#Fastest Health Report

[super-health-services]

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[entwinedmoon]

This month is the 40th anniversary of John Torrington’s exhumation and autopsy. I’ve been doing real-time daily updates over on this post to show just how long and drawn out the process was. It took over a week, starting from when Beattie arrived on Beechey to when they first started digging to when they finally got the coffin open. Right now, those updates are in a bit of a lull because, after they dug down to the coffin, they had to wait for permits to move onto the next part, so there won’t be another Daily Torrington Dig update until August 17.

While we’re waiting for Beattie to get his permits to crack open a cold one (Torrington’s coffin) with the boys (his scientific research team), you can check out my Torrington blog posts to keep the spirit of the season going. The posts Sacred to the Memory of and A Star Is Born would be especially applicable right now as they explore Torrington’s death, exhumation, autopsy, and the media’s response to the photographs of his well-preserved body.

But there’s something else I wanted to share here, another type of media response that I’ve known about (and had a copy of) for a while. I shared it years ago on Twitter, thinking it would get a laugh there, but that was, er, not the reaction I received, so I’d held off on sharing it anywhere else because I thought most people would find it inappropriate. However, I was reminded recently by a friend (don’t know if they want to be tagged here or not, so I’ll go with not) about the existence of this particular piece, and I realized that this might be something that would be more appreciated here on Tumblr, where we like to photoshop Torrington’s corpse into memes, ship him with the guy he’s buried next to, and want to see what he would think of Takis and flavored vapes.

The article I’m referring to is the story about Torrington that appeared in the Weekly World News.

If you’re not familiar with the Weekly World News, it was a notorious tabloid that made up absurd stories and pretended it was real news. Some news stories were actually true—so it wasn’t completely like today’s The Onion—but there were also plenty of clearly fictional articles, featuring bizarre, often supernatural stories, such as Elvis sightings, a double-decker bus mysteriously found at the South Pole (“scientists” claimed aliens did it), or Bat Boy, a boy who was part bat, part boy.

Torrington’s level of fame within the cultural consciousness of the time meant that he, too, got to experience the tabloid treatment.

(CW: pictures of Torrington’s mummified body beneath the cut)

Published on March 3, 1992, was this front-page story:

Man buried in 1845 brought back to life!

Sailor’s coffin frozen in arctic ice 147 years!

Hush-hush new drug revives corpse, say doctors!

Yes, according to the Weekly World News, John Torrington was brought back to life in 1992. There’s even a full article all about how it happened.

MAN FROZEN SINCE 1845 BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE!

Scientists revive seaman trapped in ice 147 years!

Sailor back from the dead still thinks James K. Polk is President of the U.S.!

By Cal Sanders, Special Correspondent

The perfectly preserved corpse of a British sailor who was buried in an icy grave after he died on an Arctic expedition in 1845 has been revived by scientists—147 years later!

And while Petty Officer John Torrington’s health is fragile at best, the team of doctors who illegally plucked him from his grave and brought him back to life say he is aware of his surroundings, walking with help and might very well be able to lead a normal life “if this man has the psychological strength to adapt to the 20th century.”

“It’s hard to believe but this man thinks James K. Polk is President of the United States and insists that horses and sailing ships are the best and fastest ways to travel,” Dr. Hermann Richter said in his report on the experiment that brought Torrington back to life.

“Electric lights literally scare the hell out of him and to be perfectly frank about it, he hasn’t quite decided if he’s dead or alive. About the best we can do at this point is take his recovery one day at a time.

“If Torrington survives we will have produced a living piece of history. If he dies, at least we’ll be able to say that we tried to do something that might ultimately have benefited all mankind.”

The decision to steal Torrington’s corpse from its grave in northern Canada couldn’t have come easy for the Richter team, which issued its report to selected European newspapers “from an undisclosed clinic in Germany.”

For starters, the young man’s grave has stood as an unofficial monument to the courage and determination of 128 adventurers led by British explorer Sir John Franklin—adventurers who gave up their lives to chart the last 300-mile-leg of the treacherous Northwest Passage between 1845 and 1848. Torrington’s body was exhumed once before, in 1983, but it was carefully reburied after scientists took a small tissue sample to determine the cause of death. As it turned out, Torrington died from lead poisoning after eating provisions out of tins that were sealed with the dangerous and often lethal metal. Needless to say, news that Richter and his associates secretly exhumed the body a second time, smuggled it into Germany and succeeded in bringing it back to life have infuriated many experts, some of whom consider the theft of the body criminal. Richter himself insisted that Torrington is in good hands and will be free to go when he is strong enough.

The doctor went on the say that he understands why the experiment might sound extreme to some people but he believes that the revival of Torrington “furthered the best interests of medicine and science.” Richter’s report did not include any of the techniques that were used to revive Torrington but it did mention “an exciting new drug” that might one day make such revivals routine.

Because he died of lead poisoning, it is also believed that Richter and his team somehow cleansed Torrington’s tissue of the deadly metal before bringing him back to life. For the record, Torrington was a man of 20 when he died. Now he looks like a man of 80, photos supplied by Richter show.

“A century and a half of death is enough to age anyone,” said Richter.

There’s a lot to unpack here—the morally dubious German doctor with a mysterious, Frankenstein-esque resurrection method; the burial and exhumation dates both being off by one year for some reason; the short, skinny guy in the obvious bald cap that they thought would pass as Torrington; and so much more. Interestingly, a lot of the article seems to focus more on how scandalous it is that Dr. Richter stole Torrington’s body, as if the writer thought that the revival of a long-dead corpse wasn’t enough of a scoop. Also, I’m not sure if Torrington would even have been aware that Polk was president in 1845—was he the sort of guy who paid attention to international politics? Wouldn’t it have made more sense for him to think Victoria was still queen?

Many people might be offended by such an article, but the Weekly World News never cared about who they offended. Unsurprisingly, one of those who did take umbrage with the story was Dr. Owen Beattie.

In a short article in the Times-Colonist Metro about a week after the Weekly World News story ran, we got to hear Owen Beattie’s reaction.

HEE-(T)HAW . . . It was standard checkout rag fare. “Man Buried in 1845 brought back to life” shouted a recent front page of Weekly World News. “Hush-Hush New Drug Revives Corpse,” it continued.

These startling revelations bore some significance for both the wax museum’s Ken Lane and University of Alberta anthropologist Owen Beattie. The man purportedly thawed like last night’s dinner was John Torrington, one of three sailors from the Franklin expedition buried on Beechy [sic] Island. The Franklin expedition—and John Torrington—feature large in the wax museum’s arresting Frozen in Time expedition. Torrington’s body was exhumed from its Arctic grave in ’84 by Dr. Beattie, who determined death was from lead poisoning.

Neither Ken nor the anthropologist felt their respective professional worlds crumbled with the News article. (It ran with a photo of an emaciated looking chap being assisted by doctors and reports that Torrington is terrified of electric lights, still believes Polk is the U.S. president, and horses are the only way to go.) Ken shrugged it off with a what-can-you-expect-from-a-checkout-rag laugh. The anthropologist wasn’t quite so forgiving.

He refused to comment on it at all, insisting that his research speaks for itself. Apparently John Torrington was quite dead when he was exhumed and equally so when buried after the autopsy. But then that’s not the sort of stuff that sells check-out rags.

While it’s perfectly understandable that Beattie would not appreciate something like the Weekly World News’ fake story, what I find most interesting about this snippet is that there was a wax museum with a Franklin Expedition exhibit that included Torrington??? Does that mean there was a Torrington wax figure???? Where is it now????? Can I buy it?????????

These very important questions aside, it’s fascinating to see that Torrington was well known enough to make it into a “checkout rag.” Maybe it’s not the legacy he would have wanted, but at least it’s worth a good laugh.

[crayonstik]

In the world of divinity, am I just a pawn?

Ruan Mei x gn!reader

Angst with comfort, a little fluff

T/W: Relationship anxiety, big nervousness, mentions of exploitation and abuse(from aeons to people, not inter-personal relationships)

You ask Ruan Mei a daring question, is she just using you as a stepping stone to get to divinity?

You had been with Ruan Mei for years at this point. You knew each other better than you knew yourselves. So why did this one thought nag at your mind so much? Why wouldn’t it leave?

“Ruan Mei, could I ask you something?”

“I’m not busy right now, go ahead.”

“Am…” you inhale deeply, pressing your anxiety down as far as possible. “Am I just a pawn in your plan to reach aeonhood? Am I just a piece of entertainment that you’ll toss away one day?”

“When the day comes where you can finally ascend, will you choose divinity, or me?”

The cold air of the lab had quickly become frostier. Even the critters had scattered back to their pillows, despite their favorite people being in the room.

The genius stared down at her papers silently, too afraid to reveal the anxiety in her eyes.

“What makes you think that?”

When questioned, the fastest response is to ask back. She needed time to formulate an answer. Normally she would have a read on you, by this point she should know what to do but…

Ruan Mei was lost.

“I’ve read your reports from the simulated universe. I’ve seen the way you talk about the aeons. You glorify them, tell me that this is the divinity you dream of reaching, but…they’re all so cruel. Even Nous is heartless to THEY’re own emanators. None of THEM care. Humans, life forms, are just toys for THEM to torture for THEIR pleasure. If you are trying to ascend to this, then are you even the woman I fell in love with?”

All this time, years of research to ensure she would never lose you yet…

Is this how it was going to end? One question that she couldn’t formulate the words to answer?

Oh right, the years of research.

Tentatively, she motions you towards her desk and opens up a drawer. There’s piles and piles of papers, bottle with samples from the Abundance, Propagation, even Qlipoth. Every single detail of how she is desperately trying to keep you close is laid out in this drawer. You flip through the papers, file after file after file of attempts to cure your health issues, even mental ones.

“Dear, how long have you been doing this for? Why didn’t you tell me?”

The answer, in her opinion, was rather stupid.

“I…I was scared of telling you. I thought you would leave me for all the effort I threw into you. I’ve always been worried you’d go away. I was going to find the answers and give them to you then, so that you wouldn’t feel guilty about the toiling it took…and it’s been about 2 years…”

Through the tears and the flem in your throat, you suddenly burst out giggling. THIS was your girlfriend you knew and loved! Ever shy and overthinking for everything. You wrapped your arms around her lightly trembling figure, placing your chin on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry for asking such a harsh question without the full context. I know it was scary. But I’m not going anywhere, don’t worry. See? I’m here, right now, and I won’t abandon you here. Just next time, could you please be more open if you’re going to study me like this?” You chuckled at the last part, ending with a sigh of relief.

“I…I forgive you and I apologize for hiding this from you for so long. Thank you…thank you for staying with me.” You felt her lean into you, keeping both of your bodies stable.

Conversation and emotional expression turned out to be very draining. She would have to note how hungry this made her later.

“Could we perhaps, get some cake?”

[lev-1athan]

How to Survive Being Online

There was an article going around a few weeks back that listed dozens of good things that happened in 2024 globally. The site linked to a weekly roundup newsletter called "Fix the News" that I subscribed to, and it's SO wonderful. It's free, but there's also a paid version. It links its sources as well.

As an American who has been spiraling into hopelessness, it puts into perspective that a lot of progress is still happening worldwide and it's helped to shift my perspective from being so Western-centric.

This week's newsletter included this advice from Mike Monteiro (cw for some ableist language; bolding is mine)

"The only way to defeat a narcissistic sociopath is to starve them. Protect yourself from their bullshit, of course, but move away from it. Let them have their stage, but refuse to be their audience. This isn’t easy. It’s especially difficult because capitalism is an attention economy. The New York Times and The Washington Post love a narcissistic sociopath because they generate clicks and clicks sell ads. Social media loves a narcissistic sociopath for the same reason, but it’s even worse. On social media, we’re the ones carrying their water. Trump says something that he knows will get him attention (i.e. renaming the Gulf of Mexico) and not only does it fire up hundreds of media outlets, who now divert attention to this idiocy, but it also fires up tons of people like me and you, who end up reposting his garbage. Some of us because we feel like we’re media outlets (we’re not), some of us because we’re freaked out and freaking other people out justifies our own freak-out, and some of us because we were once bitten by a narcissistic sociopath under a full moon and we want to generate some of those sweet sweet likes in our direction. The first four years of Donald Trump was a continuous panic attack. I’m not going through that again. You don’t have to either. They’re on stage, but you don’t have to be their audience."

A few positives in this week's newsletter: Wage inequality has declined in two-thirds of countries since 2000 A new report from the International Labour Organisation has revealed that, since the early 2000s, global wage inequality has fallen at an average rate ranging from 0.5% to 1.7% annually, with the most significant decreases occurring in LMICs. Global real average wage growth has started to surpass inflation, with projections reaching 2.7% growth for 2024, the highest increase in over 15 years. (source)

The fastest energy transition in history continues Solar and wind are being installed at a rate five times faster than all other new electricity sources—including gas, hydro and nuclear—combined. At these growth rates, energy think tank, Ember estimates that by 2032, solar and wind generation will surpass the combined output of coal and gas. Step by step, the outlook for the world’s energy mix is getting brighter. (source)

Aid begins pouring into Gaza Over 2,400 aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip since the cessation of hostilities was announced on Sunday. The truce requires at least 600 truckloads of aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the initial six-week ceasefire. “This is a moment of tremendous hope — fragile, yet vital,” says Tom Fletcher, the United Nations undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs. (source)

Anyway, I highly recommend taking a look. This has seriously helped my mental health, and I think we could all use a little respite.

[hailsatanacab]

For the prompt ask game!

9. Sleep deprivation and/or 37. Secret Relationship and/or 40. Identity reveal/major secret reveal

(I selected a few so you can chose the one that resonates the most.)

For any DPxDC characters. <3

*emerges from a google docs, covered in blood and panting* i did it... it is done.

thank you for the prompt!! because i love a challenge, or because i can't stop myself, i went and did all of them!! for everyone!! everyone is sleep deprived and everyone is revealing secrets ^^'

Danny/Tim, mentioned Jazz/Jason

(๑•́ ₃ •̀๑) enjoy!! prompt ask game

kid napping

“Red Robin, sound off. Status?”

“All good here, Oracle. Everything okay?”

It’s been a slow night, never a good sign. Pent up energy itches under his skin and he stretches when he stands, preparing for whatever Oracle is going to throw his way. It’s going to be something, he can tell.

“Good.” Relief briefly colours her voice answers, before she becomes serious again, keys clacking away in the background. “There’s been a report from Agent A. It appears that one Timothy Drake has been kidnapped and is being ransomed for five million dollars and a helicopter. I’m tracing the call now.”

“A helicopter, too? Kidnappers these days, used to be they just wanted their money and that would be the end of it… a fucking helicopter, wow.” Red Hood scoffs, and Red Robin can’t help but join in the laughter over the comms.

“Doesn’t exactly sound like these are the brightest tools in the shed now, does it, Hood? Wonder what poor schmuck they’ve got instead.” Nightwing says, slightly out of breath. 

The smile slips off Red Robin’s face and clammy, cold dread shivers down his spine. A stone settles in his stomach. He wets his lips and clears his throat. “Oracle, can you pull up the CCTV on my apartment near WE? Any closer to tracing the call?”

“Still on the trace, they’re using a jammer. Agent A is cooperating so they should phone back soon, which will help.” she reports, falling into silence as he finds the video feed.

“You know who it is?”

“I hope not.”

It’s tense, he taps his feet on the rooftop, fingers tightening over his grapple as he fights the urge to fly off the roof and check for himself. It better not be him. Please, dear God, don’t let it not be him.

“What are you thinking, Red Robin?” Batman growls through the comms. Red Robin can hear the wind under his words, whipping fast as he no doubt makes his way over to his position.

“I had a, uh, a friend coming over tonight. From behind, he… he could be mistaken for Tim Drake.”

The jokes fall silent, the comms growing serious as they pick up on his tone.

“Well, fuck.” 

“Eloquent as always, Hood.”

“Shut up, bat-brat.”

“You were right, Red Robin, it looks like it was your… friend they caught, instead. About two hours before the call came in. I’m following their van now, I should have the destination soon. In the meantime, it looks like they’re heading towards the docks.”

Red Robin throws himself off the building, shooting his grapple as low as he dares to get the fastest swing he can. 

They have Danny. 

Worry gnaws at his gut even as gravity pulls it into his throat with another swing.

Danny is… And Red Robin means this in the nicest way possible, but Danny is fragile. They haven’t talked about it, but RR knows that Danny has health problems. Something plaguing him since he was young, that’s landed him in the hospital more than once. A weak heart, far too slow to be normal, possibly chronic fatigue—he’s always so tired, falling asleep anywhere he can.

Sometimes, he doesn’t even need to put his head down. Once, when they had gone to the corner store to get some popcorn to enjoy their movie (which Danny had explicitly and repeatedly promised he wouldn’t snore through this time), Danny had rested his head on Tim’s shoulder while they were waiting and he’d just… gone. On his feet, asleep, just like that.

He’d laughed, when Tim woke him up. Apologised. Said Tim made him feel safe enough to fall asleep just about anywhere and—

Red Robin grits his teeth and corrects his course as Oracle updates them with more precise coordinates.

Tim had carried him home that night, piggy-back for four blocks, but by the end of it, he wasn’t tired at all. And that’s another thing, Danny’s just so light. It’s concerning.

They never did watch that movie, but it’s a night that Tim can’t help remembering fondly all the same. They’d ended up rewatching some old sitcom that Danny’s seen countless times but Tim’s never really bothered with, Danny drifting off to sleep again and Tim eventually following him, because… sleep is easy with Danny.

It’s the same for him, he thinks. He can’t explain it, but he feels safe enough to sleep with Danny, too.

He needs to be alright.

“So… Is this friend just a friend? Or a friend friend?” 

“A friend, Nightwing. Now hurry up.”

He’s not in the mood to play these games, not now. There’s a reason why none of them know about Danny, and this is one of them. His family, as much as he loves them, are just too damn nosey for their own good.

“You know that doesn’t answer my question at all.”

“Then why don’t you ask something intelligible, rather than continue with your childish antics?” Robin snarks, and for once, Red Robin has to agree with him. Or, rather, he’s grateful for the distraction that it gives him.

Tim has secrets. He’s sure that Danny does, too, and so far—aside from the standard background check he always runs on new friends and friend friends alike—he’s done very well to respect them. He just can’t say that his family would do the same.

They can be overwhelming, to say the least, and Tim has tried his best to protect Danny from that.

Only to fail to protect him in every other way that it counts.

“How long have you guys been ‘friends’?”

“Nightwing, save it, please.”

“What’s his name?”

He ignores him.

Red Robin lands on the building first, thank goodness. He wastes no time in finding a skylight that can be pried open fairly quietly, slipping inside without a second thought.

“Wait for backup, Red Robin, that is an order!” Batman says, when he lets them know he’s in.

“Negative, Batman. I’m getting him back.”

“Red Robin!”

He weaves silently through the desks on the second floor of the warehouse, always moving, always keeping a trained eye on the shadows around him.

When he reaches the stairs, he hears voices.

“Looks like three of them, armed. The-the hostage is tied to a chair in the middle of the room, he…” Red Robin takes a steadying breath. The person has a burlap sack over their head is slumped to the side, from where he is, Red Robin can’t see if his chest is moving. There’s blood on the floor. “He needs medical assistance. Another two on the northside entrance.”

The comms explode in admonitions, everyone pleading with him to stay where he is, to wait for help, but fuck that. With a tap, he switches them off and he can finally, just about make out the words of the kidnappers as he creeps down the first few steps.

“—shouldn’t he have woken up by now?”

“I don’t know, man, you’re the one that hit him! Do you think he’s—”

“No! I didn’t even hit him that hard, I swear!” the man cries, holding his hands up in surrender. “I just couldn’t take any more of his stupid jokes!”

If there was any doubt in Red Robin’s mind that they picked up Danny by mistake, it’s gone now. Yeah. If you get Danny, you get his stupid jokes, too.

He creeps closer. 

There’s some storage crates between him and Danny, if he can get behind there without being seen then that leaves him in a good position for when whoever’s next in takes out the guys at the front. He can’t do anything without them gone first, not without risking them taking shots inside and endangering Danny.

The man that hit Danny circles round behind him and grabs at his hands.

“What are you even doing, Pat? Who gives a shit, leave him alone.”

“I’m just checking! I just gotta see!”

“Fuck’s sake, guys, who cares? We just gotta get our money, that’s it—”

“And our helicopter!”

“And our—”

“Shit, I can’t find a pulse! Shit, Frank, I killed him, I—”

Jason told him once that when the Pits overtook him, he used to see green. Instead of blacking out, he’d be swimming in that putrid Lazarus colour and he’d slip into that rage and bad things would happen.

He’s heard of people seeing red, too, but really, he thinks that’s more of a literary device.

Tim doesn’t see anything aside from his targets.

A barrage of birdarangs take the guns from the guys at the front, the three around Danny startling badly enough that the guy that kil—that’s behind Danny—stumbles, losing his footing.

Only one of them shoots.

Amateurs. 

There’s a round of curses on the comms as the shots come through. Oracle must have turned them back on.

“Fucking hell—Nightwing and I are at the front, Red Robin, don’t worry about them.”

Red Robin’s barely listening.

He spins, kicking the largest guy in the stomach hard enough so that he doubles over, wheezing. Following through the movement, another kick lands on the side of his head and he’s down. 

The second one, Frank, gets his wits about him and raises his gun, spraying wildly. He’s a shit shot, going wide in panic, and Red Robin simply ducks and rushes forward, keeping low. Tackling the guy, he grabs the gun off of him and uses it to smash him across the face, once, twice, three times, before he stops moving.

“Oracle, get police and paramedics on scene, now.” Batman says, the displeasure in his voice evident. “Red Robin, Robin and I are coming in from the top.”

Pat hasn’t even made it up off the floor yet, scrambling backwards, fear plain on his face. 

Red Robin stands, breathing heavily, gun still in hand.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I swear I didn’t mean to do it! Please—please, don’t, please!”

Red Robin doesn’t kill.

Well, no, Red Robin doesn’t normally kill.

No, that’s not quite right, either.

Red Robin has killed. Red Robin will more than likely kill again. Red Robin sees no problem with killing.

The gun is up, pointing towards the guy without any real thought about it.

Footsteps rush behind him, the familiar heavy footfalls of Batman and Robin, so he doesn’t bother turning around. The gun follows the guy as he keeps pulling himself backwards, snot and tears mingling down his face.

“Red Robin,” Batman says, softly.

It’s always weird hearing Batman’s voice like that. It’s not the first time, obviously—Batman can’t use his scary intimidating voice on victims or children, after all—but having it used on him is weird. 

“Breathe.”

“He’s dead. They killed him.”

If hearing Batman’s voice was weird, Red Robin can’t even recognise his own.

Distantly, he realises he’s dissociating. There’s a tightness in his chest, it’s hard to breathe, a growing buzz drowns out any noise in his ears and he can’t think, he can’t—

A heavy hand squeezes his shoulder, jolting him out of his thoughts. Batman reaches around and gently removes the gun from his grip, and Tim feels the instant loss of it. He should have done it, why hadn’t he done it?

Robin takes care of the last man, his crying cut off by a swift kick to the head. Nightwing and Red Hood join them, zip-tying the men on the floor and starting to drag them back to the entrance of the warehouse one by one.

No one says a word.

Shrugging off Batman’s hand, Tim moves towards the chair.

Shaking, he takes a deep breath and removes the sack. The small part of him that was left hoping it wasn’t him, it couldn’t be him, please dear God let it not be him, shatters.

Even dead, he looks peaceful.

Tim’s seen death. He’s no stranger to it, he’s seen what it can do to a person. There’s some blood coagulating over his eyebrows, but otherwise, he looks peaceful. Is that comforting? That he didn’t suffer?

Danny’s head lolls to the side as the sack comes completely away, his hair flopping over his eyes. Tim’s been on at him to get a haircut lately, he thinks it’ll be nice tidied up a bit, just on the sides. It’ll get rid of that permanent bedhead. Help him with job interviews, he’s got to be thinking about that now that he’s in his last year of college.

It’s about the only thing that’ll hold him back, Tim thinks. Danny’s brilliant. Any employer would be a fool to turn him down because of his shaggy hair, but employers are stupid so it makes sense to put your best foot forward and—

Tim falls to his knees.

Fuck.

He’s dead, he’s really—Danny’s skin is horribly pale, cold to the touch. Gone is his bright, cheerful smile. 

“Danny, I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry, I—” 

He stops himself with a deep, shuddering breath. He can’t break down here, he can’t, he can’t, he can’t.

Instead, he tips forward to rest his head in Danny’s lap, arms curling around himself. They were too late. They got here as fast as they could and they were too late.

 “Danny, I’m so sorry…” he whispers. “I… I love you, I love you, I’m sorry.”

Dimly, he can feel the others standing around them. Someone crouches down beside him, resting a comforting arm over his back, but he doesn’t turn his head to see who it is. He squeezes his grip on Danny’s legs tighter.

“Come on, baby bird. Let’s—”

They’re interrupted by a huge, honking snore as Danny jerks himself awake.

Tim’s head snaps up, staring at Danny with wide eyes.

“You were asleep?” Red Robin springs up, several different emotions rapidly flip flopping through him.

“Wha… What?” Danny heaves a yawn, blinking blearily down at him. “Sorry, I’m just… they were shit kidnappers, man, really boring. Honestly, worst abduction yet.”

“You were asleep? I thought you were dead!”

“Not mutually exlusive, you know.” Danny says through another yawn. He rolls his neck around with an almighty crack and glances at everyone. “Didn’t think I’d warrant the whole Bat brigade, though…”

“The kidnappers thought they had Tim Drake.” Batman supplies, while Red Robin tries to work through the emotional whiplash.

“Ah, makes sense… wait.” Danny sits up suddenly, squinting at Red Robin. “Did you say you loved me?”

“No, of course not, why would I—”

“Tim? Is that—are you—are you Red Robin?”

“Everyone, hold the fuck up!” Red Hood shouts from the other side of the warehouse, having finished securing the perps to a streetlight outside. “Double R is dating Danny fucking Nightingale?”

Well, there goes his identity… Oh, who’s he kidding, Danny’s smart. There’s no way he could have salvaged that. This was not how he thought the night was going to go.

“Cranberry, is that you?” Danny twists in his chair, somehow delighted to see Red Hood rescuing him, too. “I thought I smelled you lurking about!”

“Shut it, you little shit. Since when were you dating this dweeb?”

“I’m sorry,” Red Robin pleads, hands in the air to try and slow down the onslaught of information and insults, “you two know each other?”

“Cranberry?” Nightwing echoes, looking as lost as Red Robin feels.

“Yeah, Cranberry—The Cranberries—zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie. Obviously. Also he’s wearing a big, fuck off red helmet.”

“Yeah, sure, makes sense.”

It’s about the only thing that does.

“And please don’t call my boyfriend a dweeb, Cranberry. Especially when he just said he loves me for the first time.”

“He only said it because he thought you were dead.”

“I am dead, so it counts.”

“Only half, so I’d say that puts you at a solid ‘like’. Tim’s—and savour this, Tim, because I’m only going to say it once—Tim’s intelligent, so I’m sure he’ll come to his senses soon.”

Danny just throws Red Hood such a shit-eating grin. A level of feral that Tim’s only seen before in Damian. 

“That’s what I used to say about Jazz, too.”

Hood scoffs in offence, and to be honest, Tim’s not sure where he should go from here. What the hell is happening, how do they know each other?

“Come on, is anyone going to untie me or am I really meeting your family mafia-style?”

“Do it yourself, Slimer.” Red Hood laughs, crossing his arms.

“Ugh, you suck so much. I’ll fucking slime you, just you wait. Can’t believe Jazz even likes you, I preferred it when she was dating Johnny.”

And then, without Danny doing anything other than muttering obscenities at Red Hood, the ropes fall to the ground. In one swift motion, Danny stands up and stretches himself to his full height of 5’6.

“All of you need to explain, now.” commands Batman, and honestly, Red Robin’s very much on his side of it.

“I can’t believe it… Jason and Timmy are both in secret relationships? That’s… How come no one told me?” Poor Nightwing sounds the most shocked out of all of them. He turns to Damian and clasps onto both of his shoulders. “You’re not secretly dating, are you, D? Please tell me you’re not, please tell me you’re single, please?”

Of course, Robin just clicks his tongue and pushes his hands away. Really, Red Robin doesn’t think that Nightwing’s in any danger of that happening, he’d be surprised if anyone could stand Robin enough to actually date him.

He shakes his head and turns to Danny, who’s staring right back at him, worry clear on his face.

Fuck, he... He's alive. He's really alive.

Tim pulls him into a bone-crushing hug, fingers buried deep in his NASA shirt. Tucking his face into the crook of Danny's shoulder, he laughs wetly with the joy of it. He's alive. He hasn't lost him. He's safe.

“I’m sorry I haven’t told you before now, starshine, but…” Danny breaks the hug and softly pulls away from him to rise on his tiptoes to place a kiss his cheek. The skin burns cold where his lips touch. “I love you, too. Also, you’re gonna wanna sit down. This is going to be a lot.”

[mikasa-imadebiscults]

Can I get a dadzawa comfort fic where the readers mom was a villian and dad was actually good and they recently had to fight there mom when they escaped police and after beating her reader has a meltdown in the dorm commen area in the middle of the night

🍁

(Hello, 🍁 Anon!! I really hope you enjoy this, I’m kinda proud of this fanfic)

A Good Person..

(Warning: This is PLATONIC, swearing, and mentions of injuries)

The school day went by painfully slow, seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours. You were in English class, tapping your pencil against the desk lightly as you listened to Present Mic teach about todays grammar lessons until Principal Nezu’s voice came on the intercom.

“Y/N L/N, please report to my office, I repeat, Y/N L/N please report to my office. Thank you.”

You were confused by this, why would Principal Nezu want to speak with you out of all people? You put your pencil down and got up from your desk, your fellow classmates giving you confused and concerned looks as you walked by.

You arrived at the Principal’s office and knocked on the door, opening it when you heard Nezu’s voice give you permission to come on in.

When you walked in you saw a couple police officers standing in the office while Principal Nezu was sitting down on his chair. “Have a seat, L/N.” Nezu calmly said, gesturing to the chair in front of him.

A man with short hair stepped closer to you, “My name is Detective Tsukauchi, we found out what happened to your mother.” He said, looking at you with empathetic dark eyes.

“Is everything alright? Is she okay?” You questioned, concern lacing your voice as you saw the detective’s facial expression. You hadn’t seen your mother in a few months now, you and your father were scared for her well-being so you guys filed a missing person report.

“Well I’m very sorry to inform you but it turns out that your mother is a villain. She committed about twenty counts of murder, six counts of arson, and possession and use of illegal Quirk enhancing drugs.” Tsukauchi explained.

“No..no this can’t be..” You mutter, struggling to find the right words to say.

“I know that this is most likely going to impact your mental health terribly, so I grant you permission to take a couple weeks off of school if you desire. I will inform your teachers of the situation so they are not left in the dark.” Nezu informed.

You felt tears start to build up in your eyes but you denied them to fall. You couldn’t believe it. “Thank you Principal Nezu, I think I really need that break. Is there anything else I need to know?”

....

You left Nezu’s office, it’s been about two hours. The police interrogated you, asking a few questions about your family history before allowing you to leave. The school day still hasn’t ended but you really didn’t have the energy to finish up the day so you just went back to the dorms, not even bothering to retrieve your backpack.

As you were walking outside to your dorm, you felt a strangely familiar presence nearby. Thinking that it was just paranoia, you decide to ignore it.

All of a sudden, you hear a voice from behind you, “Y/N.”

Your eyes widened at the voice, turning around quickly you saw her. You saw your mother. She looked disappointed in you, disappointed and disgusted at the looks of a future hero.

“Why mother, why would you do this?!” You exclaimed, tears threatened to fall from your eyes.

“You don’t need to know, but I need to get rid of you. You’re way too dangerous so I’m not sorry for what I’m about to do.”

Before you even had time to process a little of what she had just said, she sprinted towards you preparing for an attack. No matter who she was to you, you’re forced to fight her here and now.

You managed to swiftly dodge her attack and use your Quirk to knock her off balance and throw her off. Without any hesitation, you ran towards her at the fastest speed you’ve ever ran before and hit her hard on her neck, causing a brief loud cracking noise to fill the air and your mother to instantly lose consciousness.

You see your mother on the ground, questions started racing through your head, why in the world would she do this to you? Those questions running through your head stops when you heard the sounds of sirens. Looking behind you, you saw police cars coming to the scene.

Most likely a bystander walking by witnessed what was happening and contacted the authorities. You huff in annoyance, you were already so so tired you didn’t want to deal with the lectures that the police are gonna give you for fighting without a Heroes License.

....

You had finally arrived at your dorm room. After that shit show that happened and the long lecture from the police, you were exhausted. You take your phone from your back pocket and place it on your bedside table, you decide to take a nap for a few hours to relieve the fatigue feeling you felt.

As soon as you closed your eyes you heard your phone ring, “God dammit, can’t catch a break today.” You look at the number and it was your father.

“Hello?”

“I’ve heard about the fight between you and your mother. As you already know, the police took her to the hospital so they could treat her wounds.” He took a deep breath in before speaking once more, “I received intel that you hit her so hard that she unfortunately is now paralyzed from the spinal injury.”

What? No way in hell. This is a dream, right? This isn’t happening you are just asleep having a god awful nightmare.

“O-oh..I..see. I got to go now, bye.” You barely managed to say as your throat began to tense up. You end the call and place your phone on the bed, getting up to go to the kitchen so that you can get a drink to help with your tensed up throat.

You went to the dorm room kitchen and got a glass of water, bringing the glass up to your lips to take a sip you began to think-

How could you do this to her? Couldn’t you just have controlled yourself and gone a lot more gentle? What was fucking wrong with you? You are a terrible person. You aren’t a hero. You aren’t a human being anymore. You are a monster.

*BANG!!* The glass you were holding slipped out of your hand and shattered all over the ground, but the loud intrusive thoughts were consuming your mind. It consumed your mind so much that you didn’t even notice your homeroom teacher standing nearby.

Warm tears flooded your vision before rolling down your cheeks, your legs became more and more wobbly by the second.

“L/N-” Aizawa cut himself off as he ran towards you, catching you before you fell on the shattered glass. He walked you to the common room couches and sat you down.

“Nezu informed me of the situation with your mother so I came to check up on you. Don’t worry about making up any assignments, right now just focus on getting better.” He said, putting his hand on your shoulder.

You couldn’t say anything so you got up from the light green couch and hugged your teacher tightly, which caught him by surprise but he returned the gesture.

“I’m the whole reason why she’s paralyzed. I should’ve just ran from the fight and went to a Pro Hero but instead I seriously injured her. I seriously injured my own mother. I’m a monster.” You confess, you couldn’t even hold your own thoughts in anymore.

Aizawa’s face softened as he heard your words, “L/N, you are not a monster. You are a human being, you make mistakes and that’s normal. Take all of those mistakes and learn from them to grow stronger.”

There was silence for a minute, the only noises existing in the large room were the sounds of you sniffing and sobbing, until Aizawa spoke up.

“Listen I’m here problem child, don’t ever feel like you have to go through this alone. You have your classmates, your father, and me here if you ever need to talk.”

You wanted to say something, but couldn’t. All you could do at the moment was cry until there were no tears left. You are glad Aizawa actually comforted you instead of just saying to just calm down so you are grateful for him. Grateful that a caring and thoughtful person like Mr Aizawa is your teacher.

Masterlist

[covid-safer-hotties]

Money over lives: The tragic case of Noah Lyles’ collapse at the Paris Olympics - Published Aug 9, 2024

The horrific collapse of American sprinter Noah Lyles at the Paris Olympics due to his infection with COVID-19 has shocked masses of people throughout the world. While downplayed by the media, this event graphically exposes the reality that the pandemic is ongoing and remains dangerous for the entire population.

Before the race, Lyles was expected to win gold and possibly set a new world record in the 200m sprint, after he had just won the 100m race two days earlier. But shortly after crossing the finish line in third, Lyles fell down, writhing on the ground and visibly struggling to breathe. He then got on one knee for nearly 30 seconds before medical professionals assisted him off the track in a makeshift wheelchair in front of a stunned global audience of millions.

Lyles returned a few minutes later wearing a mask and revealed that he had been sick with COVID for the previous two days, telling a reporter, “I woke up early, about 5am on Tuesday, and I was feeling really horrible.” He later added, “I was quite light headed after that race and the shortness of breath and chest pain [were] definitely active.” He soon announced on Twitter/X that he would not take part in his final event the next day.

This disturbing episode has upended the lies of Joe Biden and other world leaders that “the pandemic is over.” In fact, COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire with no mitigations in place to protect public health. On Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its wastewater data, showing that over one million Americans are now being infected with COVID-19 each day.

The onset of the pandemic forced the suspension of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to the following year, when testing, masking and other precautions were put in place. In 2022, the Beijing Olympics were held in a highly secure bubble set up in line with the Zero-COVID strategy then in place in China, protecting all athletes at the event.

All of this is now over. The Paris Olympics take place over a year after the World Health Organization (WHO) lifted the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration, and every world government has scrapped all mitigations to slow the spread of COVID-19.

What was once referred to as the “Olympic spirit” is effectively a dead letter. As with all modern sporting events, a tremendous amount of money is at stake in the Olympics for the athletes, their corporate sponsors, and the event organizers. Combined with the toxic promotion of nationalism, enormous pressures are now placed upon athletes to compete with COVID, regardless of the dangers posed to themselves and others.

Those who organized the Paris Olympics were well aware that a horrific event like Lyles’ collapse would happen, but proceeded with reckless abandon anyway. Summing up the callous disregard for the health of athletes, United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland stated, “We know not everybody is going to make it through the games healthy.”

Indeed, the Paris Olympics has quickly become a super-spreader event. Some 11,000 athletes and millions of mask-less fans have traveled to the French capital from throughout the world, creating a metropolitan petri dish of different SARS-CoV-2 variants. Lyles is one of nearly 50 athletes with confirmed COVID infections, with the real toll undoubtedly far higher.

The fact that the fastest man alive was struck down and required medical assistance underscores that COVID-19 remains a significant health risk to everyone throughout the world. It is a damning exposure of all the propaganda portraying COVID-19 as “mild” and comparable to the flu or common cold.

Lyles has suffered from asthma his entire life and is therefore at greater risk of developing a severe infection and potentially Long COVID. This has gone unreported in the corporate media. In fact, he is lucky to be alive, as strenuous exercise while sick with COVID—especially when suffering from asthma—places one at elevated risk of respiratory failure or cardiac arrest.

Read the rest at either link!

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Jon Haidt

Published: Mar 9, 2023

In May 2014, Greg Lukianoff invited me to lunch to talk about something he was seeing on college campuses that disturbed him. Greg is the president of FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), and he has worked tirelessly since 2001 to defend the free speech rights of college students. That almost always meant pushing back against administrators who didn’t want students to cause trouble, and who justified their suppression of speech with appeals to the emotional “safety” of students—appeals that the students themselves didn’t buy. But in late 2013, Greg began to encounter new cases in which students were pushing to ban speakers, punish people for ordinary speech, or implement policies that would chill free speech. These students arrived on campus in the fall of 2013 already accepting the idea that books, words, and ideas could hurt them. Why did so many students in 2013 believe this, when there was little sign of such beliefs in 2011?

Greg is prone to depression, and after hospitalization for a serious episode in 2007, Greg learned CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). In CBT you learn to recognize when your ruminations and automatic thinking patterns exemplify one or more of about a dozen “cognitive distortions,” such as catastrophizing, black-and-white thinking, fortune telling, or emotional reasoning. Thinking in these ways causes depression, as well as being a symptom of depression. Breaking out of these painful distortions is a cure for depression. 

What Greg saw in 2013 were students justifying the suppression of speech and the punishment of dissent using the exact distortions that Greg had learned to free himself from. Students were saying that an unorthodox speaker on campus would cause severe harm to vulnerable students (catastrophizing); they were using their emotions as proof that a text should be removed from a syllabus (emotional reasoning). Greg hypothesized that if colleges supported the use of these cognitive distortions, rather than teaching students skills of critical thinking (which is basically what CBT is), then this could cause students to become depressed. Greg feared that colleges were performing reverse CBT. 

I thought the idea was brilliant because I had just begun to see these new ways of thinking among some students at NYU. I volunteered to help Greg write it up, and in August 2015 our essay appeared in The Atlantic with the title: The Coddling of the American Mind. Greg did not like that title; his original suggestion was “Arguing Towards Misery: How Campuses Teach Cognitive Distortions.” He wanted to put the reverse CBT hypothesis in the title.

After our essay came out, things on campus got much worse. The fall of 2015 marked the beginning of a period of protests and high-profile conflicts on campus that led many or most universities to implement policies that embedded this new way of thinking into campus culture with administrative expansions such as “bias response teams” to investigate reports of “microaggressions.” Surveys began to show that most students and professors felt that they had to self-censor. The phrase “walking on eggshells” became common. Trust in higher ed plummeted, along with the joy of intellectual discovery and sense of goodwill that had marked university life throughout my career. 

Greg and I decided to expand our original essay into a book in which we delved into the many causes of the sudden change in campus culture. Our book focused on three “great untruths” that seemed to be widely believed by the students who were trying to shut down speech and prosecute dissent:

1. What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker 2. Always trust your feelings 3. Life is a battle between good people and evil people. 

Each of these untruths was the exact opposite of a chapter in my first book, The Happiness Hypothesis, which explored ten Great Truths passed down to us from ancient societies east and west. We published our book in 2018 with the title, once again, of The Coddling of the American Mind. Once again, Greg did not like the title. He wanted the book to be called “Disempowered,” to capture the way that students who embrace the three great untruths lose their sense of agency. He wanted to capture reverse CBT. 

The Discovery of the Gender-by-Politics Interaction

In September 2020, Zach Goldberg, who was then a graduate student at Georgia State University, discovered something interesting in a dataset made public by Pew Research. Pew surveyed about 12,000 people in March 2020, during the first month of the Covid shutdowns. The survey included this item: “Has a doctor or other healthcare provider EVER told you that you have a mental health condition?” Goldberg graphed the percentage of respondents who said “yes” to that item as a function of their self-placement on the liberal-conservative 5-point scale and found that white liberals were much more likely to say yes than white moderates and conservatives. (His analyses for non-white groups generally found small or inconsistent relationships with politics.) 

I wrote to Goldberg and asked him to redo it for men and women separately, and for young vs. old separately. He did, and he found that the relationship to politics was much stronger for young (white) women. You can see Goldberg’s graph here, but I find it hard to interpret a three-way interaction using bar charts, so I downloaded the Pew dataset and created line graphs, which make it easier to interpret. 

Here’s the same data, showing three main effects: gender (women higher), age (youngest groups higher), and politics (liberals higher). The graphs also show three two-way interactions (young women higher, liberal women higher, young liberals higher). And there’s an important three-way interaction: it is the young liberal women who are highest. They are so high that a majority of them said yes, they had been told that they have a mental health condition. 

Figure 1.  Data from Pew Research, American Trends Panel Wave 64. The survey was fielded March 19-24, 2020. Graphed by Jon Haidt.

In recent weeks—since the publication of the CDC’s report on the high and rising rates of depression and anxiety among teens—there has been a lot of attention to a different study that shows the gender-by-politics interaction: Gimbrone, Bates, Prins, & Keyes (2022), titled: “The politics of depression: Diverging trends in internalizing symptoms among US adolescents by political beliefs.” Gimbrone et al. examined trends in the Monitoring the Future dataset, which is the only major US survey of adolescents that asks high school students (seniors) to self-identify as liberal or conservative (using a 5-point scale). The survey asks four items about mood/depression. Gimbrone et al. found that prior to 2012 there were no sex differences and only a small difference between liberals and conservatives. But beginning in 2012, the liberal girls began to rise, and they rose the most. The other three groups followed suit, although none rose as much, in absolute terms, as did the liberal girls (who rose .73 points since 2010, on a 5-point scale where the standard deviation is .89). 

Figure 2. Data from Monitoring the Future, graphed by Gimbrone et al. (2022). The scale runs from 1 (minimum) to 5 (maximum).

The authors of the study try to explain the fact that liberals rise first and most in terms of the terrible things that conservatives were doing during Obama’s second term, e.g., 

Liberal adolescents may have therefore experienced alienation within a growing conservative political climate such that their mental health suffered in comparison to that of their conservative peers whose hegemonic views were flourishing.

The progressive New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg took up the question and wrote a superb essay making the argument that teen mental health is not and must not become a partisan issue. She dismissed Gimbrone et al.’s explanation as having a poor fit with their own data: 

Barack Obama was re-elected in 2012. In 2013, the Supreme Court extended gay marriage rights. It was hard to draw a direct link between that period’s political events and teenage depression, which in 2012 started an increase that has continued, unabated, until today.

After examining the evidence, including the fact that the same trends happened at the same time in Britain, Canada, and Australia, Goldberg concluded that “Technology, not politics, was what changed in all these countries around 2012. That was the year that Facebook bought Instagram and the word “selfie” entered the popular lexicon.”

Journalist Matt Yglesias also took up the puzzle of why liberal girls became more depressed than others, and in a long and self-reflective Substack post, he described what he has learned about depression from his own struggles involving many kinds of treatment. Like Michelle Goldberg, he briefly considered the hypothesis that liberals are depressed because they’re the only ones who see that “we’re living in a late-stage capitalist hellscape during an ongoing deadly pandemic w record wealth inequality, 0 social safety net/job security, as climate change cooks the world,” to quote a tweet from the Washington Post tech columnist Taylor Lorenz. Yglesias agreed with Goldberg and other writers that the Lorenz explanation—reality makes Gen Z depressed—doesn’t fit the data, and, because of his knowledge of depression, he focused on the reverse path: depression makes reality look terrible. As he put it: “Mentally processing ambiguous events with a negative spin is just what depression is.”

Yglesias tells us what he has learned from years of therapy, which clearly involved CBT:

It’s important to reframe your emotional response as something that’s under your control: • Stop saying “so-and-so made me angry by doing X.” • Instead say “so-and-so did X, and I reacted by becoming angry.” And the question you then ask yourself is whether becoming angry made things better? Did it solve the problem? 

Yglesias wrote that “part of helping people get out of their trap is teaching them not to catastrophize.” He then described an essay by progressive journalist Jill Filipovic that argued, in Yglesias’s words, that “progressive institutional leaders have specifically taught young progressives that catastrophizing is a good way to get what they want.”

Yglesias quoted a passage from Filipovic that expressed exactly the concern that Greg had expressed to me back in 2014: 

I am increasingly convinced that there are tremendously negative long-term consequences, especially to young people, coming from this reliance on the language of harm and accusations that things one finds offensive are “deeply problematic” or even violent. Just about everything researchers understand about resilience and mental well-being suggests that people who feel like they are the chief architects of their own life — to mix metaphors, that they captain their own ship, not that they are simply being tossed around by an uncontrollable ocean — are vastly better off than people whose default position is victimization, hurt, and a sense that life simply happens to them and they have no control over their response. 

I have italicized Filipovic’s text about the benefits of feeling like you captain your own ship because it points to a psychological construct with a long history of research and measurement: Locus of control. As first laid out by Julian Rotter in the 1950s, this is a malleable personality trait referring to the fact that some people have an internal locus of control—they feel as if they have the power to choose a course of action and make it happen, while other people have an external locus of control—they have little sense of agency and they believe that strong forces or agents outside of themselves will determine what happens to them. Sixty years of research show that people with an internal locus of control are happier and achieve more. People with an external locus of control are more passive and more likely to become depressed.

How a Phone-Based Childhood Breeds Passivity

There are at least two ways to explain why liberal girls became depressed faster than other groups at the exact time (around 2012) when teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones and the girls joined Instagram en masse. The first and simplest explanation is that liberal girls simply used social media more than any other group. Jean Twenge’s forthcoming book, Generations, is full of amazing graphs and insightful explanations of generational differences. In her chapter on Gen Z, she shows that liberal teen girls are by far the most likely to report that they spend five or more hours a day on social media (31% in recent years, compared to 22% for conservative girls, 18% for liberal boys, and just 13% for conservative boys). Being an ultra-heavy user means that you have less time available for everything else, including time “in real life” with your friends. Twenge shows in another graph that from the 1970s through the early 2000s, liberal girls spent more time with friends than conservative girls. But after 2010 their time with friends drops so fast that by 2016 they are spending less time with friends than are conservative girls. So part of the story may be that social media took over the lives of liberal girls more than any other group, and it is now clear that heavy use of social media damages mental health, especially during early puberty. 

But I think there’s more going on here than the quantity of time on social media. Like Filipovic, Yglesias, Goldberg, and Lukianoff, I think there’s something about the messages liberal girls consume that is more damaging to mental health than those consumed by other groups. 

The Monitoring the Future dataset happens to have within it an 8-item Locus of Control scale. With Twenge’s permission, I reprint one such graph from Generations showing responses to one of the items: “Every time I try to get ahead, something or somebody stops me.” This item is a good proxy for Filipovic’s hypothesis about the disempowering effects of progressive institutions. If you agree with that item, you have a more external locus of control. As you can see in Figure 3, from the 1970s until the mid-2000s, boys were a bit more likely to agree with that item, but then girls rose to match boys, and then both sexes rose continuously throughout the 2010s—the era when teen social life became far more heavily phone-based. 

Figure 3. Percentage of boys and girls (high school seniors) who agree with (or are neutral about) the statement “Every time I try to get ahead, something or somebody stops me.” From Monitoring the Future, graphed by Jean Twenge in her forthcoming book Generations.

When the discussion of the gender-by-politics interaction broke out a few weeks ago, I thought back to Twenge’s graph and wondered what would happen if we broke up the sexes by politics. Would it give us the pattern in the Gimbrone et al. graphs, where the liberal girls rise first and most? Twenge sent me her data file (it’s a tricky one to assemble, across the many years), and Zach Rausch and I started looking for the interaction. We found some exciting hints, and I began writing this post on the assumption that we had a major discovery. For example, Figure 4 shows the item that Twenge analyzed. We see something like the Gimbrone et al. pattern in which it’s the liberal girls who depart from everyone else, in the unhealthy (external) direction, starting in the early 2000s. 

Figure 4. Percentage of liberal and conservative high school senior boys (left panel) and girls (right panel) who agree with the statement “Every time I try to get ahead, something or somebody stops me.” From Monitoring the Future, graphed by Zach Rausch.

It sure looks like the liberal girls are getting more external while the conservative girls are, if anything, trending slightly more internal in the last decade, and the boys are just bouncing around randomly. But that was just for this one item. We also found a similar pattern for a second item, “People like me don’t have much of a chance at a successful life.” (You can see graphs of all 8 items here.) 

We were excited to have found such clear evidence of the interaction, but when we plotted responses to the whole scale, we found only a hint of the predicted interaction, and only in the last few years, as you can see in Figure 5. After trying a few different graphing strategies, and after seeing if there was a good statistical justification for dropping any items, we reached the tentative conclusion that the big story about locus of control is not about liberal girls, it’s about Gen Z as a whole. Everyone—boys and girls, left and right—developed a more external locus of control gradually, beginning in the 1990s. I’ll come back to this finding in future posts as I explore the second strand of the After Babel Substack: the loss of “play-based childhood” which happened in the 1990s when American parents (and British, and Canadian) stopped letting their children out to play and explore, unsupervised. (See Frank Furedi’s important book Paranoid Parenting. I believe that the loss of free play and self-supervised risk-taking blocked the development of a healthy, normal, internal locus of control. That is the reason I teamed up with Lenore Skenazy, Peter Gray, and Daniel Shuchman to found LetGrow.org.) 

Figure 5. Locus of Control has shifted slightly but steadily toward external since the 1990s. Scores are on a 5-point scale from 1 = most internal to 5 = most external. 

We kept looking in the Monitoring the Future dataset and the Gimbrone et al. paper for other items that would allow us to test Filipovic’s hypothesis. We found an ideal second set of variables: The Monitoring the Future dataset has a set of items on “self derogation” which is closely related to disempowerment, as you can see from the four statements that comprise the scale:

I feel I do not have much to be proud of. Sometimes I think I am no good at all. I feel that I can't do anything right. I feel that my life is not very useful.

Gimbrone et al. had graphed the self-derogation scale, as you can see in their appendix (Figure  A.4). But Zach and I re-graphed the original data so that we could show a larger range of years, from 1977 through 2021. As you can see in Figure 6, we find the gender-by-politics interaction. Once again, and as with nearly all of the mental health indicators I examined in a previous post, there’s no sign of trouble before 2010. But right around 2012 the line for liberal girls starts to rise. It rises first, and it rises most, with liberal boys not far behind (as in Gimbrone et al.).

Figure 6. Self-derogation scale, averaging four items from the Monitoring the Future study. Graphed by Zach Rausch. The scale runs from 1 (strongly disagree with each statement) to 5 (strongly agree). 

In other words, we have support for Filipovic’s “captain their own ship” concern, and for Lukianoff’s disempowerment concern: Gen Z has become more external in its locus of control, and Gen Z liberals (of both sexes) have become more self-derogating. They are more likely to agree that they “can’t do anything right.” Furthermore, most of the young people in the progressive institutions that Filipovic mentioned are women, and that has become even more true since 2014 when, according to Gallup data, young women began to move to the left while young men did not move either way. As Gen Z women became more progressive and more involved in political activism in the 2010s, it seems to have changed them psychologically. It wasn’t just that their locus of control shifted toward external—that happened to all subsets of Gen Z.  Rather, young liberals (including young men) seem to have taken into themselves the specific depressive cognitions and distorted ways of thinking that CBT is designed to expunge.

But where did they learn to think this way? And why did it start so suddenly around 2012 or 2013, as Greg observed, and as Figures 2 and 6 confirm?

Tumblr Was the Petri Dish for Disempowering Beliefs

I recently listened to a brilliant podcast series, The Witch Trials of J. K. Rowling, hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper, created within Bari Weiss’s Free Press. Phelps-Roper interviews Rowling about her difficult years developing the Harry Potter stories in the early 1990s, before the internet; her rollout of the books in the late 90s and early 2000s, during the early years of the internet; and her observations about the Harry Potter superfan communities that the internet fostered. These groups had streaks of cruelty and exclusion in them from the beginning, along with a great deal of love, joy, and community. But in the stunning third episode, Phelps-Roper and Rowling take us through the dizzying events of the early 2010s as the social media site Tumblr exploded in popularity (reaching its peak in early 2014), and also in viciousness. Tumblr was different from Facebook and other sites because it was not based on anyone’s social network; it brought together people from anywhere in the world who shared an interest, and often an obsession.

Phelps-Roper interviewed several experts who all pointed to Tumblr as the main petri dish in which nascent ideas of identity, fragility, language, harm, and victimhood evolved and intermixed. Angela Nagle (author of Kill All Normies) described the culture that emerged among young activists on Tumblr, especially around gender identity, in this way:

There was a culture that was encouraged on Tumblr, which was to be able to describe your unique non-normative self… And that’s to some extent a feature of modern society anyway. But it was taken to such an extreme that people began to describe this as the snowflake [referring to the idea that each snowflake is unique], the person who constructs a totally kind of boutique identity for themselves, and then guards that identity in a very, very sensitive way and reacts in an enraged way when anyone does not respect the uniqueness of their identity. 

Nagle described how on the other side of the political spectrum, there was “the most insensitive culture imaginable, which was the culture of 4chan.” The communities involved in gender activism on Tumblr were mostly young progressive women while 4Chan was mostly used by right-leaning young men, so there was an increasingly gendered nature to the online conflict. The two communities supercharged each other with their mutual hatred, as often happens in a culture war. The young identity activists on Tumblr embraced their new notions of identity, fragility, and trauma all the more tightly, increasingly saying that words are a form of violence, while the young men on 4chan moved in the opposite direction: they brandished a rough and rude masculinity in which status was gained by using words more insensitively than the next guy. It was out of this reciprocal dynamic, the experts on the podcast suggest, that today’s cancel culture was born in the early 2010s. Then, in 2013, it escaped from Tumblr into the much larger Twitterverse. Once on Twitter, it went national and even global (at least within the English-speaking countries), producing the mess we all live with today.

I don’t want to tell that entire story here; please listen to the Witch Trials podcast for yourself. It is among the most enlightening things I’ve read or heard in all my years studying the American culture war (along with Jon Ronson’s podcast Things Fell Apart). I just want to note that this story fits perfectly with both the timing and the psychology of Greg’s reverse CBT hypothesis. 

Implications and Policy Changes

In conclusion, I believe that Greg Lukianoff was exactly right in the diagnosis he shared with me in 2014. Many young people had suddenly—around 2013—embraced three great untruths:

They came to believe that they were fragile and would be harmed by books, speakers, and words, which they learned were forms of violence (Great Untruth #1). 

They came to believe that their emotions—especially their anxieties—were reliable guides to reality (Great Untruth #2).

They came to see society as comprised of victims and oppressors—good people and bad people (Great Untruth #3).

Liberals embraced these beliefs more than conservatives. Young liberal women adopted them more than any other group due to their heavier use of social media and their participation in online communities that developed new disempowering ideas. These cognitive distortions then caused them to become more anxious and depressed than other groups. Just as Greg had feared, many universities and progressive institutions embraced these three untruths and implemented programs that performed reverse CBT on young people, in violation of their duty to care for them and educate them. 

I welcome challenges to this conclusion from scholars, journalists, and subscribers, and I will address such challenges in future posts. I must also repeat that I don’t blame everything on smartphones and social media; the other strand of my story is the loss of play-based childhood, with its free play and self-governed risk-taking. But if this conclusion stands (along with my conclusions in previous posts), then I think there are two big policy changes that should be implemented as soon as possible: 

1) Universities and other schools should stop performing reverse CBT on their students

As Greg and I showed in The Coddling of the American Mind, most of the programs put in place after the campus protests of 2015 are based on one or more of the three Great Untruths, and these programs have been imported into many K-12 schools. From mandatory diversity training to bias response teams and trigger warnings, there is little evidence that these programs do what they say they do, and there are some findings that they backfire. In any case, there are reasons, as I have shown, to worry that they teach children and adolescents to embrace harmful, depressogenic cognitive distortions.

One initiative that has become popular in the last few years is particularly suspect: efforts to tell college students to avoid common English words and phrases that are said to be “harmful.” Brandeis University took the lead in 2021 with its “oppressive language list.” Brandeis urged its students to stop saying that they would “take a stab at” something because it was unnecessarily violent. For the same reason, they urged that nobody ask for a “trigger warning” because, well, guns. Students should ask for “content warnings” instead, to keep themselves safe from violent words like “stab.” Many universities have followed suit, including Colorado State University, The University of British Columbia, The University of Washington, and Stanford, which eventually withdrew its “harmful language list” because of the adverse publicity. Stanford had urged students to avoid words like “American,” “Immigrant,” and “submit,” as in “submit your homework.” Why? because the word “submit” can “imply allowing others to have power over you.” The irony here is that it may be these very programs that are causing liberal students to feel disempowered, as if they are floating in a sea of harmful words and people when, in reality, they are living in some of the most welcoming and safe environments ever created.

2) The US Congress should raise the age of “internet adulthood” from 13 to 16 or 18

What do you think should be the minimum age at which children can sign a legally binding contract to give away their data and their rights,  and expose themselves to harmful content, without the consent or knowledge of their parents? I asked that question as a Twitter poll, and you can see the results here:

Image: See my original tweet.

Of course, this poll of my own Twitter followers is far from a valid survey, and I phrased my question in a leading way, but my phrasing was an accurate statement of today’s status quo. I think that most people now understand that the age of 13, which was set back in 1998 when we didn’t know what the internet would become, is just too low, and it is not even enforced. When my kids started 6th grade in NYC public schools, they each told me that “everyone” was on Instagram.

We are now 11 years into the largest epidemic of adolescent mental illness ever recorded. I know so many families that have been thrown into fear and turmoil by a child’s suicide attempt. You probably do too, given that the recent CDC report tells us that one in ten adolescents now say they have made an attempt to kill themselves. It is hitting all political and demographic groups. The evidence is abundant that social media is a major cause of the epidemic, and perhaps the major cause. It's time we started treating social media and other apps designed for “engagement” (i.e., addiction) like alcohol, tobacco, and gambling, or, because they can harm society as well as their users, perhaps like automobiles and firearms. Adults should have wide latitude to make their own choices, but legislators and governors who care about mental health, women’s health, or children’s health need to step up.

It’s not enough to find more money for mental health services, although that is sorely needed. In addition, we must shut down the conveyer belt so that today’s toddlers will not suffer the same fate in twelve years. Congress should set a reasonable minimum age for minors to sign contracts and open accounts without explicit parental consent, and the age needs to be after teens have progressed most of the way through puberty. (The harm caused by social media seems to be greatest during puberty.) If Congress won’t do it then state legislatures should act. There are many ways to rapidly verify people’s ages online, and I’ll discuss age verification processes in a future post. 

In conclusion: All of Gen Z got more anxious and depressed after 2012. But Lukianoff’s reverse CBT hypothesis is the best explanation I have found for Why the mental health of liberal girls sank first and fastest.

[im-an-anthusiast]

Rant about your favorite insects and why you like them

Tag someone so I can invade their ask box

@strwbrryluvsick might like an ask!

I typed out. Paragraphs unto paragraphs unto paragraps. And it got deleted. Hsisbsjdbs so much pain

For the sake of my mental health I'll keep to a handful of bullet points, if that's fine!!

Ants

Dracula ants

- often nearly or completely blind

- endemic to Madagascar

- fastest recorded movement in the animal kingdom!! At 90 meters per second/200mph, which they reach in just 0.00015 seconds!

- they don't eat any food! They hunt and feed their larvae and pupae, whose blood (haemolymph) they then drink

Trapjaw ants (my absolute favs)

- they look like they have a beartrap on their face!! :3

- this jaw, when triggered by a super sensitive hair on their face, snaps shut at 63 meters per second, 170-ish mph - second fastest movement in the animal kingdom

- they can use their jaw against heavier objects/surfaces as to launch themselves!! Leap large distances and such!!

- in the same way, their jaws also act as catapults! They can shoot intruders out of their nests!!

- their larvae are spiked, stick to walls, and are very active and agressive

Wasps

Mud dauber

- they're very pretty! Look at em!! So dainty

- build their nests out of mud and dirt

- and since they are parasitic wasps... they paralyse their prey and drag it into their nest. Where they then lay their eggs inside of the nest or inside of the paralysed but still alive prey, and then sealing the nest closed

- reported/speculated to have caused mutliple deadly airplane accidents

Tarantula hawks

- look at that colour scheme! Beautiful!!

- also a parasitic wasp. But their prey are tarantulas.

- in Fallout New Vegas. One of the multiple reasons I got into insects. They're traumatising in that game, though.

- one of the most painful stings of any insect, descibed as "Blinding, fierce and shockingly electric"

Velvet ant (aka cowkiller)

- doesn't have the venom to kill a cow. Obviously. (venom less toxic than that of honeybees.) But the sting is so painful that people thought that it was. Which is super cool and funny

- also dubbed 'the indestructible insect' due to their plethora of defense mechanisms (venomous sting, aposematic colouring (<- warning bright colours), stridulatory organ (<-making sounds (squeaks)), alarm secretion, tough and durable exoskeleton)

- most of simulated conflicts with natural predators resulted in survival of the ant and avoidance by predator (while some are stated to allegedly have killed their natural predator)

- mate in the air. Aren't winged. The males just kinda... taxi them up there

Polyneoptera

Angel insects

- even just the name???

- translucent, cute, small little things

- usually completely blind and flightless, when faced with an unfavourable environment or situation, they produce offspring with fully functioning eyes and wings as to disperse and produce new colonies, where future generations will be also wingless

- (similar to ants a little) (in that point above) (but the spontaneity of if is so cool and unique)

Webspinners

- so cute

- they spin the finest/thinnest silk of any animal! At around 65 nanometers in diameter, if is also waterproof! And, while insects have only 1 silk gland (,if they even have one), they have 300 of em!!

- their nests are called Galleries. Need I say more?

- also their males can't consume food can fly and die quickly. Kinda cool

Ice crawlers

- extremophile.

- like. Extremely.

- preferred temperature of 1 to 4 degrees celsius. More than 5 degrees higher? Death. Too much lower? Death (by ice forming inside their bodies)

- they live on glaciers and stuff!!!

I had an honourable mentions section typed out but it got deleted (again) so much pain. At least the rest of the answer stayed tho

Anyway! Thanks for the ask!!!

[dirtyoldmanhole]

assorted grab bag of gunter/corrin headcanons (vaguely yrmr/rev based) that i've been rotating in my mind for.... a while.

occasionally even after the events of revelation, corrin gets overstimulated over the day or has bad dreams that wake her; he still rocks her tenderly just as he did as a child, or holds her until she stops shivering. he sometimes has endearingly paternal gestures like kissing her on her forehead as well as the above; they never think anything strange about it, as it just is.

likewise to her quiet dismay after sleeping with him a few times, corrin realizes he still suffers from occasional night terrors, occasionally mumbling or thrashing enough to throw out limbs. accidentally whacks her a few times before she figures out the warning signs when he fidgets around and knows how to soothe him (gunter spooning her does wonders). gradually, these get less severe.

interestingly, he initiates (sexually) more in the night, being slightly more inhibited and usually looking for a pleasant distraction from insomnia that never goes away; she initiates more in the daytime.

while they're the opposite of demonstrative in public (being conscious of everyone's thoughts towards their relationship) - there's an undeniable frission between them at times (a subtle knowing look as an order, or a throwaway sir); they'd never pass for vanilla especially to the likes of niles.

in public, she leads. in private, he does. there's never a specific conversation where they explicitly talk about their type of dynamic, although they do get steadily more adventurous as time goes on. theirs is the happy long marriage where the sex only gets better.

gunter tries to spar with corrin once like old times, after the events of Revelation. they both realize that's a terrible mistake when she essentially has a panic flashback of them fighting (when he was possessed), and almost goes to pieces in his arms. he misses their sparring afterwards, a little, but never presses about that again to his dying day.

one of their mutual favorite quiet things to do is corrin massaging his more arthritic joints, particularly knees and ankles which sometimes get slightly swollen if he's on them for too long, and become more of an issue as he ages. gunter's embarrassed/guilty of the assistance, let alone wanting the touch, but they work it into part of their service (and teaching) based love language - eventually he's often raspily reading various reports to her (with his commentary, to corrin's delight) as she's leaning between his thighs.

yrmr-wise, he ages slightly slower than he would normally, given corrin's actions in the story (i'd say he gets ~40 more years of stable good health, versus ~15-20 at best naturally), though with the stroke he's never quite back to peak health like before, which chafes at him. they don't have true fights, but if there's points of brief contention it's usually his pride and getting stubborn about doing something he used to be able to do. (corrin learns the fastest way to sweet talk him is after they've been in bed for a bit, naturally)

[sarkariresultdude]

Engineering Recruitment Results: A Comprehensive Report

 Recruitment for engineering roles is a vital interest that guarantees the organization's technical competencies align with its strategic goals. This file analyzes the effects of a recent engineering recruitment marketing campaign, detailing the tactics, key metrics, observations, and strategic guidelines for development.

Engineering Recruitment Results

Overview of the Recruitment Process

The recruitment marketing campaign spanned 3 months, from [Insert Start Date] to [Insert End Date], focused on key engineering roles consisting of software program engineers, mechanical engineers, and structures engineers. The intention changed to fill 15 open positions to aid ongoing and new tasks in innovation, product development, and operational performance.

Stages of Recruitment

The recruitment technique is divided into six key tiers:

Needs Assessment: Identification of competencies gaps and introduction of unique activity descriptions.

Sourcing: Utilizing various channels together with online activity boards, company websites, referrals, and recruitment agencies.

Screening: Initial evaluation of 820 programs based totally on qualifications, experience, and talents.

Interviews: Conducting technical, behavioral, and cultural healthy checks.

Offer Negotiations: Aligning candidate expectations with organizational budgets and benefits.

Onboarding: Seamlessly integrating selected applicants into their respective teams.

Key Metrics and Results

The recruitment pressure noticed fantastic successes and demanding situations, summarized inside the following metrics:

Applications Received: 820

Relevant Applications: 480 (fifty eight.Five%)

Non-Relevant Applications: 340 (forty one.5%)

Screening and Shortlisting:

Candidates Shortlisted for Interviews: a hundred and fifty (31% of applicable applications)

Average Time to Screen an Application: 2 days in step with utility.

Interviews Conducted:

Technical Interviews: 95

Behavioral Interviews: eighty (a few candidates required more than one round)

Final Round Interviews: forty

Offer Conversion Rate:

Offers Extended: 20

Offers Accepted: 15 (75% acceptance rate)

Diversity Metrics:

Female Applicants: 25% of overall packages

Female Hires: 6 out of 15 (forty%)

Time-to-Hire:

Average Time-to-Hire: forty-five days in line with the role

Fastest Time-to-Hire: 25 days

Longest Time-to-Hire: 60 days

Cost of Recruitment:

Total Recruitment Cost: $60,000

Average Cost per Hire: $4,000

Insights and Observations

The recruitment process discovered several insights that could tell destiny strategies:

Talent Pool Quality:

While the entire range of programs became robust, approximately 42% of the candidates had been now not a good health. This suggests a need to refine task postings and improve focus on strategies.

Candidate Engagement:

A majority of candidates expressed high-quality feedback about the enterprise’s set-off verbal exchange and based interviews. However, 10% referred to delays in remarks, impacting their notion of the hiring manner.

Diversity Efforts:

Diversity outcomes have been higher than anticipated, with women representing forty% of hires. However, the percentage of women making use of for roles remains lower than preferred, highlighting the want for targeted outreach.

Technical Assessment:

Technical interviews efficaciously identified excessive-ability candidates but had been time-intensive. The average length of every technical interview turned into 90 minutes, adding to the overall time-to-hire.

Competitive Market:

Several candidates declined due to higher repayment packages from competitors. This emphasizes the want to re-examine income benchmarks and beautify non-financial advantages.

Onboarding Success:

The onboarding process was smooth, with new hires rating it a mean of 8.5/10 in a feedback survey. Early integration sports like mentorship assignments had been especially appreciated.

Challenges Faced

High Dropout Rates During Negotiations:

Five applicants were rejected throughout the negotiation phase, citing discrepancies in salary expectancies instead of offers made.

Prolonged Time-to-Hire:

Although the time-to-lease turned into inside industry requirements, delays passed off due to scheduling conflicts and extended background verification processes.

Limited Reach of Job Postings:

Despite leveraging multiple channels, certain niche roles like systems engineering had lower-than-expected applicant volumes.

Skills Gaps Among Applicants:

Many candidates lacked the specialized abilities required, especially in rising technologies such as AI, IoT, and renewable energy structures.

Strategic Recommendations

Enhance Job Descriptions and Posting Strategies:

Use statistics-pushed insights to craft precise job descriptions.

Partner with an area of interest process forums and enterprise institutions to reach specialized skills.

Leverage Technology in Screening:

Adopt AI-powered applicant tracking systems (ATS) to automate initial screening and prioritize excessive-capability applicants.

Improve Compensation Packages:

Conduct market benchmarking to ensure aggressive salaries are maintained.

Highlight non-economic blessings like bendy working alternatives and professional improvement packages.

Foster Diversity:

Partner with universities and companies promoting women in STEM.

Develop mentorship packages for underrepresented agencies.

Streamline Interview Processes:

Introduce pre-interview technical checks to lessen the wide variety of rounds.

Train interviewers to make approaches more green and candidate-friendly.

Reduce Time-to-Hire:

Optimize historical past tests by partnering with reliable verification groups.

Use online scheduling gear to decrease interview delays.

Strengthen Employer Branding:

Showcase the corporation’s culture, innovation, and career increase possibilities on social media and professional networks.

Share success stories of present-day personnel to inspire capacity applicants.

[celebrity-styleinfluence]

A RISING GLOBAL ADVOCATE FOR HUMANITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Ambassador Sean Bardoo the Human Rights Ambassador for HRH Queen Maria Amor also known as the "Traveling Queen of the World," has emerged as one of the fastest-rising public figures, combining celebrity influence with a powerful global commitment to humanitarian efforts. His dedication to humanity is not only evident in his personal life but also in his public service work, which spans multiple continents and numerous causes.

Ambassador Sean Bardoo

Ambassador Sean has made it his mission to help countries and communities across the globe, that are in critical need of assistance with a special focus on vulnerable populations, such as orphans in Uganda, Africa and other areas of the world like Malawi, Guyana, & Dominican Republic.  

In addition, he is also a human & sex trafficking expert and works tirelessly to end modern day slavery through education, policy and human rights advocacy break the chains to freedom of torture, abuse & exploitation of humans.  He has spoken and presented at several forums globally such as at the Makerere University, Northeastern University & the American Bar Association International Law- Comparative International Responses to Combatting the Crime of Human Trafficking.

His efforts have brought about real change, as he spearheads impactful projects, such as building libraries across the world.  Where that includes a significant book drive initiative for education in the country of Cameroon. Leveraging his personal influence, he has collected thousands of books that will be shipped to a bilingual school in Cameroon, providing access to education and knowledge in a region where resources are often limited.

Ambassador Sean Bardoo Visits Uganda

Teenage Mother's Project Uganda

His humanitarian work doesn’t stop  there. Ambassador Bardoo has also  launched a “Laptop Project for Humanity” in collaboration with the We Care For Humanity (WCH) in Uganda and Kenya. This initiative donates computers to assist students in underdeveloped areas, giving them the tools to improve their education and future prospects. His efforts have already made a significant difference in the lives of many, as these projects bridge gaps in access to technology and learning.

Ranked among the world’s most admired public figures—alongside the likes of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle—Ambassador Bardoo joins a growing list of influential humanitarians making a global impact. Similar to the efforts of Malala Yousafzai, who advocates for girls’ education globally, and climate activist Greta Thunberg, Bardoo’s work transcends borders, embodying a shared vision of global progress and human rights advocacy.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

His actions resonate with those of world leaders like former U.S. President Bill Clinton, whose Clinton Foundation has championed global health initiatives, and Oprah Winfrey, whose philanthropy continues to support education and leadership development across the world.

42nd U.S. President Bill Clinton

Ambassador Bardoo has even taken his advocacy to the United Nations, supporting the global development of essential needs for humanity. His legal training and status as a fashion icon further enrich his contributions, allowing him to inspire others through both his professional and philanthropic endeavors.

For Ambassador Bardoo, humanity is not just a career—it is a calling. He believes that material possessions hold little value after death, but love, compassion, and kindness toward others are the lasting legacies that transcend life. His philosophy of serving mankind with heart and purpose is a message that continues to resonate around the world.

Written By:  Mohammad Razza - Reporter of Dubai Royal News

[head-post]

Turkey, China, India have fastest 10-year climbing economies, WIPO says

Switzerland, Sweden, the US, Singapore and the UK are the world’s most innovative economies, while China, Turkey, India, Vietnam and the Philippines are the fastest “decadal climbers,” the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) said on Thursday.

Daren Tang, the group’s head, told reporters at an online press conference that its Global Innovation Index 2024 “shows a softening in venture capital activity, R&D financing and other investment indicators.” Tang said:

“In 2023, we saw a decline in R&D expenditures, a reduction in scientific publications, and a scaling back of venture capital investments to pre-pandemic levels. However, technological progress remained strong in 2023, particularly in health-related fields like genome sequencing, as well as in computing power and electric batteries.”

On Turkey, the report said it “continues to make progress, climbing two places” in the innovation index. It also added:

“It also takes the 3rd position among the upper middle-income group. Türkiye stands out in various areas: it ranks 1st globally in trademarks and industrial designs, and 9th in intangible asset intensity – all showing an improvement this year.”

The 17th edition of the index, according to WIPO, is a global benchmarking resource that reflects global innovation trends and guides governments, business leaders and other organisations in unleashing human ingenuity to improve lives and tackle challenges such as climate change.

According to the organisation, the 2024 index shows a significant softening of leading indicators of future innovation activity, including a pullback from the explosive growth in innovation investment between 2020 and 2022.

There is a rise in interest rates, a fall in venture capital funding of around 40 per cent in 2023, lower growth in research and development spending, and a fall in international patent applications and scientific publications.

Read more HERE

[beardedmrbean]

Threads, Meta's new social media app, has signed up 100 million new users less than a week since its launch last Wednesday, making it the fastest-growing app in history.

Like other social media apps, users probably barely scanned − or skipped − the terms and conditions for what information Threads can collect, share and sell about them.

Meta probably already had a lot of information about users because Threads is built upon its Instagram platform.

Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

So how much does Threads already know about you, and what can it do with that data? Here are a few reasons to be concerned about your privacy.

What information does Threads collect?

Social media platforms monetize user data by selling relevant ads based on your location and activity, but, along with the usual app privacy requests like browsing history and location data, Threads also asks for financial information, health and fitness data, diagnostics and a nefarious-sounding "sensitive info."

Many users have voiced concern over Threads for its 14-point list of data permissions you're granting Meta to use the app. Twitter, by comparison, has 10 of these.

"I would say it's at the outer boundaries of what's usually expected, which is to be expected from its connection to Facebook, a brand long known for being especially hungry to take in user data and commercialize it in different ways," says Dan Ackerman, the new editor-in-chief at Gizmodo, a leading technology, science and culture news publication.

Android users can toggle off some of the data requests from the app, while the Apple App Store is "more take-it-or-leave it," Ackerman said.

"It also doesn't help that there's no browser-based fully functional version of Threads right now, and so you have to use the app version," he said.

Meta declined my request for comment and clarification.

Is Threads data collection worse than Twitter?

It's not necessarily malicious, suggests Tim Bajarin, a veteran technology analyst and Chairman of the San Jose, California-based market research firm Creative Strategies. "Users should know this Threads data list is pulled directly from Instagram, and it's all tied to their advertising engine when they start to monetize Threads.  

"When you sign off on financial info, for example, they're not looking at your bank statements or anything," Bajarin said.

Rather, Threads collects what you're posting about and liking, where you are, and whether you bought something through a third-party site, app or game you logged into using your connected Facebook/Instagram ID (usually to avoid creating a new password altogether).

Bajarin said users are granting Meta access for future advertising.

"Meta isn't giving you a free app out of the goodness of their heart − they're there to make money, which is mostly from advertising."

Threads can collect and save this information, and the data can also be shared with third-party services that connect to your Threads profile.

Can you deactivate Threads?

Yes, but you cannot delete it without also deleting Instagram, Bajarin said.

"Meta built (Threads) on the Instagram infrastructure, on top of the program itself, and so it would be very difficult to uninstall one and not both – at least the way it's engineered today. ... They could eventually be spun out to be completely separate apps," Bajarin said.

To deactivate (but not delete) your Threads account, Adam Mosseri − the Instagram boss who now spearheads the Threads app – says you can choose to hide your Threads profile and content, delete individual Threads posts and set your profile to private, as reported by USA TODAY contributor Jennifer Jolly.

"Threads is powered by Instagram, so right now it's just one account, but we're looking into a way to delete your Threads account separately,” he posted.

Ackerman said the fact Threads is built on Instagram is actually a boon for Meta and users, "as it's especially easy to sign up for, has no wait list, and is simple to use." But "in order to delete your Threads account after you sign up, you’ll need to delete your Instagram account, as well, which reminds me of the difficulty people had deleting their Facebook accounts in the past, and how there was a lot of fine print about what data Facebook would keep unless you jumped through extra hoops."

Is the Threads app safe?

Threads is asking for more permissions than Twitter, so it boils down to your comfort level.

Though some of the privacy permissions seem ludicrous – granting Threads access to health and activity data and other "sensitive info" on a smartphone just seems wrong – no one is forcing users to install and use Threads or any other social media app that monetizes its free platform by delivering personalized, contextual ads to you.

Threads is available in more than 100 countries, but perhaps it's no surprise it isn't available in the Europe Union just yet: Meta was forced to pay more than $400 million by EU regulators for forcing users to accept targeted ads.

Personally, I am using and enjoying Threads quite a bit but wish there was more clarity about how my data is collected and used. And I'm disappointed Meta declined to clarify things.

I select "Ask not to track" on all iPhone apps to reduce an app's visibility into my web browsing activity, and I have a virtual private network (VPN) on my computer for extra privacy, but perhaps it's true there is nothing truly free in this world – it's just up to each person to decide whether the cost is worth it.

[market-insider]

How the Plant-based Milk Market is Growing Worldwide: A Sustainable Alternatives

The global plant-based milk market size is estimated to reach USD 32.35 billion in 2030 and expand at a CAGR of 7.6% from 2024 to 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The growth of the plant-based milk market is primarily driven by shifting consumer preferences towards healthier dietary choices and increasing awareness of lactose intolerance and dairy allergies. Consumers are increasingly opting for plant-based alternatives such as almond, soy, oat, coconut, and others, which offer nutritional benefits including vitamins, minerals, and proteins, without compromising on taste.

The growing adoption of vegan and flexitarian lifestyles worldwide has significantly expanded the consumer base for plant-based milk products. These dietary choices are driven by ethical considerations, environmental sustainability concerns, and perceived health benefits associated with reduced consumption of animal products is further expected to drive the market for plant-based milk during the forecast period.

The availability and convenience of plant-based milks have significantly improved, contributing to market growth. Major retailers and supermarkets now stock a wide range of plant-based milks, making them easily accessible to consumers. Online grocery platforms have also expanded their plant-based milk offerings, allowing consumers to conveniently purchase their preferred products from the comfort of their homes. This factor is further expected to drive the market for plant-based milk during the forecast period.

The plant-based milk market has seen significant expansion beyond North America and Europe, reaching new markets in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. In Asia, where lactose intolerance is prevalent, plant-based milks are gaining popularity as a suitable alternative to dairy. In Latin America, the growing middle class and increasing awareness of health and environmental issues are driving demand for plant-based milks.

Manufacturers in the plant-based milk market are investing in research and development to innovate and expand their product portfolios. This includes the introduction of new plant sources such as almond, soy, oat, coconut, and others, as well as fortified variants enriched with vitamins, minerals, and protein. Innovations in flavor profiles and packaging formats cater to diverse consumer preferences and convenience.

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Plant-based Milk Market Report Highlights

Asia Pacific is expected to grow with the fastest CAGR of 8.2% over the forecast period from 2024 to 2030. The rise of vegetarianism and veganism, driven by concerns about animal cruelty, supports the demand for plant-based milks.

Based on product, the oat milk is expected to grow with the fastest CAGR of 9.4% over the forecast period. Oat milk is rich in dietary fiber, particularly beta-glucan, which has been shown to help lower cholesterol levels. Additionally, oat milk often contains higher levels of protein compared to other plant-based milks, making it a nutritious option for consumers.

Based on nature, organic plant-based milk is expected to growth with the fastest CAGR of 11.5% from 2024 to 2030. Organic plant-based milks are free from synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which appeals to health-conscious consumers.

Based on distribution channel, sales of plant-based milk proudcts through hypermarkets & supermarkets accounted for the largest share in the plant-based milk market in 2023. These retail outlets offer a wide variety of plant-based milk products, including different brands, types, and flavors. The extensive product range allows consumers to compare and choose according to their preferences, driving sales through this channel.

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We have segmented the global plant-based milk market based on product, nature, flavor, distribution channel, and region.