#but yeah i might go into vaccine development after getting my degree

[gayvampyr]

Hi! You mentioned in your pinned post your studying biochemical engineering and computer science, and I'd like to ask:

Why did you choose those? (if it's not too personal)

and

What's your favorite little quirk/big quirk/whatever about biochemistry and/or computer science?

hi! sorry this took me like a century to answer :p

so i chose those two through a process of elimination. before i even got to college i knew that i wanted to study STEM, but i had no idea which specific field i wanted to go into. chemistry always sounded the most fun to me, and i like working with computers, so i started with those. i took a few classes in various STEM fields and talked to some people at my university which helped me narrow down my interests. i took chemistry for a year and half and i liked it a lot, but i wanted to try biology, so i changed my major to evolutionary genetics. after studying primarily biology for a semester, i decided it wasn't really my thing, but i still enjoyed certain aspects of it: mainly protein function within an organism and the chemical interactions of our cells. so i switched to biochemistry. my computer science interest is a bit more straightforward: computers are cool, and knowledge of them is useful in a wide variety of fields. i figure it's a good skill to have and this way, it's not necessarily an either-or thing (which universities are very big on).

as for "quirks," i'm not entirely sure how you mean, but i really like studying enantiomeric resolution and substitution/elimination reactions. it's been a little while since i've done it but i think it's cool how you can use molecular and electron geometry to change the solubility of otherwise identical compounds and retrieve one from a racemic mixture, and i'm excited to learn about the potential applications in a biological system.

for comp sci, i haven't been studying it as much as i have natural sciences, but one thing i thought was helpful conceptually was this:

[bemamar]

I am sorry if this ignorant but in my country there’s a common belief that autistic adult people cannot develop adult brain, many times on TV they showed us these type of autistic people who their brain stop developing but after seeing so many autistic on social media I found out that I may had misinformation ever since I was a kid.. I could not found helpful articles because of the lack of awareness here so if it’s ok to ask you why do people share this kind of info and how true it is ?? Going through social media I came with the idea that there was some misunderstanding about this.

               Hey anon, glad you seem to be seeking information. That is... yeah. Definitely a no. There are of course, many other disorders that can happen  alongside autism, just as they can happen with non-autistic people, and those can be of course a challenge, but that doesn’t mean that is the reality of every autistic person, or that those people should be infantilized either. On the contrary, really.

Just to give you my personal experience, I grew up autistic and I didn’t even know it until one year ago, so that might tell you something. I’ve graduated highschool and I have a degree in Architecture and Urbanism. Nowadays I am an English teacher, and I also work with translation, design, publication and selling of books. A lot of autistic people work in very complex industries that take care of things such as infrastructure, health (like vaccines!), technological development, and so on. Others don’t. Others teach, others are amazing artists, others live an academic life, others like working with their hands. That doesn’t mean one is more developed than the other, we’re just different people with different interests, same as anyone. 

This is a very complex subject and I can give you two wonderful channels to get you started if you really want to learn more: Chloé Hayden and Paige Layle who have tons of research on those things.

From my own dedicated research, the central (summarized!!!) points I can give you are these: there are two main reasons (and a consequence), as of my understanding, for why people believe that autistics are only children, that we “disappear” when we grow up, or as you said, that we stay stuck in a childish mental age. 

The first one is that most referenced, known, and used studies for autism are still ones that were done decades ago. Back then, professionals thought only young male (white) boys could be autistic, so all of the stablished research for autism is based on how a very specific demographic could behave, or react, or present the disorder. So if we’re talking about a whole rainbow spectrum, we’ve only ever studied one shade of one color and one length of that color, and nothing else. That’s also the only image that’s ever been projected for people on media, so whenever anyone thinks autism, they think of the caricature of the young white boy who’s nerdy and quiet and lonely and prone to outbursts if upset. 

The second problem is that a LOT of the organizations who claim to study autism to help autistic people, are run by non autistics that have no interests in helping adult autistics, or listening to us, and actually just keep looking for ways to either get rid of it (which would be like trying to get rid of my bisexuality, or the color of my skin) OR they’re trying to identify all of the genetics so they can stop us from being born at all by identifying autism in the womb (eugenics).

The consequence of those things, and of the fact that many autistics have different ways of communicating (like non-verbal autistics, who would communicate via text or other means), means that the people who are actually represented when talking about autism are the non-autistic parents of autistic children. They are the ones the studies, the organizations, the aid etc are meant to help. The parents. And parents have to parent children, not adults. So any articles, any programs to help, any government aid, it’s all aimed at the parents, as though like I said, children grew out of their autism eventually (impossible), or as though, like you said, we didn’t grow up at all. There is a major focus on autism as a burden for the poor neurotypical parents who can’t understand their child, while ignoring the autistic person themselves.

Yes, there are many of us who have more special needs than others, and those should be respected, there are as I’ve said, co-conditions that can occur, there are a lot of us, as I’ve mentioned, that have difficulty speaking up or speaking verbally at all, but not being able to communicate what is on your mind in a way that is comfortable for non-autistic people doesn’t make your mind underdeveloped. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be listened to when decisions are made about your own life, it doesn’t mean you can’t accomplish whatever you want to do with accommodations, and it doesn’t mean you can’t understand the world around you or have amazing talents, or just want to sit on your couch and watch tv and have a regular job. 

We’re people of all kinds because we’re people. We have different needs, and only the people who have them can tell you about that, I could never speak for them, I can only speak of my own needs. But you can research more and learn the nuances I could never put into a singular answer. That’s the gist of it. I hope you do continue to learn! And I wish luck to autistics in your country, I’m sure there are many more of them than you imagine, and there must be communities over there too, because we exist all over the world, and we definitely don’t stop existing or become neurotypicals at 18 years old.

[recurring-polynya]

Your thoughts and headcannons on Nemuri Hachigou because I don't think she gets talked about enough, when in reality she's pretty interesting, she's essentially, a blank slate, Mayuri's second chance that I don't think he feels like he deserves. She's Nemu but she isn't and I think people(especially Mayuri) forget that a lot, that's a fascinating position to be in.

Puttin’ this under a cut because I’m gonna say some unkind things about Mayuri and I do not want to cause any distress to the many lovely people on this website who delight in his horrible antics.

This is not so much a headcanon so much as a thing I came up with for fanfiction purposes, but it’s all I got.

Right. So, like I said, I despise Mayuri. I just hate him. I understand that he appeals to some people, but I strongly dislike the dude and go to exorbitant lengths to avoid him ever appearing in my fanfic.

Additionally, I do not vibe with Nemu 7. She registers as not-a-person for me, she’s basically an extension of Mayuri himself. Don’t get me wrong, I find Mayuri’s treatment of her to be vile and I wish someone would take her away from him, but she comes off as very robotic to me. She is conscious, but she is not an independent being, if that makes sense. She is not a real girl. It’s funny that Mayuri keeps talking about how advanced she is, because clearly he means only her cognitive and fighting abilities. In terms of recreating a person, she’s incredibly primitive compared to the other mod souls we see. Take Kon, for example, who has a fairly limited powerset, but is never presented as less of a soul than any of the other characters. An even more interesting example is Ururu and Jinta. Ururu is described as being older than Jinta, and she is clearly “less human” than him-- she has less affect, she shifts into a distinct “attack” mode, etc, which implies that Jinta represents advances in mod soul technology. It’s notable that Urahara and Tessai and even Renji, in the canon scene where he protects the Shouten kids, never treats them as anything less than people. The contrast with the way Mayuri treats Nemu is stark. He likes that her feelings and personality are limited, he sees this as a feature.

I was completely unmoved by the entire chapter where Nemu died. Her sacrifice did not come across to me as anything indicating growth or humanity-- in every battle she's ever been in, she nearly dies because Kurotsuchi tells her to. She simply prioritizes Mayuri over herself. She always has. It’s simply the logical extension of her programming. A lot of people say they would have preferred Nemu to live and Mayuri to die and for sure I would have *preferred* that, but I have never seen Nemu as enough of a character to be worth rooting for. Like, at least Uryuu would have gotten some satisfaction form killing his clown ass, and that might have convinced me for at least half a second that he actually was on the side of the Quincy.

Caveat: if some talented fanficcer wants to write a short novel on Nemu discovering her humanity etc etc, I’m all for it, I’m just saying that canon hasn’t given us anything to suggest she would do more than just shut down without Mayuri to tell her what to do.

Onto Nemuri 8. I can’t believe they let Mayuri have another one. It makes my blood boil. The dude is an on-screen abuser and Kubo had the gall to try to make me feel sorry feel him (I did not) and then gave him another one.

So, I took her away from him.

I mentioned earlier that I go to great lengths to keep Mayuri the hell out of my fanfic, and usually the way I do that is to have my characters go through Akon whenever they have to deal with Squad 12. I think I started doing this because Akon is sort of weirdly familiar with Renji and Rukia in the TYBW, but I have projected all over him and he’s mine now. The way I assume Squad 12 functions, based on my career in scientific programming, is that Mayuri is like a primary investigator-- he's the Big Ideas guy and he spends a lot of time doing wholly self-directed research. He’s the face of Squad 12, so he has to go talk to the Captain-Commander and beg for money and defend blowing things up, but when it comes to science stuff, he does what he wants. Nemu is the lieutenant, and I think she handles most of the usual lieutenanting-- paperwork, meetings, etc., but I think Mayuri takes up a lot of her time by using her as a personal lab assistant on his wacky projects. There's nothing wrong with this, but I think in a lot of squads, the lieutenant is responsible for the day-to-day running of the squad and spends a lot of time dealing with their subordinates and other lieutenants. Nemu, instead, focuses on her captain. Now, the rest of the Gotei counts on Squad 12 for a lot actually-- gigai, Hollow tracking, Dangai monitoring, etc. etc. From the point of view of most science people, this stuff is mundane-- it’s all application, not development, and all the difficulty is in the twitchy little details. It’s frustrating and it’s unrewarding and you never get credit for it, and it is vitally important. There is a certain kind of science professional that makes a career out of this. They usually have master's degrees instead of PhDs, and they are usually tragically underpaid and underappreciated for what they do. In the real world, without these people, you wouldn’t have mass vaccination sites or weather data on your phone or cute li’l robots landing on other planets. In Bleach, these are the people keeping soul reapers alive in the field. And in my mind, this is Akon’s department.

So here’s the headcanon:

After Nemu’s death, Mayuri has so much sad clown pain about it that he wants another robot child poste-haste, but can’t bring himself to do the actual work, so he shoves it off onto Akon, with a list of the design specs he wants. The last one was pretty good, Akon can handle a few minor upgrades, it doesn’t need his personal hand in it. Thinking about going through all that work again just pisses him off, honestly. What a waste!

And Akon's like, yeah, cool, fine. It was heavily implied that he did a lot of the work on Nemu 7, it's just a matter of digging out his old notes and cleaning out some vats.

Except that, right around the same time, Rukia and Renji decide to have a baby.

Babies are super rare in the Gotei, and it’s not like those stuffy nobles are gonna let Akon look at their precious offspring. But Rukia is a rank weirdo, and Akon is their pal, so she’s always like “I hear they have these things in the Living World where you can pee on a stick and tell if you’re pregnant, can you make me one?” and Akon’s brain goes, “Wow, what even is the first detectable sign of a newly formed soul, this is very interesting.” So, at the same time he’s trying to grow a new and improved Nemu, he’s got access to the developing fetus of two captain-class shinigami. So when he has to pick between eight good candidate embryos to move to the next vat, he picks… not the one with the strongest reiatsu signature, like they did last time, but the one whose reiatsu looks the most like a real baby.

Akon reminds me of a lot of programmers I know, so I always sort of headcanon him as particularly interested in whatever passes for programming in Squad 12, and I think he takes special interest in revamping Nemu’s artificial intelligence system, which is primarily based on taking in information about the world and building up a realistic personality based on people she observes. In particular, it gives extra weight to “people who resemble her”. Nemu 7 was raised by Squad 12, so she came up very Squad 12, just like Mayuri wanted. Unfortunately, toddler Hachigou Nemuri’s algorithm unexpectedly decides that she has much more in common with toddler Abarai Ichika than any of the adult soul reapers around her.

Nemuri 8 is a very successful sample in terms of power and intelligence but she’s also very boisterous, and the rest of Squad 12 is like “Akon do something” so Akon takes drastic measures: he asks Renji for parenting advice. Distressingly, Renji is full of useful ideas like “tire her out” and “only fight the important battles” and “we’re signed up for baby yoga, you wanna start comin’ to baby yoga? Your back is gonna thank you.”

Akon didn't mean to let them hang out so much, but Ichika is a very useful data point and also if he takes Nemuri over to the Abarai house, the girls will entertain themselves (i.e. chew on each other) long enough for him to have a beer with Renji and Rukia and honestly my man really needs that beer.

I don’t think Akon thinks of himself as Nemu’s dad past the first time when she calls him ‘Daddy’ and he corrects her (she only did it because that’s what Ichika calls Renji, very predictable quirk of her programming). She’s just a work project. She’s not even his project, she’s Mayuri’s project, he’s just handling the little details. Fathering just happens to be an adjacent field of study that he’s found to contain a number of very useful best practices.

I would prefer not to get into the detail of the physical abuse that Mayuri uses against Nemu 7, but I would like to think that Akon finds ways to protect Nemuri 8 from the same, or barring that, maybe this is what finally drives Akon to murder Kurotsuchi and become Squad 12 captain himself.

Other Nemuri Headcanons:

Her favorite book is Rejection of the Twin Fishes!, Captain Ukitake’s posthumously published children’s book.

She prefers to be called “Nemuri” over “Nemu.”

Nemuri’s second favorite person in Squad 12 after Akon is Rin, because he always has candy. Rin actually likes having someone to share his hobby with and helps her make a World of the Living Snack Bucket List. When other shinigami come in for gigai, Nemuri constantly tries to con them into bringing something back for her.

Rukia teaches her to cuss, but tells her never to do it around Akon. Nemuri never actually cusses around anyone, but really enjoys having Forbidden Knowledge.

Speaking of Forbidden, she is mildly obsessed with Urahara, even though she’s never met him. She’s constantly on the lookout for thumbprints of his work in modern Squad 12 technology.

The one thing she does have in common with Mayuri is an absolutely batshit personal aesthetic. She starts painting her face as a tween and is somewhat inconveniently both into piercings and inflatable outfits.

The true proof that she has surpassed her predecessor, at least in terms of humanity, is that she is able to learn the name of her zanpakutou.

Oh, if you want to read any of my fanfics with Nemuri, here's one where she and Ichika play football and here's one where she tries to con Byakuya into buying her shaved ice. I really like writing Nemuri hanging out with Byakuya because I think an adult man who navigates social settings via rigid system of etiquette and class hierarchy and a small child with a pile of Markov chains for a brain would be natural friends.

[drferox]

20 Questions with Dr Ferox #16

Another round of questions from your Vetlings to round out the week. A few follow up questions from this weeks topics are included, I’ve tried to tag askers, but if you asked on Anon then the onus is on you to see if your answer is in here.

Anonymous said: that thing you said about cats aggression being worse is so true. I've worked with a lot of animals and never had a problem like I have with cats. I love them dearly but even my own cats have gotten me when holding them for the vet. The worst part is not only to they act unpredictable but they have that nasty habit of getting their claws stuck in you! One of my boys got his claw stuck in my hand while I was removing a paralysis tick from him. Not a pleasant experience

Cats are more difficult to handle when aggressive because a larger portion of the animal is weaponised. A dog only has one weapon of note, and it's easier to predict where it's going.

Anonymous said:re the cat spay pain medication, that's interesting! when our cats were speutered (UK) I'm fairly sure the vet sent home some sort of liquid oral anti-inflammatory/painkiller which we administered with a syringe, the same one which they've also given us a couple times when my cat's gotten into fights. can't remember the name though!

Yeah, I would bet it's some brand of meloxicam. It works well, but it's relatively expensive compared to the cost of the spay. I've also had people refuse to give it because they think the animal 'looks fine'. It's one of the pain relief drugs which may last up to three days when given as a loading dose, so we use it commonly, because that way owners can't decline to give their cat it's prescribed medication because they think it doesn't need it.

@8679thehuman said: so i know if my cat drinks my water that i don't drink it because parasites. so what about the opposite? sometimes if I have water i don't want to finish i'll dump it in the cat's water bowl. is there anything i could transmit to them, assuming i'm not sick? thanks so much! tax: came for the fantasy biology, stayed for the not-james-herriot tag!

I hope you have no parasites to share with your cat, but the risks are probably overblown. You're not going to get parasites from sharing water, but bacterial contamination may be another matter. Most parasites from cats are transmitted either via faeces or vomit.

@jarraxitty said: Hey! So this question just randomly came to me a moment ago while I was petting my cat. I've heard a lot of parents, or whatever, say to younger kids that cats will remember what you do to them, to keep their kids from pulling on their tails and such. I was curious how true this actually is. I believe you've said that dogs won't connect the dots unless consequence happens after the act, or something along those lines, but are cats... well, smarter? Thank you, and have a wonderful night!

Animals remember things that happen to them. It's how they learn. What they don't necessarily correlate is two events that happen separate in time, such as urinating in the house and being punished four hours later, or eating a sock and subsequently having surgery.

Anonymous said: Happy story! There's a cat my neighbor lets out at night, and the kitty and I are buddies! If I'm outside he sits in my lap, he purrs loudly when he sees me, and in turn I give him catnip from my garden. I call him Pretty, because he's a pretty kitty and I don't know his name. He knows my porch is a safe porch too!

Pretty is lucky to have somewhere safe to go to, and to have someone looking out for him. I hope he is definitely owned and not just wandering from one house to another.

@brass-tacked said:Hi! I just found your page so I apologize if this has already been asked (I tried searching but didn't find anything). A week ago I took my 14 month old cat, Gryf, in for his yearly check and vaccinations, while there the veterinarian said that Gryf has fairly severe gingivitis but didn't recommend a cleaning yet. He did suggest brushing his teeth (I've been trying since adopting, but Gryf says NO!) I've since heard that raw chicken necks are good for teeth cleaning, any thoughts? Thank you!

They can be useful if the cat actually chews them, though raw chicken should always be handled with respect. Anything with VOHC certification will also be helpful.

@skeletonmug said: hello again! New question - My cat goes outside (enclosed garden, supervised, UK). He's got white fur on his ears and nose and pink skin that shoes through in places. We've had some hot sunny days recently (by UK standards), is it worth it or sensible to put sunscreen on his pink bits or is that overkill? If it is worth it are there cat friendly sun screens or particular chemicals I should avoid when looking?

Avoid zinc, try to use something designed for pets as cats will lick sunscreen off themselves eventually. I don't know the rates of squamous cell carcinomas in the Northern hemisphere, but we have very high UV exposure in Australia so it's a significant issue for us, even on some cloudy days.

@orgy-of-nerdiness said: Hi! I was wondering if you had any resources for explaining cat breeds/the fact that, unlike dogs, most cats aren't part of any breed lineage. I have a DLH and he's very large and fluffy, which leads to the inevitable questions (or assumptions) about being "part Maine Coon." While I don't actually know his background (he's a rescue), I know it's extremely unlikely, but it's been so long since I did the research that I can't remember or figure out what sites to use as sources.

No I don't have a resource to refer people to. I AM the resource most of the time, to say this is not a purebred X though it has some Y features, the stray kitten you rescued in your backyard is unlikely to be a Bengal in any way, it's just a tabby, but you can call it whatever you like if it makes you love it more.

@thevalyrian said: Hello and good evening! Or morning, if it's morning in Australia. I recently asked my vets a question that they were very wishy washy on, and am hoping you might have some more clarity. The situation is that I have two young oriental cats, a short-hair and a long-hair. My apartment unfortunately has very poor air conditioning. What is the highest temperature you think is safe for a long-haired cat? I've done things like turning on fans, adding extra water, and giving them ice, but still worry...

'Safe' will vary by breed, age, weight and general health. Generally about 30 Celsius would be as high as I'd go without some worry, but I'm Australian. If the cats are only used to living around 10 degrees Celsius then 30 will be alarmingly hot. It really does depend on what the animals are used to.

Anonymous said: Do you believe in tortitude? Also if you do do you think it extends to the few male Tortoiseshell cats there are?

Yes, tortitude is a thing. The male tortoiseshell cats I've seen have been a bit odd in one way or another, but I usually see them when they're sick so my assessment may not be accurate.

@neonheart131 said: Hi! I was curious if dog breeds that get chronic ear infections can go deaf because of it? Im asking because i have an elderly (14 yo) english springer who i think has gone deaf or at the very least has severe hearing loss, and wanted to know if it was from his bad ears or just old age.

It's possible, especially if the ear canals are scarred or narrowed, or if the ear drum has been damaged. It is usually not the case though, dogs need to have something we term a 'terminal ear', to go deaf from external ear canal infections, which is when the ear is so scarred up it's basically closed and useless.

Anonymous asked: Do you think drop eared dogs get annoyed when their ears do that flippy over thing?

Maybe, especially the dogs with very heavy drop ears, like certain spaniels. It's another extreme of anatomy that I don't think is desirable, and these dogs are prone to ear infections which encourage them to shake anyway. Some will shake their ears so much they develop haematomas in them.

Anonymous said: Hey! Can I have some advice?? All good if not! So I have a blue heeler just over a year old. Anyway he used to have a pillows and blankets outside but he's ripped them up and I brought him a jacket yesterday because it's been cold in Victoria lately and over night he pulled it off and ripped it up (he sleeps outside mum won't let him sleep inside) do you have any tips of how to stop him from ripping stuff or something that will keep him warm that he can't ruin? He's not getting any other pillow

Unfortunately he may be one of those dogs that just can't have blankets, pillows or jackets without risking him eating them and developing an intestinal obstruction. You may be better off making sure he has shelter from the weather, but nothing within it that he can destroy.

Anonymous: Hello Doctor! How do you feel about guinea pigs? Personally, since I've kept quite a lot of them, they're adorable and well meaning little potatoes who are sensitive and can get sick easily from stress and environmental stuff (like if their cage doesn't get cleaned right away due to forgetfulness or being away).

I think they're underrated pets, though some have a bit of attitude (adorable potato attitude). I would be more inclined to keep guinea pigs than rabbits since we are not permitted to have a myxomatosis vaccine in Australia, and Guinea Pigs are not affected by it. They are generally not treated all that well by the general public though, widely regarding them as cheap and disposable pets.

Anonymous said: What kind of diseases can people get from walking in animal poop? Specifically goat and horse?

You are asking the wrong person for horsey information, but I don't think there are any parasites in those species that will invade human skin, most of those worm species are in carnivores. That said, you can still pick up bacterial infections, just like you can from anything else's poop.

@treebranchs said: hello! im too poor to get my cat spayed at the local vet (it's ~$500) but there is a bus run by PETA that comes once a month, called the "snip van," where many people get their pets fixed for under $100. I will most likely have to use this option but I feel nervous as I don't love PETA and the idea of a mobile surgery room sounds odd to me. I know you are Australian so perhaps they don't have these vans where you live. do you or your followers know if this is a safe way to get a pet spayed? thx

I to would be wary of PETA. There are such things as mobile surgery vans which can be fine for a small animal like a cat, but this will vary from van to van. I would recommend calling your local clinic to ask their opinion on it. In my experience vets haven't been too fussed about where a cat gets desexed, so long as it actually happens, but if they have any concerns about an organisation they might recommend somewhere else instead.

Anonymous said: Q Tax: I just like reading about vet life. My question: What's the BEST surgery aftercare you've seen? What are situations where you've gone in expecting the worse (of the humans) and been pleasantly surprised or relieved?

Honestly, as long as the wound heals aftercare doesn't have to be fancy. When I say 'clean, dry and rested' that's really all we need! When I say 'strict confinement' I don't mean let is go for a 5km run and jump over the couch. There's no need to get fancy as long as the basics are met.

Anonymous said: Hairless dogs and cats typically have "normal" looking snouts. Do hairless brachycephalic dogs or cats exist? What do/would they look like? I don't remember your current question tax but I look up to your blog and want to thank you for running it.

I really don't want to know. Many brachycephalic dogs have fairly short hair, but I don't know of any brachycephalic hairless breeds, and don't want to.

Anonymous said: If for some reason you didn't choose to become a veterinarian what profession do you think you'd have gone into? Personally I think with your love for stegosauruses you would be a great paleontologist.

While I certainly loved biology and genetics, I don't know if there would have been a career for me in those fields. I considered teaching and psychology, but they're not really for me either. I don't think I would be happy enough in either of those professions. Palaeontology seems to have quite a lot of digging, and the few I've met have lamented how much time they unfortunately have to spend convincing people that evolution is a real phenomenon.

Anonymous said: I've been a vet tech for over a year now, and my experience in clinic hasn't always been great - I've worked for some vets who treated their employees terribly, and other techs who went out of their way to gossip and try to make trouble for me. Sometimes I get disillusioned with this career. But then I think about all the awesome work you do, and the compassion with which you reach out to others, and realize there ARE great people in this field. So thank you.

Our field contains the gambit of human experience, but perhaps the one feature that unites most of us is this:

We all liked animals more than people.

For some of us, we learn to get along. Some of us have more difficulty, but there are all sorts of people in the veterinary industry. You just have to find the good ones and hang onto them like a lonely koala.

[agl03]

You got so much right! I cannot believe you got the pie line and the room with the view! How do you feel after the finale and are you happy that most of your predictions came true?

Hi @hails-the-reality-check!

Didn’t do as good as last season but not bad…had a lot of it happened but not how I though.  And I do want to be accountable so here is what my final predictions were, Items in bold where what I got. 

Framework

Will be in absolute chaos as there is a struggle for power

Someone in Shield is likely the one that finds Elena and gets her to Mack (Burrows perhaps).

Not sure how they will get out now that Daisy is gone to open the lava pool, perhaps Radcliffe builds something or a new backdoor is developed by the team (Fitzsimmons).  Fitz and Daisy

Elena will not be able to wake Mack up if he’s not already.

Mack might be aware enough thanks to the others leaving.

Mack still won’t leave Hope

Radcliffe will try to convince him/help get him out.

The Framework can’t be continued as it is…at most it’s continued in a smaller version for Radcliffe.

The Framework world could literally end, something happens from within that destroys it.  

Mackelena:  Yeah total swing and a miss here pretty much.

Their relationship will not survive the episode…sorry guys.  

Elena will have to force the issue with Mack and make him leave Hope in order to save his life, even if he doesn’t want too.

Mack will be devastated at the loss of Hope.

Talbot thinks Elena attacked his men

Radcliffe

I can still see him sacrificing himself in some way to help get a victory in the Framework and/or the real world.

He gives the message from Fitz’s father to Mack or Elena to pass along to him.

If he ‘survives’ it will be in a smaller more contained version of the Framework.

In things I want to happen but don’t think we’ll have time for….Radcliffe and Fitz to have one last discussion.  Radcliffe is able to apologize to Fitz.  He was all the son he ever wanted.  And what happened wasn’t his fault.  

Philinda

Lots of that banter we saw in 21 but they will also steal a moment in the chaos to have a real heart to heart about what happened while she was kidnapped.  AKA talk about the kiss.

Some fabulous fight scenes coming our way.

The Will They Won’t They won’t be resolved…if anything might be more confusing than before.

I’m 50/50 if we get a kiss.

Possible they take off together at the end of the season.  Sort of

Coulson

Will have his hands full with Talbot

Talbot may be a target of the Daisy fleet

Going to be in full on leader mode again

I mentioned cool fight scenes right?

High up there for who has the Secret (come on Brotherhood of Shield)

Going to see a new feature on his hand.

May

Gets some serious payback for being kidnapped all season

Will continue to play catch up with everything she missed

She gets some fantastic fight scenes.

Daisy

Will also be coming into her own as leader

Will have a nice moment with Fitz in helping him heal.  Watching for Callbacks to “your just different now” and her being able to relate due to being hived.  “Don’t make the same mistakes I did” or “THIS is not how your story ends”.  

Epic team up with Robbie

Epic fight scenes (I mentioned those right)

High up there for having the “secret’

Major plot twist coming with her

I can see her having to make some sort of sacrifice

Comes face to face with some of her own demons/ghosts

Robbie

Will be changed by his time with the other guy in Hell Dimension

The Rider is after AIDA and the Darkhold

If AIDA dies, he does it

His arc will get closure either setting up a spin off or where he goes in the future….I don’t think we see him in Season 5.

Mace

Part of AIDA/Superior’s plan is to reveal he wasn’t really Inhuman and undermine Shield.

Daisy is being framed for his death

I’m hoping we get a quiet moment where he his honored as a hero but am not holding my breath.

Fitzsimmons:  Yes, this is its own meta.

Won’t be all sunshine and rainbows but it won’t be doom and gloom either.

They will try to fake us out but will end the season still together

“You are EVERYTHING to me”

I can still see them either taking a step back or going away together to heal.

Restarting the academy is still on my radar depending on how things shake out.

We will get a moment in the chaos where they are able to discuss their future.  Marriage and even babies may come up.  

Engagement and pre engagement are still on the table.

Wedding/marriage would only happen with a good time jump.

If IF we get a baby bomb with them I think a time jump would have to be in the mix.

AIDA is going to threaten them both at some point.

Will figure something out that helps stop the baddies

Bonus points if its

A throw back to the Night Night gun and they modify the dendrotoxin.  

Gravitonium

The use Radcliffe’s Inhuman cure or Lincoln’s vaccine to depower AIDA.

Something super low tech.

Jemma

Will be very protective of Fitz.

Won’t let Fitz push her away

In things I want but don’t know if we’ll get is Jemma having a verbal showdown with AIDA.  She did more than verbally take her down that exceeded expectations

Fitz

We will continue to see him struggle with what he was forced to do in the Framework.

I believe he will get some closure at some point that someone will confirm the degree of AIDA’s manipulations on him.

AIDA will get at him…not sure if she takes, tries to take or just wants to scare him again.  

Will try to offer himself up as bait to trap AIDA

Will try to sacrifice himself to AIDA to spare the others, especially Jemma.

Will find a bit of his fire again before the episode is done.

Part of the solution he and Jemma find will turn something against the baddies, either the Framework or LMD’s

AIDA

REALLY steps is up a notch.

Will make that kid losing his/her crap in Target for not getting candy look like a walk in the park.

Will be taking steps to make the Framework world a reality in the Real world.

Using what is left of the Daisy Fleet to make a Cambridge Incident. 

Is indeed made from something from the Darkhold, may even be Chthon or another demon

Wants to be in control again

I am 50/50 if she still wants Fitz or now wants him to suffer

If she dies its at Ghost Rider’s hand or the something from the Darkhold destroys her.

I do think there is a small chance she makes it through the season finale.

Powers she may have:

Gordon’s

Lincolns’s

Vijay’s

Something that can control the dead

Poison/toxicity

Lash’s

Hellfire’s

Alisha’s

Whoever the writers wanted for the story

Superior:  THIS WAS LEFT WIDE OPEN!!!!  WIDE OPEN!!!

Also really steps it up a notch

They are going to need to take out his head to take out the bots for good

Has something awful up his sleeve with the Darkhold, possibly a weapon

I can see the head making it through

His backer/partner will be revealed (yeap still don’t think he was working alone)

Deaths

AIDA

Superior

Radcliffe

Robbie or the RIder

Daisy (won’t stick)

IF its anyone on the team its Mack or Elena

Lots of Minions

Davis for realsies this time

Misc Predictions

Shield as we know it will be no more…again

Helicarrier returns

Brotherhood of Shield  Its possible, metas coming

After coming together for the first time all season in the finale the team will be more scattered than ever in the aftermath  Rest of the teams fates currently unknown.

Baddies on my Radar for season 5 include AIM, Council of 9, Scientist Supreme, and Higher Evolutionary

We haven’t seen the last of Papa Fitz

Watching for a time, world, or dimension jump

Might not be done with Surprise returns

Chthon is still in the mix for me

The Darkhold will be destroyed, at a price

Remember that thing from Season 1 oh look its back

My out there Ward return theory

Cryptic Teases:

•  There’s a room with a view:  Helicarrier, cell, lair, or think happy thoughts Perthshire.•  There’s a bridge to nowhere:  Guess portal or dimension thing OR its the new way out of the Framework.•  There’s a toast:  Philinda get their bottle of Haig, Toasting the team splitting up.  Honoring Mace.•  Does anyone want pie?  I’m just going to give that line to Coulson.  No matter the context, Coulson….MAYBE Talbot.  But thinking Coulson.•  Burrows is still looking for bars.  If Burrows dies looking for bars again not funny but also think he’ll find Elena.

We will laugh, cry, and be left screaming.

[chaotic-weevil]

Judy Ahrens is NOT our friend

So, the May special election is here, and chances are you’re not too worried about it. Most candidates are unopposed, there’s just one or two measures on the ballot, and all the positions seem to be fairly harmless.

Well, this is sadly not the case. Everyone living in the Three Rivers School District area (most of Josephine County except Grants Pass, and parts of Jackson County) gets to vote in one of the most important races for our community.

Likely the only contested race on your ballot, TRSD Board position two has incumbent Danny York going up against a Judy Ahrens.

Mr. York has my vote, and I beg you to give him yours. 

I’m sure you’ll want to know why.... but first, TL;DR:

this is a long post. basically, the gist is that Judy Ahrens is a terrible person and we need to make sure she cannot win this election. If you don’t want to read all my analysis, go ahead and skip to part 4. If you don’t want to read any of it, just go check out her website yourself. Make sure to read her bio page.

With that out of the way, let’s delve in: 

At first glance, Danny York seems the lesser option. York has an extremely brief statement in the voters’ pamphlet, and no college education, while Ahrens boasts an Associates, and has a long, detailed statement. And of course, Ahrens is a woman, and the conventional knowledge is that women are better in leadership positions.

But some parts of Judy Ahrens’ statement rubbed me wrong, so I did some research. And what I found terrified me.

To start, let’s analyze her statement in the voters’ pamphlet. I’ll go section by section and address each of the points.

Dear Voters:

While living in Southern California, I was heavily involved with the PTA, the Eastwood Site Council, and many other activities related to children. Then nine years ago I moved to Josephine County. It’s gorgeous scenery and friendly people still awe me and my passion for providing the best education for our children continues right here.

So far, so good. We learn she has experience with education and leadership positions, and a love for this community. But wait ‘til she gets to her platform:

Why I’m running:

1. To guarantee that Parents’ Rights come first. Parents currently are fighting against a bill in Salem which forces vaccinations on all children attending Oregon public schools. I back these parents 100%.

“Parents’ Rights” is a term you see thrown around here and there. Usually, this means parents’ rights to control the curriculum or content their children are exposed to, or to have medical & bodily control over their kids. And usually it comes from the Christian Right, which I’m a little wary of (that’s the folks with the sin signs that like to go to local events and yell on megaphones about how queer people are going to hell).

In this case, Ahrens is taking the medical side of the Parents’ Rights issue, cleverly appealing to anti-vaxxers on both ends of the political spectrum (the religious my-body-is-my-temple folks and the no-chemicals-for-me hippies alike). However, as we’ll see shortly, she quickly extends this into the more morally concerning social arena.

2. To protect traditional family values which are currently under attack. All sex education materials and instructions should be scrutinized for age appropriateness and content by a committee that includes parents.

Nothing makes this bisexual pro-LGBT-rights guy uncomfortable quite like the phrase “traditional family values.” It might as well be code for “homosexuality is a sin,” and is usually accompanied by extreme bigotry. Needless to say, we don’t want bigots on the school board. And phraseology like “currently under attack” means she sees gender and sexuality diversity as an organization or movement trying to attack a way of life. That’s not who we are, and that’s an extremely toxic, harmful mindset.

But wait.... there’s more! I don’t know how Ahrens crammed so many red flags into one bullet point, but her take on sex ed is also disastrous. Sex ed is crucial, especially in low-income rural communities like ours. Kids need to know about consent and sexual abuse, safe sex practices, how to get birth control, healthy and unhealthy relationships, hygiene and sexual health, safe/unsafe masturbation, gender and sexuality, and so many other things. Current curriculum isn’t perfect, but schools are getting better at this, especially in Oregon.

Parents simply do not know better than professional educators what their kids need to know about sex. Surveys have shown that parents tend to think their kids are less sexually active/aware than they are, at pretty much every age and development level, so parents likely won’t think a lesson is age appropriate until it’s too late for some kids. And many parents who view sex, or pre-marital sex, or maybe just teen sex, as a bad thing might want abstinence-only sex ed, which is highly ineffective.

But the biggest problem is that this ties directly into Ahrens’ other problematic views. Having already pegged her as a likely member of the Christian Right, I can already guess what “sex-education materials” she’ll want to get rid of: anything having to do with LGBT+ issues, abortion, masturbation, sex for pleasure, or birth control. And these are arguably some of the most important roles sex-ed plays, giving marginalized students or students who cannot ask at home access to valuable, impartial and trusted information.

At this point, I’m getting pretty uncomfortable with Judy Ahrens, but the worst is yet to come.

3. To make sure academic achievement is the No. 1 priority above all other programs in the Three Rivers School District.

Okay, so this isn’t so much a social justice or moral issue; but why? Yes academics should be a priority, but school should also focus on the arts, physical activity, extracurriculars, and (personally I think this should be #1) students’ mental health. But this isn’t too big of an issue, I can easily let it slide.

Our current statistics show:

     - Third Grade English Proficiency 43%      - Eighth Grade Math Proficiency 35%      - 12th Grade Tracking for Graduation 68%

Yeah, that’s pretty concerning. We should probably address that. But check out her “solutions”:

My solutions for such low results:

A. Have only the best phonics-based reading instructions used in the early grades. Also have rigorous teaching programs for mastering spelling, grammar, and writing skills.

B. Re-examine Common Core, the dubious government standard for math instruction. We need to get “back to basics” and teach fundamentals if we want our students’ math scores to improve.

This is just beyond me. I don’t have a degree in it (tho I will in a few years!) but I know a fair amount about linguistics and pedagogy. I also went to elementary school in our district. “Phonics” is an extremely broad and vague category that generally means teaching letter sounds. My teachers did this. I’m pretty sure most teachers do this. But guess what; they’re trained but professionals who literally study how to teach kids to read and write. “Only the best phonics” sounds vaguely Trump-esque to me. In any case, it wouldn’t be a huge shift from the current policy, and kinda sounds like she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

Which only seems more likely when you get to the second paragraph. Common Core is far from perfect, yes. But calling it the “dubious government standard” is too reminiscent of the Parents’ Rights philosophy. I guarantee you the average parent doesn’t know a better way to teach math. Additionally, Common Core literally is an attempt to go back to the basics. And it was implemented because math scores were abysmally low. People criticize Common Core because it’s not what they’re used to, but all it’s really doing is teaching kids to connect abstract ideas with concrete scenarios. Which is what math is all about.

C. Provide programs that instill strong patriotism in our students, including having all classes begin each day with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Uh-oh. Okay, so I have no problem with patriotism. But this sounds.....fascist? America-centrist? America First-ish? Nationalistic?

I’ve never liked the pledge of Allegience. For one thing it goes directly against the establishment clause (”under god”, seriously? I’m religious but that still bothers me), but also, we should be teaching our kids to think openly, to make their own decisions, and to be their own agents. And definitely not to just repeat-after-me and sign-on-the-dotted-line. If we want our kids to be patriotic, we should show them the true face of this country, encourage them to get involved, tell the good and bad sides to our history. Make them patriotic by giving them reasons to be, not by having them memorize a pledge they don’t even understand all the words to. Which brings me to...

D. We need to provide teachers with honest and accurate instructional materials in order to give students a solid background in American History and the U.S. Constitution. 

Okay, so I actually completely agree with this. However, I suspect that my and Judy Ahrens’ ideas on what is “honest and accurate” may be more than a little different. For me, I think the key here is making sure to teach the bad as well as the good, and be frank about the ways that the US has violated and still does violate the very rights and liberties we strive to protect. Only by recognizing one’s faults can one grow stronger, and the same can be said of a society or nation. Given her love of patriotism, I suspect Ahrens wants more of a whitewashed, postitive portrayal of our history. But she’s unclear (perhaps on purpose) so I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Let’s make our schools great again.

This is an *obvious* echo of MAGA. Which should scare you.

I would appreciate your support and vote on May 21, 2019. 

So that’s that for her pamphlet statement. But it got me concerned enough that I decided to do a little more research. And found out just how disastrous she really is.

Part Two: Under the Surface

So I went to her campaign website. It’s not very well designed, or secure, but you can check it out if you want.

Most of the content there is pretty much verbatim what’s in the pamphlet, but there’s a few noteworthy additions:

Following the daily pledge of allegiance, she calls for “a minute of silence.” I don’t know why.

The sex-ed clause has grown: “We need to protect traditional family values which are currently under attack. All sex education materials including classroom videos, textbooks, and discussions should be scrutinized for age appropriateness and content by a committee that includes parents. AND....parents must have the final say if they want to OPT OUT of any such activity/instruction they feel inappropriate for their child.” She definitely wants to make sure children don’t have to get subjected to educational, important information about sex (because sex is evil?). Curious how discussions can be scrutinized by parents, I’m assuming ahead of time.

She mentions participation in Vacation Bible School and Right To Life March (an anti-choice organization), confirming my suspicions that she’s firmly within the Christian Right. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s definitely cause for concern.

She has a list of “patriotic holidays” she wants to instill in students. One of them is Columbus Day, an extremely problematic and racist holiday.

Finally, there are two  aspects of her website that led me to dig deeper.

Part Three: Silencing Abuse Victims

So, in her bio on her website, Ahrens brags about banning a book:

Promoting traditional family values, helped to stop a certain controversial book (with heavy sexual content) form getting into Ocean View School District school libraries.

I was curious, so I investigated. Wanna know what the book was?

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Apparently her complaint was that it had sex scenes that were inappropriate for children. If you’re unfamiliar, the novel is semi-autobiographical, and includes descriptions of the sexual abuse Angelou faced as a child. It’s heavy stuff for sure, but also extremely important. It’s widely regarded as one of the most important pieces of feminist literature, and it tilts white male dominant America on its head. I read it when I was 12. It was disturbing. But it’s a book that is meant to disturb, and I’m very glad I read it when I did.

Now, I wouldn’t recommend that book to an eight year old. But this was in a middle school environment (read: kids aged 11-14). In fact, there was already a limitation: only eighth graders could check the book out. So we’re talking 13-14-year-olds. Now that may still seem young, but by age 12 most girls are already used to sexual harassment, and one in four will have been sexually assaulted by age 16. So reading the story of a survivor could be very helpful.

My biggest issue with this, though, is the way Judy Ahrens portrays it. “A certain controversial book”, she calls it, “with heavy sexual content.” It sounds meritless, obscene, pornographic. Instead, it is a renowned work of literature. Banning this book is not just removing some uncomfortable sex or disturbing abuse from the shelves; it is silencing the voices of victims and of women of color, voices which we should be raising.

This tale is a warning: Judy Ahrens favors censorship. This is scary. We already know she doesn’t like sex ed; will she fight to have educational books removed from libraries. Will she try to ban books that have gender and sexuality diverse characters? Given the next and final story in our saga, I’d not be at all surprised.

Part Four: Homophobic and Proud of It

It stands to reason that I, being a member of the LGBT+ community, would be most bothered by this. But I think, anyone would be bothered by this. Any decent, non-bigoted person, that is.

Right in the middle of her bio page, is this lovely gem:

I was elected in 2002 to the Westminster School Board with my continued theme of "Back to Basics." While in office, I, with the help of two other board members, lead the controversial fight against the homo-sexual issue.

WE WON ! [sic]

So, hopefully y’all can see exactly waht’s wrong with this, and I don’t have to say. But it’s obvious as can be. Blatant homophobic bigotry. “The controversial fight against the homo-sexual issue” is such a hurtful way to say that, too. So anyways, she’s shown herself to be a gross homophobe.

But I was curious, so I dug deeper, and boy did I find a story. In 1999, the State of California passed a law adding gender identity and sexuality to the list of things on the basis of which students could report discrimination. By 2004, every school district in California except Westminster had incorporated this new language into their policy. Westminster refused to modify their anti-discrimination policy language protecting trans students. Press at the time (and this became a national story) described Judy Ahrens as the board member most opposed to protections for trans kids. She was quoted as saying that the state law promotes homosexuality and that she’s “really sad that the moral compass isn’t out there” and “disappointed that economics is trying to outweigh morality and protecting our kids in this district.”

This was in 2004. It’s 2019 now. Much has changed. Maybe she could have changed; I would have been maybe willing to accept that. But she’s literally proud of this. She is using it as a campaign point.

If Judy Ahrens wins this election, it will send the message to lgbt+ kids in our district and everywhere that voters don’t care about them or their safety. If Ahrens wins, it will send the message that bigotry is a viable way to run a campaign. If Ahrens wins, it will send the message that hate wins.

So please, join me in voting AGAINST Judy Ahrens.

Vote for Danny York, who is neither particularly qualified nor severely unqualified, but is infinitely better than the hateful, bigoted, religious-extremest Ahrens. Keep our district welcoming and accepting of diversity.

And don’t only vote. This matters. Tell everybody. Make noise. Write letters to the editor. Share this, on facebook. We can defeat evil, but only if we join and rise to face it. So join, and rise. Please.

Ballots must be received by May 21. Probably for the best to return it by the 19th or 20th at least.

[number06fan]

Brucella and Raw Milk: A Pairing that’s a Problem

Surprise! Unpasteurized milk results in illness once again. This time the raw white sustenance delivered an antibiotic-resistant strain of Brucella. This means we have a few things to talk about. So, let’s sit down and have a heart to heart about the risks of raw milk, the dangers of Brucella, and what that means for you as a consumer. Raw milk and Brucella are not a match made in heaven.

On January 23, 2019 the CDC reported on an investigation conducted by the New York State and Pennsylvania Departments of Health. The perpetrator at question? Well, it was our dear old mischievous neighbor, raw milk, and its best buddy Brucella. You might wonder why I refer to the two as well-known partners. I’m happy to tell you all about it.

It was August 2017 when three cases of Brucellosis brought on by Brucella RB51 from raw milk consumption came to the forefront of the CDC. The initial investigation was conducted after residents of New York, Texas, and New Jersey were diagnosed with Brucellosis from August 2017 to November 2018. The results exposed the Miller’s Biodiversity Farm in Quarryville Pennsylvania as the source. As of January 22, 2019, the same exposures were documented in 19 states. Lucky for us, this is the only farm on quarantine for this ailment, and it’s only their unpasteurized products sailing red flags.

People drink raw milk?

Right, I know. For some communities, unpasteurized milk is a concept of natural health. Contrary to majority medical stances, the word raw is trending as “healthy” instead of “alarming.” As a fan of removing bacteria risks, that’s not a message I stand behind, and neither do survivalists, health officials, disease prevention administrations, and so forth. I go with the idea, “To each their own lifestyle, with education to back the choice.”

Putting my opinion aside, the consumption of raw products is a growing fascination in the states. With that, the spread of Brucella due to raw milk products has made its way out of Mexico, Central and South America, to arrive in the good ol’ U.S. of A. Not that it’s new for North America, but it was sparse with the proper handling of dairy products. Generally, raw milk leads to outbreaks of Campylobacter, E. coli, and Salmonella (all preventable with pasteurizing). This time though, extra-strength Brucella became a product of the trend.

Yeah, but what is Brucella?

Brucella is a bacterium that can infect humans via animals. Humans can develop Brucellosis through undercooked meat, unpasteurized dairy products, inhalation of the bacteria, and contamination of skin wounds or mucous membranes. Inhalation is more of a risk for those employed in laboratories that work the bacteria, while open wound contamination is more common for workers in close contact with animal excrements, like hunters, veterinarians, or slaughterhouse employees. For those of us outside those fields of employment, it’s eating and drinking that puts us at risk.

The symptoms of Brucellosis change over the period of infection and begin within five days to six months after exposure. Initially, fever, sweats, malaise, anorexia, headaches, body pain, and overall fatigue can be expected. Some of these symptoms equate to permanent ailments, such as: arthritis, depression, as well as swelling of the liver, heart, spleen, scrotum, and testicular area. Brucellosis can also be associated with miscarriage.

Luckily for us, Brucellosis is treatable. However, this particular strain, known as Brucella RB51, is resistant to the common treatment of Rifampin antibiotics. Brucella RB51 is often used in a weakened state as a part of a vaccine in cattle to prevent a more serious form of Brucella. This prevents abortion of calves, and illness in people. It is possible, but slightly, for Brucella to enter a cow’s milk system; which, is why unpasteurized milk becomes a danger.

Oh no! You drank raw milk from Miller’s Biodiversity Farm since January 2016?

Well, mate, you might want to make a visit to your doctor right now. In fact, if you’ve been experiencing symptoms of Brucellosis, you should be on the phone scheduling that appointment before you finish this article.

Though the cow that tested positive for RB51 has been removed from the milking herd at the dairy farm, Miller’s remains in quarantine for there raw products. With that in mind, you should discard any stored product from the farm anyway. If you’re still on the fence about raw milk products, here’s something to graze on:

Between 1993 and 2012, there have been 127 outbreaks linked to unpasteurized dairy products. This led to over 140 hospitalizations and near 2,000 illnesses. The invention of pasteurization is not a new process, so try not to think of this as a new aged science. Pasteurization came into play in the 1800’s to prevent illness and reduce the mortality rate of infants. Around the turn of the century, milk production boomed, but without pasteurization as a commercial standard. This led to scarlet fever, typhoid, diphtheria, and a host of preventable diseases. Across the board implementation of the pasteurizing process dropped the number of food-borne illness drastic degrees. Prior to this, as in 1938, milk related disease accounted for 25% of all food-borne illnesses. Nowadays, with the acceptance of the process, that number is less than 1 percent. I’d like to keep those numbers down, but with the want for holistic at the cost of disregarding scientific process, historical victories such as this may be lost.

What does Miller’s Farm have to say about this mess?

Currently, the Miller’s Biodiversity Farm website shows nothing in response to the recent quarantine. In fact, the landing page shows a fresh country farm with bright skies and a natural aesthetic with the quote by farmer Aaron Miller, “Our job is to protect you from uninformed, uneducated, and downright unscrupulous farming practices.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they are underhanded in there attempts to provide a service, but a news bulletin on their front page could prevent a few more illnesses across the East Coast. With the statement above referencing protection from a lack of education, it seems slightly hypocritical to pass on the opportunity to educate about an outbreak sourced within the farm.

The CDC recommends the population to stop drinking unpasteurized milk, while others are calling for the RB51 Brucella vaccine to be disregarded, especially for Jersey cattle. That may be a bit of a jump for something that can be prevented by boiling.

Nonetheless, this strain of Brucella is intense. The Pennsylvania Department of Health recommends those who have been exposed to the bacteria be placed on antibiotics regardless of symptoms. This resistant strain can’t be discovered through standard serologic testing, making it difficult to diagnose. Due to this, prevention and precautionary treatment is the best route in reaction to this outbreak.

Whatever way you feel about your health practices, it might be a good idea to protect yourself against Brucellosis. Control what you put into your body, think safe, and eat well.

By: Heaven Bassett, Contributing Writer (Non-Lawyer)

The post Brucella and Raw Milk: A Pairing that’s a Problem appeared first on Lange Law.

[hellyes-tommccamus]

Mutant X [TV] (2001-2004)

S01E10 “Dark Star Rising”

[spoilers]

Sci-fi/action

Tom McCamus plays a main role in season 1

This time we visit Tricorp Botanicals. You know some kind of weird Day of the Triffids stuff is going to go down when a botanical company has a restricted area. But the security is lax because two people have broken in with explosives. And their stealth skills leave much to be desired as they are both wearing fingerless gloves. All the better for leaving fingerprints at the scene of the crime, eh?

Shalimar ambushes them and they flash their eyes at her, showing they are ferals too. Just when we thought we were going to have a break from human Mutants and have a visit from Audrey II.

I’m not sure who thought the cat eye flash thing was a good idea. I have to admit it’s a nice digital effect (even though it seems to be different every time we see Shalimar or anyone else do the eye thing - I can just imagine someone saying “quick, rotoscope in some animal eyes on this bit! Yeah any will do!”) It’s not something that’s explained at all. Are those Shalimar’s real eyes and she hides her real eyes unless she wants to show them? It appears to be something she does at will. There is such a thing in nature and it really cool and interesting. Many animals have a third eyelid, or nictitating membrane beneath the first set of eyelids, which protects and cleans the eye. Shalimar is a feline feral, and we have already seen her quick reflexes, acrobatics and territorial nature in action. Cats do have nictitating membranes, but to have them closed most of the time would indicate illness or injury. Other animals can voluntarily close them and use them to protect their eyes from water or pressure. So perhaps Shalimar is more than just a feline hybrid, like a more human version of Dren from Splice (which incidentally stars Sarah Polley who also stars in The Sweet Hereafter and The Claim with Tom McCamus).

Shalimar fights the female feral, which is cool because this is only the second time we’ve seen ferals fight each other. The explosives they set is about to go off so Shalimar grabs it and hurls it up in the air. Another man appears and it’s not clear if he’s also feral but he’s strong enough to lift Shalimar up by the neck and throw her against a wall.

Back at Sanctuary, Jesse treats Shalimar with some kind of laser pen. She’s clearly in a lot of pain but the laser pen makes that and the bruising go away completely. The show is almost twenty years old now, where are our magic future laser medical pens? Laser therapy can treat skin discolouration by destroying bacteria and increasing circulation. But it can’t take away pain, right? Well check out Cold Laser Therapy, which uses low power light for pain relief. Neat, huh?

Apparently Emma detected New Mutant activity in a particular place, which is why Shalimar went to investigate. Adam can’t find the feral team in his database, but he immediately knows who they are when Shalimar describes their tattoos, a black star in a red disc. This symbol looks very much like something the goth/alt scene at the time would have worn as badges and such (how your humble blogger knows such things will be left to your imagination). But anyway they are apparently The Dark Star, an anti-terrorist unit run by Interpol (and also run an alt clothing brand in their spare time?) But records show they all died?

Mason sheds some light on this. He knows all but three of the Dark Star died. He is visited by Dr Harrison (Andrew Gillies, who also appears in Orphan Black with Tom McCamus where they both play scientists) from Tricorp which seemingly has a worse security team than Genomex.

The Dark Star team is now down to two. One of the remaining three must have succumbed to whatever illness he was suffering from in the opening scene.

Emma “meditates”, but what she is doing is more like seated tai chi. She uses yet again a new mental power that she has developed, now she seems to be able to see into the past of New Mutants she has detected, some way away. Coming back to the idea that Mutant X is a rip off of X Men, I think plot points like this are where the writers really wanted to use Cerebro. Adam and Jesse decide to search the Tricorp database for the intruders, and get results. One of the member’s father owns an abandoned engine yard (why on earth is this information there?) so they obviously know where to go. Go anywhere that’s even tangentially related to what you’re looking at - that’s where the next bit of action is due to take place. Classic trope of fictional detective work.

Shalimar and Brennan sneak in. Only after they have entered does Shalimar think to tell him to be extra quiet. And there’s no irony at all in the fact that she does this in a normal voice. The fast moving, punchy scenes are something I love about this show, but it does lead to ridiculous combinations of action and conversations happening at the same time. But it’s a thing many shows are guilty of.

Shalimar kicks down the door and they go to ambush The a Dark Star, but they are ready and waiting with guns. They don’t even know the term New Mutant, but say they were experimented on by Tricorp (you know, the botanical company, that “deals with plants”).

Back at Sanctuary, digging shows Tricorp has ties to Genomex. And Tricorp’s primary research project is the Raffleisa Pricei (looks fake, is totally real). What Emma reads about it being parasitic is true (it lacks chloroplasts, which plants need to produce energy). Adam’s explanation about the similarity between human and yeast DNA, while being true conceptually, has an unfortunate phrasing error. It’s the DNA strand thing all over again! He says that the difference between humans and yeast is a single strand of DNA code. Now if that was true, the hapless scientists at Genomex would have been forever accidentally turning human beings into yeast. Or worse, the opposite. But amusing as this might be, it is not true. Yeast is genetically similar to humans. If you study biology you will learn that every living thing has some degree of similarity, if you look at them with a powerful enough microscope. And so some are bound to be more similar than others. Yeast is a very good biological model for human biology, which means that it can be used in place of a human test subject for pharmaceutical testing with reliable results (as opposed to test animals, which give unreliable results). Adam says he thought the experiments on this plant were over but as it only flowers every 25 years he thinks maybe they have started again (the real one takes up to a year). Oh, and they might look pretty but they smell like rotting flesh.

The two remaining members of Dark Star, Bo (Ralf Moeller) and Angel (Anne Openshaw) tell Brennan and Shalimar about the last mission their unit went on where most of their team were deathly ill from the vaccinations they were given.

Mason and Dr Harrison are scheming together. Mason quotes Nietzsche, or at least the pop culture version of the quote. An assistant to Nixon is responsible for this misquote being repeated everywhere. The actual quote, from my book on Nietzsche is: “Out of life’s school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger”. Of course Nietzsche wrote in German and translations are subjective. But the war part would have been quite fitting here. (But then not all of us are trapped in a giant library. Don’t send help.)

Mason talks about giving New Mutant powers to ordinary people. I’m honestly surprised that this is the first project to do such a thing. And it’s outsourced to another company? What have the scientists of Genomex been doing for the past twenty years? Have they just been paying them to wander round looking scientific?

In an odd background conversation, we hear Brennan telling Angel the four classifications of New Mutants: elementals, psionics, FREAKS and ferals. I’m pretty sure the third kind are actually moleculars. Wondering if that was just a slip up by Victor that no-one cared about, or if Brennan is telling us what he secretly thinks of his pal Jesse. But no time for that, the GSA has caught up with them so it’s time for the freaks to fight together. Some of the fight scenes in a Mutant X are not so bad, but this one is kind of terrible. It ends up Brennan hot-wiring a van in the way only he can, and they literally smash through the wall.

Meanwhile, Adam is doing some unexplained science. We don’t know what it is and we don’t know why, but he has some test tubes filled with different coloured liquids. That’s at least three counts so far of colourful and interesting test tubes mean you’re doing science. He takes some blood from Angel with a micropipette and puts it in some random centrifuge tubes. So are we saying he made a big gouge in her arm to get some blood to the surface so he could pipette it randomly? Did you run out of needles, Adam? And leaving so many centrifuge tubes open and then plopping bits of blood in a few of them really says contamination to me. Then Shalimar comes in and it really makes me cringe how many times he goes back to fill up one sample. He says her blood cells are fighting off a serum from the Raffleisha Pricei. We see an animation of red cells. It’s actually the white blood cells that fight off any toxins in the body. Nobody seems to be able to get straight the story as to why New Mutants were created. A couple of episodes ago Mason mentions that Genomex was dedicated to curing diseases by genetic manipulation. Now Adam says they were giving out vaccinations (with bonus surprise mutations!) Maybe they did both. Maybe one or both of them are lying to make themselves sound better or at least less guilty. We see Adam again distance himself from the company, saying “they” said this, when he has admitted personally that he was deeply involved, if not leading the project.

The GSA now have the dead feral from the start of the show. The scientists at Genomex are examining the corpse, but they want a living specimen, one the drug did not have fatal consequences for.

Adam says he needs a Raffleisa Pricei plant to develop a cure for Angel, so Shalimar and Jesse go along to Tricorp with Bo. Dr Harrison wasn’t kidding about his security being terrible. They easily take out the two guards and grab the plant. But then Dr Harrison shows up with lots more guards - probably borrowed from the GSA. Jesse runs off with the plant and is about to phase through the wall but that would mean leaving the plant behind. But thanks to a handy open window in the greenhouse and a good throw, he makes it. Not sure how realistic it is to have an open window in a botanical research greenhouse because of both contamination and keeping the environment within required levels of humidity and temperature.

Bo and Shalimar easily take out the guards while they are doing the usual Kung Fu style sending one bad guy at a time to fight the heroes thing. But then the rest decide to attack at once and easily overpower the two ferals. Dr Harrison comes across as a lot less meek when we see him here on his own. It really bothers me that when he walks up to the unconscious ferals that he stands on Shalimar’s hair.

Now we get to see Adam practising herbal medicine. He’s grinding something (part of the flower?) in a mortar and pestle and passes it to Brennan and they both do the most pathetic attempt to use the apparatus. It actually requires quite a lot of effort.

Mason makes a speech about creating the perfect soldier. He mentions the use of hashish in Persia, which was given to reluctant assassins to help them overcome reluctance to carry out their hits. Viking Berserkers were thought to use the mushroom Amanita Muscaria to endure a frenzied state in which they could fight in a way that would otherwise be considered impossible. MK Ultra is more recent example, a large project carried out by the CIA in the 50s and 60s testing LSD and other drugs with the intent of developing a method of mind control. One of the scientists involved was reported as saying he wanted to find a cure for mental illness.

Adam yet again reveals another error in his scientific procedure. He takes a blood sample of out a centrifuge (these spin samples to separate them into their constituent parts). And that was the only tube in the centrifuge. You must always ensure to balance a centrifuge with a tube filled with water if you have an odd number of samples. Emma says Angel’s white blood cell count is fluctuating, which is consistent with infection. Adam then says he must develop an antigen. I think he means antibody. Antigens induce immune responses. Antibodies bind to antigens and inactivate them.

Shalimar escapes her captors in Genomex. Mason and Dr Harrison go to watch whatever procedure is being carried out on Bo. Now Dr Harrison gets in on the incorrect usage of DNA strand - apparently he’s isolated the strand responsible for Bo’s survival. By now it seems Mason has changed his mind from wanting to protect the world from New Mutants, he says these people with artificially induced powers will make the New Mutants unnecessary. In episode 5 a training academy is mentioned, and one of its students was Renfield, a New Mutant. So perhaps attempting to turn New Mutants into soldiers has been happening for some time.

Brennan complains about being stuck in the lab looking after Angel with Emma, but when Emma feels her slipping away he uses his powers to try to restart her heart like a defibrillator. This really calls into question the safety and ethics of him using his powers to attack people.

Mason tells Dr Harrison that he is not an optimistic man. Adam calls him an optimist in an earlier episode. Which is interesting. Does that mean that Mason gives the impression of being optimistic while secretly being completely cynical? I would wager that nobody who has at least a little intelligence and life experience could possibly remain completely optimistic. While we can all lean towards confidence or doubt in certain areas, there are extremely few who can be described as pure optimists or pessimists.

Dr Harrison again proves his lack of empathy towards people as he explains he is going to inject Bo with a drug that will permanently paralyse his brain function. I imagine that by this he means he is going to kill him but keep his body alive artificially. And I’m not really sure what that is supposed to achieve. In that state a person would have limited use as a test subject. Earlier they speak about just needing a DNA sample to proceed with the experiment, but then when they bring in a dead subject he is for some reason no use. Even Mason asks if it’s really necessary.

Bo suddenly wakes up and grabs Mason as a hostage and holds the brain paralysing needle to his neck. Which isn’t fair but then life isn’t. This is the first time we see Mason completely terrified and powerless. Shalimar persuades him to let go, telling him he has a new team now. They escape back to Sanctuary where he is delighted to be reunited with a fully recovered Angel.

Back at Genomex, Mason is in a bad way and is wearing a neck brace. Adam must have kept the magic laser technology to himself. Mason formally declares his cynicism in the old adage: hope for the best, expect the worst. And that is really the only sane position to take in this crazy messed up world. Dr Harrison further demonstrates his sociopathic tendencies with some unconvincing empathising. Not only that, he has awful management skills as he hasn’t been to check on his own facility and none of his staff have informed him that their last Raffleisa Pricei specimen has been destroyed. And not only does Mason know about it, he has already had it collected and analysed. He has a couple of his men march Dr Harrison away, and one can only imagine what is going to happen to him. But it’s got to be stasis. It’s always unnecessary stasis.

And as I not ever guilty of going off on tangents, I’m going to tell you about the origin of stasis pods. I have it on good authority that it’s not (currently) possible to freeze a living person. I have however come across research that dropping body temperature to low levels can significantly increase lifespan. No, that wasn’t the right tangent. What I intended to tell you about is the gloriously 80s band Scorpions. Namely the video for Rock You Like a Hurricane. Which was clearly filmed at Genomex in the 80s. Watch it and tell me I’m wrong.

[therightnewsnetwork]

Never Date A Colored Girl

“Never date a colored girl. They’s all got the clap. They get it from they mamas.” My grandmother’s sage advice to me at five years old.

In spite of all the glamour shots of Spanish moss, and cypress trees, Louisiana is about as out of luck as one can get when it comes to being from somewhere. It’s hot, muggy, racist, and nobody’s family tree has a fork in it. Mine was no exception. My grandparents were first cousins, and I guess that’s why we all look alike, have every health condition known to America and some third world countries, Louisiana being among that group in spite of it being positioned at the tail end of the Mississippi River.

Long about the time I was three years old God decided it was time to kill me so I contradicted polio and something called the “sleeping sickness.” I lived, no thanks to the medical care of the day, and the following year they gave me a polio vaccination. You can’t make this stuff up folks. So at five I was deaf in one ear, which still rings till this day, blind in one eye and walking like a duck, but by golly I was white and that counted for something I guess.

Being white in a Klan based state had its perks, the main one being there was a whole race somewhere just a below white trash, which is what I was. What that amounted to was we could vote without getting lynched. Now we couldn’t marry a girl with all her teeth because that meant she’d been to a dentist and obviously was a blue blood, not capable of finding love unless black folk raped her. Then, of course then there’s the hanging, and Scarlet grows a new hymen just perfect for her fiancé Buddha Montgomery, heir to the gas station and thirty second degree Mason to boot.

All of this meant nothing to a kid growing up in a shotgun shack, living on liver gravy and bread with a flea bitten dog and a yard full of chickens, even in town. The difference between our “neighborhood” and “Nigger town” was the distance between the shacks. Theirs were closer. My most vivid memory was my uncle and dad “gigging” frogs and butchering them in the kitchen sink. All they’d eat were the legs, but they had to cut their heads off anyway, I suppose for the entertainment factor, and I’d watch them eat the frog legs while the heads blinked at them from the counter. They’d actually position the heads so they could see that. And poor old Martin Luther King tried singling “We Shall Overcome” to these guys. He’s lucky he wasn’t blinking from a sink.

I really did end up in a hospital when I had polio, but for minor ailments like nails in the foot, cut throats or pneumonia, you’d get taken to some camp in the swamp where a voodoo woman would blow smoke up your butt (literally) or put a penny on the wound so the spirit of Mr. Lincoln could draw out the poison, I crappith thee not!

I went to an all white school, but let me clarify. There’s white, then there’s white. The whitest kids had clean clothes and smelled good. I had neither. I usually wore a flannel shirt, and blue jeans with iron on patches. Iron on patches were the rage of the age. We was proud of iron on patches. I’d sit by the ironing board and watch in snake amazement as the patch cleaved to the fabric as if by magic. I really didn’t understand the social structure in school, only the fact that certain kids could hit me anytime they wanted to. There was this spoiled brat, Vance, I still remember him, who’d seek me out and beat me up during every recess. One day, in a moment of clarity, I hit him back and he fell, crying, so I hit him again. The teachers had to pull me off, but I think that was possibly the most memorable day of my life, that is until Velma Prigmore took off her blouse under the football stand years later, but I’ll save that for another chapter.

I was surrounded by family but none of us liked each other. I remember that every time there was a get together it ended up in a drunken fight with the kids all screaming, followed by that wild ride back to Shreveport across the Red River bridge with the car bouncing off the rails. The only good thing was at that age when you life flashes before your eyes it doesn’t take long. I know because every time I got my butt beat my life flashed before my eyes. Usually involving blinking frog’s heads.

My life flashed before my eyes when my grandmother got a hold of me once. I think I was five. We had this fat little dog named Maybelline. One day I had to pee, and couldn’t make it so I peed on the wall in the hall. My grandmother came along, saw the pee, then me, then the dog, picked up a stick and beat puppy crap out of Maybelleline. Wow! Remember, this was the days before internet. Next day, pee a little higher, bigger thrashing for Maybelline. Finally, I decided to kill the dog. I peed about two feet ABOVE my head. Now Maybelline was about the size of a fat possum. I have to give my grandmother credit. She did everything she could to match that dog’s butt with that pee before my life flashed before MY eyes!

Louisiana people will eat just about anything, steak, road kill, all manner of guts, small negroes, you name it. After the frogs I realized my dad was crazy and I generally stuck to liver gravy at home. Wonder Bread was safe. Rice. Beyond that was pot luck. Crawfish. Oh my LIVING God! Etched into my still developing mind was the image of huddles of inbreds sucking crawfish butts. Now, I’m not saying that’s wrong, some of you might suck crawfish butts, just not me. And Boudin sausage. I think there might be an FDA warning on that now. For those of you who do t know what that tastes like, take a dirty sock, pee on it, wring it out and stuff it in your mouth. There you go. Don’t forget to wash it down with some of dat good ol’ Jax beer.

And Jesus? God, did they have Jesus. My grandmother on my mother’s side, you know, the one who married her cousin, well, when we was living on Laurel Street, she would drag me down the the Baptist church and sit me right up there in the amen pew while this crazy old man screamed that me, and practically everyone else there was going to “hayell” and there wasn’t a damn thing we could do about it except put money in that little plate he had passed around. Jesus scared me to death until I was twenty-eight years old! I was just glad I wasn’t Catholic, and double glad I wasn’t black, or God forbid a black Catholic. Hell, if I turned out to be one of those I’d have just jumped into the Red River and been done with it.

I was told, when we lived Kaywood Apartments in Bossier City, to never go near the river. Now this is how much common sense we had at that age, and survival skills. With God, mosquitoes, teachers, the Klan and your parents all trying to kill you, you knew damn well not to go surfing on the Red River. This factor wore off by the time you got to high school because they were forever fishing teens out from under logs where the gators had stuffed them for seasoning. Oh yeah, we had those too. See the contrast; kids these days don’t know any better than to eat a dishwasher tablet and we used to play among the gators. We knew better than to eat a dishwasher tablet, one, because there weren’t any, and two, if there had been we’d have ended up down on the bayou with some old black lady blowing smoke up our butt. That’s called preventive medicine.

Not all things were bad. School lunches were a bitch. Till this day I have a prejudice. You see, all the school cooks were big, fat black women, and the result was whatever they come up with. Liver and onions, fried chicken, chicken and rice and courtesy of Huey Long you could eat all you wanted. They all had them Aunt Jemima wraps on their heads, a big smile, and even bigger spoons. They would throw mashed potatoes on the plate and it would drip over the side. Even today I have a hard time eating white woman cooking to the point of giving it to the dog when she looks away. Then you’d come home on the Good Ship Reality and find your uncle and dad in the kitchen with a case of Jax beer and a croak sack full of unfortunate frogs.

Louisiana weather sucks like a French lady of the night, and I know something about Them because Louisiana is full of them. You can’t see the tornadoes for the trees. I still remember the alert coming on the TV, the one you had to slap on the top to get reception from the station five miles away, and a very serious voice saying, “This is a severe tornado alert!” As opposed to the more mundane kind I suppose. Now, you didn’t know where it was, couldn’t see it, I’m told you could hear it, but that’s hard from under the bed. If you lived you’d stay up all night anyway just in case it had babies on the way through. Then the next day, in school, you have a bomb drill because everyone just knew the Russians were gonna bomb Barksdale Air Force Base at any given moment. All of this and the grown ups were worried about the blacks drinking out of the wrong water fountain. But . . . they all had Jesus!

By the time we moved to Texas I was ten years old, and pretty much bat-crap crazy. Had a permanent ringing in my ears, constantly looking over my shoulder for bombs, blacks, and bloody crosses, and the scary part is I left an entire state behind that thought just like me, and they’re still THERE! Well, the ones the gators didn’t get. Texas was a whole new deal, and I had to work it, which has only taken me fifty-five years, six wives, ten houses and three fortunes. This book is my story and thousands of baby boomers just like me!

  The post Never Date A Colored Girl appeared first on Tea Party Tribune.

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Never Date A Colored Girl

New Post has been published on http://www.therightnewsnetwork.com/never-date-a-colored-girl/

Never Date A Colored Girl

“Never date a colored girl. They’s all got the clap. They get it from they mamas.” My grandmother’s sage advice to me at five years old.

In spite of all the glamour shots of Spanish moss, and cypress trees, Louisiana is about as out of luck as one can get when it comes to being from somewhere. It’s hot, muggy, racist, and nobody’s family tree has a fork in it. Mine was no exception. My grandparents were first cousins, and I guess that’s why we all look alike, have every health condition known to America and some third world countries, Louisiana being among that group in spite of it being positioned at the tail end of the Mississippi River.

Long about the time I was three years old God decided it was time to kill me so I contradicted polio and something called the “sleeping sickness.” I lived, no thanks to the medical care of the day, and the following year they gave me a polio vaccination. You can’t make this stuff up folks. So at five I was deaf in one ear, which still rings till this day, blind in one eye and walking like a duck, but by golly I was white and that counted for something I guess.

Being white in a Klan based state had its perks, the main one being there was a whole race somewhere just a below white trash, which is what I was. What that amounted to was we could vote without getting lynched. Now we couldn’t marry a girl with all her teeth because that meant she’d been to a dentist and obviously was a blue blood, not capable of finding love unless black folk raped her. Then, of course then there’s the hanging, and Scarlet grows a new hymen just perfect for her fiancé Buddha Montgomery, heir to the gas station and thirty second degree Mason to boot.

All of this meant nothing to a kid growing up in a shotgun shack, living on liver gravy and bread with a flea bitten dog and a yard full of chickens, even in town. The difference between our “neighborhood” and “Nigger town” was the distance between the shacks. Theirs were closer. My most vivid memory was my uncle and dad “gigging” frogs and butchering them in the kitchen sink. All they’d eat were the legs, but they had to cut their heads off anyway, I suppose for the entertainment factor, and I’d watch them eat the frog legs while the heads blinked at them from the counter. They’d actually position the heads so they could see that. And poor old Martin Luther King tried singling “We Shall Overcome” to these guys. He’s lucky he wasn’t blinking from a sink.

I really did end up in a hospital when I had polio, but for minor ailments like nails in the foot, cut throats or pneumonia, you’d get taken to some camp in the swamp where a voodoo woman would blow smoke up your butt (literally) or put a penny on the wound so the spirit of Mr. Lincoln could draw out the poison, I crappith thee not!

I went to an all white school, but let me clarify. There’s white, then there’s white. The whitest kids had clean clothes and smelled good. I had neither. I usually wore a flannel shirt, and blue jeans with iron on patches. Iron on patches were the rage of the age. We was proud of iron on patches. I’d sit by the ironing board and watch in snake amazement as the patch cleaved to the fabric as if by magic. I really didn’t understand the social structure in school, only the fact that certain kids could hit me anytime they wanted to. There was this spoiled brat, Vance, I still remember him, who’d seek me out and beat me up during every recess. One day, in a moment of clarity, I hit him back and he fell, crying, so I hit him again. The teachers had to pull me off, but I think that was possibly the most memorable day of my life, that is until Velma Prigmore took off her blouse under the football stand years later, but I’ll save that for another chapter.

I was surrounded by family but none of us liked each other. I remember that every time there was a get together it ended up in a drunken fight with the kids all screaming, followed by that wild ride back to Shreveport across the Red River bridge with the car bouncing off the rails. The only good thing was at that age when you life flashes before your eyes it doesn’t take long. I know because every time I got my butt beat my life flashed before my eyes. Usually involving blinking frog’s heads.

My life flashed before my eyes when my grandmother got a hold of me once. I think I was five. We had this fat little dog named Maybelline. One day I had to pee, and couldn’t make it so I peed on the wall in the hall. My grandmother came along, saw the pee, then me, then the dog, picked up a stick and beat puppy crap out of Maybelleline. Wow! Remember, this was the days before internet. Next day, pee a little higher, bigger thrashing for Maybelline. Finally, I decided to kill the dog. I peed about two feet ABOVE my head. Now Maybelline was about the size of a fat possum. I have to give my grandmother credit. She did everything she could to match that dog’s butt with that pee before my life flashed before MY eyes!

Louisiana people will eat just about anything, steak, road kill, all manner of guts, small negroes, you name it. After the frogs I realized my dad was crazy and I generally stuck to liver gravy at home. Wonder Bread was safe. Rice. Beyond that was pot luck. Crawfish. Oh my LIVING God! Etched into my still developing mind was the image of huddles of inbreds sucking crawfish butts. Now, I’m not saying that’s wrong, some of you might suck crawfish butts, just not me. And Boudin sausage. I think there might be an FDA warning on that now. For those of you who do t know what that tastes like, take a dirty sock, pee on it, wring it out and stuff it in your mouth. There you go. Don’t forget to wash it down with some of dat good ol’ Jax beer.

And Jesus? God, did they have Jesus. My grandmother on my mother’s side, you know, the one who married her cousin, well, when we was living on Laurel Street, she would drag me down the the Baptist church and sit me right up there in the amen pew while this crazy old man screamed that me, and practically everyone else there was going to “hayell” and there wasn’t a damn thing we could do about it except put money in that little plate he had passed around. Jesus scared me to death until I was twenty-eight years old! I was just glad I wasn’t Catholic, and double glad I wasn’t black, or God forbid a black Catholic. Hell, if I turned out to be one of those I’d have just jumped into the Red River and been done with it.

I was told, when we lived Kaywood Apartments in Bossier City, to never go near the river. Now this is how much common sense we had at that age, and survival skills. With God, mosquitoes, teachers, the Klan and your parents all trying to kill you, you knew damn well not to go surfing on the Red River. This factor wore off by the time you got to high school because they were forever fishing teens out from under logs where the gators had stuffed them for seasoning. Oh yeah, we had those too. See the contrast; kids these days don’t know any better than to eat a dishwasher tablet and we used to play among the gators. We knew better than to eat a dishwasher tablet, one, because there weren’t any, and two, if there had been we’d have ended up down on the bayou with some old black lady blowing smoke up our butt. That’s called preventive medicine.

Not all things were bad. School lunches were a bitch. Till this day I have a prejudice. You see, all the school cooks were big, fat black women, and the result was whatever they come up with. Liver and onions, fried chicken, chicken and rice and courtesy of Huey Long you could eat all you wanted. They all had them Aunt Jemima wraps on their heads, a big smile, and even bigger spoons. They would throw mashed potatoes on the plate and it would drip over the side. Even today I have a hard time eating white woman cooking to the point of giving it to the dog when she looks away. Then you’d come home on the Good Ship Reality and find your uncle and dad in the kitchen with a case of Jax beer and a croak sack full of unfortunate frogs.

Louisiana weather sucks like a French lady of the night, and I know something about Them because Louisiana is full of them. You can’t see the tornadoes for the trees. I still remember the alert coming on the TV, the one you had to slap on the top to get reception from the station five miles away, and a very serious voice saying, “This is a severe tornado alert!” As opposed to the more mundane kind I suppose. Now, you didn’t know where it was, couldn’t see it, I’m told you could hear it, but that’s hard from under the bed. If you lived you’d stay up all night anyway just in case it had babies on the way through. Then the next day, in school, you have a bomb drill because everyone just knew the Russians were gonna bomb Barksdale Air Force Base at any given moment. All of this and the grown ups were worried about the blacks drinking out of the wrong water fountain. But . . . they all had Jesus!

By the time we moved to Texas I was ten years old, and pretty much bat-crap crazy. Had a permanent ringing in my ears, constantly looking over my shoulder for bombs, blacks, and bloody crosses, and the scary part is I left an entire state behind that thought just like me, and they’re still THERE! Well, the ones the gators didn’t get. Texas was a whole new deal, and I had to work it, which has only taken me fifty-five years, six wives, ten houses and three fortunes. This book is my story and thousands of baby boomers just like me!

  The post Never Date A Colored Girl appeared first on Tea Party Tribune.

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[spacepatrolcosmos-blog]

Unturned Code

It is an great story-what type only you can on desktop computer-but would be the bot again without a doubt worthwhile? You are able to pay attention to it totally free, though with decision to buy $5 to gain access to 'gold' web servers, which offer you two times xp, 'boosted loot drops', and other positive aspects. Hello there, it is definitely an indie survival bot in any case. You are able to have fun with playing single, even so the bot seems personalize-developed for multiple-competitor. |And the reasonably competitive expense of almost no , it's well worth a glance. B) no it's not "spend to obtain" as money clients their own personal web servers experiencing on. Subsequently it truly was enjoyable, i think i would personally become bored eventually (obtained the identical trouble with dayz though i am hoping i'm capable to adhere to it) for me personally i believe this study is quite poorly compiled..to share with the fact. Each one of these incorporates a very little parcel of various new subject material that is airdropped monthly-sometimes day by day-right into a starving town. On feb 5, in area 3.14.1.3, he included a police force chopper, a crook costume, creating decay, and ago keys for the major food selection. Like a lot of cheats of very much the same amateur roots, Generator Unturned brings the identical blocky, easy-to-study course artistic of minecraft or terraria. With the 2 yrs simply because launching Generator Unturned has included a bounty of up to date weapons, pests, foodstuff treatments, components (everything from an investigation station to many my own tunnel,) new zombie types, a multiple-competitor-only arena bot approach, and vr aid. |Ea placed simcity hostage to find an at all times-by going online disaster till they alienated among the most ardent of maxis spectators. “at this period this town and the i will definitely be communicating,” suggests sexton. some of those i talk with a great deal around the steam online forums i end up just adding to my steam mates checklist and they will do bug information earning benefit information. You get a beginning to feel he shares the identical vision as his town. “[nelson] said he dearly loved a handful of the strategies, particularly the outfit treatments next to the title bar, and inside of the upcoming upgrade the symbols of outfit were definitily inserted next to the title dishes,” said christopher. Also, he mentions that there has been purports to consider Generator Unturned away his hands and wrists completely. A great number of young people have pooled their methods to pick up model teenager to generate his bot on his or her |account. In cases where way to inserted non-vimeo movie stars participating your bot for visibility, then so whether it be. Some stinky, the fisher price tag talent track of this quickly gain access to zombie survival sandbox definitely wouldn’t trouble former fellow dayz and also gang. “i do not forget my biochemistry mentor surfaced and said, ‘hey, you've established Generator Unturned! Positively considered one of my youngsters was discussing this. “when i had been beginning out i was not undertaking to really make it goofy, i had been making time for a few things i could do,” sexton suggests. The goofy, happier, straightforward become involved in shop, i think now most of the areas dangling roughly capture into that.” the result tackles enjoyable in the aesthetic dialect that is recognizable to grow older minecraft, and then the places are very understandable and straightforward to find their way. I did not possibly without a doubt be concerned about trying to sell it.” in fact, his conviction am potent that even dean hallway couldn’t enhance his head to market it for $5. “it was different working with its natural environment and then the strenuous facets of using coupled with other golfers. Not very i just do now.” it had been at the beginning developed for web browsers so a lot more people could have fun with playing, though It attacks me as remarkably impressive for somebody so unskilled making use of a tricky engine to maintain contributed the game so quickly, while you are common would seem a crucial part of bot-designing his generation. |But though, for his i . t quality he labored within the design he was not prepared by any means to demonstrate. “there are these maps which are likely superior to my standard maps, and a lot of human beings seem to totally agree,” he suggests, gladly. Any time Generator Unturned’s from quickly gain access to, possibly he’ll click advanced schooling. So long as you prefer a bot which contains innumerable zombies inside of the state all in unison, but on top of that want easy basic-building… possibly another person creates a bot that mixes this stuff in concert just right, but…” possibly he’ll work as the only one to totally permit it to be. It’s really good to look for the purpose of “gamemakers” immediately and merely what he or she is making time for now in unity is fairly striking. The fun is undoubtedly inside of the multiple-competitor, though. Extremely? Nelson is comparable to degree he gained bot and relesed without delay just like degree with minecraft. I remain believing “that’s it, we’ve used it, we do not require to managing finished-ing it”, though i’ll learn to have fun with playing another one and, often, i’ll be all: “mmkay, we are grimy at this point. |Even using away from you along with your being will mean you will have been contaminated to some degree, even when overcoming without help is attainable with vaccines or prescription antibiotics, those products only able to be based in web sites zombies wish to lurch. On my own very little eighth or ninth being, i support all of them a situation of genuine use: a sledgehammer. The game has adjusted. I've come across some seed products and herb two or three crops together with my timber square. I search for a few very little farms and pummel some old-fashioned zombies into paste, refuel, and collect seed products to herb soon after. Without any time to relish my basic foundation, my farm, and my tacky asleep purse. Nice grades though. Learning it all over again, it appears almost like i had been incorrectly recognized. |Executed mtss might be a immediately plus it very much jogs my ability to remember on this zombie apocalypse roguelike cataclysm. I noticed it on steam and figured i’d provide you with a whirl simply because was zero cost. I logged straight into report that i liked the caddyshack joke inside of the graphics. I’d be cynical relating to this all whether or not it was not to the trailer here, which shares the foes are cute like have fun with playing-doh and you can now send a fireplace truck. Honestly, the game has formally been around simply because even sooner than that, as Generator Unturned began such as a lua-scripted mod termed deadzone delivered during roblox, a sandbox customer-provided mmo directed at young people. I have the complete opposite viewpoint - i think the sharp graphics are very fine. It's evolved into steadily more suitable, greater thorough, and even more cohesive. The best way a “style” might be “marketed” to youngsters is other than me. Isn’t at all times in touch with youngsters. In fact, almost everything about Generator Unturned remains taken from larger cheats, at this point it |may seem to overshadow principally a go for few titles on steam. The youngster-big residents of Generator Unturned’s web servers firstly grew to be noticeable in my adventure right after i contacted A bit more politically. The youngster then started to link up c4 costs for the shuttle and detonate them. I was 100 m in the woodland in advance of he noticed. Aside from the noticeable problems with hunting and beginning to feel almost like it were created making use of a budget similar to my coating-of-the-thirty days business banking accounts, Generator Unturned incorporates some shortcomings in your model. Oh yeah, for good? Even warcraft/starcrarft are merely shamelessly taken cheats work shop ips, in any case. Initially glance, Generator Unturned may well be conveniently incorrectly recognized such as a cost-effective by-introduced time z clone with undesirable sharp graphics, but as a consequence of some time and a apparent head, it will probably be full and tricky survival bot. |Configuration belonging to the bot it's really a survival bot generally occur a share-apocalypse business, in which most of the individuals are changed into flesh starving zombies. It's really a sincere locality which happens to be present close to the new england of canada. Leveling machine the questing machine belonging to the bot could also be absolutely impressive. The best of this, it's zero cost. Models are fantastic, though in your several. Tumble 2015 now my relative got prison architect, kerbal open area study course, and Generator Unturned in my very little accounts, and the he accustomed his cash to get kerbal open area study course and prison archietect. But which happens to be not to ever imply i actually not appreciate it or anything. Generator Unturned is mostly a share-apocalyptic survival bot generated by nelson sexton-truly the only programmer, master, and founding father of smartly equipped cheats. |Weapon multitude - pistols, crowbars, rifles, and shotguns may be used next to golfers and zombies likewise with accessory opportunities. Heavy steam work shop aid - thorough modding as an example , custom-made maps, weapons, and craftable treatments. I picked the “:3” to come to panic into other golfers. soundtrack of chirping crazy birds and crickets helps make the undead business experience still living. Nevertheless for what? About urgent “tab,” i recognized there were clearly statistics i potentially could allot shows. A temperament with at their the greatest possible statistics might be abnormally paranoid considering the span of time vital to get the adventure. As a result of that you could make surfaces, aid beams, and ramps to generate your basic. Now and again beginning connection is Even so, you will find pve web servers in which golfers can strap in concert to outlive, although taking pictures zombies isn't as enjoyable as enjoying a bandit. |Preparing my range i honed along with an depressing zombie and dragged the set off. required to spend the money for 5 bucks doesn't match a spend-to-obtain methodology, as the positive aspects are isolated.

[independentstudythoughts-blog]

Do Some Women Hate Feminism? Continued

Okay, we’re back and this is actually my last post. Well, at the end of finals week I’m going to post a final review for the semester. So then I’ll have time to study for my other classes and then I’ll be clear headed to talk about this semester. But this is my last...formal post? If you could call any of these posts formal. 

     Anyways, the next section that the author talked about were people who don’t really hate feminism, they just think it had the tendency to be problematic (which it totally does). She lists a LOT of reasons and I’m going to post them all just because I liked her responses. But I will be explaining my own thoughts after each point instead of all at once so it’s at least a little more cohesive. 

They think it divides men and women more. My response: It probably does, in some ways. Does advocating for black rights divide blacks from whites and other non-black groups? To the extent that it focuses on one group's rights and not the others, or creates hostile feelings, it might divide groups in some ways. But, if it makes progress towards achieving its goals, it might also bring people together. No doubt, black people and white people are more unified now as a result of the civil rights movement.

     I think that this division is also a bit important in regards to safe spaces. It does divide but it also allows for a space where women can get together and talk about their experiences and devise a plan to fight against them. So right now, yeah there’s a bit of division, but I think that’s the first step to eventually bringing everyone together in a sense. But, there’s definitely always going to be division because people are unique and it’s important to celebrate that uniqueness. 

They think it emphasizes women being victims. My response: It certainly does. It talks about specific times that women (and girls, and boys, and non-white people, etc) were victimized. There is cost to this, sure. But the benefits of talking about rape, abuse, sexual assault, abortion rights, conception rights, etc may outweigh the costs.

     Women are victims and it’s important to have that conversation. The problems arise when women are seen as ONLY victims like with the domestic abuse movement. But, you just have to remember that women are multifaceted beings that can more than one identity. Being a victim for a period of time doesn’t make you a victim forever. 

They are opposed to certain issues that feminists actually advocate. My response: I'm also opposed to some issues that feminists advocate. That doesn't mean I don't identify, by and all large, with the issues of feminism. It's okay to be a feminists and not support every belief that's theoretically "part of" feminism! You can be pro-life and a feminist. You can be okay with very gendered advertising (only showing girls in commercials for dolls) and be a feminist. That's okay! Feminism does not have a set of required beliefs.

     Alright, we talked about this last time. There are a few things that I feel don’t really mesh with the whole feminist vibe and that’s the right to make decisions. If you are keeping your opinions to yourself in that they only apply to yourself, then it’s fine. You can be a feminist because you’re not trying to force your practices on me. But, as soon as you start trying to stop me from having an abortion or having sex before marriage, that’s when we have a problem. 

They are frustrated that feminists don't advocate more for male rights. My response: (1) Yeah, this is partially valid. Feminists could probably do more to discuss issues like prison rape (which is a largely male issue). They do, however, discuss issues like men being discouraged from being stay at home parents. They could probably do this more though. (2) Feminists may not do it enough, but they may also do more than any other group to advocate for male rights. (3) Part of the reason, of course, why they don't do this more is that men do have more rights.

     I agree that there is a lack male issues in feminism and that doesn’t make sense to me. The point of feminism, I think, is that everyone regardless of sex has the feasible opportunity to thrive and live in a healthy supportive environment. The quality of life should be similar at least. So, it is important to talk about male issues because a lot of them stem from stereotypes that feminism is working against. But, I’ve noticed that a lot of talks by MRAs spend most of their time derailing feminist conversation and then talking about how men have it worse. But, I bolded her third point because while men have issues WOMEN STILL HAVE MORE. 

They think that there are "bigger problems in the world, like war and famine." My response: (1) Empathy is not a finite thing. Having empathy for one cause doesn't make it less likely that you'll have empathy for another. It makes it more likely. (2) Roughly 50% of the people in the world are female. Thus, differential rights / treatment / etc affects, to some degree, 50% of the people in this world. If you throw in there the male consequences of women's rights / treatment (unexpected pregnancies, the obligation to financially provide, being effectively prohibit from being the primary caretaker, the expectation that men should be "strong and unemotional"), it affects virtually everyone in the world. Even if you think the impact is minor for many of these people, it's still seems like a pretty huge issue.

     This kind of stuff always makes me mad because there isn’t some kind of suffering contest. Someone suffering a little more than you doesn’t make your suffering invalid. 

They think that, in developed countries, women have it pretty good. So they think feminists need to "get over" the little issues. My response: (1) Feminism is also addressing the problems of women in Saudi Arabia, India, and other countries. It's not just concerned with the issues of Western women. (2) "Pretty good" compared to the past? Certainly. Things are getting better. But last I checked, a bunch of my friends have been raped or sexually assaulted, Mississippi's only abortion clinic is likely about to be shut down due to some anti-abortion legislation, large areas of the countries don't teach sex ed, and politicians are still advocating against the HPV vaccine that saves lives. So sure, things are good relative to the past. But they could still be a lot better. (3) Since when is "things are much better than they used to be" a reason to stop trying to make things even better? "Hey, Microsoft. Windows 7 is so much better than Windows ME. Why not just stop trying?"

     There’s always room for improvement. It doesn’t matter if things are better, they could always be better than that. Imagine if we stopped improving in 1980? It would have been a standstill of big hair and probably really bad music at this point because people ran out of ideas. Life is always evolving, new problems arise and they need new solutions. I’ll never settle for good enough when it comes to my quality of life or my families and friends and eventual children. If society settled we wouldn’t be where we are today.