#24 hours power supply

[preetisinghuniverse]

Electricity Grievance: UP Residents Demand Accountability

Grievance Status for registration number : GOVUP/E/2024/0080640Grievance Concerns ToName Of ComplainantYogi M. P. SinghDate of Receipt09/11/2024Received By Ministry/DepartmentUttar PradeshGrievance DescriptionMost respected sir there is a breakdown in the supply of electricity for 5 hours since the morning. Concerned accountable staff are not picking up their close unit group mobile numbers…

[thethief1996]

700 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours and the airstrikes are more violent each night. Gaza's hospitals have fuel left for two more days. Israel only allowed aid into Gaza on the condition they didn't carry fuel. The Indonesian hospital has shut down already, because doctors have no supplies and no choice but to let the wounded die. They're calling it a collapse but the term doesn't do it justice.

Over a 100 incubator babies are at risk. There are 50.000 pregnant women in Gaza right now, and 5.500 due to give birth this month. Menstruating people are taking pills in order to stop their periods, because they do not have pads or water to maintain hygiene. Surgeons are operating without anesthesia. Water is not reaching Gazans because there's no electricity or fuel for water pumps.

There's no excuse for this. Israel justifies the airstrikes by saying they want to destroy Hamas infrastructure and release the hostages, but they have refused to negotiate for their release. Hamas informed Israel they wanted to release two elderly women without anything in return, and Israel refused. Netanyahu said they wouldn't take their own civilians back because it was "mendacious propaganda." When the hostages were finally released, Netanyahu prohibited the hospital from giving press releases. Yocheved Lifshitz went behind their backs and talked to the press anyway, saying she was treated very well by Hamas, but the government abandoned them. They're being used as straw men. Israel is conditioning the entry of fuel to the release of hostages and yet, according to The Wall Street Journal, when Hamas proposed to exchange 50 hostages for fuel they denied. IDF officials have said they fear the release of more hostages because that might withhold the order to their ground invasion. They do not care as long as they can use the hostages as a pretext for their slaughtering.

There's a turning tide for Palestine in public support. Support for Israel was built through decades of propaganda and we are making a dent into it. Zionists are desperate, holding zoom meetings to promote zionism, but we have to do so much more. We have to shame people in power into supporting the Palestinian cause.

Keep yourself updated and share Palestinian voices, looking to inform yourself from the sources. Palestinians have asked of us only that we share, tweet and post, over and over. Muna El-Kurd said every tweet is like a treasure to them, because their voices are repressed on social media and even on this very app. Make it your action item to share something about the Palestinian plight everyday. Here are some resources:

Al Jazeera

Anadolu Agency

Mondoweiss

Boycott Divest Sanction Movement

Palestinian Youth Movement

Mohammed El-Kurd (twitter / instagram)

Al-Shabaka (twitter / instagram)

Mariam Barghouti (twitter / instagram)

Muhammad Shehada (twitter)

Motaz Azaiza (instagram) - reporting directly from Gaza

Take action. You can participate in boycotts wherever you are in the world, through BDS guidelines. Right now, they are focusing on boycotting (don't be overwhelmed by gigantic boycott lists. Only boycott additional brands if you can):

Carrefour

HP

Puma

Sabra

Sodastream

Ahava cosmetics

Israeli fruits and vegetables

Push for a cultural boycott - pressure your favorite artist to speak out on Palestine and cancel any upcoming performances on occupied territory (Lorde cancelled her gig in Israel because of this. It works.)

If you can, participate in direct action or donate. Palestine Action works to shut down Israeli weapons factories in the UK and USA, and have successfully shut down one of their firms in London. Some of the activists are going on trial and are calling for mobilizing on court.

Call your representatives. The Labour Party in the UK had an emergency meeting after several councilors threatened to resign if they didn't condemn Israeli war crimes. Calling to show your complaints works, even more if you live in a country that funds genocide.

FOR PEOPLE IN THE USA: USCPR has developed this toolkit for calls

FOR PEOPLE IN THE UK: Friends of Al-Aqsa UK and Palestine Solidarity UK have made toolkits for calls and emails

FOR PEOPLE IN GERMANY: Here's a toolkit to contact your representatives by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN IRELAND: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN POLAND: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN DENMARK: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN SWEDEN: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA: Here's a toolkit by Stand With Palestine

FOR PEOPLE IN CANADA: Here's a toolkit by Indepent Jewish Voices for Canada

Join a protest. Here's a constantly updating list of protests:

Global calendar

USA calendar

Australia calendar

Here are upcoming events:

CANBERRA/NGUNNAWAL, AUSTRALIA – Wed Oct 25, 11 am, National Press Club. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyh1xy1BMrU/

OXFORD, ENGLAND – Wed Oct 25, 12:15 pm, Cornmarket. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CykroKeInz3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

SMITH COLLEGE (US) – Wed Oct 25, 12 pm, Chapin Lawn. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CymT8f5vnHN/?img_index=1

ST CATHERINES, ON ( CANADA) – Wed Oct 25, 6 pm, 61 Geneva St Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/889319005528757/

TORONTO, CANADA – Wed Oct 25, 5 pm, Sidney Smith Hall. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CyjVbpGvva8/

SANT CUGAT, CATALONIA, SPAIN – Thurs Oct 26, 6 pm, Davant l’Ajuntament. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CynL834tgg9/?img_index=4

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Fri Oct 27, 7 pm, Federation Square. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyhyd0vhP8t/

LIVORNO, ITALY – Sat Oct 28, 2:30 pm, Piazza Cavour. Info https://www.instagram.com/p/CyiWJ06MXpM/

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (US) – Sat Oct 28, 1 pm, Lake Street and Minnehaha.

ROME, ITALY – Sat Oct 28, Rome. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyi7ey-MMs1/?img_index=1

ROME, ITALY – Sat Nov 4, Rome. Info TBA: https://www.instagram.com/p/CyndKUitnMU/

WASHINGTON, DC (USA) – Sat Nov 4, 12 pm, White House. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CyiecRtr9-B/

Wollongong: Rally at Crown Street Mall Amphitheatre on 21 Oct at 1 PM

Melbourne: Blak and Palestinian Solidarity Rally at Victorian Parliament House Steps on 25 Oct at 6 PM

HOUSTON: Thursday, October 26th, 5:45PM, Rice University, Central Quad

VANCOUVER: OCT 28 at 2PM, Vancouver Art Gallery

KITCHENER: Wednesday October 25th at 5 PM at CBC Kitchener

SANTA ANA: 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, CA 92701, October 25th at 5:30 pm

TORONTO: WED. OCT 25 at 7PM at Queen's Park

[CAR RALLY] WASHINGTON D.C: Wednesday 10/25 outside the US State Department on the 23rd Street side

Feel free to add more.

[black-fist-order]

Do not make any purchases

Do not shop online, or in-store

Do not spend money on:

Fast Food

Gas

Major Retailers

Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending

Only buy essentials if absolutely necessary

(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)

If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.

~ Corporations and banks only care about their bottom line.

~ If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message.

~ If they don't listen (they wont) we make the next blackout longer (We will)

This is our first action.

This is how we make history.

February 28th

The 24 Hour Economic Black Out Begins...

[vorestarr]

ascended astarion and vampire spouses

so I've been reading the dnd 2e manual "Van Richten's Guide to Vampires" for fic/game inspiration, and there's this really interesting chapter on vampire brides and grooms. after reading it, it's very clear to me that Astarion didn't turn Tav into a typical spawn, but into a vampire spouse, which are two very different rituals with very different outcomes.

the typical vampire spawn creation process is exactly what Astarion describes happening to him: a painful death, a painful rebirth into undeath, fighting his way out of his own coffin, and Cazador's complete control over him. this is described pretty clearly in the guide to vampires:

According to most related tales, a vampire can create another simply by killing a mortal either with its life-energy draining power (draining all the character's experience leveIs) or by exhausting the mortal of his or her blood supply. If the victim's body is not properly destroyed, it arises as a vampire, under the control of the creature who killed it, on the second night following the burial. [...] Most vampires remember the instant of their death and the nature of their killer, and understand immediately their new nature. Certainly their new hunger gives them a good idea of what they have become. They must immediately free themselves from their grave. either by breaking it open from within or by assuming gaseous form and diffusing out.

so that's definitely what happened to Astarion, but that's not what happens to Tav. after ascended Astarion turns Tav into a vampire, they can ask him what happened, and he describes the following:

Astarion: You are so beautiful... And you will be beautiful forever. Thank you for trusting me. Player: What exactly happened? Astarion: You were drained dry, and at the height of your delirium, I granted you one drop of my own blood. Things will be a touch different for you than they were for me when I was a spawn. I'm imbibed with unfathomable new talents. I am fairly certain I can extend Mephistopheles' blessings unto you. Player: Does that mean I need not fear the sun? Astarion: You need not fear anything. You will be stronger, swifter, sharper, but you won't be different. You were already perfect before. It's hard to improve.

for reference, this is how the guide to vampires describes the ritual for vampire spouses:

To actually create the bride, the vampire bestows what is known as the "Dark Kiss". lt samples the blood of its mortal paramour—once, twice, thrice—draining her almost to the point of death. This process causes the subject no pain; in fact, it has been described as the most euphoric, ecstatic experience, in comparison to which all ether pleasures fade into insignificance. Just as the subject is about to slip into the terminal coma from which there is no awakening, the vampire opens a gash in its own flesh—often in its throat—and holds the subject's mouth to the wound, As the burning draught that is the vampire’s blood gushes into the subject's mouth, the primitive feeding instinct is triggered, and she sucks hungrily at the wound, enraptured. With the first taste of the blood, the subject is possessed of great and frenzied strength (Str 18, if the character’s Str isn't already higher), and will use it to prevent the vampire from separating her from the fountain of wonder that is its bleeding wound. lt is at this point that the creator-vampire's strength is most sorely tested. He is weakened by his own blood loss, and also by his own rapture as the "victim" of a dark kiss. Overcoming the sudden loss of strength and the inclinations of lust, the vampire must pull her away from its own throat, hopefully without harming her, before she has overfed. Should the subject be allowed to feed for too long (more than 2 rounds), she is driven totally and incurably insane, and will die in agony within 24 hours. Once the subject has stopped feeding, she falls into a coma that lasts minutes or hours (2dl2 turns), at the end of which time she dies. Several (1 d3) hours later, she arises as a Fledgling vampire—and her creator's bride.

this to me sounds like what Astarion describes. he drains Tav almost dry, and at the very last moment, gives them a single drop of his blood. (also interesting reading this guide, the single drop avoids the problem of the vampire spouse being driven ravenous with hunger for the vampire creator's blood and attacking them. did Astarion know this and give them one drop on purpose to avoid that and Tav potentially being driven mad by it? or was he being selfish and this is just a nice but unanticipated outcome?)

i kept reading and there's a lot more interesting information about vampire spouses, but the most interesting thing I found related to the game was this:

Although there are some folk tales that describe the bride of a vampire as its slave, in much the same way that offspring are slaves, a bride is free-willed from the moment of her creation. The creator vampire does have great influence over the bride. however although this control is totally nonmagical. When a vampire is created in the traditional manner—that is, when a victim's life energy is completely drained away—the new fledgling instinctively understands much about the vampiric way of unlife, and about its own strengths, weaknesses* and needs. Not so the bride.

so basically, the vampire spouse is not tied to the vampire creator in the same way as a spawn (i.e., not able to be fully controlled) but is still extremely reliant on the vampire creator to teach them how to live as a vampire. the guide goes on to describe that some vampire creators may lie to their vampire spouse about the control or powers they have, in order to exert more control over them.

interestingly, if you ask Astarion if he can compel you the way Cazador compelled him, he doesn't give a straight answer, he just says this:

Player: Cazador could compel you - can you compel me? Astarion: Why would I need to? You're going to be wonderfully obedient.

to me, all of this says that Astarion was telling the truth when he told Tav that they would be different from him as a spawn, and also in emphasizing that they are not a spawn but a consort. he didn't create a spawn, he created a vampire spouse. he married Tav, and because of this Tav also retains their free will.

of course, Astarion doesn't say this. if he knows, he withholds this information in much the way that this guide describes, as a way for the creator to maintain more control over their spouse. but still, extremely interesting implications for the ascended Astarion romance, imo.

other interesting facts about vampire spouses from the guide to vampires:

the married couple has telepathic communication that can span miles -- so Tav and Astarion can potentially have a telepathic bond even after the tadpoles are gone. (another note, this communication has to be consensual both ways for it to work, so you can't just dig around someone's mind if they don't want it.)

the vampire creator is extremely jealous and possessive. (yeah lol)

their life forces are linked, so one suffering a great deal is felt by the other.

the bond can be broken, but the ritual to do so has to be initiated by the creator. to break it, they both spill their blood on the ground and allow it to mix. this dissolves all aspects of the bond (i.e., telepathy and linked life forces), but the spouse stays a vampire.

[stevespookington]

We are heading into severe weather season in the US soon (and by soon I mean tomorrow) (disclaimer, this is all general advice. pay attention to the official weather sources in your area for alerts and important information. I am not an expert, weather info is just a hobby for me.)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Weather Service (NWS) has (for now anyways) the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) which is a great source of information to stay weather aware.

The SPC puts out Convective Outlooks. These show where thunderstorms and severe weather have the potential to pop up. (With temperatures warming up, the movement of warm air leads to convection in the atmosphere which results in thunderstorms and sometimes severe weather. There is a good blog post going into more detail here)

Specifically, the outlooks are:

Day 1 Outlook (today and early tomorrow morning)

Day 2 Outlook (the next 24 hours following early tomorrow morning)

Day 3 Outlook (the next 24 hours)

Day 4-8 Outlook (the next days, but these are never too certain due to the way the models work)

These outlooks are timestamped with Zulu time aka Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). You can see how that compares to your local timezone here.

Today (3/13/25), the weather outlook is okay, just a slight risk of thunderstorms across the US. However, Friday (3/14/25) and Saturday (3/15/25) both have a widespread risk of severe weather including strong winds and tornadoes.

If you are in any of these colored regions, stay weather aware! Now, this doesn't mean you have to panic, but keep an eye on the weather reports in your area!

I tend to check the SPC in the morning so I know when I have to really be paying attention to the weather for the day/coming days.

Below is more info on the color coding which you can read more about here. (In addition here is a powerpoint from the NWS with more information "12 Things You Need to Know: Severe Weather Outlooks")

Tips on staying weather aware, it's important to have access to several weather sources.

Check the SPC for updates!

Find your closest NWS Forecast Office via zip code on weather.gov

Keep an eye on the local news and local weather reports

Consider getting a weather radio! (info here from NWS) This is good for if you lose power/internet as you can check the automated radio stations near you

Check the radar (I use the radarscope app) but you can check online with websites like radar.weather.gov or wunderground.com

Ryan Hall Y'all is a youtube channel that livestreams during most severe weather outbreaks

More weather info:

Severe Weather 101

How NOAA Satellites Help Us Stay Ahead of Severe Weather Season

How to Use and Interpret Doppler Weather Radar

TropicalTidbits - Info on hurricanes and other tropical weather

NWS - Emergency Supplies Kit Info

Weather Prediction Center - similar to SPC but more generalized

What to do During a Tornado (via NWS):

Stay Weather-Ready: Continue to listen to local news or a NOAA Weather Radio to stay updated about tornado watches and warnings.

At Your House: If you are in a tornado warning, go to your basement, safe room, or an interior room away from windows. Don't forget pets if time allows.

At Your Workplace or School: Follow your tornado drill and proceed to your tornado shelter location quickly and calmly. Stay away from windows and do not go to large open rooms such as cafeterias, gymnasiums, or auditoriums.

Outside: Seek shelter inside a sturdy building immediately if a tornado is approaching. Sheds and storage facilities are not safe. Neither is a mobile home or tent.  If you have time, get to a safe building.

In a vehicle: Being in a vehicle during a tornado is not safe. The best course of action is to drive to the closest shelter. If you are unable to make it to a safe shelter, either get down in your car and cover your head, or abandon your car and seek shelter in a low lying area such as a ditch or ravine.

NOAA and NWS are under threat from everything going on right now. (Hundreds of weather forecasters fired in latest wave of DOGE cuts.) They provide vital services and do very important research about our weather and climate. While 5calls.org does not currently have a template centered on NOAA/NWS, they have similar ones that you could reference, modify, and use. (I have modified one below that you might consider using.) (5calls.org also has other very important scripts that you might use for other issues.) Please consider calling your representatives and telling them how important weather information is to everybody and that they should be protecting it, not defunding it. Not only for severe weather, but for climate change research and more.

Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m a constituent from [CITY, ZIP]. I'm calling to demand that [REP/SEN NAME] oppose any legislation, or efforts by the executive branch to dismantle or abolish the National Weather Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The recent reduction in staff is unacceptable, and will put Americans' lives and property at risk to severe weather. Reduced warning capabilities will put lives at risk and could potentially make response and recovery more hazardous and more expensive. Thank you for your time and consideration. IF LEAVING VOICEMAIL: Please leave your full street address to ensure your call is tallied.

While this is geared towards the US, a lot of this information can be applied via resources specific to your country. And finally, to quote Ryan Hall, Don't be Scared, Be Prepared.

[wandascrush]

Bruised, bandaged, kissed

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Female!Reader, Wanda Maximoff x Female!Reader

Part 2 of my DIWK series

Summary: Natasha comes to you, and only you, for help. Wanda finds out about one of your little secrets. You were surrounded by blue all around you, limbs moving in slow motion...until you saw her. Dark brown hair danced in the water, a harsh contrast to the terror on her face. Eyes big as the moon, she stared directly at you. You tried to swim to her, kicking your tired arms as fast as possible, but you were too late. Wide and unblinking, she sunk down, down, down...lost to the sea forever.

You gasped as soon as you woke up, sweat covering your chest and neck. At HYDRA, Agents practically slept in dark, dusty cells with one huge bed in the middle and a desk off to the side. You were free to come and go as you pleased as long as you kept getting more info from the team and your burner phone was on you at all times. Of course you knew that with this privilege, some way somehow, they had somebody watching you 24/7. When you finally rubbed all the sleep out of your eyes, glancing at your phone, it was half past 6. Back at the Avengers compound, everyone woke up at around 8, latest, to start training, breakfast, paperwork, or meetings. It would take you at least an hour to get back to the compound, you hauled ass as you quickly threw your belongings into your black leather bag.

You tried to keep quiet along the corridors to not wake the other, less than pleasant, agents…they didn't particularly like you. It came to your surprise one day during training that one of the AIT'S, or agents in training, tried to suffocate you on the mat until you tazed them. Hydra had four levels of leaders: Captain, Commander, Supreme Hydra, and Imperial Hydra. Imperial Hydra, the leaders of everything, are four guys that no one has access to. The commander of the HYDRA branch you collected “intel” for took a particular liking to you, assigning you to the Avengers initiative that everyone wanted to work on. Your task: hack into the registry that contained personal information about all powered individuals. HYDRAS task: build a different type of super. Your morning luck ran out before you got to the security check, running into one of the most annoying coworkers you'd ever had.

"Samantha."

"Y/N. You're looking particularly awful today."

"Right. Well- it's always a pleasure," you gave her a sarcastic smile before pushing past her to the security check.

Finally you were out of there.

Back at the much more vibrant, and lively Avengers compound you quickly threw your bag into the embarrassingly large walk in closet that Tony had supplied you with. He was Marie Kondo at this point, decorating everyones room in the compound with the joy of a little girl in a toy store. It was funny to watch.

As soon as you walked out of your bedroom, you were met with the sight of a brunette, looking you up and down with a slightly tilted head. Something gave you the feeling that this Wanda Maximoff girl wasn't your biggest fan at all.

You nervously tucked your hair behind your ear before you spoke, "Hey Wanda-what uh- what's up?"

She didn't respond.

You cleared your throat expectantly. Her eyes narrowed, “Where were you off to so early this morning?"

Shit, she saw you come in.

"Nowhere, just had to grab a few groceries. I hate crowds so I thought I'd get there a little early," you let out a nervous chuckle and fiddled with your keys.

“You put your groceries in a leather duffel bag?”

“Hate to waste plastic, what can I say,” you shrugged. What a shitty excuse.

It seemed to suffice her, however, as she gave you a one up and walked away. It was hard not to notice her beautiful silky hair bounce off her back, but it didn't change the fact that you still didn't like her very much.

By 12 pm you had finished your weekly report to Fury about how you're adjusting to the Avengers initiative and how your last mission  went.

You liked Nick a lot to say the least.  He was stern but caring, and he would check anyone that pissed him off. He remind you a lot of Natasha, the girl that took a liking to you.

Her knock is what pushed you out of your dazed thoughts. She pushed open your door with her head down, trying to hide one side of her face but failing miserably. The first thing that caught your attention was the cut adorning her lips. The second was the large, blood stained bandage on her shoulder.

You knew better than to visibly show your concern, it would only make her upset. You posed a casual question instead, "How's the other guy look?"

You saw a glimpse of her secret smile, "Not too hot himself, actually."

As a double agent, you weren't supposed to catch feelings for anyone on either side, but there was something about that raspy voiced, careful Avenger that made you smile. You figured out how to help her without getting pushed away. Just ask.

You casually walked over to her and lazily motioned your head to your bathroom door, "Mind if I help you with that lip cut?"

"Tryna tell me I look bad Y/N?," she gave you her most judgemental one over that she could muster. 

"Not in my wildest dreams, Romanoff."

Sitting on her lap, you had to steady yourself with one hand on the counter to clean out her lip wound, dabbing hydrogen peroxide on it with a q-tip. Her jaw clenched each time, stinging her a little more.

As you shared a quiet moment with Natasha in the bathroom, you didn't even imagine that a certain witch was using her abilities to keep your bathroom door locked and search your room.

Nimble hands quickly explored every drawer within your wardrobe and finding nothing but a charger, melatonin, water, and a...special toy. Then she saw the black bag tucked into the corner of your closet. Her heart rate sped up a little as she approached the bag and grabbed the first file she saw, hidden under a jacket.

Later that night, as you thought about the way Natasha kissed you while you were on her lap and ran off, Wanda Maximoff would be in her bed, turning and tossing until she finally opened up the manila folder sitting in front of her.

Her eyes widened.

"I knew there was something off about you."

[3liza]

"why do you hate progress so much???"

i dont! show me an apartment tower that houses 20 families and the rent is capped at $1/sq ft and i'll shut up! show me an office conversion like so many people have in Leipzig! airbnb condos and 5-over-1s with permanently-empty ground floors (or as we have in seattle, just regular apartments on the ground floor for some reason?? like looking right onto the sidewalk???) or as someone pointed out, always a fucking orthodontist, is not progress! no one is being additionally housed! rent never ever goes down! there is no shortage of suitable housing units for people who need housing, what's in short supply, and this is completely on purpose and will not change until it is forcibly and perhaps violently changed, is housing units people are actually allowed to live in!!! no one is moving that needle by building this dogshit and everyone keeps going whoaaoo but wee built so much Housing whered all the Housing go, we better build more Housing! no its ok you dont need to provide an elevator as long as you dont go over 5 or 6 stories, it'll be our little Deal for you to build more Housing because we need Housing so bad. i see you finished building the Housing but somehow nothing has changed. thats so weird, well, lets grade this stand of century-old fruit trees where the local schoolkids like to play in the shade and build more Housing and maybe it will work this time

every single time i walk past the blindingly white new condo block that has had uncurtained 24-hour-lit plate glass windows showing perfectly undisturbed model units (somehow theyre all model units??) with a big realtor sign outside right next to the permanent new private cop in his car which have all been there without Housing anyone for over a year (after bulldozing an entire apartment building) i think about all these stupid arguments ive had on tumblr about Why Do You Hate Building Housing and feel insane. you can just walk outside and see the effects. the effects are nil because housing poor people is not profitable and will have to be done at gunpoint if it's done at all. sorry

edit: but i stole the solar powered sidewalk lights right out of their barren chipped bark planters where nothing grows so hooray for the working class. hooray

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Bites & Stings

References (Dog Bites; Cat; Human; Spider; Bee & Wasp; Snake; Jellyfish)

Bites and stings - puncture injuries inflicted by an animal that penetrate the skin.

DOGS

A typical dog bite results in a laceration, tear, puncture, or crush injury.

Bites from large, powerful dogs may cause fractures and dangerous internal injuries. Dogs trained to attack may bite repeatedly during a single episode.

Infected bites usually cause pain, cellulitis (inflammation of the connective tissues), and a pus-filled discharge at the wound site within 8–24 hours.

Many infections are confined to the wound site, but some of the microorganisms in the mouths of dogs can cause systemic and possibly life-threatening infections.

Rabies is rare among pet dogs in the United States, most of which have been vaccinated against the disease. Tetanus is also rare but can be transmitted by a dog bite if the victim is not immunized.

CATS

The mouths of cats and dogs contain many of the same microorganisms.

Cat scratches and bites are also capable of transmitting the Bartonella henselae bacterium, which can lead to cat-scratch disease, an unpleasant but usually not life-threatening illness.

Cat bites are mostly found on the arms and hands.

Sharp cat teeth typically leave behind a deep puncture wound that can reach muscles, tendons, and bones, which are vulnerable to infection because of their comparatively poor blood supply.

This is why cat bites are much more likely to become infected than dog bites.

Also, people are less inclined to view cat bites as dangerous and requiring immediate attention; the risk that infection has set in by the time a medical professional is consulted is thus greater.

HUMANS

Humans bites result from fights, sexual activity, medical and dental treatment, and seizures. Bites raise the possibility of spousal or child abuse.

Children often bite other children, but those bites are hardly ever severe.

Human bites are capable of transmitting a wide range of dangerous diseases, including hepatitis B, syphilis, and tuberculosis.

Human bites fall into two categories:

Occlusional (true) bites present a lower risk of infection.

Clenched-fist injuries, which are very infectious and can permanently damage the hand, usually result from a fist hitting teeth during a fight.

People often wait before seeking treatment for a clenched-fist injury, with the result that about half of such injuries are infected by the time they are seen by a medical professional.

SPIDERS

As a rule, people rarely see a black widow bite, nor do they feel the bite as it occurs. The first (and possibly only) evidence that a person has been bitten may be a mild swelling of the injured area and two red puncture marks.

Within a short time, some victims begin to experience severe muscle cramps and rigidity of the abdominal muscles. Other possible symptoms include excessive sweating, nausea, vomiting, headaches, and vertigo, as well as breathing, vision, and speech problems.

A brown spider’s bite can lead to necrotic arachnidism, in which the tissue in an area of up to several inches around the bite becomes necrotic (dies), producing an open sore that can take months or years to disappear.

In most cases, the bite simply produces a hard, painful, itchy, and discolored area that heals without treatment in 2–3 days.

The bite may be accompanied by a fever, chills, edema (an accumulation of excess tissue fluid), nausea and vomiting, dizziness, muscle and joint pain, and a rash.

BEES & WASPS

The familiar symptoms of bee and wasp stings include pain, redness, swelling, and itchiness in the area of the sting.

Multiple stings can have much more severe consequences, such as anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction that occurs in hypersensitive persons.

SNAKES

Venomous pit viper bites usually begin to swell within 10 minutes and sometimes are painful.

Other symptoms include skin blisters and discoloration, weakness, sweating, nausea, faintness, dizziness, bruising, and tender lymph nodes.

Severe poisoning can lead to tingling in the scalp, fingers, and toes; muscle contractions; an elevated heart rate; rapid breathing; large drops in body temperature and blood pressure; vomiting of blood; and coma.

Many pit viper and coral snake bites (20–60%) fail to poison (envenomate) their victim, or introduce only a small amount of venom into the victim’s body.

The wounds, however, can still become infected by the harmful microorganisms that snakes carry in their mouths.

Coral snake bites are painful but may be hard to see.

One to seven hours after the bite, a bitten person begins to experience the effects of the venom, which include tingling at the wound site, weakness, nausea, vomiting, excessive salivation, and irrational behavior.

Major nerves of the body can become paralyzed for 6–14 days, causing double vision, difficulty swallowing and speaking, respiratory failure, and other problems.

Six to eight weeks may be needed before normal muscular strength is regained.

JELLYFISH

Jellyfish venom is delivered by barbs called nematocysts, which are located on the creature’s tentacles and penetrate the skin of people who brush up against them. Instantly, painful and itchy red lesions usually result.

The pain can continue up to 48 hours.

Severe cases may lead to skin necrosis, muscle spasms and cramps, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, headaches, excessive sweating, and other symptoms.

In rare instances, cardiorespiratory failure may occur.

Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References More: Writing Realistic Injuries ⚜ On Anatomy ⚜ Poison ⚜ Fight Scenes Part 1 2

[radical-revolution]

SHARE!!!

The 24-Hour Economic Blackout

As our first initial act, we turn it off.

For one day we show them who really holds the power.

WHEN:

Friday February 28th from

12:00 AM to 11:59 PM

WHAT NOT TO DO:

Do not make any purchases

Do not shop online, or in stores

No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy

Nowhere!

Do not spend money on:

Fast Food

Gas

Major Retailers

Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Only buy essentials that are absolutely necessary

(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)

If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.

SPREAD THE MESSAGE

Talk about it, post about it, and document your actions that day!

WHY THIS MATTERS!

~ Corporations and banks only care about their bottom line.

~ If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message.

~ If they don't listen (they won't), we make the next blackout longer. (We will.)

This is our first action.

This is how we make history.

February 28th

The 24-Hour Economic Black Out Begins.

[artbyblastweave]

Random Parahuman Abilities I've been sitting on for a while:

Porting some of these from Reddit.

The Mule is a stranger who becomes increasingly difficult to detect in proportion to how much weight he's currently supporting. The use of extremely cumbersome body armor allows for undetectable, but extremely time-consuming, smash-and-grab jobs and assassinations.

Jawbreaker is a blaster who spits her own teeth as hypersonic projectiles; she can fire them one at a time, or all at once in a shotgun blast of enamel. Her brute secondary causes her teeth to slowly regenerate over the course of 24 hours. Coldcut is a shaker/striker who can imbue bladed weapons with a cryokinetic effect; any cuts he makes will begin to locally drain ambient heat, in a way that quickly stacks in a death-by-a-thousand-cuts way. While obviously an immensely unpleasant kind of injury to sustain directly, Coldcut's preferred fighting style is to funnel his opponents into enclosed spaces that he's had time to repeatedly mark as his territory with numerous scratches, such that anyone who lacks Coldcut's secondary immunity to low temperatures will rapidly succumb to hypothermia. He runs an extremely-low-overhead cold-storage business on the side.

Pincushion is a thinker who becomes smarter in proportion to how much discomfort he's in, resulting in a consulting detective rocking cenobite aesthetics.

Pitch is a telekinetic whose telekinesis sets whatever she's manipulating on fire.

Manslide is a shaker who can locally reorient gravity so that "down" becomes whichever direction he's running in.

The Centralian is (was) a blaster/shaker with the ability to drill Navidson-style non-euclidean impossibly-deep tunnels into any discrete surface; if large enough, these tunnels would begin disgorging incredible volumes of noxious smoke, and eventually, hundreds and hundreds of monsters of the exact variety you'd expect would get disgorged from an infinite-smoking hell tunnel. Upon the consumption of his recently purchased cauldron vial, The Centralian accidentally generated a pit the size of a football field directly beneath himself and fell hopefully to his death; the resulting disaster area was up for classification as a PRT exclusion zone before it was discovered that the corpses of the pit monsters and the sides of the pit itself were both laden with rare-earth minerals. Now the whole area is actually kind of a boom town for capes with turbolethal powers and tinkers with supply-chain problems.

[uss-vermont]

Posted by Jon Stewart but initiated by John Clemens: 

“The 24 hour Economic Blackout"

As our initial act, we turn it off. 

For one day we show them who really holds the power.

WHEN:

Friday February 28th from

12:00 A.M. to 11:59 P.M.

WHAT NOT TO DO:

Do not make any purchases

Do not shop online, or in-store

No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy

Nowhere!

Do not spend money on Food & Gas

Do not use Credit or Debit Card.

Do not hire anyone to do work around your house, etc.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Only buy essentials if absolutely necessary l

(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)

If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.

SPREAD THE MESSAGE

Talk about it, post about it, and document your actions that day!

WHY THIS MATTERS?

DT and his minions only care about their pocketbooks

Corporations, banks only care about their bottom line

Financial markets rely on consumers to spend

If we disrupt the economy for just ONE DAY, it sends a powerful message.

If they don't listen (they won’t) we make the next blackout longer (We will)

This is our first action.

February 28th

The 24 Hour Economic Black Out Begins.

 

PLEASE PASS IT ON

[thedivineprince]

•DEI BOYCOTT PLAN.

• THIS IS THE FIRST   STEP.

• LET’S FOLLOW AL SHARPTON’S LEADERSHIP.

• HERE IS THE DEI BOYCOTT PLAN THAT HAS BEEN SENT OUT TO SHARE WITH ALL OF YOUR CONTACTS.

• THE 24 HOUR BLACKOUT HAS BEEN SCHEDULED AS THE FIRST OF MULTIPLE COUNTER MEASURES TO THE ATTACK ON DEI

OUR FIRST OFFICIAL ACT:

• As our first initial act, we “TURN IT OFF”.

• For one day we show them who really holds the power.

• WHEN:

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28TH. from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM.

WHAT NOT TO DO:

• Do not make any purchases.

• Do not shop online, or in-store

• No Amazon

• No Walmart

• No Best Buy

   Nowhere!

• No McDonalds

DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON FOOD:

• Fast Food

• Gas

• Major Retailers

• Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending.

WHAT YOU CAN DO IF NECESSARY:

• Only buy essentials of absolutely necessary items such as

(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)

•If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.

SPREAD THE MESSAGE

• Talk about it.

• Post about it.

• Document your actions that day!

WHY THIS MATTERS!

• Corporations and banks only care about their bottom line.

• If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message.

• If they don't listen we make the next blackout longer.

• This is our first action.

• Our numbers are powerful.

• This is our first action.

• This is how we make  history.

AGAIN,

• FEBRUARY 28TH. ✊🏾

• The 24 Hour Economic Black Out Begins.

WE MUST USE THE POWER WE DO HAVE AND SEND AN ECONOMIC MESSAGE WITH OUR NUMBERS AS DR. KING DID IN THE 60’S.

NOW SHARE THIS MESSAGE AS OUR FIRST OF MULTIPLE ACTIONS AND STAY TUNED FOR FUTURE ACTIONS.

——-

We’re all 💯in- HOW ABOUT YOU!!!!!

[secular-jew]

From one of my Danish friends who works for an NGO in Gaza:

HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS LIE ABOUT THE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN GAZA

Every single day we hear from various humanitarian organizations that the situation in Gaza is catastrophic and that there is now only fuel, water or medicine for a day before the famous one diesel generator in Gaza stops, the lights go out and the sick can be treated due to a lack of medicines.

It must be remembered that these organizations have an interest in exaggerating and dramatizing the situation - to put it nicely. In fact, they often lie, and they must know that themselves, because they have their own representatives on site. One must also remember that there is no independent media in Gaza that could check the many exaggerations and lies. Hamas strictly controls what is published, and it is dangerous to question or correct Hamas' censors.

The Israeli defense has a special unit that deals professionally with the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The unit regularly receives information from international organizations that are represented in Gaza, and also builds on knowledge that is generally available. From this we see a more realistic picture of the conditions than what the humanitarian organizations provide:

There is NO shortage of food in Gaza, but sufficient stocks for several weeks' needs. As far as drinking water is concerned, Gaza is 90% self-sufficient. Only 10% comes from Israel through 3 water supply pipes. Israel has recently opened 2 more supply lines.

Hamas has full control over the distribution of medicine and hospital equipment and decides how much the hospitals will receive and when. (Hamas probably needs these things themselves now that they are suffering daily heavy losses given the targeted Israeli attacks on the terrorist organization's numerous military facilities)

Hamas' many rocket attacks against Israel, which continue, have destroyed several of their own electrical lines that supply electricity to Gaza from Israel - moreover, on a larger scale than the generator the media keeps talking about.

All hospitals in Gaza have their own solar powered electrical systems to supplement diesel generators. Other generators scattered across Gaza territory are controlled by Hamas, which also stores large quantities of diesel oil in the underground tunnels. Three weeks have passed since the hospital administrations in Gaza declared that they only had diesel fuel for the next 24 hours. But the hospitals continue to function because Hamas supplies them with fuel.

Hamas is interested in the hospitals functioning because Hamas has their military headquarters inside and under the hospitals, which they have thereby made part of the military infrastructure.

Red Cross employees in the Gaza Strip are from the Red Crescent, they are Palestinians, they protect Hamas. Their monthly salary comes from the organization.

The Red Cross in Denmark, for example, does not talk about the 239 Israeli hostages to which the Red Cross has not had access.

According to international rules/laws, the Red Cross must have access to the hostages, some of whom are babies and small children, others are young and elderly. The Red Cross does not talk about the lack of supervision of the Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.

Wonder why?

[virgolixx]

Hi I know this might be a stretch but can I have from one piece how Luffy, Ace, sanji and shanks would take to the news of being told that they’re going to be fathers as their S/O is pregnant?

Head Cannon:

:How would these one piece men react to the news about becoming fathers:

Luffy, Sanji, Ace, Shanks

Theme: Fluff💕

⚠️Warnings: Slight discouragement/very worried op men, overall happy content.

(Note: Apologies for the late request response, I hope to try and get better at releasing more on a weekly schedule.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luffy:

Is absolutely beaming has big ass smile on his face. Does not fully understand the whole concept of pregnancy other than another human will be born, so you teach him and answer all the questions he may have, and yes he has many silly questions. (He will totally ask questions like “Does it poop in your belly” 😂)

Would ask Sanji to make sure you are getting the food you need, and would have chopper constantly making sure your pregnancy is going smoothly.

Would be absolutely excited about buying the baby clothes but would have Nami or Robin with him to help him get the actual necessary supplies

Would be absolutely happy with either gender, just as long your baby is healthy and strong.

I feel like with anyone he meets, well the ones that are save to tell, he would boast about being a father. Would absolutely want ace to know 100%. (N if by following the anime, I feel like luffy would absolutely cry if you named the baby in the memory of ace)

Would spoil you with cuddles, would absolutely love to always have a hand on your belly just to feel your baby move.

Once in labor he would be by your side, letting you squeeze the hell out of his hand, while Robin is aiding chopper with the delivery and Nami is wiping away your sweat.

After you’ve had the skin to skin bonding and the first 24 hours with your baby. Luffy would have you sleep and rest while himself and the rest (Nami and Robin and Chopper) watch over the baby, as Sanji cooks some nutritional food for you and brook plays a soothing song.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sanji:

His heart is pounding the hell outta his chest and is in a shocked state, but once he has recovered he has heart eyes

I can imagine Sanji pick you up and spin you around and give you a loving kiss. Like this man is over the moon to know that he will father your child.

Will be at your beckoning call, he will get you anything you need, like he constantly wants you to rest and not harm your self.

Will cook for you all the nutritional foods you need and will of course make you all the cravings you may have.

Would absolutely gives you massages, back rubs, feet rubs he gots you, he wants you to feel as comfortable as you can throughout your pregnancy

I feel like Sanji would be the most educated in the concept of pregnancy and if very prepared for it. Sanji would ask chopper about your pregnancy, see how the baby is, how you are.

I feel like at some moments during your pregnancy Sanji would feel terrified at the idea of being a father what if he’s horrible at it..baby is absolutely scared.

Doesn’t care about the gender he just wants the baby to be healthy and absolutely filled with love.

Once your in labor Sanji is holding your hand while he’s wiping away the sweat on your face with a rag. Sanji is praising about how great you doing and that it’s almost all done.

Once your baby is out, chopper passes the baby over to Sanji, at this moment Sanji is in his own world looking at his son, with a few strands of blond and a smile just like yours, Sanji tears up as his son grips on his pinky. At this moment Sanji’s fears vanish and he knew that he would do anything in his power to be an outstanding father to his newly born son and can’t wait to grow old with you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ace:

This man is absolutely scared and can’t comprehend a little you or him is growing in you. Honestly he doesn’t think he deserves this much love from you or the idea of having a family with you. So the first 2 times I feel like he’d be kinda distant but only because he’s scared but absolutely craves the idea of being a family with you.

White beard would have a whole ass talk to ace about what’s to happen. Once understanding more ace looks for you to talk, but the moment he sees you in your shared room, how you’ve started to set up a nursery corner and humming while you slowly rub your growing bump. Ace feels at ease and filled with joy, he rushes over to you and hugs you while tearing up.

Ace would say how much of an idiot he’s been and will now be here for both you and the baby, how he’ll push through his fears and wants to begin a family with you.

From that day on ace has always given you cuddles, love, would always go fetch you your cravings and has always accompanied you to ship’s doctor for your pregnancy check ups.

I feel like you both would learn together about the pregnancy and how to better be prepared.

Gender doesn’t matter either to him, as long you and the baby are healthy.

Once on labor ace would be by your side as you grip on his arm, as he’s absolutely concerned for your wellbeing, but once the baby is out and you have a whole sigh of relief he has also calmed, looking at the his daughter he notices his freckles scattered on her little face, feeling so much joy for his little girl ace uses his powers to warm his body temp to sooth the baby as he hands her to you, so you could have your skin to skin bonding moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shanks:

Man is utterly shocked, he can’t process it and fear sets in, he’s not ready, so the only logical thing he can process right now is to leave, and that he did.

Today marks one month since he left, the exact same day you’ve told him the news about becoming a father. The day you became completely alone, it’s been barely 30 minutes since you got home from you doctor check up, the baby is growing smoothly and is healthy.

You hear a knock at your door, opening the door your are confused until you look down until you see him, Shanks is bowing down fully to the floor slightly shaking, through sobs he tells you he made such a huge mistake and that he wants to fully be with you and the baby.

Angry that now he shows up but also very emotional cause of the hormones you kneel down to him and cry and he hugs you, you want him back but the day he left you so did your trust in him, so you tell him that you just can’t with out the trust.

Understanding you shanks does absolutely everything to win back your trust and that he did, after 6 months you two are absolutely happy together again. I feel like he’s the one who build the nursery room and has read up on pregnancy to better learn and take care of you.

Shanks loves to hold your belly and kiss it while talking to the baby, he always brings you snacks and foods you may need.

Once again doesn’t care about the gender as long the baby is healthy, but would absolutely adore to have a little girl

Once you’re in labor shanks is absolutely sweating, he’s watching you then the doctor then back to you, but the moment he hears the crying he look’s directly at his daughter who has his hair color, shanks is full on crying now not believing that he almost gave up the chance of watching his daughter grow.

Giving you the baby so you can have skin to skin bond he hugs you and kisses the top of your head and whispers to you, “I’m never going to leave and I will protect you and our daughter”.

[etraytin]

Emergency Preparedness on a Budget: Part Two (Medicine and Power)

Hey there everybody, time for Part Two of Emergency Preparedness When Money is No! You can find Part 1 (Food and Water) here.

Just a note on Part 1, someone in the comments made the extremely good point that having food is not super-useful if you cannot eat it because you can’t cook it or get into the cans. This is true! My example stash used Chunky Soup and tuna because they can be eaten cold and usually have pop tops, but a can opener is a great addition to the emergency kit. Many preppers will also include a propane camp stove in their food stash, but if you’re on a very tight budget, you can absolutely get by with a few days of cold soup. (A basic propane stove, tank and lighter runs about 30-40 dollars if you are interested in getting one.)

Now on to today’s topics: Medicine and Power

Once you’ve got your 3 days of food and water sorted, you want other important survival stuff in your kit. Being as how we are all here together on Tumblr, the odds are pretty good that you or someone in your house is reliant on at least one kind of medication that must be taken regularly. If that’s the case, you need to have at least 3 days and ideally a week of meds stocked up as well.

“Wait a second,” you might say, “a week of medicine is not going to do me much good if I starve to death after eating my three days of food,” and you would be right, if a bit dramatic. In a disaster situation, however, the food and water supply pipeline is basically the first thing that activates. I was in the Asheville area during Hurricane Helene and though it took about the expected three days for support to really gear up, there was food and water being passed around within about 24 hours despite no gas, no communications and highways blocked in all directions. In almost any situation, you are going to get access to food and water before you get any other kind of relief. Getting your own prescription medicines in the right dose, on the other hand? That’s a lot more dependent on the kind of disaster you’re looking at, so it pays to plan ahead.

If you are in the US and have non-controlled prescription meds, most insurance plans will allow you to refill your meds up to 7 days early. If you can set a reminder on your phone and do that a couple times, you will end up a couple of weeks ahead on your pills without any skipping or rationing. That’s a good place to be even without considering disasters, just because life does insist on happening ALL THE TIME and sometimes it’s hard to get to the pharmacy.

If your medicines are tightly controlled then this is a harder problem. One thing you should definitely NOT do is skip medicines to build up an emergency supply. The whole object of the game here is for you to be healthy and okay even when bad things happen, so it defeats the purpose if you are hurting yourself to try and prepare. Talk to your doctor about what you can do to get emergency supplies of your medicines, or what to do if there is a disaster. Usually they will be sympathetic, and hopefully they can help. If they cannot help you beforehand, they generally have more leeway to help if a disaster is looming and it’s worth trying to call them if the weather report is particularly grim. In a big disaster, especially if you’ve had to leave your home, get yourself to a Red Cross shelter and ask for Disaster Health Services. They can be really helpful in getting those important medications.

For nonprescription meds, it’s helpful to have a small supply of the basics in your medicine cabinet, built up over time. If you go into your Walmart or equivalent when you are not even sick and buy the generic version of all these meds, you’re probably going to save 50%, maybe more, over trying to buy them at the drugstore or gas station when you’re already feeling terrible. They’re just good to have around! Another thing to note is that medicines kept cool and dry will last a lot longer than their best-by dates, so you don’t need to go throwing them away every couple years. Here’s a short list of some of the best meds to have on hand in an emergency:

Painkiller/Fever Reducer: Advil or Tylenol in the US, ibuprofen and paracetamol elsewhere. Good for keeping fever down if anyone gets sick, or for treating sprains, muscle strains or headaches. Be very careful of the dosing since both of these can do bad things in high doses.

Anti-Diarrheal: Immodium or loperamide. It’s easy to accidentally eat something bad in an emergency, and diarrhea can be both a logistical problem (especially if water is off!) and a potentially life-threatening health issue.

Electrolyte Solution: Pedialyte, electrolyte drink, oral rehydration salts. If someone does get diarrhea or if the weather is very hot, hydration becomes a massive issue as well. Someone who is sick or dehydrated enough may throw up plain water, but electrolyte drinks are better tolerated and solve the problem much faster. If you do not have any of these, you can also make your own oral rehydration solution by mixing a three-finger pinch of salt and a one-hand scoop of sugar into about two cups of water.

Antihistamine: Benadryl (diphenhydramine) or Claratin (loratidine) This one’s especially big after hurricanes, tornadoes, or any other storm that really rustles the jimmes on the local vegetation. It can be a little slice of hell to be out clearing all the brush that fell on your house and be surrounded by vast clouds of pollen and the occasional swarm of really unhappy bees.

Antacid: Pepto-Bismol (Bismuth subsalicylate) If you’re already on a proton-pump inhbitor like Prilosec or Zantac, stock those up instead. Otherwise, Pepto-Bismol is a good all-rounder to cover heartburn, upset stomach and nausea, all things that might come from stress and weird food during a disaster.

First Aid: A first aid kit could be a post on its own, but you can get the basics for cheap and keep them in a drawer til you need them. For maximum versatility, get yourself gauze pads and medical tape because you can use them to make whatever size bandaid you need, a few butterfly closures for bigger cuts, a tube of bacitracin zinc for antibiotic cream, a long cloth wrap to brace a sprain or fracture, and a bottle of saline to wash a wound or clean your eyes.

Power:

A lot of the disasters you’re likely to face will involve power outages, whether it be just your neighborhood, half the town, or the ENTIRE TRI-STATE AREA (if you are Dr. Doofenschmirtz.) In our Modern Miracle Age just about everybody has at least one flashlight with them at all times, built into their phones, but that’s only going to get you so far when the lights go out.

Powering your phone is a top priority in a power outage, not so much for the light but because it is your main source of communication and information for as long as the cell towers are working. You will want a power bank for your emergency kit; a little battery pack about the size of a cell phone itself, that holds enough electricity to recharge your phone one or more times before needing charged. A basic power bank can be had for about $15, but they are nearly infinitely scalable both in cost and benefits. You can get them with built-in cords, with solar panels, with flashlights of their own, with capacity to charge multiple phones, etc. Buy whatever one fits your budget and needs, then make sure to keep it charged and keep the appropriate cords with it!

Given that you’ll need your phone for other things, you’re going to want some light sources in your emergency stash as well. The easiest and safest of these are battery-powered flashlights and lanterns. You’ll want a mix of lanterns to light a room, flashlights to carry around, and headlamps for reading and close work. All these come in a huge variety of quality and price, but you don’t need anything expensive, just something that will work. Watch for sales at the beginning and end of camping season. Once you have your lights, buy batteries for all of them but do not store them with the batteries installed! For best storage, put your batteries side by side (not touching end to end because they may discharge over time) in a plastic baggie and rubber band or tape the bag to its light. Put them with your emergency food and you’ll know where they are, even in the dark.

Candles are a power-outage classic because they’re cheap, cheerful and don’t need batteries, but be careful if you use them. Make sure it’s on a clean, hard surface with nothing around it to burn, and that you never leave one unattended or in a room with only kids or sleeping people. A mirror tile or flat mirror is great if you’ve got one because it’s not flammable and will make the light brighter. Make sure your smoke alarm is working! (If you don’t have a smoke detector, call your fire department or local Red Cross and they can get you hooked up with one.) Jar candles are usually the best in terms of burn time and safety, and you can often get them real cheap and barely used at garage sales. After-Christmas sales are also good, if you don’t mind the smell of off-season merriment.

There’s a lot more stuff out there for emergency power, from solar generators to backup power stations to uninterruptible power supplies. Preppers love power almost as much as they love weird food hacks, and that is a _lot._ Unfortunately, once you get past the power bank level, the prices start going up very fast. If you have a few hundred dollars to put into your preparations you can get a portable power station that can not only charge your devices but run small appliances for awhile on AC power. If you use a CPAP machine like me, a power station might mean the difference between being able to sleep soundly or not. If you get one of those, make sure to get one that can charge in several different ways, especially from a running vehicle. They’re really handy in a pinch! Watch very carefully for sales on these stations from companies like Jackery, Bluetti and EcoFlow. They compete closely with one another, and a new model on the market from any of them can trigger price wars. It’s worth doing a little research to get a better deal.

Next time: Temperature Management (Or “Too Hot and Too Cold.”)

[dcdreamblog]

Since I brought him up and was invited to ask further, can you talk some/shed some history on Captain Comet?

He seems to have appeared during the period where super heroes were supposed to have been banned, but later showed up to battle the first incarnation of the Secret Society of Super-Villains. He later told the Planet he’d been out exploring space.

But he’s also never spoken about the decision to leave Earth (and seems to have left Earth again after battling the SSoSV). Did the government go after him or…?

Captain Comet, AKA Adam Blake is a man who bears some study. Not only is his an outlier within MY field as like you said he was active during the time when the Keene Act was still being actively enforced but he's also something of a holy grail in the fields of biology, anthropology and the Xeno Studies versions of both fields. If half the things said about him are true then he represents and massive forward leap for mankind that has been going on in the background of most of our lifetimes. He wasn't always so extraordinary though, not when he was born in the early 1930s to two entirely normal parents in an VANISHINGLY small town somewhere in the midwest. The event that would change his life forever would happen almost instantly though when an inexplicable comet passed overhead bursting and burning up in earth's atmosphere raining down a torrent of low level exotic radiation on the Blake farmstead. While it was benign enough to leave most things untouched, the newly born Adam absorbed the radiation and began to undergo a rapid metahuman mutation.

As young Adam grew he developed impossible mental acuity, memorizing an entire series of encyclopedias by the age of eight and by his teenage years he was able to play Mozart by ear without ever having touched an instrument before. It wasn't until he was in college that his physical abilities would match his mental ones, becoming superhumanly strong, never experiencing physical fatigue and gaining potent psychokinetic abilities that manifested when he saved the life of a classmate in an accident.

Eventually he came to the attention of a physics professor at his university who studied him intently and discovered his body had been mutated beyond almost any cellular recognition, undergoing changes to his body that would have taken tens of thousands of generations for humanity to naturally accumulate. Wanting to use his newfound powers for the betterment of mankind Blake continued working with the professor until he was forced into the open.

An alien race known as the Astur attempted to invade the earth by siphoning the oxygen from our atmosphere with a massive mechanical device. Blake responded to the attack under the moniker of Captain Comet and managed to outdo the aliens in a battle of wits that saw the device destroyed, the alien invaders rejected and Earth's oxygen supplies returned.

However, once he had returned to Earth he was confronted by police and government agents attempting to arrest him for violating the Keene Act, operating as a costumed vigilante (nevermind the fact that if he hadn't the entire human population would have choked to death inside 24 hours). He was, of course, easily able to swat them away with his abilities but when his resistance to arrest caused the crowd to turn on him he decided there was no place for him on the Earth of the 1950s. He flees the Earth into outer space where he makes contact with many alien races and becomes a known quantity among the stars. He doesn't return to Earth until after the beginning of our modern age of heroes, intervening in a battle between Green Lantern and the Secret Society believing Lantern was the aggressor. It's only after that battle where Comet is brought up to speed as to what has changed in his absence and he helps bring down the Secret Society in a series of battles alongside the Justice League.

Afterwards he again leaves Earth, this time on better terms but with the understanding that he is a man out of time who no longer has a place here among normal society. It's after his return and after mankind begins to slowly open itself to alien information that we learn what he's been up to. Stopping an interstellar war here, bringing down a planetary cartel there, becoming the nemesis of an undead cult and the champion of a well traveled galactic space station.

Basically he's become THE most famous Earthling out among the galaxy, to the point that the good impression he has made has brought peaceful contact to Earth's shores on multiple occasions.

I think it bears repeating, after being run off the planet of his birth by an unjust and small minded law he then spent the next several decades up to and including now making the best possible name for the planet Earth to the point that the galactic CLICHE for Earthlings between him, Superman and our various Green Lanterns is that we're all square jawed, justice seeking hero types. He got run out of town on a rail and decided his response was to make us look good!

I don't think we're in the right CENTURY to know all the aftermath of Blake's existence. Not only is he the better part of a century old and seemingly not slowing down an inch but we're just not far enough along to see what kind of legacy he's left us among the stars. When we DO reach that point in our development, WE will be the ones walking through the door HE opened for us in the eyes of uncountable trillions across the star speckled black.

Hopefully we don't waste it.