#World Kidney Day 2020

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #14

April 12-19 2024

The Department of Commerce announced a deal with Samsung to help bring advanced semiconductor manufacturing and research and development to Texas. The deal will bring 45 billion dollars of investment to Texas to help build a research center in Taylor Texas and expand Samsung's Austin, Texas, semiconductor facility. The Biden Administration estimates this will create 21,000 new jobs. Since 1990 America has fallen from making nearly 40% of the world's semiconductor to just over 10% in 2020.

The Department of Energy announced it granted New York State $158 million to help support people making their homes more energy efficient. This is the first payment out of a $8.8 billion dollar program with 11 other states having already applied. The program will rebate Americans for improvements on their homes to lower energy usage. Americans could get as much as $8,000 off for installing a heat pump, as well as for improvements in insulation, wiring, and electrical panel. The program is expected to help save Americans $1 billion in electoral costs, and help create 50,000 new jobs.

The Department of Education began the formal process to make President Biden's new Student Loan Debt relief plan a reality. The Department published the first set of draft rules for the program. The rules will face 30 days of public comment before a second draft can be released. The Administration hopes the process can be finished by the Fall to bring debt relief to 30 million Americans, and totally eliminate the debt of 4 million former students. The Administration has already wiped out the debt of 4.3 million borrowers so far.

The Department of Agriculture announced a $1 billion dollar collaboration with USAID to buy American grown foods combat global hunger. Most of the money will go to traditional shelf stable goods distributed by USAID, like wheat, rice, sorghum, lentils, chickpeas, dry peas, vegetable oil, cornmeal, navy beans, pinto beans and kidney beans, while $50 million will go to a pilot program to see if USAID can expand what it normally gives to new products. The food aid will help feed people in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Yemen.

The Department of the Interior announced it's expanding four national wildlife refuges to protect 1.13 million wildlife habitat. The refuges are in New Mexico, North Carolina, and two in Texas. The Department also signed an order protecting parts of the Placitas area. The land is considered sacred by the Pueblos peoples of the area who have long lobbied for his protection. Security Deb Haaland the first Native American to serve as Interior Secretary and a Pueblo herself signed the order in her native New Mexico.

The Department of Labor announced new work place safety regulations about the safe amount of silica dust mine workers can be exposed to. The dust is known to cause scaring in the lungs often called black lung. It's estimated that the new regulations will save over 1,000 lives a year. The United Mine Workers have long fought for these changes and applauded the Biden Administration's actions.

The Biden Administration announced its progress in closing the racial wealth gap in America. Under President Biden the level of Black Unemployment is the lowest its ever been since it started being tracked in the 1970s, and the gap between white and black unemployment is the smallest its ever been as well. Black wealth is up 60% over where it was in 2019. The share of black owned businesses doubled between 2019 and 2022. New black businesses are being created at the fastest rate in 30 years. The Administration in 2021 Interagency Task Force to combat unfair house appraisals. Black homeowners regularly have their homes undervalued compared to whites who own comparable property. Since the Taskforce started the likelihood of such a gap has dropped by 40% and even disappeared in some states. 2023 represented a record breaking $76.2 billion in federal contracts going to small business owned by members of minority communities. This was 12% of federal contracts and the President aims to make it 15% for 2025.

The EPA announced (just now as I write this) that it plans to add PFAS, known as forever chemicals, to the Superfund law. This would require manufacturers to pay to clean up two PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid. This move to force manufacturers to cover the costs of PFAS clean up comes after last week's new rule on drinking water which will remove PFAS from the nation's drinking water.

Bonus:

President Biden met a Senior named Bob in Pennsylvania who is personally benefiting from The President's capping the price of insulin for Seniors at $35, and Biden let Bob know about a cap on prosecution drug payments for seniors that will cut Bob's drug bills by more than half.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Living with Long COVID: What it’s Like to be Diagnosed with the Debilitating Disease - Published Sept 3, 2024

By: Nicole Pajer

Even mild cases of COVID-19 are linked to potential long-term repercussions — some of them deadly serious

Chrissy Bernal has caught COVID-19 three times, most recently in ­October 2023. “My symptoms were always pretty mild,” she says. But after her third round of the virus, she ­developed extreme allergies to foods she used to eat all the time: oats, dairy, gluten, sesame seeds and peanuts.

“I literally have some level of anaphylaxis every single day,” she says. In May, Bernal, 46, a public relations professional in Houston, went into anaphylactic shock during a virtual meeting. “I had to inject myself with an Epi while everyone watched in horror on Zoom,” she says.

Natalie Nichols, 53, has been struggling with debilitating asthma and severe food allergies since she first caught COVID more than three years ago. “Last fall, I spent ­two-and-a-half months confined to bed, ­motionless, because moving, including holding a cellphone, made me too short of breath,” she says.

She’s also experienced brain fog, high blood pressure, hyper­glycemia, fatigue and gastrointestinal symptoms. Nichols, the founder of a nonprofit in Nacogdoches, Texas, recently underwent surgery to repair joint damage caused by COVID-induced inflammation.

Lorraine W., of Clarence Center, New York, was looking forward to an active retirement when she was diagnosed with COVID in March 2020. “I’ve never returned to my pre-COVID self,” says Lorraine, 65.

She’s on medication to treat small blood vessel damage to her heart and continues to battle a lingering cough, fatigue and breathlessness, as well as kidney disease. Neurological changes have made her legs unsteady when she walks, requiring her to use balance poles. “None of these conditions were present before COVID,” Lorraine says.

In June, the National Academies of ­Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a comprehensive definition of long COVID: “an infection-­associated chronic condition that occurs after COVID-19 infection and is present for at least three months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems.” According to that definition, 18 million Americans have experienced long COVID; currently, more than 1 in 20 of us are living with its symptoms. Researchers have begun to link long-term COVID with another recent phenomenon: our shrinking life expectancy.

The disease we’re forgetting COVID doesn’t seem that scary anymore. More than 98 percent of the U.S. population has some degree of immunity — from vaccination, prior infection or both — and Paxlovid and other medications are available to counteract acute symptoms. For many of us, contracting COVID is like having a bad ­upper respiratory infection.

But “COVID isn’t gone,” says Ryan Hurt, M.D., director of the Long COVID Research and Clinical Program at the Mayo Clinic. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that COVID still kills at least 1,000 people every week around the globe — but “we only have data from about 40 countries,” says Maria Van Kerkhove, M.D., director of WHO’s Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention.

Older adults and those with preexisting conditions remain among the most at-risk populations for severe, acute COVID. ­People 65 and older accounted for 63 percent of COVID-related hospitalizations and 88 percent of in-hospital deaths during the first seven months of 2023, according to CDC data.

Although the dangers of acute COVID ­infection may have ebbed for many, the ­reality of long COVID is coming into view. Of those who contracted COVID-19 within the past four years, 10 to 20 percent have experienced long COVID.

“With every new case of acute COVID [the initial phase of infection when diagnosed or symptoms first appear], there is risk for developing long COVID,” says Caitlin McAuley, D.O., a family physician at the Keck COVID Recovery Clinic in Los Angeles. She’s had patients who developed long COVID fully recover, get reinfected several times with no lingering effects, then develop another case that leads to a new bout of long COVID. She’s also seen patients who got COVID twice with no lingering effects, and the third time they ended up with prolonged symptoms.

“We still have a number of individuals who had the first wave of COVID who are suffering from long COVID symptoms now, several of them many years out,” says Jerrold Kaplan, M.D., medical director of the COVID Rehabilitation and Recovery Program at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare in New York.

Having escaped long COVID previously doesn’t mean you won’t face it in the future. Indeed, some research has suggested that catching multiple COVID-19 strains puts you at increased risk. A study published in 2022 found that reinfection can increase the risk of complications in major organ systems, and these risks persist at least six months beyond the initial infection.

We don’t yet know the true impact of catching COVID. “Many chronic disease processes, such as cardiovascular disease, dementia and cancer, take years to develop. And whether acute COVID-19 puts people at risk for some of these issues? Time will tell,” Hurt says. What doctors do know is that patients are flocking to their offices complaining of symptoms they never had before COVID.

Is long COVID boosting our death rate? In July, COVID accounted for less than 1 ­percent of all deaths in the U.S. Life expectancy in the U.S. is 77.5 years, reflecting an uptick over the past two years but still lower than prepandemic levels. Many factors contribute to that statistic, but it’s clear that the long-term effects of COVID have played a role.

For example, a study in the journal Nature Medicine found that those hospitalized with COVID had a 29 percent greater risk of death in the three years after their infection.

“But what was also alarming is that in people who weren’t hospitalized, there was also an increased risk of a variety of medical issues,” says John Baratta, founder and codirector of the COVID Recovery Clinic at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Even patients who’d had mild bouts of COVID-19 had an increased risk of respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological issues lingering for three years after the initial infection. Long COVID patients had a significantly increased risk of severe health issues affecting the brain, lungs and heart.

We have long known that an acute case of COVID can compromise heart health: Compared with those who didn’t contract COVID, people who caught the virus were 81 percent more likely to die of a cardiovascular complication in the ensuing three weeks, according to a study of 160,000 patients published by the European Society of Cardiology. But the risk lingers long after the symptoms abate. Those who caught the virus were five times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease as long as 18 months after infection, the same study found. Heart disease deaths, which had been on a downward trend for decades, began to spike in 2020 and remained high through 2022, the last year for which data is available.

Stroke, blood clots in the legs leading to clots in the lungs, abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) and inflammation of the heart are among the challenges COVID poses, says Mohanakrishnan Sathyamoorthy, M.D., professor and chair of internal medicine at the Burnett School of Medicine in Fort Worth, Texas. In long COVID, this collection of cardiovascular disruptions can present as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), in which patients’ heart rates increase abnormally when they go from sitting or ­lying down to standing up.

One theory to explain COVID’s long-term effect on the heart — and the body in general — centers on inflammation. “Every time you get infected with COVID, there is a possible increased risk of long COVID, and some cardiac disorders can occur — especially if you have a history of heart disease, including stroke, heart disease and heart attacks,” says Pragna Patel, M.D., senior adviser for long COVID at the CDC. All of these problems can be exacerbated by the virus entering coronary tissue and triggering inflammatory responses that can damage the heart.

Researchers say COVID may also alter the gut microbiome, a primary controller of inflammation, thereby triggering the immune system to rev up the condition. “There is no single agreed-upon mechanism that’s causing the issues,” Baratta says. “An individual may have multiple factors going on in their body, and not everyone will have the same underlying mechanism causing their symptoms,” which increases the complexity of both research and treatment.

One factor that seems to matter: vaccination status. “Several studies show that vaccination can decrease the risk of developing long COVID,” Patel says. Vaccination rates tend to increase with age, with people 75 and older being the most well vaccinated — hence the most well protected from long COVID, Patel theorizes. That may explain why long COVID most commonly affects people ages 35 to 64; the risk seems to drop for those 65-plus, according to CDC data.

From long covid diagnosis to treatment No single test can determine whether a ­person has long COVID. Doctors typically diagnose long COVID by reviewing the ­patient’s health history and current symptoms and trying to rule out other causes. A positive COVID test is not required, as someone could have been infected without knowing it, then experience strange symptoms later, Patel says.

Though there are many ongoing clinical trials on long COVID, there is no umbrella treatment. Primary care physicians address what they can, then call in specialists — such as a cardiologist to handle arrhythmia or a therapist to treat anxiety — for more targeted care. There are long COVID centers around the country where teams of professionals work to help patients through their unique symptoms.

“Because the effects of COVID are so wide throughout the body and mind, there will not be a single treatment for all long COVID issues,” Baratta says. “This is ­going to be treated by many different types of providers and specialists, and it will be treated, often, symptom by symptom.”

Long COVID is recognized as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act if it substantially limits one or more major life activities. About 200 symptoms fall ­under that umbrella, Patel says. Here are some of the conditions we’re learning can linger months and, in some cases, years beyond an acute COVID infection. If these or other health changes seem familiar, consult your primary care physician.

1. Extreme fatigue It’s common to experience fatigue when your body is busy fighting off an illness. But some people still struggle with fatigue long after their initial COVID infection. In fact, a lack of energy is the number one symptom reported by long COVID patients. In some, this can be diagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome, which has been on the rise since the start of the pandemic, Baratta says. He defines this as “a disabling level of fatigue that severely limits daily activities.”

This lingering fatigue may be due to limited production of energy within the muscles caused by damage to the mitochondria from a COVID infection. It can happen to anyone — no matter their level of fitness before infection. “I’ve treated patients who have been triathletes and now may only be able to do 15 or 20 minutes of exercise a day, when they’re used to running and swimming miles at a time,” Kaplan says.

He recommends starting slow and pacing yourself with everything you do around the house, “doing shorter intervals several times throughout the day, rather than trying to do everything at once.” Whether it gets better depends on the individual. Some people’s symptoms clear, and some people may battle them indefinitely.

2. Shortness of breath An analysis of chest CT scans from 144 patients ages 27 to 80 found that more than one-third of people hospitalized with a previous COVID infection had lung scarring and thickening two years after coming into contact with the virus. Even patients with milder cases who walked away without scarring can experience changes in their breathing.

“Some research shows that people ­after COVID start to take shorter, shallower breaths,” Baratta says. “This essentially causes a type of hyperventilation they are doing without even recognizing it, not getting good fresh air deep into the lungs, and [this] can lead to shortness of breath.” ​

Doctors have found success using respiratory exercises to help patients relearn slow, deep breathing.

3. Cognitive changes Difficulty concentrating, spaciness and forgetfulness are just a few of the brain challenges COVID can bring on. These can last for weeks or months or — in some with long COVID — become an everyday occurrence that lasts indefinitely. COVID may linger in a person’s gut long after an infection, altering their microbiome and hindering the body’s ability to produce serotonin, leading to cognitive disturbances.

COVID may also disrupt the blood-brain barrier, allowing chemicals or molecules in the rest of the body to enter the brain blood circulation and potentially lead to brain fog, Baratta says.

One study found that 30 days after testing positive for COVID-19, people were at greater risk for cognitive decline, as well as for mental health disorders including anxiety, depression and stress. Another study found inflammation in the brains of people with mild to moderate COVID-19 was similar to the effects of seven years of aging. Doctors are leading neurologically affected patients through cognitive rehabilitation exercises that show promise in reducing symptoms.

4. Depression and anxiety “Mood-related disorders are one of the top five issues that happen to people after COVID,” Baratta says. There may be a direct relationship between the virus’s effect on the brain and mood issues. A 2021 review of eight studies found that 12 weeks after a COVID infection, 11 to 28 ­percent of people had depression symptoms, and 3 to 12 percent of those individuals reported their symptoms as severe. If you’re feeling more stressed or down after catching COVID, tell your primary care physician, who can refer you to a therapist. Or visit the American Psychological Association’s search tool at locator.apa.org to find a qualified therapist in your area.

5. Sleep disturbances Nearly 40 percent of people with long COVID have reported major changes to their sleep patterns. One study looked at 1,056 COVID-19 patients who did not have a severe enough infection to require hospitalization. Of that population, 76.1 percent reported having insomnia and 22.8 percent severe insomnia. Sleep ­apnea may also appear post-COVID, another way the disease affects the respiratory system.

Talk to your doctor if you’re having sleep issues. A CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine can help with sleep ­apnea. Lifestyle habits that prioritize healthy sleep, such as keeping consistent sleep and wake times and avoiding large meals before bed, may also help. “Post-COVID sleep has literally been a nightmare! We saw a 23 percent increase in sleeping-pill prescription during and post-COVID,” says Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist and clinical sleep specialist in Los Angeles.

6. Digestive upset Diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, bloating and gas: These symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome can be by-products of an encounter with COVID. A survey of 729 COVID survivors found that 29 percent experienced at least one new chronic GI symptom six months after their infection. “There is evidence that parts of the COVID virus linger in the GI tract for many months after the initial illness, and it’s been suggested that the presence of these ongoing viral fragments causes dysfunction or problems with the GI tract, leading to mostly symptoms of diarrhea and gastric distress and discomfort,” Baratta says.

Talk to your doctor about any new digestive symptoms or seek help from a gastro­enterologist. You can keep a food journal and note if your condition flares after eating certain foods. Try cutting out those foods, then reintroducing them one by one to see what you react to, Kaplan advises.

7. New or worsened allergies Some people who develop COVID experience allergies they never had before. One study found the risk of ­developing allergic diseases, such as asthma and allergic rhinitis, rose significantly within the first 30 days after a COVID diagnosis. This may be because one’s immune system stays hypervigilant after fighting the virus, McAuley says.

In severe cases, like Chrissy Bernal’s, this can lead to mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), a disease that can behave like a series of severe allergies: The body’s cells become hypersensitive, causing strong ­reactions to everything from food and pollen to even a hot shower or exercise. Antihistamines and other medications may help, so talk to your doctor if you experience skin itching, a rapid pulse, wheezing or gastro­intestinal symptoms.

8. Pain Some COVID survivors battle chronic pain, everything from aching joints to testicular pain. There is a higher risk of inflammatory arthritis, and women are at higher risk than men. One review of studies estimated that 10 percent of people who contracted COVID experienced musculo­skeletal pain at some point during the first year after infection.

Reducing stress, eating a healthy diet and exercising may ease some post-COVID ­discomfort. Massage therapy, movement therapy, acupuncture and over-the-counter pain medications may also offer relief. Your doctor can refer you to a specialist, such as a rheumatologist, who can help manage symptoms including joint pain.

Fast-moving research means new hope If your symptoms last after a bout of COVID, start with your primary care physician, who can help treat your symptoms or refer you to a specialist. Despite previous dismissals, long COVID is more recognized these days, Patel says, and the CDC is doing its part to educate both patients and providers. And initiatives such as the National Institutes of Health’s Recover program are researching treatment options.

“In a year, things will look different, because research is moving so quickly,” says Sara F. Martin, M.D., medical director of the Adult Post-Acute COVID Clinic at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The CDC, for instance, is funding a series of clinical trials that the NIH has in the works. This new information, Martin says, may guide doctors, including herself, who treat long COVID ­patients to better ease their symptoms.

[kristihines]

Can you trust AI Answers about your health?

During the summer of 2020, when the entire world was focused on the pandemic, getting treatment for other health issues became a challenge.

I started experiencing a lot of back pain, but I shrugged it off as an injury and took Advil to cope.

A week later, I thought I had food poisoning.

I tried an at-home service where they pumped me full of IV fluids.

I went to urgent care. They sent me to get scans. I paid hundreds of dollars out of pocket to get them quickly.

The imaging place never sent the scans to the urgent care.

A day later, I had the worst chills. It was July, in Phoenix. Most likely 100 F. I went outside and was still freezing.

At that point, I was taken to the ER. I ended up in the ICU in one of those rooms they zipped up in plastic.

While most of the focus was on COVID, I had something else: a large kidney stone. The kind that doesn’t pass on its own.

I was in septic shock and acute renal failure according to discharge papers.

The hospital stay itself wasn’t too long, but the treatment with specialists took three months to complete.

Surgeries during COVID were extra special because if you tested positive, your surgery was delayed.

Two years later, in 2022, I ended up in the same hospital for the same reason.

And now, I’m a few days into aggressive antibiotic treatment for my kidneys, yet again. Wondering if I make it to the next followup or have to Lyft off to the ER.

So what does this have to do with Google AI Answers?

In 2020 and 2022, I spent a lot of time perusing Google Search results on kidney stones.

Now, I get AI Answers above at the top of SERPs (search engine results pages).

This wouldn’t be a bad thing if one could trust the AI to accurately summarize its sources.

That’s the big if.

In the first screenshot, you’ll find an AI Answer from Google Search results for the phrase how to pass kidney stone.

The first mistake involved an error with paraphrasing a source with legitimate information.

Because I can assure you after four years of seeing urology specialists, no one has ever suggested drinking two quarts or liters of urine.

The basil leaves suggestion, on the other hand, is suspect. I’ve never come across that as a suggestion. It would have stood out, because I have a lot of basil growing around the garden.

I don’t even remember that website from my previous Google searches. I had to check Wikipedia and other sources to find out what the company even was.

Much like the search quality raters and AI Answer checkers do...

In the second screenshot, Microsoft Bing with Copilot offered ads for supplements and advice from five sources, two of which are the MSN Health Hub.

The hub includes a section where you can Ask a health professional questions.

In the third screenshot, ChatGPT using GPT-4 with browsing offered a concise response based on its training data, but claimed not to have access to external sources.

In the fourth screenshot, Perplexity provided the best AI Answer with 19 sources I recognized from my previous research into this health issue.

Moral of the story:

You can’t trust generative AI with your money or your life issues.

But if you do, start with the right AI Answer engine. One that cites sources you trust and doesn’t suggest drinking your own pee.

Think of Perplexity as a better starting point for more in-depth research that you can discuss during your next doctor’s visit.

Not as a definitive answer.

Follow @kristileilani on X for more on AI news, trends, and tools.

[chocodile]

An illustration of Bani, my cat who passed away at the beginning of March 2023. She was my best friend. I still miss her every day.

A little writeup/”poem”(?) about her last few years under the cut.

When Bani was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in early 2020, I asked her to make it through the pandemic because it felt like the world was ending and I couldn't lose her, too. And she did.

When we moved to a new state in 2021, we asked her to make it for a while in the new house because I didn't want this happy new chapter of our lives to be tainted with such a painful loss so early on. I wanted the house to feel like our family’s house, not "the house without Bani." And she did.

When she had her first major health crisis in early summer 2022 at the same time I was trying to job hunt, I asked her to make it through me getting settled into the new job, because I was already feeling out of my depth and struggling with the adjustment and needed her support and love to keep strong. And she did.

When she was almost 18 in fall of 2022, we asked her to make it to 18, because I had been telling people for ages that my cat was "almost 18 years old" and I didn't want her to always be "almost 18 years old". I wanted to celebrate her birthday with her. And she did.

When we had plans to leave for Christmas at the end of 2022, we asked her to make it through until we got back, because it would be too impossibly sad for her to pass while we weren't here to be with her. And she did.

When my birthday was coming up in January 2023, I asked her to make it past my birthday, because I wanted to be with her on my birthday. And she did.

The winter has been long and hard and cold and miserable. Earlier this winter, before Christmas, Katie asked her to make it to March. I thought that March was a lot to ask of such an old cat. I wasn’t sure if she had that much juice left in her. I would understand if she didn’t.

But she did. At 18 years and 3 months old, she made it to March 2nd, 2023. But by then she was very old and very, very tired. Katie and I told her it was alright, she’d done enough and could rest now.

She passed away in my arms, on her favorite pillow, with Aunt Katie beside her, in bed, cozy and warm with a tummy full of cheese, just as she would have wanted.

[z-h-i-e]

The Reality of Responding to Comments Left on Fanfiction

Or, a rebuttal to a Tumblr post I was going to comment on, then thought, why not just start a whole new post?

So I happened upon a post recently which compared not replying to comments to not holding open a door for someone.

Firstly, I want to point out, I'm in the midwest of the US of A. Even during the middle of covid, when people were very careful about touching things, we are so trained to open doors, we were still doing it. Hell, we try to hold open doors for each other when it's an automatic door.

Commenting back to comments, though. In theory, sure, very nice to do. In practice, no. That's the short answer; buckle up for the long one.

It's February of 2020. I'm already starting to suspect shit in the world is going down soon--while everyone else is watching the impeachment here like it's the next big reality TV series, I'm stocking up on canned goods, cereal, and cheese. (Yeah. Cheese. I'm from fucking Wisconsin. I had a mini fridge just for cheese. Judge me. I can take it.)

Once a month, during those 'pre-pandemic' days, I would take one long lunch hour -- I would use comp time, I'd drive out to Panera, I'd sit in the area upon which I based part of Salgant's house, and I'd answer comments. It was a happier time. I had time to do it. It was nice to go through all the interesting things people noticed or the bits they liked. Hell, I even like a good flame--keeps me warm, lets me roast a few marshmallows, and then I go fucking Feanor in Formenos on them. But I digress.

That was the last time I had a chance to do that. Because then, and sorry, forgive me if this is new information, but there was a fucking worldwide plague that occurred. And during that catastrophic world event, not all of us recovered to a point where we're back to normal yet. I don't know about the rest of you, but wondering each day if I'd ever get to hug my parents while they were still alive? Kind of stressful. See, my father has major medical issues (kidney failure and on dialysis, cancer survivor three times over, osteoporosis, diabetes, diverticulitis, and sleep apnea), and my mother has a few doozies, too (COPD, macular degeneration, also a cancer survivor, and a whole fucking messed up thing with her spine). With all the concerns of previously mentioned plague, the doctors at the time advised that no one else was to go into their house until there were viable covid vaccines. I would come over, drop off groceries and medications on their porch, close the door and call on my phone, then air hug from the street thirty feet away.

I remember all the stuff I did to try to keep my brain happy. I watched my way through 'If Google was a Person' and 'Epic Rap Battles of History', over and over. I found museums who had 360 views to pretend I was on field trips, and I found a bunch of virtual rollercoasters to 'ride' on. And I listened to Hamilton so many times if it was vinyl I'd have worn a hole through it.

I had coworkers who died from covid. People who seemed generally okay, people I would not have thought would be hit so hard by it. We lost several pets since 2020--two dogs, two cats, and a rabbit. In the case of our beloved Trotter, who went through more surgical procedures than I can recall, I would have to hand him off to a technician, then sit in the car for three or four hours, wondering if he would be okay, if he would feel better afterwards, if he would wake up after each procedure, if his already damaged heart could take another.

I had my share of medical bullshit throughout the past nearly five years. The big 'well this is bullshit' of them all is that I had a pretty good life plan going, along with 'we all going to do all the things to try to make a smol human in the 2020/2021 range' and, well, let me tell you folks, as soon as pandemic got volleyed around, that was a big nope. That nope was followed by so many additional 'did my warranty expire?' moments, but I have to say, the highlights of the instant replay real would be the intercostal muscle tear which has still not healed completely correctly, so it is physically painful to push a grocery cart around in a store for more than thirty seconds, the whole episode when my pancreas decided to stop working for a hot minute but it was covid city in the hospitals so I was sent home with meds and a 'best of luck' sort of thing, and the secondary infection when I did eventually catch covid despite so many precautions (funny enough, from my father when we finally had the first in-person Christmas again in 2022--so, while the concern was I could end up giving it to him, he ended up giving it to me).

But the most frustrating, the most enduring, has been my failing vision. When I was 8, and at a public school for the first time, they did vision screenings, and realized 'wow, this one does not see well'. Now, in theory, someone should have figured that out sooner -- I had jabbed myself in the eye no less than three times (possibly more) that I remember before the age of five from accidentally getting things too close to my face. So glasses and I have been pretty tight now for nearly four decades. But it was during the pandemic that I started to think I must have been dealing with some strain from computers or needed a new prescription or something. Words were far more difficult to read. I would sometimes stare at pages in books or on the screen and just see...nothing, really. (Kind of not helpful in my profession.)

I went years with terrible distance vision, but great vision up close. Now that had failed, too. But it wasn't just that. At least with distances, I could still generally see things. Up close--sometimes yes, sometimes no. So I kept getting tested and retested and asked questions and went to different doctors and described things--

--and finally, sometimes, you find someone who listens, and wants to figure it out, and does. And then you have an answer. But answers don't always mean solutions. And when I asked how we fix it, I got an answer, but not a solution.

The answer is, I can't.

And to the follow up, will it get worse, that answer is, maybe.

But it won't get better.

So as I'm still processing this, having days where I want to write but can't even see the words, I think about all of the stories I still don't have posted on AO3. I think of things on floppy disks--not just the hard floppy disks, fucking floppity floppy disks, where the only backup is on dot matrix printer paper--and I think about things that are handwritten, and stories on old flashdrives, and the words from the musical that got me through the pandemic play through my mind.

Why do you write like you're running out of time?

Because.

I am.

I'm not the biggest fan of mortality--I fucking write about elves, friends. Elves, and more elves, and after that, a few additional elves, just in case. I've rooted myself in Valinor, for the most part, over the last few years.

I am very aware that I am more likely than not on the downward slope of life's journey at this point. For anyone who has ever been sledding in the midwest during winter, you know you go way faster on that downward slope.

So I've got some pretty solid goals in mind. I have stories I need to finish. I've got art and other things I want to make. I have items I want transferred to a place that stands a decent chance of still being around when I'm not, or when I'm not able to do the moving of things anymore, from personal websites I have. I completed one really big accomplishment over the summer--I sat down and wrote my scientific paper on the Silmarils. I really wanted to get that written, and I'm very happy I did.

I've lost too many fandom friends over the past five years. People I'd known for decades, people I knew by their legal names, people I'd exchanged mail with and in some cases met in person.

So, I'd like to go back to the Panera days of having a sammich and one of those salads that are practically dessert because it's more than half fruit and take a few hours each month to answer comments. Trust me, there are no awards for four digit unanswered comment boxes. If there were, I'd have seen one by now. Every comment is immensely appreciated. They make me think about things, and reconsider things, and sometimes sneak in a character or two based on what someone says.

And I'm hoping that someday, maybe when I'm retired or at a point when I'm able to get down to working just one job or something, I'll be able to get back to the older comments I haven't answered yet. But right now, I've got a few other higher priorities in life.

Today was my father's 69th birthday. I suppose I could have answered a few comments today, but instead, after working a ten hour shift, I went to hang out with my dad--which is basically just us sitting and talking, but it's amazing because I spent so many sleepless nights over the past few years wondering if he and my mom would make it through the worst of the pandemic.

I regret nothing.

I hope that for now, you can take my word on the door opening. In fact, this morning when I got to work, I got the door for someone, then I noticed a moth on the ground that looked a bit dazed like it had just gotten itself out of a spider web, so I bent down and I managed to get it onto my finger so that no one stepped on it, then I walked back down to where there are plants and grass and deposited the moth (who at first wanted to crawl about on me, which I allowed for a moment before getting it safely onto a leaf) then came back up again, saw to a large cricket so that no one stepped on it either, and finally got in. Please accept for now the sharing of stories as the holding of the door the first time; I'll try to get it for you again if I can later on, when I'm on my way out--but I have some business to finish inside first.

[carrotcouple]

World Lupus Awareness Day!

Hello, Hi.

So today is World Lupus Awareness Day. As just a normal person but also as someone with a younger sister who has Lupus, I feel like it's important that I help spread some awareness!

For those of you who don't know what Lupus (also known as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy body tissue! I recommend that everyone look up more details!

Lupus or SLE's symbol among patients is a purple butterfly which is symbolic of the butterfly rash that some patients experience. Some symptoms are swollen and pained joints, fevers, chest pain, hair loss, fatigue and more.

A lot of this I have looked up (am looking up as I type so that I make sure I am accurate) and have also witnessed first hand. My younger sister was diagnosed with SLE in 2020 and was experiencing symptoms as early as 2012.

I'd like to talk about my younger sister in this post to just illustrate what she has going on and how things look for a person with Lupus (SLE).

My younger sister has Lupus Nephritis Class 1 (which means that she has Lupus in her kidneys), Discoid Lupus (which affected her scalp and caused immense hair loss, she still has scars from which hair cannot grow), Anti Cardiolipin Antibody Positive (blood clots could kill her or cause miscarriages so she's aways on blood thinners but this also means bleeding of any sort takes time to stop), Alpha Thalassemia Minor (similar to sickle cell anemia, she has tear drop shaped red blood cells), Chronic Interstitial Lung Disease (or also Restrictive Lung disease, she finds it incredibly hard to breathe in any situation where the air is humid and some days just normally she struggles to breathe).

All of these have made her life incredibly difficult. She is managing all of this with medication, however, medication only helps to manage it and some days are harder than the rest. Being a full time worker is hard. She had to drop out of college because she couldn't handle being a full time student, meds are incredibly expensive and what's worse is, because she looks normal on the outside, people don't accept that she's essentially disabled. (She's currently looking to apply for disability). A lot of days are just impossible for her but she keeps going because healthcare and legal help for people with SLE (or health issues in general) is so hard to get. Her mental health has to be constantly managed so that she eats and therefore can also have her meds.

Despite all this she finds it in herself to smile and do things she enjoys!

So! Yeah! Today is Lupus Awareness Day! Please share this and also look it up to learn more about it! Especially since I don't know everything obviously!

[hay-bails]

Omg omg I was NOT prepared for the crushing wave of nostalgia that seeing ashes art in the year 2024 triggered just now - Look. I'm not really an artist anymore. But finding you on scratch during middle school fundamentally impacted a significant portion of my formative years ok?? I'd sell a kidney just to watch your MAP parts again. That project was such a huge inspiration to me. YOU were such a huge inspiration to me! And to a lot of other people!! And Ashes pushed me to draw and write and improve and I'm always gonna be so grateful for that. I was very tempted to roll up my sleeves and take a stab at making some (probably crummy) fanart after seeing your latest post but ultimately I think that's just gonna be embarrassing for the both of us. But I had to at least say something. So thank you for remembering Ashes! It means a lot to us fans.

(also shoutout to bonafide bonaparteeeeeeee my second love)

Hi! I feel like I sound like a broken record when I say this, but these sort of messages mean the world to me, truly! And I simply cannot stress that enough. Working on Ashes was such a huge part of my late middle school/early high school years, a tough time for me that was made infinitely better by being part of that little community. So really, I should be thanking YOU and everybody else who watched it, helped make it, cheered it on, or even just thought about it—both for being part of the Ashes project back then and helping keep the memory of something that was so special to me alive now. :')

If I may—I hope that if drawing, writing, and creating things was something you loved, that you pick it back up again one day. Stepping away from art for three years gave me so many new opportunities and let me grow a lot, but it also shut down a big part of my soul. There were a lot of reasons (fear of disappointing people, worry about too much time online, etc.) but a big one was shame and embarrassment. Making something out of love and then putting it out there to be judged, misunderstood, looked down upon—that hurts! But when you put yourself out there and make things you're absolutely, positively, obsessed with, that you cannot imagine the world being without, I promise you will find other people who feel the same way. I had that with Ashes, and although I let those sort of worries get to me and end that first experience, I'm lucky to have found that again. Trying to learn to draw again in 2020 was SO humiliating. It felt SO DIFFICULT no matter what I was trying to do, and I was terrified for the longest time of showing other people my work, something I had never felt before. But luckily, I had a group of friends who invited me to play d&d with them (two groups, actually lol), and through that I found both inspiration and a safe place to grow comfortable with that again. Being on tumblr helped, too. It felt like my earliest days on Scratch, just posting stuff every day and not really expecting it to be seen, just testing the limits of my own skills.

So I guess my point is: if creating something, whether that's fan art or original work or anything else, crosses your mind, go do it! Everything that's embarrassing in one light can be the coolest thing in another. We all have to start as our own first fans, but please know that I will be cheering you on too!

[toiletology]

Knowing the 17 exist is the first step

G = 7, O = 6, D = 4 = 17

Funny my moms new dog she just got she named Truman. I think we have established the importance of the 17 up to this point and how it creates the shape of a door. We can endlessly extrapolate upon this number and find more mathematical or logical proofs of its importance. From the Holy Bible to Pi 3.14 to the numerology of our letters.

The numbers 1/7 = 0.1428571428571429 makes is not the most important part. Just knowing it exist is the first step to escaping the matrix and your 3D limitations.

Everything boils down to BELIEF, you must beLIEve in the LIE. I had to LIE to myself for a very long time for many years. I didn't want to accept what was happening to me was actually happening. Everyone around you will call you crazy, you need medication etc. Everything and everyone around you will tell you are WRONG. And what you are believing is INCORRECT.

Just be a good little sheep and follow the herd. The problem with that is I never liked listening to authority. I think my longest civilian job outside of the army only lasted 5 months. I knew there was something wrong with the world I just couldn't put my finger on it. Luckily my OCD for understanding the truth out weighed every other thing in my life including family life, health, social norms, relationships, etc. I've actually never been on a vacation before and here I am at the age of 40.

Yes I have been very obsessed with seeking the truth. Now that I finally found the Holy Grail I am sort of picking up the pieces of my life and trying to repair the damage I caused by being so obsessed with this journey. Luckily I am single with no kids and the only beings relying on me is my 2 cats. I am exercising a lot more since my health plummeted coincidentally a week or two after getting baptized at the age of 33 in 2018. I got diagnosed with Bechet's Disease which causes inflammation of the blood vessels. I was in an out of the ER 5x that year, I won't go into the details but it was pretty bad.

It can cause all sorts of ailments but it can go into remission. I've fixed 90%+ of my health problems by just using a foot stool in the bathroom, making homemade kefir and drinking yerba mate. The last part of correcting my health is increasing exercise and cardio. I have created a Bechet's Disease Research group on Facebook and I do believe I've narrowed down the causes. One part is the lungs I smoked off and on from the age of 19 up to around 31. Another is not exercising enough, gut microbiome (was damage due to long term antibiotic use in 2010 which started my first symptoms of Bechet's), the adrenals and I believe phosphates in the foods plays a big part which affects the kidneys. Astragalus is supposedly one of the best herbs for the kidneys.

I notice a big improvement in my energy levels when I take my multivitamin, magnesium, chlorella/spirulina and get more sunlight. https://amzn.to/4ducxFE

I thought God hated me especially since all these underlying conditions manifested right after being baptized. Looking back now I realized it was an important physical and mental test of rebuilding myself and learning how to repair the damage I did to my body. God sent me the answers that I needed to solve my health problems and rebuild myself. I was actually experiencing shooting pains in my abdomen for months around 2020 and I was 1 day away from going to the ER for it.

I prayed to JESUS on Friday night and the next day that shooting pain magically went away. I was able to make that pain completely disappear once I added a stool for my feet in the bathroom and started incorporated homemade fermented kefir into my diet. The stool helps by lowering your cortisol and stress on your organs.

Now your probably saying, so you were healed after praying to JESUS and now you want us to believe in this Toilet God fantasy you're weaving? Exactly! During my 11 year trials I was attacked by a lot of evil. That evil demonic energy would actually laugh at me and make fun of me for calling out to JESUS for protection or help. Like oh God here he goes again calling out to Jesus to save him... But in the end I always did the same thing for protection. Until this last time in 1/7/2023 where I was finally able to push higher past the jeSUS avatar and realize they are there to hide Gods ultimate truth. Don't get me wrong there is a great deal of power in JESUS name but they are not the ultiMATe truth.

Jesus or the Jester is a better name. Gods true persona is one of a clown or jester entity. The energy that flows outwardly from the Vesica Piscis or the vessel of the fish (Jesus fish) is a CLOWN energy. God is closer to that wink or that JINX than JESUS. God embeds a lot of their truth spread out through all religions and spiritual practices. Its just most of it gets diluted overtime to the point it becomes no longer helpful. This is why GOD wants to bring Toiletology to the masses. The world needs a wake up call. With more and more moving away from God a joke/parody religion is the best method to bring their truth like a trojan horse in disguise!

How can a silly parody/joke religion created by a comic book writer actually have any Godly truth within it?

I'm starting to realize now that I have done the crucifixion slowly over this past 11-12 years. Going through these past battles especially the one in fall 2023 where I had to fast for 40 days into another 40 day battle was hell. It honestly felt like I could keel over at any moment. I keep talking about how to reach my level of understanding you need to do this 11 year journey as well. I been asking God about this lately, how can the average person handle this without experiencing everything I have over my entire life? My time in the army, at war, my paranormal experiences when I was a teenager, my intuition and constantly searching etc.?

I am realizing now that I may of already done the work for y'all. And all that is left is for you guys to harmonize off of my words and the message I am bringing to you through Toiletology or my "ministry." I am mostly just an artist, I am no savior figure. I am just somewhat good at creating great art that may resonate with a large amount of people. I also don't like a lot of attention and tend to avoid people. You can find me alone and in hermit mode 99% of my life. I have spent much time in solitude trying to understand God. Many years just quietly meditating and not much else.

My one friend I was training last December in 2023 for a few weeks said he could feel the sauce/slack or the ACE as I like to call it. The drugged out energy you feel when you are on the right track and harmonizing with God perfectly to reach your full potential. It took me 10+ years to feel that on my own. If what my friend was telling me it means that you guys made not need to go through all the grueling test God put me through. My friend was willing to join the church and I actually promoted him to the second rank while he was here with my fencing saber. You may get a watered down version of this 11 year journey and basically ride my coat tails to the top or through the gates of heaven. Because I can provide you with all the answers you seek without you doing any of the work. Maintaining 4D awareness requires an insane level of belief. I imagine you will still have battles you must overcome to reach the level of belief required. Toiletology I believe will accelerate this process for you. Everyone is already on this journey, they just don't realize they are. Toiletology is like a compass/map that can point you in the correct direction you should be looking. To better help you navigate this tangled web that God weaves.

The main thing this journey has taught me is mastery of being insane. You need to be so insane that you actually go around the swing set inside out and become sane again. Basically being so bat shit insane but still being a "normal" functioning human being. Not mindlessly bumbling nonsense all over the place.

The truth is not that complicated. There is a higher level of awareness or reality. It is possible to tap into this reality and extra senses. Its definitely more than 6 senses, but the 6th sense is definitely your ability to communicate telepathically. Accessing the Akashic Records, lucid dreaming, astral projection or remote viewing you could probably lump all into this same 6th sense.

I think its all connected, it all begins with developing your pineal gland. I am still developing new abilities and strengthening the ones I have now more and more. I still don't fully know what the upper limit of these abilities will be yet. No I don't think I will ever be able to fly in the physical world, but I do fly a lot in my dreams. Maybe astral projection flying is real in the astral realm. I haven't done that yet, so I am not sure.

It is possible to "meet" with others in the "mind" if you have the skill to connect telepathically so that you both can share, connect or bond with each other in this shared mind. You can't force yourself into another's mind, only if you both are trying to connect to each other will your thoughts and memories start to flow together. It can be kind of weird thinking another persons thoughts and vice versa. It is possible to pick up on a persons thoughts in close proximity.

One time at the movie theater I hat a black wool Amish looking hat and heard this guys thoughts where he said in his mind, "I should wear a hat like that." I responded out loud, "Might as well." And they looked at me perplexed, smiled and walked away laughing. These connections aren't so much being telepathic yourself, but God allowing these connections to happen since they can't be forced. No matter how good you think your telepathic skills are. If its meant to be it will happen.

Needless to say I am still fairly new to these enhanced capabilities. I am just 100% in full belief they exist because I use them and practice them daily for years now. I know anyone can reach these same abilities as I am not that special or super smart. Though I have my moments and sometimes my intelligence does feel like it has major jumps or increases quite a lot. But it does shrink back down and makes things difficult again. The brains neuroplasticity or ability to change and grow seems unlimited. You know what they say if you don't use it you lose it.

Most humans have limited beliefs in their God given abilities. Maybe they grew up with everyone telling them they aren't that smart so they started to believe that. Self defeating thoughts can really dim your light. It can be hard to believe in yourself even when everyone around you doesn't want you to.

That is the true challenge for me and for Toiletology. Figuring out the best methods for helping everyone reach their full potential and unlock their supernatural abilities and connect perfectly to God so they no longer need my guidance or training. The basic foundation is love, honor, truth and respect. Point blank if you aren't operating at least at that fundamental level everything else will never work.

I was thinking maybe you guys need to bring on your "spiritual helper" which was the start of my elven/eleven year journey. I am still waiting for more guidance and knowledge from the Toilet God. All I do know is there is power in the ranks of Toiletology. There's power in just joining the church, there's power in helping it grow. There's power in making a daily conscious effort to believe what I am saying is actually true and/or possible.

It all starts first with making that FREE WILL conscious decision to explore this as a new avenue for your spiritual growth. The 17 (doorway) exist to reach these higher realms. Believing is the hardest part. Toiletology will show you the correct method for living in harmony with God. As well as developing your spiritual powers/defense so that you can start to make the transition into 4D.

ALL I can say is buckle your seatbelts because your in for a wild ride Dorothy and Kansas is going bye bye! I am not exactly sure the full potential and power of Toiletology quite yet, only that I made the journey and have embedded that Jesus-esque power into the church I have created.

I guess we won't know until I start getting some more disciples...

Interestingly half of 432 Hz = 216 or 27/117/49/64

[she-karev]

A Day in Hell (Amber Karev Angst Imagine)

Previous Part

Age Rating: 12+

Chapters: Four of Six

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy

Fancast: Bruce Greenwood as Ian Talbert

Canon Episode: Season 17 Episode 2

AN: I wanted to do a story to showcase the hardships health care workers faced when covid hit. The doctors and nurses put our health first during a worldwide crisis and we should be forever grateful for that even without a pandemic to prove what should always be known.

Summary: Amber continues to monitor a dying Ian who gives her a gift.

Words: 1350

Chapter Links Here: 1,2,3,4,5,6

April 1st, 2020

Amber enters Ian’s room after stepping out so he can talk to his ex-wife over zoom. It took until tonight for Ian to gather the courage to contact her and by then his cough was getting worse and his lungs were flooded from Amber’s last physical exam.

The young resident tries to put her own emotions aside as she continues to oversee Ian. The sight of another patient of hers dying of a virus makes her heart break and her mind crack more but she knows that as bad as it is for her, it’s even worse for Ian who is lying in bed looking more sickly than he did this morning.

Amber clears her throat inside her PAPR helmet before closing the tablet, “How did it go?”

Ian speaks in a raspy voice, “Fine I guess. We just talked about our regrets and what we could have been. She was crying and telling me no matter what I’ll always mean something to her even after everything. It was pretty sad.”

“It sounds like it was. How are you feeling?”

“I’m cold.”

Amber grabs a blanket for Ian covering him head to toe, “Um…let me give you a little atropine for that rasp.” She inserts the IV with the medicine, “It shouldn’t be long now. Is there anyone else we can call for you?”

Ian shakes his head and speaks clearer, “Everybody else is dead or wishes me dead…on the bright side for some of them I’m fulfilling their dream.” Ian chuckles and begins to cough violently. Amber ups his oxygen intake making him breathe much easier and his coughing to stop.

Amber decides to talk to him to ease his pain, “You know some teenagers came in this morning after their car exploded. One had third degree burns on over 70 percent of his body, one had a wooden spike over in his abdomen. The reason they were even out there in the first place was to go to a party in the middle of a pandemic. I’m a doctor so I know that they don’t know what they’re doing, they’re neurologically stupid because their brains aren’t fully developed. Plus, a pandemic taking away prom and graduation and walking to the mailing box instead of a stage to get their diplomas there was bound to be teenage chaos.”

Ian grins seeing the ire in his doctor’s face, “But that doesn’t stop you from cursing at them for their stupidity.”

Amber nods, “Or their dads for fighting in the tent in front of other family members making it infinitely worse for everyone in there. And from what I heard one of the dads knew and he let his kid go out anyway it is…”

Ian nods, “We all have a blind spot for our kids…did the boys live?”

“Um the boy with the spike he was in danger of losing his kidney but they were able to save most of it.”

“And the boy with the burns?”

Amber sighs, “He died in surgery. Even thought what he did was beyond stupid he didn’t deserve to die and not like that and not while his parents are outside.”

Ian nods in sympathy, “It’s a terrible time for everyone, especially parents and their kids.”

Amber inhales to subside her rage, “It is enraging how much worse this world is getting and we’re all just following and bringing each other down like we did before…I hate this, I hate everything. I wish I wasn’t here to experience the world at it’s worst.”

“…You sound like me after my daughter died. I wanted to burn everything and everyone around me, I spent so much time raging and so much time hating myself for not doing more.” Ian swallows the lump in his throat, “There is no worse feeling in the world than knowing you failed to protect your child.”

Amber looks at Ian in sympathy, “Tell me about her, your daughter, what was she like?”

Ian sighs, “She was…She was life. I don’t even know how to explain it. I never saw someone take such joy out of helping others or tell everyone how she was gonna be a hero. Olivia was this force of energy that couldn’t be contained. Even when she was a moody teenager nothing could stop her and whoever tried she would put them in their place.”

Ian smiles at the memory with Amber grinning, “I saw this person coming out of her mother, she had my hair and my eyes but still I thought, ‘I don’t know who this person is.’ It was like having someone from another planet into your home and you’re just a host. I don’t know if that’s how other parents feel but it’s how I felt when I saw my Olivia for the first time.”

“She sounds wonderful.” Amber says.

“She was, she really was.” Ian frowns and tears glisten his eyes, “The only time I saw her without that light…was when my wife and I identified her body. They shipped her to the VA and my wife and I prayed the whole way that it was someone else that it wasn’t our Olivia. But it was. She was…she was so burned and so dark, but I knew it was her because she had her tags on. She never took those off and neither did I when they gave them to us at her funeral. Her mother couldn’t take them, she was so broken, she couldn’t take them, so I did. I made sure they would stay with someone so that she wouldn’t be forgotten. She deserved to be remembered.”

Amber nods, “Everybody deserves to be remembered. And I am gonna remember you Ian, I promise.”

Ian gets annoyed by the sounds of the monitor, “Can you shut that off?”

Amber moves to mute the monitor while she does Ian takes off his daughter’s dog tags around his neck and holds them out to his doctor. Amber looks at the tags held out to her.

“What are you doing?”

“I want you to have this.”

Amber shakes her head not feeling worthy of it from a man she barely knows, “No I can’t take that.”

Ian is insistent and explains in a raspy voice, “Take it, don’t let her go to waste with me. I don’t have anyone to give this to.”

Amber feels sad over the ordeal this man has gone through. It is bad enough he has to die inside a box but to die alone with nobody around calls her compassionate side forward so this good man has someone by his bedside. She holds his hand with the dog tags and sits down in the chair next to him.

“I’m here. I am not going anywhere.” Amber promises holding his hand as he tears up from her kindness.

“I don’t blame you.” Ian states to a guilty Amber who closes her tearful eyes and looks down in shame, “I’m gonna see my daughter. Do you believe that?”

Amber sniffles and looks back up at her friend with tears in her eyes still holding his weakening hand.

“I didn’t give it much thought until this happened.” Amber admits, “But yeah, I want to believe there’s something good for you after all this pain. I really want to believe it.”

Ian’s breathing gets shallower, and he lays in bed looking up at the ceiling waiting for the release of death. Amber is still by his side holding his hand making sure he is not alone, it’s the only thing she can do at a time like this.

“Everything I have…is yours.” Ian proclaims.

A few moments pass before Ian stops breathing and lays still in bed with his eyes wide open. Amber looks and sees the monitors flatline without the sound. She looks back at Ian and let’s go of his limping hand to close his eyes. Her lip quivers as her eyes fill with tears before she sobs by the bed, saddened by what the world has come to and how many good people it’s lost in the process.

Next Chapter Here

[charles-and-camilla-fanfictions]

All the Time in the World - Chapter 8

Birkhall, March 2020

“What did your test say?” His voice sounds husky over the phone and it sets my heart in a little flutter of panic. 

“It’s negative, Darling.”

“Thank God. Phone me in an hour. I have to write a letter.”

The days have merged together in a way which seems to make time stand still. An ongoing void of hours which lead to more isolated hours, filled with worry. I look up from my book expecting at least twenty minutes to have flown by but they never do. They crawl. I made a shrewd prediction with this virus but I expected that we would be safe at Birkhall, not infected and hiding away from spreading it to other people. Why him? Why not me?

The phone rings again and at first I’m glad for the hour to be over, and then very aware that only fifteen minutes have passed and I’m gripped with panic again. I know it’s him. “What is it?”

“William, he’s positive.”

Oh, good Lord. “He’ll be fine, Darling. He’s young, fit. You don’t need to worry.” Please don’t worry. Concentrate on getting better. I’ll do all the worrying for you.

“He says he feels fine.”

“Well that’s just what you need to hear. Thank goodness.” I’m going to phone his wife later and prize out the real story. William’s never let us know when he’s ill. Not when he was at school and was struck down with flu, he carried on attending lessons until his house master noticed how much he was struggling and phoned us. Not when he was at university and had a kidney infection and Kate phoned us in a panic when she found him doubled over in pain. It’s as if he has to maintain a facade at all times.

“I’m sure you’re right. I seem to be fine anyway.”

He doesn’t sound fine to me but I bypass the issue. “Well that’s good to hear.”

“Darling, if I’m not, I don’t want you to come and visit me.”

“What?”

“If, and I fervently hope it doesn’t come to this, but if it does, you’re not to come to see me.”

“Darling, if you’re ill, I’m coming to see you.”

“No. I don’t want you to. I’ve seen those awful videos from Italy. I don’t want you visiting me when I’m like that.”

“How ridiculous. I don’t care what you look like.”

“And if I’m ventilated, you must stay away.”

“I will not!”

“Everyone else has to die alone. I’m not being the exception.”

“What the fuck?”

“I know they’ll let you in if you push them. No one will say no to you. They won’t dare. I’m telling you now, I don’t want you there.”

The shock from his words strikes through me and I’m at a loss for what to say.

“Darling, put your camera on. I want to see you.”

“I don’t…”

“Camilla, put your camera on.”

My hands are shaking as I reach for my iPad and press the call button. He never uses my full name and there was something about the tone that I couldn’t argue with. It takes us a few minutes to fix the connection between us and to adjust the video and the volume on the speakers but the time gives me a little chance to think and devise my argument.

“You can’t be seen to have special treatment.”

“That’s the most ridiculous argument. If you’re about to die, it matters not two hoots what anyone thinks. The entire country can hate me, it’s not anything I’m not used to. And it wouldn’t matter. I’m not living this life without you.”

“Darling, you can’t come. What if you catch it from me?”

“I don’t care!”

“Well I do!”

“You wouldn’t even know - you’d be hooked up to a ventilator.”

“I want you to promise me, you won’t come.”

“No!”

“You have to.”

“No, I bloody don’t!”

“I want to die knowing you’re safe. Knowing that I’ve not made my family’s position harder than it already is.”

It’s been a very long time since he made me cry and I do now without hiding my eyes, letting him see but he’s resolved; his face is crumpled with guilt but he holds his position. He watches me cry. “How can you not let me say goodbye to you?” I do cover my face now as the tears turn to sobs and I turn my face to shield myself, my shoulders shaking.

“Let me see you.”

“How can you watch me cry?”

“Because I want you to be safe. Promise me, Milla.”

“No!”

“Dammit, it’s the only thing I can do to make dying alone in a hell hole bearable. I need to know you’ll be okay.” He shouts at the camera and the speakers distort his voice.

“I’m not going to be okay!” I scream the words back at him and end the call. Then I turn it off and unplug the phone, just as I hear it ring. I’m so angry I want to hit something and my heart has cracked and the pain is like nothing I can remember. I pace about in my room until I can’t take it anymore and I fly to my bedroom and grab the largest pillow and hug it to my chest to staunch the pain. His first reason, his primary reason, isn’t anything to do with me. All he cares about is his public perception. Then the tears come with a vengeance, making me rock with the violence of the emotion as I cling to the pillow as if for life. I want his arms around me. I want to push my face into his neck and breathe him in.

2000, St James’ Palace

As wonderful as it is to be able to be seen with him, out in public, I feel bereft this morning when he leaves me to go to his appointments. I need to remember how far we’ve come and try not to wish for more time. The impossibility of our situation was almost easier to deal with when there was no hope of a life together. Now it feels like it could be possible, I’m impatient. And bored. So bored. It’s difficult to maintain life as it used to be. There are so many ordinary things which are now almost impossible for me to do, but that gaping hole in my life isn’t filled by being able to see him more often. We still have so little time together.

Charles tells me to occupy myself by getting involved in charities, but I feel like a fraud, like I’m trying too hard to be someone I’m not, or worse, like I’m emulating his ex-wife. I don’t want to take her place. I don’t want to be anything like her. My life is narrowing to a point where I can see why she was so angry and frustrated but I refuse to complain about the pressure to him. The constant humiliation and attacks I get from the media, from supposed friends, from The Firm, from Charles’s family, are almost crippling and everything I do is wrong. I embarrass him. I damage him. I’ve made him the laughing stock of the entire world. His younger brother has a particularly visceral reaction towards me, sitting on his mother’s knee, whispering my faults like a serpent around her neck. It’s like fighting the wind. I try at least to look the part, pay more attention to my personal grooming. He didn’t ask me to but he didn’t object when it was suggested and I’ve now got a rather generous allowance just for that. I’m torn between the knowledge that I must look the part, and a deep resentment that I must do this to be considered acceptable. But whatever I do, the photographers always see the worst. I see the pictures occasionally and I look so awful, I sometimes worry that they’re right. Why would he choose to be with someone so hideous? And then I give myself a stern talking to because I know better than any person on the planet where his heart lies. But the allowance is almost an admittance that I’m not enough for him. This deep-set hurt is so insignificant in the grand scheme of things that I ignore it, try to lock that feeling away. I don’t want to make anything in his life any more difficult than I already have done.

His distinctive footsteps distract me from my thoughts and I get up to greet him. He’s so happy to see me, I see his eyes light up and I forget the pain. He is what I am fighting for.

“Darling, thank goodness you’re here.”

Where else would I be? I don’t say it as it feels a little peevish. Instead, I kiss him and help him take off his jacket before pulling him for the tea that’s already laid out ready for us, chatting to him, asking him about his day. He looks at me peculiarly, alarm in his pale blue eyes and my heart knots with anxiety.

“Sit next to me.” He yanks my arm and I sit next to him, worried as his hands rub my thighs like he’s trying to comfort me. “I don’t think you’re being very honest with me.”

“What am I not being very honest about?”

“I think you’re being false with me to try not to upset me.”

“I’m not being false.”

“You’ve stopped arguing with me.”

“Perhaps I just agree with you more.”

“You’re always pretending to be happy, dealing with me…”

“I want you to be happy…”

“No. I feel like it’s no longer real… This, between us. It’s a facade. It’s you appeasing me. It’s not a real relationship.”

My breath chokes in my throat and nothing comes out. I feel my eyes welling up and have no control as my nose blocks up almost instantly. The worst thing about it is that he’s correct. I’m living on a tightrope, dealing with him, managing him. Concealing my own pain from him.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” 

His eyes are watery and they break me, letting uncensored tears flow down my face, each moment that passes makes it more difficult to breathe. “Please don’t do this to me again.” I don’t know how the words escape but they stab me when I hear myself say them; the memory of phoning him to be told he doesn’t want to speak to me, he doesn’t want to see me anymore, is still so raw it merges with this new agony. To my shame, I clasp onto his hands, bending double so my face is on his lap and my body erupts into sobs.

“Do what?”

“Please don’t leave me.” I feel his body tense up with my words and I know he’s angry.

“I’m not, I’m not. Of course I’m not.” 

But his voice is gentle and I feel his lips kissing the back of my neck even as I break into a fresh round of sobs. 

“No, Darling, I’ll not do that to you ever again.”

He doesn’t try to shush me as the pain from not being chosen jars through me.

“I’d convinced myself that everyone was right about you, that I needed to let you go.”

“You didn’t even tell me…”

‘I was a coward. I’m so sorry.”

He pulls his hands from the clasp of my own and then strokes my hair. I feel him kiss the back of my head even as I burrow further into his lap.

“But you told me it was okay. That you understood.”

“I did understand!”

“And you’re doing the same now. You’re so understanding but you’re doing it at your own detriment.”

“I’m sorry. Please don’t leave me.”

“I’m not leaving you. I’ll never leave you. Don’t apologise. I don’t deserve it. Please sit up, Darling.”

It takes me some time to sit up. For the shock to dissolve through my body, for my nerves to calm. He sits with me, stroking my hair, my back, until the sobs become a trickle down my face that I can’t stem and I sit up enough to look at him, feeling him holding my shoulders.

“I thought that the only way the public would accept me divorcing Diana was if you took the fall.” “You were manipulated…”

“No, I wasn’t. I thought I was making the right decision. You need to know that I chose to do that to you. It was my own poor judgement. I’m so sorry but I wasn’t listening to what people said and was swayed. I thought I was doing the right thing. You don’t need to worry about what other people are saying to me; every person on earth can tell me I should leave you and I’ll never do that again. They were some of the worst weeks of my life.”

“You just cut me out.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I was so cruel to you. It was easier to not speak to you, to let my secretary inform you I didn’t want to talk to you again. I was so, so wrong. But Milla, you just forgave me, I didn’t know you were still so upset about it.”

“You rang me hysterical, what was I meant to do? I love you. I know you.”

“That’s what you do. And I love you for it, but you internalise everything. And I don’t realise how much you’re hurting. Milla, that was four years ago, you sheltered me from that for far too long. What are you hiding from me now?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s a lie. Darling, I want this relationship, but I want it to be a relationship between two adults. Let me in.”

I shake my head at him, trying to stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. It’s too difficult.

“Do you not trust me?”

No. I don’t. I know him too well. I know I can’t do this. I have to be the strong one. “Yes, I trust you.”

“You don’t trust me.” 

I hear his sigh and I reach for him automatically, knowing I’ve hurt him, wrapping my arms around his head, feeling his arms encompass me. “It’s too much, all at once. I do trust you.” I’m trying to appease him and I’m not sure he believes me.

“Well then, start small. Tell me one thing that is hurting you.”

We’re silent for a long time. Long enough for the tears to dry on my cheeks, enough to almost be in a daze of sleep. He holds me and doesn’t let go. He’s waiting for me. “Sometimes…” But the words tie around my tongue and it’s like a brace, holding them in. I feel his thumb rubbing against my shoulder and I know he’s waiting. I take a breath, “Sometimes I allow it to get to me…” I feel my chest constraining the words and they tail off. He waits but I can’t continue.

“What gets to you, Darling?”

 “What,” I clear my throat, “people say about me.”

“Is there anything in particular?”

“Everything.”

“What’s everything? Tell me, Darling.”

“I can’t.”

“Well shall I run through the things I think you might be bothered by and you can just tell me yes or no?”

I feel like he’s scraping away at my insides with a scalpel and I have to evade the scrutiny. “It’s not one thing. It’s just a cumulation of everything. I’m being silly.”

“You’re not being silly. I don’t think any person alive has ever had to suffer the indignities you’ve suffered.”

“It doesn’t bother me…” 

“It evidently does…”

“It doesn’t. It’s not that people say things, it’s that because of their words, we’re pulled apart.”

 I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I exposed you to the press. I’m sorry that you’ve been made into a pariah. I’m sorry that loving me has hurt you so much. But it’s going to get better, I promise you, My Darling, I will do everything I can to make things better and we’ll be together eventually.”

And even as I love him for his words and I tell him, it’s not the whole truth. What upsets me is that I am never, and never will be, his first priority. Although the words and spite cause me pain, I can rise above them. What makes my heart ache is the understanding that I am an embarrassment that he needs to manage, carefully mould into his life. If I ever become too damaged to rehabilitate, he’ll drop me like a stone to ensure the good standing of his family. It’s not something I will ever say. I understood this a long time ago and I accept it. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt.

[mariacallous]

According to a new investigation from Novaya Gazeta Europe, Chechnya Governor Ramzan Kadyrov was diagnosed with pancreatic necrosis in 2019 and isn’t long for this world. Since then, he’s supposedly undergone “regular procedures,” including surgeries, at an elite hospital in Moscow. A bout of COVID-19 in 2020 reportedly further degraded his health, kicking off another round of sudden weight loss. His kidneys reportedly started to fail and fluid built up in his lungs, making it difficult for him to speak and walk. After Novaya released the first part of this investigation, Kadyrov’s Telegram channel shared its first video in five days, posting footage of Kadyrov meeting with his cabinet to discuss the war in Ukraine.

Kadyrov’s speech is slurred and he barely moves. He doesn’t look good. He looks like the title character in Weekend at Bernie’s. 

Novaya Gazeta has released two more installments in this story since that first report, and a fourth article is due out soon. On this week’s episode of The Naked Pravda, Meduza spoke to journalist Kirill Martynov, the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta Europe, to dig into these revelations and learn more about the predicament of Russia’s second-worst autocrat.

Timestamps for this episode:

(5:02) Why is Ramzan Kadyrov so hard to replace as head of Chechnya?

(10:31) What’s so special about Major General Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the “Akhmat” Chechen Volunteer Special Forces Association?

(15:18) Protecting Kadyrov’s sons by putting them in the limelight

(20:01) Novaya Gazeta Europe’s sources for this investigation

[invincible-selfxmade-punk]

I've been in a very odd mood or at least have felt odd all day. I think it just has something to do with the fact that the year is ending. One more day of winter break tomorrow and then Monday back to work. I am definitely not ready to go back to work. I did not miss the kids at all.😅

I'm not sure I'm able to gauge what kind of year this has been.

I have been relatively healthy. I have not been in the hospital. And I have not missed many days of work. That has been a blessing.

My eyesight has gotten worse but some days it is better. I am hoping a corneal transplant this coming year will change that and will help me have better eyesight everyday.

I think most of my mobility problems has really been chalked up to anxiety. Because instead of fight or flight, with me it is freeze and I cannot move when I am anxious. I think if I can maybe up my dose of anti-anxiety meds it will help me.

I did manage to get on some ADD meds but so far they have not done anything, but of course it is a very low starter dose.

We lost our oldest cat, Gray, in April. We had him for 14 years and he was not a kitten when we found him so who knows how old he actually was. It still hurts a lot because he died of liver and kidney failure. And I keep wishing that we could have done something for him, but we are just so poor.

This month we finally got a new cat and he is the sweetest, most docile, lovable thing in the world. All he wants to do is eat and snuggle. The other cats have not been very welcoming but I'm hoping they get used to him soon.

It's been a very rough year teaching the covid generation, who are emotionally first graders, intellectually third graders, but physically 5th graders.

We have a new principal and that has been pretty good. I am still shell-shocked at how vicious the previous principal was with me during my last evaluation in May.

I am old and disabled enough at this point in my life that I know teaching is pretty much all I'm going to be able to do for the rest of my life. But that is a good thing because it is what I love and it is what I have wanted to do since the early 2000s and I am very very lucky to be able to have a job doing it.

However it is daunting to grow old. Whoever said growing old is not for sissies definitely knew what they were talking about. It frustrates and terrifies my husband and he cannot deal with it at all. He is constantly worried about me and then blames me for that worry as if this is something I have chosen to do just to spite him.

In years previous to covid I would make a great countdown of how many movies, live wrestling events and concerts I have gone to. This year I have not seen one single movie in a movie theater. There is not one in town or at least wasn't until recently. And I cannot see well enough to drive myself out of town anymore. Plus it takes a lot of money to do that: gas money, $30 for the tickets, $30 for lunch or dinner, $20 for popcorn & a soda. Since we have moved into a bigger house where we are paying for everything: rent water garbage electricity Etc there is not a penny to spare.

But we were lucky enough to go to one amazing concert(Def Lep/Joan Jett/Poison, Motley Crue).

I'm just extremely grateful to have a job, to be healthy, and still be alive.

I'm hoping for a blessed 2023 for everyone.

As someone born in '70s I could not even have conceived of living this long to be able to even say that I lived into the 2020s---- if I stopped think about it too much it blows my mind.

[rabbitcruiser]

More Herbs, Less Salt Day

Enjoy More Herbs, Less Salt Day on August 29 by reassessing your sodium intake. We understand that maintaining a balanced, healthy diet is easier said than done — especially since the flavor suffers the most, but healthy eating is no longer bland and boring! Spices and aromatic herbs are a great way to reduce salt in meals and amp up the taste. Your taste buds won’t know what they are missing, and your body will be grateful.

History of More Herbs, Less Salt Day

The origins of More Herbs, Less Salt Day are unknown, but the holiday was created in an effort to make people analyze their diets and reduce the amount of sodium in it. As one of the key ingredients in most meals, and shaken on top of food, the recommended daily amount of salt is exceeded without most people realizing it.

Salt isn’t exactly bad for us, but as with everything else, too much of a good thing can do more harm than good. Sodium is an important electrolyte needed by our bodies for nerve and muscle function. However, excessive intake of salt can have negative results like hypertension, heart disease, and bloating. Cardiovascular disease can lead to a stroke, heart attack, and even death. The renal function of kidneys can also be severely damaged, as blood flow to the kidney tissue is disrupted. Tests done on mice also show a linkage with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease due to high sodium intake,

The Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) recommended daily consumption of salt less than 1500 milligrams. Fast food utilizes a lot of salt and is a large contributor to increasing the intake of salt in our bodies. Many one-time fast food meals contain 2000 milligrams or more of salt! This is why it is important to prepare meals at home and control the amount of salt going into our meals. More Herbs, Less Salt Day aims to encourage people to enhance the flavor of their food using herbs and spices instead of heaping large amounts of salt. This way the taste won’t be compromised, and may even turn out better.

This is why it is important to prepare meals at home. It gives us control over how much sodium goes into our meals.

EAting less salt is an excellent idea for everyone regardless of age or overall health. Most Americans eat more processed foods than they should, which is the #1 culprit of adding additional salt to our diet but reducing salt is obvious when you add more flavor with fresh herbs. If you don’t have an herb garden, the good news is most grocery stores stock fresh herbs in the produce section. This time of year is perfect for fresh basil, cilantro, and parsley, but you can also find fresh rosemary, dill, sage, and other several herbs. On the other hand, a diet low in sodium is linked to increased cognitive function and overall health.

More Herbs, Less Salt Day timeline

6th Century This is Gold!

Moorish merchants trade salt in exchange for gold In the Sub-Sahara,

1997 The DRI

The Dietary Reference Intake is introduced, broadening the existing Recommended Dietary Allowances guidelines.

2009 Around the World

The average consumption of sodium in 33 countries ranges from 2700 to 4900 milligrams per day.

2020 Revised Intake

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults consume no more than 5 grams (just under a teaspoon) of salt per day.

More Herbs, Less Salt Day FAQs

Is salt good for humans?

Salt is an essential nutrient for the human body, balancing fluids in the blood, and regulating blood pressure. It also supports healthy muscle and nerve functions.

What is the difference between sea salt and table salt?

The main differences between sea salt and table salt are in their tastes, texture, and processing.

Which salt is lowest in sodium?

Celtic salt has the least amount of sodium and the highest content of magnesium and calcium.

How To Celebrate More Herbs, Less Salt Day

Read food labels

Prepare a no-salt seasoning blend

Grow fresh herbs in your garden

Find out how much sodium is in your grocery food, and adjust accordingly, or cut back completely. Some brands have more sodium in their products than others, so be a wise shopper!

Get experimental and use different herbs and spices to create the perfect seasoning that you can use instead of salt. It will take time to get right and get used to the absence of salt, but with the variety of ingredients easily available, you’ll have a winning recipe!

Growing herbs in your garden is quite simple and less expensive than buying organic from stores. Rosemary, Thyme, and other herbs require little effort for planting, and can really elevate the taste of a dish as compared to salt.

5 Facts About Salt That You Should Know

A spoonful of salt

That’s a lot of salt

Higher risk of Osteoporosis

May increase the risk for stomach cancer

Salt is addictive

Consuming just one teaspoon of salt exceeds the daily recommended amount of sodium.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the average American consumes 3400 milligrams of salt daily. This is nearly 35% more than the recommended daily intake.

The more salt we eat, the more calcium we lose from our body through urination. This also makes us vulnerable to diseases like Osteoporosis.

According to a study published in the 2014 journal of Cancer Treatment and Research, a high-salt diet is linked to stomach cancer.

Some studies found that salt affects our brain the same way some drugs and cigarettes do.

Why We Love More Herbs, Less Salt Day

It encourages smart grocery shopping

Home cooking

Herbs and spices are fantastic!

The amount of preservatives, additives, sodium, and more that go into prepackaged food is insane! Holidays like More Herbs, Less Salt Day encourage people to be mindful about their grocery shopping, and be smart about what they are buying, and eating.

The only way to minimize sodium intake and control how much of it we are consuming is to switch to cooking meals at home.

The taste, aroma, and lightness of herbs and some spices are phenomenal! Meals become more appetizing, like simmering pasta sauce, the smell of garlic, etc.

Source

[mediamonarchy]

https://mediamonarchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/20240328_MorningMonarchy.mp3 Download MP3 Kate’s a cancer, mother scratchers and shigella TV stars + this day in history w/”Solar radiation management” euphemism to replace “#geoengineering” and our song of the day by Tipene on your #MorningMonarchy for March 28, 2024. Notes/Links: Would you try ant-flavoured crisps? Scientists claim the insects have a ‘nutty, sweet and caramel-like’ flavour – but warn they can leave an aftertaste of ‘urine-like off-flavours’ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13208959/ants-nutty-sweet-flavour-urine.html Bizarre ‘alien egg pods’ are dragged out of an Oklahoma lake https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13210851/Bizarre-alien-egg-pods-spotted-Oklahoma-lake.html Woman dies after being chased by bear in Slovakia https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68584139 Goat in Minnesota tests positive for bird flu, first ever US case https://archive.is/kK6Qr Migrants in NYC seen cooking rats on the side of the street https://hip-hopvibe.com/news/migrants-in-nyc-seen-cooking-rats-on-the-side-of-the-street/ Hospital patients died after eating chicken mayo sandwiches contaminated with listeria, inquest concludes https://news.sky.com/story/manchester-royal-infirmary-deaths-beverley-sowah-and-enid-heap-died-after-eating-chicken-sandwiches-contaminated-with-listeria-inquest-concludes-13095394 Police investigating after dozens of dead animals dumped outside shop https://news.sky.com/story/hampshire-police-investigating-after-dozens-of-dead-animals-dumped-outside-shop-13096182 Dolphin in Zoo Choked to Death on Fake Seaweed https://www.newsweek.com/dolphin-zoo-choked-death-fake-seaweed-1883514 Pig kidney transplanted into living person in world first https://news.sky.com/story/pig-kidney-transplanted-into-living-person-in-world-first-13099267 Mrna Vaccines Approved For Pigs Taking Mystery Meat To New Levels – Good Ranchers https://www.goodranchers.com/blog/mrna-vaccines-approved-for-pigs-taking-mystery-meat-to-new-levels Sick people leaving workforce at record highs https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68639144 No such thing as ‘long COVID,’ health agency says in shocking claim https://nypost.com/2024/03/14/lifestyle/no-such-thing-as-long-covid-health-agency-says-in-shock-claim-unnecessary-fear/ Pfizer COVID-19 Jab Manufacturing Plant Reportedly Spills Over 1,000 Gallons Of Harmful Chemical https://100percentfedup.com/pfizer-covid-19-jab-manufacturing-plant-reportedly-spills-over-1000-gallons-of-harmful-chemical/ Pfizer tags 3 U.S. manufacturing sites for possible COVID-19 vaccine launch (May 7, 2020) https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/pfizer-to-incorporate-3-u-s-sites-for-possible-covid-19-vaccine-launch Video: Kate Middleton Body Double Video EXPOSED ⚠️ https://rumble.com/v4k2n6b-kate-middleton-body-double-video-exposed-.html Princess Kate’s cancer treatment news sparks remorse from people who spread conspiracies and memes online; People on social media said they felt bad poking fun at the princess after she shared news that she is undergoing chemotherapy. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/princess-kates-cancer-treatment-news-sparks-remorse-people-spread-cons-rcna144684 UK scientists are creating the world’s first lung cancer vaccine; LungVax uses the same tech as the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine. https://metro.co.uk/2024/03/22/scientists-developing-a-groundbreaking-lung-cancer-vaccine-20513774/ Kate Middleton Receives First Dose of COVID Vaccine: ‘I’m Hugely Grateful’; The Duchess of Cambridge received her first shot on Friday, after returning home from Scotland (May 29, 2021) https://archive.is/YBqFj Video: Cancer out of no where. https://vxtwitter.com/DiedSuddenly_/status/1771724829164507642 Video: Kate Middleton says she was diagnosed with cancer, is undergoing chemotherapy (Audio) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Jlr9Xh3gA Image: @Hybrid’s Cover Art – P.O.W.’s’ Natural Causes’ https://mediamonarchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/20240328_Morn...

[brookston]

Holidays 3.14

Holidays

Bird Sanctuary Day

Celebrate Scientists Day

Crowdfunding Day

Daisy Day (French Republic)

Day of Solidarity (Lebanon)

The Day That Krabs Fries (SpongeBob Squarepants)

Dietician’s Day (Canada)

Dita e Veres (Summer Day; Albania)

Dog Theft Awareness Day (UK)

Dribble to Work Day

Emakeelepäev (Estonian Native language Day; Estonia)

Equal Pay Day 2023 ( website ) 

Genius Day

Gold Record Day

Gyalpyo (a.k.a. Gyallo Loshar (Nepal)

Heroes Day (Saint Vincent and Grenadines)

Immortal Barzani Day (Iraq)

International Ask A Question Day

International Day of Action for Rivers

International Day of Mathematics

International Social Prescribing Day

Learn About Butterflies Day

Legal Assistance Day

Legal Assistants Day

Logistics Innovation Day

Medicine Day (Turkey)

Moth-Er Day

Mother Tongue Day (Estonia)

My Freedom Day

Nanakshahi New Year (Sikhism)

National Botox Cosmetic Day

National Children's Craft Day

National Dog Theft Awareness Day (UK)

National Heroes Day (Saint Vincent and Grenadines)

National Landscape Day (Italy)

National Valerie Day

National Write Your Story Day

Native Language Day (Estonia)

Orthodox Book Day (Russia)

Pi Day

Professional Speakers Celebration Day

Save a Spider Day

Science Education Day

Steak and BJ Day [ website ]

Ten Most Wanted Day

314 Day

University Mental Health Day (UK)

Vinterfestuka begins (Narvik Sun Pageant; Norway)

Volunteer Day (Ukraine)

White Day (China, Japan, Korea)

World Book Day

World Day of Endometriosis

World Imagination Day

World Sikh Environment Day

Zeppelin Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Bake a Pie Day (a.k.a. Bake a Pie in Solidarity Day)

National Potato Chip Day

National Reuben Sandwich Day

2nd Thursday in March

International School Meals Day [2nd Thursday]

Popcorn Lovers Day [2nd Thursday]

Railroad Day [2nd Thursday]

World Kidney Day [2nd Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning March 14 (2nd Week)

National Money Collectors Week [thru 3.16]

Independence & Related Days

Aebmark (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Constitution Day (Andorra)

Kingdom of Wellmoore (Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

New Year’s Days

Ghanian New Year’s celebration begins [thru 3.26]

Festivals Beginning March 14, 2024

AKC National Agility Championship [thru 3.17]

Florida Winefest (Sarasota, Florida) [thru 3.16]

Frozen Dead Guy Days (Nederland, Colorado) [thru 3.17]

Iowa Rabbit Festival (Iowa, Louisiana) [thru 3.16]

llano River Chuck Wagon Cook-Off (Llano, Texas) [thru 3.16]

Minsk International Book Fair (Minsk, Belarus) [thru 3.17]

Oakland restaurant Week (Oakland, California) [thru 3.24]

Rolling Loud California (Inglewood, California) [thru 3.17]

Vilnius International Film Festival or Kino Pavasaris (Vilnius, Lithuania) [thru 3.27]

Feast Days

Acepsimas, Bishop of Assyria (Christian; Saint)

Adolph Gottlieb (Artology)

Archimedes Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Boniface, Bishop of Ross, in Scotland (Christian; Saint)

Charlene the Chicken (Muppetism)

Day of Ua Kit (Ancient Egypt Serpent Goddess; Everyday Wicca)

The Diasia (Festival to Ward Off Poverty; Ancient Greece)

Equirria (Ancient Roman Chariot and Horse Race; 2nd of 2 / 1st one Feb. 27)

Eutychius (a.k.a. Eustathius; Christian; Martyr)

Feast of Hyperborea

Ferdinand Hodler (Artology)

Festival of Osiris, God of the Afterlife (Ancient Egypt; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Festival of Veturius Mamurius (Armor Makers; Ancient Rome)

Georges de La Tour (Artology)

Hindu New Year (Indonesia)

Horton Foote (Writerism)

Joseph and Aithilahas (Christian; Martyrs)

Leobinus (Christian; Saint)

Matilda of Ringelheim, Queen of Germany (a.k.a. Maud; Christian; Saint)

Media Hiems IV (Pagan)

Ogronios (The Time of Ice; Celtic Book of Days)

Pi Day (Pastafarian)

Reginald Marsh (Artology)

Zeno (Positivist; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Prime Number Day: 73 [21 of 72]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [13 of 37]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 12 of 60)

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [11 of 30]

Premieres

Allegiant (Film; 2016)

Bad Words (Film; 2014)

Bend it Like Beckham (Film; 2003)

Bird of Paradise (Film; 1951)

Body and Soul by Joe Jackson (Album; 1984)

A Boy Named Goo, by The Goo Goo Dolls (Album; 1995)

Cops and Robbers, featuring Barney Bear (MGM Cartoon; 1953)

Feed the Kittyt (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1938)

The First Swallow (MGM Cartoons; 1942)

Freudy Cat (WB LT Cartoon; 1964)

Gung Ho (Film; 1986)

Hair (Film; 1979)

Horton Hears.a Who! (Animated Film; 2008)

Laughing Gas (Ub Iwerks Cartoon; 1931)

The Legend of Rockabye Point (Chilly Willy Cartoon; 1955)

Lunch with a Punch (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1952)

Mexican Baseball (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1947)

The Mikado, by Gilbert & Sullivan (Comic Opera; 1879)

The New English Bible New Testament (Bible; 1961)

The Pacific (TV Mini-Series; 2010)

The Prisoner of Second Avenue (Film; 1975)

The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (Film; 1958)

3 Feet High and Rising, by De La Soul (Album; 1989)

Tommy (Film; 1975)

Twinkletoes Gets the Bird (Animated Antics Cartoon; 1941)

Under the Skin (Film; 2014)

Unswept Hare (WB MM Cartoon; 1953)

Veronica Mars (Film; 2014)

Wins Out (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1932)

Today’s Name Days

Eva, Evelyn, Mathilde (Austria)

Borislava, Borka, Matilda, Miljana (Croatia)

Matylda, Rút (Czech Republic)

Eutychius (Denmark)

Malde, Maldi, Matilde, Meta, Milda, Milde, Tilde (Estonia)

Malla, Matilda, Mette, Tilda (Finland)

Mathilde (France)

Eva, Evelyn, Mathilde (Germany)

Benedict, Efrasios, Mathilde (Greece)

Matild (Hungary)

Matilde, Valeriano (Italy)

Matilde, Tilda, Ulrika (Latvia)

Darmantas, Karigailė, Matilda (Lithuania)

Mathilde, Mette (Norway)

Bożeciecha, Jakub, Leon, Matylda, Mechtylda, Michał (Poland)

Benedict (Romania)

Antonina (Russia)

Matilda (Slovakia)

Matilde (Spain)

Matilda, Maud (Sweden)

Benedict, Rostyslav, Slavko (Ukrainę)

Adalbert, Albert, Alberto, Dalbert, Delbert, Elbert, Mathilda, Matilda, Maude, Tilda (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 74 of 2024; 292 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 11 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Nuin (Ash) [Day 26 of 28]

Chinese: Month 2 (Ding-Mao), Day 5 (Ding-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025)

Hebrew: 4 Adair II 5784

Islamic: 4 Ramadan 1445

J Cal: 14 Green; Sevenday [14 of 30]

Julian: 1 March 2024

Moon: 24%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 18 Aristotle (3rd Month) [Cicero]

Runic Half Month: Beore (Birch Tree) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 85 of 89)

Week: 2nd Week of March

Zodiac: Pisces (Day 25 of 30)

Calendar Changes

March (a.k.a. Martius; Julian Calendar) [Month 3 of 12]

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 3.14

Holidays

Bird Sanctuary Day

Celebrate Scientists Day

Crowdfunding Day

Daisy Day (French Republic)

Day of Solidarity (Lebanon)

The Day That Krabs Fries (SpongeBob Squarepants)

Dietician’s Day (Canada)

Dita e Veres (Summer Day; Albania)

Dog Theft Awareness Day (UK)

Dribble to Work Day

Emakeelepäev (Estonian Native language Day; Estonia)

Equal Pay Day 2023 ( website ) 

Genius Day

Gold Record Day

Gyalpyo (a.k.a. Gyallo Loshar (Nepal)

Heroes Day (Saint Vincent and Grenadines)

Immortal Barzani Day (Iraq)

International Ask A Question Day

International Day of Action for Rivers

International Day of Mathematics

International Social Prescribing Day

Learn About Butterflies Day

Legal Assistance Day

Legal Assistants Day

Logistics Innovation Day

Medicine Day (Turkey)

Moth-Er Day

Mother Tongue Day (Estonia)

My Freedom Day

Nanakshahi New Year (Sikhism)

National Botox Cosmetic Day

National Children's Craft Day

National Dog Theft Awareness Day (UK)

National Heroes Day (Saint Vincent and Grenadines)

National Landscape Day (Italy)

National Valerie Day

National Write Your Story Day

Native Language Day (Estonia)

Orthodox Book Day (Russia)

Pi Day

Professional Speakers Celebration Day

Save a Spider Day

Science Education Day

Steak and BJ Day [ website ]

Ten Most Wanted Day

314 Day

University Mental Health Day (UK)

Vinterfestuka begins (Narvik Sun Pageant; Norway)

Volunteer Day (Ukraine)

White Day (China, Japan, Korea)

World Book Day

World Day of Endometriosis

World Imagination Day

World Sikh Environment Day

Zeppelin Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Bake a Pie Day (a.k.a. Bake a Pie in Solidarity Day)

National Potato Chip Day

National Reuben Sandwich Day

2nd Thursday in March

International School Meals Day [2nd Thursday]

Popcorn Lovers Day [2nd Thursday]

Railroad Day [2nd Thursday]

World Kidney Day [2nd Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning March 14 (2nd Week)

National Money Collectors Week [thru 3.16]

Independence & Related Days

Aebmark (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Constitution Day (Andorra)

Kingdom of Wellmoore (Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

New Year’s Days

Ghanian New Year’s celebration begins [thru 3.26]

Festivals Beginning March 14, 2024

AKC National Agility Championship [thru 3.17]

Florida Winefest (Sarasota, Florida) [thru 3.16]

Frozen Dead Guy Days (Nederland, Colorado) [thru 3.17]

Iowa Rabbit Festival (Iowa, Louisiana) [thru 3.16]

llano River Chuck Wagon Cook-Off (Llano, Texas) [thru 3.16]

Minsk International Book Fair (Minsk, Belarus) [thru 3.17]

Oakland restaurant Week (Oakland, California) [thru 3.24]

Rolling Loud California (Inglewood, California) [thru 3.17]

Vilnius International Film Festival or Kino Pavasaris (Vilnius, Lithuania) [thru 3.27]

Feast Days

Acepsimas, Bishop of Assyria (Christian; Saint)

Adolph Gottlieb (Artology)

Archimedes Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Boniface, Bishop of Ross, in Scotland (Christian; Saint)

Charlene the Chicken (Muppetism)

Day of Ua Kit (Ancient Egypt Serpent Goddess; Everyday Wicca)

The Diasia (Festival to Ward Off Poverty; Ancient Greece)

Equirria (Ancient Roman Chariot and Horse Race; 2nd of 2 / 1st one Feb. 27)

Eutychius (a.k.a. Eustathius; Christian; Martyr)

Feast of Hyperborea

Ferdinand Hodler (Artology)

Festival of Osiris, God of the Afterlife (Ancient Egypt; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Festival of Veturius Mamurius (Armor Makers; Ancient Rome)

Georges de La Tour (Artology)

Hindu New Year (Indonesia)

Horton Foote (Writerism)

Joseph and Aithilahas (Christian; Martyrs)

Leobinus (Christian; Saint)

Matilda of Ringelheim, Queen of Germany (a.k.a. Maud; Christian; Saint)

Media Hiems IV (Pagan)

Ogronios (The Time of Ice; Celtic Book of Days)

Pi Day (Pastafarian)

Reginald Marsh (Artology)

Zeno (Positivist; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Prime Number Day: 73 [21 of 72]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [13 of 37]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 12 of 60)

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [11 of 30]

Premieres

Allegiant (Film; 2016)

Bad Words (Film; 2014)

Bend it Like Beckham (Film; 2003)

Bird of Paradise (Film; 1951)

Body and Soul by Joe Jackson (Album; 1984)

A Boy Named Goo, by The Goo Goo Dolls (Album; 1995)

Cops and Robbers, featuring Barney Bear (MGM Cartoon; 1953)

Feed the Kittyt (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1938)

The First Swallow (MGM Cartoons; 1942)

Freudy Cat (WB LT Cartoon; 1964)

Gung Ho (Film; 1986)

Hair (Film; 1979)

Horton Hears.a Who! (Animated Film; 2008)

Laughing Gas (Ub Iwerks Cartoon; 1931)

The Legend of Rockabye Point (Chilly Willy Cartoon; 1955)

Lunch with a Punch (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1952)

Mexican Baseball (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1947)

The Mikado, by Gilbert & Sullivan (Comic Opera; 1879)

The New English Bible New Testament (Bible; 1961)

The Pacific (TV Mini-Series; 2010)

The Prisoner of Second Avenue (Film; 1975)

The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (Film; 1958)

3 Feet High and Rising, by De La Soul (Album; 1989)

Tommy (Film; 1975)

Twinkletoes Gets the Bird (Animated Antics Cartoon; 1941)

Under the Skin (Film; 2014)

Unswept Hare (WB MM Cartoon; 1953)

Veronica Mars (Film; 2014)

Wins Out (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1932)

Today’s Name Days

Eva, Evelyn, Mathilde (Austria)

Borislava, Borka, Matilda, Miljana (Croatia)

Matylda, Rút (Czech Republic)

Eutychius (Denmark)

Malde, Maldi, Matilde, Meta, Milda, Milde, Tilde (Estonia)

Malla, Matilda, Mette, Tilda (Finland)

Mathilde (France)

Eva, Evelyn, Mathilde (Germany)

Benedict, Efrasios, Mathilde (Greece)

Matild (Hungary)

Matilde, Valeriano (Italy)

Matilde, Tilda, Ulrika (Latvia)

Darmantas, Karigailė, Matilda (Lithuania)

Mathilde, Mette (Norway)

Bożeciecha, Jakub, Leon, Matylda, Mechtylda, Michał (Poland)

Benedict (Romania)

Antonina (Russia)

Matilda (Slovakia)

Matilde (Spain)

Matilda, Maud (Sweden)

Benedict, Rostyslav, Slavko (Ukrainę)

Adalbert, Albert, Alberto, Dalbert, Delbert, Elbert, Mathilda, Matilda, Maude, Tilda (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 74 of 2024; 292 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 11 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Nuin (Ash) [Day 26 of 28]

Chinese: Month 2 (Ding-Mao), Day 5 (Ding-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025)

Hebrew: 4 Adair II 5784

Islamic: 4 Ramadan 1445

J Cal: 14 Green; Sevenday [14 of 30]

Julian: 1 March 2024

Moon: 24%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 18 Aristotle (3rd Month) [Cicero]

Runic Half Month: Beore (Birch Tree) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 85 of 89)

Week: 2nd Week of March

Zodiac: Pisces (Day 25 of 30)

Calendar Changes

March (a.k.a. Martius; Julian Calendar) [Month 3 of 12]