#in person unless things get worse pandemic wise like why can i not just have what i want and do what i want

[violetsystems]

#personal

If there were ever a silver lining to anything these days, it’s that I am also qualified to work at IKEA.  In Shanghai.  You guessed it.  Cybersecurity.  I do like to rearrange my crappy furniture every once in a week.  But between rotating the kitchen table a precise ninety degrees for more elbow space, I’ve been feeding the algorithms like hungry plants.  Sometimes they are monstrous.  Someone on Amazon reviews had targeted me over a skin care product.  You had to click a layer deep.  A metallurgist from New York who was a professor at a major university.  His reviews of fiction were endless of Grant and the civil war.  You could put two and two together.  And a week or so later the algorithms did.  They suggested in an email blast every fucking work of importance about said Grant and the confederacy.  Needless to say, I’m not really a fan of such perspectives.  But awash in all this is my own personal data which governments refer to as PII henceforth my shitty Magnum jokes.  We here in America love this thing you call freedom.  But most of our data is not free.  In fact, it is harvested, manipulated and spat back at us in a condescending way.  Depending on the algorithm of course.  Machine learning could be good for humanity.  If it actually paired datasets together that were mutually beneficial to one and other.  We humans do this when we connect communities together in a diverse and democratic way.  There is a power to that.  Of course, there are people who can’t profit off of people thinking and working for themselves.  And thus, here in America we don’t have the same protections as Europe with laws like GDPR.  I hear American diplomats chant all the time about how setting foot in mainland China is a blow to your privacy.  All I experienced was a Big Mac at Pudong airport.  When I was on Instagram and Facebook it felt like a waking nightmare.  As if algorithms were interacting with GPS data to lure people together.  This was the after effect of Pokemon Go in real life.  A product that was funded partially by government money for not so obvious purposes.  Social Engineering is an equal opportunity employer I guess.  For better or for worse.  These days there’s no shortage of human operators out there trying to sniff for clues.  Looking for a job in the midst of all of it is frustrating enough.  Knowing the balance between networking, ghost accounts, and maintaining the professionalism in between.  I have never known who is interacting with me online and why sometimes.  I have clues.  I can guess but is that psychologically healthy in the long term for a person.  It can be deeper than catfishing.  Whole entire friendships shrouded by fake names.  I stick to the ones I can visualize without a migraine.  And the narratives that might support it out of hiding.  Like commuting to Shanghai for a job for a range of companies.  Or waiting around for the rest of my previous employer’s obligations to me to settle.  

If you ever wanted to look at someone who is totally and utterly mindfucked but exceedingly okay with it all it is me.  And the value of that is still to be determined.  I wake up some days and wonder why I haven’t hurt myself or done worse.  I quit drinking almost four years ago.  I cleared all of my credit card debt which sits at zero to this day.  My credit score is above eight hundred.  I paid my rent.  Nobody bothers me much.  I am alone all the time except when I go for groceries.  I sleep alone with my cat on my shoulder.  People interact with me in the most bizarre fashion.  I feel empty and ghostlike.  And yet there’s these small windows of hope.  I haven’t applied for anything else.  I think sometimes you have to put your name out there and see what it means to people.  The algorithms thought I was a good fit.   There are other things it seems to think I am a good fit for.  Friday night the algorithms pelted my notifications for the first time in awhile for jobs here in Chicago.  And they were bleak.  I felt more empty.  I felt overwhelmed by the fact through reaching out I have seen no closure or solace.  When I do connect with people from my past on that platform it’s mostly professional.  Like a note of encouragement but no real desire to go deeper.  You feel like a leper.  And this isn’t the first time.  I’m starting to realize I’ve felt isolated and exiled for longer than this entire pandemic.  I feel used and manipulated over and over and through and through.  And yet I also have this very thin layer of understanding with the rest of the world.  One that I couldn’t really escape if I tried.  One that I really have no idea what the outcome is.  But it’s something I had to try.  You throw a rock across the pond and it lands with a splash.  And people start connecting two and two together.  What happens?  To me nothing.  It was such a far throw to reach you.  I’ve been throwing rocks for years.  Missing every time.  And then you just nail it.  And people aren’t looking.  It’s frustrating.  You know it landed.  And yet you know nothing.  Maybe it needed to landed in the pond a little further to the left.  Maybe IKEA furniture was blocking the way.  Maybe it dropped into somebody’s Prada bag.  The general point is this.  I’m in your area.  And in some ways you are in mine.  I don’t know what the answer is.  I don’t think it’s mine to solve.  Unless it has something to do with keeping the internet safe.  And this community has always felt true to that for me.  Everyone I’ve ever shared these ideas and desires with has held a silent respect and knowing.  And we’re more than just machines grinding out data in a callous way.  We are people trying to connect to real emotions and dreams.  And in some ways, I’ve found that people here actually help each other emotionally.  Which is why it is such a torture to look for a job at the mercy of social networking that treats you like a dataset and not a loving, caring human being.

I am beyond hurt in my life.  It feels both hard and easy to say.  I have experienced the most soul crushing ego death no one could ask for.  And I live with it silently like a beast inside me.  Nobody gives a real fuck about me in real life.  Nobody has ever given me a hug.  Nobody has ever reached out to touch me and ask if I was okay.  And somehow people on the internet have.  For years.  Silently layered on top of this casual and fragile society we live in.  A complex network of people who trust each other and care in their own way.  A respect for privacy, space and dreams.  These are the things I was sworn to protect even if nobody ever gave a fuck.  I did not want to fail the people who inspired me.  And yet I am a complete failure.  I am worth absolutely nothing to people other than to compare or constrast themselves and their stock portfolios to.  I am a mirror in a house of broken dreams.  A fractured idea of what could be if someone would just piece me the fuck back together.  And the algorithms try I believe.  And they shove data in front of my face I don’t want to see.  They push and pull me apart and I’m expected to ride the pink wave off into the sunset.  When each day I feel more and more like garbage.  This is what is to be expected.  I’m supposed to throw it all away.  And yet I’m also supposed to wait for people to get their shit together.  The last two months I was abandoned in the most hateful and spiteful way.  I don’t know if that’s what the intention was.  But my feelings are beyond existential.  The hope I cling onto is weighted by things holding me back.  And the indecision with people to trust I am somebody.  I have never felt like somebody.  I have felt invisible, hopeless, and dried up.  And always there’s this breath of that one day I will be discovered.  I will be taken off the bench and treated like someone special.  And it never comes.  I grow older.  My life becomes more complex.  The things that keep me alive and the decisions I make are in a complete psychological vacuum.  This is self reliance.  This is being an adult.  And yet I am completely alone in this process.  It makes me cry.  It makes me angry.  It makes me sit here and want to scream.  But here in space.  The personal space.  The intimate private space we all share.  Nobody wants to see me break down.  Especially you.  And if you didn’t know by now, now you do.  I will keep throwing that rock until somebody catches it and asks why.  Because I have no other choice but to send the message.  I care.  I have always cared.  Whether that means anything to anyone is the real mystery.  I don’t know that it does.  I hope.  But hope does nothing.  You have to try.  And you will fail.  You know me best at that.  How many times I have failed.  It’s highly probable I’ll succeed one day.  By myself or other wise. <3 Tim

[withered-rose-unbreakable-lotus]

Tag Game: Get To Know The Mun

Answer the questions below and tag 11 people you want to know better!

The post was kind of long so I am answering in a new one. Thank you @sweet-strawberry-blog for the tag. ^^

1. What do you prefer to be called name wise?

Honestly, no idea. My name is Maria and that’s how everyone calls me. I don’t like my name nor any of its variations so I just go with it.

2. When is your birthday?

Not telling. :3

3. Where do you live? (You don’t have to give a city, you can give the state if you’re USA or country if you are overseas)

I live in Greece.

4. Three things you are doing right now?

Answering these questions while having ihascupquake playing on youtube on the background. I don’t do anything else. ^^’

5. Four fandoms that have your peak interest right now?

Visual kei & Danganronpa. Nth else at the moment.

6. How has this pandemic been treating you?

I am fine, I am staying inside and all but most people don’t so I am afraid it will get worse soon and like Italy we’ll lose many people. Especially since summer is here, the quarantine days are lifted and every idiot who was looking forward to vacation is going to come here cause partying in Mykonos is more important than everyone’s health, obviously. I worry about my mother cause the pandemic has made things harder for her and her health and she couldn’t visit doctors etc, but well...(it’s not corona, it’s other things but now i am worried about that too).

7. A song that you can’t stop listening to right now?

Any Halsey song really.

8. Recommend a movie:

Oh I am bad at this, I am more of a music person xD. I have watched so many films ever since I was a kid that new ones don’t impress me easily and I rarely watch new stuff. If you don’t mind about when it was made though, I’d suggest the Addams Family movies. It’s cute, it’s fun, I love it. For horror films I’d say the basics, like Saw, Silent Hill, even REPO! The Genetic Opera if you are into musicals too. Other movies, well I like Charlie’s Angels (not the most recent one, it’s awful in my opinion), any Tim Burton film, I love them. What else? I think it’s enough.

9. How old are you?

26. Though I am acting like a 16-18 year old most times and when we get to deep conversations I might sound like an old lady about some things.

10. School, University, Occupation, Other?

I guess I will die locked up in the hell that my informatics uni is. I absolutely hate it and I wish to drop it, but unless I get a job, I am having severe fears to do it, to announce it to my parents, since I am living with them, I got to be doing sth with my life you know? I am a loser, not much to be said. I am also studying Japanese, I am good at this, dunno if it’s good enough to pass the proficiency tests but it’s the only thing that’s moving forward in my life and I am holding on to it tight. I don’t have a job but I like considering myself an artist. I do photomanips and can edit videos (though I haven’t touched the latter in a long time). Generally graphics and stuff I can do but where to find a job for that in a country like mine that still lives centuries behind most countries and is mostly conservative as fuck. :D

11. Do you prefer heat or cold?

Cold. Always cold.

12. Name one fact about you that others may find unusual?

Well I am generally considered unusual here, due to my opinions, beliefs, tastes etc. People from other countries I am talking with seem to find me way more normal than Greek people, I don’t know. I guess being straight and supporting LGBTQ+ people is crazy here. Liking horror is crazy if you invest yourself to it past watching movies for the scares (like, people have asked me why i like it so much if I don’t get scared and I am like “aesthetic xD“). I like very revealing clothes too (never wear them though cause i hate myself and also hate people’s attention) which many people find extreme here....what else. Oh and I loooove guys putting on makeup and having long beautiful hair ever since I was a little shit. These things are very unusual here for some reason. The question asked one fact I know but I feel like ranting so here you go xD.

13. Are you shy?

Yes, but it doesn’t always show. (luckily) And I hate it cause it deprives me of many opportunities. Being shy i mean, not its not showing.

14. Do you have preferred pronouns?

She/Her

15. Biggest Pet Peeve? Lies, ungratefulness, being late repeatedly, cheating on people, girls ignoring their friends to spend more time with boyfriend (find a middle ground or bye bitch xD)

16. What is your favorite “dere” type?

Yandere. Dunno why. Maybe because I am leaning more towards Tsundere myself. I tend to like crazy people. Though I don’t think I would be able to deal with Yandere people in real life.

17. Rate your life 1-10, 1 being really crappy and 10 being the best it could ever be.

Taking into consideration my health is generally good, that I have my basic necessities met, my mother is still around and I have access to a lot of music I’d say 4-5. But only due to these. I most definitely hate my life and don’t really want to be alive but I can’t be ungrateful and say that I don’t have those very basic things. I am grateful I have a roof above my head, food to eat, a mother who cares and lots of music to listen to.

18. What is your main blog?

The one I am answering this from.

19. List your side blogs and what they are used for.

I have around 15 locked blogs I never finished xD. Aaaall of them fanpages besides one I have for the graphics I use in my blogs and one for promoting a story I am writing. The open ones are REIGN’s fanpage @club-reign , the Valentine’s fanpage (which also has a couple of ex bands of the members) @fi-ance-trust-thevalentine both of which are mainly inactive and act as archived blogs for any fans who get to like these bands after their disband and for old fans to have sth to remember. My writeblr is @dotr-rose-love . Everything else is locked.

20. Is there anything you think people need to know about you before becoming friends with you?

I am a very pessimistic person who might go over and over the same subject if you ask to listen to me. So if you feel drained by people being sad about the same things often, don’t ask me to open up to you :P. We can talk with just you opening up ^^. Other than that I am a good listener but if we are not veeery close, I might not always be as responsive as you’d like me to be or as warm. I need time to show warmth. I am an open book about other things but yeah. And if we don’t click easily it might literally take years xD. I am fine with simple chats too just not too much small talk cause I suck at this. xD At some point you might feel like oh she doesn’t want to talk to me, but honestly it’s me having no idea what else to add. I’d rather us get straight to a deep conversation or sth xD. Sometimes I might also not have the energy to speak to anyone so I might take a day or two to reply, but definitely not a month. Oh and since this is a big theme I had an issue about before, I am pro-choice, so if we speak of love and you start trying to tell me to change my mind, you will most likely have me barking and in a really bad way.

#mdp

[elmozzosays]

May 11 2020

Warning: For all of you out there about to read this, this shall be a long post. I was meant to elaborate on this for such a long while and after some serious thoughts and procrastination, I finally got to get around it and start to spill what’s been on my mind for the longest. Do not panic. it won’t be all here on this particular post, rather, bare with me, because after today, I will try (really try) to post every day or every other day.

I have read somewhere that writing is one of the best methods to decompress what is happening inside our minds. I can tell you now, I can write a story (or a book I dare to say) about all the experiences of my life. It’s a goal that I need to develop, but that’s for another time (perhaps I shall use this as a platform... good idea, huh?) Anyway, for the past 3 years (or should I say the last 20 years) I have been curious to the idea of a journal that will document what happens on my every day life (which is not fancy not glorious by the way) but my mind says otherwise.  Not every one knows what happens inside this little mind of mine that most of the time gets into scenarios, display movies and things that have not happened yet, sometimes about bad situations I cannot tackle, sometimes about lust when I can charm and seduce my crush or a woman I like, and also sometimes about the end. The end of me and/or the world. That is a whole different chapter.

For the longest I have come to the conclusion that I might have ADHD (stands for Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). You may ask why. Well, since I was a little kid, my mum could tell me when I was like 4-5 years old, I could be so distracted in class, bugging little girls, not paying attention. I thought that was normal but then reaching adulthood, all this hyper power -I can it- this attention to detail, every little thing bugs me, I need certain things to be in a specific way, the constant thinking of random things that haven’t even occurred (you get the picture right?) ----- Before you ask if I do take medication for this condition I think I might have, no. Is it needed? unless there is a medical chart telling me so, then I will think about it. What has it been the solution for me to somewhat smoother this? It’s hard let me tell you and some one having this condition will concur. I do not let any second get to me, I do always keep busy, either by having a hobby (I have been vinyl collecting for over a decade and 2 years ago I picked on photography), work -well it pays the bills- I also picked on cycling in which tackles 2 things: a form of exercise and to beat the transportation system in which ain’t pretty in NYC. It gets you by but I have heard stories from people who lived in the 70′s and 80′s when riding the subway was no joke, but I will leave this for another post.

What is considered normal nowadays? I have to come to senses and be clear who I am. No, I am not normal but I follow a normal lifestyle you might say. Currently, still living with mum and dad (glad to have them alive) and my sister. I was in a relationship for 5 years with a wonderful woman but currently single. (That is yet another chapter i will leave for the future so stay tuned)

So what’s this chapter about? yep, you guessed it: Acceptance. Coming clean with who I am as a person and why I am the way I am. I have good days, some aren’t, the sun shines one day then the other cloudy and cold. Currently it is raining and still chilly for this time of year. Not complaining though, just pointing it out. Some days I sleep very long (in which is an amazing feeling) and some days I gotta wake up early for work. Some days I want to stay inside (by the way, I despise crowds, places that gather masses of people -i get schizophrenic- I do not like people in general. I will explain why.

Ah people.... where do I begin? Let me start by saying this: People always want something out of you. No one and I mean, No one does something for free, NO ONE. They all want something -very few exceptions, but you gotta dig deep in the bottom of the ocean, literally- That’s how society is: from favours, material things, bribery, dishonesty, disloyalty, and more. No one says thank you just because (man, some people don’t even use that!). Our society has become a possessive machine that there are most people out there using and feeling used, manipulating and feeling manipulated, narcissism has become a standard and a normal way of acting for some, that’s repulsive to me. I used to work for someone who is like that. Asking for attention, wanted to know everything and everyone’s business. I have this tendency to bring people like that down, I mean it. I am a punk rocker -attitude wise- when it comes to that. I don’t give a fuck. I can play that game, I invented it. From pretentious girls -let me define something here: girls are pretentious, women are centered and know what they go for, that’s why I prefer older women- to people who think they are important just because they have met famous celebrities and/or been involved around that world (I despise the mainstream by the way). I was told by my current boss I can be dicky when I comes to my attitude. He’s right and that did not bother me at all. Why? because I cannot stand bullshit. I have this tendency -it is a 2 way road- I like you or I do not. Simple: like day/night, black/white. I do possess a spidey sense when it comes to people (I might have failed once or twice) so the accuracy is 98%. There are people who I do dig once we strike a conversation, some take time and most I don’t tolerate.

Well, that was just a grain of salt when it comes to my approach on people, I could go on and on but I don’t want to steal your precious time. There will be more of this I can assure you.

To conclude this chapter, I do hope you learn something from this and my future posts. This will be therapy for me and If you can use this for that as well, please do so. Our time here on earth is so limited we as people have forgotten one thing: to be there for one another. Now with this pandemic going on, I still see the same or worse from people. Guess we need something more extreme to take us to that level of realizing we are not immortal, our lives are borrowed. Enjoy every minute that you have. It might be your last. Til next chapter, kids.

_jaime

[diabolicalworldwriter]

Tagged by @aelin-ashryver-galathynius. Thank so much I’ve honestly wanted to do one of these since finding out they were a thing! so this is an exciting moment lol.

1. what do you like to be called name-wise? My name’s Karina tho I mostly just go by Chich as a nickname among friends. call me either one! (If you have special privileges, Loser, Chbich, Trash and a few others I won’t name are also options lol)

2. when is your birthday? December 15. (so it’s coming up soon. excited to not be the same age and finally have the family privileges of a older than fifteen year old ngl)

3. where do you live? haha creep. in a pineapple under the sea. (i’m kidding, in the USA tho I’m hoping to move to another part of it with my sister in the next year or two.)

4. three things you are doing right now? you assume I can multitask. if you mean right now right now, I’m breathing, typing and watching my brother attempt to antagonize Haikubot on my Discord notifications. if you mean like projects, I have like twenty unfinished books and art pieces and a few friends and I are attempting to make a video game. so that’s pretty fun.

5. Four fandoms that have piqued your interest? welp. I post a lot about the cosmere. um. Shoot I’m really indecisive..... I like Marissa Meyer’s books a lot (and also there are such sweet people in the TLC fandom), I’ve probably liked about a thousand Miraculous Ladybug posts (they’re so cute tho...) so that one... crap. Percy Jackson. 

6. how has the pandemic been treating you? *smiles emptily but also cries in idk if this is the reason my depression got thirty times worse or not but here we are.*

7. a song you can’t stop listening to right now? does Kay’s rendition of I’ll make spearmen out of you count? for the moment, I’ve listened to Soldatino by Paola Bennet like fifty times and I still get Nico feels. My sweet gay emo child...

8. recommend a movie? hmmm. I really like the Emperor’s new groove, it’s beautifully bizarre. 

9. how old are you? 15 years old but only for less than a month and then I get to be not that lol.

10. school, university, occupation or other? Homeschooled though I’ll pretend that writing trashy stories that I’m too depressed to finish and drawing random art is a job. I also work with a teen health/suicide prevention group which is pretty good. all the members are depressed and trying to not be by making others happy cause we’re like that.

11. do you prefer heat or cold? cold. I don’t like the heat. at least I can bundle up and drink hot cocoa and soup and eventually I’ll go numb and die. :)

12. name one fact others may not know about you. depends on what others. How about If I want to suffer I can put both my legs behind my head (or, one leg behind my head and the other behind that leg’s foot) before remembering I have a somewhat effed up spine? (don’t quote me on that, who knows how long I’ll keep being able to)

13. are you shy? not unless I’m around something living. Or dead. basically if we ever meet in person expect me to be under a table or in a dark corner and I’ll only say something if I think I desperately need to or get called out.

14. preferred pronouns? she/her

15. biggest pet peeves? human beings in general I don’t like parents or siblings invading my room, I don’t like when my family leaves out all the food or milk so I end up putting it away... people who give me a schedule last minute and expect me to be good with that really pisses me off ngl and I really don’t like people putting their dirty hands or feet on me stuff I guess. idk. I usually just suck it up and deal with stuff tho cause I can’t really change it without being not a doormat.

16. what is your favorite “-dere” type? *pulls up google in a moment of dumbness cuz... what* hahaha idk??? google why did you confuse me more

17. rate your life from 1 to 10, 1 being crappy and 10 being the best it could be. hmm. don’t want to disrespect my demons... I’m really bad at rating things. mmm. let’s go with 5 with a side of breakdowns, guilt issues and overreactions. 

18. what’s your main blog? You’re looking at it.

19. list your sideblogs and what they’re used for. I’ve been on Tumblr since like late September I think. I haven’t started any other blogs yet so... “Wow! I use @diabolicalworldwriter as a multi-fandom blog, @diabolicalworldwriter for random trash and @diabolicalworldwriter for... whatever other thing I feel like.” I’ll probably get another one if I ever get a book published so I can put my author crap there and not pollute this place of my fandoms.

20. Is there something people need to know about you before become friends? other than the fact that it’s not gonna last long, they’ll regret it, I have some slightly excessive guilt issues, am awkward AF and if I ever start talking I’ll overshare? none at all my dude.

Tagging @cerenoya and @silvermagpie0 I guess? Any of my followers who want to, feel open to do so as well. have at it.

#tag game #this was pretty fun #if any of you guys wanna do it go ahead #it'd be fun to see what you say #have a nice day #thanks for tagging me #ily all #an effing long post #chich is chattering again

[thrivous]

Dr. Jordan Roberts is a Thrivous science advisor and an advocate of the flu shot. He recently sat down with a flu-shot-curious mom, Blaire Ostler. Together, they discussed her questions and concerns, such as:

Should I get a flu shot? Does the flu shot work?

What is in the flu shot? Is the flu shot a live virus?

Can you get the flu from the flu shot? Can the flu shot make you sick?

When to get flu shot? How long does the flu shot last?

At the end, Jordan and Blaire also discuss the possibility of coronavirus vaccinations. Here's a recording of their discussion, followed by an edited transcript:

Blaire: Welcome, everyone. I'm here today with Dr. Roberts. And I'm really glad that you've agreed to talk to me about the flu shot because, I plead guilty, I don't get the flu shot. I don't give my kids the flu shot. And, to be honest with you, I'm painfully ignorant on the topic. And I'm wondering if you can help answer some questions and clear things up to me, so that I can make a more informed decision about whether or not I want to get the flu shot.

Jordan: Absolutely. I'd be happy to.

Blaire: Awesome. Okay. So one of my first concerns about the flu shot is: I heard that getting the flu shot is actually giving you the flu.

Jordan: That's a really valid concern. I think that makes perfect sense for you as a person and as a mother. You wouldn't want to give yourself or your kids something that could be harmful. Right? And, as your doctor, I wouldn't want to do that either. In fact, I took an oath when I graduated from medical school that I would first do no harm.

That's a very common misconception. But I think I can answer your question quite simply. No. You cannot get the flu from the flu shot. It's theoretically impossible.

Blaire: And how is that the case?

Jordan: Because the flu shot is not a live vaccine. It's not even killed vaccine. It's what we're calling "recombinant" vaccine. So it relies on a newer technology that's DNA-based. And I can explain what those terms mean, if you'd like.

Blaire: Yeah. Please. So what's the difference between a live vaccine and a dead vaccine and what we use now?

Jordan: Sure. The very first flu vaccinations came about a hundred years ago, after the great Spanish Flu pandemic that killed scores of millions of people. They were very crude technologies but a major advance in public health.

They would actually grow live cultures of the whole flu virus particle in animals or other tissues, like mice or the eggs of chickens. And then they would insert a small needle into that live culture full of the virus particles, and push that under the skin of the person receiving the vaccine.

That person was literally being given the flu, but not in the traditional way that most of us catch the flu, which is through our respiratory system. So their symptoms were slightly different. They didn't have a lot of the cough and headache and runny nose that most of us experience when we get the flu.

But they did have the muscle aches and the fevers and those other symptoms, some of the gastrointestinal symptoms. But it was typically more of a mild case. And if that person was exposed to a person who actually had the respiratory flu later on, they were immune, which was the whole point of the exercise.

This was first done in the army and other places where you have a captive audience. But once it was demonstrated that this was safe, and that it was effective, it became widespread. It was routinely recommended.

A little bit later, people realized that was maybe not a great deal, to give people a living virus. And somebody had this insight: what if we destroyed the particle? What if we exposed it to some harmful chemicals or we boiled it, to make the little flu virus particle fall apart?

We showed that to the immune system in the form of a shot. And this was the birth of the true flu shot: a fluid in a syringe that goes into your body. This is what we call a "killed" vaccine. It's all the same parts. But they are destroyed either through being exposed to boiling water, formaldehyde, or ethanol.

Blaire: But they're still effective?

Jordan: Absolutely. And it's much safer. So the people wouldn't have the flu. They would have some of the same symptoms at the injection site: redness and swelling and pain, similar to what we'd get now. But not the true flu illness, unless a few of those viral particles managed to escape that destruction process.

Blaire: But even that isn't what we use today though?

Jordan: No. It's not. That was much safer and just as effective and was the standard of care for decades until the genomic revolution, when we started to understand that DNA is the common language that all life shares. And we decoded the DNA sequences of the flu genome.

The flu has just a short string of different genes that code for its various parts. A virus is a very simple, minimalist organism. It's essentially the perfect parasite. It has just enough genes to get into your body and hijack your body's own cells to make massive amounts of itself: new viral particles.

So, for example, the influenza virus has two major, what I call, "trojan horse" proteins, located on the outside of its shell. And then it has the shell. And then, on the inside is its genome, a piece of DNA or RNA in this case. It's a very simple thing.

We know some things about what happens if we can show the body those trojan horse proteins, what we call the "H" and "N" proteins. You've probably heard of things like the H1N1 virus. And those refer to specific proteins, found on the surface of the virus particle, that trick your body into thinking it's something interesting, to take it into itself, and then it's got you.

It inserts its DNA into your cell. And that cell is going to die. That cell is going to be hijacked and become nothing more than a virus-producing factory. And when your body's immune cells discover that the cell has been hijacked, they trigger it for apoptosis or programmed cell death, or suicide to stop this threat of infection.

What we do now, with our recombinant vaccine technology, is take the DNA for those viral particles, H and N. And we put that little piece of DNA inside a vector, usually a chicken egg embryo. And we co-opt that embryo to make massive amounts of those H and N proteins. Then we purify those proteins. And that's what goes in the shot.

Knowing this, that you're only seeing the H and N proteins, does that make sense why it's impossible to get the flu from a flu shot?

Blaire: It does. But what else goes into the vaccine? Is there any mercury involved, or anything like that?

Jordan: That's also another very good point. Certain doses of the flu vaccine come in what we call a "multi-dose" vial, where you draw multiple doses for dozens of people from the same vial. Those vials do require a preservative. And, as part of that preservative cocktail, there are some mercury-containing chemicals.

Mercury is a natural element, found in nature. There are certain forms of it that are toxic to us, certainly. And we know those forms. We'd never put harmful amounts of those forms of mercury in something that I give to a person.

So, yes, while there is mercury in those multi-dose vials, in the single-dose vials, there's not. Those don't require preservative.

Blaire: How often are the different vials used? Or how do you know if you're getting a multi-dose vial or a single-dose vial?

Jordan: It depends on the age of the patient who's receiving the vaccine, and the maker of the vaccine. There are only a handful of pharmaceutical companies that make the flu shot every year. And I can talk about how they choose which strains to go in.

Blaire: How do you even know how to make the flu shot? What are you injecting into me?

Jordan: That's a very good question. You've probably heard things like: "I've heard that the flu vaccine varies in its effectiveness from year to year." Right?

Blaire: Yeah. Exactly, because that's the point. If I'm going to inject myself with something, I want to have a good chance that it's actually going to do something. Right?

Jordan: Absolutely.

Blaire: So how does that work?

Jordan: We want it to be both safe and effective.

Blaire: Yes.

Jordan: The important thing to remember is that when it's summer, here, in the northern hemisphere, it's winter somewhere. It's flu season somewhere else. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) in Atlanta has good partnerships with other similar organizations in places in the southern hemisphere, places like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, and Argentina. And they share information.

When it's our summer, and it's the height of flu season in the southern hemisphere, those organizations are sharing data back and forth. They're telling us which strains of the flu they are seeing that are causing the majority of disease. The CDC graciously accepts that information and shares in turn, when it's our turn.

Then they put all that information into these complex mathematical algorithms that predict human migration, based on things like shipping lanes and cruise ships and air travel. All of these other things go into the formula. And it gets better and better with every year.

It's not a silver bullet. It's not a crystal ball. This is the cutting edge of science. But there's no way to know with 100% certainty which strains are going to come north when it's our turn. We have to rely on statistics.

Blaire: So, percentage-wise, what would it be like? How effective is this going to be? Do you have a percent?

Jordan: On average, the effectiveness, meaning the correlation between the strains that are chosen to go in the vaccine ahead of the flu season and the ones we actually end up seeing, is pretty close. I'd say, on average, it's about 75% effective, which means that some years are better and some years worse.

A few years ago, there was a pretty rough year, where the correlation between the ones we saw and the ones we were prepared for was only about 25%. 25% is better than zero. And zero is the percent chance you have of being immune if you don't get vaccinated.

Blaire: But if I do get vaccinated then what are some of the side effects that I can expect from being injected with this?

Jordan: Typically, the side effects are localized to where you get the injection: things like redness, soreness at the site of the injection, pain, and low-grade fever. Those are typically mild and temporary, two or three days at most. And they usually respond really well to things like ice, ibuprofen, and rest.

The chances of having a more severe reaction, like an anaphylactic reaction, severe pain, or a more rare complication, like Guillain-Barré ascending paralysis or death, from the flu shot is incredibly small. I mean, your chances of winning the lottery or being struck by lightning are better.

Blaire: Okay. Let's say I forego the flu shot. I don't want to worry about any side effects. I'm really healthy. And I don't really get sick that often anyway. Why do I need to get flu shot?

Jordan: I hear that a lot. That's probably the most common response that I get from my healthy young patients, who just don't understand why I'm recommending it. And you're right. If you got the flu, it would be a couple weeks of misery. Have you been sick recently? Have you had the flu recently?

Blaire: Yeah. I actually did get the flu this season. And I did not get the flu shot. So I'm very curious.

Jordan: So you probably remember. It was two weeks when you felt like you were going to die.

Blaire: Yeah. It was brutal.

Jordan: Yeah. High fevers, muscle aches. You know, it's pretty rough. But you're young and healthy. So you probably will bounce back pretty quickly. Right?

The tricky thing about the flu and the important thing to remember is that it's a highly evolved thing. And it is evolved to continue to spread. If every person who got flu, on the day they got sick and started to have symptoms, would go to isolate themselves then they would prevent other people from coming in contact with them. In some sense, the virus knows this.

It doesn't have a brain. It can't really know it. But it has evolved a mechanism to get around that. That mechanism is that when you are exposed then there's actually a lapse in time between when you are contagious and when you start to develop symptoms. And it's during that time that you are shedding or spreading the virus.

Blaire: So, for a couple days, I could be spreading the virus without even knowing I have the virus in the first place. And I can be giving it to someone far more vulnerable than myself.

Jordan: Exactly. Someone who is younger, older, whose immune system is not really up to snuff, on chemotherapy or on some sort of medication for a problem like arthritis or Crohn's disease, where their immune system is being suppressed: those are the people who get very sick from the flu, people who end up in the hospital, people who die from the flu.

And God forbid if that should happen and you were the one who gave them that. In a way, you are indirectly responsible for their illness and death.

Blaire: So what I'm hearing is it's not just about vaccinating myself. It's about creating this kind of vaccinated environment in which to protect the vulnerable members of your tribe.

Jordan: Exactly. It's about being a good steward of the public health. In epidemiology, we have a term for that. And that's "herd immunity." When we have a very healthy immune herd, they create a sort of shield or protective barrier around those few in our midst who are vulnerable or unvaccinated. And they protect from and prevent these large-scale outbreaks of things that are very contagious, like the flu virus.

To get that real immunity benefit, we have to have high levels of immunity and vaccinations, levels above 75% to 80%. Unfortunately, we don't typically reach that in America. Most years, we succeed in vaccinating about 50% of the adult population against the flu.

But that's pretty good in a country of 350 million people. That's literally more than a hundred million people who get the flu shot every year. And how many of them have a major serious reaction or die from the flu on a given year? It's maybe one or two.

Blaire: How many people die of the flu?

Jordan: Tens of thousands.

Blaire: Okay. So the chances of dying of the flu shot are significantly less than dying of the flu?

Jordan: Not even in the same ballpark.

Blaire: Not even in the same ballpark. So I'm a mom. I have three kids. And, while I am concerned with herd immunity, I'm more concerned about my individual children. So could you explain to me, then, are there any differences in giving the flu shot to healthy adults, someone like myself, and then my younger children? I have a twelve-year-old, a nine-year-old, and a six-year-old. And then, how young is too young to get the flu shot?

Jordan: That's a great question. And it's changing. With new vaccines coming on the market, the youngest age possible that we can give them is going down. And we have now different strengths available for different people at different ages.

The typical flu shot, what we call "quadrivalent" shot, protects you from four strains of the virus that the CDC has identified. These are the big four that we really want to make sure that most people get immunized against.

For people who are 65 and above, we have what we call our "high-dose" flu shot, which can be for twelve to fifteen strains. Those are people who are much more likely to be acutely ill and die from the flu. So we give them a broader range of protection.

And now there's even one in the middle that's approved for people who are 50 and older. It covers about ten strains.

Now, I haven't mentioned at all the flu mist, the nasal spray. That is truly a live vaccine, what we call a "live attenuated" vaccine. It's been weakened a little bit to produce a less vigorous kind of response. But it is truly a whole particle that we give to children to avoid a shot.

It's not available every year because it's very difficult to grow in culture. So some years it just doesn't make it to market in time. In those years, we do use the shot for kids. But some years, it is available. It's not a good idea if your child suffers from respiratory problems or asthma, though. You should still give them the shot.

In general, we recommend the flu vaccination for children as young as six months old. And if a mother is breastfeeding then to continue breastfeeding through that season is really important.

Blaire: When do you recommend I give my kids and myself the flu shot? If we're going to go get the flu shot, I want it to be effective. When do I do this?

Jordan: That's a great question. Here we are, kind of late in the flu season. It's not too late. We continue to see flu cases pop up through April. But the ideal time to get your flu shot is early in the fall: September, October. That's typically when we get the flu shot in stock. So I'd say, this year, if you decide to go ahead and take the plunge and get it yourself and for your kids, go to your doctor's office or pharmacy, come late September, early October.

Blaire: What about for people who say, I already had the flu this season, so I'm going to be good the rest of season.

Jordan: I wish it were so. But it's not. We are locked in an arms race with the flu. The flu virus is constantly mutating, which is why we have to create a new flu vaccine every year to kind of play catch-up, cat-and-mouse, with this flu virus.

Now, there is real hope that, at some point in the future, we will have what we call the universal flu vaccine: one flu vaccine that you can get, either a single injection or a series, as a child and develop lifelong immunity against all strains of influenza forever, that ever could be.

Blaire: It's like super children, immune to the flu.

Jordan: And when we have that, we'll see the flu go the way of the dinosaur, the way of smallpox. It will be eradicated in humans. I'd say that vaccine, while we're making important progress towards that, it's not ready for the limelight. It's still probably ten maybe even fifteen years away. But it definitely is something that we are working on and, I think, something that we will see in our lifetime: a true universal flu shot, which is really exciting.

Until then, though, the annual flu shot is still our best defense against pandemic influenza.

Blaire: My final question, then, I have to ask. While I trust the data, and I'm trusting everything you're saying, but at the end of the day, I'm making these decisions based upon emotions. And what I need to know from you is: do you give your kids the flu vaccine?

Originally published at thrivous.com on March 14, 2020 at 07:40PM.

[asfeedin]

How to Manage Social Media in a Global Crisis

We could keep using the word “unprecedented” when referring to the global public health crisis in which we find ourselves.

But ultimately, whether or not a crisis of this magnitude could have been seen coming ‘round the bend or whether it’s been seen before has little to no bearing on this fact:

You will manage social media through a crisis of some kind.

Obviously, we’re smack in the middle of “a crisis of some kind,” but the point is that, even if this is the first crisis in which you’ve had to manage social media, it certainly will not be the last.

Being in “crisis mode” means that you and your marketing team may have to rethink your entire game plan in order to avoid being seen as mum, tone-deaf, or worse, like you are exploiting a crisis for your brand.

While we don’t necessarily know how long this particular crisis will be ongoing, there are a few general rules to adhere to when your city, state, nation, or the whole world, is confronted with the next one.

It’s best to have a plan of action in place right away so that you and your team can keep your brand moving forward, even in the midst of tragedy or uncertainty.

1. Take a Deep Breath… Then Start Your Damage Control

Words like “tragedy” and “crisis” don’t exactly inspire feelings of happiness or even comfort.

So the most important thing you can do for yourself and for your brand is to first take a deep breath.

When devastating news strikes, or when the immediate future feels a bit more uncertain, remember that you and your team are all humans before brand employees.

Take a moment to breathe and acknowledge your feelings; allowing yourself a brief moment to react will be better for your long-term actions.

The other advantage of starting with a deep breath is this: Mistakes are made in panic. (Ask me how I know!)

If you aren’t acknowledging your human side, it is all that much more difficult to anticipate the responses from the humans in your audience.

When we move straight from “breaking news” to “panicked damage control,” we also risk breaking everything else around us in the panic.

Don’t be the person that posts a rapid-fire social media response to news that isn’t accurate, or one that amplifies panic or seizes “opportunity.”

Breathe first, then act.

Once you’ve taken your deep breath, look at the situation from 10,000 feet.

Resist an immediate response that hasn’t been vetted by your leadership team.

If you are the leadership team, make sure someone else reviews and provides feedback on your response before you post anything at all.

Staying briefly silent so that you can become clear on an appropriate response will always be better than a hasty post for the sake of posting, particularly if it could be seen as misinformation or exploiting a tragedy.

While you’re getting clarity on an official response, do a thorough review of every organic or paid post you have currently running or scheduled to run in the next 48 hours.

Did a post or an ad just launch?

Delete or pause it until you have a better handle of the situation.

Ads should likely be put on hold for at least 24 hours to avoid becoming the tone-deaf hashtag getting dragged on Twitter for advertising during a crisis.

Move your scheduled posts to drafts for the next 48 hours while you collect more information and determine the best course of action.

Why only 48 hours?

Because each crisis is completely different.

We currently find ourselves in a global pandemic with several states (and countries) in complete lockdown, but stopping everything for the next quarter doesn’t do anyone any good while you’re in an information-gathering stage.

Not every crisis will be months-long; many situations may only last a day, two days, a week.

Do immediate damage control by shutting things down for 48 hours so that you can spend that time evaluating the situation: how long your brand may need to respond, and take your strategy from there.

You may not be good to run as normal after 48 hours, but this will at least buy you time to figure it out.

2. Ask Yourself (& Your Brand) a Few Questions

Now that your ads and posts are paused for the next two full days, it’s time to carve out an appropriate response.

It’s best to have a framework before the crisis about:

Who your brand is.

What your audience needs.

How to go about crafting a fitting answer to the situation at hand.

Always ask yourself these questions:

Does Our Voice Even Matter Right Now?

Because we are planning for unforeseen events, this is a question you will need to answer for your brand as a potential crisis arises.

Ask yourself:

Do people really need to hear from us?

Is anyone truly asking themselves how, say, an eco-friendly kitchen utensil manufacturer, is responding to this situation?

If you find yourself unable to make a compelling case that your audience absolutely must hear from you or is eagerly awaiting your official response to current events, it may be best to say nothing at all, especially in the first 12 to 24 hours after the news has broken.

There will be a lot of voices in the conversation:

Is your brand’s voice going to be truly helpful or just a distraction?

Could your voice, at this moment, be seen as an attempt to put yourself at the center of a tragedy that doesn’t involve you?

If you don’t believe your brand’s voice truly fits, but you must say something or are receiving pressure from your leadership to do so, wait a full day before offering up sympathies, condolences, or thoughts in the wake of the crisis.

Keep it brief and, whatever you do, make sure you don’t make it about you.

How Can Our Brand Help?

It’s possible that your brand really is one from which audiences are awaiting a response.

In this case, you’ll first want to wait on an official response from your leadership team.

Do not attempt, as enticing as it may be, to respond to people individually until you have that official response in hand.

Social media gaffes are often blamed on “bad interns” and one way to avoid being pictured that way is to make sure that, in the wake of tragedy, your next moves are approved by the people in charge.

Your brand may also fall somewhere in the middle: It’s not at the center of the crisis, but also, it’s not totally on the outskirts, either.

Is it possible to donate time, volunteers, products, or money?

Could you fundraise from your audience to help victims, families, or frontline workers?

Be wary of “fundraisers” or “donations” that require purchases from your company, unless all proceeds or profits are being donated from those purchases.

People are wise to strategies that look like a company wants to profit in order to do the right thing.

3. Check Your Tone

It’s not just what you say and when you say it when it comes to using social media in the middle of a crisis event: it’s how you say it as well.

Crises are not great times for jokes, memes, or GIFs, especially within that initial window immediately following the crisis.

Even if using humor is your personal coping mechanism, or if undying positivity is how you approach the world, be careful of projecting it onto your brand strategy.

Perhaps the crisis event looks a lot more like a mid- to long-term pandemic, or perhaps your geographic location or demographic is disproportionately impacted by the crisis for longer than the rest of the world.

In this case, you may want to use your social media platform for educational messaging through comprehensively vetted publications, or provide information on support or resources.

You can also use this platform in the longer-term to lift your audience’s mood.

Global and even domestic crises can have a serious traumatic effect on people, whether that looks like anxiety, grief, or just the general uneasiness that accompanies greater uncertainty.

It’s OK to use your platform to share positive messaging, too.

4. Whatever You Do, Don’t Make It Worse & Don’t Get in the Way

A crisis of any kind is in motion in the news cycle, it’s critical to remember that, as things are unfolding, information is changing.

Constantly.

Do not be the brand that stokes fear by sharing information that has not been properly fact-checked.

Do not feed into panic by posting articles that could contain false or outdated information, or fear-mongering.

Bad information is much worse than no information at all.

Additionally, do not use a crisis hashtag if you are not providing critical resources, support, or information for people impacted.

Just because people are going to be, for instance, staying at home in quarantine, it does not mean that your spa facial brand should use a #COVID19 hashtag.

Save the crisis hashtags for brands, publications, and government agencies or front-line workers to communicate critical information in a time of need.

Do not use a tragedy hashtag to express condolences or support.

Not only does it drown out information and resources that are actually important, it also looks like your brand is making a messaging play in a time of tragedy.

A crisis event is not a marketing opportunity, period.

5. Know When It’s Time to Go Back to Business as Usual

Even in a global crisis that is ongoing, similar to this pandemic, at some point, you will need to return to business as usual.

That doesn’t mean capitalizing on a tragedy or turning a crisis into a profit opportunity, but it does mean that audiences will grow weary of the news. They just want some semblance of normalcy back in their lives.

Your brand can go back to its normal routine, but delicately.

You may need to reevaluate your approach, your creative, your copy, to make sure that there isn’t anything tone-deaf or inappropriate in light of the crisis.

Be vigilant about the news and be ready to pivot quickly if there are new developments in an ongoing crisis, but know that you’re not stuck in an eternal limbo with your strategy.

Not every crisis will look like this one:

There will be events with more immediate needs.

Events that apply to your brand in a greater or less significant way.

Events that require your silence or your official responses or your help.

No matter what the crisis looks like, you can have the basics of a plan put together to help avoid becoming an ironic hashtag in the middle of an emergency.

Approach your audience with human-centric responses and content.

They may not necessarily remember how their favorite dog bed company handled the crisis if you handle it well, but remember: it wasn’t about you, anyway.

More Resources:

Image Credits

Featured Image: Canva

if( !ss_u ){

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '1321385257908563');

fbq('track', 'PageView');

fbq('trackSingle', '1321385257908563', 'ViewContent', { content_name: 'social-media-global-crisis', content_category: 'social-media-marketing ' });

}// end of scroll user Source link

Tags: crisis, global, Manage, media, Social

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2W91SK7 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress #Asfeed.in #asfeed #asfeedin #asfeed blog