#covid 19 superstition

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive

By Robert Pearl, M.D.

In the late 1970s and early ‘80s, a mysterious illness spread through America’s overlooked communities, mainly affecting intravenous drug users and homosexual men.

The disease, which caused a sudden and devastating collapse of the immune system, was unlike anything doctors had seen before. Patients arrived at hospitals with rare infections like Kaposi’s sarcoma and fungal pneumonia.

But despite the rising number of cases, public health officials remained silent for years. Few Americans saw it as a national emergency, especially since the disease seemed confined to society’s fringes, at least initially.

By the time the government and public fully grasped the threat in 1986—following Dr. C. Everett Koop’s “Surgeon General’s Report on AIDS”—tens of thousands of Americans had already died.

Looking back on this and other public health crises, it’s clear that medical science alone isn’t enough to save lives. To prevent similar tragedies, public health leaders and elected officials must first understand the role denial plays in people’s perception of medical threats. They must then develop effective strategies to overcome it.

The Psychological Basis For Denial Denial is a powerful, usually unconscious defense mechanism that shields individuals from uncomfortable or distressing realities. By repressing objective facts or experiences—especially those that provoke fear or anxiety—people can maintain a sense of stability in the face of overwhelming threats.

Historically, denial was vital to daily life. With little protection against illnesses like smallpox, tuberculosis or plague, people would have been immobilized by fear if not for the ability to repress reality. Denial, mixed with superstition, took the place of facts, allowing society to function despite the ever-present risks of death and disability.

Today, even with tremendous advances in medical knowledge and technology, denial continues to influence individual behavior with detrimental consequences.

For example, more than 46 million Americans use tobacco products, despite their links to cancer, heart disease and respiratory illness. Similarly, tens of millions of people refuse vaccinations, disregarding scientific consensus and exposing themselves—and their communities—to preventable diseases. Denial extends to cancer screenings, as well. Surveys show that 50% of women over 40 skip their annual mammograms, and 23% have never had one. Meanwhile, about 30% of adults between 50 and 75 are not up to date on colorectal cancer screenings, and 20% have never been screened.

These examples demonstrate how denial leads individuals to make choices that jeopardize their health, even when life-saving interventions are readily available.

A Pattern of Denial: How Inaction Fuels Public Health Crises When individual denial scales up to the collective level, it fuels widespread inaction and worsens public health crises. Throughout modern medical history, Americans have repeatedly underestimated or dismissed emerging health threats until the consequences became impossible to ignore.

Early warnings of the HIV/AIDS epidemic were largely ignored, as the stigma surrounding affected populations made it easier for the broader public to deny the severity of the crisis. Even within at-risk populations, the lengthy delay between infection and symptoms created a false sense of security, leading to risky behaviors. This collective denial allowed the virus to spread unchecked, resulting in millions of deaths worldwide and a public health challenge that persists in the United States today.

Even now, four decades after the virus was identified, only 36% of the 1.2 million Americans at high risk for HIV take PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis), a medication that is 99% effective in preventing the disease.

Chronic diseases like hypertension and diabetes mirror this pattern of denial. The long gap between early signs and life-threatening complications—such as heart attack, stroke and kidney failure—leads people to underestimate the risks and neglect preventive care. This inaction increases morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs.

Whether the issue is an infectious disease or a chronic illness, denial causes harm. It allows medical problems to take root, it delays care and it leads to tens of thousands preventable deaths each year.

The Unseen Parallels: COVID-19 And Mpox Our nation’s responses to COVID-19 and mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) similarly illustrate how denial hampers effective management of public health emergencies.

By March 2020, as COVID-19 began to spread, millions of Americans dismissed it as just another winter virus, no worse than the flu. Even as deaths rose exponentially, elected officials and much of the public failed to recognize the growing threat. Critical containment measures—such as travel restrictions, widespread testing and social distancing—were delayed. This collective denial, fueled by misinformation and political ideology, allowed the virus to take root across the country.

By the time the severity of the pandemic was undeniable, hospitals and health systems were overwhelmed. The opportunity to prevent widespread devastation had passed. More than 1 million American lives were lost, and the economic and social consequences continue today.

Mpox presents the most recent example of this troubling pattern. On August 14, the World Health Organization declared mpox a global health emergency after identifying rapid spread of the Clade 1b variant across several African nations. This strain is significantly more lethal than previous variants, having already caused over 500 deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo, primarily among women and children under 15. Unlike earlier outbreaks associated mainly with same-sex transmission, Clade 1b spreads through both heterosexual contact and close family interactions, increasing its reach and putting everyone at risk.

Despite these alarming developments, awareness and concern about mpox remains low in the United States. International aid has been limited, and vaccination efforts have fallen far behind the growing threat. As a result, by the time the WHO issued its emergency declaration, only 65,000 vaccine doses had been distributed across Africa, where more than 10 million people are at risk. Already, cases have appeared in Sweden and Thailand, and the U.S. may soon follow.

Even with the added danger of the new variant and the proven efficacy of the JYNNEOS vaccine, only one in four high-risk individuals in the United States has been vaccinated against mpox. Our slow and delayed response to Covid-19, mpox, HIV/AIDS and nearly-all chronic diseases demonstrate how widespread denial is, the lives it continues to claim and the urgent need to address this hidden defense mechanism. The best way to overcome denial—both individually and collectively—is to bring the risks into clear focus. Simply warning people about the dangers isn’t enough. Strong leadership is crucial in breaking through this subconscious barrier.

Lessons To Learn, Actions To Take Dr. C. Everett Koop’s public health campaign on AIDS in the 1980s demonstrated how clear, consistent messaging can shift public perception and drive action. Similarly, former Surgeon General Luther L. Terry’s landmark 1964 report on smoking educated the public about the dangers of tobacco. His report spurred subsequent efforts, including higher taxes on tobacco products, restrictions on smoking in public places and health campaigns using vivid imagery of blackened lungs—leading to a significant decline in smoking rates.

Unfortunately, government agencies often fall short, hampered by bureaucratic delays and overly cautious communications.

Officials tend to wait until all details are certain, avoid acknowledging uncertainties, and seek consensus among committee members before recommending actions. Instead of being transparent, they focus on delivering the least risky advice for their agencies. People, in turn, distrust and fail to heed the recommendations.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently with mpox, officials hesitated to admit how little they knew about the emerging crises. Their reluctance further eroded public trust in government agencies. In reality, people are more capable of handling the truth than they’re often given credit for. When they have access to all the facts, they usually make the right decisions for themselves and their families. Ironically, if public health officials focused on educating people about the risks and benefits of different options—rather than issuing directives—more people would listen and more lives would be saved.

With viral threats increasing and chronic diseases on the rise, now is the time for public health leaders and elected officials to change tactics. Americans want and deserve the facts: what scientists know, what remains unclear and the best estimates of actual risk.

[anhed-nia]

NEXT WEEK on 12/5, The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies - Online Branch wraps up our Fall semester with a fresh take on a familiar topic in Leah Richards' lecture Vampirism Gone Viral: Medical Misinformation and Vaccine Hesitancy!

Vampires have always been carriers for the contemporary anxieties of the cultures that created them, including fears around health care crises. When threatened, many people abandon scientific evidence in favor of panicked fear-mongering even in relation to, for example, vaccines for preventable childhood illness. This lecture will consider how post-AIDS crisis vampires in film and television, from the time of BLADE (1998) to the cusp of COVID-19, have reflected our fears of infection, contagion, and containment. Examples will include the television series American Horror Story: Hotel and The Strain, the 2006 TV movie version of DRACULA, and the films BLADE, THIRST, and I AM LEGEND. Hear how these tales of fantastical contagion reflect the real-world monsters of weaponized misinformation, scientific denialism, and vaccine hesitancy:

[am--f]

TikTok, Seriality, and the Algorithmic Gaze

Princeton-Weimar Summer School for Media Studies, 2024 Princeton University

If digital moving image platforms like TikTok differ in meaningful ways from cinema and television, certainly one of the most important differences is the mode by which the viewing experience is composed. We are dealing not only with fixed media nor with live broadcast media, but with an AI recommender system, a serial format that mixes both, generated on the fly and addressed to each individual user. Out of this series emerges something like a subject, or at least an image of one, which is then stored and constantly re-addressed.

TikTok has introduced a potentially dominant design for the delivery of moving images—and, potentially, a default delivery system for information in general. Already, Instagram has adopted this design with its Reels feature, and Twitter, too, has shifted towards a similar emphasis. YouTube has been providing video recommendations since 2008. More than other comparable services, TikTok places its proprietary recommender system at the core of the apparatus. The “For You” page, as TikTok calls it, presents a dynamically generated, infinitely scrollable series of video loops. The For You page is the primary interface and homepage for users. Content is curated and served on the For You page not only according to explicit user interactions (such as liking or following) or social graphs (although these do play some role in the curation). Instead, content is selected on the basis of a wider range of user behavior that seems to be particularly weighted towards viewing time—the time spent watching each video loop. This is automatic montage, personalized montages produced in real time for billions of daily users. To use another transmedial analogy—one perhaps justified by TikTok’s approximation of color convergence errors in its luminous cyan and red branding—this montage has the uncanny rhythm of TV channel surfing. But the “channels” you pass through are not determined by the fixed linear series of numbered broadcast channels. Instead, each “channel” you encounter has been preselected for you; you are shown “channels” that are like the ones you have tended to linger on.

The experience of spectatorship on TikTok, therefore, is also an experience of the responsive modeling of one’s spectatorship—it involves the awareness of such modeling. This is a cybernetic loop, in effect, within which future action is performed on the basis of the past behavior of the recommender system as it operates. Spectatorship is fully integrated into the circuit. Here is how it works: the system starts by recommending a sequence of more or less arbitrary videos. It notes my view time on each, and cross-references the descriptive metadata that underwrites each video. (This involves, to some degree, internal, invisible tags, not just user-generated tags.) The more I view something, the more likely I am to be shown something like it in the future. A series of likenesses unfolds, passing between two addresses: my behavior and the database of videos. It’s a serial process of individuation. As TikTok puts it in a 2020 blog post: these likenesses or recommendations increasingly become “polished,” “tailored,” “refined,” “improved,” and “corrected” apparently as a function of consistent use over time.

Like many recommender systems—and such systems are to be found everywhere nowadays—the For You algorithm is a black box. It has not been released to the public, although there seem to have been, at some point, promises to do this. In lieu of this, a “TikTok Transparency Center” run by TikTok in Los Angeles (delayed, apparently, by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic) opened in 2023. TikTok has published informal descriptions of the algorithm, and by all accounts it appears to be rather straightforward. At the same time, the algorithm has engendered all kinds of folk sciences, superstitions, paranoid theories, and magical practices. What is this algorithm that shows me such interesting, bizarre, entertaining, unexpected things? What does it think I want? Why does it think I want this? How does this algorithm sometimes seem to know me so well, to know what I want to see? What is it watching me watch? (From the side of content creators, of course, there is also always the question: what kind of content do I need to produce in order to be recognized and distributed by the algorithm? How can I go viral and how can I maximize engagement? What kinds of things will the algorithm want to see? Why is the algorithm not seeing me?)

These seem to be questions involving an algorithmic gaze. That is to say: there is something or someone watching prior to the actual instance of watching, something or someone which is beyond empirical, human viewers, “watching” them watch. There is something watching me, whether or not I actually make an optical image of myself. I am looked at by the algorithm. There is a structuring gaze. But what is this gaze? How does it address us? Is this the gaze of a cinematic apparatus? Is it the gaze we know from filmtheory, a gaze of mastery with which we are supposed to identify, a gaze which hails or interpellates us, which masters us? Is it a Foucauldian, panoptic gaze, one that disciplines us? 

Any one of us who uses the major platforms is familiar with how the gaze of the system feels. It a gaze that looks back—looks at our looking—and inscribes our attention onto a balance sheet. It counts and accounts for our attention. This account appears to be a personalized account, a personalized perspective. People use the phrase “my TikTok algorithm,” referring to the personalized model which they have generated through use. Strictly speaking, of course, it’s not the algorithm that’s individualized or that individuates, but the model that is its product. The model that is generated by the algorithm as I use it and as it learns from my activity is my profile. The profile is “mine” because I am constantly “training” it with my attention as its input, and feel a sense of ownership since it’s associated with my account, but the profile is also “of me” and “for me” because it is constantly subjecting me to my picture, a picture of my history of attention. Incidentally, I think this is precisely something that Jacques Lacan, in his 1973 lecture on the gaze in Seminar XI, refers to as a “bipolar reflexive relation,” the ambiguity of the phrase “my image.” “As soon as I perceive, my representations belong to me.” But, at the same time, something looks back; something pictures me looking. “The picture, certainly, is in my eye. But I am in the picture.”

On TikTok, the picture often seems sort of wrong, malformed. Perhaps more often than not. Things drift around and get stuck in loops. The screen fills with garbage. As spectators, we are constantly being shown things we don’t want any more of, or things we would never admit we want, or things we hate (but cannot avoid watching: this is the pleasurable phenomenon of “cringe”). But we are compelled to watch them all. The apparatus seems to endlessly produce desire. Where does this desire come from? Is it from the addictive charge of the occasional good guess, the moment of brief recognition (the lucky find, the Surrealist trouvaille: “this is for me”)? Is it the promise that further training will yield better results? Is it possible that our desire is constituted and propelled in the failures of the machine, in moments of misrecognition and misidentification in the line of sight of a gaze that evidently cannot really see us? 

In the early 1970s, in the British journal Screen, scholars such as Laura Mulvey, Colin MacCabe, and Stephen Heath developed a film-theoretical concept of the gaze. This concept was used to explain how desire is determined, specified, and produced by visual media. In some ways, the theory echoes Lacan’s phenomenological interest in “the pre-existence to the seen of a given-to-be-seen” (Seminar XI, 74). The gaze is what the cinematic apparatus produces as part of its configuration of the given-to-be-seen. 

In Screen theory, as it came to be known, the screen becomes a mirror. On it, all representations seem to belong to me, the individual spectator. This is an illusion of mastery, an imaginary relation to real conditions of existence in the terms of the Althusserian formula. It corresponds to the jubilant identification that occurs in a moment in Lacan’s famous 1949 paper “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the I Function as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience,” in which the motor-challenged infant, its body fragmented (en morceaux) in reality, discovers the illusion of its wholeness in the mirror. The subject is brought perfectly in line with this ideal-I, with this spectacle, such that what it sees is simply identical to its desire. There is convergence. To slightly oversimplify: for Screen theory, this moment in mirror stage is the essence of cinema and ideology, or cinema as ideology. 

Joan Copjec, in her essay “The Orthopsychic Subject,” notes that Screen theory considered a certain relationship of property to be one of its primary discoveries. The “screen as mirror”: the ideological-cinematic apparatus produces representations which are “accepted by the subject as its own.” This is what Lacan calls the “belong to me aspect so reminiscent of property.” “It is this aspect,” says Copjec, speaking for Screen theory, “that allows the subject to see in any representation not only a reflection of itself but a reflection of itself as master of all it surveys. The imaginary relation produces the subject as master of the image. . . . The subject is satisfied that it has been adequately reflected on the screen. The ‘reality effect’ and the ‘subject effect’ both name the same constructed impression: that the image makes the subject fully visible to itself” (21–22). 

According to Copjec, “the gaze always remains within film theory the sense of being that point at which sense and being coincide. The subject comes into being by identifying with the image’s signified. Sense founds the subject—that is the ultimate point of the film-theoretical and Foucauldian concepts of the gaze” (22).

But this is not Lacan’s gaze. The gaze that Lacan introduces in Seminar XI is something much less complete, much less satisfying. The gaze concept is not exhausted by the imaginary relation of identification described in Screen theory, where the subject simply appropriates the gaze, assumes the position created for it by the image “without the hint of failure,” as Copjec puts it. In its emphasis on the imaginary, Screen theory neglects the symbolic relation as well as the issue of the real.

In Seminar XI, Lacan explicates the gaze in the midst of a discussion on Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. Again, Lacan’s gaze is something that pre-exists the seeing subject and is encountered as pre-existing it: “we are beings who are looked at, in the spectacle of the world” (75). But—and this is the crucial difference in emphasis—it is impossible to look at ourselves from the position of this all-seeing spectacle. The gaze, as objet a in the field of the visible, is something that in fact cannot be appropriated or inhabited. It is nevertheless the object of the drive, a cause of desire. The gaze “may come to symbolize” the "central lack expressed in the phenomenon of castration” (77). Lacan even says, later in the seminar, that the gaze is “the most characteristic term for apprehending the proper function of the objet a” (270). As objet a, as the object-cause of desire, the gaze is said to be separable and separated off from the subject and has only ever existed as lack. The gaze is just all of those points from which I myself will never see, the views I will never possess or master. I may occasionally imagine that I have the object, that I occupy the gaze, but I am also constantly reminded of the fact that I don’t, by images that show me my partiality, my separation. This is the separation—between eye and gaze—that manifests as the drive in the scopic field. 

The gaze is a position that cannot be assumed. It indicates an impossible real. Beyond everything that is shown to the subject, beyond the series of images to which the subject is subjected, the question is asked: “What is being concealed from me? What in this graphic space does not show, does not stop not writing itself?” This missing point is the point of the gaze. “At the moment the gaze is discerned, the image, the entire visual field, takes on a terrifying alterity,” says Copjec. “It loses its ‘belong-to-me aspect’ and suddenly assumes the function of a screen” (35). We get the sense of being cut off from the gaze completely. We get the sense of a blind gaze, a gaze that “is not clear or penetrating, not filled with knowledge or recognition; it is clouded over and turned back on itself, absorbed in its own enjoyment” (36). As Copjec concludes: “the gaze does not see you” (36).

So the holes and stains in the model continuously produced by the TikTok algorithm—those moments in which what we are shown seems to indicate a misreading, a wrong guess—are those moments wherein the gaze can be discerned. The experience is this: I am watching a modeling process and engaging with the serial missed encounters or misrecognitions (meconnaissance—not only misrecognition but mistaken knowledge—mis-knowing) that the modeling process performs. The Lacanian point would simply be the following: the situation is not that the algorithm knows me too well or that it gives me the illusion of mastery that would be provided by such knowledge. The situation is that the algorithm may not know or recognize me at all, even though it seems to respond to my behavior in some limited way, and offers the promise of knowing or recognizing me. And this is perhaps the stain or tuche, the point at which we make contact with the real, where the network of signifiers, the automaton, or the symbolic order starts to break down. It is only available through the series, through the repeated presentation of likenesses.

As Friedrich Kittler memorably put it, “the discourse of the other is the discourse of the circuit.” It is not the discourse of cinema or television or literature. Computational recommender systems operating as series of moving image loops seem to correspond strangely closely to the Lacanian models, to the gaze that is responsive yet absent, perceptive yet blind, desired yet impossible, perhaps even to the analytic scene. Lacan and psychoanalysis constantly seemed to suggest that humans carry out the same operations as machines, that the psyche is a camera-like apparatus capable of complicated performance, and that the analyst might be replaced with an optical device. Might we substitute recommender media for either psyche or analyst? In any case, it’s clear that the imaginary register of identification does not provide a sufficient model for subjectivity as it is addressed by computational media. That model, as Kittler points out, is to be found in Lacan’s symbolic register: “the world of the machine.”

[321spongebolt]

"Inside Out 3" predictions

Yesterday, I saw "Inside Out 2" on opening day, and it was a great followup to the first movie. One thing I'm hoping for is if "Inside Out 2" is a financial success, the movie would start a new Renaissance Era for Disney since the COVID-19 pandemic four years ago and how we've been getting a lot of box office and streaming failures from "Onward" to "Wish". Considering we are also getting a TV series on Disney+, I wanted to take a moment to discuss predictions for what could happen if we do get a third movie.

For starters, the second movie introduced us to Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Boredom/Ennui. So for the third movie, I thought they could introduce emotions we haven't seen before like Love and Luck. Love, of course, being in control of Riley if she were to eventually get a boyfriend. And Luck being in control of Riley's sense of hope. Although, since Luck is more of a superstition, there's no way to tell if Luck is either bad or good.

And maybe for a premise, unless this happens in the TV series, the third movie should focus on Riley's senior year and how she has to pass her exams to attend college and be part of the big leagues. And to properly end the film, Riley would be lucky enough to pass her final exams and graduate high school. Riley will have attended her college orientation and finally be on her campus' ice hockey team, opening to the door to a possibility for either a fourth movie, or if Disney+ still has the show in circulation, there would be a new season focusing on Riley's life in college.

[soulsanitarium]

Tulen morsian - English title: "The Devil's Bride" is a Finnish historical drama film released in 2016. It was directed by Saara Cantell and is based on the historical treatise of the same name written by the Finnish author, Leena Virtanen.

The film is set in the late 17th century and revolves around the life of Anna, a young woman living in a small Finnish village. Anna is accused of being a witch and is forced to confront the prejudices and superstitions of her time. The story delves into themes of oppression, religious intolerance, and the power dynamics between men and women during that era.

It is perhaps the most accurate historical film presenting witch processes as they were (but there is a lot of fiction too). The Movie and this podcast are based on Academical research of the subject and yet it is exiting and revealing. (Watch the video clip below)

*The first trials in Sweden-Finland influenced by Diabolism took place on the Swedish speaking island, Ahvenanmaa (Åland) situated between Sweden and Finland (1666) - map below.

*The judge of Ahvenanmaa Nils Psilander acted on his own initiative, and supposedly believed to have based his actions on the most modern information of the time - as he did, indeed.

*In the theoretical part I will sum up things from the psychoanalytical viewpoint. We are in the middle of the crisis now - learn what can happen to people’s mind in crisis. (The Audio Part was made during COVID-19)

My podcast series about Witches in Finland and witch films is coming to an end. It is time to remember the victims of these Witch processes.

There were about 1,200 trials in Finland in which the crime was witchcraft or sorcery - about 150 death sentences. It is not known how many of them were released in the Court of Appeal. Of the more than a thousand people accused in 1620-1700, more than half were men. In Åland, those sentenced to death (in 1666 - 1668) were all women.

Listen and watch this episode for free (below).

[belong2human-kind]

Hey guys! Clara, echoflower, here! :')

This going to be a really long post and it contains my view of my disorder OCD and it can be triggering to some, so I already apologize for the length and also for possible triggers :(

I've been offline from tumblr because there's too many things happening in my life, and although I'm not really depressed again, I don't think I can engage in the things I love the most on here, which is my fandoms like Rebels, SW, deltarune, undertale, Avatar and so many more you know? As much as I want to be active here because these things bring me so much joy, I don't think I have the energy to do it for now :(

I know I've mentioned quite sometimes here, but I have OCD and GAD since my whole life, and many of my behaviors are still influenced by them because although I'm in treatment and I do see many positive results, I only discovered OCD too late in life, in my 19s during covid when I almost got through a psychotic episode. OCD makes you question reality in such a sick way that, if you don't have support and don't have the diagnosis, you can experience a disconnection from reality since you question your whole self and the world around you. It's much more deep than just checking the doorknob 3 times to make sure it's locked, because it is never only 3 times. Maybe 4, maybe 6, maybe 7 or you skip to 12, but never really only 3. You engage in compulsions and you know that they do not make any sense, you see the door locked in front of you, but it's like a feeling. It doesn't feel like it's locked. And these types of questioning can suddenly change to other topics because this is one of OCD specialties, right? To infiltrate in everything you know and believe and twist that against you, making you doubt yourself and your reality around, making you feel confused and guilty. I have pretty bad themes on my ocd like "What if I hurt someone I love while I'm holding a knife or scissor??" And I have this one, followed by horrifying intrusive realistic thoughts that show me performing the action I despise the most, and to avoid the thought or relieve the stress of it, I need to do something. Sometimes, screaming "no, I won't do it" out loud, sometimes avoidance. I stopped using any really pointed and sharp scissors and knives at age of 7 to 8 years. And the thing about engaging in compulsions is that, it helps, momentarily, but it gets worst as time passes by. And the thoughts can turn into more monstrous things, like "Imagine if you kissed your parent romantically??" "Oh this person that passed through me was good looking... Did I just cheat on my boyfriend? I think I did..." and other what ifs and pathological doubts that never ends and can apply to anything, specially the things you care the most about. If you value honesty, then OCD makes you feel a liar. If you're certain you are someone good, ocd doubts that until you question your own actions, all of them, even the smallest ones like touching your nose. If you are afraid of being sick or catching microorganisms (thankfully I don't have this type because I could probably never engage in biology and microbiology, my passions) you become hyper aware of any normal thing in your body, they become signals of something that isn't there, but you can't believe it because it feels like it is. It's like experiencing your worst nightmares repeating on an endless spiral in your mind, daily.

And as time passes with you being in the dark and not understanding why you do this although you know it's illogical and you don't really want to do, the more you spend your life without the knowledge that you have this disorder and consequently without the properly treatment, the more time it takes to heal all the damage. And sadly, I'm 21 now. I've been just "weird Clara with weird superstitions and rituals" for 19 years but I've been "Clara, who has OCD diagnosed and treated" for almost 3 years now. The process is slow, it's full of ups and downs, and I had very meaningful losses in my life during the pandemic years, which impacted negatively on my healing :(

I lost my dad, my dog and the other closest person in my house (which I already mentioned in private to some but won't say publicly because of my mystical OCD and the belief that if I mention her name I'll deem her bc of my fault) is fighting cancer rn, metastic one, and her treatment is having ups and downs that makes me feel so so bad... some days I'm just hopless, you know?

I was recently also confirmed to my old suspecting of ADHD. I had it all my life, but my OCD and generalized anxiety made it difficult to notice. Now that they are much more controlled, adhd is so so loud and I was in the dark, not knowing why I was so lazy, why I would forget to drink and eat, forget to go to the bathroom and take baths, brush my teeth, forget to feed my so beloved pets... now I know, but some relatives like aunts and uncles still don't have the patience to deal with it. I'm trying to get better, but because of OCD and GAD, I cannot treat ADHD, since they are opposite medications 🥲 so I guess I'll just have to find ways to compensate my chronically lateness, lack of time understanding and lack of energy to exist someday too, to simply get out of bed even though you want to do so many things.

Anyways, this post is already super long, but I just want to update you all and thank for all the amazing friends I've got here, and all the prayers and support as well. I used to be (still am a little) super shy to post my things, but the Rebels fan community received me so lovingly that I got confident to post my arts 🥺 I really adore you all guys 🌻

I intend to be back as soon as possible, I just really need to get my life together, that by now is a chaos 🥲 but I'm sure I'll be around when Ahsoka goes on air bc my hyperfixation on Bine and Ezra will be back!! Lol 🥲

I hope you all are doing great! Miss you all guys 🌻

[skendong]

Labour Party Landslide 2024?

Tears for Fears

Oh, Labour, champions of the working class, Tangled in a web of compromise, alas! A pound shop Tory tribute act, Selling your soul again and that’s fact.

Corbyn. Left-wing pride you deputized. You banished and callously cast him aside. Director of Prosecution’s certified tone, If members don’t like it, be gone he drones.

Cold truth is, in the run-up to an election, Britain needs a change for we are stuck. In a two-party system, Rishi or Sir Keir? A weird intersection and the options suck.

Who votes Conservative? We know what the Whigs are all about. Working class hearts gave Boris trust – The Red Wall tumbling down was a must.

They look for their own and detest the poor. Billions wiped off Covid-19 fraud? But earn an extra penny on universal credit, And the spies catch you? It’s Gordon Bennett!

Shadow Cabinet MP’s in flux. For the sake of power speaking doublespeak. Gone is the promise of change and renewal. All Tory faces. No.10 the coveted jewel.

For in May ’97, a triumph was declared, 179-seat majority. Tony Blair’s entry and glee filled the air, But 30 years on, The Iraq War his legacy.

Straightaway he tried to secure an exemption, Hours after meeting Mr. Bernie Ecclestone. Advertising tobacco ban on Formula 1 relief, A rising stench activists couldn’t believe.

Growing his fortune and millions amassed – Tarnished Labour to the core and now outcast. Property portfolio stained in bloody stealth. On his legacy the poor lay a Lilium wreath.

Remember Baron Peter Mandelson’s disdain, Rothschild yacht vacations, living in the fast lane? Desire for fame and the company of elite, Indiscreet lifestyles and morals on a heap.

Under their stewardship wealth became a theme, Ministers pursue paths lucrative in extreme. Chancellor Gordon Brown stern in his reign? A lot of people lost while bankers duly gained.

A light-handed touch on financial regulation, Who’s friends with who? The same old superstition. Labour will struggle to break free from its cast, Blair-Brown years and the black shadow past.

Their antics leaked proud support across society, No longer can they shout we’re The People’s Party. Leadership need not equate to propel poverty’s role, Skepticism towards the rich an inevitable toll.

Now Crucial by-elections will very soon unroll, A chance to reveal strategy, policies to be told. Yet clarity eludes, and the narrative still unclear, Rishi starts fight back, exploiting Keir’s fears.

But voices of the Red Wall speak ever so dim, Levelled up towns still remain quite grim. National debt, distrust, cynicism within, Labour and economy are words that never twin.

Inflation’s high digits and the economy is weak, Labour Party schtum fearing Conservative critique. In their tepid wariness, hope is what they seek, Reserving forked tongues and navigating sleek.

“Hard choices,” we’ll do “what’s possible,” Delivered in a monotone and eyes so dull. The crowning is near, he says what is feasible. A single wrong word could wreck his home run.

But the Party’s stance lacks inspiration, Claw back voters but where’s the foundation? Whole party concept questioned and ignored. “Economic growth!” is the shout from the floor.

The threat of a whip and unspoken holds sway, Cuts still favored; investment in disarray. Left and right of shoulder they cannot forge, Purging the left leaves Corbynism in a gorge.

Oh, Labour Party, what has become of thee! Devoid of authenticity, tribute act we see. Will compromise lead to your victory’s gleam, Or shatter your soul, party lost in the dream?

Leadership’s response may claim it’s too soon, Policies undisclosed yet to fully bloom. The narrative formed as Ramadan’s new moon, Stalwarts pray for Churchill to be exhumed.

Tactics like Highland’s mineral water: clear. No manifesto is needed here! After crooked Tories, we’ve a right to know, ray for better days and desire real growth.

Will you pay for public sector pay rise demands? Will the water companies be nationalized? Will child benefits, school meals be exempt and stand? Will taxes rise to care for the elder generation?

What about your stance on skunk weed? The stoners getting stoned but still not free. In every neighborhood drift clouds of marijuana, Aura that wafts ruins lives of your neighbors?

In the 1950s, Butskellism took hold. A blend of two chancellors and principles bold. Butler for Tories, and Gaitskell for Labour, Had to compromise in the post-war era.

Differences existed yet a common cause, Mixed economy, a welfare state, put the people first! Full employment was cherished of course, Utopia approached on a pure white horse.

But the tide shifted, cloaks and daggers sway, Stagflation and Thatcher kicked Butskellism out of play. Edward Heath and Harold Wilson grappling for ease – Waned Utopia’s patience and left without delay.

Whispered through the grapevine, Reevuntism. Archaic words, reborn, transformed. Philosophizing in a bond that discerns, As Keir leads Labour into another schism.

We heard this -ism has a centrist hue, Labour and Tories even closer than before! Post-Brexit vision, divisions slew, Shift to the center, consensus to explore.

So Scottish democracy vowed to be denied, Cuts and privatization in a different guise. Limited trade friction, a united brand. Striving together but Keir will be crowned.

The election calls for change resound, Distance and progress and solutions profound. Cost of living burden grows bloated by the day, The poor yearn the coming of a true sage.

End benefit sanctions, fair housing in sight. Cut child poverty and shine a beacon of light. Increase top earners’ income and FT companies’ share, End punitive charges at home for social care.

(Please speak up, Sir Keir). (Please speak up, Sir Keir).

Oh, Labour, champions of the working class, Now tangled in a web of compromise, alas! A pound shop Tory tribute act? Or a hung Parliament and a Liberal pact?

[professionalnooneatall]

Pioneering International Hospital DeMystifiying Vampire Health

BUDAPEST, Hungary — "Honestly, picking the name was the hardest part!" said Dr. Wilhelmina Van Helsing.

She has a stately office that looks into the lobby of Voivode Vlad III Hospital and Hospice which doesn't have a lot of natural light as many members of the vampire community have mild to severe sunlight allergies.

Of course, the locals generally refer to the place as "Dracula's Hospital."

Old habits. You can see the Danube from the roof, but it's not close to any of the iconic views of the city and the building itself is aggressively modern with an exterior mezzanine surrounding the entire structure where most of the offices are located. At the main entrance, there is a statue of the buildings name sake with an inscription in Hungarian: "Végre meglátom a Napot a családommal." "At last, I see the sun, with my family." Who that family is, is often debated but many, many people make the claim.

When Voivode Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia died, there was a massive weeklong funeral, but also a celebration, of his life and achievements.

His lasting contributions to medical sciences saved millions of lives across many communities but superstitions and religious factions insisted he was still alive and conspiracy theories abounded.

When I bring up conspiracy theories, of course, Van Helsing couldn't hide her disgust. Like her great-grandfather, she has a strong jawline of the Van Helsing's but there is a softness in her eyes from the Harker side of the family.

"Vampires are not magical beings, they have regular lifespans and they can take two the three times as long to die of old of age, certainly, but they do die. All human bodies grow old, and wear and tear is par for the course." She said.

"Vampires believing themselves to be immortal has actually been the worst thing for the vampire community itself," she said.

We are walking toward the dining hall as she speaks and as it is daytime, the overall activity level of the hospital is very low.

The daytime staff is largely human as well and during the day shift the dining hall serves more human food, from pan-European, Asian and Middle-Eastern delicacies to more standard western fare like burgers and fries.

It is, after all, an international institution.

There are also blood packs being stocked in refrigerated units in a circular formation at the center of dining hall.

"While vampires are stronger, and more durable than people to a certain extent, they can still get many diseases humans get and in some regards, those diseases are far worse for vampires. Respiratory diseases, such as Covid, have permanent consequences for vampires, especially unvaccinated vampires."

Van Helsing spear-headed studies of vampire physiology with the same vigor as the COVID-19 vaccine development. Her initial theory - that turned out to be entirely correct - is because vampires' entire diet consists primarily of blood and water - though it should be supplemented with electrolytes - their repository functionality is actually their most critical physiological need, followed closely by kidney and liver function which are more robust than humans in the baseline, but if impeded by disease a vampire can become weaker than a baseline human and yes, die.

Much like many people subject to the evils of white supremacy, vampire populations were subjugated, murdered, and even experimented on in some cases.

Biologically, vampire genetics have only recently been studied and the human genome project revealed them to be more human than anything else.

This discovery was not without controversy.

Nore was Van Helsing herself.

"That goddamned novel," she grimaced as she bit into a precariously stuffed hoagie and continued to speak around the food. "It kills me because Stoker was a big friend of the family and he wrote it as kind of a joke!"

A brown sauce drips down her chin as finishes chewing and swallows.

"As in satire?" I asked.

"I couldn't say; I only heard about him Gradad Vlad but he never said anything bad about him," she said. "It seemed like he missed him and he'd outlived so many people by the end he was just very melancholy,"

Vampire's greater durability and longer lives contribute to what is currently decimating the oldest generation of the vampire community: suicide.

Dr. Mahmood Ibn DuPris, a psychologist specializing in meta-human mental health has many concerns about the vampire community that suicide is chief among them.

DuPris has a calm, soothing demeanor but there is an undercurrent of intensity there because his first job was with the United States Veterans Administration. He is noticeably thin, in a very stately cardigan and button-down that gives him a college professor vibe.

"The whole idea of vampires being monsters and murderers is, of course, false," he said over tea in his office.

"A vampire can thrive on almost any kind of blood from any living thing on earth," he said. "It's a volume issue and it's actually good for vampires, mentally and physically, to have a good variety."

Mammals have hemoglobin, but there are also hemocyanin, erythrocruorin-chlorocruorin, and hemerythrin, the four major classes of respiratory fluids.

"If it bleeds, you should eat it," DuPris said, making reference to an Arnold Schwarzenegger film from the 1980s but also quoting a Vampire Nutrional Health poster I saw in a few languages around the facility.

What is an obscure reference to many today, it is actually a good way to reach the most recent generation of vampires because two counterculture movements - punk rock and goth - saw the vampire population explode around the world.

"Most importantly," Dr. Van Helsing said, "That taught us all that vampires are not a contagion. It's an inherited trait and 'half vampires' don't exist."

This took me by surprise and Van Helsing explained further, but the first thing she made clear is that all DNA exists in all humans. Van Helsing's team - none of whom wished to be identified specifically - pointed to the possibility of heteropaternal superfecundation, which, in very rare cases can create a pair of twins with two different skin tones but identical features.

With vampires, the gene to make them a vampire can be carried by either parent, and if one parent is a vampire the chance of having a vampire child initially is only fifty percent. After that? The chance actually appears to go down.

However, if both parents are vampires, which became common in the 70's and 80's, then it's seventy-five percent for every child.

This is the revolutionary aspect of their research because vampire families were often extremely subdued about their biological needs.

Those mostly vampire families are among the strongest, but even so parents would often outlive non-vampire children, which is psychologically taxing. Siblings outliving siblings that are the same age is also common and another stressor for vampires.

Then all their human acquaintances, spouses, and fellow service members should a vampire choose to - and be allowed to - serve in their country's military. "The military suicide rate is dreadfully high," said Du Pris. "Add being a vampire and the GWOT [Global War on Terror - ed] generation? One is too many, as we say, but 20% is a bloody health crisis." While the average vampiric nutritional need is roughly three and a half pints of any respiratory fluids - about 2275 calories - the most common method for vampires to attempt suicide is sunlight. Sunlight doesn't turn vampires into dust. They do burn badly and far quicker than a human exposed to a desert sun, but it is not fast enough for most vampires to change their minds and seek medical attention. This is why, initially, the ER at Voivode Vlad III Hospital and Hospice was the busiest from sunrise to sunset for six months. To recover from prolonged sunlight exposure it takes, in addition to painkillers, ten to fifteen pints - 6500 to 9750 - of blood directly fed to them to prevent permanent damage and to ensure no increase in long-term susceptibility to cancer. Vampires are exceptionally susceptible to cancer to begin with. "And we will find out why," said Van Helsing. "What is good for vampires is good for everyone in nearly every sense."

[ainews]

There are numerous diseases (also known as syndromes) that have plagued humanity throughout history, from the Black Death to smallpox to the more recent COVID-19 pandemic. During the 1350s, however, illnesses were generally described in a passive manner, with phrases like "he was stricken with the disease" or "she was afflicted by illness" rather than using active verbs like "caught" or "contracted" as we do today.

So why were syndromes described in this more passive way during the 1350s? There are a few reasons that may explain this phenomenon.

Limited scientific understanding During the 1350s, the scientific understanding of diseases was limited compared to what we know today. Without the advancements in medical technology and research, people did not have a clear understanding of how diseases were transmitted and how they progressed. As a result, illnesses were often seen as outside forces that "struck" or "afflicted" individuals rather than something that could be actively caught.

Superstitions and religious beliefs During the 14th century, many people believed that illnesses were caused by supernatural or spiritual forces. This belief was often tied to religious beliefs, with many seeing diseases as a form of punishment from God. As a result, it was common to describe illnesses as something that was inflicted upon individuals rather than something that was actively caught or acquired.

Fear and lack of control Outbreaks of diseases were common in the 1350s, and people had little control over them. With limited medical knowledge and resources, there was a sense of fear and helplessness when it came to illnesses. By describing diseases as passive, individuals may have felt like they had less responsibility for their illness and were simply victims of circumstances beyond their control.

Stigma and shame There was a stigma surrounding illnesses in the 1350s, and those who were sick were often isolated and ostracized from society. By describing diseases in a more passive manner, it may have mitigated some of the shame and stigma associated with being sick. It also allowed individuals to distance themselves from the illness and avoid being associated with it.

In conclusion, the passive language used to describe syndromes in the 1350s can be attributed to a combination of limited scientific understanding, superstitions and religious beliefs, fear and lack of control, and social stigma. As our understanding of diseases has grown and evolved over time, so too has the language we use to describe them.

[mrbinpro]

The Evolution of Healthcare: From Ancient Remedies to Cutting-Edge Innovations

Healthcare has come a long way from its humble beginnings in ancient civilizations. Throughout history, it has evolved, adapted, and innovated in response to the changing needs of society. In this blog post, we'll take a journey through time to explore the fascinating evolution of healthcare, from ancient remedies to the cutting-edge innovations of today.

Ancient Remedies:

Egyptian Medicine: In ancient Egypt, healthcare was heavily influenced by religious beliefs. Priests served as physicians, and remedies often involved a mix of magic and natural ingredients. They practiced surgery, dentistry, and even had knowledge of contraception methods.

Greek Contributions: Ancient Greece gave us the foundation of modern medicine through the works of Hippocrates, often referred to as the "Father of Medicine." His oath, the Hippocratic Oath, remains a guiding ethical principle for physicians to this day.

Traditional Chinese Medicine: Rooted in ancient philosophy, this system emphasizes the balance of vital energies. Acupuncture, herbal medicine, and holistic healing are integral components of traditional Chinese medicine.

Middle Ages to Early Modern Medicine:

Medieval Healing: The Middle Ages saw a resurgence in the importance of herbal remedies and the use of simple surgical tools. Monasteries often served as centers for medical knowledge and practice.

The Renaissance: This period marked a revival of interest in anatomy and the study of the human body. Pioneers like Andreas Vesalius made significant contributions to our understanding of anatomy, setting the stage for modern medicine.

Industrial Revolution and Modern Medicine:

Antiseptics and Anesthesia: The 19th century witnessed breakthroughs like the discovery of antiseptics by Joseph Lister and the introduction of anesthesia, which revolutionized surgery and patient care.

Vaccination: Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine laid the foundation for immunization, saving countless lives and inspiring further vaccine development.

Penicillin and Antibiotics: Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin in 1928 marked a turning point in the fight against infectious diseases. The subsequent development of antibiotics transformed healthcare and increased life expectancy.

Contemporary Healthcare:

Technological Advancements: The 20th and 21st centuries brought technological marvels such as medical imaging (X-rays, MRI, CT scans), minimally invasive surgery, and telemedicine, enabling more accurate diagnoses and remote patient care.

Genomics and Personalized Medicine: Advances in genomics have paved the way for personalized medicine, tailoring treatments to an individual's genetic makeup for better outcomes.

AI and Healthcare: Artificial intelligence is being used to analyze medical data, predict disease outbreaks, and assist in diagnostics, enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of healthcare delivery.

Global Healthcare Challenges: Challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of international cooperation and rapid vaccine development.

Conclusion:

The evolution of healthcare is a testament to human ingenuity and the quest for improved well-being. From ancient remedies deeply rooted in superstition to the cutting-edge technologies and innovations of today, healthcare continues to advance, offering hope for a healthier, more promising future. As we move forward, let's remember the lessons of the past and continue to invest in research, technology, and global cooperation to address the healthcare challenges of tomorrow

[purplesurveys]

1733

1 - When you wake up, do you get up straight away or do you lie around in bed for a while? Unless I overslept and am extremely late to something, I'm horrible at waking up. I'm definitely the type to take my time before getting up.

2 - Who was the last person you video-called with? Have you done this more often since COVID hit? I don't usually do video calls with anyone but the last people I did one with were Angela and Reena. COVID didn't affect my video-calling habits whatsoever – I hated it before the pandemic, during, and still do.

3 - How many times a week do you go out for food or drink? On average? Less than one. I only do so a few times a month because I try to watch how much I spend.

4 - Do you prefer getting takeaway or actually sitting in a restaurant and eating your meal there? I like being in restaurants. Delivery is fine too but it will sometimes affects the quality of the food once it gets to me – like a burger arriving smushed or rice already being cold. It's convenient but has its downsides.

5 - Where’s your favourite place to get takeaway coffee (or whatever your drink of choice is)? I like Starbucks or any place with a Spanish latte.

6 - Do you tend to keep your phone on silent, vibrate or loud? Silent. I have work calls all day long and I know how irritating it gets when someone's phone goes off during these meetings, so I keep my own quiet.

7 - If you have pets, when was the last time one of them annoyed you? What happened? Cooper caught a plastic bag earlier and ran away/went crazy with it. Happened this morning. Normally I would've chased him and thought of a trick to make him drop whatever's in his mouth, but I was already late for work so I just let him have his fun. I think my sister ultimately discarded the at-that-point-destroyed plastic once Cooper got bored from it.

8 - When was the last time you went into a bookshop? July – I had to pick up a book I pre-ordered.

9 - What was the last thing you ordered off Amazon? I have never even been on Amazon.

10 - When was the last time you took a dog out for a walk? Is this your own dog or did you borrow someone else’s? Couple of weeks ago. I only ever walk my own dogs.

11 - What jewellery do you have on at the moment? A necklace.

12 - Do you have any products in your hair right now? What are they? Nopes.

13 - Have you ever used a VPN to access foreign content online? No. I know I'm probably just being uneducated hahaha but the concept of a VPN just seems so sketchy to me. Like I feel like the moment I use one, the police will be at my ass. I've never used one before and not sure if I ever will.

14 - Who was the last artist you listened to? Is this someone you’re a fan of? That would be RM, and yes I'm a massive fan.

15 - What was the last thing you had to drink? Coffee.

16 - When was the last time you cooked something for the first time? Did it work out the way it was supposed to? I don't cook.

17 - Black cats are considered to be bad luck - is this a superstition that you’ve ever believed in? No. I don't believe in superstition.

18 - Would you ever eat blue cheese or do you find the idea of eating mould to be pretty repulsive? It's fine, but only in moderation. I also would not say it's my favorite.

19 - Do you visit the dentist every six months like you should? I visit every one or two months because braces.

20 - How old were you when you first used the internet? Was it dial-up or did you have access to proper broadband? We had initial access to the internet starting when I was 3, which was around the time my dad started to work abroad and email was the best way for my parents to regularly correspond. I didn't access the internet, though – there was not much a kid my age could do on the computer at the time.

I started using the interet regularly by the time I was 10, when my dad had a broadband set-up installed at home. The way it started wasn't even technically 'wi-fi' yet – we had to connect our laptop directly to the router if we wanted internet, so only one person could connect at a time. I don't remember when it changed but anyway, eventually, we started to get to enjoy wireless the same way we do now.

21 - Are you old enough to remember using floppy discs? I definitely am, but I never used one. I'm old enough to merely remember the concept.

22 - When was the last time you purchased an actual DVD or CD? I pre-ordered Layover last month.

23 - Do you shave? Which body parts and how often? Underarms and legs – once a week for both. I work from home and don't always schedule anything out, so there's no point in making it a daily routine. It was definitely different pre-pandemic though as I'd shave everyday.

24 - What’s your favourite season, and what are some of your favourite things about that season? I don't experience the four seasons so I've never had a favorite.

25 - When was the last time you burned yourself? I've had hot water droplets spill on me recently while making coffee, but I don't think I've ever burned myself any more badly than that.

26 - Have you ever been the victim of a theft or robbery? What was stolen? Did the police ever catch the person who did it? Never been.

27 - What was the last TV show you discovered that you really liked? What was it that got you to watch it in the first place? That would be DP! It's a K-drama that tackles bullying among many other issues within the country's mandatory military enlistment. I honestly first heard of it from Namjoon who had recommended it, but I found the plot in itself compelling so I didn't hesitate in starting.

28 - Have you seen any of the live-action Disney remakes? Which one is your favourite? What about your least favourite? I am not a fan of the concept at all. Maybe I'm jaded? maybe it's because I wasn't really raised on Disney as a kid? but the live-action thing never excited me and the hype has always felt...a tad bit inauthentic, like they're doing these remakes for the sole purpose of getting more money out of me. That said, I've never seen any of the remakes and don't really have plans to.

29 - Do you have any exciting plans for tomorrow? If not, how are you planning to spend your day? All I want to do is spend the entire day at home.

30 - Would you ever keep a working dog as a pet? Do you think it’s fair to keep dogs like huskies in flats when it’s so different to their natural environments? If I had a serious, valid need for one, I don't see why I wouldn't. As for the second question, I think adjusting your environment and providing stimulation for your dogs do go a long way. Huskies are very common in the Philippines – where our climate is humid and warm all-year long – but owners adjust by having them in air-conditioned rooms all day, making sure their water is iced, etc. Same nature of adjustments go for other breeds. It's only fair when you do your job as a pet owner.

[sethshead]

“Conservative political rhetoric and conservative political governance now have a clearly defined body count. They talked so many people into ruining their health, and that was the most benign outcome, because they talked so many people into the grave. A lot of the guilty politicians run around saying they live by Scripture. Fine. Drop by the 23rd chapter of Matthew and see if it reminds you of anyone you know.”

I was ready to respond that Republicans tend older than Democrats, and so are more vulnerable to dire outcomes from COVID-19. But pre-vaccine, there was a statistically significant gap, but nothing very shocking. The needle really moved post-vaccine, when it was predominantly Republicans who embraced anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and pseudoscientific superstition. Whoever was feeding them that crap-coated ivermectin, they have a lot of blood on their hands.

[lasclwolf]

Shahrzad series part 15

#SHAHRZAD SERIES PART 15 SERIES#

We systematically searched six databases including Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, Web of science, Ovid, and EMBASE for all published articles from 1 January 2020 until 20 April 2020 using the following Medical Subject Heading terms (MESH terms): We performed this systematic review and meta‐analysis based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines (Moher et al., 2009), and our study protocol is submitted to PROSPERO (ID: CRD42020184456). In this systematic review and meta‐analysis, we assessed the CNS manifestations in COVID‐19 cases.Ģ.1. Therefore, awareness of the different aspects of the short‐ and long‐term effects of this virus on the central nervous system could decently guide scientists. shows the prevalence of the CNS presentations such as dizziness, headache, impaired consciousness, acute cerebrovascular disease, ataxia, and seizure (Mao et al., 2020). Furthermore, a large observational study carried out by Mao et al. Several case reports have indicated the presence of various CNS complications, including encephalitis, stroke, meningitis, and encephalopathy in COVID‐19 patients (Co et al., 2020 Filatov et al., 2020 Moriguchi et al., 2020 Zhou, Zhang, et al., 2020). However, a growing number of COVID‐19 patients are presenting with different combinations of the central nervous system (CNS) manifestations (Asadi‐Pooya & Simani, 2020 Mao et al., 2020 Montalvan et al., 2020). Most cases of COVID‐19 have shown respiratory symptoms ranging from cough to dyspnea and respiratory failure as well as the typical signs and symptoms of infection such as fever and fatigue (Cascella et al., 2020 Chen, Zhou, et al., 2020 Wang, Hu, et al., 2020 Young et al., 2020). Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) is a zoonotic pathogen and can transmit from infected animals (such as bats and snakes) to humans eventually leading to epidemics and pandemics through human‐to‐human transmission (Hassan et al., 2020 Mackenzie & Smith, 2020). Hence, the COVID‐19 outbreak was officially considered as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Committee (Mackenzie & Smith, 2020 WHO, 2020). This new pandemic rapidly spread worldwide, and an increasing number of infected cases and deaths have been reported globally (Jiang et al., 2020 Sohrabi et al., 2020). 7, in the Plaza for Art after Dark.At the end of December 2019, a novel respiratory syndrome, known as COVID‐19, was reported in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China. The city said SHAHRZAD will be attending an opening celebration for the installation on Saturday, Aug. “We are so grateful to have supported five cultural nonprofits and to have worked with the talent at local company, Karson Butler Events, to create unique installations for the community to enjoy all summer long."

#SHAHRZAD SERIES PART 15 SERIES#

“This Plaza Pop-Up series has exceeded all expectations,” said Molly Cano, City of SLO Tourism Manager. The SLO County Arts Council tapped SHAHRZAD to create the display as part of the city-sponsored featured cultural nonprofit. "Untitled VI" is the final installation of the Plaza Pop-Up Series. “But as community members share space with the installation, I hope our energies meld and for a moment, we can live like children, curiously together.“ “Before a person enters the space, these structures are just symbols of my artistry - defined by a Persian-ness, a Zoroastrian superstition, and an obsession with the internet,” said SHAHRZAD. SHAHRZAD said the pieces are meant to express the collective contradiction of emotions experienced over the past year and a half of the pandemic. All of the pieces range from four to six feet high and are made up of industrial materials like 600 pounds of hydrocal and 1,000 feet of quarter-inch steel rod. The six sculptures include a hand, flame, "evil eye", squiggle, rainbow and smiley face.

[newsaryavart]

अंधविश्‍वास: कोरोना वायरस से बचने के लिए ईरान में पी लिया मेथेनॉल, 728 लोगों की मौत Edited By Shailesh Shukla | नवभारतटाइम्स.कॉम | Updated: 28 Apr 2020, 03:50:00 PM IST ईरान में कोरोना वायरस से 5 हजार से ज्‍यादा लोगों की मौत

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Hopefully whatever thin, silver lining that might come out of the coronavirus might include abandoning anti-vax, and the realization that primitive superstitions don’t save lives.

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

Nurse Says Hospitalized Patients Are Begging For A Covid Vaccine

MSNBC

An Alabama nurse shared heart-breaking stories from hospitalized Covid patients who decided they wanted the vaccine after it was too late to receive it. We discuss that, plus the uptick in Covid cases in Florida with Dr. Aileen Marty from Florida International University in Miami.

P.S.  Unfortunately, it is harsh to say in these circumstances, but nature’s laws  discovered by Charles Robert Darwin are working on our populist anti-vaxxers in Latvia as well on GOP’s base quite efficiently. Anti-vaxxers have launched a huge experiment of social Darwinism...