#RIP Bird Person

[prittiswaggy-co]

Made this at 3am *frog blink*

Tessa neglecting her own needs to work on drones but J is here :3

[halorvic]

The danger is clear and present: COVID isn’t merely a respiratory illness; it’s a multi-dimensional threat impacting brain function, attacking almost all of the body’s organs, producing elevated risks of all kinds, and weakening our ability to fight off other diseases. Reinfections are thought to produce cumulative risks, and Long COVID is on the rise. Unfortunately, Long COVID is now being considered a long-term chronic illness — something many people will never fully recover from. Dr. Phillip Alvelda, a former program manager in DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office that pioneered the synthetic biology industry and the development of mRNA vaccine technology, is the founder of Medio Labs, a COVID diagnostic testing company. He has stepped forward as a strong critic of government COVID management, accusing health agencies of inadequacy and even deception. Alvelda is pushing for accountability and immediate action to tackle Long COVID and fend off future pandemics with stronger public health strategies. Contrary to public belief, he warns, COVID is not like the flu. New variants evolve much faster, making annual shots inadequate. He believes that if things continue as they are, with new COVID variants emerging and reinfections happening rapidly, the majority of Americans may eventually grapple with some form of Long COVID. Let’s repeat that: At the current rate of infection, most Americans may get Long COVID.

[...]

LP: A recent JAMA study found that US adults with Long COVID are more prone to depression and anxiety – and they’re struggling to afford treatment. Given the virus’s impact on the brain, I guess the link to mental health issues isn’t surprising. PA: There are all kinds of weird things going on that could be related to COVID’s cognitive effects. I’ll give you an example. We’ve noticed since the start of the pandemic that accidents are increasing. A report published by TRIP, a transportation research nonprofit, found that traffic fatalities in California increased by 22% from 2019 to 2022. They also found the likelihood of being killed in a traffic crash increased by 28% over that period. Other data, like studies from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, came to similar conclusions, reporting that traffic fatalities hit a 16-year high across the country in 2021. The TRIP report also looked at traffic fatalities on a national level and found that traffic fatalities increased by 19%. LP: What role might COVID play? PA: Research points to the various ways COVID attacks the brain. Some people who have been infected have suffered motor control damage, and that could be a factor in car crashes. News is beginning to emerge about other ways COVID impacts driving. For example, in Ireland, a driver’s COVID-related brain fog was linked to a crash that killed an elderly couple. Damage from COVID could be affecting people who are flying our planes, too. We’ve had pilots that had to quit because they couldn’t control the airplanes anymore. We know that medical events among U.S. military pilots were shown to have risen over 1,700% from 2019 to 2022, which the Pentagon attributes to the virus.

[...]

LP: You’ve criticized the track record of the CDC and the WHO – particularly their stubborn denial that COVID is airborne. PA: They knew the dangers of airborne transmission but refused to admit it for too long. They were warned repeatedly by scientists who studied aerosols. They instituted protections for themselves and for their kids against airborne transmission, but they didn’t tell the rest of us to do that.

[...]

LP: How would you grade Biden on how he’s handled the pandemic? PA: I’d give him an F. In some ways, he fails worse than Trump because more people have actually died from COVID on his watch than on Trump’s, though blame has to be shared with Republican governors and legislators who picked ideological fights opposing things like responsible masking, testing, vaccination, and ventilation improvements for partisan reasons. Biden’s administration has continued to promote the false idea that the vaccine is all that is needed, perpetuating the notion that the pandemic is over and you don’t need to do anything about it. Biden stopped the funding for surveillance and he stopped the funding for renewing vaccine advancement research. Trump allowed 400,000 people to die unnecessarily. The Biden administration policies have allowed more than 800,000 to 900,000 and counting.

[...]

LP: The situation with bird flu is certainly getting more concerning with the CDC confirming that a third person in the U.S. has tested positive after being exposed to infected cows. PA: Unfortunately, we’re repeating many of the same mistakes because we now know that the bird flu has made the jump to several species. The most important one now, of course, is the dairy cows. The dairy farmers have been refusing to let the government come in and inspect and test the cows. A team from Ohio State tested milk from a supermarket and found that 50% of the milk they tested was positive for bird flu viral particles.

[...]

PA: There’s a serious risk now in allowing the virus to freely evolve within the cow population. Each cow acts as a breeding ground for countless genetic mutations, potentially leading to strains capable of jumping to other species. If any of those countless genetic experiments within each cow prove successful in developing a strain transmissible to humans, we could face another pandemic – only this one could have a 58% death rate. Did you see the movie “Contagion?” It was remarkably accurate in its apocalyptic nature. And that virus only had a 20% death rate. If the bird flu makes the jump to human-to-human transition with even half of its current lethality, that would be disastrous.

[muckyschmuck]

whiplash

[birdadayblog]

Yellow-throated Vireo!

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

wait fe birds of prey has con stats?

yup. also your early game mage has the highest personal con in the game lmao

[goodbyeapathy8]

I ordered Korean mu and received a monster instead.

Normally, mu is the length of a banana and the thickness of an orange. Grapefruit if it's a large one.

Weeeee! groceries sent me a BABY SIZED MU.

Oh you think I'm exaggerating? Good thing I took pics for evidence, with references.

Monster Mu is bigger than my face.

Monster Mu is thicker than my thighs (laughcry let's not comment on that)

Monster Mu is bigger than Mignon (a friend told me it looks photoshopped but I promise you, my poor hand and arm was trembling as I had to support the Mu Child with only one hand whilst I took the picture)

Although Moko looks bigger, it's his poofy fur and I'm pretty sure Monster Mu is bigger than Moko

There was some mild panic as I didn't even know if my knives could cut through this thing but the Legend of ShenLi OST provided sufficient badassery in the background.

Additional credit to my handy dandy cleaver but there was definitely a bit of swearing as well as a renewed sense of needing to work out my biceps.

A third of it is now simmering in kkongchi jorim (꽁치 조림) and I suppose the rest will be made into kkagdoogi (깍두기).

[the-jordas-trials]

love loses

[save-slot-a]

#1 and #3 for Crowley!

Not So Nice Questions:

1: Answered!

3: What is the worst pain they’ve ever experienced?

Pain is such a vague, overarching concept that has different meanings. Physical? Emotional? How would he even begin to compare all the data when there's so much of it?

Installing his prosthetic ports is never a good time because he had to, for both of them, carve away the flesh that was there in order to find bone to anchor it to, and then attach the electromagnetic wire conversions to the muscle and nerves... By himself. He used a system of mirrors to be able to see it from all angles, but considering his first port was self-installed when he was 14... The process was rough. But it was necessary to be trained by his father in the skill of heroics. He doesn't remember much of that training, other than a sense of ache throughout his whole body.

Pain like that is barely comparable to being strapped to a cold, metal table somewhere undisclosed and tortured for seemingly the hell of it. Maybe it was a hit. Maybe the Black Hare was just a freaky little fan. But he was cut open everywhere his battles had ruined his skin, his midsection sliced into with surgical precision so his insides could just be... Examined while they writhed back into place. It was the only time the thought of being thankful to die ever crossed his mind in an emergency. Being revived from that was far worse than the actual slow, methodical dissection.

Emotional pain though? He beats himself up every day behind his wide grin and goofy attitude! But the most gutted he'd ever been was the precise moment he realized something was wrong back at the safehouse he'd had his beloved Rachael in. He'd let himself fall into a trap via his least favorite bunny, being pulled away from her just long enough for him to arrive back on the street to hear her brains and body splatter onto asphalt. The sound, the crunch, that came from her dense bones... She always said she was hard to kill with a cocky grin, and that was comforting to him. But it was never impossible to do so evidently. He still wonders if she blames him for leaving her when she needed him the most. He knows he does.

[problemswithbooks]

I'm not really a fan of Hawks losing his Quirk to AfO. If it serves any purpose it will probably be used to help Izuku fight AfO in the vestige realm which is a fight I was never looking forward to in the first place. Otherwise I don't think it really serves much purpose for Hawks as a character because we're at the end of the story and we just won't get a big focus on how it effects him going forward.

I mean, I see people saying that him losing his Quirk has set him free from the HPSC but he was essentially free from them after the first War. They have been non-existent in the story since than besides passing mentions. From what the reports said last chapter it seems that all the Heroes fighting are doing so of their own pure desire to help, not because the HPSC is paying them or anything. Keigo isn't working for them and given the world ending stakes if he wanted to do anything but beat AfO it'd be a negative trait, not him finding his freedom.

I know people want Keigo to find himself outside of being a Hero and his Quirk but that doesn't really seem to be a theme in the story. If Hori wanted to tell that story he could have done so with Mirio or All Might but he didn't. Instead Mirio was given his Quirk back with little fan fair and All Might's inspiration and Hero heart was reinforced. The story is about people being Heroes not about themselves as just people.

Which is honestly how I see things going with Hawks. His Quirk will be a force for good that helps Izuku beat AfO from the inside proving that despite his saying his Quirk was dirty, he really did/does have the heart of a Hero.

Also, I do think it takes real Hawks out of the story most likely, which is a bit disappointing, though understandable. I never really understood where people got the idea he was going to have a full mental break down anyway and besides him flipping out because he can't help anymore I still don't really see it happening. I mean, Hori is going at light speed here, why would he take the time to focus on Hawks having a mental break when he hasn't even managed to do that for his main three villains yet, who actually need that for the story to end.

I could easily be proven wrong given that Hori's writing is unpredictable, but for the moment my guess is that Hori did this so he could take Hawks out of the fight so he wouldn't get involved with the Todoroki or Ochako/Toga stuff, while also leaving open the possibility to give Izuku a strong ally in Hawks Quirk if needed.

I know people wanted him in those fights, but Hori has a hard time juggling characters in fight scenes, something we've seen a lot in this arc and the one prior. And to be honest he doesn't serve much purpose in them either. I've seen theories of wanting him try and kill Dabi and being devastated because Enji saves his son, essentially picking Touya over him, but Hawks has been nothing but positive about Enji trying to change and help his family. He didn't try and attack Touya or even mention him when he came through the portal, so don't know why he'd suddenly decide to attack him Quirk or not.

When it comes to Toga/Ochako thing he only complicates it. Yes, he killed Twice, but as we've seen Toga's main problem isn't that Twice was killed, it's that Izuku and Ochako, kids around her age don't like her. She feels like no one cares about her because she has a bad Quirk. If getting revenge for Twice was her main objective than she wouldn't have been crying. She doesn't even think about Hawks or name dropped him to my knowledge. If anything she treats all Heroes as guilty. To add Hawks into this fight draws attention away from Ochako, Toga and her main issue of identity. Plus, again I don't see Hawks being upset if Ochako saves Toga in the way he couldn't save Twice. He liked Twice and did try to save him. At most I think we'd see him watching with a happy smile and some tears, not having a full existential crisis.

[sigmundthesorcerer]

M would be obsessed with the fact that vault-tec dropped the bombs bc she's a paranoid freak who's been running off a conspiracy theory that america nuked itself as a population control tactic and the rest of the world is doing fine

but the point is that she's supposed to be wrong!!!!!

[thepoisonroom]

my pettiest thing is how much it comforts me when people i dislike aren't funny

[keeps-ache]

look into my eyes

look !!

☯.☯

[harmonybarmy]

very brave of the yellowjackets writers to be like 'hey, what if eating your friend was a bad thing?'

[faaun]

whenever i think/talk abt a "you" it's at least 5 different people usually

[painted-fanbird]

Still thinking about Kelsier because when am I not honestly XD

This time it’s how I’m choosing to characterize Rewrite Kelsier, because I crave a very specific flavor of Kelsier that seems pretty different from the general perception of him I’ve gleaned from scrolling through his tag lol

My Kelsier is many things, much like he is in canon. A drama queen, a dreamer, a man who can’t stay away from a challenge, he’s cunning, he ruthless

But at his core? He is kind, and he loves so, so deeply.

He’s also traumatized and suicidal.

Because to me, it is love that drives Kelsier’s actions within The Final Empire. It’s love that drives the Rebellion, that has him looking after the skaa when he can because they are hurt and traumatized and they need someone to inspire hope. It’s love and kindness that has him plucking Vin off the streets, teaching her allomancy and friendship, and it’s of course love that has him looking at Vin like the daughter he never had with Mare. Then there’s the crew, who you can’t tell me he doesn’t love. Because I think he does, deeply. These are his friends and he cares so much about them.

Kelsier’s methods for change are violent yes, but Scadrial is a violent world. Don’t forget, this is the world where it was codified into law that you are allowed to rape a skaa woman, as long as you killed her after so she couldn’t bear any bastard children. This is the world that held an executioners axe over his, Marsh’s, the crew’s, and Vin’s heads because of the very nature of what they are. He is merely matching what he’s being given.

But then there’s the lynchpin of his entire plan with the Rebellion. To die and mythologize himself as a martyr. That is not an act of selfless love. That is an act of hurt, coming from a man who doesn’t think he has anything to live for once the Rebellion is done. Kelsier is traumatized by Hathsin, Mare is dead, the society he lives in is callous and cruel and uncaring. The fight is all he has left, once that’s done his purpose will be fulfilled. So he makes it a last, brilliant hurrah, so that even if he fails the world might be a better place.

He dies in the best way he could have hoped. Fighting for the people he loves.

Then he doesn’t. Suddenly he’s alive and he’s not supposed to be. The Rebellion succeeded! The Lord Ruler is dead! He realized Mare’s dream!

And he doesn’t know what to do with himself.

So Kelsier throws himself into researching the missing Atium cache, into researching the secrets Rashek kept on Allomancy, both because he is truly curious about the answers to both things, but also so he doesn’t have to look in the eye the fact he wishes he didn’t wake up. The fight is over. What’s left for him?

That’s the crux of his arc in my rewrite. Kelsier has to learn how to live after spending so long trying to be dead. Which he does, ultimately. It’s two books worth of arc, but he realizes that he’s hurt and traumatized, but he loves and is loved. He has the whole crew, he has the kids, and life will get better. You can heal from that hurt. But you have to give it time. It does help that the man causing most of the problems is dead now, so the world is literally a better place to live, but my point still stands lol.

It’s better to live than it is to die, and ultimately Kelsier is a good man. Truly, one of the best the crew has ever known <3

[pineyw00dsshesquatch]

I live close to the big thickett and hope one day one of these miracle birds will grace the land I live on and then my family won't be able to sell cuz it'll be wildlife refuge.

It's called the "big thickett" and "piney woods" for a reason. It's THICC like my dumbass chickens keep hiding their eggs in the brush and I'll just let Bigfoot have em. With all the dead trees from these last few harsh summers maybe it will entice a ghost bird out here.

When the woods look like this it's easy to believe in Bigfoot and lost woodpeckers

I'm still convinced this is a good and funny post and I won't apologize