputation,” which nowadays essentially mean conjuring data out of thin air. Interestingly, “imputed” was originally a theological term meaning to falsely ascribe guilt to a person. The way data analysts use the word “imputed” started with economists in 1893 when a step in a multistep process was assigned a value by inference from the value of the process to which it contributes. More recently, the term “impute” was used by the Internal Revenue Service to assign interest to an investment when the interest rate is not known. The fact that imputation is used in scientific research to artificially increase the sample size is an inexcusable obscenity.

In the abstract of the article, it is stated that “frail or unhealthy individuals were more likely to die during the pandemic than those who were not frail.” Now, “frailty” is a nebulous and inexact term often defined as “an aging-related syndrome of physiological decline, characterized by marked vulnerability to adverse health outcomes.” https://www.uptodate.com/contents/frailty Thus, the authors used a skeletal proxy to identify frailty. The proxy was lesions on the shinbones (periostosis). Whether this proxy has anything to do with anything is unknown.

The choice of lesions on the shinbones reminds me on of the Streetlight effect or the Drunkard's search principle—both examples of an observational bias whereby one limits the variables used in a study to those that are easy to obtain regardless of whether the choice is actually relevant to the study question.

Let us now discuss the article’s statistical analyses, results, and conclusions. A good piece of advice that I once got from one of my mentors was “Before you subject your data to complicated analyses and reach extravagant conclusions, do yourself a favor and look at the data carefully and perform some simple analyses.” In this case, subjecting the data to complicated (and frankly confusing) Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, Cox proportional hazards analysis, and Schoenfeld test, one should look at the data and do some long division or at most some simple 2×2 contingency analyses.

The following data was extracted from Table 1 of Wissler and DeWitte (2023).

The first thing I noticed was that 67% of the skeletons in the sample belonged to "frail" people. Does this look like a representative sample of the population of Cleveland, Ohio in 1918? The second thing I noticed is that 69% of the control group have had lesions on their shinbones (either active or healed) versus 59% in the group that succumbed to flu. Thus, by the definition used by Wissler and DeWitte, the group of people that succumbed to influenza were 14–17% less “frail” than the group that survived. Of course, in my simple analysis I can use the skeletons exhibiting active or mixed lesions versus the rest of the skeletons (healed and no lesions). In this case, 25% of the control group turn out to be frail, versus 20% in those that succumbed to flu. This result seemed to support the thesis of Wissler and DeWitte, until you realize that the difference is not statistically significant (Fisher's exact test, P = 0.3074).

After reading this paper very carefully, I am left with one open question. It remains unclear to me how this paper managed to get published in PNAS and become a news sensation. Is this another example of the power of the press release?

#influenza #data padding

[recentlyheardcom]

The skeletons of people who were alive during the 1918 flu pandemic have revealed new clues about people who were more likely to die from the virus.Known as the deadliest in history, the 1918 flu pandemic — also referred to as the Spanish flu — killed an estimated 50 million people.It’s long been assumed that the 1918 flu primarily affected young, healthy adults — but a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences seems to contradict that, suggesting that frail or unhealthy people were more vulnerable.DOCTORS URGE VACCINATIONS AHEAD OF THIS YEAR'S FLU SEASON, WHICH COULD BE 'FAIRLY BAD,' EXPERTS SAYResearchers from McMaster University in Canada and the University of Colorado Boulder examined the skeletal remains of 369 individuals housed at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.All of these individuals died either soon before or during the 1918 pandemic, according to a press release from McMaster. The sample was divided into two groups: a control group who had died before the pandemic; and another group who died during the pandemic, according to the release.READ ON THE FOX NEWS APPAn emergency hospital at Camp Funston, Kansas, is shown during the 1918 influenza pandemic. New research contradicts the widespread belief that the flu disproportionately impacted healthy young adults.They examined the bones for lesions that would have indicated stress or inflammation, which could have been caused by physical trauma, infection or malnutrition, the release stated."By comparing who had lesions, and whether these lesions were active or healing at the time of death, we get a picture of what we call frailty, or who is more likely to die," said Sharon DeWitte, a biological anthropologist at the University of Colorado Boulder and co-author on the study."Our study shows that people with these active lesions are the most frail."FLU PREVENTION TIPS FROM FLORIDA'S SURGEON GENERAL: A 'DAY-TO-DAY’ HEALTHY LIFESTYLE IS KEYLead study author Amanda Wissler, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at McMaster, said the study highlights how cultural, social and biological circumstances affect the likelihood of death."Even in a novel pandemic — one to which no one is supposed to have prior immunity — certain people are at a greater risk of getting sick and dying, and this is often shaped by culture," she said in an interview with Fox News Digital.A demonstration is shown at the Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station in Washington, D.C., during the influenza pandemic of 1918.The researcher noted that this same phenomenon was seen during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S."The news was full of reports about how people who had been minoritized, or [had] decreased access to social services, often had greater rates of getting very sick or dying," she said.The findings of the study were not surprising to the researchers, Wissler said."‘Healthy’ people are not supposed to die," she said. "We have a term called ‘selective mortality,’ which says that certain people are more likely to die than others."COVID-19 PATIENTS FACE INCREASED HEALTH RISKS FOR UP TO 2 YEARS, STUDY FINDS"Many studies have found that certain people are more likely to die in all kinds of contexts, including other pandemics like the Black Death, and also in natural disasters," the researcher continued."I would actually have been somewhat surprised if people who were healthy had a greater risk of death in 1918."One key limitation of the study, according to Wissler, is that the researchers only had information on people who died from the pandemic — but none on people who got infected but survived."We don’t know if being unhealthy or stressed may have caused a person to be more likely to [have been] infected with the 1918 flu," she said.A demonstration is shown at the Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station in Washington, D.C., during the influenza pandemic of 1918.Additionally, the individuals who were studied all came from Cleveland, Ohio, Wissler noted.

"This study only provides a snapshot of a certain time and place of the experience of the 1918 flu," she said."We don’t know yet if what we found here can be generalized to every city."COVID-19, FLU AND RSV VACCINES ARE ALL AVAILABLE THIS FALL: SEE WHAT SOME DOCTORS RECOMMEND AND WHYMarkAlain Déry, DO, an infectious disease physician in New Orleans, noted that the study raises some questions. He was not involved in the research.Initially, Déry said he was "super excited" about the new research, which highlighted "that people who experience health inequities have higher rates of illness and mortality."To protect against today’s strains of influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone 6 months and older get an annual vaccination.The research is "more or less saying what we already know, which is that people in vulnerable communities and in lower socioeconomic statuses have a greater level of frailty and mortality as a result of the 1918 influenza outbreak," Déry said.The key issue, however, is that it’s not known whether the people who were examined died of influenza, he pointed out.Also, the size of the study was relatively small, he said.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTEROverall, the researchers noted that the project highlights the importance of studying the past."Studying past pandemics and epidemics provides us with a time depth to our understanding of how these diseases affect humans and how we, in turn, affect diseases," Wissler told Fox News Digital."A lot of the time, we find that the risk factors for disease that we have today were the same in the past."To protect against today’s strains of influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone 6 months and older get an annual vaccination.For more Health articles, visit foxnews.com/healthOriginal article source: Skeletons from 1918 flu pandemic reveal clues about those most likely to die, study finds

[headlinehorizon]

Unmasking the Vulnerable: Study Reveals Impact of Frailty on 1918 Flu Pandemic

https://headlinehorizon.com/Science/Archaeology/857

Discover the latest news on the deadliest flu pandemic in history and how a recent study uncovers the role of frailty in determining vulnerability to the virus. Gain insights into the impact of cultural, social, and biological factors, and understand the implications for present-day diseases.

#headline horizon #news #latest news #1918 flu pandemic #frailty and vulnerability #implications for present-day diseases

[gdgaribay498]

Important images of the summer 2023

Maui fires

In early August a devastating series of wildfires broke out in Maui, mainly in the western town of Lahaina. The month of August is considered to be the peak of Hawaii’s dry season. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, since the beginning of August, Maui has been under abnormally and severely dry levels of drought with increasing chances of wildfires. There have been multiple reasons as to why the wildfires began. One being that during Hawaii’s wet season vegetation grew tall which dried out during the dry season, making it extremely flammable. Dry vegetation, severe drought conditions and the strong winds created by category 5 Hurricane Dora were the main reasons for the fires. However, in the New York Times, it was recently released that “Maui County Officials have claimed in a lawsuit that intentional and malicious mismanagement of power lines by Hawaiian Electric, the state’s leading utility, had allowed flames to spark.” Due to the tragic events, more than 2,200 structures were damaged and destroyed, estimating a total of $5.5 billion, according to the Pacific Disaster Center and Federal Emergency Management Agency. A growing concern from the residents of Maui was the small amount of time they had to evacuate. Residents also questioned why Maui’s largest system of outdoor warning sirens did not go off, since its purpose is to alert people of life threatening events like hurricanes and tsunamis. As to date, the fires in Maui have mostly been contained, but now people have to live with the environmental hazards that remain. One being the contamination of water and air from the residue of harmful chemicals from infrastructures. 

This photograph is unique because it emotionally demonstrates the tragic event that occurred early August. As you look at the picture you see a house of fire, and in general fire all around, which is how the town of Lahaina looked for days. When you look at this picture you feel for those that had to evacuate quickly, leaving their houses and businesses to burn. This image is significant because this series of wildfires is considered the deadliest wildfire in more than a century and the deadliest natural disaster in Hawiian history, killing at least 114 people. Most importantly, experts say that this event can happen again due to climate change and droughts.

COVID cases on the rise

For quite some time now we have gotten a sense of normality since the COVID-19 pandemic that broke out three years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic has been incredibly important and significant for several reasons. Not only did the virus rapidly spread worldwide infecting millions of people, but the pandemic also had effects on the economy due to lockdowns, travel restrictions, social distancing measures, job losses and more. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of preparedness and the need for adequate resources for any future events. In recent times, positive COVID cases have declined, in which ended social distancing and the mask mandate. However, in the mix between weather changes and flu season approaching, COVID cases have silently been increasing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), COVID hospitalization and death records have been increasing since the beginning of July. However, according to CDC Director, Mandy K. Cohen, there has been an increase of 10,000 cases a week. But it is not a reason to get alarmed, for as during COVID’s highest peak in August last year, cases would total up to 40,000 cases per week. Due to stronger immunity, COVID vaccines, home tests and treatments are helping people remain from a trip to the hospital. During the summer a new strain of the variant Omicron, EG.5, has surfaced in the United States. The CDC said that there is no evidence that EG.5 causes a more severe illness than the prior variants. It is still important to practice good hygiene and washing hands frequently. This image is significant because when one looks at it they might be brought back to the challenges of the pandemic in 2020. Therefore, it is important to remain informed on the increasing cases and practice adequate precautions to remain in good health and keep others safe.

[coolfire00]

Covid 19

Covid-19 or Coronavirus is one of the deadliest pandemic the world has ever witnessed and it will be remembered in the history for its massive devastation it has caused. Covid 19 came into its full swing at the end of the year 2019 and continued for at least two more years. The cases of Covid-19 even continue till this date. This deadly pandemic brought the whole world to a standstill. Almost every country in the world announced strict lockdown which spanned approximately for two years. Every human activity around the world, from businesses to transport, from infrastructure to agriculture, from education to entertainment, from jobs to services, ranging from small scale to large scale, was put to a halt. This gave a shattering blow to the political, economical and social structure of the whole world and our society. It almost created a severe crisis of the most basic things we humans need in our day to day lives, like groceries, water and even oxygen.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a deadly virus which easily infected people and was easily able to spread from one person to another, from very basic gestures like shaking hands, sharing drinks or just sitting or standing together. The virus was usually transmitted through coughing or sneezing. This virus effected a person’s respiratory system and caused many deadly symptoms like shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell, fever and so on. The outbreak of this virus was so deadly and alarming that many Covid patients and their family members began storming into the hospitals. The number of Covid patients increased so much that all the hospitals and medical staff fell short to counter this alarming situation. Many helpless patients and their family members who couldn’t make it into the hospitals died outside the hospitals by starving for oxygen. Even oxygen cylinders fell short for the patients admitted in the hospitals. The demand for oxygen cylinders increased so much that it created an acute shortage of oxygen cylinders around the world. The situation became so much worse that many serious patients were just left to die by keeping them in complete isolation.

The governments of many countries issued precautionary guidelines to prevent this virus by imposing strict lockdown, wearing masks, following social distancing and regularly washing or sanitizing your hands and personal belongings. The governments issued advertisements and announcements across all types of media including newspapers, televisions, radio, internet and specifically news. Even global organizations like WHO (World Health Organization) issued guidelines and warnings regarding this pandemic. Many countries, along with the help of WHO, were able to develop Covid vaccines which helped in bringing this deadly and alarming pandemic under control.

[healthnewsdisclosure]

https://www.simonparkes.org/post/deadliest-virus-in-history

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#INTELL

[fulminare-art]

starting this new thing where when I get bored I go to the websites in those "most deadliest internet rabbit holes in history 🙀🤯" videos (that are obviously just some random info archive or an art student's college project or something, I don't wanna get a virus or see a snuff video,) and I scroll and click till I get dopamine or pictures of boobs

#don't do this if you're sensitive to flashing lights it will kill you btw #me

[sampsonmonaghan90]

64,375 Fans Welcomed To South Korean Men's World Cup Qualifiers Among Soaring Covid-19 Cases

"It was a fantastic game. I can't think of the last time that I laughed and jumped when watching the national team's recent games. It feels as if I've been to a festival."

In a post-match interview that was aired on TV, Son said he was sad that he had not been able to laugh and enjoy the game with the fans. Risks

Son thanked the fans for filling the stands, and said "So many people came to [play the game] at an early morning on a Monday helping us to have an enjoyable match."

South Korea's Kim Young-gwon celebrates his victory in front of the fans.

Limited spectators

Prior to kickoff, fans held up colored cards to spell "We Missed You" -- something prepared by the Korea Football Association (KFA) to celebrate the return to large numbers.

KFA said they made the statement due to the emotions of players and fans following the pandemic caused them to restrict the number of fans who could attend matches.

In 2020, South Korea banned spectators from all sporting events after Covid-19 struck.

The K-League was one of the handful of football leagues that played behind closed doors after the world's game was mostly shut down.

The country had managed to keep the number of Covid-19 cases relatively low until the highly transmittable Omicron became the most prevalent variant in January 2022.

The virus quickly spread and health authorities decided to decrease the number of deaths and critical cases, rather than focusing on the prevention of all diseases.

As the latest death tolls rise, one in five South Koreans has had Covid.

On Tuesday, the nation's total number of infections since the pandemic began was in excess of 10 million. This means that about one-in-five South Koreans has been infected at some point in the pandemic.

The country has stopped using vaccines in the form of passes that were required to get into public facilities, such as sporting events. The country will also end the requirement of a seven-day quarantine period for fully vaccinated travelers from April 1.

The measures were eased and health authorities allowed up to 299 people to participate in sporting events, however, they added that the related departments could allow gatherings of 300 or more.

Thursday saw 64,375 fans get their temperature checked at the entry point. They sat in the stands wearing masks and sat down with their faces covered. However physical distancing, vaccines and passes were not required.

The KFA played pre-recorded voices of the fans during the game, as chanting is not allowed to prevent further spreading of Covid-19.

Supporter Won told CNN that he could see the absence of chanting as the main difference between games prior to the pandemic and after.

"In terms of football matches, I'd have to say the chanting ... I'm hoping that Covid-19 will get settled soon so that a supportive traditions like chanting would be back."

READ: Former Manchester United player is urging fans to stop his chant, which is racist stereotypes

Fans held up messages prior to the kick-off.

Sold-out Game

Despite South Korea seeing its deadliest day of the pandemic on Wednesday, with 470 deaths reported within the span of 24 hours the game on Thursday was sold out.

Seoul World Cup Stadium, the biggest soccer stadium in Korea, has been sold out only 10 times in its history according to the KFA.

The process of securing tickets was highly competitive. The ticketing website was not able to keep up and was down for 42 mins as more than 230,000 users tried to access it simultaneously.

"Considering the traffic numbers of previous sold-out A matches, we had created a server that could accommodate 120,000 people to simultaneously connect this time," the KFA said in an apology statement, apologizing for the inconvenience it caused.

But those who managed to secure tickets had an evening of celebration.

Fans turned on their flashlights for their phones to celebrate the end of the winless streak against Iran just minutes before the final whistle.

"Last night, I had the chance to feel the power of the fans once again... It was something I truly had not experienced. Thank you so much. Thank you for making it a great night!!" Son wrote on his Instagram Friday.

Fans were enthralled by the game and the opportunity to be back in the stadium with the crowd, however there were some who expressed concerns online.

"Covid-19 is not declining however, are the 60,000 seats at World Cup Stadium sold-out?" One tweet.

Another writer wrote, "The administration sold the World Cup Stadium while Covid-19 infection is on the rise."

South Korea will travel to the UAE for its final Qatar World Cup qualifying match on March 29. However, the team has already secured its entry to the World Cup in Qatar, scheduled for later in the year.

#Risks #Info