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ettawritesnstudies · 2 years

Note

(meant to send this earlier my bad)

For the OC ask game

30. Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection?

32. Which one of your OCs would be the most suitable horror game protagonist and why?

39. Introduce any character you want

50. Give me the good ol' OC talk here. Talk about anything you want

Thank you so much for the ask! :)

30. Enne has a collection of trinkets and knick knacks she keeps because they're pretty or comforting or sentimental, so that definition absolutely extends to stuffed animals. Hannah and Cecelia both have not-so-secret collections piled on their beds.

32. I don't play horror games, but I did listen to the magnus archives so I'm going to interpret this as "which of my OCs would best fit the role of Jon Sims?", the answer being Madelyn 10000%. She's got the tragic flaws, paranoia, and general "fuck around and find out" energy to fit the role. Its a good thing I'm not writing a that kind of story for her, but fantasy and horror have a terrific overlap in how they both deal in possibilities - the wondrous or dreaded "what if" so I'm sure Laoche might be blurring the lines just a bit.

39. This OC isn't WIP related, they're a dnd character from an Eberron campaign I'm playing with my college friends and they're such a menace. I normally play the socially-awkward mom-friend caster of the group because my friends are all so chaotic, but rn I'm an arcane trickster rouge and the chance to lie through my teeth and sneak into high security factories is just.. so fun?

Anyhow I should actually introduce the character lol. Their name is Min, and they're a changeling that grew up with a noble kid named Veri, but they had a bad fallout years ago. Veri went into the city's politics/police while Min ended up on the street, and started establishing a crime ring to get back at him. Their multiple personas all supposedly report back to "Larua the Leige of Theives" (who of course is also Min), and Veri's become a Javert kind of figure dedicated to hunting down this crime boss. They've been going at this game of cat-and-mouse for *years* and now Min is recruiting the other players to her ring to plan a heist! I rolled three nat 20s in a row in our first session and it was a blast

50. ooooooohhhhh.

I've been kind of obsessed recently with figuring out Luca's character arc for Storge because in my first draft it's kind of there in the subtext but there's so much more I could do with it if I gave his internal monologue and emotions more page time. He's caught between these two virtues - duty/responsibility to his family, lying low, not rocking the boat, working hard, protecting his siblings, and ensuring they have a peaceful future, OR honor/justice, living up to his potential, using his magic to help his community, and resisting the Atilan tyranny.

The way the society works, there's no easy way to have both, and he has to choose between these two equally important values in different situations. He's such a kind person who's been broken too many times to count and he desperately wants to do the right thing but there's no clear answer. As soon as chapter 2, he shows that he's selfless and wouldn't hesitate to put his own life on the line for strangers, but he doesn't want his family to do the same because he doesn't want them to get hurt. It's kind of hypocritical, because they don't want him to die either, but I think his heart is in the right place? He makes a lot of mistakes, but he keeps getting back up again, vowing to do better and I just really love him for that. I hope that made sense! It turned into a philosophy ramble lol

Send me some OC Quetions while I study for midterms?

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a-wandering-ghoulette · 5 years

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Ghost: Tobias finally revealed himself! From MyRock n°57; March/April issue; a FR->EN translation.

Enjoy a 2 page exclusiv interview fully translated from french to english; 3 full-page pics by Amanda Demme and a bitter live report of Zénith de Paris ritual (under the cut at the end of the post)! Note that I’m not perfectly bilingual so any of you who have a better english lvl than me are free to correct any mistake I could have done!

Tobias, master of the Forge

(Translation Note: Yes, we are french and we like dumb puns. So yass, he leads this band, thx)

Few hours before his appearance at Zénith de Paris, Tobias Forge has opened his lodge’s door to us. Decontracted and unmasked, the autoproclamed Ghost’s spokesperson frankly discuss about the band news and about his sudden notoriety.

Interview by Thomas Mafrouche; photos by Amanda Demme.

“In the colllective mind, doing metal is wearing black and shouting in a mic. People believe it’s easy when it’s a music requiring a lot of work and precision.” Tobias Forge

The last time we saw you at Zénith de Paris it was for Slayer and Mastodon’s opening. Tonight, you are the headline and your show is full. You must feel very proud! Tobias Forge: Oh I’m fulfilled! It’s fantastic! I’m very happy with what is happening. Not for the success, but because it allows me to finally have the means to do shows of the scope I always wanted. I always wished Ghost to be big, that our concerts dazzle! There’s nothing which annoyed me more than when you look small on a stage. It’s the case during some opening, or festivals prestations, when we have to play during day time... Ghost isn’t a band built for small stages. It’s a full experience, the spectator must imperatively get what’s coming! But, it’s a monstrous organisation, with a lot of logistical problems to solve beforehand. The more people there are involved in this adventure, the more risks there are for the machine to derailed. But, well, it’s the challenge to achieve when you bring a choir of 40 nuns on stage (laugh). In the end, what matter is that the spectator enjoy it, that they spend a good and phenomenous evening with us.

It is said that you are scrupulous about each detail, even the lights. Is that true? T.F.: Yes... I’m a “control freak”, I must admit it. (laughs) But this hunger for perfection, it’s also what brought me here tonight. This thirst for controling everything, it also came from the fact I’ve often been right by the past, but I was often dismissed... I have long tried to fight against this facet and to let people speak. And in these cases, it often narrowly avoided a catastrophe. So now I assume it. It pisses me off to have become a control maniac, but I’m used to it now, because it’s what’s best for Ghost, and thus, for the public...

Influenced by Candlemass & Metallica

To open your concerts for this tour, you have chosen your fellow countrymen from Candlemass. You’re fan, we guess? T.F.: I’ve been listening to them since I’m eight! They are my heroes! Their album Tales of Creation is one of my cult record! A decade ago, I had the chance to meet them and today we became very good friends. We are often seeing each others, our wifes and children are getting along pretty well too. Candlemass, it’s family! Their music had a direct impact on my way to compose. Plus, there’s all the imagery! I’m not talking about costumes, but the typography and the biblical visuals which always had greatly influenced me. I’ll even confess you something: The first album of Ghost, Opus Eponymous, was written for Messiah Marcolin’s voice [2nd singer of Candlemass, Redaction Note]. At the time, I didn’t wanted to be the singer of Ghost. Then I asked him to join us, but he had declined the invitation, saying he was busy with another project. So, when time has come to sing, I did it with his head voice. Last year, musicians from Candlemass also supported me on stage during Polar Music Prize’s ceremony [Swedish equivalent of Victoires de la Musique, but with guitars, RN (T.N: ouch, it’s a nice shot in our national music award ceremony face, since they never reward rock/metal artists... So yeah, national sized Grammy’s ceremony)]. We covered “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, in front of Sweden’s King and Queen. Robert Trujillo an Lars Ulrich were there as well. It’s an unforgatable memory! My wife and I, we even had dinner with one of Sweden’s princesses, after the ceremony.

Would the princess of Sweden be a metalhead?! T.F.: I won’t go this far, no (laughs). But she was very sociable, we even toasted. It was exquisite!

“Now, I will represent Ghost unmasked. Tobias Forge will be the official interlocutor, the same way George Lucas was the unique spokesman of Star Wars.” Tobias Forge

Speaking of Metallica, you’ll open for them at Stade de France, on May 12th. There, as well, it’s consecration! T.F.: It’s crazy! I’m going to tell you a funny anecdote. I’m not passionate about football, but it turns out that I was in Paris in 1998, during the World Cup. I wasn’t at Stade de France, but I saw pictures in the city, on big screens. And, at this moment, when I saw the final, that you amazingly won, I told myself that one day, I will play in Stade de France as well. It took me 21 years, but this day finally has come! this is proof that you have to believe in your dreams!

Metallica, it’s an institution for many people. For you as well? T.F.: There isn’t a superlativ strong enough to say how much I love these guys! Especially since they became friends. It’s an honour to have been chosen to support them on stage. Notably because they’re one of the reasons which pushed me to do music.

Which is your favorite album? T.F.: Ouch, that’s not easy! From a strictly personnal point of view, I would say Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. But from a professional one, as a composer, musician and producer, it’s clearly the Black Album. It’s their best record, the most complete. Reaching this level of perfection, it’s any musician’s dream. Everything is here, the writing is bold, with a lot of character, and the producing is impeccable. I know it’s a record which make polemic amongst purists, but objectively, it’s one of these albums which had contributed to forge the metal we know today. In the colllective mind, doing metal is wearing black and shouting in a mic. People believe it’s easy, when it’s a music requiring a lot of work and precision. The Black Album, it’s the result of a huge amount of work, it’s months and months of work!

Papa Emeritus vs Darth Vader

The Black Album is also the record of notoriety, the one which propulsed Metallica with the general/mainstream public. This exposure, it’s something you’re living since the release of Prequelle. Recently, your appearance in the TV show Quotidien created a conflict amongst fans. To have a guitar solo cut during a live stream, is it the price to pay when a metal band enter the great mediatical circus? T.F.: Of course, it’s a sacrifice to do. Let’s say that, with Ghost, our relations with medias hasn’t always been good. I long refused to play their game. For a long time, these mainstream televisions had asked for interviewing Papa Emeritus. I always opposed them a categorical no. You can’t interview Papa Emeritus, the same way you can’t interview Darth Vader. You can meet James Earl Jones, who borrow him his voice, or the actor David Prowse. But Darth Vader, nobody can speak to him. It’s the same for Papa Emeritus. Today, in order to reach the next level, it’s time to play the game, but in our way. Since I can’t relate on Papa Emeritus to do the job, I accepted to do this interview unmasked. The problem is that journalists hadn’t the necessary keys in hands to understand Ghost. Of course, I’m not talking about you, because rock press know very well what we are and who we are. You tell me about Candlemass, about Metallica... It’s something else. You, you know your subject. Mainstream medias, them, what’s interesting them is to make the buzz, it’s to have a bone to gnaw. Sometimes, I wonder why I accepted to do such mediatical things... It’s not like I needed them, moreover my concerts are full! But, well, I decided that now, I will represent Ghost unmasked. Tobias Forge will be the official interlocutor, the same way George Lucas was the unique spokesman of Star Wars. The person you have in front of you today, it’s kind of Ghost’s director.

Otherwise, what are the future projects for Ghost? T.F.: There will be a release before the end of the year, but it will not be an EP of covers like we often did so far. It will be something else, but it’s not done and I can’t tell you about it yet. But I recorded some things... The rest of the year, I will spend it on the road, it will be very long, with, notably, dates in South America. I scheduled to go in studio early next year, to realease an album in 2020. You have to strike while the iron is hot!

(Under the cut you’ll find a semi-bitter live report. Take this line as a trigger warning maybe...?)

Tobias Forge at Zénith?

It took 4 albums, 2 EP and a lawsuit before Tobias Forge, Ghost’s mastermind, offer to the french public an indoor show worthy of the name. The rendez vous is written down for early february, at Zénith de Paris.

Live report by: Roseline Artal.

6 000 persons

Concert: 3/5

Public: 3/5

We was told the show in the capital is full of capacity, but some stands are inaccessible and guarded by vigils. It’s certainly to allow everybody to be dazzled that the band decided to not fill the venue at its maximum capacity, but it’s a shame for those who would have liked to be part of the lucky ones. After a Cigale and an Olympia much comparable to festivals prestations, Ghost decided to put every efforts here. Finally! Candlemass, coming from Sweden, open the ball, remaining on the very front of the stage. Songs flow, some blunders can be heard, notably when the singer Johan Längqvist mix up “A Sorcerer’s Pledge” and “Solitude”, but the crowd seems to appreciate. They rise their fists up in the air when needed, some heads are banging here and there, and we notice a semblance of circle pit down in the front right. However, it’s hard to remain enthusiastic very long in front of the relatively flat performance. Musicians are playing the game and are having fun, which is something at least.

A cathedral stage It’s almost 9 p.m when lights turn off and the black curtains disappear, reaveling the magnificent stained glasses awning over imposing stairs. Such ornated, the Zénith stage is standing out! It’s with “Ashes”, perfect for an appetizer, Ghost offert themselves to their audience, but it’s “Ritual” which receive all suffrages on this show begining. As for “Devil Church”, it end on a duel between guitarists. When “Miasma” first notes resonnate, one question is on everybody lips: “Will Papa Nihil show himself?”. And the answer is yes, for our greatest pleasure. “Jigolo Har Megiddo” is beautifully interpreted acoustically, allowing us to rest down our ears for a short time. Indeed, the sound is unbearable, at least without appropriated protections. Fortunatelly, the view isn’t unpleasant, thanks to a Tobias Forge of many personnalities as funny as worrying.

Papa Emeritus as a mafiosi (well, it’s obviously a confusion between Papa and Cardinal from the reporter here, I’ll correct it for the rest of this paragraphe, T.N) It’s well and truly the last album which is highlighted tonight, which is appreciated by fans. They are indeed ready to sing in unison and turn on there phone on “Life Eternal”, while Cardinal Copia play the romantic mafiosi, all in white dressed, thus marking an end to the first act. 15 minutes of break are offered, without a reason being given. Indeed, when the entract ends, the setting hadn’t change and musicians are wearing the same costumes. What if Tobias Forge became the new Axl Rose with his manic to leave the stage for ages with no valid reason? We’re picky, but these minutes could have been used to play other titles, such as the amazing “Elizabeth” which has disapeared from the setlist for years now... Nothing better than “Year Zero” sing by everyone and the cover of Rocky Erikson’s “If You Have Ghost” in order to put us in a good mood. However, the band found a way to ruin it all by dragging the members presentation out for long minutes. What a shame. “Dance Macabre” and “Square Hammer”, which we all keep loving during live, reconcil us with the swedes, then, without surprise, we’re leaving on “Monstrance Clock”, an ode to femal pleasure. When the lights turn back on, we can’t help but thinking this show was both a success and a disappointment notably due to useless dead calm.

#the band ghost #tobias forge #interview #cardinal copia #Nameless Ghouls #a pale tour named death #prequelle #MyRock #translation #scan

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terabitweb · 5 years

Text

Original Post from Security Affairs Author: Pierluigi Paganini

The popular expert unixfreaxjp analyzed a new China ELF DDoS’er malware tracked as “Linux/DDoSMan” that evolves from the Elknot malware to deliver new ELF bot.

Non-Technical-Premise

“This report is meant for incident response or Linux forensics purpose, TO HELP admin & IR folks”, with this the very beginning sentence starts the new analysis of one of the reverser of the worldwide extended security community, the head of MalwareMustDie team, (Mr.) unixfreaxjp. And the first thought coming at the mind is: while everybody is looking for “fame” and “glory” here there is someone who is working hard just “TO HELP”. It is there a security group greater than this?

But let’s go to the finding.

The new unixfreaxjp’s analysis talks about a new China ELF malware DDoS’er “Linux/DDoSMan” which seems to be a new DDoS botnet client installer that utilized the old Elknot bot binary (also known as ChickDDoS or Mayday) along with a new ELF bot (as downloader and persistence function installer): these are two ELF bot binaries which are dropped by the new found Linux/DDoSMan .

About this attribution unixfreaxjp comments on Virus Total as follows: “This is the new bot client of the “DDOS manager” toolkit used by China(PRC) DoS attacker. (….) The code seems inspired from multiple source code of China basis DDoS client, like Elknot. Not xorDDoS or ChinaZ one, not a surprise since many of code shared openly.”

But what kind of malware is this Elknot Trojan? How the MMD team found this in the first place? The story is well documented going back in the past years when one project of MalwareMustDie (MMD) team was very active to monitor the China origin ELF DDoS’er malware threat since Aug 2012. The growth was very rapid at that time (Sept. 2014), as described on the MMD blog when MMD detected 5 variants active under almost 15 panels scattered in China network. There is a video describing their work that shows many of Elknot analysis was posted.

On the MMD blog is still possible to read “I am quite active in supporting the team members of this project, so recently almost everyday I reverse ELF files between 5-10 binaries. They are not aiming servers with x32 or x64 architecture but the router devices that runs on Linux too.” We could say here to have a ““Mirai” idea “ante-litteram” 2 years before. Firstly written, the Linux/Elknot was analyzed and published publicly in the kernelmode.info as per below post:

Which links to the MMD behavior analysis report in 2013 in here and further debug report as follows in here: the latter one it describes the committed malware name as Linux/Elknot. The further analysis and report of the ELknot infection is written nearly in the kernelmode.info in the same thread. Thank you to the admin team of KernelMode who still keep the documentation of this malware analysis still available until now.

Linux/Elknot malware that time is known for multiple standard packet flood in several protocols (UDP, TCP, ICMP & HTTP) and amplification DNS attack of the China series of this DDoS trojan was firstly introduced by the this malware, before Linux/BillGates started to be detected. We can say Linux/Elknot series is the oldest root of the many ELF flooder built by adversaries in the same territory, and one of the most popular ELF flooder in that territory within 2014.

But if we go on the Akamai blog we can still find a reference to Elknot posted on April 4, 2016 on a topic referred to “BillGates”, another DDoS malware whose “attack vectors available within the toolkit include: ICMP flood, TCP flood, UDP flood, SYN flood, HTTP Flood (Layer7) and DNS reflection floods. This malware is an update and reuse from the Elknot’s malware source code. It’s been detected in the wild for a few years now.”. So we can see that Akamai blog explicitly talks about Elknot linking directly the web page of MalwareMustDie blog and telling with the language of the politically correct that for the “botnet activity, most of the organizations are located in the Asia region”. If we go deeper in the Elknot series analysis on MMD blogs mentioned above (“about the ARM version of Eknot basis with so many specific modification reversed and reported”) we get many interesting information and we learn a lot about China malware including Elknot scheme.

Figure 1: The ARM version of Elknot malware on MMD blog

And inside this post we can find a lot of considerations about the behavior of the malware and of the threat actor like the encryption of the binary and of the communication: “This a sign of protection, someone want to hide something, in the end that person is hiding EVERYTHING which ending up to be very suspicious – So the binary could be packed or encrypted protection, we have many possibility.

Further details of this family of ELF malware we posted regularly in here:–>[link]”

The further details on Linux/AESDDoS are on kernelmode.info as is referred by unifreaxjp on his new analysis that can be found here: https://www.kernelmode.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3483

The new Malware

But let’s go back to the new analysis: we have a combination of “new” and “old” code that is allowing the bot client to perform an interaction client and server involving multiple platform used by this botnet: the ELF bot (the client) is delivered on compromised devices in Linux platform while the C&C (Win32 PE) is in listening mode on a Windows platform waiting for a callbacks sent by the bot-installer, the one that executes the new ELF is the “downloader” and “installer” while the old Elkont code is responsible to manage the DDoS related configuration part, in example: to execute commands sent from C2, sending statistic data of the infected servers , threading, DDOS attacks, etc, as is shown in the next figure.

Figure 2: The C2 software for Linux DDoS

Going deeper in the unixfreaxjp’s analysis we read more about the new scheme adopted in the malware configuration:

“The C2 tool is having IP node scanner and attack function to compromise weak x86?32 server secured auth, DoS attack related commands to contrl the botnet nodes, and the payload management tools. Other supportive samples are also exists to help to distribute the Linux bot installer to be sent successfully to the compromised device, it works under control of the C2 tool. This C2 scheme is new, along with the installer / updater. The Elknot DoS ELF dropped is not new.”

But let’s see what are the execution binaries and what an administrator will see during the first stage of the infection, because this analysis is made for the purpose to raise the system administration awareness:

Installation related code execution:

Code execution:

execve("/tmp/upgrade""); // to execute upgrade

execve("/bin/update-rc.d", ["update-rc.d", "python3.O", "defaults"]); // for updating the malicious task

execve("/usr/bin/chkconfig", ["chkconfig", "--add", "python3.O"]); // for persistence

What administrator will see:

(Unknown) process with image executed from /proc/{PID}/cmdline, with forked from “evil” crond (dropped, executed and deleted malware) process.

The Client Side

Giving a look to the bot client we’ll see that once the malware has infected the remote host the installer ELF will read all server process info by launching open(“/proc/{PID}/cmdline”) for the further malicious purpose. The bot client then will collect infected systems data to send to the C2 in the URL as per shown by the screenshot below, the purpose of this data sent to C2 is for informing the C2 what system is infected so the C2 can send the traffic data back to infected machine with the upgrading binary for the further infection, and also for the statistic of the infected machines. The data of infected machine will be shorted by the Windows C2 utility tool called “Manager” as per shown in the above Win32 GUI screenshot, and that C2 tool will send the infected machine data to the static page served on another host in the web (which seems now is abandoned by the adversary).

Figure 3: Header of the ELF communication

The C2 data is sent from bot client via the malware’s “fabricated” headers as follows, to be processed further as per described previously. This below HTTP header is unique and can be used to mitigate the threat, which is a new action (not spotted in Elknot).

Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencodedrn

Content-Length: {SIZE OF SENT DATA}rn

Host: 193[.]201[.]224[.]238:8852rn

User-Agent: LuaSocket 3.0-rc1rn

TE: trailersrn

Connection: close, TErnrn

In contrary, Linux/Elknot bot client series will send or receive its data to C2 always in the encoded form instead, with a lot of padding 00 in between. They are using assembly obfuscation to rotate the encoded values. And the way Elknot communicate to the C2 is not using the HTTP protocol but directly write the communication data in the packet to the specific established TCP/port (original protocol often used by China basis malware, windows or linux platform).

After the initial communication is established, the C2 sent the “upgrade” to the Linux/DDosMan bot client according to platform of infected server: it is saved, renamed and executed on the infected node as the upgrade version of the initial malware. The bot client will start its main function. The analysis of unixfreaxjp says that its further process, including to drop ELF binaries embedded in the main ELF binary, is to execute them to perform their parts of malicious activity. “The dropped & executed “downloader” embedded ELF is actually the one that responsible for the “persistence setup” operation too. This part haven’t been seen in Elknot. And this is not even in the main sample file too. In THIS dropped ELF you can see well the downloader and the persistence installer in the same file.”

See the next figure for the explanation:

Figure 4: Snapshot of the Installer/downloader

Additionally the same connection is reused and the initial code that opens the connection toward the C2 responsible to manage the update of the malware on the infected node.

“So only one dropped binary is the Elknot.” says unixfreaxjp, “Obviously, there is no DDoS functionality in the main sample ELF file or the Downloader ELF file too, the Elknot has it, and the adversary tend to use that function from the C2 tool.”

The Server Side (C2 Tool)

Regarding the C2 tool we have a “Win32” PE and it has the Elknot basis C2 form, along with many additional other forms as we reported in the Figure 2. We can see the scanner tool, interface to write code execution to Linux shell after attack has been performed successfully. With these capabilities the threat actor can use any kind of compromised Windows machine to manage the C2 from its attacks.

To perform the malicious intent the attacker will need the ELF file to send, the script to be sent to hacked PC and the ELF file to be installed after infecting along with its execution toolset.

In order to have an idea on “how the adversary work in making this toolset” MMD has produced a very interesting video published on Youtube describing the techniques adopted by the China threat actors

Figure 5: MMD Video on Youtube describing China threat actors techniques to delivery malware

Reversing the C2 tool it smells of China even if the reader is not able to translate.

and recording them live from a compromised server.

Figure 6: MMD reverse of the C2 Tool

Adversary’s infrastructure info are in the following

The adversary network is as per below (domain, IP and port)

cctybt.com. 3600 IN A 103.119.28.12 tcp/8080

193.201.224.238 tcp/8852

Located in these networks:

AS136782 | 103.119.28.0/24 | PINGTAN-AS | AP Kirin Networks, CN

AS25092 | 193.201.224.0/22 | OPATELECOM, | UA

For the full IOCs and other details of the malware please refer to the Mr. unixfreaxjp research at: https://imgur.com/a/57uOiTu

About the Author:

Odisseus – Independent Security Researcher involved in Italy and worldwide in topics related to hacking, penetration testing and development.

unixfreaxjp team leader of the MalwareMustDie team.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – Elknot malware, DDoS)

The post BREAKING: new update about DDoS’er Linux/DDoSMan ELF malware based on Elknot appeared first on Security Affairs.

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Go to Source Author: Pierluigi Paganini BREAKING: new update about DDoS’er Linux/DDoSMan ELF malware based on Elknot Original Post from Security Affairs Author: Pierluigi Paganini The popular expert unixfreaxjp analyzed a new China ELF DDoS’er malware tracked as “Linux/DDoSMan” that evolves from the Elknot malware to deliver…

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mrlongkgraves · 6 years

Text

Nurses create ways to celebrate holidays with patients, each other

Caring for hospitalized patients is a year-round job and many nurses find themselves working a holiday shift at some point.

But with a little planning and creativity, nurses are able to make the holidays enjoyable for patients and for each other.

Bring on the potlucks

Jennifer Chapin, RN, of CovenantCare at Home in Turlock, Calif., has worked many holidays over the course of her nursing career.

“When my children were younger, I would tell them Santa was coming on the 21st or whatever day I was off,” Chapin said with a laugh. “When I worked in the hospital, we would celebrate the holidays of different cultures. For example, during Diwali, India’s biggest holiday, Hindu and Sikh nurses would bring in culinary treats and colorful lights to celebrate.”

Kira Dimitrijevich, RN

When scheduled to work on a holiday, Kira Dimitrijevich, BSN, RN, a surgical intensive care nurse at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, said she looks forward to celebrating with her “work family.”

“We have a potluck and play Christmas music and make it feel as festive as possible,” she said. “Sometimes carolers will go from room to room, which is nice for both patients and staff.”

Potlucks are a popular holiday ritual at Children’s Hospital, as well, said Jace Vargas-Weisser, BSN, RN, CPN, who works in the post-anesthesia care unit and ambulatory surgery recovery center at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles.

“Everyone, including management, signs up and brings their favorite holiday dishes to share, and we’ll have a holiday stash of candy for the occasionally needed sugar bump on a stressful shift. In the days leading up to holidays, we’ll also share favorite dishes, usually family recipes,” said Vargas-Weisser, who brings in orange- and clove-steeped apple cider for his colleagues.

Nurses lift patients’ spirits

Brandon Cloud, MSN, RN-NAC, clinical case manager for Aetna MNS and clinical director of nursing services for LCCA, of Phoenix, said most long-term care facilities try to focus on involving patients’ families during the holidays.

Brandon Cloud, RN

“A family night holiday meal is usually planned prior to both Thanksgiving and Christmas in order to give family members a chance to spend time with their loved ones,” Cloud said. “In my last job, we worked in conjunction with local churches to get blankets and clothing for those patients that didn’t have family.”

Cloud said the facility’s activities department made sure each resident had at least two gifts for Christmas and that gift trees – where staff, visitors and volunteers can choose a patient to surprise with a gift – were a common practice.

“Decorating cookies, gingerbread houses and creating ornaments are simple activities that help patients and staff get into the spirit of the holidays,” Cloud said. “Contests such as holiday door decorating also can be fun.”

While the holidays can be a happy time, they can be bittersweet for patients who are hospitalized or in poor health.

“Keeping patients’ spirits up is extremely important during the holidays, especially for kids that are on long-term stays,” Vargas-Weisser said.

“Our Child Life team identifies those kids that need a little extra attention, and we do as much as is within our power to boost their mood because no child, or adult, wants to be in the hospital,” said Vargas-Weisser, “especially during the holidays.”

Chapin, who has worked in hospice and home care, said she’s found practicing active listening can go a long way in helping patients feel understood.

“People who are elderly or homebound often get depressed over the holidays because they are isolated,” Chapin said. “If possible, spend a little extra time with these patients, listen to them, show empathy and allow them to vent.”

Cloud said recognizing holiday depression early is important to find medicinal and therapeutic approaches to combat it before it worsens.

“Not all patients have family that are available and making sure that they don’t feel excluded is important,” he said.

Whether it’s wearing holiday-themed scrubs or making Christmas trees out of rubber gloves, nurses are creative at bringing the holiday spirit to their patients. For children, Vargas-Weisser said creating a sense of normalcy is important, since some will be spending the holidays hospitalized in an unfamiliar environment.

Jace Vargas-Weisser, RN

“We sometimes wear silly hats or accessories, such as necklaces with Christmas lights, along with our holiday scrubs,” Vargas-Weisser said. “It helps to brighten the mood with the kids and aids in building a quick relationship before we have to start that IV line or give them an ‘icky tasting’ medication.”

In addition to visits from Santa and Christmas-themed activities, there is a holiday talent show for patients and their families, and volunteers are available for story times during which they read holiday-themed books to young patients.

“We have various teams that work with kids to offer age-appropriate activities to boost spirits (coloring pages, book reading, random toy giveaways from the volunteer department),” Vargas-Weisser said.

“While there are no specific guidelines for nurses to identify and offer additional care for these kids during the holidays, nurses know both from report and from assessing the kids which of them need just that extra bit of attention,” he said. “The more seasoned nurses tend to lead the newer staff in showing that it’s OK to give a little extra attention to those patients, whether it’s watching a cartoon with them while you both eat a popsicle, or sneaking them a cookie from the staff potluck (if it’s OK in their diet orders).”

Freelancer writer Linda Childers contributed to the research and writing of this article.

Read the Easy Self-Care Tips for Nurses for ideas on how to practice self-care at work and at home.

The post Nurses create ways to celebrate holidays with patients, each other appeared first on Nursing News, Stories & Articles.

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Ask D'Mine: Treating a Diabetic "Junkie," and Considering "Insulinotropic" Foods

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Ask D'Mine: Treating a Diabetic "Junkie," and Considering "Insulinotropic" Foods

Need help navigating life with diabetes? Ask D'Mine! That would be our weekly advice column, hosted by veteran type 1, diabetes author and community educator Wil Dubois. This week, Wil takes on the issues of doctors seeing "junkies" rather than patients struggling with addiction, and the insulinotropic effect of certain foods on PWDs.

Got your own questions? Email us at [email protected]

Anonymous from Alabama, type 2, writes: I was diagnosed 5 months ago with type 2 diabetes. I assume I've had it for a few years, but I have no insurance and didn't realize how dangerous it really is. I'm now reading a lot more and I'm terrified. My feet and hands are numb most days. Fatigue is a mild word. I finally got in a community free clinic and I'm on 2000 mg metformin a day and was on 15 units of Lantus. I had to stop taking Lantus because it seemed to be making me have withdrawals from the methadone I've been on for five years. Extreme diet change has lowered my numbers a lot, but the doctor seems to be not as concerned as I am, and this really bothers me. And I can't seem to get much info about the methadone and the insulin. Any info you could give, or where or what to do next, or any insight into my situation? Thanks, I'm worried.

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: It's OK to be worried. Fear can be a healthy emotion, so long as it doesn't rule the day. And, hey, I'm proud of you. You got yourself into a clinic—better late than never—you've made extreme diet changes, you're reading up on your diabetes and you're asking questions!

As to your doctor, well, I'm not so proud of him. I think you might have gotten one of the bad ones. Most docs at free clinics are pretty awesome people who are drawn to helping people in the greatest need. Let's face it, no doc works at a free clinic for the money—this kind of work is among the lowest-paying in medicine.

That said, and there's no delicate way to say this, so bear with me... I think he might see something different when he looks at you than what I see. I'll go first. When I look at you (well, at your email—but I can "see" a great deal in the words people place on a page), I see someone who's had a pretty hard road. I see someone who's suffering a great deal, but trying to improve her lot in life. I see a fellow PWD. Hell, I just see a fellow human being.

And that's good enough for me.

Your doc, however, sees something else. He looks at you and sees a junkie. Long-term use of methadone is sometimes used to treat chronic pain, but is usually used to treat opiate addictions. A methadone prescription is a red flag. In fact, just like your doc, I'm actually going to assume that's why you are taking it; but unlike your doc, I'm not going to judge you for it. For some reason, some really great docs get hung up over drug use and, like the Grinch, their hearts suddenly shrink. I've seen some pretty open-minded providers act really strangely around IV drug users. So when I read your email I found myself wondering if your doc was really listening to you or if he'd gotten hung up over your past with his brain stuck in a stupid loop about "so she had money for heroin, but couldn't be bothered to pay for her health care, I'm not going to waste my time..."

That's #@$%& BS! I say to your doctor: If you can't accept everyone, regardless of their faults, as worthy of the same treatment, then you don't belong in medicine. The door is over there. Please leave, we have enough real challenges to solve without those kinds of attitudes. I'm sure you'll do just fine in politics.

So I spent most of my spare time the last few weeks trying to see what's known and not known about methadone and Lantus. The answer: not much.

In fact, about all I could find were two reports of photosensitivity in women over 50; and one report of "chills" in a 60-year-old man. Now chills might sound a bit like your "withdrawals." And if it happened to one other person, it sure as hell could have happened to you, too.

The solution? Well, based on my field experience, I've found the various insulins we have to play with are a lot more different than apples and oranges. We tend to think of Lantus and Levemir like we think of Tide and Cheer: hey, the brands are different, but they both clean your clothes. And while it's true that the glucose response profile of the two basal insulins is pretty much the same, they couldn't be made any more differently. Hell, they aren't apples and oranges so much as watermelons and papayas. People who have some sort of oddball trouble with one often do fine on the other. And don't forget we have the old-fashioned NPH as an option, too.

My advice? Go back to your clinic, but ask to see another provider. Look the white coat straight in the eye and be honest about your past and passionate about your future. Be clear about your here-and-now fears. Then ask to try a different insulin, and see if it plays better with your methadone.

Oh, and don't vote for your old doc if you see he is running for Congress.

Paul from Georgia, type 1, writes: I have recently read about foods like milk and wheat causing increased secretion of insulin (insulinotropic effect) above the insulin needed for the carbs in the food. This fact is used to conclude that products containing these ingredients be used sparingly, if at all, in an attempt to prevent obesity and type 2 diabetes. The reason being that these foods cause an overproduction of insulin that leads to storage of excessive carbs as fat. My question is as a type 1 with a negative c-peptide is: will eating these foods have the same effect? My guess is unless they cause a glucose rise above the carb content that I gave a bolus for, there will be no extra insulin unless I give extra insulin.

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: Well, first off, you and I must be reading different journals, because I haven't seen nor could I find anyone worrying about insulinotropic foods causing weight gain. In fact, just the opposite may be true—they're being heralded as the next great thing in diabetes treatment, and some people think they may even help prevent obesity.

But let's back up and give all our readers some background. Then we'll dissect the issue you read about a little more and I'll take a crack at your question. As you said, insulinotropic is just a fancy-pants cocktail party word for something that causes insulin production. And it's been a known mystery for a number of years that different proteins have different "insulinotropic properties," meaning that they trigger insulin production independent of their glycemic index; the exact opposite of what logic would suggest. WTF?

Back in 2004, a team of Swedish researchers singled out milk as being the most unusual in this regard. After much study the smoking gun was proven to be whey protein, which makes up around 20% of milk's protein (but a whopping 60% of the protein in human breast milk, "food" for thought). Why whey kicks the body in the pancreas more than you'd expect, given its carb count, remains a mystery to this day.

But, but, but: just because it induces the body to produce more insulin than the glycemic index would suggest, doesn't mean it's making your body produce more insulin than it needs. In fact, the extra squirt of insulin from whey has been shown to greatly reduce blood sugar spikes after meals. So much so, that mixing whey into high carb meals has been shown to have a medicinal effect in type 2s. In other words, a natural insulin secretagogue. (One study added whey to a meal of mashed potato and Swedish meatballs, which I find ironic given the original whey discovery came from Swedish researchers.)

Over the last few years, there has been much ongoing research that, quoting another study, "dietary interventions represent a promising therapeutic strategy to optimize postprandial glycemica." Whey as medicine for all that ails you.

In a stretch, I suppose I could see your point about extra insulin moving the carbs into fat storage, but leaving the extra carbs in the blood moves the type 2 into the dialysis center. I don't think these foods are likely to cause greater weight gain because of the extra insulin, nor do I think type 2s should avoid them only out of fear of weight gain. I think anyone who is worried about weight should focus more on eating less, and less on what they are eating. And just to muddy the waters, I'm seeing a lot of research actually supporting whey as an anti-obesity agent, rather than a trigger for weight gain. This has led to whey becoming a popular food supplement, especially for the for body building crowd. It's seen as agent of muscle growth and fat reduction, but like many food supplements, we are lacking in solid science behind this particular claim.

But as to you, my insulin-deficient friend, you're right. An insulinotropic food will not bring your dead beta cells back to life. An insulinotropic substance needs an insulin-producing body to act on.

However, your question raises another: If the "normally" functioning human body produces more insulin for whey than you'd expect it to need... why is that? Frankly, the body tends to know what it's doing. Even though the glycemic index of foods with whey shouldn't demand more insulin, the body provides it, and apparently with good results.

Maybe we should all consider a whey bolus.

This is not a medical advice column. We are PWDs freely and openly sharing the wisdom of our collected experiences — our been-there-done-that knowledge from the trenches. But we are not MDs, RNs, NPs, PAs, CDEs, or partridges in pear trees. Bottom line: we are only a small part of your total prescription. You still need the professional advice, treatment, and care of a licensed medical professional.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

Type 2 Diabetes Treatment Type 2 Diabetes Diet Diabetes Destroyer Reviews Original Article

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