#autoclave types

[labtroncc]

Tabletop Laboratory Autoclave

Labtron Tabletop Laboratory Autoclave is a portable, computer-controlled class B unit with a 35L capacity. It effectively sterilizes HIV, HBV, mad cow virus, and bacillus with a sterilization pressure of 0.22 MPa and a temperature range of 105–134 °C. Safety features include automatic shutoff, cold air discharge, and protection against high temperatures and pressure.

[kimberlabnics]

vertical tabletop autoclave

Labnics vertical tabletop autoclave is a compact, versatile sterilization device commonly used in laboratories, medical facilities, dental offices, and research institutions to sterilize instruments, glassware, culture media, and other items. This type of autoclave uses high-pressure saturated steam to achieve the necessary temperatures for effective sterilization.

[strawberrykidneystone]

straight to the point

sevika x female reader

summary: sevika wants a new piercing and wanders (has researched thoroughly before coming) into your shop

a/n: google search how to get another tattoo without disappointing my grandma

tags: piercer!reader, needles, flirting, kinda ooc sevika (?), a little sweet awkwardness

ao3 version

as far as cleanliness standards go in zaun, your shop was heads above the back alley piercers and tattoo shops. for one, you never reused the same needles and you had an autoclave that you used to sanitize the jewelry you offered, as well as the questionable jewelry that your clients brought in.

safe to say that most of your clients were high end criminals who could spare the coin to get the best experience possible in the undercity.

in your tiny corner shop, you were the main piecer and you cycled in various tattoo artists. a lot of them started by tattooing on the streets and developed their own styles, giving them the proper equipment helped them make masterpieces that you’re sure even the prissy piltover citizens would be impressed by. the building itself was pretty small with the shop downstairs and your apartment upstairs. you had a display desk up front with a dinky antique register sitting against the wall that didn’t open half the time. there were two main salon-type chairs in the room facing toward each other, with a small room in the back for more intimate placements of tattoos/piercings. the leather on the chairs were originally a neon pink that faded into more of a peach with patches over scratches on the chairs and ink stains. the walls were covered in graffiti, you invited in local kids to paint around and express themselves; which basically meant that your walls were covered in jinx propaganda right now. you wouldn’t believe the amount of people who came in for new ear piercings and cloud tattoos who also had blue hair.

today was a bit quieter than usual, you had no appointments and your tattoo artist gotten done early today so you were busy going over your books while leaning on the counter on your elbows. the bells of your door jingled and you looked up, locking eyes with the most gorgeous woman you’d ever seen. she had a very short haircut above her ears, a mechanical arm that had a green… head? attached to it, piercing grey eyes, and a very strong build. swallowing thickly, you smiled warmly at the tall woman, “hey there, how can i help you?”

she trudged up to the counter as though she was unsure if she actually wanted to do this, her eyes glued down into the display case, “i’d uh, like a piercing please.”

you nodded along and tilted your head, trying to follow her eye line as to which piece she was looking at, “well you’re definitely in the right place for that, what are you looking to get?”

she met your eyes again, god it was like looking up at the sky during a storm, a nervous sigh leaving her lips, “what would you get?”

the question startled you a little, people usually come in and know exactly what they want. you hummed and studied her face, wondering what would look good with her proportions.

“hmm well for you, i would get either a medusa piercing or a labret,” you suggested and pointed to the middle of your cupid’s bow and underneath your bottom lip.

she attentively watched your finger like a cat following a laser and subconsciously licked her lips. her eyes lingered on your lips long enough that it brought a blush to your cheeks, how the hell were you going to get through this appointment in one piece? she shook her head and snapped out of it, glancing down at the case once again, “could i see what it would look like?”

“of course,” you nodded and pulled out a case that had an array of studs with different ends, base colors, and backs. she ended up picking out a silver disk stud and you couldn’t help but notice how her ears turned a little red when you praised her, “good choice.”

picking up the middle of the piercing with a clamp, you held it up to her and turned the desk mirror towards her. she softly took the clamp from you, brushing her rough hands against yours, the small touch making your heart flutter like a pair of butterfly wings. she inspected the stud in the mirror and curiously held the silver jewelry above her lips and below. you couldn’t help but watch as the stud passed over her full lips, lips with a dark gloss shining off of them that you’d love to mix with your current lipstick-

fuck stop that, remain professional.

you took a deep breath to refocus and plastered on your least horny smile, “either one calling your name?”

she clicked her tongue and stood back up to her full height, her brows knitted together in concern, “i can’t decide which one to get.”

“you’d look good with either one, plus you can always get one now and the other later,” you mused, kicking yourself to bring your mind back to down to the ground.

she hummed and looked down at you, her eyes trailing from one eye to the other, down to your lips, and back up, making a triangle.

you were so fucked.

“i’ll get the labret sweetheart,” she said definitively and handed the clamp back to you, the pet name rolling off her tongue so naturally it made your knees weak.

you mindlessly nodded and took the clamp from her, sliding over a clipboard with your liability paperwork on it with a sparkly pen.

she raised an eyebrow at the pen, but picked it up anyway, vaguely scanning over the words as she signed and dated her name at the bottom. you quickly busied yourself with sanitizing the stud she picked out in the machine and setting up your station with all the proper tools. you could feel her eyes watching you, a surge of confidence flowing through you at the nickname she called you, so you made an extra effort to swing your hips side to side as you moved around your station, bending down to pick up a plastic bag that you “dropped”. you heard her suck in a sharp inhale, a grin tugging on your lips as you straightened back up. walked back over to the counter, you glanced over the paperwork.

“sevika, that’s a pretty name,” you practically purred out, fluttering your lashes at her.

“yeah? you got a name to go along with your pretty face?” she quipped, a half smirk on her black lips.

“i guess you should know the person who’s about to shove a needle through your face, i’m y/n,” you smiled and tucked a piece of hair behind your ear.

“a lovely name for a lovely lady,” she complimented and raked her eyes across your body.

you giggled shyly and shook your head, tilting your head towards the chair behind you, “c’mon back pretty girl, let’s get you pierced.”

she followed you back to your station and sat back in the chair, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. after snapping on a pair of your favorite colored gloves, you prepped the back of the piercing to go into the hollow needle once it was through and grabbed a marker.

standing directly in front of her, practically standing between her thighs, you had to force yourself to look back into those piercing grey eyes.

“i’m going to make a small mark where the piercing will go and then you can check the placement, is it okay if i touch your face?" you asked softly, a shy blush tinting your cheeks.

sevika gulped and quietly nodded, this time averting her eyes from you. you softly pinched her chin between your fingers and turned her head to face you directly. you leaned forward and mapped out her bottom lip to find a true middle and pressed a small dot onto the skin beneath her full lips, feeling her hot breath fan out on the back of your hand. quickly pulling back to stop yourself from kissing her, you practically shoved the hand mirror into her hands and barely squeaked out, “if you want to move it, it’s no problem!”

you took a step back and looked to the side of the room to give her some decision time, trying to ignore how beautiful her lips were and how desperately you wanted to kiss them. she carefully admired the mark in the mirror and hummed, nodding in approval, "looks good to me."

"perfect," you chirped and took the mirror from her, explaining the process of the piercing very briefly as she nodded along, brushing her short hair out of her face when a few strands got stuck to her eyelashes. god, you wish you were the one pushing her hair back.

you cleared your throat and picked up the piercing clamp, turning to her with a smile, "go ahead and open your mouth for me."

she did as you asked and looked up towards the ceiling as you placed the clamp in position over her bottom lip with the dot you made on her skin earlier. you gently positioned your hand holding the clamp vertically and grabbed the hollow needle from your station, lining it up with the dot.

"go ahead and take a deep breath in for me dear," you said calmly, getting into the zone as you focused in on doing the piercing correctly despite the handsome woman in front of you.

she inhaled deeply through her nose and once you were sure that she had taken a deep enough breath, you directed her, "and go ahead and breathe out."

as soon as she started to let the air out of her mouth, you pushed the needle through her skin and pulled the clamp down, holding her bottom lip open towards you.

"good job, worst parts over," you praised, earning an amused huff from sevika.

you let go of the needle and put the back of the piercing into the hole, pulling the needle back through the way it came with the jewelry sticking out in its place. you screwed the top disk onto the piercing and removed the clamp, admiring the slight puffiness of her bottom lip. holding up the mirror to her again, you smiled brightly as a sense of pride flowing through you, ''whatddya think?"

sevika held the mirror up and admired the new piercing from every angle, a satisfied smirk gracing her lips, "i love it."

you giggled and cleaned up your station, disposing of the needle and putting the clamp in the sanitizer machine. sauntering over to one of your cabinets and pulling out a small blue bag, you put together a goody bag with saline solution, aftercare instructions, and piercing floss for later on.

walking back over to her and holding out the bag, you couldn't help the smile on your lips as her fingers brushed against hers, "for it to heal properly, no smoking, drinking, kissing, or uh oral sex for at least 3 weeks."

one of her eyebrow cocked at the last rule before a decisive smile came to her lips. she followed you back up to the counter and paid for the service, leaving a hefty tip.

“so, could i take you on a date in 3 weeks?”

you blinked at her owlishly, processing what she just asked you. quickly regaining your composure, you asked nonchalantly, “is that for a kiss or for oral sex?”

“both if you’re lucky.”

the two of you laughed and you agreed, scribbling your number down on a stray piece of paper. when she held out her hand to take it from you, you held up a finger and folded the paper in half, sealing it with a kiss that left a mark from your lipstick.

she blinked in surprise as you pressed it into her hand with a wink, “a preview for 3 weeks from now.”

sevika chuckled and shook her head, pocketing the paper, “you little minx.”

you giggled and waved as she left, checking out her ass as she walked out of your shop.

this was going to be the longest 3 weeks of your life.

a/n: writing fan fiction is crazy like why am i watching multiple labret piercing videos to describe the process right

part 2

taglist: @maneskinwh0re @archangeldyke-all

[libraryspectre]

I'm logged in on the BSL3 computer and there's something creepy going on so I'm gonna tell you about it while my cells spin

Okay it's hard to type with two layers of gloves on but here we go: the BSL3 (biosafety level 3) lab is a facility at my work that's basically a separate lab with higher security and a higher level of safety and containment procedures required because we work with more dangerous pathogens in here. Right now it's just my group working with the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, but they used to work with HIV in here as well. Anyway, this place is a windowless sterile bunker that's only accessible through a door locked by both badge and password. If the door is open for longer than 8 seconds the police come. And they really do, it's happened to me.

The week of Thanksgiving, someone came in to the BSL3 and signed in as Roger from Housekeeping (we think, the handwriting is messy). They logged their sign-in time but not their sign-out. The woman in charge of maintaining this facility saw it a few days later and was confused, because no one from housekeeping has badge access. The scanner keeps a record of everyone who goes in, so she asked everyone who accessed that day if we brought someone from housekeeping in with us. None of us had.

Her next thought was, is someone dead in there? So she checked all the rooms and found nothing unusual or disturbed. Also, no housekeeping had been done. We've been trying to get housekeeping out here for weeks and they won't answer us about this or housekeeping in general.

So the question is: who is Roger? How did he get in? Why did he come in? And when did he leave? And, seriously, how did he get in, because even the hallway is in a remote area. If he somehow did manage to sneak in behind one of us in 8 seconds, we definitely would have seen it. But the higher-ups don't seem concerned, for some reason. They probably think one of us is lying about letting someone unauthorized in.

We were talking about this earlier today and I joked I was gonna have a great time plating today knowing Roger is still lurking in the facility somewhere. We laughed and the woman in charge went in ahead of me to test the eyewash stations. As I was suiting up, she comes out and says "By the way, I realized I forgot to check the storage closet, but I just did, and there's nothing wrong in there either."

Then she said, "So Roger is gone unless he's hiding in a cupboard somewhere."

I had a brief flash in my mind, a Junji Ito-style illustration of an emaciated man peeking out of a cabinet at me, or out from under the autoclave cart, or through the tiny window in the door, and I know it's ridiculous but I'm extremely creeped out right now lol

So, if I never return, Roger got me.

[rainwaterapothecary]

Long-ass post about what the fuck this machine might be:

Screenshot by @geddy-leesbian and sent to me for research by @courtofparrots

So, what the /fuck/ is this damn thing? (And it’s side-quest: This fucking /shoot/):

At first I thought the machine was some form of Vacuum Furnace since the shape and the possible intake shoot (which will give me hell this entire research process) looks like an incinerator and something to suck things into the incinerator:

(Source.)

But the shape isn’t 100% right, and as CAPCOM need something to do a 1:1-ish model for the game, I scrapped it and moved on.

The next candidate made my heart hurt since it’s a Marine Waste Incinerator:

The shape is similar, it has a box-like connection that I wasn’t able to find almost anywhere else, but no fucking shoot.

/However/, I think I’m onto something here’s a couple other models I found:

Why is this heartbreaking? Because Luis is not only on a shoe-string budget in the middle of noplace, but he’s also having to use whatever the cult can scrounge up for him. I’m convinced he brought his little autoclave from a mainland somewhere, but he needed an incinerator.

They’re off the ocean.

Where there’s a will there’s a way, and Lord Saddler is demanding he makes a way using this hulking machine that isn’t even meant for use on land.

However, the one in Luis’ lab doesn’t look like it’s meant for use on a ship, and there isn’t that fucking spout.

Next, I followed the little tubes on the sides:

And it looks a lot like they’re meant to be on a locomotive or a boiler:.

Why would he need a boiler? I have no idea, ask a scientist. But, visually we’re getting closer.

I looked up what that black piece is for, since I initially thought the piece on Luis’ machine was for some sort of vault technology, housing a locking mechanism for keeping a vacuum seal in the case of the vacuum furnace.

^This thing.

In boilers however, it tends to contain an exhaust fan/motor (iirc). Again, having a fan could work for some sort of incinerator and there’s no real point in having a vent/air filter right below it (the cylindrical thing) unless it’s dealing with something that needs a lot of air.

Now, on boilers and incinerators there tends to be some sort of (usually red) component on the front that /could/ be something that damn shoot connects to. Ex:

That is a burner/igniter.

^This is what it looks like on the inside.

Could the shoot be a hookup? I have no idea. I don’t /think/ so though, since the shoot looks more like a place to expell something (think coal from a coaling tower on a railroad). (In fact, this thought momentarily brought me down a rabbit hole of ‘what if it’s for some sort of coal refinement’? But I rejected that idea because then it would be more of a grinding machine and this is more boiler-incinerator-type-deal.)

My friend brought up a good point that maybe the shoot is for sucking up waste material.

Using my own knowledge of trades, I’m not sure that’s the case? Usually, if something has to go down then the spout will be tilted up so that it’s not fighting gravity. However, I am a city kid with a business degree, so we can safely shelve that idea since it’s outside my wheelhouse.

It was at this point that I realized the box next to Luis’ machine could be part of the whole device:

The only times I’ve seen something like this with an attached cube it was on an electric steam boiler:

And on the vacuum furnace, marine waste incinerator (already mentioned), and this medical waste incinerator:

Which brings us right back around to incinerators.

So while I can’t find anything that has the damn shoot, here’s what I /think/ all the pieces of the machine are. (Again, I am not in sciences or in trade, so this is all I could find after a three-hour research stint that ended when I got too frustrated.)

AND COMPLETELY EYEBALLING THIS NEXT PART:

The items on top of it are these little crates that I’ve only seen in workshops but the ones I’ve seen are roughly 26” across. Which makes this mystery machine ~78” Tall and ~91” Wide (not accounting for the angle it seems to be at).

In closing, I think this is some sort of incinerator (wow, three hours of research just to be back at square one? First of all, rude. Second of all, I now know more than when I started so that’s fun for me!) and for storytelling purposes I want it to be a marine waste incinerator, built for burning waste onboard a ship or for getting rid of oil waste. This way it illustrates just how resourceful and flexible Luis had to be in order to /try and get his fucking tools to do what they’re supposed to/. His autoclave isn’t a true autoclave and it’s /tiny/. He’s working with an old acrylic glove box. He’s been given an oil waste incinerator off a boat and he has to make it /work/.

In short, this is what I do for fun and now I have to get back to work. 😊

Sources:

https://www.marineinsight.com/tech/9-tips-to-maintain-high-efficiency-of-marine-incinerators/

https://addfield.com/case-studies/waste-oil-incinerator/

https://xuyemachinery.en.made-in-china.com/product/FdRTyotOfHUY/China-Industrial-Incinerator-Waste-Oil-Burner-Available.html

https://zaobt.ru/en/news/marine-incinerator-for-vostochnaya-verf-jsc-shipped-from-the-site-of-st-inc

https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/incinerators-3550461212.html

https://trends.medicalexpo.com/inciner8-ltd/project-115640-426969.html

https://www.google.com/imgres?q=steam%20boiler&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.3diequipment.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F01%2Fcocran-steam-boiler-model-thermax-pic2371b-1-600x377.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.3diequipment.com%2Fproduct%2Fcochran-steam-boiler-model-thermax%2F&docid=xunMT1CJ-fei2M&tbnid=zBjSfu1BNa7HiM&vet=12ahUKEwif7dG8hYSIAxURAzQIHazPMW44KBAzegQIUBAA..i&w=600&h=377&hcb=2&ved=2ahUKEwif7dG8hYSIAxURAzQIHazPMW44KBAzegQIUBAA

https://www.google.com/imgres?q=steam%20boiler&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hvacinformed.com%2Fimg%2Fproducts%2F400%2Fu-nd-400_1628544986.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hvacinformed.com%2Fbosch-thermotechnology-u-hd-boiler-technical-details.html&docid=8M3mwXLLyvCvNM&tbnid=qs-8ZiQlRet2ZM&vet=12ahUKEwif7dG8hYSIAxURAzQIHazPMW44KBAzegQIUhAA..i&w=400&h=400&hcb=2&ved=2ahUKEwif7dG8hYSIAxURAzQIHazPMW44KBAzegQIUhAA

https://easywater.com/commercial/applications/steam-boilers/

https://www.thermodyneboilers.com/3-ton-steam-boiler-price/

https://www.thermodyneboilers.com/oil-fired-boilers/

https://www.parat.no/products/marine/parat-mel/

https://betterbricks.com/resources/boilers

https://powerhouse-combustion.com/components-of-a-boiler/

https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokomotivn%C3%AD_parn%C3%AD_kotel

[vaathnaos]

Give me the lore on the mycologist (?) vaati, why did you eat the shrooms? /j

I can’t!! It’s weird! Well if you really wanna know…

*flashback sounds*

It was my first week in my lab, i was getting aquainted with the types of growing media we produced and as soon as they came out of the autoclave (humid heat+pressure to sterilise stuff) i smelled the weirdest thing i had ever experienced… They smelled like carramel, fresh dough and savoury umami! i NEEDED to taste them!!! They’re made with yeast extract (bready beer like taste), sugars and peptone (basically protein). I imagined what it would taste like with some sautéed mushrooms… and one day i faltered to TEMPTATION!

The next few month i started working with yeasts and molds and their spores slowly infected me! That added to my stressed mind and i slowly lost myself to the mycellium “I hear them, they want more nurishment”. I needed to find a way to keep them at bay, to not surrender my mind to them! I started studying them; what environment they thrived in what they absorbed for food and their DNA.

*reverse flashback sounds*

Right now i’m focussed on find something, ANYTHING they could be weak to, so far i’ve been fruitless except for cutting their roots, that seems to contain the corruption so far…

[rainedragon]

Hi! Do you by chance know what's going on with this year's kei con? Seems like lots of hurdles! Know anyone else planning on still going?

Hello! I don't really have any special info, I'm not on staff, but I can share what I know. My understanding is that they were booked for the Ontario Science Centre.

On June 21st the Ontario Science Centre was closed. The Ontario Science Centre uses reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the roof. RAAC has extra air bubbles in it, making it lightweight and cheaper than regular concrete, but it's susceptible to cracking and water getting inside which can rust structural bars causing collapse. It was most popular between 1950-1990. Today, it has an estimated lifespan of about 30 years. The science center was built between 1966-1969, so it's well past that timeframe. After the UK examined a bunch of schools and found many of them to be structurally unsafe, the Science Centre was examined. The end result was that the engineers believed that the roof could collapse in the snow, and my understanding is to be safe, they closed it imediately. There is some political debate about this, but for our purposes, suffice it to say it's closed. They are refunding future events booked there, but of course, this means that Kei-con would have to find a new venue.

Researching and negotiating venue contracts for a con takes time, there are a lot of things that have to be priced out and looked at, room layout plans, AV, food rules, etc. This is a volenteer run event and it's been less than 2 weeks, which really isn't a ton of time when it comes to this type of planning. I'm pretty confident in the staff being able to figure out something else, I think it's just a matter of it taking a little time.

Press Release (Ontario Science Centre)

What is RAAC and why is it a safety risk? (BBC)

[salmontheking]

What caused the mass use of biotech in the world of Megaton heart? What does it have over regular tech?

The general rule is that wetware lets you do very complex things very easily at the expense of more RnD.

You don't need specialized equipment to manufacture a new living device, they grow on their own, you just need an incubator of the right type and size.

Wetware mostly maintains itself. You can do what amounts to thousands of moving parts with no chance of failure.

It adapts - an individual machine will become better at what it does over time. ~10 year old devices can be more valuable than fresh ones.

For computers in particular, wetware gives you much more processing power per unit mass.

On the other hand

It can't take extreme conditions like heat, cold, radiation, reactive chemicals or high voltage.

Wetware computers make mistakes, are hardly programmable and need proper fish tanks.

It's inconsistent and less energy-efficient.

You don't want a living train engine, or a living autoclave. It all depends on the job.

[tauforged]

dude she literally did it to me again as i was typing that. we had test results on the agenda to read at 3pm at the EARLIEST and she had already beat me to the 2:30 bacteria plate readings so i was like oh ok i’ll read the air tests when they’re ready then :) and i do a little busy work check some emails yknow make small talk yadda yadda. it’s 2:55 and i’m getting a little restless so i walk down to the water cooler to refill my water and then sit down at my desk for like a minute with my water and check my phone. my alarm goes off at 3 so i go into the lab to check the air tests and find that in the like two to three minutes i was gone to refill my water bottle she had grabbed the plates, read them, recorded the data, put it all in the database, and then loaded all of todays plates into the autoclave to be sterilized before they got thrown away. girl they weren’t even technically ready yet what is the reason for all of this

[canary0]

August 23 - Dracula 2023

The Diary of Mina Harker

I'm getting worried. We have been keeping a watch lately, but Lucy managed to get the crucifix down from her window in her sleep and made it out to the churchyard again. It almost goes without saying that her health has taken a turn and she's quite weak now. We've made the decision that moving forward, I should sleep in her room with her. I will miss out on time with Jonathan, and I am quite worried about him, too, given the fiend's equal interest in him, but Lucy appears to be his main target for now. Lucy herself much approved of this plan, and sweetly spoke of how it would be like sleepovers when we were just girls.

Jonathan is recovering as well after the increase in his illness the other day. He remains quite pale, though, and I worry for lingering anemia. He and Lucy look a bit similar at the moment, but Jonathan seems to be stronger... more than he used to be, if anything, which is surprising. He and Lucy are rather comparable in build, with Jonathan perhaps slightly the smaller of the two. I wonder if Mr. Morris would be willing to room with Jonathan to keep an eye on him and make sure both of the monster's interests have an eye on them?

Fortunately, Dr. Seward has been a great help with Lucy's health. He's been keeping an eye on her vitals and ensuring that she eats well for reviving her health.

Dr. Stankiewicz arrived today, and she looks a good bit different while on vacation than she did while working, with her lab coat traded in for torn jeans, and a flannel overshirt. She did bring medical equipment and, of all things, her own autoclave, which she set up in the kitchen. Fortunately, the Westenras' kitchen is quite generously sized, and the machine itself isn't huge. She quite brusquely informed us that she expected to be here on a working vacation, so she came prepared, though she didn't expect two people. I was a little put out - both of them had been very careful, but fate had put them in the wrong place at the wrong time. She smiled at that, though, and told me she knew, and that neither was in any way at fault for their situations. We would try to improve them.

She proceeded to take down everyone's blood types. Lucy is apparently AB+, which is good to learn. She can receive blood from any of us, so transfusions won't be an issue for her. Jonathan will have a bit more trouble, with B- - not exactly common, and he can't get it from just anyone.

Dr. Abraham Van Helsing arrived later that same day. Unlike Dr. Stankiewicz, he seems like quite the jovial and personable sort. He is also quite in contrast to his protege, Dr. Seward, in that way. By the time he arrived, there was only time for a late dinner, however. We will start the arduous process of going over what information we have tomorrow. Hopefully Arthur will be able to make it soon. I will be arranging the physical records during the meeting tomorrow and starting a file on everything we have.

God willing, we and the three doctors together will be able to make some sense out of everything going on.

---

The Diary of Jack Seward

Woken in the middle of the night by a report from the hospital. Apparently more strange behavior from Renfield. Apparently he became quite agitated around sundown, yelling and seemingly trying to shake the bars on the window, immobile though they are. "That's it! It's you!" He was yelling out according the the nurse's report.

She moved to the window to try and see what he was yelling at, but all she could see outside was an unusually large bat. She apparently did call animal control to report a potential invasive species appearance, but there wasn't much else she could do. Renfield remained upset, but he was not a danger to himself or others, it seemed, so he was allowed to express his piece. Eventually, after roughly 45 minutes of terrified ranting, he calmed, seeming to exhaust himself.

I'm concerned about this new change in him. I've given orders for the therapist to speak with him about it tomorrow. Hopefully we'll find out more.

[teenage-birt-dag]

… tell me about Endospores.

I love mushrooms and spores and fungi, I want you to tell me an entire Wiki page

(this is totally not Shiek, who has not been checking every single notification to see if people liked the Reddit screenshot….. hi)

Hello!! I fuckin love endospores and ur the first person to actually send an ask about them

Endospores are actually a type of bacteria! Some environmental bacilli produce an endospore coating to withstand extremely harsh environments and is usually initiated by total nutrient deprivation (think of an absence of nitrogen). That being said, the bacteria in our bodies won’t undergo this process, but finding out whether an endospore bacterium is introduced to your body is pretty important because endospores require very specific treatments given their nature. For example, bacillus anthracis (my favorite example) - this bacterium is responsible for anthrax infections, the only effective treatment being an antibiotic called Cipro.

To (sorta) briefly explain how endospores are formed - when environmental conditions are no longer viable to sustain life, the bacterium begins an 8 hour endosporulation process in which the cells DNA is duplicated and a septal wall is created that asymmetrically divides the cell, and a spore coat is formed around the forespore and there is a thick peptidoglycan cortex formed between the layers of the two halves of the cell. Once the sporulation process is completed, the newly matured endospore is released once the rest of the vegetative cell is degraded. The cortex is basically what allows the endospore to be highly resistant against high temperatures and enzymes and most chemicals that are otherwise effective against other bacteria.

This is why autoclaving is one of the most effective ways of disinfecting surfaces! Otherwise, sterilant alkylating agents, like ETO and household bleach are effective (since not everyone owns an autoclave but a girl can dream). Household bleach must be in contact with endospores for a minimum of 10 minutes for it to actually kill the bacteria; increasing the concentration instead will NOT be effective, it may actually cause bacteria to aggregate and survive. Ionizing radiation (e.g., x-rays, gamma rays) is also effective against most endospores!

Now one of the coolest facts about endospores imo - the endospore is PROTECTIVE for the bacteria in these really harsh, nitrogen depleted environments, right? So for the bacteria to survive, it will actually be in a dormant state until either environmental conditions improve or they’re chemically stimulated to undergo activation, germination, and outgrowth. This means they can lie dormant for MILLIONS of YEARS - one endospore was actually found encased in amber and was actually reactivated.

Also,

Reddit screenshot u say?

[labtroncc]

Tabletop Laboratory Autoclave

Labtron Tabletop Laboratory Autoclave sterilizes rapidly in 4-6 minutes within a 105-134°C range. It has a 24L stainless steel chamber with 3 sterilizing plates, providing a clean, dry environment. This tabletop steam sterilizer features a steam-water inner circulation system and drying function, with a maximum working temperature of 134°C.

[simplykaren]

Non-surgery techs should not handle or pack instruments unless supervised by a surgery tech.

I went by our clinic's sister clinic (privately owned by the same person, not corporate), intending to pick up the instrument packs we loaned them on Saturday (theirs were all un-autoclaved from the surgeries on Friday and 2 laceration repairs walked in). My eyes widened in horror at the spread of instruments across 1 exam table. They were sorted by instrument type.

groans in distress and begins getting a stress headache

They have color-coded autoclave tape for a reason! You should never mix packs. And to top it off, 3/4 of the packs I came to retrieve (1 with red tape and 1 that had a doctor's initials engraved on them) were missing! They'd already been repacked and were who knows where.

In short, I left without my clinic's packs, I am never loaning them instruments ever again if I can help it, and I didn't even bother trying to look for the drape pack I sent along with those packs. I am going to get comfort food now. I'm not sure whether I want to bang my head on a table, strangle someone, or cry.

[themetaphorgirl]

A home for all of my Lockwood & Co fics

Pas de Deux

**bonus reference post with videos of variations and ballet steps!**

my heart’s an autoclave

Post The Creeping Shadow. They've wrapped up the job at Aldbury Castle and they can finally head home, but the Other Side is still clinging to Lockwood and Lucy like wisps of smoke. They can't escape unscathed, but no one knows what kind of repercussions are going to hit them.

burn clear and steadfast tonight

It was just going to be a quick trip, just a weekend away to give a lecture in Manchester and then straight home to their children. It was the most ordinary night, like any other night for the Lockwood family, but Celia can’t help but shake the feeling that something isn’t right.

you're on your own, kid

Lucy Carlyle always dealt with things alone. That’s just how things worked. She just needed to find the right people to care about her.

the quality of mercy

Jessica has been trying so hard to keep everything together after the loss of her parents, especially when it comes to caring for her little brother. But twelve is so young to carry that much weight, and when Anthony gets sick she's afraid that she can't protect him the way he deserves.

cold hands, warm hearts

Lockwood and Lucy get sent out to work a case in the country in the midst of a snowstorm. It’s freezing but they’re in love and all they need is each other.

how to be yours

Lockwood is so relieved to have Lucy back, but when he comes down with the world’s worst case of the stomach flu he can’t help but panic that she’s going to walk out that door again. Luckily for him, she has no such intentions.

Keep You Safe

Instead of staying in London after the deaths of their parents, Jessica and Anthony traveled up north to live with their uncle on the family estate in the countryside. As Anthony grew up, he was sure of two things- one, that he was hopelessly in love with his childhood best friend Lucy Carlyle, and two, that they needed to get out of there. But before long things get even more complicated, and there's bigger mysteries that needed to be solved.

(Canon divergence, childhood best friends to lovers)

Peace When You Are Done (a collab with @cats-and-metersticks)

Infamous agency head Gravedigger Sykes doesn’t hire children, and he doesn’t play favorites. That is, until he meets Anthony Lockwood.

Give No Quarter (a collab with @cats-and-metersticks)

"Are you sure you’re okay to come out on the case tonight?”

Lockwood paused, and took a moment before turning around to face her, expression perfectly smooth. “Of course I am. What would make you think otherwise?”

Lucy took a deep breath. This was always a delicate dance, and one she hadn’t entirely perfected yet. “Just… you know it’s the type of thing George and I can handle alone, and it’s been a while since you’ve had a night off.”

He frowned. “But you don’t have to handle it alone. And I don’t need a night off.”

Or, the last time Lockwood works a case with a headache.

the riddle of his existence

"Sometimes, though not often, he had dreams, and they were more painful than the dreams of other boys. For hours he could not be separated from these dreams, though he wailed piteously in them. They had to do, I think, with the riddle of his existence. At such times it had been Wendy's custom to take him out of bed and sit with him on her lap, soothing him in dear ways of her own invention, and when he grew calmer to put him back to bed before he quite woke up, so that he should not know of the indignity to which she had subjected him."

Lockwood shoved all of his trauma down as deep as possible, and then tries to pretend it doesn't burst out of him into nightmares and migraines. George worries. So does Lucy, but she wants to do something about it. She just isn't sure how.

a mess of fading lines

When the team gets called to help seal the scene of a car accident, Lucy isn’t prepared for the effect it has on Lockwood and the old trauma it opens up.

Neither is Lockwood.

stay young, go dancing

The company gets invited to a black tie Fittes affair and Lucy feels like a fish out of water. Luckily Lockwood is there with her. Well, at least he’s trying.

I need you so much closer

Lucy can’t pinpoint why Lockwood is so on edge, but it makes so much more sense when she realizes it’s the anniversary of one of the worst days of his life.

home is a fire

Now that the dust has settled, they can start putting 35 Portland Row back together after it was ransacked by Winkman and his relicmen. The trouble is that it’s not possible to put everything back exactly the way it was, and Lockwood is struggling with the destruction of his childhood home. But Lucy won’t let him struggle alone, and neither will anyone else.

our hands clasped so tight

Lockwood always understood the concept of undying devotion, but he never once dreamed he would be enough to deserve it. Maybe the press of Lucy’s lips against his is enough for him to finally believe it, or maybe dreaming about the family he lost can remind him he was always worthy in the first place.

[newstfionline]

Sunday, September 3, 2023

No power and nowhere to stay as rural Florida starts recovering from Hurricane Idalia (AP) The worst of Hurricane Idalia left residents of a region of tight-knit communities trying to find places to live as they rebuild—if they decide it’s even worth it—and waiting potentially weeks for electricity to be restored after winds and water took out entire power grids. A power cooperative warned its 28,000 customers it might take two weeks to restore electricity. More than 100,000 homes and businesses in Florida and Georgia remained without power Friday, according to PowerOutage.us. And even with high temperatures below normal, the high humidity meant sweltering late-summer days and nights, with no power to run air conditioners. Emergency officials promised trailers would arrive over the weekend to provide housing in an area that didn’t have much to begin with.

Americans’ Ideal Family Size Is Larger Than the Birthrate Suggests (WSJ) What do you think is the ideal number of children for a family to have? Most Americans say the answer is two to three children, according to various surveys over nearly 90 years, even as actual birthrates drop lower than that. In fact, the share of people saying they want three or more children has risen as the actual number of children being born has dropped. Why aren’t people having the families they idealize or intend to have? All sorts of life happens, and you don’t necessarily end up with the family you expected theoretically in a survey.

.ai (Bloomberg) The Caribbean island Anguilla, a British territory, has made bank this year because their country-level domain address is .ai, and amid the AI trend they’re making a fortune off of new registrations. This year, registrations at the top level domain doubled to 287,432 on the year, which would mean that Anguilla will reap in the ballpark of $30 million for the year from selling the domains, up from $7.4 million brought in in 2021.

The Bolivian Job (Rest of World) An estimated 20 percent of the total vehicle fleet in Bolivia has been smuggled, mostly stolen in neighboring Chile and then driven across the desert to one of the 73 illegal markets that are remarkably easy to find. The Bolivian government is aware of the issue, and the car thieves have become a lifestyle of their own, called chuteros with their own TikTok scene and whatnot. Naturally, this has the Chileans furious, and local police are overwhelmed with reports. Chile’s even got a new AI-fueled startup, SafeByWolf, designed to identify boosted cars faster for the insurance industry.

More than 100 British schools may face danger of collapse (BBC) More than 100 schools in England are scrambling to make arrangements after being told to shut buildings with a type of concrete prone to collapse. The government gave the order just days before the start of the autumn term. Some pupils have already been told they will be learning remotely, in temporary classrooms or at different schools. Schools found with buildings containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) have been told they must introduce safety measures, which could include propping up ceilings. This came after the government was made aware of a number of incidents where RAAC failed without warning, not just in school buildings, but elsewhere too.

Russian students are returning to school, where they face new lessons to boost their patriotism (AP) Clad in white shirts and carrying bouquets, children across Russia flocked back to school Friday, where the Kremlin’s narratives about the war in Ukraine and its confrontation with the West were taking an even more prominent spot than before. Students are expected each week to listen to Russia’s national anthem and watch the country’s tricolor flag being raised. There’s a weekly subject loosely translated as “Conversations about Important Things,” which was introduced last year with the goal of boosting patriotism. A new high school history textbook has a chapter on the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the “special military operation”—the Kremlin’s euphemism for the war, and some basic military training is included in a course on self-defense and first aid. “School ... is a powerful mechanism for raising a person subordinate to the state,” said Nikolay Petrov, visiting researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. “For a while the school was outside the active attention of the state. Today, it’s all coming back.”

As Ukraine’s Fight Grinds On, Talk of Negotiations Becomes Nearly Taboo (NYT) Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to the secretary general of NATO, recently had his knuckles rapped when he commented on possible options for an end to the war in Ukraine that did not envision a complete Russian defeat. His remarks provoked an angry condemnation from the Ukrainians; a clarification from his boss, Jens Stoltenberg; and ultimately an apology from Mr. Jenssen. The contretemps, say some analysts who have been similarly chastised, reflects a closing down of public discussion on options for Ukraine just at a moment when imaginative diplomacy is most needed, they say. Given that even President Biden says the war is likely to end in negotiations, Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, believes there should be a serious debate in any democracy about how to get there. Yet he, too, has also been criticized for suggesting that it is important to talk to Russia about a negotiated outcome. “There is a broad and increasingly widespread sense that what we’re doing now isn’t working, but not much of an idea of what to do next, and not a big openness to discuss it, which is how you come up with one,” he said. “The lack of success hasn’t opened up the political space for an open discussion of alternatives.”

Pope, in Mongolia, laments earth devastated by countless conflicts (Reuters) Pope Francis, in words that appeared to be aimed at China rather than the neighbouring country he was visiting, said on Saturday that governments have nothing to fear from the Catholic Church because it has no political agenda. In an address to bishops, priests, missionaries and pastoral workers, he said Jesus gave no political mandate to his apostles but told them to alleviate the sufferings of a “wounded humanity” through faith. “For this reason, governments and secular institutions have nothing to fear from the Church’s work of evangelization, for she has no political agenda to advance, but is sustained by the quiet power of God’s grace and a message of mercy and truth, which is meant to promote the good of all,” he said. On Saturday morning, Francis called on leaders to dispel the “dark clouds of war.”

Typhoon Saola makes landfall in southern China but appears to cause only light damage (AP) Typhoon Saola made landfall in southern China before dawn Saturday after nearly 900,000 people were moved to safety and most of Hong Kong and parts of the coastal mainland suspended business, transport and classes. Damage appeared to be minimal, however, and some services were returning to normal by afternoon. Meanwhile, Taiwan issued a warning Saturday for a second typhoon, Haikui, which was expected to pass over the island Sunday, before traveling onward to the central Chinese coast.

Biden approves military aid to Taiwan under program normally used for sovereign states (NBC) On Wednesday, Washington approved a transfer of arms to Taiwan under the Foreign Military Financing program, which is normally reserved for use with sovereign states. Currently, neither the U.S. nor U.N. acknowledges the island nation as its own country in order to maintain diplomatic ties to China. Beijing voiced its “strong dissatisfaction” and “firm opposition” to the weapons sale, claiming that it hurt “China’s sovereignty and security interests” while damaging “peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.” Even as China-U.S. dialogue has picked up in recent months with multiple American officials visiting Beijing, the White House has continued funneling arms to Taiwan. Last month, Washington approved a $345 million arms package to the country, and is working to send $500 million worth of F-16 fighter jets to Taipei as well.

With wary eye on China, U.S. moves closer to former foe Vietnam (Washington Post) The United States and Vietnam are poised to significantly enhance their economic and technological ties, bringing the former foes closer at a time of increased Chinese assertiveness in the region. The deal, expected to be announced when President Biden makes a state visit to Vietnam next weekend, is the latest step by the Biden administration to deepen relations in Asia. For Hanoi, the closer relationship with Washington serves as a counterweight to Beijing’s influence. The establishment of a “comprehensive strategic partnership” will give the United States a diplomatic status that Vietnam has so far reserved for only a handful of other countries: China, Russia, India and South Korea.

The low, low cost of shipping (London Review of Books) The truth is that shipping is responsible, as Rose George put it in the subtitle of her classic 2013 book on the subject, for ‘90 Per Cent of Everything’. It is the physical equivalent of the internet, the other industry which makes globalisation possible. The internet abolishes national boundaries for information, news, data; shipping abolishes these boundaries for physical goods. The main way it does this is by being almost incomprehensibly efficient and cheap. As George points out, if you’re having a sweater shipped from the other side of the planet, the cost of shipping adds just a cent to the price. Another way of putting it would be to say that shipping is, in practice, free. This has had the effect of abolishing geography and location as an economic factor: moving stuff from A to B is so cheap that, for most goods, there is no advantage in siting manufacturing anywhere near your customers. Instead, you make whatever it is where it’s cheapest, and ship it to them instead.

[timeoverload]

I haven't had much to say lately. I go through the same routine pretty much every week. I feel like I am repeating myself over and over. I'm not very exciting. I also figured it's probably best if I stay quiet if I don't have anything positive to say. I don't like complaining all the time. I have been tired and grumpy and I haven't been sleeping enough. I have been doing my best not to project how I'm feeling because I don't want to bother anyone.

Typing is sort of difficult for me right now. I can't tell if my arthritis is flaring up or if I'm developing cubital tunnel syndrome. My right hand and arm hurt really bad right now. It's making it hard for me to get a grip on things. My ring finger and pinky are tingling. My ulnar nerve moves more than it's supposed to and gets trapped sometimes. My elbow snaps a lot when I bend it and it's loud. It has always been an issue for me but I try to deal with it. I don't think the weather is helping. I am going to do my best to ignore it and hopefully it will go away soon. I am doing everything I can to avoid going to the doctor for a while.

I have been busy as usual. My work-load has increased a lot but it always does this time of year. A new eye doctor started recently so I have had a lot more cases than usual. The past few days have been very stressful because we have been installing a new computer system at work and I don't think we prepared enough for it. I have mixed feelings about it. It has changed the way I do my job in some ways. We had been using the same system since I started so it has been a tough change for me. I'm used to having to scan instruments into the autoclaves and stuff but a lot of our documentation was still done on paper and now most of our records will be digital. There used to be a batch sheet that would print out when we would load the autoclaves that would list everything that was in there but now we have to get on the computer to check which can be inconvenient if someone needs that information quickly. I can't just print labels for my cataract pans at the beginning of the day so now I have to do each one individually and it makes it difficult to keep track of which doctor I should be setting up for. Surprisingly I didn't make any mistakes today so I guess that was nice. I understand that the new system is better for tracking and saves paper but it's still annoying and takes more time. I'm glad I'm a fast learner and I know how to use it already but it will still take some time to get used to.

I am happy that I have been able to have some peace in the morning this week since the morning team lead is on vacation. That probably sounds bad but I know that he would have been stressed out if he was at work this week and it's hard to be around him when he's like that. Everyone else has been in a bad mood as it is so I don't need any more drama right now. One of the girls in my department was really upset about something earlier and then she snapped at me when I asked her if she was ok. I didn't do anything to warrant that kind of response. I was just concerned. I am trying not to take it personally but I'm not going to go out of my way to talk to her if she's going to be like that.

I'm a little frustrated because I'm on probation for sick days again and I got a verbal warning so I can't call in for a while. I also don't have any PTO. I don't want to get written up so I'm trying to avoid that. I can't afford to lose my bonus this year because I have so many bills I need to pay right now. I have been having trouble managing my finances as it is.

Maxwell, I really would like to come see you before the 17th but I don't think I am going to be able to. I don't want you to be upset with me. I don't want to wait that long either because I miss you and it's making me sad. I really hate the way things are at the moment but I know it won't always be like this. I wish I could make you happy right now. I'm sorry.

I wish I felt like I had more control over my life. I hope that someday I can get my shit together. I want to be responsible. I don't understand how other people can balance everything without falling apart. I am trying not to complain about stuff but I can't help it.

Overall I suppose this week has been ok despite the circumstances. The schedule tomorrow looks bad for me but I will try to make it a good day anyway. I'm looking forward to the weekend even though I will likely spend most of it in bed trying to feel better. I need to stop typing and give my arm a break for a while because it's starting to bother me a lot. I will probably be up late again because I still have stuff I need to do tonight. I'm going to do my best to get things done quickly so that I can relax for a while before I go to bed.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a good day tomorrow. I appreciate the nice messages because they make me feel better when I'm down. Thank you all for caring and listening to me. 💖💖💖