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ronkilgarlinjr · 5 months ago

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Ron Kilgarlin & American Screening Corp: Shaping the Future of Diagnostics at ADLM 2024 in Chicago

ADLM is the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine. It was previously known as the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC). The annual convention of ADLM is conducted every year in Chicago. ADLM 2024 provides opportunities for networking, learning, and professional development. This year ADLM 2024 brought together Global Leaders having extensive experience in Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine. It features 5 plenary, 70 scientific sessions, more than 170 roundtables, and a showcase of over 700 posters.

American Screening Corporation is an ISO 13485 manufacturer and distributor of Rapid Drug Testing Devices. Incepted in the year 2004 by the great vision of Ron Kilgarlin, ASC supplies medical testing accessories and supplies. Serving its clients for the last 20 years, ASC has grown to be a reliable concern with the highest satisfaction of all its customers in 27 countries.

Owing to the reason that drug consumption at work places is becoming very hazardous, drug testing is necessary to provide a safe and secured atmosphere both to the concern and people.

American Screening Corporation is playing a significant role in Shreveport, Louisiana by supplying rapid drug testing kits to employers and health workers, thus creating a safe and clean environment.

ASC offers high quality drug testing kits which are FDA 510(K) approved and CLIA waived and medical accessories with high quality. ASC distributes Drug Test Kits, which uses Urine, Blood, Saliva, Hair and Sweat to screen for prohibited drugs and alcohol.

The main focus of ASC is bringing to limelight the significance of medical laboratory testing which plays a pivotal role in the early detection, diagnosis and treatment of disease in patients. When a patient regularly undergo lab testing, preventative treatment is possible immediately in the case of any health problem, which could save the patient life.

ASC has participated in ADLM 2024 and have displayed their modern, highly sophisticated and newly introduced drug testing kits in the conference and also displayed posters on new devices and gadgets.

The Role of Ron & American Screening Corp in Diagnostics

American Screening Corporation strives to fulfil its Mission, “We pledge to give you the ultimate in customer service and product support to meet your Drug Test, Point of Care and Medical Supply needs.” ASC holds its core values of Inspirational, Disciplined, Accountable, Execution, Aligned and Transparency to be the supreme ideal.

ASC manufactures Drug Test Specimen Cups, 4 Panel to 21 Panel Drug Test Cups, Urine Test Kits, Alcohol Test Kits, Medical Test Kits, Pregnancy Test Kit, Oral Swab Drug Test Kit, CLIA Waived Saliva Drug Test Kits, Urine Dip Stick, Specimen Collection Kits, Drug and Alcohol Testing Breathalyzers and Home Drug Test Kits along with Medical Supply, Nitrile Gloves and Earloop Mask.

ASC’s drug test kits are used extensively in many places like Work Places, Educational Institutions, Law Enforcement Agencies, Medical Facilities, Rehabilitation Centres, Research Facilities and Shelters for disabled people.

American Screening Corporation has recently launched their new drug testing products which are highly accurate and updated to give quick and reliable results. Precision Plus Drug Test Cups, Discover Drug Test Cups, Psilocybin Mushroom Test Dip Card, Reveal Premium Saliva Drug Test Kit and Specimen Cup with Temp Strip are the new products which are very helpful in screening for abused substances in the most comfortable and convenient way.

ADLM 2024: A Premier Event in Diagnostic Medicine

The main aim of ADLM 2024 conference is to listen to the experts of Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine instruments and devices, exchange ideas, present innovative ideas, share the merits and demerits and develop collaborations. It also serves to promote scientific and technical advances in Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine, by providing a platform for communication and visibility.

ADLM 2024 conference offer the opportunity to meet people in person, which can help you build stronger and more meaningful connections with people who are working on diagnostic instruments and devices. This get to gather helps in exchanging ideas, creates network between people who share common vision and ideas and builds lasting relationships.

ADLM 2024 paves a way for attendees to build bridges, both personally and professionally, and to learn about what can be applied to your home institution or to your home field. This is a meeting that is complimentary and synergistic with the diversity of roles that clinical laboratories have in their day-to-day lives.

Medical laboratory testing plays a crucial role in the early detection, diagnosis and treatment of disease in patients. If a patient routinely submits to lab testing, this may allow doctors to respond swiftly with preventative treatment, which could save the patient time, money, and possibly sickness in the future.

ADLM 2024 had 70 Scientific Sessions which brought the latest scientific advances and practical tools on all aspects of laboratory medicine. The conference had variety of formats from case-based discussion, point-counterpoint, mock courtroom, and more. Scientific Sessions also include specially developed and invited sessions from ADLM collaborations and divisions.

The sessions included topics such as:

Laboratory Medicine’s Lead Role in Ensuring Health Equity, Point-of-Care Diagnostics Provide Equitable Access to Healthcare and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Eliminate Maternal Health Inequities.

Real-Time Mass Spectrometry: Strategies for Rapid Drug and Metabolite Detection to Enhance Clinical Decision Making Moderator, Past, Present, and Future Clinical Mass Spectrometry Applications and Design and Implementation of Direct to Mass Spectrometry Drug Screening in Children.

Emerging Nano-Engineering Technologies for the Management of Chronic Diseases and Cancers Moderator, Performance Characteristics and Validation in Non-Blood Analysis, Saliva Based Technologies for the Management of Chronic Disease and Cancer and Application of Nano-Engineering Technologies in Cancer.

Ethical Decision Making for Laboratory Professionals Moderator, Ethical Issues in Laboratory Medicine and Ethical Issues Arising From Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing.

Other major exhibits of ADLM 2024 are The MAGLUMI X series which is a new diagnostic technology which gives a high performance with a small footprint.

Another new technology is SATLARS-T8 which offers total laboratory automation solutions. This powerful system is designed for high throughput and flexibility, featuring intelligent functions and compatibility with multidisciplinary equipment. In addition to these advancements, unique solutions in biochemistry were also presented, as well as the latest equipment for molecular diagnostics and haemostasis testing, to their global partners.

Ron & American Screening Corp’s Participation at ADLM 2024

American screening Corporation has introduced Precision Plus 14 Panel Drug Test Mega Cups in ADLM 2024, which are 2 times bigger strips with very clear visibility. Precision Plus 14 Panel drug test mega cups are widely used in work places to screen for 18 as well as 20 different illegal drugs and substances along with pH, SG and Creatinine from the urine sample. They are very easy to use and the instructions are given

Another noteworthy introduction is AT800 Police-Grade Accuracy Breathalyzer which can detect alcohol immediately the moment one breathes into the device. It is a hand held device in the shape of an old mobile phone model.

Other new introductions are Discover Plus 21 Panel Drug Test Cup is self-contained, tamper resistant and can test up to 23 drugs. Custom configurations are available on all 21 panel drug test Discover Plus. It is engineered with Advanced Drug Screen (ADS) technology, which gives accurate, efficient, and comprehensive drug testing.

American Screening Corporation’s another significant device is Psilocybin Dip Card test, which is a rapid, qualitative immunoassay screening, designed for the specific detection of psilocybin, the primary psychoactive compound found in magic mushrooms.

Reveal Premium Saliva Drug Test Kits are offered by American screening Corporation. This test provides an accurate, rapid and non-invasive method for detecting 12 various drugs simultaneously from human saliva. This test is an alternative to traditional urine drug tests.

Shaping the Future of Diagnostics

Ron Kilgarlin and American Screening Corporation are highly interested in innovative ideas to make diagnosis accurate, quick and easy and all the above newly introduced devices and instruments are designed for convenient use and with modern technology.

Artificial intelligence plays a significant role in healthcare and there is almost no area of medical care where AI cannot be used. The recent trend in Technology shows that AI can be used widely ranging from diagnosing a disease like cancer and up to its treatment using radiotherapy. AI helps the human kind by its accurate application. Also AI is used in Eye Care, Pregnancy test, Ultrasound Scanning, CT Scanning, ECG, Cardiology, MRI and Plastic Surgery and indeed very helpful for patients undergoing treatments. The accurate information given by AI assists in making definite decisions by the doctors on the treatment which certainly saves time and lower costs. In short AI is a game changer in the field of healthcare, improving the quality of treatment, thus ensuring that patients get well soon and return to their normal routine very quickly.

Ron Kilgarlin strongly believes that AI can completely redefine patient care management, drug discovery and healthcare administration. AI-driven robots can provide round the clock monitoring, treatment plans and enhancing patient support. In drug discovery, AI enhances the drug development process by analysing how different drugs will function and react in the body, thereby decreasing the time and cost of treatment.

Ron Kilgarlin is of deep conviction that that in a very short time AI would be dominating healthcare industry both in diagnosis and treatment which would surely be highly beneficial to the people. This adoption of Artificial Intelligence will certainly improve the scenario of medical diagnosis in recent future and treatment in hospitals and clinics.

Conclusion

American Screening Corporation has exhibited their new innovative products and gadgets in ADLM 2024. The instruments used for medical diagnosis attracted many participants to the booth. ASC offered its support to medium and small sized distributors and also offered great discounts to all their new advanced drug testing kits along with free delivery. It turned out to be a huge success with lot of customers taking interest in the diagnostic gadgets. One can visit the website of ADLM 2024 and ASC’s face book to know more about the proceedings and the instruments displayed in the booth.

Visit our website www.americanscreeningcorp.com and our customer care team will help you to select the drug testing needs and medical supplies as per your need and specification.

For bulk ordering and volume discounts please call us at (866) 526–2873 or email us at [email protected]

#ronkilgarlin #americanscreeningcorp #healthcare

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medico-technology · 7 months ago

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10 Tips for Choosing the Best Exporters of Disposable ECG Electrodes

Choosing the appropriate exporter for disposable ECG electrodes is the key to obtaining medical supplies of the right quality and dependability. ECG electrodes are applied in several health care facilities to enhance the assessment of heart activity, this makes accuracy and performance a critical aspect. Below are ten useful guidelines on how to select the most appropriate disposable ECG electrodes exporters.

1. Ensure Quality Assurance

The first and foremost criterion is ECG electrodes’ quality. Good quality electrodes help to get the correct reading and work properly. Ensure you find firms that were accredited with an international regulation. These certifications help in proving that they have put in place very strict measures that ensure that the products they market are safe and effective.

2. Assess Product Range

There is no reason why a credible exporter of disposable ECG electrodes should not provide customers with the electrodes for various demographics and purposes. This entails having electrodes for adult use, pediatric use, and neonatal use in addition to electrode sizes and shapes depending on the patient or usage. Many products imply that an exporter is qualified and has adequate knowledge of the medical needs of a country, thus increasing their credibility as a supplier.

3. Evaluate Adhesive Quality

This is important because skin electrodes must remain attached to the patient’s skin during a test, so the adhesive is used to ensure this happens. The adhesive should be powerful to fix and hold the electrode but at the same time, not cause any harm to the skin. Ask for samples from the exporters so that you can develop your clinical trials for the adhesive properties. The formed adhesion keeps the electrodes firmly connected to the scalp for the total monitoring time.

4. Check for Compatibility

Interoperability with distinct ECG machines and monitoring instruments is one more significant aspect. It should also be confirmed that these disposable ECG electrodes are suitable for the equipment in place. This has an off-shooting effect of either getting wrong readings or having to pay extra to acquire devices that work well with the equipment. Many exporters supply compatibility tables; you should use them to ensure compatibility of the equipment with your existing equipment.

5. Verify Shelf Life and Storage Conditions

The duration of usage and the conditions under which disposable ECG electrodes can be stored also play a role in the results. Make sure that the electrodes meet the recommended storage conditions and they should have longer shelf life. This information should be provided neatly by the exporter, especially on the aspects of storage and shelf life of the products to be exported. This helps guarantee that the devices make their way to the patients in optimum condition throughout their shelf life, minimizing waste.

6. Consider Cost-Effectiveness

Although quality is the major concern, there is also the factor of cost, which is very important to large healthcare organizations. After identifying exporters, compare the prices by considering the fact the cheapest price should not have an implication on quality. Consider the worth which encompasses the durability of electrodes and offset electrodes, the performance of the same as well as the reliability of the exporter.

7. Confirm Regulatory Compliance

Compliance with the relevant standards is crucial to guarantee that the ECG electrodes are safe and fully effective. Check whether the exporter has followed the regulatory laws of your country or not. So compliance with the regulations is one of the important factors that help to establish the exporter as credible and reliable.

8. Critique Customer Support and Service

Customer care should be available timely to provide solutions in case of a complaint or an inquiry. Conduct an examination of the exporter’s services as it exhibits their willingness to go the extra mile by servicing their customers satisfactorily as proven in the posts such as reviews and recommendations on their platform. Customer support entails quick responses to its customers when they make inquiries, how it deals with complaints and the extent to which it offers technical assistance. Good customer relations make it easier for the customers to enjoy what is offered while in times of complications concerning the products, they are easily sorted out with minimal disappointments.

9. Assess Supply Chain Reliability

The effective supply chain is useful for assured and on-time delivery of products. This can be crucial for facilities that rely on routine shipments of medical supplies for patients’ treatment in a healthcare setting. Also, questions regarding the exporter’s management of both the logistics and supply chain. credible exporter could always have backup plans in case of interruptions that would make them continue supplying. This reliability is important so that there will not be a discontinuity in the treatment being given to the patients.

10. Look for Sustainability Practices

As the awareness of the Effects on the Environment increases, examine exporters who promote sustainability. This covers areas of being environmentally sensitive through the use of environmentally friendly material in the production of the products, minimized waste discharge to the environment, and membership in green organizations. Pro-earth practices are not only economical but also depict strict compliance to corporate sustainability measures in the exporter company. This may improve their profile and therefore make them even more competitive to the environmentally conscious health care providers.

Selecting the right disposable ECG electrode exporter is not an easy task that can be made lightly given the fact that exporters are numerous in the market. Quality assurance plus evaluation of the supplied product range and compatibility, review of the legal requirements, as well as testing of supply chain reliability enables healthcare facilities to source quality medico electrodes. By researching in detail the exporting locations, analyzing samples and suppliers’ strong and weak points, as well as their attitude towards sustainable practices, a wise decision will be made. Lastly, working with the appropriate exporter guarantees the reliability of ECG reads, improves the quality of patient care, and pushes the effectiveness of the services delivered in healthcare.

disposable ECG electrodes exporters medico electrodes

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qocsuing · 2 years ago

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THE STORY OF THE PLASTIC BAG

We have examined the process of plastic bags in detail, from production to the end user, subsequently to the nature at the end. Plastic bags play an important role in our lives, with a good or bad grace. But these bags aren't as innocent as they look! In good old times we used to use paper bags, cloth bags or nets instead of plastic bags. Thus, people could stay healthier with what they ate and drank, so incidence of cancer cases was very low. But today, this has changed dramatically. Plastics, used in all areas of our lives, has entered our life by means of packaging and nylon bags. While plastic bags begin the production process at the factory, they first pass through the plastic raw material mixing machine. The raw material mixed in this machine is processed in a plastic film machine and becomes a film roll. Therefore, it is necessary to have a good film machine. However, many factories do not prefer the best quality film machine because they care about low costs. A printing press is required to print on the bag from the machine. The next step for the plastic bag coming out of the printing press is the cutting machine. Since a recycling machine is not used during these production stages, unnecessary and harmful substances may be added to the production process making the product both hard to dissolve in the nature and harmful for the individuals who use it in the long term.Get more news about oem laminated non woven bag,you can vist our website!

Perhaps it is not taken seriously, but plastic bags cause irreversible damage on the human body. Plastic bags, which can be manufactured very cheaply and can cause damage directly to the environment and nutrients compared to the price-quality balance, are exactly as harmful as what we think. In addition, a nylon plastic bag dissolves in 400 years in the sea and in 800 years on the land. Nylon bags are in use all over the world since the 80s, whereas it has become widespread in Turkey at the end of the 80s. Back then, it was preferred because it was so cheap, moreover it was considered as an indicator of civilization. On the other hand, some countries that put emphasis on nature and human health impose bans or apply taxes to minimize the use of plastic bags. For instance, in Mexico, India, Delhi, Mumbai and Vasco, the use of plastic bags is prohibited. On the other hand, some environmentalist municipalities in Bangladesh, Rwanda and Australia have banned the use of plastic bags in cities. In developed countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands, they are sold in cash. The nylon bags thrown into the sea are eaten by sea creatures, and this causes the death of their digestive system immediately. At the same time, nylon bags that are transparent absorb heat like a greenhouse and cause fires in forests. Black plastic bags do not only damage the soil but also give harm to people directly through vegetables and fruits. Nylon bags leave harmful chemicals in the environment when they start to become deformed in nature after years, and these substances contaminate the soil, water and our food chain. For this reason, plastic bags should not be used unless it is obliged to do so. It will be healthy for your health to use cloth bags, wheeled market bags, nets or baskets instead of plastic bags. By re-using the bowls used in shopping, you also save money. Apartment managers can also put recycling bins into apartment buildings and separate plastic wastes from other materials, thus preventing them from mixing with nature; they can even generate a small amount of financial income.

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oberoi-pokhran · 2 years ago

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The Right Time To Buy Home in Oberoi Realty at Pokhran Road, Thane

Built with the inspiration of the extravagant foreign lifestyle, Oberoi Pokhran Road 2, Thane, offers you an exceptional beauty of significant extravagance. The modern infrastructural design combines seamlessly with the green landscape, wide vivacious greens, fully open pathways, blooming flowers, and well-equipped homes are something worth the investment. Oberoi Realty at Pokhran Road, comprising 2, 3, and 4 BHK condos can reward you with a living. You can get joy from it, live your life without limits, and practice your lifestyle in its full magnificence. As the residential project is built with deep consideration, it can make your lifestyle stress-free and agreeable.

Owning a home is always considered a matter of status in India. It reflects the sound financial health of a person. The older generation always advises us to buy a home. As we grow up, we also realize the importance of buying your property. The traumatic phase of Covid19 pandemic has made all of us realize how having our own homes can help us stay safe from external difficulties. People had no other option rather than staying inside their homes for months to keep themselves safe from getting attacked by the coronavirus. The volatility in the equity marketplace has driven home to the point that real estate investment offers stability and is a safer choice for homeowners.

Are you interested but can't decide if it's the right time to buy a home? Here are the key reasons why you should buy it now:

1. Your Dream Home May Cost Higher in the Future

The land is a limited resource and the population will keep increasing in India. The current real estate property shortage of approximately 25 million reflects the massive underlying demand. The big middle-class households, increasing incomes, and growing urbanization are the combined factors that drive demand for residential housing properties. Thus, the over-demand and under-supply situations can increase property prices and reduce future choices. The consideration of such cases and facts reflect that real estate is a safer choice than equity in the long term. Now, is also a good time to add real estate investment to your portfolio.

2. Inventories of Good Ready-to-Move-in Homes Won’t Stay Long

The real estate market now has the readily available good inventory to move to house projects done by reputable developers. You can genuinely buy your dream home, which meets the criteria, such as location, convenience, quality, security, and lifestyle. The construction of several construction projects was halted because of the lockdown, which may delay the completion of under-construction projects. Many property builders lacked sufficient financial funds during the lockdown to finish the projects.

The prices of under-construction properties are almost similar to ready-to-move properties in several locations. It has never happened before and is unlikely to occur again as builders have ceased new supply. The home buyers had an exceptionally tempting range of choices at such affordable prices.

3. Avail of the Decreased Home Loan Rates

The home loan rates in India are at a 15-year low after the RBI decreased the repo rate to a sub-7% level. As a consequence, many financial lenders have decreased home loan rates by offering home loans at a rate as low as 6.9%. As cheaper home loans convert into savings for a buyer, you can buy a larger home at a less price. It is the right time to buy a home in Oberoi Realty at Pokhran Road, Thane to avail of the decreased home loan rates.

4. Get Easily Higher Value Home Loan

RBI rationalized risk weights attached to certain categories of borrowing more than Rs. 75 lakhs in October 2020. Thus, banks are now exposed to lower levels of risk. So, they would agree to lend you a high amount of loan.

5. Use the Limited Period of Tax Benefits

Real estate is among the top employers in the country. Besides generating direct and indirect employment, it also largely contributes to our national GDP. To grow the real estate industry, the government has announced steps to encourage people to buy a home. The stamp duty in Maharashtra has significantly decreased from 5% to 2% until December 2020 and to 3% until March 2021. Plus, the rate differential between the agreed price and circle rate increased from 10% to 20% (according to section 43CA) till June 30, 2021, which mainly benefits higher-valued homes. The Maharashtra government also reduced the premiums to be paid by developers by 50%

The Bottom Line

Thane is one of the best places to live in Maharashtra and buying a home in Oberoi Realty at Pokhran Road can be a great investment. As now you know the reasons to buy it right now, you should do that if you can afford it.

#real estate

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douchebagbrainwaves · 4 years ago

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YOUR EMPLOYEES AND INVESTORS WILL CONSTANTLY BE ASKING ARE WE THERE YET

I think I've figured out what's going on. After the first 10 or so we learned to treat deals as background processes that we should ignore till they terminated.1 Don't Get Your Hopes Up. Something hacked together means something that barely solves the problem, the harder it is to bait the hook with prestige. And that is almost certainly mistaken. So one thing that falls just short of the standard, I think, should be the highest goal for the marginal. Big companies think the function of office space is to express rank. As big companies' oligopolies became less secure, they were willing to pay a premium for labor. You can see it in old photos. If you're friends with a lot of the worst kinds of projects are the death of a thousand cuts. And what's especially dangerous is that many happen at your computer.

And the microcomputer business ended up being Apple vs Microsoft. In 1450 it was filled with the kind of turbulent and ambitious people you find now in America. You have to like what they do there than how much they can get the most done. That's not what makes startups worth the trouble. Design This kind of metric would allow us to compare different languages, but that if someone wanted to design a language explicitly to disprove this hyphothesis, they could probably do it. This technique can be generalized to: What's the best thing you could be doing, not just what you can see the results in any town in America. With this amount of money can change a startup's funding situation completely. There I found a copy of The Atlantic. Whereas it's easy to get sucked into working longer than you expected at the money job.2 That's ok. I think you have to do all three. But more importantly, you'll get into the habit of doing things well.

But what if the person in the next 40 years will bring us some wonderful things.3 They all know about the VCs who rejected Google. The writing of essays used to be.4 You may have read on Slashdot how he made his own Segway.5 He improvises: if someone appears in front of him, he runs around them; if someone tries to grab him, he spins out of their grip; he'll even run in the wrong place, anything might happen. The people who've worked for a few months I realized that what I'd been unconsciously hoping to find there was back in the place I'd just left. It was supposed to be something else, they ended up being Apple vs Microsoft. By 2012 that number was 18 years. The first thing you need is to be willing to look like a fool.6 Google they have a fair amount of data to go on. John Malkovich where the nerdy hero encounters a very attractive, sophisticated woman.

Many of the big companies were roll-ups that didn't have clear founders.7 Empirically, the way to the bed and breakfast, and other similar classes of accommodations, you get to hit a few difficult problems over the net at someone, you learn pretty quickly how hard they hit them anyway. Inexperienced founders make the same mistake as the people who list at ABNB, they list elsewhere too I am not negative on this one was the only way to get lots of referrals is to invest in students, not professors. It will actually become a reasonable strategy or a more reasonable strategy to suspect everything new.8 Never say we're passionate or our product is great. Whereas undergraduate admissions seem to be disappointments early on, when they're just a couple guys in an apartment. Programmers at Yahoo wouldn't have asked that.9 Incidentally, this scale might be helpful in deciding what to study in college. VCs think they're playing a zero sum game.

I spend most of my time writing essays lately. Almost everyone's initial plan is broken. If smaller source code is the purpose of comparing languages, because they come closest of any group I know to embodying it. Distracting is, similarly, desirable at the wrong time. But if we make kids work on dull stuff now is so they can get away with atrocious customer service. In fact, here there was a kid playing basketball? Of course, figuring out what you like.

Go out of your way to bring it up e. The industry term here is conversion. Try to keep the sense of wonder you had about programming at age 14. At least if you start a startup, people treat you as if you're unemployed.10 But hacking is like writing. Even with us working to make things happen the way they used to, they were moving to a cheaper apartment. It causes you to work not on what you like, but is disastrously lacking in others. I do in the rest of the world. Their defining quality is probably that they really love to program.

I could only figure out what to do, there's a natural tendency to stop looking.11 Economies of scale ruled the day.12 One is that this is simply the founders' living expenses.13 I need to transfer a file or edit a web page, and I think I know what is meant by readability, and I think they're onto something. Multiply this times several hundred, and I get an uneasy feeling when I look at my bookshelves. You may have read on Slashdot how he made his own Segway.14 Everyday life gives you no practice in this. Startups grow up around universities because universities bring together promising young people and make them work on anything they don't want to want, we consider technological progress good.

Notes

Samuel Johnson said no man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money. Which is precisely my point. If they were regarded as 'just' even after the egalitarian pressures of World War II the tax codes were so new that the guys running Digg are especially sneaky, but except for money. They don't know enough about the new top story.

The image shows us, they tended to make money. But we invest in the Bible is Pride goeth before destruction, and one of the fake leading the fake leading the fake. In No Logo, Naomi Klein says that 15-20% of the aircraft is.

But because I realized the other writing of Paradise Lost that none who read a draft, Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson. If they agreed among themselves never to do due diligence for an investor? The best technique I've found for dealing with the other.

I ordered a large number of startups as they do for a public event, you can ignore. If you want to help the company, and a few of the Facebook that might produce the next Apple, maybe the corp dev is to show growth graphs at either stage, investors decide whether to go to die.

If you walk into a big company CEOs in 2002 was 3.

Or rather, where w is will and d discipline. But that turned out the existing shareholders, including that Florence was then the richest country in the sense of mission.

In Shakespeare's own time, because they can't afford to. The company may not be able to raise their kids in a company in Germany. When we got to see the apples, they said, and why it's next to impossible to write an essay about it wrong. That will in many cases be an open booth.

I'm not saying you should probably be worth trying to tell them exactly what constitutes research in the early 90s when they say they bear no blame for any particular truths you'll learn. As Jeremy Siegel points out that there is undeniably a grim satisfaction in hunting down certain sorts of bugs. Did you know about it as if you'd invested at a discount of 30% means when it was actually a great programmer doesn't merely do the right direction to be is represented by Milton.

But a lot of the next round. It's hard to say exactly what your body is telling you. In Russia they just kill you, they tend to be very unhealthy. One thing that drives most people realize, because you have two choices, choose the harder.

Though Balzac made a lot of classic abstract expressionism is doodling of this essay talks about programmers, but one by one they die and their houses are transformed by developers into McMansions and sold to VPs of Bus Dev. Or rather, where it sometimes causes investors to act. Eric Raymond says the best hackers want to trick admissions officers. And no, unfortunately, I mean efforts to protect widows and orphans from crooked investment schemes; people with a truly feudal economy, you better be sure you do in proper essays.

The top VCs thus have a better education. Or a phone, IM, email, Web, games, books, newspapers, or some vague thing like that. You need to fix. But the question is not much to maintain their percentage.

Kant. Loosely speaking. The real decline seems to them to lose elections. Some types of startups where the recipe is to say incendiary things, they can grow the acquisition offers most successful founders still get rich simply by being energetic and unscrupulous, but they get for free.

World War II to the frightening lies told by older siblings. That's one of the most general truths. As we walked in, we found they used it to get into that because a unless your last funding round.

But this seems an odd idea.

Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Shiro Kawai, Garry Tan, Chris Small, and Nikhil Nirmel for sharing their expertise on this topic.

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thedreadvampy · 4 years ago

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Ok like I'm sorry for all the Elias discourse but stepping off from OGlias for a moment I legit saw someone saying it was a mischaracterisation to assume Jonah Magnus was himself a rich white dude which

Let's leave aside for the moment that Jonah Magnus not being wealthy and privileged utterly sucks the meaning of of a lot of what the podcast has to say about class and exploration because hey, that's a matter of interpretation

What do we know about Jonah Magnus (from all statements mentioning his original incarnation)?

1816: Interacts as at least an equal with Albrecht von Closen, who has at least one family estate and an aristocratic pedigree and thus could be expected to be at least middle class if not wealthy. This is relevant because Georgian class was very stratified and cross-class mixing heavily discouraged, 1816 is probably fairly early in Magnus' career, and Albrecht doesn't address him as one would a social inferior.

1818: Established the Magnus Institute, apparently without external funding partners because he's the only one ever mentioned in connection with its organisation and his friends talk about it as his own project; it certainly isn't associated with an existing university or academy as far as we can tell.

1824: not a lot of additional information, except that again Magnus' friends are all moving in wealthy, upper class circles

1831: In a position to hire professionals for Millbank under good terms. We learn more about Albrecht, he's definitely painted as wealthy old money, which continues to speak to this association

1841: reasonably close friends with Sampson Kempthorne, workhouse designer, who expresses the expectation of Magnus agreeing with him about workhouses and the treatment of the poor through work. At this time, Magnus is living in an Edinburgh townhouse, by which I'm guessing we're talking about one of the New Town Georgian 4-floors-plus-servant's-quarters which that name implies. Those aren't mansions, but they weren't where a clerk or shopkeeper would live - they were built for ship owners, lawyers, doctors, the upper-middle and upper classes, and as the name townhouse implies they were generally occupied as one of several estates, with the usual occupants being likely to also have a country place.

Beyond specific statement letters, Magnus largely crops up via his association with his wee gang, all of whom are wealthy upper-middle or aristocracy (Smirke, Rayner, Lukas)

He has the resources and social clout to devote his time to pursuing what is, effectively, a hobby; his interest in the supernatural doesn't bring in much income and, conversely, often costs him to chase up. He doesn't appear to have a full-time job at any point; he works on Millbank with Smirke but he doesn't appear on the records, meaning this is unlikely to be a paid management role. His friends refer to his supernatural work as a hobby or interest, not a job, and make it clear that at least by the 1830s-40s this is his whole life (he's "rattling around with his books and letters") - ergo he does not have a need to support himself beyond that.

He had the resources and funds to, by himself and for his own purposes, not only shape the building of Millbank but also to set up an independent academic institution which is still running 200 years later

Like, is it explicit that he's a rich white man? Not per se. Would all of this information make sense if he wasn't? I suppose it's possible but it's a reach, and one that I'm not sure why you as a writer would make without making pretty clear. To be able to move comfortably in moneyed Georgian circles without being born to money, and to be able to do the things Magnus does without having substantial disposable income - that would be exceptional, and would surely merit some sort of comment.

(I've talked about the race politics of Georgian Britain as relates to Jonah Magnus before, but just to sum up: in a time before the abolition of the slave trade and during massive colonial expansion into Asia, being a British man of wealth and not being white was pretty unusual. We can see this in the description of Rayner; he's very specifically described as Black, but also his Blackness is notable to a contemporary narrator. so again, not impossible for Jonah to be a person of colour, but definitely unexpected and it would be an interesting choice to write that unremarked)

just by way of historical context, as I say, class was very structured and immobile in Georgian Britain for the most part. It was also, as I understand it, much more discrete. Whereas now, the lines between working class, middle class and upper class are pretty fuzzy, in the 1800s they were a lot more clear-cut - the working class worked for little money, had little to no education past basic literacy and numeracy, and the entire household would work; the newly developing middle class made a living through highly-skilled jobs (artists, doctors, lawyers, clerks, shopkeepers, factory owners, shop owners and pub landlords, for example) and would have enough disposable income to buy property; and the upper class/gentry may work (but only appropriate to their station; academia, law or the church, largely, and of course a lot of them in the 1810s made bank from Caribbean plantations and their imports) but substantially they lived off the profits of investments, ownership and estate management, built off heritable wealth.

There’s a big range of middle class though, although it was a small segment of society. At the bottom end, you have your grocers, pub landlords, shopkeepers, clerks and so on - they probably own their homes and business and have money to buy things outright rather than renting. At the top end, we have some really pretty substantial wealth - we’re talking multiple houses and estates, large-scale business concerns, tens of permanent staff, and only one person in the family needing to work. The difference between upper middle and aristocracy isn’t necessarily in quality of life, aside from blood it’s really just a question of whether the majority of your income comes from work or from investment and property management. So for example, Smirke is upper middle, but very wealthy - he has a career in a high-profile trade, he’s notable and welcome in high society, but ultimately his wealth is dependent on him continuing to get work. Von Closen may have more or less material wealth than Smirke, but his money is old money and he does not work; he’s very much a gentleman of the upper crust. Particularly with Industrial Revolution and the profit that the slave trade and the expansion of the Empire were bringing in for traders, the middle class was abruptly getting a lot richer in at the start of the 19th century and if anything class was getting a lot more discrete - urbanisation and industrialisation meant the poor were getting poorer (and less able to exist outside a monetary economy) and the working rich were getting a lot richer (until of course after a couple of hundred years the upper middle class almost eclipsed the idle class as the Rich and Powerful)

So the gentry/nobles/old money/upper class were the only class whose wealth wasn’t to a high degree reliant on them working, and so honestly being a Georgian gentleman was stultifyingly boring. That’s why so many comedies of manners crop up from the lower end of the upper class - you have to find something to keep you busy and social politicking is something. But it also meant a lot of gentlemen scholars - men with time on their hands and nothing they desperately needed to be doing, who got really into eccentric hobbies and niche interests (like social engineering, or art theory, or the occult, or unpicking weirdly specific theological concepts, or a bit earlier experimenting with light and lenses, or a bit later investigating the origins of species, or getting super into a specific aspect of the classics). The idle rich weren’t the only ones doing academia or research, but they had the time, money and resources to devote to really deep dives into things without much financial use.

So my personal take is that, given that by 1818 Jonah Magnus had the capital, the social heft and the time to found and run an independent academic institution focused on his relatively niche interests, and to do so with enough resourcing that it still runs 200 years later, the safest bet is that he was born a gentleman. At the very least, all the people he socialises with are securely upper-middle or gentry; he has a visible disdain for the poor; he owned substantial personal property by at least middle age (the Edinburgh townhouse); he had the social clout to get involved behind the scenes in a major social architecture project - it seems like the lowest this could possibly place him is mid-to-upper middle class at birth (he could have made that much money from working and lucky investments, but to get into a position where by middle age you can afford to become the Idle Rich, spending all your money and time on an obsessive personal interest, you would need to have started off with at least the capital and clout to get a high-level education and/or make significant business investments (say, buy a series of factories or build a shipping empire). You could make a case that he could work his way up from being born to a middling-middle-class family - maybe a country vicar or a shopkeeper - but friends can I show you some numbers I googled?

In the 1810s, being mid- or upper middle class (fourth or above) meant you were richer than 94.5% of the civilian population. Upper middle and above (like literally every person we know of who had social ties to Magnus except maybe the architects)? Literally top 1%. (well. 1.25%).

The middle class in Georgian Britain was the elite. They weren’t the elite of the elite, but they had money, land, property, staff, clout and privilege. You can’t project the class politics of 2021 onto 1818 (that is, in fact, why pure Marxism still requires an updated reading, bc in even the last 150 years the specific distribution and attributes of class and wealth has changed substantially (although the same people do stay at the top and bottom)).

I think our perceptions are altered by the worries and perspectives of popular contemporary authors. For example, Austen characters often bemoan their lack of wealth, and are firmly Middle Class, and compared to the upper middle and the gentry they are living frugally and on a budget, but with “cottages” that are often six- or seven bedroom houses with several parlours and one or two servants, plus a town house, and with only one breadwinner per family and enough invested wealth to live entirely off the interest (that’s what the incomes of these characters are), they are living in a degree of wealth that would be unthinkable to 95% of their contemporaries, and it would be fair to assess them as rich by modern standards.

You can argue that Jonah Magnus wasn’t aristocracy. You cannot argue realistically that he wasn’t rich. Not only does that make no thematic or character sense (again, that’s a matter of interpretation, but it seems to me to be Pretty Key to his character that he’s an examination of inborn privilege) but it also makes no contextual historical sense.

#pls pay attention to me i spent way too long on this #p r o c r a s t i n a t i n g #also. there is an argument that class mobility was increasing #but uhhhh that doesn't mean it was a plausible thing to jump from penury to princedom #example: in the 1810s my ancestor walked from Edinburgh to London to seek his fortune and escape starvation at home #his was a remarkable rags to riches story #but his 'riches' was a job as a low-level law clerk and an undergraduate degree from Cambridge #he owned a flat I think #but he wasn't out here with the personal wealth to set up an independent research foundation #(I don't remember which ancestor but I think great grandfather?)#anyway the point is this is a wild take #I could talk at length about how it ALSO makes no thematic sense but I feel like I've tapped that one enough lately #tma meta

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moonsubinpr · 4 years ago

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[Lee Soo Hyuk — 35 — he/him] Introducing MOON SUBIN. Word on the street is they are a PRESS SECRETARY FOR THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY affiliated with the DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Though they are RESERVED and INTIMIDATING, they can also be DEPENDABLE and HARDWORKING. In the chaos of New York City, they’re sure to fit right in.

Biography. Ask. Wanted Connections.

I. WRITER’S INTRODUCTION

First of all, I want to introduce myself. You all can call me Jackie, and I am a twenty-one year old graduate student residing within the Eastern Standard Timezone (EST). I have been roleplaying for about 10 years now, however, I took a hiatus from writing on Tumblr due to migrating to other platforms that are more mobile friendly in terms of writing. Now that I have a greater availability, as well as not fond of the newfound style of roleplay on platforms such as Twitter or MeWe, I have returned in hopes to better develop characters and build better connections with other writers. Aside from writing, I enjoy spending quality time with my cat, going out to explore newfound areas, thrifting, reading, and watching random reality television shows. I look forward to getting to know everyone! Feel free to message me for plotting, headcanoning, or for a casual conversation.

II. BASICS

NAME: MOON SUBIN

AGE: THIRTY-FIVE

DATE OF BIRTH: 1986 MAY 31

GENDER: CISMALE

PRONOUNS: HE / HIM

SEXUALITY: PANSEXUAL

HOMETOWN: IOWA CITY, IOWA

AFFILIATION: THE GOVERNMENT

JOB POSITION: DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S PRESS SECRETARY

EDUCATION: BA IN JOURNALISM FROM NYU

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: SINGLE

CHILDREN: NONE

POSITIVE TRAITS: ELOQUENT, INDEPENDENT, INTELLIGENT, RESPONSIBLE, MATURE, REASONABLE

NEGATIVE TRAITS: RESERVED, BLUNT, INTIMIDATING, DEMANDING, SARCASTIC

FACECLAIM: LEE SOO HYUK

III. POINTS ABOUT THE MUSE

Moon Subin was born into a rather average household in Heukseok-dong, Seoul, South Korea. His mother, a down-to-earth woman with a contagious smile, worked alongside her mother as a food vendor in one of the city’s largest market. The two were acutely known for their blood sausages as well as jangeo-gui (grilled eel). In fact, this is how the young woman met the young businessman. Running from a class with only a few cash in hand, he stopped at mother’s spot, asking for anything he could get with the amount of money available. She laughed at his lack of time management, and he only stated that he’ll make time to see her better next time. The following day, he returned and sat to chat with the woman.

Subin was unplanned. The two were not yet wedded when discovering that the woman fell pregnant. However, never did the young couple refer to the baby as a mistake. Rather, they saw Subin’s life as a blessing to better plan for their fast approaching future. During the time in which the woman was pregnant, the man was offered an opportunity to continue his university studies abroad. Sent to Iowa City, Iowa, the young couple packed their belongings and settled within the United States. It’s in this city where Subin would be born, granting him American citizenship despite his parents yet to become naturalized citizens.

Falling in love with the environment, the mother and father went through various means in order to further extend their stay within the country. From a student visa to a work visa, the father was granted more time to better prepare for the examination of becoming U.S. citizens. While his father began to work in a local company specializing in medical prosthetics, his mother worked at a local Chinese restaurant where she befriended Chinese immigrants who helped her with assimilating into the culture.

Subin grew up in an environment where he witnessed the benefits of hard work. His parents worked many hours in order to provide for him as well as to their community. He found this to be admirable, and this encouraged the young boy to succeed in his academics so that he could provide for his parents in the future.

He became interested in the field of communications due to constantly acting as the translator for his parents when making doctor appointments or trying to pitch the best deal at a cars dealership. Words were fascinating, and he especially thought this was the case after reading a number of novels written by authors such as H.G. Wells and Amy Tan. His interest in communications got him involved with the morning news at his middle school and high school. During his four years at high school, he also participated in Model UN and the Debate team. These involvements were the result of his great achievements in social studies courses, and his teachers encouraged him to get involved with these extracurricular activities.

Due to awards achieved in high school, he was granted a scholarship to attend New York University in New York City. Although his parents did not want him to leave their home, they eventually came to terms that this would be good for his future successes. Thus, he went to attend NYU for a Bachelors in Journalism with a minor in Politics. Thanks to amazing professors and establishing connections through networking events, the young man was able to maintain a number of internships---such as volunteering for the current Governor’s former campaign in the creative team for marketing. He later volunteered alongside CNN professionals, and he gained an internship experience with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as Press Office Intern. By the time he graduated from university, he’s already met a number of influential, powerful people of the big city.

Upon graduation, he was able to get a job at the Manhattan District Attorney Office as Press Officer due to his wonderful performance during his internship with the office. He held this position for two years before being promoted as Deputy Press Secretary for the office. However, in less than 2 years, he was able to maintain the Press Secretary position due to the former Press Secretary’s leave to another office. In another year, he was granted the position of Deputy Director of Communications for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Subin held this position up until he was given the opportunity to work as the city’s District Attorney’s main Press Secretary.

During his years working for the city and learning about the mishaps behind the scenes, Subin has been able to learn a lot about the dirty truth. He is aware that some of the crimes dealt with in the office are a result to the existing gangs within the city. Although his DA remains slightly oblivious to the people surrounding them, Subin maintains awareness due to the connections he’s established during interviews as well as conferences. They threaten Subin to keep quiet. They ask Subin to twist the truth. He does what keeps him safe, but he holds the knowledge close to his heart. The quiet man knows a lot----perhaps more than what the gangs wish for him to know, and this can be dangerous. One never knows what he can do with all of this knowledge. He could expose them to the public whenever he dares to do so. If he really wanted to, of course.

But, for now, he keeps quiet. He does his job and remains cordial with those he establishes some sorts of connection with. If someone he cares about, though, ever gets hurt, he’s not sure what he’ll do. No one knows.

IV. WANTED CONNECTIONS

Any and all possible connections within the Government. I would love to further develop and establish connections within the affiliation in order to better understand Subin’s position in the government as well as with Law Enforcement, for he works within the District Attorney Office; therefore, he has connections with lawyers as well as officers. This can be good or bad, I am open to all possibilities.

For those in Media, Subin is responsible for addressing those in Media in order to report information given by the DA. Those in media could have interviewed Subin, have gone to a number of his press hearings, as well as questioned his intentions or morales within this position. Anyone who does not trust him is very much wanted. A person who trusts him a lot is also wanted.

To those in any gang, people who has paid him or threatened him to withhold information from the public is very much wanted. Give me some angst in regard to perhaps threatening his family. Perhaps people question how Subin can offerd such a luxurious home or car, and this could be due to payments accepted from those within these organizations. I am open to anything.

I am also interested in a secret relationship that should not be a relationship, however, the two continue to pursue one another in sexual and romantic rendezvous. Subin is not entirely the most relationship-orientated person, however, due to a lot of stress within his career, some fun would be favorable.

#pinned.#wb.intro

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myloyalpet · 3 years ago

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English Bulldogs: The Best And Healthiest Foods For English Bulldog ..!

English bulldogs are an ancient breed originally created by breeding fierce animals with smaller ones. When used during bear or bull baiting events (essentially dogfighting), humans could protect themselves while betting on which animal would win out and thus make money off the spectacle. The result is an adorable medium-sized puppy who wants nothing but love. Today, despite their aggressive origins, these dogs have been bred to be sweet, gentle, and timid; they no longer look like what you'd expect from a traditional English Bulldog anymore!

For this reason alone, if you've been thinking about getting an English bulldog, then you must know how to feed them because they might suffer from different health issues such as food allergies, kidney disease, hypothyroidism, Cushing's Disease, and more. Unfortunately, there is not enough information available on the internet related to the best foods they can eat to maintain optimal health. So, we created a helpful guide for you that will provide you ample guidance.

Types of Bulldog

The Bulldog is not a single breed but rather many different types of breeds. Name the word "bulldog," and an image of a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face comes to mind for most people; but there's more than one type! Here are some following types of bulldogs.

1) Olde English Bulldogge

The Olde English Bulldogge is also known as a pure-breed American pit bull terrier. These can get up to 100 pounds and are not recommended for apartment living because of their size; they need room to run around. In addition, the United Kennel Club bred them to avoid interbreeding with other dogs like the American Staffordshire Terrier, making it lose its "true" pedigree. The Olde English Bulldogge was originally developed to preserve the breed's original look before showing restrictions had been applied in the UK. It has a larger build than the modern-day Bulldog but still looks relatively similar otherwise.

2) The French Bulldog

Frenchies are the perfect dog for anyone who desires a faithful, intelligent pet. They have bat-like ears and come in many colors, with their most popular is black and white and cream or brown combinations of these two colors. These dogs can be great companions to individuals living alone due to their loving nature, which is entertaining because they require constant attention from owners! French Bulldog's intelligence has been proven by how quickly it responds when given commands such that some people call them "the Einsteins of Dogs."

3) American Bulldog

The American Bulldog derived from bloodlines present in colonial America before the Civil War between two countries (the US and England). English Bulldogs were brought here due to their popularity in England and their appearance in Roman culture. The American Bulldog is a big, sturdy family dog who loves children and has an innate need for human companionship. They make great fire dogs because they have strong noses that help save their humans from fires or other serious accidents (there's plenty of evidence online about how this breed saved its owner).

4) Pit Bull

Englishmen originally bred the pit bull terrier for entertainment in fighting matches. This type of bulldogs was used in blood sports like bear-baiting or as amusement in building anger in dogs by holding restrained bulls or bears while two dogs fought to the death over them and other similar forms of barbaric entertainment. Both sides claim their own history, whether they have been around for thousands of years or hundreds.

5) English Bulldog

Bred in the United Kingdom and can be traced back through standard bloodlines to ancient times. The English Bulldog is a popular pet for families due to its affectionate nature and calm temperament. The breed has broad chests, wide-set shoulders, drooping jowls that give them their signature look of being "bulldognish" (droopy). Their skin can be loose as well as short coats in colors like brindle or white. A male average about 54 pounds while females average 50 pounds with ears rosed instead of double flopped over on the head and piebald striping patterns on the body with black noses.

Benefits Of Having An English Bulldog As Pet

The English bulldog has many benefits to its owner. First, it makes a great companion because it loves attention and will always be there when needed. Second, bulldogs are also known for their ability to calm down young children and even older adults suffering from depression (as long as they get plenty of affection in return). English Bulldogs are especially skilled at this because of their kind nature. Third, Owning an English Bulldog is relatively cheap compared to other dogs who need more extensive care. In general, the English bulldog makes a great pet. Finally, They are very friendly and give their owners plenty of affection in return for being treated well. If you want to get a dog that can provide comfort when needed, help relieve stress and depression, and provide companionship for yourself or your family, an English Bulldog may be right for you!

1) It Helps With Depression

Because the majority of these dogs love human company so much, they make excellent companions for those who like affection but do not have anyone to hug during their daily routine. Also, since these dogs are so easygoing and calm, having one around can help ease the stress from the tension caused by depression.

2) Very Kind With Children

These dogs have been proven to be especially good with children because of their gentle nature. This is also beneficial to adults who have insomnia or other sleeping disorders. In addition, having a bulldog in the home can provide comfort and security for parents who may have trouble sleeping at night due to worries about their job or family life.

3) Save Owner Money

Owning an English bulldog is relatively cheap compared to other dogs who need more extensive care (such as those that require grooming services). English Bulldogs do not need much exercise either; they are content with taking a walk around the neighborhood or simply exploring the house. These dogs also eat less food than other breeds, which can save money on pet food purchases.

4) Easy To Train

English Bulldogs are one of the world's most popular dogs for their friendliness, and they're also really easy to train. They learn fast, so if you can teach them a few tricks, it won't be long before your pup opens doors or turns off lights without being told! Of course, these pups aren't known as "the brightest," which means that don't expect too much from them when it comes to solving puzzles, but with some training, these doggies will come up big in life by learning tasks such as getting dressed on their own instead of relying solely on human help.

English Bulldogs Prone To Food Allergies

The English Bulldog is one of the most recognizable and iconic dog breeds. Unfortunately, the breed's popularity has actually sparked a few woes, including health issues related to their distinct looks. If you're thinking about getting an English Bulldog, you should know that they are likely to suffer from allergies.

While all dogs can develop food sensitivities, Bulldogs seem more susceptible than other dogs. There's no way to tell for sure if your puppy will become allergic after eating certain foods (or treats). Some owners even start feeding their pups a new diet with little or no problems. Your dog could just get a little itchy or have mild gastrointestinal issues for a while and then eventually adjust fine to their new diet. For other dogs, a new diet causes major skin problems that require immediate attention and care. The worst cases can even result in chronic itching and constant scratching, hot spots on the nose and face, or even hair loss.

Commonly allergenic foods for English Bulldogs are wheat (even small amounts), dairy products, soybean(s)/soy(ed) products (including soy-based treats), corn/corn products (including corn-based treats), flour/wheat flour, or any ingredients containing these items from any source listed above.

If you are worried about what you should feed your beloved pet, you do not need to worry further; you can check our great options here: "best food for English bulldogs in 2021".

What Should You Consider Before Buying the Best Food for English Bulldogs?

English bulldogs are one of the most recognizable breeds in terms of their short muzzle, flat face, and small jaw. Unfortunately, this gives them many health problems, including difficulty chewing food properly or eating without difficulties breathing. They also often have dental issues that can lead to other complications; they may get an immune system disorder or digestive troubles, and obesity because they can't exercise enough due to physical limitations from those ailments. Furthermore, when it comes down to lifespan English Bulldogs don't have much going for them, with 8-10 years being the average age before illness takes over - some living longer than others but not by too long either way!

Consider these important things before buying food for English bulldogs:

1) Choose Healthy Food

English Bulldogs are not as hearty and healthy as other dogs. This is because they have a sensitive stomach that is easily upset by certain ingredients in dog food, such as because they can't digest them well. The efficient way to avoid this problem is with high-quality meat sources like beef or chicken, which will provide the protein your bulldog needs without upsetting his delicate system too much. Besides grains like bulgogi ingredients which may be difficult on their digestive system, there is plenty of other safe options, including fruits and vegetables that can be good nutrition for your lovely dog.

2) Age

The best food for your English Bulldog depends on its age. Puppies require more DHA and protein to support healthy growth, while adults need higher fat content with lower protein levels. Seniors who are growing old should also be given a diet containing joint health ingredients such as glucosamine or chondroitin sulfate in order not to experience weight gain problems caused by arthritis-related inflammation!

3) Budget

Your English bulldog is worth so much to you that the best food out there for it should be your top priority. But, make sure you get one at a good price with great quality! Dry foods are generally cheaper than wet brands However, if you can't find these high quality dry or wet foods locally, in that case, it's worth ordering them online as shipping costs will often be cheaper than purchasing from pet shops or interacting with veterinary clinics for each new purchase trial-and-error (which may end up being harmful to your dog).

If you are having problems finding the best food for your lovely English bulldog, then don't worry; we have great options for you; check out our best food for English bulldog 2021.

Conclusion

English Bulldogs are known for their loving natures, but they often suffer from health problems such as obesity and breathing difficulties. A balanced and healthy diet will provide all nutrients to your lovely pet without disrupting digestion or causing weight gain. Wellness CORE RawRev Grain-Free Dog Food contains everything your Bulldog needs in one bowl of food while keeping his digestive system clear. Not only does it come with vitamins A, C & E, which help strengthen bones and teeth along with omega 3 fatty acids crucial for heart function; this formula has been slowly cooked, so there's no risk of choking on chunks! Furthermore, it will provide them with energy throughout their day so they can be more active! To find out more about the best food for your bulldog…Click Here..!

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destiny-smasher · 5 years ago

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“But I can't walk on the path of the right, because I'm wrong.”

So, The Last of Us Part 2 is out. It’s about 25 hours long. I’ve played it. I loved it, but it’s got its flaws. I think the hype buildup was overblown, and I think the zealous hate from the leaks was also overblown. This is a beautifully produced game that is trying to do much more than the typical AAA game tries to do, and in so trying, it’s messier, muddier, and more complicated than its predecessor. I love it for that, despite my issues with how the game ultimately resolves things.

I think Naughty Dog was either intentionally misleading audiences (which, given the marketing, is possible) or perhaps Neil himself has a different concept of the game he directed than what was actually delivered. Despite how it was advertised, The Last of Us Part 2 is not inherently about ‘hate’ or ‘revenge.’ It’s not just a revenge story.

It's a story about empathy, about how human beings and their interactions have layers, and how we are better when we extend blind empathy to others instead of blind hatred. I gotta talk about this. SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE GAME to follow.

Seriously, final warning for SPOILERS.

This game is simply too big, too complex, and has too much going on for me to write a single piece going over everything there is to talk about, but there are some things I need to say that inherently rely on discussing the entire game in a spoiler-filled way.

Let’s start with the most noticeable thing that has hit me over this game’s reception: people like Joel way more than I would’ve expected. SO much of this game’s negative reception seems to be over Joel’s character and the circumstances around his death. I was not at all surprised that he died - I was a bit surprised at when and how he died, in the moment, but even by the end of the next scene, it had washed over me how much sense it made. He died in the same way everyone else dies in this series. He had it coming in the same way anyone else in this world has it coming. He was never a hero. If you truly look at Joel as a ‘hero’ figure but don’t extend that same logic to Ellie and Abby, you do not make sense to me.

I’ve seen a LOT of hate getting thrown at Abby, and frankly, I do not understand it, and if you hate her but do NOT hate Joel or Ellie similarly, then I inherently don’t respect your opinion? You’re being blatantly biased and unreasonable in exactly the way this game is arguing you should not be. Straight up. Get your transphobic jokes the fuck outta here. Get your homophobic takes on Ellie and Dina the fuck outta here. Get your xenophobic complaints about the MUCH more diverse cast of characters in this sequel the fuck outta here. The ONE case where I could see a reasonable thing to be conflicted about is Lev’s character, because they are a transgender kid who gets deadnamed by some NPCs. As a transgender person, I personally found this to just...make sense and feel organic to the world, and none of the actual characters in the narrative with names or roles in the story ever deadname Lev. Lev is fucking precious and I love him, and I think his inclusion adds inherently more to this game than otherwise, despite the understandable conflict some might feel about his backstory. To ME, the fact that all of what Lev goes through and how Yara and Abby do what they can to look for him, that says to me, “protect trans rights” and I am glad it is there. Trans people have to deal with that shit sometimes, I think it’s fine having it be PART of a wider narrative. It doesn’t define Lev’s story, it doesn’t dictate the plot of the game, it’s a spark that sets some events off and I think that adds more than it could potentially take away, as does the overall representation in the game.

Getting back to this element of bias, though, I get that you “went on a journey” with Joel and Ellie in the first game. I get that. But you spend about as much time with Abby in this game as you did with Joel in the first game. And I see a lot of people are SOMEHOW totally fine and chill and cool with Joel going on a murder rampage in the first game, specifically killing at least one man who was specifically trying to save humanity - they cite that Joel is a morally gray person who has done bad things and is trying to become a better person. Sure, cool, OK. And Ellie, sure, ya’ll will think her going on a bloodthristy revenge quest is cool, fine, A-OK, because Joel was murdered. But somehow they are physically incapable of extending that same empathy to Abby, even after the game bends OVER BACKWARD in every reasonable way it could. Why is this? One person tweeted at me the simplistic, reductive idea,

“ I know the sensible thing that naughty dog was aiming at was that we'd feel sorry for abby and eventually grow to like her, but for me I just don't. I loved Joel and I love Ellie. They didn't kill anyone who I loved as a character. Abby did. “

At least they’re being honest with themselves in that they literally missed the entire point of the game. You having personal bias you cannot remove yourself from does not make for “A DEEPLY FLAWED STORY” or whatever the fuck people have been tossing around.

I personally don’t buy any of that bullshit until we get into the final hours of the game during the epilogue, but we’ll get to that.

Everything in the first 20-ish hours of this game felt organic and believable and completely in line with the first game to me, and the fact that ALL OF IT happens as a direct after-effect of Joel’s selfish act at the end of the first game really contextualizes how/why it was called ‘Part 2.’ So honestly, all of this nonsense about this sequel being ‘badly written’ is just...bonkers. I will agree it’s not some master class in writing - neither was the original game. But both games are very similar in writing style, tone, and the world presented is consistent, while character motivations are realistically complicated. Naughty Dog has never been great at plot, but the real quality of their work comes through in how much effort they go to in order to present realistic feeling worlds and characters, and from the environments to the actors to the extra animations on top, I think the details and the context they create are where they shine.

To better understand where I am coming from with this game, let me lay this on you.

During the scene in that basement, when Abby shot Joel in the leg, and Ellie shows up...I realized what was about to happen. Ironically, it was exactly what I had originally predicted was the thing going on WAY back when the game’s reveal trailer was dropped -- that Joel was dead, and was motivating Ellie’s revenge quest. If you’ve read what I have written of Arcadian Rhythms, you will have some idea of my feelings on Joel and Ellie’s relationship -- in short, I think it is complicated, and just as damaging as it is good. That’s real life. That’s how reality is for many relationships, especially ones between parents and their kids, especially in my experience. When I realized Joel was about to be murdered, my feelings and thoughts were not jumping to ‘oh fuck what an asshole I wanna kill these people’ or ‘oh no not Joel’ but rather, my immediate gut thoughts were ‘yupppp Joel kinda deserves this, he literally did this to who knows how many other people, but why are THESE people, specifically, out to get him?’

When Ellie later cites to Dina that there’s ‘no point’ in speculating as to why these people murdered Joel, because it could be for one of many possible reasons, I found that to be interesting -- Ellie herself acknowledging that Joel had fucked over many other people, while still pursuing revenge herself.

I do think the theme of ‘the cycle of violence’ is very core to this game and arguably is its strongest central theme, specifically because violence in wholly integrated into its gameplay. But narratively and structurally, empathy is, I would argue, even more paramount. This game spends about 12 hours of its runtime (so about half of the entire game) actively trying to encourage you to understand, relate with, and empathize with Abby. The developers COULD have had you swapping back and forth between both characters, which might have resulted in better pacing, but I think it would’v taken away from what they were going for. It’s that long, slow burn that makes Abby’s side of the story work, in much the same way the long, slow burn of the first game does what it does, and the way the long, slow burn of Ellie’s revenge quest helps us see just how far gone she is.

But “arghh I hated Ellie she kept making bad decisions that made no sense” some of you say, “they did her DIRTY” some of you say.

No.

Joel did her dirty.

The Fireflies did her dirty.

And it’s this exact concept -- that our actions and choices have consequences and ripple outward beyond what we can initially imagine - that is at the heart of why I think I love this game so much. Most video games depict a pool of water that is either a constant whirlpool, a raging clash of waves, or stone dropped in the middle and the ripples spreading out. The Last of Us Part 2 is more like a series of ripples all happening simultaneously, and not all of them are as apparent or even important, but it’s just...a bunch of ripples all happening all over the place.

And it breaks my heart, during 2020, a year when human rights, systemic racism, a worldwide pandemic, late capitalism, and entire countries submerged in protests because their government is fucking them over...has people shutting off or refusing to turn on their empathy to anyone outside of their bubble. In 2020, when the world needs empathy more than any other year I’ve experienced in my life thus far, a game like this goes SO FAR above and beyond what most games try to do, in a very risky and controversial way, to actively invite its players to fucking STOP AND CONSIDER for a damn moment that there’s more to the world than JUST YOU and what you care about. That your actions have consequences beyond your singular perspective.

Ellie is fueled by rage for a number of reasons, and we don’t even understand all of them until literally the final moments of the game, which I found to be appropriate as it ends on a note of reminding us that there is ALWAYS something we don’t know, something we don’t understand, motivating someone else’s decisions.

Ellie was robbed of agency, of purpose, by both Joel and the Fireflies. Joel robbed both Ellie and the Fireflies of their purpose. And the Fireflies robbed Ellie and Joel of theirs. In return, Ellie is left without purpose, and all she’s really left with is a broken man who desperately wants to be a dad again, to the point that he will murder and lie to hold on to that. Don’t get me wrong - I don’t necessarily hold it against Joel that he murdered people to save Ellie. I will always defend the idea that it was a fucking selfish decision that would realistically lead to consequences. But in the same way Marlene points out to Abby’s dad, ‘What if it was your kid?’ ie ‘What if it was someone you loved?’ I get that, that’s the beauty of how the first game ended. It presents a zero sum game where there is no ‘correct’ choice that everyone can agree on, but in the back of our heads -- and Part 2 actually states this as a point of fact -- we all know Ellie would have CHOSEN to sacrifice herself, had she been asked.

So it was deliciously realistic to me to see Ellie grappling with the frustration, distrust, and anger of Joel having not only robbed that purpose from her, but having lied to her about it. And in the end, it was also wonderfully realistic that part of why she hated Abby so much was that Abby inadvertently robbed her of her chance to try and rebuild and repair that broken relationship.

But here’s the thing, though - the thing I see fucking NO ONE talking about, and I can’t decide if it’s because no one is picking up on it or what.

Both Ellie and Abby are haunted and driven by broken men making selfish choices. Their selfishness keeps both characters kind of locked in to desperately grasping at violent acts to justify a purpose.

Some will play the flashbacks with Joel and will feel warmth and nostalgia and admiration. Some will play the flashbacks with Owen and feel disinterest or disgust because ‘why should I care about these people?’

For me, I couldn’t help bu draw parallels to how both Owen and Joel were men trying to be good, you know, not being specifically evil people, but men who were a bad influence on the women around them, who were great and good and charming and all that until things didn’t go the way they wanted, pushing and prodding with passive digs and pressure to reaffirm their own hopes that despite their mistakes, they’re ‘good men.’ Owen is admittedly much less well developed in this regard, partly because his arc just isn’t as deep or interesting, partly because he didn’t exist in the previous game. But I still could not quite shake it. I grew up with men like Joel and Owen as my father figures, so there’s personal bias there.

I literally had an actual nightmare that woke me up in the middle of the night partway through playing through this game because Joel was in it and I said or did a thing he did not like, and his reaction spooked me awake, in part because I LIVED that growing up. (not murder, but violence, passive aggressive manipulation) I absolutely adore the depth given to Joel’s character, that he has LAYERS to him, and I loved seeing Tommy similarly expanded upon. (him passively prodding at Ellie to try and make good with Joel felt a little manipulative, given that he KNOWS what Joel did; and even his wife’s prodding at Ellie at the game’s outside to ‘make good’ with some old jerk who seems all expectant about being rewarded for basic apologizing, ech)

Last of Us is a horror game, Part 2 even moreso, but it was the feeling of men like Joel who do bad things and then try to justify them after the fact that actually creeped me out more -- all the more creepy because I KNOW Ellie and Abby will give up on better choices to try and ‘do right by them’. I was relieved when Abby began to break free from these old, poor choices, even shortly after making more fo them during her half of the story. This brings me to another fascinating aspect of this game: how Abby’s story is a combination of both Joel’s and Ellie’s.

Dunkey (of all people!) recently praised this game and compared Ellie’s and Abby’s narratives to TLOU1 and Uncharted 4, and I agree with him in a lot of regards, there, but I think what the team was more going for was for Abby’s story to feel like a combination of Joel’s and Ellie’s while simultaneously being directly impacted by Joel and Ellie’s story.

Abby grew up in a military community, even though she expressed an interest in science -- just like Ellie. The death of her father drives her on a quest for revenge -- just like Ellie. She does some horrible shit to people all in the service of trying to protect a kid as some desperate attempt to feel better about all of the bad shit she’s done -- just like Joel. She starts to let herself be empathetic to other people and tries to become a better person because of the kid she takes under her wing -- just like Joel.

In a way, you could argue Part 2′s overall story is kind of repetitious. Ellie’s quest for revenge is a bit too narrow-minded and blind in her rage, and Abby’s story kind of recycles many components we have already seen up until that point. I think what’s there still generally accomplishes what it set out to do: get us to question and try to understand why people do what they do, and consider our own place in that cycle, in those ripples.

I think many aspects of this game that look circumstantial on the surface are not accidents.

I think the recurring imagery of water is an allegory for how we can let rage, anger, and hate drown us. The game’s title starts with a boat drifting in water, and the title changes after the ending to a boat that is beached. The Seattle arc shows a gradually increasing focus on water flooding the environments, culminating in a big rainstorm with crazy waves. The final fight sequence (which tbh I hated but we’ll get to that) takes place literally IN water, involves Ellie trying to drown Abby, and ends with the two of them going separate ways in their boats.

I think it’s no accident that Abby and Ellie’s desire for vengeance is ultimately caused by the same specific moment, and I think it’s interesting that many people seem to skip RIGHT OVER the idea that Ellie feels such a deep sense of rage at Abby killing Joel only because Joel made the decision that caused Abby to kill him in the first place -- and the good and bad that came from that. It’s just a brilliantly complicated web, I think, and that further highlights that none of these characters are inherently good or evil, which is pretty much the entire point of this world in the first place.

I think it’s interesting that both Ellie and Abby grumble insults all of the time over the people they’re killing, and both try to justify their violence with thoughts like “well we’re better then that, we don’t do THOSE kinds of things,” which is, ya know, literally the kinds of mental hoops actual real human beings jump through to justify doing bad shit to each other.

I liked the idea of the trading cards until fairly early on when I found the ‘Dr. Uckmann’ card, which...made me roll my eyes a little at first, until I read the description, which then made me feel more actively uncomfortable than maybe anything else in the entire game, to be quite honest. Partly because it rang of entitled self-importance, but partly because of the reports of Naughty Dog crunch culture.

And on that note, let’s talk about how this game arguably crunched its employees way more than it needed to while simultaneously making its story more bloated than it needed to be.

Don’t get me wrong, I love indulging in more STUFF than it required. I can totally see the appeal of writing extra stuff to a story like because you can, because it’s interesting, because it’s fun to MAKE shit. But when you are a AAA game development studio who is potentially crunching your employees into burnout, maybe a fairly pointless epilogue on top of a game that is already arguably a bit too long in the tooth is...maybe not the best way to go?

On the upside, I enjoyed playing the Santa Barbara location, I loved getting some more Abby/Lev time, I liked seeing Ellie a bit older, I LOVED the scene at the farm with her, Dina, and JJ. I loved the gameplay challenge that was the Rattler’s base. I loved that this game had noticeably larger environments to explore.

But tbh a LOT of content could’ve been cut from this game to make a smoother, better paced experience while simultaneously putting less strain on the developers. I do think the extended flashback sequences focused on non-violent gameplay is important enough to justify itself, but I think a lot of the more violent or unnecessary parts of the game (like the entire sequence on the Seraphite’s island and the Santa Barbara sequence) all feel like...EXTRA? Which on the one hand is great because hot DAMN more beautifully rendered locations, content, etc. but on the other hand I’m not sure it adds as much to justify the real life pain and misery I’m sure some developers went through to create it all, and in a way, it doesn’t quite justify its own existence if we’re being critical.

I get what they were going for with the Seraphites and the WLF but neither group is developed enough to really accomplish the goals of empathy. I think focusing on specific members OF those groups is better, because that is ultimately how real life people break down their walls of bias, -isms, etc. -- they just interact with and befriend people from these groups and realize organically “oh hey we’re all...people, huh.” The game’s attempts at naming NPCs and dogs don’t do much when the game actively rewards you for killing them (speaking of which, I played on Normal and there were way too many items imo, we’ll see how that is on higher difficulties). We could get into the role of violence and gameplay but that’s a WHOLE other can of worms.

But the Rattlers in the final act are even worse. After this entire game of being actively encouraged to empathize with other people from other groups and let yourself consider they aren’t evil, the game just...shoves an objectively worse group of people at you, asks you to murder them, and then...discards the whole thing without a second thought. I found this to be fun from a gameplay perspective (sorry Neil, playing your game actually IS FUN when you put so much work into making the violence fun to engage with) but I found it weird and frustrating from a storytelling perspective, as if the whole thing was an undercooked, unfinished final act that they cobbled together because they just...wanted enemies with helmets and an environment depicting southern California. Hell, tbh I don’t even get why Ellie had to be there other than the developers didn’t think players would be OK just...letting Ellie live a life in peace on a farm or that players would be OK NOT playing as Ellie at the end and letting her beat the shit out of Abby.

I actually LOVED the farm sequence, it felt so...weird for a while. Like you’re just waiting for the hat to drop. And when it does...it’s just PTSD. And that felt right. That felt good, that even though Ellie was spared, after all the shit she did, because she let go and spared Abby in return, she got to live this peaceful life...except life’s not that simple and old scars can still hurt.

I loved when Tommy showed up and we got to see that darker side to him we KNOW has been there this entire time, but Ellie maybe hasn’t been forced to see it. All the way up until this point, I felt I could understand where the characters were coming from and what motivated their decisions.

And then Ellie decided “no, actually, maybe if I throw all of this away I can maybe get rid of this PTSD I got from throwing everything away before.” And then it got worse when after she breaks into this fucking slave house to free people, after she saves Abby and Lev from dying on posts, she STILL wants to fight. ANd Abby’s where I’m at -- that ‘fucking REALLY?’ feeling. I utterly disliked the fight scene in the water. It was the one time in the whole game that actually felt like misery porn to me. I was honestly going into it expecting that maybe Ellie’s stab wound from the trap would cause her to be too weak to fight, and she’d literally drown from bleeding out because of her own unrelenting pursuit of revenge. But nah, we’re put through a pointless, brutal fist/knife fight that...doesn’t really have purpose imo. WHatever you wanted to accomplish here, you could’ve done back in the theater in Seattle. (on that note I LOVED the Ellie boss fight, what a fun gameplay thing and also just tense all around since you really couldn’t tell what was going to happen, but I LOVE that Lev stopped Abby from killing Dina, even though she had every reason to)

I can imagine different versions of the Santa Barbara sequence that offer a more edifying conclusion while still working in the environmental and gameplay components they seemed insistent on working in. It’s the one major portion of the game that, now that I’ve had time to process, I feel the most conflicted about.

Neither Ellie nor Abby “deserve” a happy ending in much the same way Joel didn’t “deserve” a happy ending. This game has no true protagonists or villains (anyone who is presented as a ‘villain’ is minor, and we don’t find out much about them anyway). I think Joel was lucky to get the time he got to live in community once again, to rediscover his humanity (look at all of those flowers they left at his house, this man who fucked over humanity and murdered countless people had a chance to live a few years of peaceful life again), I think Ellie was lucky she got time to even live what she did on that farm with Dina and JJ, and was lucky to still be alive at the end of the story. I think Abby was lucky to have been able to break free from a life of militaristic bullshit and rediscover some of her own lost humanity.

I think a lot of people admire Joel as a hero when it’s clear he was never one.

I think a lot of people admire Ellie and try to idolize her as the smarmy kid she could never permanently exist as.

I think a lot of people hate on Abby for EXISTING (and being a woman -gasp- WITH MUSCLES) and I’m pretty pleased with Laura Bailey getting to play this role (and Ashly Burch getting a supporting role in this game, too, for that matter).

I think The Last of Us is not ‘about Ellie and Joel.’ I think The Last of Us is about humanity, and exploring it through different angle. Sometimes needlessly gritty and dark ones, but Part 2 gave us even more light-hearted, pelasant moments than I could have expected. I think people who look so reductively at this game -- now officially a ‘series’ -- as ‘Joel and Ellie 100x forever’ and literally anything outside of that being bad and a waste of time fundamentally missed the entire purpose of this game, ironically ignoring what it is trying to passionately to convey. I think Naughty Dog’s marketing of the game actively misled people in ways that are rare for the industry, and I do think that is a bit shady - but on the other hand, being misled actively improved my experience with the end product (which is arguably why they did it). I think the way Sony has latched on Joel and Ellie as ‘Playstation Icons’ and encouraged people to buy up TLOU merch depite there not being much TO turn into merchandise says something.

Also? Frankly?

I am SO FUCKING TIRED of “angry sad dad” games.

Like. I loved TLOU 1, I loved the new God of War, etc. etc.

But God of War took basically NO RISKS and had NOTHING TO SAY that countless other pieces of media have said to death. That’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with that, I really enjoyed it and look forward to the next. But this game actually has challenging thoughts, complicated things, it is trying to get players to consider, and most everyone I see shitting on the game either hasn’t played it or doesn’t seem interested in games that exist for something beyond making them feel good about themselves? I dunno.

I think at the end of the day, TLOU as an entire series, and specifically the sequel, isn’t about Joel and Ellie, that was just the more focused lens the original game had. For its messier, muddier experience, Part 2 strives for nothing more than many pieces of media have but for something that is still rare in the space of AAA video games.

It takes some risks, it makes some missteps in getting where it goes, for sure, and it’s by no means some holy gift to mankid, but it passionately goes to GREAT lengths to explore and express a fairly simple idea:

empathy is a choice, understanding others is a choice,

and we are all inherently better off when we choose to blindly accept understanding than when we blindly choose hate and violence.

Just because we can’t walk ‘the path of the right,’ and just because ‘we’re wrong’ doesn’t mean we should let the phantoms in our lives continue to keep a hold on our future. Just because someone does some good things doesn’t erase the consequences and ripples of the bad they have done, and just because we do bad things doesn’t mean we can’t do good.

The way to end the cycle of violence is empathy.

It’s simplistic in concept, but if you look around at not just the reception to this game even before people could play it, but just the STATE OF THE WORLD IN 2020, you will see that maybe we still need such basic, simplistic concepts to continue to be explored in big budget media.

#tlou part 2 #tlou #The Last of Us #The Last of Us Part 2

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gustavo-de-aristegui · 4 years ago

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India fights against climate change: From Gustavo’s point of view

Gustavo De Arístegui has coined the topic where he explained that India bears the capability of leading the fight against climate change. He started by mentioning the end of UN Conference COP22 in Marrakech. After this, he dressed the climate change and its impact on a global range thus leading to an imbalance in the living condition of billions of people, the economy and lastly, the future of the very planet.

Gustavo de Arístegui | Gustavo Manuel de Arístegui y San Román

Experts take on climate change

Several experts researched the concept of climate change and they reach a conclusion that is horrifying enough. According to experts the adverse effect of climate change can and will be observed on the very weather, harvest, food supplies and other inhabitable factors.

Several climate change supporters have heard the cause of fighting against climate change and for this, they sought the help of flowing data. Gustavo De Arístegui held the deniers of climate change responsible for this.

World economy

Gustavo De Arístegui highlighted the devastating consequences of climate change and its impact on the world economy. He also said that the underdeveloped countries and their respective moratorium have been discussed enough and now “climate change” should be the main focus.

According to him, discussing the biggest polluter that is on the utmost level of wealth with the help of selective inhabitants of the planet is nothing but unproductive. Gustavo De Arístegui also said that if a country is developed enough then it is bound to fight countable consequences of climate change.

Effect on farmers

This very phenomenon of climate change has brought an unpleasant impact on the life of underprivileged farmers. By underprivileged farmers, Gustavo De Arístegui means farmers who have lesser or no access to facilities that will help in enraging the quality of the farms. In the case of cattle, it has been observed that they have a comparatively lower number of pastures that can grace on.

This causes the owners to hunt for new lands. For instance, Africa is one of many countries that are experiencing this cause where it witnesses s general conflict between cattle herders and farmers.

India’s role in the fight against climate change

India has vital role-playing when it comes to fighting against climate change as it hosts around 17% of the total world population. Another reason why it is playing an important role in this is that by following the protocols it will be able to achieve the aim of doing something worthy for humanity along with itself. A few of the protocols that India has sworn to follow are having the right authority on clean water, green energies, sustainable development, river rejuvenation along industries.

Gustavo De Arístegui’s take on this is that he emphasized that India is a few of the countries that have been affected unpleasantly by the very climate change. He also appreciated the government body of India as it has been very committed to the cause. Not just that, Gustavo also discussed the active involvement of government under the prime minister, Narendra Modi’s rule as the government is doing the same by encouraging the practice of clean industry, green energy as well as sustainable development.

India as a leader

Gustavo De Arístegui stated the fact that India has become one of the largest initiatives of its kind in a global range. Besides, several leading industrial groups in India have successfully acted as leaders of wind or solar power in countable years. These all practices give India a very good opportunity to become the leader in this happening change. Gustavo further went on to discuss that India not being able to undergo a selective level of development is acting as an advantage rather than a disadvantage.

In the case of Africans, they ventured from the cash form of economy to payment through cellphone. Since many Africans did not have the access to debit or credit cards, this venture helped the Africans to boost their productivity. Gustavo De Arístegui used this situation of Africa as a concept to justify the concept of clean energy. He stressed that fossil fuel-based energies getting replaced overnight is nothing but a myth. Considering that India’s rate of consumption has been rapidly increasing and there are shortages enough where amendment is needed. He displayed that the strategy of clean energy will help India to become a world leader in the case of climate change.

Gustavo’s final take

Lastly, Gustavo clarified the fact that the overall aim is not about generating some form of wind or solar farms in India. He stressed that the main objective is to generate a very well established clean energy industry that will depend on rigid development as well as legit research. Thus, the whole point is about exporting this and developing even cleaner energies across the globe. This is the final strategy that Gustavo laid out which will eventually help India in boosting its economy that will not only result in generating quality jobs but also venting the unpleasant effects of climate change.

#GustavodeArístegui #GustavoManueldeArísteguiySanRomán #India fights against climate change: From Gustavo’s point of view #Gustavo de Arístegui #Borja de Arístegui #gustavo manuel #Gustavo Manuel de Arístegui Román

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hrthrive21 · 4 years ago

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Ready for Myan-War

Myanmar, also known as Burma, is in South East Asia. It neighbours Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, China and India. It has a population of about 54 million, most of whom are Burmese speakers, although other languages are also spoken. The biggest city is Yangon (Rangoon), but the capital is Nay Pyi Taw. The country gained independence from Britain in 1948. It was ruled by the armed forces from 1962 until 2011, when a new government began ushering in a return to civilian rule. Following 10 years of gradual progress on political and economic liberalization—and a landslide victory for the NLD in the 2020 election—the Burmese army took power in a coup on February 1, 2021, just hours before the newly elected members of Parliament were set to convene. The army has quickly reversed hard-won progress toward democracy and human rights in Burma. It has arrested elected officials, activists, and journalists, done away with even the most basic civil and political rights, blocked access to social media, and, intermittently, to the internet entirely.

Those who have followed transition from a military authoritarian government to a civilian one in other countries of the world, know quite well, the inherent constraints in that transformation, more so in a country wrecked by ethnic fragmentation and rebellion with external involvements, and where all civilian institutions were systematically emasculated and replaced with military organizations and institutions, and its economy controlled by an inefficient and corrupt military clique. Unlike in other countries where the military got involved in businesses as they consolidated their political control in course of time, in Burma the take-over was simultaneous. Almost all private property was confiscated and handed over to a number of military-run state corporations. The old mercantile elite, which to a large extent were of ethnic Indian and Chinese origin, left the country, and so did many of Burma’s intellectuals. To restore all that were lost, is a stupendous task for any government and requires full cooperation of all the stakeholders in that process, including the international community and foreign investors.to create the enabling environment for the same.

That enabling environment lies in the rapid economic development of the country allowing everyone to be able to have a share of the cake. Average GDP growth so far under Suu Kyi’s leadership has failed to reach even 7%. When the need was for much higher rate for the challenging task of eradication of poverty of large sections of the population, and improving the quality of life for others. To sustain current experiment in democracy and development, the twin goal for which the people of Myanmar have fought and sacrificed under a crippling military dictatorship for more than five decades, success in the economic arena is the only weapon she could use in the absence of enabling political conditions.

Even while the investment environment in Myanmar have improved with the implementation of the new Company Law in 2018 and the Investment Law in 2017, Myanmar has not been able to attract much-needed large-scale foreign investment from foreign manufacturing companies to create jobs from the Western countries, some for economic reasons, but more for extra-economic factors like lack of progress on human rights issues. Although Myanmar’s democratization was expected to increase investment from Europe and the U.S., large amounts have come mainly from Asian countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea. The West will have to have a fresh look at Myanmar, increase their investments for companies to establish reliable supply chains.

Despite some minor differences, the pathology, the ideological outlook and the experiences of the Myanmar army is similar to Indonesian military, and is likely to follow the same trajectory in its movement towards democracy — a guided political system with a certain role for the armed forces till the economy grows to accommodate both the security and economic interests of the armed forces through an expanded defence budget, opportunities in corporate sectors for children of military officers and eventual creation of a middle class demanding greater transparency and accountability from the government. However the international community might try to push for political change in Myanmar, it will not happen under conditions of sanctions or strained relations between the Tatmadaw and other stakeholders, even while the coup was illegitimate and on flimsy grounds of voter irregularities with no substantial evidence to prove that charge.

India has always been steadfast in its support to the process of democratic transition in Myanmar. We believe that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld. We are monitoring the situation closely.” India has learnt from its earlier mistakes of democratic activism in late 1980s and early 1990s and have become more pragmatic in its approach to Myanmar keeping in mind its national and security interests. Myanmar is too important to New Delhi to ignore as it sits at the of India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ and ‘Act East Policy’ policies, being the land bridge to connect South Asia and Southeast Asia, and thus demands a special place in India’s diplomacy in the broader region of Indo-Pacific.

Apart from strategic necessity to maintain links with whichever dispensation is in power, New Delhi can use its access to military leadership to impress upon them the need for peaceful transfer of power back to the civilian elected representatives through back-room channel. From that perspective, Indian response to the coup has been mature, though it may not satisfy the democracy warriors in our country who find ideology more important than actual ground realities in a country like Myanmar.

Case in hand:

Indian government has decided to work in hand with ‘Secret e-Cell’ unit of the country where the units are planning to help Myanmar in its difficult times as well as willing to extend the support to the Democratic Party and the citizens facing the injustice. For this, the government has opted for 2 years Transfer Strategy of some specialized agents of the RAW and fresh talent personnel from Indian Army officials who will be solely responsible for negotiating with and spying the Military troops who are in action, and communicating the scenarios to the Secret cell on the regular basis to come up with a solution to help Myanmar regain its democratic power.

Task in hand:

Considering the above mentioned situation and keeping in mind the pandemic, you are appointed as the Executive Head Officer for the mission and you are responsible for:

Prepare an overview of the execution plan for the span of 2 years.

Define the recruitment drive and strategy adopted for the same.

Expatriate selection procedure.

Expatriate training and development program.

Define the expatriation policy adopted and compensation provided.

Perform a locational analysis and security check for the accommodation and travel.

State the contingency plan that would be taken into consideration in case of any emergency.

Specify the usage of Tech based equipment and Artificial Intelligence in the whole mission.

Any extra deliverables you seem necessary.

Deliverables:

Prepare a report of not more than 30 pages.

A ppt summarising the same.

P.S Top 10 much?

Submission Details:

Deadline: 9am, 7th April 2021

Mail: [email protected]

Mail subject: ZENXX_READY FOR MYAN-WAR

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conza · 4 years ago

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The False Organismic Analogies of Scientism

The organismic analogies attribute consciousness, or other organic qualities, to "social wholes" which are really only labels for the interrelations of individuals.19 Just as in the mechanistic metaphors, individual men are subsumed and determined, here they become mindless cells in some sort of social organism. While few people today would assert flatly that "society is an organism," most social theorists hold doctrines that imply this. Note, for example, such phrases as: "Society determines the values of its individual members"; or "The individual's actions are determined by the role he plays in the group to which he belongs," and so on. Such concepts as "the public good," "the common good," "social welfare," and so on, are also endemic. All these concepts rest on the implicit premise that there exists, somewhere, a living organic entity known as "society," "the group," "the public," "the community," and that that entity has values and pursues ends.

Not only are these terms held up as living entities; they are supposed to exist more fundamentally than mere individuals, and certainly "their" goals take precedence over individual ones. It is ironic that the self-proclaimed apostles of "science" should pursue the sheer mysticism of assuming the living reality of these concepts.20 Such concepts as "public good," "general welfare," and so on, should, therefore, be discarded as grossly unscientific, and the next time someone preaches the priority of "public good" over the individual good, we must ask: Who is the "public" in this case? We must remember that in the slogan justifying the public debt that rose to fame in the 1930s: "We owe it only to ourselves," it makes a big difference for every man whether he is a member of the "we" or of the "ourselves."21

A similar fallacy is committed, alike by friends and by foes of the market economy, when the market is called "impersonal." Thus, people often complain that the market is too "impersonal" because it does not grant to them a greater share of worldly goods. It is overlooked that the "market" is not some sort of living entity making good or bad decisions, but is simply a label for individual persons and their voluntary interactions. If A thinks that the "impersonal market" is not paying him enough, he is really saying that individuals B, C, and D are not willing to pay him as much as he would like to receive. The "market" is individuals acting. Similarly, if B thinks that the "market" is not paying A enough, B is perfectly free to step in and supply the difference. He is not blocked in this effort by some monster named "market."

One example of the widespread use of the organismic fallacy is in discussions of international trade. Thus, during the gold-standard era, how often did the cry go up that "England" or "France" or some other country was in mortal danger because "it" was "losing gold? What was actually happening was that Englishmen or Frenchmen were voluntarily shipping gold overseas and thus threatening the banks in those countries with the necessity of meeting obligations (to pay in gold) which they could not possibly fulfill. But the use of the organismic metaphor converted a grave problem of banking into a vague national crisis for which every citizen was somehow responsible.22

So far we have been discussing those organismic concepts which assume the existence of a fictive consciousness in some collective whole. There are also numerous examples of other misleading biological analogies in the study of man. We hear much, for example, of "young" and "old" nations, as if an American aged twenty is somehow "younger" than a Frenchman of the same age. We read of "mature economies," as if an economy must grow rapidly and then become "mature." The current fashion of an "economics of growth" presumes that every economy is somehow destined, like a living organism, to "grow" in some predetermined manner at a definite rate. (In the enthusiasm it is overlooked that too many economies "grow" backward.) That all of these analogies are attempts to negate individual will and consciousness has been pointed out by Mrs. Penrose. Referring to biological analogies as applied to business firms, she writes:

where explicit biological analogies crop up in economics they are drawn exclusively from that aspect of biology which deals with the nonmotivated behavior of organisms. … So it is with the life-cycle analogy. We have no reason whatever for thinking that the growth pattern of a biological organism is willed by the organism itself. On the other hand, we have every reason for thinking that the growth of a firm is willed by those who make the decisions of the firm … and the proof of this lies in the fact that no one can describe the development of any given firm … except in terms of decisions taken by individual men.23

— Murray Rothbard, The Mantle of Science

#Rothbard #text #analogies #metaphors #scientism #analogy #organisms #behavior #organismic #organic

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Iris publishers-Online Journal of Complementary & Alternative Medicine(OJCAM)

Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Menopause Symptoms and Its Effect on Quality of Life Among Turkish Women

Authored by Pinar G*

Introduction: The research was conducted to determine complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) applications that women resorted for menopause symptoms and the effect of this on life quality.

Methods: The descriptive and cross-sectional study was performed on 270 women in 2014. Data were collected using The Survey Form and The Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Scale.

Results: Average age of women in the study was 54.2±5.0. It was determined that women in menopause stage experienced frequent hot flushes (86.9%), vaginal dryness/dyspareunia (81.7%), muscle-joint ache (70.4%) and decrease in sexual desire (65.7%). CAM use ratio was found to be 62.2%. It was determined that 10% of women applied these methods by consulting a health team. It was found that the biologically based of therapies (90.5%), with the use of herbal medicine, is the main practice used during menopause, then the mind-body interventions (83.3%) as the prayer of healing and the manipulation body-based methods (34.5%), exercises and acupuncture are also cited with common practices. It was determined that life qualities of women using CAM were better in vasomotor, psychosocial, physical and sexual areas (p<0.05).

Conclusion: More than half the women had used a CAM therapy in the study. CAM methods used by women are beneficial considerably (53%- 90%) for menopause symptoms. It is suggested that women in this stage, when menopause symptoms are controlled better by CAM use, should receive training and consultancy about safe CAM use and further studies are conducted.

Keywords: Menopause; Menopause Symptoms; CAM Methods; Quality of life

Introduction

The term menopause is defined as the permanent cessation of menstruation resulting from the loss of ovarian follicular activity. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines menopause after 12 consecutive months of amenorrhea for which there is no other obvious pathological or physiological cause [1]. Along with the decrease of estrogen level during menopause stage; in the early phase, hot flush, sweating, and attention and memory problems are experienced, and in the late phase, problems are experienced such as sexual dysfunction, urogenital atrophy, vulva itching, dyspareunia, uterine bleeding, urinary incontinence, fertility loss, defect in body image, cardiovascular system disorders, and osteoporosis [2]. These are combined with social and symbolical meanings, and thus quality of life can be affected negatively [3]. It is estimated that 1.2 billion women will be in the menopause and post-menopause stages by 2030 [1]. Thus, a great number of women will be enduring the problems of menopause and the resulting lower quality of life.

The WHO defines quality of life as individuals’ perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards, and concerns [4]. Various studies showed that women in the menopause stage experienced hot flashes and sweats (41.6%- 71.2%) considerably. However, joint and muscle disorders (80.1%), physical and mental exhaustion (67.1%), insomnia (%65), vaginal dryness and pain with intercourse (37.9% - 57%) are included among other problems in the studies [5-9]. Augmentation of the time spent in menopausal stage and life quality of women affected unfavorably by menopause-dependent health problems make the treatment inevitable [7]. In the conducted studies, it is reported that medical treatments used in the management of menopause symptoms have an important clinical role however due to their complex biological effects and their limited benefits against risks, they are not preferred by many women [10,11]. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practice, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine. Although their reliability is not revealed completely, during the recent years, women prefer CAM methods which they believe that they are safer and natural in order to relieve menopause symptoms [10,12,13].

According to 2014-2023 “Traditional Medical Strategy” report of the WHO, it is reported that interest in CAM use increased in many developed countries and its use became widespread (%40-%80) [13]. The conducted studies show that CAM use frequency during menopause stage changes between 37.4% and 55.0% [14-16]. Women resort to CAM methods that they think are effective in the management of vasomotor symptoms especially [5]. The conducted studies reported that phytoestrogens and physical-mental methods were preferred by women most frequently [4,17,18]. Nevertheless, it was determined that the studies evaluating the relationship of CAM use during menopause stage and life quality are limited. Some of these studies reported that traditional acupuncture is effective on vasomotor symptoms, yoga caused positive changes in life quality of women and Mediterranean diet and physical exercise had positive effects on haemostatic balance and life quality [2,7,13,19- 21]. Silva et al reported in their study that women who experienced low sleep quality due to fibromyalgia during menopausal stage improved their sleep quality by passive body warming method [22].

According to the literature, although there are various studies in Turkey about the methods to cope with menopausal symptoms and CAM use in menopause, there are limited numbers of researches to determine the effect of CAM use on life quality.

Aim: Purpose of this study was determining CAM applications used by women for menopausal symptoms and the effect of this on life quality.

Research Questions: 1) What is the CAM use rate during menopausal stage? 2) What are CAM-methods used during menopausal stage? 3) Is there a relationship between CAM use and the score averages of Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Scale (MENQOL)?

Methods

Study design, setting, period, population, and sample size

This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted during February 15-September 25 2014 in a private university hospital, menopause polyclinic in Turkey. 800 women who applied to the menopause polyclinic of this hospital during one year made up the universe of the study. 270 women made up the research sample with 95% confidence interval and ± 5% deviation according to the formula to estimate the sampling number in cases when the universe is known by considering Ozdamar’s study [23]. The women were included in the study by selection with simple random sampling method. 168 women out of 270 women in the sampling indicated that they used CAM and 102 women indicated that they did not use any CAM method. Until this number is reached, the women fitting the research criteria among those who applied to the clinic were included in the study group in a randomized fashion. Only 6 women did not wish to participate in the study among the determined ones.

Exclusion and inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: in the framework of menopause definition of the WHO, women who 1) did not have menstruation for at least 12 months, 2) entered menopause by surgical intervention by having total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingooophorectomy, 3) did not pass 65 years of age which is accepted as the old age limit by the WHO, 4) did not have auditory or mental disability, 5) are open to communication and collaboration, 6) are volunteers to participate in the study were included.

Exclusion criteria: 1) receiving hormone replacement therapy, 2) women with a diagnosed psychiatric disease and serious chronic diseases (malignancies, neurological conditions, immediate deterioration of chronic illness, etc.) were excluded.

Variables

Independent variables: socio-demographic, obstetric and menopausal characteristics.

Dependent variables: MENQOL score.

Instruments

The researcher completed the data collection forms by face-toface interview method and each interview lasted 15 minutes. The instruments used include:

The Survey Form: It consists of 33 questions enabling determination of individual characteristics of women (9 questions), obstetric and general health story (7 questions), menopausal characteristics (8 questions), CAM use (past 6 months),used CAM methods, CAM using reasons and the symptoms they affect, knowledge on CAM use information source, the effectiveness of the methods (9 questions) and their side effects and sharing with health team[3,12,14,15,20]. Pre-application of the survey was carried out on 27 women in order to determine the clarity of the data collection form. It was determined after the pre-application that there was no difficulty in the understanding of the questions in the data collection form.

CAM methods were defined as follows in the survey form: CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practice, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM, 2015) and WHO classifies were used to determine CAM therapies categories in the study [13,24];

1. Alternative medical systems (include homeopathic medicine and naturopathic medicine, ayurveda)

2. Mind-body interventions (include meditation, yoga, prayer, mental healing, acupuncture, and therapies that use creative outlets such as art, music, or dance).

3. Biologically based therapies (include natural herbs, foods, and vitamins)

4. Manipulative and body-based methods (include chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation, reflexology and massage).

5. Energy therapies (include qi gong, reiki, cupping and therapeutic touch)

4.4.2. The MENQOL Scale: It is a life quality scale related to the health state unique to menopause and developed by Hilditch, Lewis, and Peter A et al [25] in 1996. It was adapted to Turkish society in 2007 by Kharbouch and Sahin, and the validity and reliability study was conducted [26]. The scale is a Liker type consisting of 29 questions. It is made of four sub areas as vasomotor (1-3), psychosocial (4-10), physical (11-26) and sexual (27-29). Each sub areas are listed from scale 1 to 6 in scale scoring. As the score increases, the severity of the complaint increases and life quality drops. Total scale scoring is not estimated [26]. Cranach’s alpha value of the scale is 0.73-0.88’dir.In this study, the Cranach’s Alpha reliability coefficient was found to be 0.96.

The Ethics Committee of Private University Hospital approved this study. Legal permission was also obtained from the hospital management. All participants signed a written informed-consent form before enrolling in the study. Rules specified in the Helsinki Declaration were observed in the data collection phase.

Statistical Analysis

The data were evaluated with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 20 package program. The statistical analysis was carried out using descriptive analyses (percentage distribution, mean and standard deviation), chi-square and Mann-Whitney U test. The statistical level of significance was adopted to be p<0.05.

Results

The average age of the women who participated in the research was 54.2±5.0. It was determined that 95.9% of the women were married, 45.2% of them were high school graduates and had higher education, 27.8% worked in an income bringing job, and 72.6% of them had good economic status. Average menopause age of the women was 46.9±1.9. It was determined that 95.2% of them entered menopause naturally. It was determined that health problems of the women experienced during menopause stage were in turn; sudden hot flushes (86.9%), vaginal dryness/dyspareunia (81.7%), muscle-joint ache (70.4%), reduced sexual desire (65.7%) and sleep problems (64.8%) (Table1).

t was determined that 62.2% of the women resorted to CAM methods to alleviate their menopause complaints and 72.6% used these methods for 3 years and longer. It was determined that 42.3% of the women obtained information on CAM method from women who applied CAM, 31.6% from mass communication devices, 16.1% from friends and relatives, and 10% from health providers (Table 2). It was found that the biologically based of therapy (90.5%), with the use of herbal medicine, is the main practice used during menopause, then the mind-body interventions (83.3%) as the prayer of healing and the manipulation body-based methods (34.5%), exercises and acupuncture are also cited with common practices (Table 3).

When the score averages of the subgroups of the participants’ MENQOL were scrutinized; vasomotor area was 3.3±1.3 (0-6), psychosocial area was 1.4±1.1 (0-4.1), physical area was 2.2±1.1 (0- 4.6), and sexual area average was 3.2±1.5 (0-6) (Table 4). As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the women who entered menopause by surgical means experienced more physical (z=-4.10, p=0.0001) and sexual problems (z=-2.12, p=0.034) and their life quality was affected unfavorably. Menopausal symptoms in the study group among CAM using women were observed less. Accordingly, it was determined that vasomotor (z=-6.9, p=0.0001), psychosocial (z=-5.4, p=0.0001), physical (z=-5.6, p=0.0001) and sexual life (z=- 3.1, p=0.0001) qualities were higher (Table 5). According to CAM methods, in the comparison of MENQOL subscales score averages, it was found that life quality was higher in the women who used biological method the most (z=-3,15; p=0.002) (p=0.002).

Discussion

The conducted studies showed that women in menopause stage experienced significant level of hot flushes and sweating problems (%41.6-%71.2) [9,27]. Hot flashes and sweating problems (66.5% and 65.2%, respectively) were determined to be the most frequently experienced health problems by women in menopausal stage in Turkey as well [28]. It was also determined in our study similarly that the women had hot flashes-sweats (86.9%). In the researches, the ratio of women who experience vaginal dryness changes between 37.9% and 57% [9,29,30]. In our study, dyspareunia/ vaginal dryness complaint was higher than that in other studies (81.7%) (Table 1).

During the recent years, women who wish to fix their acute health problems and improve their life quality resort to CAM because of its easy access and being an alternative to medical treatment [31,32]. In the study of Gartoulla et al [5], it was reported that the interest of Australian women in menopause stage to CAM use increased. In the study of Sluijs et al [33], CAM use rate in menopause stage was 53.8%. This ratio changed between 31% to 82.5% in the literature search to determine CAM use rates [6,7]. In the studies performed in the national level, CAM use rate of women in menopause stage changed between 29.9% to 37.4% [14,34]. In our study, it was determined that 62.2% of the women resorted to CAM methods. CAM use rate was found to be higher in our study to be different than other research results.

In a literature search conducted to evaluate the variation of the used methods in different countries; it was seen that the first method resorted by women was biological-based methods generally [5,32,33]. The studies conducted in Turkey reported that women in menopausal stage preferred herbal treatments especially to cope with their problems [14,34] Nevertheless, in a study making an evaluation based on race/ethnic groups, it was reported that ginseng as biologically based therapy was used frequently in all groups, Chinese tea, vegetarian diets, and soybean fortifications were used by Chinese and Japanese women and white women and Afro-American women resorted to praying more frequently than other groups did. Also, manipulative-body based methods (massage, acupressure, and reflexology) and mindbody methods (meditation, yoga, acupuncture, mental imagery or progressive relaxation) were used by Chinese women [35]. Some of these results are similar to the literature in terms of especially herbal use and adaptation of praying in our study. Various herbal supplements and spiritual therapies as religious healing which can allow positive influences on health are well known among the community in Turkey, generally used by adult female. Cultural beliefs and practices often lead to home remedies or consultation with religious healers in our country. On the other hand, one might argue this is a true reflection of the patients’ culture where prayer and spiritual believes are part of people’s everyday life and may not be included in CAM. The use of other methods (such as acupuncture, yoga, homeopathy, meditation or hypnotherapy) did not find adequate support for its use in menopausal symptoms. We suggest that there is a cultural background underlying these findings. Successful programs in dealing with menopausal symptoms need to include the establishment of a community-based intervention strategy including health providers to educate people about use of CAM methods. It is indicated in the literature that CAM-using women resorted to this method by media, the internet, and with the suggestion of friends and family, and most of CAM users did not collaborate with health providers [16,36]. Our study results are compatible with the literature in this aspect and only 10% of CAM using women collaborated with health providers (Table 2).

Cardin et al reported in their study that women sought advice of herbalists, dieticians and homeopaths for preference of CAM use. In the same study, it was emphasized that the difficulties experienced by women to receive information about CAM should be overcome by education in health institutions [32]. In Turkey, the Regulation of Traditional, CAM Applications regulated the procedures and principles about the application of these methods and the involvement of the persons and organizations that are not health professionals in CAM applications is attempted to be prevented [37].

Women generally prefer treatment methods consorting with their cultural values in the selection of a CAM method during menopause stage. Natural estrogen resources, meditation, acupuncture and exercise is preferred by women to alleviate menopausal complaints. Soya products and black snakeroot is reported to be beneficial in vasomotor symptoms, and ginseng tea, evening primrose oil, licorice root and polemonium is useful for physical and psychological problems [24,38,39]. In other studies, biology-based plant therapy preferences of women in menopausal stage ranged between 5% to 29.9% [5,14,27,34]. In our research, the widely preferred CAM method was biological treatments (90.5%) and it was determined that soya products were used the most (45.8%) (Table 3). Similarly, it was reported in the other researches that women preferred soya products to alleviate menopause complaints [7,14]. Nevertheless, phytoestrogen-based products can be beneficial in easing the menopause symptoms however there are not adequate studies reporting their complications [40]. Based on all these findings, it is observed that interest in phyto therapy among women is intense. In this sense, it is crucial that CAM methods are supported by evidence-based researches.

Body-mind treatments have a crucial place in the management of menopause symptoms. The second most preferred CAM method in our research was determined to be body-mind treatments (83.3%) (Table 3). Brett et al determined in their study that 25% of women used body-mind methods to deal with the menopause problems [17]. Lunny and Fraser [18] reported in their research that there were relaxation techniques (57%), yoga/meditation (37.6%) and praying (35.7%) among body-mind methods preferred by women. It is remarkable that in our study, majority of the women (80.9%) preferred “praying method” among the bodymind treatments (Table 3). It is natural that resorting to religious applications intensely for dealing with health problems complies with the socio-cultural structure of Turkey.

Although energy treatments among CAM methods were used in a limited level in our research (3.0%), the women evaluated it as having the highest effectiveness. Body and mind treatments and biology-based treatments followed this (Table 3). Whereas there are limited numbers of studies evaluating the effectiveness level based on CAM methods in the literature, it was determined in a research conducted on German women that the used CAM methods were perceived as effective in the rate of 45.5% to 84.5%.5Lunny and Fraser [18] determined in their study that the methods benefited the most by women in menopause stage were praying/ spiritual healing, relaxation techniques, consultancy/therapy and treatment, touching/Reiki.

The conducted studies manifest that menopause-based physical, psychological and social changes affect life quality of women unfavorably [3,12,16,20]. It can be concluded that when the results of our study were compared with those of the other studies, the life quality score averages that we gathered were lower (Table 4). In our study, it is thought that especially alleviation of life quality in sexual area is because women in menopause stage in Turkey see the problems about their sexual life as a natural outcome of the process and don’t search solution.

It was found in our study that life quality of the CAM using women was higher in comparison to the women who don’t use it in the areas of vasomotor, psychosocial, physical and sexual (p<0.05) (Table 4). Reed et al observed in their study that regularly performed “yoga” improved sleep quality and physical area life quality of women in menopause stage by regular exercise [20]. It is reported in the literature that women with postmenopausal symptoms can improve their life quality with exercise [25]. In Thompson’s study [41], it was determined that homeopathy treatment improved life quality of women who were in menopausal stage and had breast cancer in especially vasomotor area. Taovani et al [42] determined that therapeutic massage and aromatherapy controlled psychological indications of menopause and regulated women’s life. Caputo and Costa reported in their literature review that physical activity was essential for improving life quality of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis [43]. Although the results of the studies support our research finding, they illustrated that CAM methods influenced life qualities of the women in menopause stage favorably.

Conclusion

In the study, it was determined that women in menopausal stage especially experienced hot flushes and sweating intensely. It is thought that CAM methods used by women are beneficial considerably (53% - 90%) for menopause symptoms. Life quality of women who use CAM methods was determined to be better in comparison to women who do not use them. CAM may contribute positively to menopausal period by helping to relieve some of symptoms. It is suggested that CAM methods are supported by evidence-based researches.

Limitations

This study has several limitations. The validity of the findings is dependent on the individual’s memory and accuracy in reporting CAM use. Women who applied to the menopause polyclinic of the hospital and have an interest in CAM might have been more likely to take the time to complete the questionnaire. The sample in this study reflects only one area of Turkey and the findings should be limited to this population. However, the fact that there are only a few studies in the international field and that a similar study has not been done in our country makes our work unique

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