#Critical Access

[hislop3]

The Financial Struggle of Rural Hospitals: A Growing Concern for Healthcare Access

Among the many healthcare sectors I follow, rural healthcare has become my favorite. Oddly enough, it’s not because of the policy issues that exist, though it should be. It is because it is an overlooked sector and one that has a real risk of collapse. Last summer (2023) I wrote a post about the plight of rural hospitals and the risk of closure…

[aardvaark]

i don’t mind suspending my disbelief for leverage’s person-sized ventilation shafts bc that’s pretty standard for the genre, but that doesn’t mean i won’t laugh a bit at some of the egregiously large vents. particularly in the crowning acheivement job (lev: red s2 finale) because - well just look at this lol! harry and parker, two adults, can kneel side by side in those vents. parker can sit upright.

that museum was made for vent crawling purposes. that’s just an extra room in the museum they forgot to decorate. the leverageverse has a thief union that successfully lobbied for a better working environment. these vents double as a playground for museum-goers’ children. i was crying with laughter thinking about this and harry’s vent crisis was NOT helping me remember that there was a serious heist thing going on lol, i love this show.

[nellasbookplanet]

Here’s the thing:

I want Predathos to get out.

Not because I hate the gods or want to see them killed or driven off (in fact, I find the 'the gods are tyrants' arguments to be laughably incorrect and deeply hope c3 ends with the pantheon still present) but because ending the campaign without facing Predathos would be a huge anticlimax. If Bells Hells simply kill Ludinus and go back home, it will feel like killing the minion but never actually getting to the big bad. What if c1 had ended with killing the Briarwoods but never getting around to Vecna. What if the m9 had actually managed to kill Lucien with their trap in Aeor before he made it into the Astral Sea to set off his plan. We wouldn’t have gotten to see the nature of the somnovem, the horrific flesh city or the peace of putting it to rest, the wild creativity that was the final battle of imagination. If c3 ends without showing us what the fuck Predathos actually is I will go lie facedown on the floor for a week wondering what we missed out on.

Now, this doesn't mean I want the hells to purposefully let the beast out of its cage. I would prefer the campaign not end with the heroes finalizing the villain's plan and setting off calamity 2.0, thank you very much. But if Ludinus still has an ace up his sleeve that makes Predathos' release all but inevitable (which I honestly expect)? Maybe even if there’s a party split and one or a couple of the hells take the decision into their own hands (looking at you, Ashton)?

I'd love that shit. Show us what Predathos truly is. Let it eat Ludinus maybe. Give us a glimpse of the true end if it’s let loose on Exandria. Have there be a horrific realization of oh, this is what the Vanguard was arguing in favor of. And then kill it.

[ettle]

Hey from one disabled person to another:

If one accessibility device available to me used ten thousand bagillion pounds of precious water, stole from a bunch of people who didn't consent, led to mass economic disaster for millions including my fellow disabled people, AND was objectively just shitty and poor quality, I wouldn't want to use it or advocate for it in any way. I'd maybe look at other accessibility devices.

[mirrorofliterature]

where is my bail organa takes anakin under his wing as a political mentee story?

I think bail organa could have fixed anakin.

picture this:

anakin meets bail. bail is like. cute troubled kid! must protect!

[the urge to protect children can be so strong]

bail finds out about palpatine's grooming mentorship and is like. hm I do not like this. I do not trust palpatine with anakin. is he meeting with him unsupervised? that's literally illegal*. he doesn't even have a working with children's check :/

bail, turning up to the jedi council: hi I am one (1) non-creepy, friendly and working with children's check carrying non-corrupt politician who would like to mentor (PROTECT) anakin skywalker. under your supervision, of course, because unlike SOME other people, I'm not a creep.

and the jedi council is like: yeah okay we don't want to have to deal with anakin anyway he's a difficult child anyway**

then bail goes and asks anakin, with obi-wan there, if he wants to be mentored by bail

bail: anakin, would you like to learn more about anti-slavery advocacy in the republic? my home planet, alderaan, is strongly involved. if obi-wan agrees, of course, as you are a child in his care.

anakin agrees

bail organa foils palpatine's plans by being like 'hm, shady' and is like: someone NOT creepy and corrupt needs to give this child a proper political education and if the jedi won't, then it's my job

he also hooks anakin up to a therapist for freed slaves asap

anyway bail & anakin mentorship (good) fucking up palpatine & anakin mentorship (bad) fix-it when?

*there are strong child safety laws where I live. probably would also be on alderaan.

**the parallels between how the jedi council/order treats anakin because he is different versus how mainstream society treats neurodivergent children as nuisances to be managed is strong (particularly given anakin's neurodivergent coding), in this essay I will -

[zombiestarillustration]

An Ashton

[art-making-grat]

how is taylor swift going to have that whole thing with joe and how she couldn’t deal with the fact he had mental health issues so she cheated on him and has basically done everything she can to make his life worse since breaking up with him (her fan base also going after him) but then go and romanticize asylums and mental illness and stuff like that with her new depressed poet persona. like am I the only one who thinks it’s weird that she would act like she’s struggling with her mental health while also making songs outing joes struggles with depression and how he should have gotten over it so they could marry

[saturdaysky]

hunger is whatever shape the moonlight pulls your shadow into.

The cover and first two pages of a comic about Essek and touch, set just after episode 97 and the reveal of his treachery.

There are nine pages. I will post them in batches as I finish them, and each post will be updated with the links to the other pages. 💜

I've had this idea sketched out for several years (check out my user icon, which hasn't changed since I made this account 😉 ), and I am excited to finally sit down and finish it! Here's a close-up of the Rosohna and Xhorhaus panel on page 2.

An absence is also a presence, no?

Poetry source is ONE SIDE OF AN INTERVIEW WITH THE GHOST OF MARVIN GAYE by Hanif Abdurraqib.

[passionesolja]

Okay so I need Non-Early Access Baldur’s Gate 3 fans to understand how much they pacified Wyll in the full release. Wyll in Early Access was assertive as hell. None of the meek and mild pushover shit we got in the full game. Like if you didn’t get your ass to that Goblin Camp, bring him along, and act accordingly in that Camp, he would leave. In Early Access, Spike the Torture Goblin took his eye out so if you weren’t bout that action, he would get fed up and just drop all y’all. He didn’t give a fuck he wanted them goblins dead. Like tbh good for him. I haven’t played Early Access BG3 in a minute but I remember Wyll more than I remember anybody else’s Early Access Characterization. That’s how memorable he was.

So I when I played the full game I was a lil shook because Wyll went from this driven guy who was like “tick tock when are you going to goblin camp, you better bring me to Blighted Village or I’ll leave” to somebody who hardly has presence in a room. Early Access Wyll never came across as rude or mean, he just didn’t play about them goblins. He had a lot more of the “My dads a no nonsense duke” in him. I wish Larian had never changed it. When Early Access Wyll is like “my dad is the Duke of Baldur’s Gate and the leader of the Flaming Fist” you’re like “oohhh I see why you have such a driven and motivated personality”.

On one hand, it was nice to not have Wyll breathing down your neck about the Goblins but in the longterm you’re like “but at what cost?”

[antianakin]

No Order 66 AU where Anakin leaves the Order after the war ends and he and Padme end up retiring to Naboo to try to raise the twins together, but neither of them ends up feeling particularly satisfied with life on Naboo (for Anakin it just doesn't give him any purpose the way he desperately needs and for Padme it's always been this perfect rosy dream and reality doesn't measure up), so they end up leaving the twins behind a lot so they can pursue other things and are pretty absentee parents in general. They mostly end up getting raised by Padme's parents instead, and while they're perfectly good guardians for the twins and raise them kindly and love them a lot, there's always an obvious elephant in the room regarding who ISN'T there.

This causes a bit of a rift between Luke and Leia because while Luke is trying to keep the peace and give their parents the benefit of the doubt as he moves on and figures out his own life with what he DOES have, Leia is less willing to just forgive and forget.

Luke ends up becoming a pilot working for the royal palace for a while, but Leia goes into politics (something she'd entered while younger because it's what her mother did and she'd been hoping it would get Padme's attention and bring the two of them closer; it didn't work out that way at all and now Leia's sticking with it at least partly to spite Padme) as an aide for her cousin Pooja who is now Senator of Naboo.

And it's here, once she finally makes it to Coruscant and starts working in the Senate, that Leia meets Bail Organa, still working as Senator of Alderaan. The two of them click IMMEDIATELY and Bail ends up becoming Leia's mentor in politics, as well as the person who actually introduces her to the Jedi themselves. Anakin and Padme had never really bothered to do so, both because they were so rarely around, but also because they had chosen not to give Luke and Leia to the Temple and decided at that point that it would be easier to keep the twins and the Jedi separate. Bail of course has no such compunctions and even if he knew about Anakin and Padme's feelings on the matter, I imagine he'd find ways to allow Leia to accidentally bump into some of the Jedi while she was on Coruscant. If he just so happens to double book himself for lunch with both Leia and Obi-Wan, it's hardly anything malicious and they may as well all eat together!

Leia finally feels like she has a parent who gives a damn about her, someone who acts like a parent to her, the parent she's always wanted. Her grandparents had always been incredibly kind and they obviously had to do a lot of parenting, but they'd always been very strict about making sure the twins saw them as GRANDPARENTS and not their actual parents, which just make the absence of their parents that much more obvious and painful. But with Bail, she's finally got someone who doesn't care that Anakin and Padme aren't there and doesn't feel the need to create a wall between them for Anakin and Padme's sake. Bail takes her under his wing, teaches her everything she knows, allows her to explore things she'd never been allowed to explore before, connects her to even more people who can help her understand herself better than she's ever been able to before. THIS is what a parent was supposed to do for her and she knows it, THIS is what selfless love looks like from a parent and she THRIVES under it for the first time in her life.

She eventually decides not to stay on as Pooja's aide because she has no real desire to become a senator for Naboo at any point, but she IS good at politics and desperately does want to help people any way she can, so she starts up some sort of organization of her own to help people around the galaxy (and connects it to the Jedi because deep down she KNOWS she was supposed to be one of them even though that path is now closed to her). But she doesn't go back to Naboo, she doesn't make her home on her mother's home planet.

She goes to Alderaan instead. And this time, she gets to stay there for the rest of her life.

[twopoppies]

Isn't it a bit soon harry coming back online and posting especially coming back just to sell something?

I think some of you live in a fantasy world. Losing someone is awful. Liam's death was tragic. Sadly, the world doesn't stop, even if you're grieving. Was it also too soon for Zayn to go on tour? He's selling something, as well, you know. Or is it just Harry that's doing something you disapprove of? That's rhetorical. I already know the answer.

Everything that happened with the Pleasing drop and the post on Harry's IG could (and probably did) happen without him lifting a finger or being aware of it. His businesses are still operating, even if he's mourning. And if he's decided it's time for him to get back to work, then that's his business. Why you feel the need to judge him for that is beyond me.

[hislop3]

Rural Hospital Program: Extra Cash for Emergency and Outpatient Services Stuck in Neutral

In 2021, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. Within the Act, a new Medicare provider was created – the Rural Emergency Hospital (REH). The final rule is available here: Rural Emergency Hospital Final Rule REHs were created to improve and increase, access to emergency services and ideally, expanded outpatient services in rural areas. Starting in January 2023, Critical…

[atthebell]

you know i don't really want to get into a discussion about increased scrutiny for people who already care about things like diversity and accessibility but i do think it's frustrating to see creative projects from people who do really care about including those values in their work get completely disproportionate criticism because people have set their own expectations about them so high. i'll see people be like 'this should've had [thing no similar projects have and yet is being demanded like it's owed or required of this specific person over anyone else]' or absolutely blasting someone for not including such and such thing that people have decided is necessary solely coming from this one person/anyone they feel they can pressure in this way. and this disproportionately affects indie creators, to the point where i see people DEMANDING certain standards from people who have far less resources and funds than major media corporations. and it's like okay do y'all have any sense of scale or do you think berating people who actually care about this shit and are trying is better than advocating for progress and change in spaces where it's far less accepted and would be far more impactful. also do you think constantly berating people who do put effort into this stuff is a good way to encourage them to continue or like what

[nellasbookplanet]

In the wake of FCG' fate I've been thinking about death in ttrpgs, and how it kind of exists on three levels:

There’s the gameplay level, where it only makes sense for a combat-heavy, pc-based game to have a tool for resurrection because the characters are going to die a lot and players get attached to them and their plotlines.

Then there’s the narrative level, where you sort of need permanent death on occasion so as not to lose all tension and realism. On this level, sometimes the player will let their character remain dead because they find it more interesting despite there being options of resurrection, or maybe the dice simply won’t allow the resurrection to succeed.

Then, of course, there’s the in-universe level, which is the one that really twists my mind. This is a world where actual resurrection of the actual dead is entirely obtainable, often without any ill effects (I mean, they'll be traumatized, but unless you ask a necromancer to do the resurrection they won’t come back as a zombie or vampire or otherwise wrong). It’s so normal that many adventurers will have gone through it multiple times. Like, imagine actually living in a world where all that keeps you from getting a missing loved one back is the funds to buy a diamond and hire a cleric. As viewers we felt that of course Pike should bring Laudna, a complete stranger, back when asked, but how often does she get this question? How many parents have come and begged her to return their child to them? How many lovers lost but still within reach? When and how does she decide who she saves and who she doesn’t?

From this perspective, I feel like every other adventurer should have the motive/backstory of 'I lost a loved one and am working to obtain the level of power/wealth to get them back'. But of course this is a game, and resurrection is just a game mechanic meant to be practically useful.

Anyway. A story-based actual play kind of has to find a way to balance these three levels. From a narrative perspective letting FCG remain dead makes sense, respects their sacrifice, and ends their arc on a highlight. From a gameplay level it is possible to bring them back but a lot more complicated than a simple revivify. But on an in-universe level, when do you decide if you should let someone remain dead or not? Is the party selfish if they don’t choose to pursue his resurrection the way they did for Laudna? Do they even know, as characters, that it’s technically possible to save someone who's been blown to smithereens? Back in campaign 2, the moment the m9 gained access to higher level resurrection they went to get Molly back (and only failed because his body had been taken back by Lucien). At the end of c1, half the party were in denial about Vax and still looking for ways to save him, because they had always been able to before (and had the game continued longer it wouldn’t have surprised me had they found a way). Deanna was brought back decades after her death (and was kind of fucked up because of it). Bringing someone back could be saving them, showing them just how loved and appreciated they are. Or it could be saving you, forcing someone back from rest and peace into a world that's kept moving without them because you can’t handle the guilt of knowing you let them stay gone when you didn’t have to. How do you know? How would you ever know?

[astralleywright]

the Gods' conversation in the first episode of Downfall, about how they need to destroy Aeor in its entirety to prevent mortal knowledege of how to destroy them from spreading, is so dark. both from the perspective of watching a handful of people weigh the lives of thousands, but also because they do end up destroying Aeor; and it doesn't work. it prolongs things for another millenia, sure, but someone eventually discovers enough of the Factorum Malleus' plans for Ludinus to construct his own version and make his own plan, something he's motivated to do specifically by the original destruction of Aeor. not only does the Gods obliterating one of the last civilzations still standing in the Calamity (and all their children within) not bury the knowledge of this anti-god weapon, it becomes the very reason someone wants to try again.

(obligatory disclaimer that Ludinus is bad and doing bad things and we should not release Predathos and set him loose at the Gods buffet. thanks)

[makikothevampiru]

Do you ever just stop and think about how Laudna and Imogen sleep/slept together. In the same bed? Cuddling? While Imogen was in love head over heels and very much aware?? how did she not explode