#all my white blood cells are up 🤔

[theretirementstory]

23/06/2024. Sharing memories from 2022 when a visit to Paris meant seeing the sights, even if from a distance. Not like to visits to Paris now which entail seeing the inside of a hospital building!

I arrived in Paris on Monday supposedly for three days, but I suppose by now you know how it goes, anything that can go wrong will go wrong! It’s all about my blood count, namely the platelets which even with meds, daily transfusions etc will not rise above an 8. A healthy person has a low platelet count if it falls below 150 so you see the problem. Treatment is due tomorrow so I only hope that that will trigger a positive response.

I was a bit grumpy when they said I had to stay in hospital, I hadn’t brought much in the food line with me, can you believe the doctor, yes THE DOCTOR went shopping for crisps and Mars Bars for me! My white blood cell count increased and I was allowed to go to the cafeteria to take a coffee, on my own! It was good to be allowed out of my room, I did some crosswords and then came back. It was short lived though as the count fell the following day 🤔.

My “boy scouting skills” let me down this time as I only brought two books with me and am now having to limit the number of chapters I read a day 😩. Plus my electoral papers are 3.5 hours away so I doubt I will be able to cast my vote. What a flaming “to do”.

It’s the Euros football competition and my two teams, England and France are making hard work of it. Am I surprised? Not really, too many matches may be tiring out these footballers who are placed on pedestals only to be “kicked off” when they fail to achieve all that they have been bolstered up to do.

The Tour de France starts on the 29 June, another opportunity for “athlete bashing” when our hopefuls fail to achieve.

It’s the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend and another sport where more and more dates are added all to make someone a lot of money. This used to be the sport I followed in the days of Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen etc etc. It was a time when the drivers actually drove the cars, I haven’t watched it for 7 years now but feel like it’s not the same. Ok I know things have to change but surely for the better. (This is my opinion only).

Just in case you had forgotten we have had the longest day and summer has officially arrived (somewhere).

Last night “The Photographer” and “The Jetsetter” went to the Coop Live in Manchester to see “The Killers” and “Travis”. Still waiting to hear how it went.

“The Photographer” started his new job this week, it looks as if it was a good week. He was invited to the “Summer Bash” in London this coming Friday, sounds like fun. As well as starting the new job, it’s a new place to live and he wants to make friends so managed to find a group where he could have a game of football, to fill in one evening. All positive stuff.

“The Reconnect Navigator” was out on an organised Ghost Hunt last night. It wasn’t “The Trainee Solicitors” thing so no idea what he was doing, probably lost in a book! It’s been another busy time for him this week going between Uni and work. Another two weeks of this course and it will be over and he can settle back into his job.

I am pleased that my family are doing so well, it’s good to be able to do things independently as it gives you more to talk about with your partner. Well I guess that’s how it works 😉.

So many friends, French, English and American have been in touch with me, trying to find out how I am. It’s great to have all these people rooting for me.

Anie seems to have been having a good holiday, she was in the Loire the other day, presumably heading home.

Friday night, all over France, was the fête de la musique. The centre of Bar-sur-Aube was taken over with musical activities, jazz, rock, choirs, duo’s or single singers. It looked to be buzzing! That’s what I like about France always some sort of fete to get you out and about.

Not sure if either of these songs were sung but here are my picks for this week.

The first is by No Doubt, it’s “Don’t Speak” from 1996.

The second is by The Verve, it’s Bitter Sweet Symphony from 1997.

Such choices for me this Sunday morning: a crossword perhaps, or a snooze or maybe I can read my 15 chapters of the book, decisions, decisions!

Whatever you are doing today, I hope the sun shines on you.

Have a good week until next week.

[lonespektr]

SEPTEMBER 17TH HORROR WATCH

Eight or Silver (The Cursed) {2021}

The war of who when??

Trenches

Mustard gas

Tent surgery, limb bucket

Silver bullet in one dude 😮

35 years prior

Interior

Children fancy house

Not actually bathing whine wash room and you half nekkid splashing water hun if you don't puck up some SOAP atrocious hygiene number one most horrific element 🧼🧼🧼🧼🧼🧼🧼🧼

Creepa

Melt down coins

How you WASTIN silver

Not a grill??!!

With elongated canines with sigils??

Did you even get a gum/teeth mold

White people stealing roma land after not bathing 🧼🧼🧼🧼

Hire mercenaries to remove them from the land

Okay lots of short scenes

I really dislike shirt cut exposition scenes it's like a montage that's a homework assignment

I would literally rather read it, pick it up from context, or have longer scenes that FLOW

But just exposition CUT diff info CUT Another info dump scene CUT

I'ont like it

They running the Roma off

Burnt the lil camp

The laughing scenes sound like women WHIST

A woman is being carried off to be r*ped so that's a choice!??

There's only men having fun from tourment sooooo

Silver grill maker and grill receiver are caught

Gruesome literally hacked up man trussed him like a scarecrow

Woman is being buried alive

I WOULD appreciate the implication of white woman in this with the cut to them fancy in the house as in -this is all on their behalf

If not for the voiceover of women in joyus laughter while the men are committing the heinous

Tbd on these elements???

Magpies??

Young woman night mare

Undead scarecrow man now

New pathologist rolls into town, third shot of white boy training to be a colonizers

Magpies

He's digging now too

All the children having the same dream

In this instance sleep walking

He dreamed of both parties

Classic floating woman scene

Second eight for silver nursery reference

Apparently they have settlement banishment powers

The elders for id it?

Okay so all children have dreamed it

OKAY

Why would they bury it??

Whisper teeth curse?? Like the one ring type shit

Now he biting kids

BRUH you ignoring your children

They screaming and banging.

Boy bit wheezing, from???

His airway doesn't seem compromised.swelling infection?

Another jump cut dream

Who moves a sheet? She should have looked down or something

Vines??

Wtf

Lots of body horror

They literally let their children run off

Why is the biter normal and walking around??? Hello

He doesn't remember

Thirty pieces of silver

Now how YOU KNOW

Bruh u rippin the bible bruh

Teeth in the church

Ok the children are cursed cause they parents colonizers

U sure that's ed bro?

Is that barley?

Literally came by and ripped the hand off but it still works??

One down??

They brought the pathologist

Detective pathologist inspects the house and boards the windows

They making that lil girl ding

White entertaining habits are wild

She crying and the dad is mad at her

He's the only adult to dream (younger but absolutely an adult)

Bonus dream after digging

He dreamed mr scarecrow had his wife n kid

Wait now who did she ask was gon die??

His mobile old timey microscope is seeing molecules??

I have just googled and yes them old ass microscopes could see a blood cell 🤔🤷🏿‍♀️

My scincerest apologies to old ass microscopes

Mystery remains unanswered why would a wild animal break into a house?

I knew they were going to reverse that

Bro looking like the midnight mass vampire

Look the woman is useless and got attacked and fell and is screeching

Out the second floor

Rooted?

Cacooned

Odd ECOVAMPIRE

I appreciate the novelty

You get bit then you grow roots and get watered then cacooned

Now you are vampire

This mother fucker was listening outside the door waiting for somebody to say magic??

Peak WASP never talk about the problem proto WASP

Supress, deny, hide, disregard

He going hunting now

His fam got kit by the same curse back where??

He finally found the real body

A classic stick pit trap

Nice shot with the white trees

Birtch?

Already speared

Clearly humanoid bro

How do you get down there or back out after you pointy them sticks?

Not what's his face in a bit role

Bro what dod dragons rumor to look like back then

They not helping

He's a shit surgeon

There's the girl inside the body

Stil screaming

FIRST thing out his mouth is DON'T TELL

WASP SHIT

Hide it from your wife

It's body horror+ evo horror and jump cuts and the horror of colonialism

Bro just knock like a normal person why you gotta scare everybody

Them shiloh looking begals taking me out

Mam why are you out doing laundry we are on lock down

Raiding party this is your own fault

Another award winning screen that's what women do scream

And they of course cut to the laundry now dirty it's very women are useless

Like they can't even clean the laundry

What if when aren't like after thoughts in films

Maid made it, so now she van turn inside the home

Is this struggling class commentary will the poor kill the rich

Bro leave in the middle of the night???

Now you know the cost of greed

Bro you also can't stay in somebody house uninvited week maybe he meant in town

I'm bout to fall asleep I'm hella exhausted i hiked many miles today

Maid biting it

They usually bust out the winda though

Omg making coffee i thought he was making more silver bullets 🤣🤣

Maid bitin em

Fire

Maid shot

Lol i loved how genuinely awkward is was to light that torch on a run

Umm??.torch flir

Gas

Finally admitted he dreaming crazy

Torched himself in the lil barn without a word to family talking about tell Isabel, bro u could have said goodbye, it's not instant the shortest turn around time was like....six hours???

Wide Ave daughter are out of the house, the exact family ratio he used to have

[katyspersonal]

Ah, shoot, I did not mean to say that Mergo is Paleblood! I meant to say that Mergo was the reason 'Paleblood Sky' has been active all this time ever since Mensis Ritual!

It doesn't seem like Rom has been hindering/stopping Mensis Ritual in any capacity - only concealing it! (+ Interesingly, Willem urges us, a hunter, to get in the Lake, most likely knowing we will hunt her, so I think Rom's concealment existed before School of Mensis did their thing) Since at enough Insight, we can hear Mergo cry even before killing Rom. What seems to be happening is - Bloodmoon is a strong trigger of beasthood and hunt cycle, and it subtly influences people even through Rom's concealment. Like kind of a sound you can't hear but the waves still cause effect on you biologically ����

But I agree that largest part of it is Moon Presence. But also, Kin in general, it seems? Marine Kin (like Brainsuckers) and celestial Kin (like Living Failures, Celestial Emissaries, Ebrietas, Fluorescent Flowers etc) bleed "blood" that appears to be blood devoid of red cells! So, metaphorically and literally, their blood becomes "pale" in worship and evolution under Great Ones. Willem and Doll bleed colorless blood too, but their is not so grey; rather very white and "shiny". Interestingly, Amygdalas and Flora bleed normal red, and Rom bleeds red from her body but grey from her head. But only in the lake! In the dungeons version, her head bleeds red too. (more pictures in this ( x ) post).

Basically I think that Paleblood Sky is cosmos and its effects in general, so Mergo being the reason for Bloodmoon hanging low would mean Mergo summoning Paleblood with their cries! So, pulling the Bloodmoon down, into mortal world, rather than being it. It seems that Flora / Moon Presence has not... really been a problem after Laurence summoned her? She took Gehrman, but implication was that what summoned her to begin with was a cord we find in the Workshop (so, an Great One infant)! My luckiest guess is bait-and-switch. And since then, every full moon night, there would be a Dreaming Hunter to help. But from Nightmare of Mensis, it seems that Wet Nurse would be the Great One that came for the call, and took Mergo; Micolash and his victims with her too it seems, because that's what crows do in this lore. And when Bloodmoon is revealed, Oedon becomes active, making Arianna (and very likely Fauxsefka too) pregnant.

So it is more like uhhh... Paleblood Sky IS Moon Presence, but also not...? There is this Bloodmoon thing as an occurrence, when the two realms interact and Great Ones will be more active, as well as beast transformations getting dialed up to 11, or people just go insane. And there is Moon Presence that occupies this thing + can be replaced (that our Hunter does in one of the endings). But Flora resides in the Dream with Gehrman, Doll, Messengers and whoever is the Hunter of the night; meanwhile, everything in the game hints towards the fact that the reason Bloodmoon hovers over Yharnam and has been hovering for a long while is Mensis Ritual, not Laurence's... 🤔 "The Mensis ritual must be stopped, lest we all become beasts". Source of why everyone is still becoming beasts, no matter how many you kill or contain is Mergo's crying (which is Mensis Ritual)!

Basically, there is nothing to 100% confirm or 100% deny. According to Miyazaki, Paleblood can be "many things", and I think it put it the best in a way

funniest thing in bloodborne is still that if your insight is low enough micolash can't use his mirror teleportation trick. most other insight related stuff is still there if the hunter can't see it like the amygdala can still fucking GET you no matter how much the hunter doesn't believe they exist but the hunter CAN develop a "magic isn't real idiot" forcefield powerful enough to just disable micolash's funhouse mirrors

[proserpine-in-phases]

So where I work they have an employer sponsored health screening every January, and now that it's my second January I have results from last year to compare this year to, and even tho it doesnt feel like it apparently my health has improved? Also comparing results is really interesting, ALMOST kinda makes me want to survive until next January to see how things trend again

[sk3tch404]

https://imgur.com/a/6PlTqcs

Lowkey,, when I saw your Yandere's, I was reminded of the pic above 👀 granted, they're not as manic/feral but i can't help but hit them with the good ol' pathetic-lil-meow-meow-ification beam whenever I see them 😔✊. everyone can feel like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again (/ref) if I delude myself hard enough 🥹🙏

speaking of the Yans- I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO DEFEAT LIKE 90% OF YAN'S W/O HAVING TO BE PHYSICALLY STRONG- *runs off-screen*

*cartoonish sounds of struggle & animal noises can be heard*

-ight! Okok so like, get this- I have rabies's now 😎

This gives me a timeframe of about- *checks msdmanual.com* 3-7 days to go ahead and infect every Yan in my vicinity, which means I'm gonna bite em all >:)) (not sure if Rory can get infected since he's a vamp n all 🤔 but a girl can dreammmm 😔) I may perish at the end of my crusade, but at least I'll drag some of them to hell with me 🫡

Moving on, Rory's re-design be looking mad fineeeee, though I'm gonna miss his long hair, rip my opportunity to draw him in pig-tails 🙏 at least he can get more bitches now with the added ✨glasses✨ factor (no, I'm totally unbiased towards men who wear glasses of any kind, what are you talking abou-)

yeheaaa boi, I'm def gonna replace his Scumbag Glasses (affectionate) with heart shape lenses in my next attempt at a fanart for him 😈😈 gonna turn Mr. Valentine into Mr. Valentine² MUHAHAHAHAHAAA GET HIT WITH MY UWU-FICATION BEAM, IDIOT /lh gonna turn this 😎 bitch into a 😍 bitch

Also goddammit ur chibi style makes me wanna squish their cheeks granny style- I don't wanna squish a serial killers cheeks plsssss I didn't get over my creepypasta whole phase, only to be charmed by the next gen of murderous pretty boys 😫😫 I. Absolutely. Mustn't. 😬 damn ur artstyle, it's too good for my heart- /pos

-Ren'py anon

OMG JAYCE WHEN HE'S FULLY ATTACHED BE LIKE 😭😭😭HE GETS DESERATE IK

Yeah they're pretty chill before they get unhinged, but hitting them with that pathetic little meow meow beam makes them a bit more tolerable 😘 Not gonna even lie, I get nervous and lowkey freak out when I code in the creepy parts and play through it. LIKE BOY WTF ARE YOU LOOKING AT??? FREAKY ASS MF I HATE YOU. DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH PLAYER.

But pretending they're nothing but miserable maniacs stuck in their own little worlds makes me feel better 🤓(Goofy ahh reaction /j)

Katy Perry ref is just what was needed </3 no no what do you mean he enjoys hurting me emotionally and physically to make up for his own personal faults? No he's just a little sad soul that hugs me when I'm sad and loves me no matter what.

OH NO WHAT. NOT EVERY YAN! PLEASE SPARE JAYCE AT LEAST... I LOVE HIM TOO MUCH. YOU MIGHT WANNA START WITH THE VOLKOVS FIRST BECAUSE THEY WOULDNT SEE IT COMING IN THE VERY BEGINNING.

RORYS VAMP WHITE BLOOD CELLS CHECK HIM OUT FOR MOST STUFF BUT RABIES IS PRETTY DEADLY TO ALL THINGS SO...

Tbh it's a fifty fify. All he has to worry about is passing out in the middle of it if he hasn't fed in a while.

I THINK ELLIOT WOULD HAVE A PRETTY GOOD CHANCE OF SURVIVAL. HE HAS EXPERIENCE WITH PPL GETTING REALLY SICK AND INTESE STRUGGLES FROM DOING OTHER ILLEGAL STUFF.

Which reminds me. I haven't said a lot about him yet. I think I'll info dump on him sometime, but idk bc there is a little spoiler but not really bc it's a big part of his character and for the story of his route. It will be common knowledge when you play anyway.

If you don't hit the Volkovs with the animal foam first, they WILL catch wind of what you're doing and shoot you down or smth. They don't play 💀 since it is 3 to 7 BUSINESS DAYS. They are always doing business, so 3 is all too easy.

Also tysm!!! I too am gonna miss Rory's long hair, but it's gotta go so he can refresh! And dw I'm gonna make it a tad more layered and longer so you can do pigtails little kids have that look like two antennas.

And Rory has always had glasses, I just didn't draw them that time lol

OMG HE WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE THOSE HEARTSHAPED GLASSES. JUST UH NOT OUTSIDE THOUGH. HES GOT OPPS IN THOSE STREETS... Would legit fall in love if you kept doing silly shit like that (Damn you really did square up his Valentine's rizz) UWU fication success???

HEHHEHEH TY! MY CHIBI STYLE IS SUPER SIMPLE AND A TAD UGLY AND IN THE WORKS, BUT I'M GLAD YOU LIKE IT!

[lawrencedienerthings]

Opinion: Even in a pandemic, how comfortable would you feel about open-source vaccine?

#ofit⚛ 💻 📑 🤝 🤔 🎓

get headlines https://thecherrycreeknews.com

My hands shake as I scroll through the website. Trembling thumbs do not inspire confidence. I hardly have the steadiness to text effectively under pressure, let alone to “aliquot” homemade inoculant “into sterile capped microfuge” in order to complete a hot-off-the-internet, open-source COVID-19 vaccine recipe. 

Come to think of it, my performance in undergraduate chemistry labs does not inspire confidence either. That settles it. I will not be making my own intranasal COVID vaccine. 

But you could. 

I cautiously present to you the Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative (RaDVaC), a nonprofit, creative-commons licensed brigade of “citizen scientists” offering what they claim is an effective do-it-yourself immunization “as a necessary act of compassion.”

Eerily stingy with specifics out of the gate, four well connected scientists are apparently joined by a burgeoning group of scientific renegades to cooperate in an unconventional, and timely task: arming the people against SARS-CoV-2 during this liminal time before a commercially produced vaccine is ready. 

Dana Egleston

The RaDVaC site is straightforward and easy to navigate. The method is concise, and materials and tools are “commercially available to purchase.”  The FAQ section anticipated my reflexive questions. 

RaDVaC’s Terms of Use, which must be agreed to before accessing the detailed “white paper,” can be reduced to: (1) you are an adult and you take responsibility for everything; (2) there is risk even if you do it right; (3) no promises, this isn’t medical advice; (4) might prevent, doesn’t treat; (5) this is not a clinical trial nor is this supported/reviewed by the FDA; (6) some things could happen; and (7) this is “self-experimentation.”

So, RaDVaC is just gonna leave this here …(wink). “This” being all the information needed to produce a synthetic, peptide-based vaccine. RaDVaC’s sample group (founders included) is 20 people so far, but growing.

READ: Colorado Sun opinion columnists.

I’ve never taken peptide therapeutics, but have considered using delta-sleep inducing peptide (DSIP) for insomnia. Peptides are amino acid sequences that are thought to enhance receptor binding areas on a cell’s surface, which are used in RaDVac’s context for “immunogenic stimulation,” to hone white blood cells’ response to the virus. DSIP seemed easy, and relatively low risk, but wasn’t the right choice for me at the time. 

The time is right for a COVID-19 solution, though. Communal urgency has pushed for this dynamic and, maybe, dangerous innovation. The collective voice speaking on RaDVaC’s website makes their intentions clear: 

“The death toll is large and growing, but many more who survive the initial infection will suffer serious enduring complications.” They want to minimize the damage. 

OUR UNDERWRITERS SUPPORT JOURNALISM.   BECOME ONE.

The masked smarties are serving up Wikileaks realness with their unpatented method. They might even be throwing pharmaceutical giants some shade with this radical act. One of their provocations: 

“Existing public health, commercial, and regulatory infrastructures have thus far failed to provide a vaccine to protect humanity – especially our most vulnerable – against the pandemic.”

Critics of profit-driven Big Pharma will be stoked on these biochemical Robin Hoods, despite RaDVaC’s assurance to interested “collaborators” that they are not “anti-FDA,” “anti-regulation,” “anti-pharma” or “anti-biotech.” 

RaDVaC also fires a direct “shot” at the anti-vax community: “Vaccines have become associated with negative outcomes that do not result from the vaccine, but that occur immediately following administration.” 

This echoes a looping sentiment in science, that correlation is not causation. It feels like RaDVaC is bridging the gap between America’s money-hungry Xanny-pushers and science-denying sensationalists — if the spray works. 

I’m spooked by the unknown “long-term safety” and potential margin for error inherent in RaDVaC’s route, as citizens would be concocting medical therapeutics on their own without guidance or oversight. I’m not too concerned about the qualified students and professionals equipped with proper lab equipment, but more for the at-home MacGyvers and citizen savants making adaptations and substitutions on the fly. 

Am I gonna mix this up myself? Absolutely not. Spritz, spritz, skip. 

Am I interested in seeing what this buildable, open-research model will mean for the future? Absolutely. 

MIT Technology Review recently synthesized the concerns of a few RaDVaC skeptics. George Siber, former head of vaccines at a prominent pharmaceutical company, questioned the vaccine’s potency, delivery method and the efficacy of short-chain peptides in eliciting the desired immune response. He also warned of disease “enhancement” as a dangerous complication, according to the MIT article.

Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, cut right to it and deemed RaDVaC’s white paper “off-the-chart-loony.” To paraphrase, he thinks it’s highly risky and structurally unsound. 

Still, with support from some of the Ivy League’s finest, like Harvard’s  famed geneticist George Church, who has also “self-experimented” with the vaccine, citizen scientists are out here, “doing it live” in the proverbial, and pharmacological, sense.

Some of us have really elevated our home-cooking game in these few months of quarantine, but COVID-blocking sauce won’t be featured on my kitchen menu anytime soon. 

For now, I’ll stick to sourdough starter. 

Dana Egleston is a writer, science communicator and environmentalist living in Denver.

The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy and submit columns, suggested writers and more to opinion@coloradosun.com.

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