#emre can blur

[wildissylupus]

You seem to be well read on OW lore so I have to ask. Wtf are the dragons?? Are they real spirits?? Is it a hologram?? And by extension, how does Kiriko’s fox thing work?? Is there actually a spiritual realm in OW?? And if that’s the case, is the iris connected to that?? (Am losing my mind ever since Kiriko got revealed cause how can all the teleporting and talisman and her ult be explained with technology)

Srry if you’ve made a post about this already and I just didn’t find it btw 💀

Oh, I wish I could give you a solid answer for this question.

Because canonically, up until Kiriko, it was stated that there is no magic in the OW universe. Meaning, originally, the dragons were technology. Do we know what kind of technology? No, cause this was in yee olden days of Overwatch lore and we were lucky to get anything that related to lore.

But with the introduction of Kiriko, it's blurred the lines a bit, and what's blurring them even more is the fact that the writers are doing things and confirming things that were previously debunked. Such as God AI's featuring very heavily in the OW lore when Anubis was supposed to be a one off villian, and Emre Sarioglu being the same guy in Ana's photo. Meaning it's entirely possible that the writers have changed their views on magic being included in the OW universe.

So I can't give a solid answer until I myself have been given answers. However, I can try and explain how the dragons and the fox could be technology;

First off the dragons because they're the easiest to explain. There have been many theories of what technology the dragons could be but the most believable is that they are some form of hardlight technology. My personal theory is that the dragons are a combination of an early predecessor to hardlight technology combined with some biosocial aspect to make the dragons easier for a person to control (the biological aspect probably being something to do with the tattoos).

As for Kiriko's powers, that's a little harder to explain. Like the dragons I think the fox would be a mix of hardlight and some biological component, since we do see from Symmetra's old kit that hardlight does have support qualities. Her talisman could actually be explained with nanobiotics, we know that after the fall of Overwatch Mercy's tech was basically stolen so it isn't that far out of the question that Kiriko's talisman could be a smaller version of Mercy's staff, using the same homing and healing technology. As for her teleportation I don't really know how she would do that but we do know that self teleportation is possible because of Sombra, Kiriko could be using a more official and advanced version of Sombra's tech? Or maybe she's doing something like Sym's teleport turrets? We haven't really seen much teleportation in the OW universe, only three characters being able to do it, two of them obviously using some tech to do it. So Kiriko teleporting, though not entirely out of the question, is hard to justify with technology since the tech isn't obvious.

[venacoeurva]

kind of obsessed with your lineart it looks so cool and strong and waaaaah do you have any advice for how to get better at lining stuff

Glad you like it, I love doing it :]

And I find what really helps if finding a comfortable pen for you (or sleeve/grip if you're limited with styluses like on IOS devices) and tips (if digital), which will also help with avoiding strain and positioning your hand/fingers/tablet weirdly. If you draw digitally and use a tablet with an EMR pen, usually those can be swapped out with other more ergonomic ones with no issue. For example, I like using a Wacom One pen with metal replacement nibs with my s6 lite when I draw on it, way more comfortable and easy to control. If you want to find good options for those, a lot of Reddit threads on them exist. Also, matte/paperlike screen protectors feel great and pretty cheap nowadays, but do eat plastic and rubber tab pen tips.

For actual drawing stuff, I find pulling the lines versus pushing really helps with smoothness, especially with the lines going where you actually want them to go, and finding a comfortable pressure curve (if you use pressure settings, if not perhaps edit velocity and tilt settings if your program has those if drawing digitally) and stabilizer help a ton. The pull vs. push might vary by handedness, though, since lefties "push" lines and letters on paper when writing when righties "pull" their letters and lines along paper, y'know? So that might vary per person and their sense of comfort and what feels right.

Also, if you're someone who finds it hard to line sketches because the lineart just doesn't look like the sketch, gaussian blur the sketches a bit. It might help kill the perfectionist in your brain for those pieces. Studying how other artists do lineart and where and why they use different weights and level of detail definitely can't hurt either.

[kazxraval]

The relative silence on the ship felt like some kind of trap. For all the racket Kaz made, no footsteps slapped across the deck. No search parties roared and shouted for a piece of anyone. Thankfully. Without any real way to protect himself, the current injuries Kaz carried would be easy to attack and disable. Next time, would he wake again in the moldy old bedroom on a boat? Or not at all.

Kaz comforted with a simple idea: it meant Emre possibly stalked through the ship. Not as a roadman. As a soldier? A form Emre gave shape to as they talked in the grotto. A shadow Kaz knew of but never saw before. Not fully. Perhaps seen in bits and pieces. Parts of a whole that changed everything.

In the supply room, Kaz used the sharp edge of a desk to try and escape the zip tie around his wrists. When the light under the crack of the door broke up to reveal movement on the other side, he stopped sawing and reached for the first thing his restricted hands found.

The door was flung open. Blurred vision instantly sharpened. Pain in his side forgotten enough for his lungs to expand with an excited breath. Tongue nudged at the open crack in his upper lip, which had an irresistible taste of metallic bruises. At first, he croaked: "You're okay?" A reasonable question as Emre was covered in blood. A veritable Jackson Pollock of blood splatter on his shirt, the left side of his face and neck. Sunny freckles and moles had bright crimson counterparts. Thicker stray stripes of red across the belly, a pool of the stuff near his shirt collar. Dried patches of blood heavier around the wrists and faded up to the elbows. Once he knew Emre was indeed uninjured, the blood became rubies lavished adoringly on a Mughal prince. "Thought you'd never find me." An audible exhale, a smile brighter than any he'd felt in a long, long time. Favorite. Beautiful one, the only one. "Get me out of this," he whispered and held out his wrists, the skin cut up and rubbed raw with the zip tie still harshly cinched. "This fucking thing is tough as hell to take off."

"They had me in a room downstairs but I got out. If I didn't find you, I was gonna turn the boat around. Go back for you." He ducked to rest a cheek against Emre's as he waited to have his hands freed. "What did they do to you." Quiet enough to hear the brush of their beards together, and his lips left a wet dab of blood on Emre's earlobe as Kaz whispered again. "Did you kill them all?"

Once Emre freed his hands, he went back to items on the shelf. Kaz had been able to snap open a case, and now he removed what was inside. "It's a speargun." Never held one before, and it felt sleeker and light than imagined. "Fucking wild, hm? Can't believe people fish with this shit. Cheating, isn't it." A spear was pulled from the case and Kaz figured out how to load it into the barrel. "Still got the axe?" They didn't have a ton of time to rummage through the place. Kaz quickly scanned higher on the shelf. "There's some big, ugly looking hooks up here. A chain, a winch that could knock someone's head off..."

Kaz opened his mouth for more ideas but the boat tipped unexpectedly. A loud thunk! rattled the bones of the ship. He grabbed onto the shelf in front of him to stabilize, as he also tried to give Emre a hand. However, the ship rocked and Kaz was knocked against another shelf that rained its contents down on top of him.

Kaz looked to the ceiling above. "What are those stupid fuckers doing." Didn't take a captain to determine the ship's engine had shut down. (Or manually shut down?) A bare light in the room flickered before extinguishing. "The engine." Kaz pushed away a few boxes and heavier canvas bags of supplies that dropped on him. He planned out the best and least painful way to get back up on his feet.

"Really need to get out of here. We can see who's left. Maybe start the engine again on our own, get back to land." Kaz moved to the door, an indication he wanted to lead the way. "Anything else I should worry about on the other side of this door?" A beat. "We, I mean."

As Emre waited for the boat to set sail, he couldn't help thinking about Georgina's supposed last words to him: wish you'd gone to dinner now, don't you.

Maybe true, but also Emre suspected there likely was no 'dinner'. Kaz seemed about as hateful towards this Georgina as he was towards his parents; but Georgina claimed to love Kaz - something his parents likely never did. Or never in a way that Kaz could believe. Could Kaz have once...believed in Georgie's care?

So Georgina was likely a big liar, and possibly even betrayed Kaz. Or hurt Kaz irreparably, which was bad enough. It made bile rise in Emre's throat to think he'd almost done to same to Kaz too. One more to add in a long trail of betrayals if Emre hadn't done everything he could to repair things. And for Kaz to even allow Emre a chance to repair...with this new context, it took Emre's breath away.

Feroze on the walkie talkie. Time to set sail, and Feroze mentioned something about 'cargo'. Couldn't find 'Taylor'. An urgency to set sail, and it seemed Georgie agreed.

An engine rumbled - so it had enough petrol left in Seattle to motor the thing, interesting. Fuel had to be precious though. Georgina and her 2IC were not setting sail on a luxury yacht for fun. Georgina wanted to get to her destination in style, to impress. But...were they headed to the mainland, or further out to sea?

Regardless, this all meant that Kaz was definitely on-board.

Feroze headed up to the bridge, leaving a guard patrolling the bow. Zaid heafd a ruckus below deck. A constant, if slightly erratic - BOOF. BAFF - something constantly slamming into a barrier. The muffled sound of Georgina's high-pitched voice, petulant and annoyed.

And then - a heavy roar that uncoiled a sudden liquid-heat deep in Emre's belly. The confirmation, the forcefulness of a man who could never give up. Not when it was important. Not when it was...

...Emre smiled. A length of thin silk boat-rope around the guard's neck made for silent disposal. He could go down to save Kaz now, but Emre wanted to do better.

He swung up to the bridge deck and easily located the Captain, having set course and just popping to his cabin. Giving Emre the perfect opportunity to apprehend the poor bugger, leave him bleeding on the floor and bleating for help. Emre ducked behind the door when Feroze entered the cabin with true shock at the sight of the Captain. Emre's teeth-whistle made Feroze spin and to his credit, stared at Emre like he was seeing a ghost.

Emre was on Feroze, knife hilt connecting with Feroze's temple, bearing forward so the younger man slipped in the Captain's blood and fell. Emre hauled him back up, knife at his throat. "Call your girlfriend," Emre demanded. "Tell her there's a problem she's got to deal with." That would buy Kaz some more time. "Do as I say or you're next, Feroze. Tired of your games, tired of you."

"You'll pay for this," Feroze sneered, after he obeyed Emre's order. Still trying to look derisive and smug. Up-close, Emre realized he didn't look a damn thing like Kaz. "You and your butt-buddy, I don't get why he's so -"

Emre didn't let Feroze finish. Kaz wouldn't have, was Emre's reasoning. Kaz, for once, didn't seem to care about getting answers here, only getting out. Run, escape, run. Emre was in-tune with this now, finally.

Georgina's arrival to the bridge was almost anti-climactic. Emre didn't give her time to scream, just knocked her out, leaving her tied on the bridge for now.

"Don't move, I'll be back for you," Emre told the Captain, shutting his cabin door after dragging Feroze's unconscious body out, throwing it over the side as well. Feroze didn't make it into the water; he landed on the lower deck, arm at an odd angle. Oops. Emre hopped back down to the bridge deck, just in time to see someone duck behind a small door.

Another guard? Or - Emre poised his knife, then flung the door open to find -

"Kaz." my darling, meri pyaar, my Kaz, mine. Emre couldn't help his sudden, bloody grin. A tight, screaming thrill bolting through him, at the sight. Kaz looking more dishevelled than his carelessly breezy look, angling his body in tense holds that betrayed the brutal beating he'd just survived. Ribs likely cracked. Fingers crooked. Blood staining his nose and cheek, split lip, a swollen eye, bruises mapping his body.

He was beautiful.

A nod to Kaz's choice of weapon. "What you gonna do with that then, my love?"

[studentbyday]

Bohr model and why it doesn't work for anything other than hydrogen atoms

Also: more on Rydberg formula, de Broglie and standing waves

Rutherford said that electrons are arranged outside the nucleus of an atom. And the electrons must be moving because if they were stationary, they would be pulled into the positively charged nucleus. But they can't orbit the nucleus like the planets orbit the sun because that'd mean they're constantly accelerating and therefore radiating energy - losing energy. As energy is lost, the radius of their orbit shrinks until eventually the electrons spiral into the nucleus.

So Bohr said that for a hydrogen atom:

The electron moves around the nucleus with a speed u in a circular orbit of fixed radius and fixed energy. There's a set of such circular orbits around hydrogen's nucleus. As long as the electron stays in that orbit, its energy is constant and no energy is emitted. These circular orbits are energy levels.

So yeah, one part of Bohr's model says that electrons gain energy and move up an energy level(s) when EMR of certain frequencies are absorbed. And when electrons lose energy, they move down an energy level(s) and EMR of frequencies that correspond to the quantity of energy lost are emitted. (That means that the more energy the atom absorbs, the higher the EMR frequency it will emit.)

Bohr's model would create a picture of an atom that looks like this, where as n increases, the space between the orbits decreases until they get unmeasurably close, causing the lines in the hydrogen spectrum at the upper end of any series to be blurred out into a continuum of wavelengths. At this point, n = infinity (and it happens quite soon, a little further out than n = 4 or 5).

But to understand the other part of Bohr's model, we need to talk about angular momentum. Angular momentum is the momentum of an object moving around in circles. In classical physics, angular momentum l = mur:

Bohr said that the angular momentum of an electron is:

How does this make sense?

Remember de Broglie said that particles like electrons can also behave like waves. If this is true, then the matter wave of an electron must be able to fit perfectly around its circular orbit and exist as a wave at all points on the orbit. This means that the circumference of the orbit has to be a whole number of electron wavelengths, so that the wave experiences constructive interference at all points on the orbit. (If destructive interference occurred, such as if the orbit was smaller or bigger than a whole number of electron wavelengths, then the electron wouldn't exist at all points on the orbit.)

Because an electron must have a whole number of wavelengths, the allowable wavelengths an electron can have is not a continuous spectrum but a discrete one like in a standing wave. Only certain wavelengths can make a standing wave. Only certain wavelengths can make an electron matter wave. Therefore, electron matter waves are standing waves. This means the energy in electrons is quantized because, say you zap an electron with a photon. That electron, being a standing wave, can only move up an energy level if that photon has enough energy to increase the electron's matter wave's frequency such that it becomes another standing wave, this time with higher frequency (higher frequency means increasing the integer number of wavelengths aka increasing the number of nodes in the standing wave), which means more energy. As you go up in energy level, the frequency of standing waves increase, which means that you increase in energy as you go up energy levels.

All this means we can say:

This means angular momentum, l = mur, is quantized because it is an integer multiple of (h/2*pi aka Dirac constant) because electrons are standing waves, meaning the energy in electrons is quantized.

But Bohr didn't know all of this about standing waves and de Broglie wavelengths. He just applied classical physics and imposed a quantization condition: he just deduced that energy in a hydrogen atom electron is quantized because of the Rydberg formula. And if energy is quantized, then l = mur = n*(h/2*pi). This is one reason his model failed. He concluded that electrons don't fall into the nucleus but he couldn't explain why. Another reason Bohr's model failed is that because the Rydberg formula is a phenomenological equation and Bohr based his model of the atom on the Rydberg formula, it only works for the hydrogen atom.

Here's how Bohr used Rydberg's formula to conclude that energy in a hydrogen atom is quantized (n is still an integer in the range 1 to infinity):

Technically, Bohr says energy of electron = 0 at n = infinity, when the electron isn't associated with the nucleus, so all atomic energies are negative since the electron loses energy when it is associated with the nucleus (think of it like dropping from a higher energy level to a lower energy level).

Furthermore, because energy is quantized, if you go from, say, energy level n = 2 to energy level n = 1, the amount of EMR emitted is the same as the amount of EMR absorbed when you go from energy level n = 1 to energy level n = 2. The change in energy is the same whether you go up or down a pair of given energy levels. Thus, you can rewrite the Rydberg formula so it takes the absolute value of (1/n_f^2) - (1/n_i^2) because it doesn't matter if you're going up or down an energy level, absorbing or emitting energy. The change in energy, the energy of transition is the same.

The third reason Bohr's model failed is because by saying electrons have exact, fixed orbits and energy, he said that you can know the exact location and momentum of a particle at the same time, which would mean there's no particle-wave duality. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle says that this postulate is wrong: because there is particle-wave duality, we can't know the exact location and momentum of a particle at the same time. The more precisely/accurately we know one, the less precisely/accurately we know the other.

Because they have >1 electron and the electrons repel each other, multi-electron atoms have much more complex emission/absorption spectra that aren't easily explained unlike hydrogen's. Thus, there's currently no simple equation to describe spectra or electron energies of any atom other than hydrogen.

[nuestraluzdelaluna]

✦:˒ dortmund masterlist ◞⁺☆．

━━━━━━

✎ who i write for

ღ players i love writing for

✦:˒ smut

↯ angst

━━━━━━

˗ˏˋ julian brandt ´ˎ˗

✦:˒ sexual tension

━━━━━━

˗ˏˋ emre can ´ˎ˗

hugs

━━━━━━

˗ˏˋ gio reyna ´ˎ˗

! no smut !

official

━━━━━━

˗ˏˋ jude bellingham ´ˎ˗

! no smut !

cute

surprise

i love you

sick

morning after

welcome home

━━━━━━

[breezeinmonochromenight]

wildly overprotective!Zack towards cadet!cloud has no business being that funny. ive been laughing for 10 minutes straight you’re the best.

<3 (:

I think the idea of Zack just increasingly getting more aggressive while maintaining an outward pleasantness (or possibly getting even nicer) is absolutely hilarious. Like...

—o—

Reno: [referring to shy people] They always panic and run off, yo! Why do all the shy ones have to be so cute?

Zack, thinking of his interactions with Cloud, fondly: Give them a gentle push in the right direction so they’ll come out of their shell a little! Try them feel a little feel more comfortable around you, but don’t make them feel forced to be around you and... [continues to give genuine advice as Reno taps his EMR to his shoulder thoughtfully]

Zack: ...I’m sure you’ll figure it out! You just have to get a little creative!

—o—

How Reno interprets this advice, while hitting on a terrified Cloud: [one-arm kabedon this time, wolfish grin]

Reno: funny how we keep running into each other like this, huh?

Zack, turning the corner and realizing with a slow, dawning horror that he’s essentially told Reno to ‘get creative’ with Cloud:

—o—

Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth leave the VR room in one piece this time, only to find the SOLDIER floor in shambles. Light fixtures are hanging on by a thread. There is a random trash can on fire. Reno scrambles out of the vents and yells at Angeal to keep his mutt on a leash, and a blur of black and violet zips by them shortly after.

[heartlesslywhumping]

Head injuries: A rundown for whumpers

Part One

I recently got an ask pertaining to certain injures that trauma to the head may cause. I’m working on answering that one in specific details (it’ll go up after this series) but as it was getting quite long, I decided to post this first with more information.

This isn’t necessarily what I could call a “gory” post but it does go into some brief detail around medical things and anatomy. There are no pictures or anything but proceed at your own discretion.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional, do not look to this post for professional advice or treatment. Occasionally I consult with my EMR certified friends and family but the majority of the information I am sharing has been gathered from going down Google rabbit holes. Most of my research came from authorized medical websites but the internet is the internet. All of this will be lovely for creative purposes but not for real life application

Boredom Disclaimer: This is probably going to be suuuuper dry and boring. I try to keep it short and relevant but who knows how well I actually do there.

First in the series are the big boys, the TBIs everyone!

What is a TBI? A TBI is a Traumatic Brain Injury, which comes from physical trauma to the head. However, not all blows to head produce the same things. Some are minor, some are deadly, and some have long lasting effects.

Types of TBIs and descriptions.

Concussions

A concussion is the most common type of TBI. It occurs when the impact on the head is severe enough to cause brain injury. It can be caused by direct blows to the head, gunshot wounds, violent shaking of the head, force from a whiplash type injury, etc. It’s thought to be the result of the brain hitting against the hard walls of the skull.

Generally speaking, the loss of function associated with a concussion is temporary. However, repeated concussions can eventually lead to permanent damage that may permanently change mood, behavior, and brain function.

Signs of concussion include the following:

Disorientation

Vomiting

Headache

Fatigue

Nausea

Temporary loss of consciousness

Confusion or feeling as if in a fog

Ringing in the ears

Slurred speech

Sleep disturbances

Concentration or memory problems

Irritability and other personality change

Brain Contusions

A contusion is a bruise under the skin. If a brain contusion does not stop bleeding on its own, or is especially large, it may need to be surgically removed. 

The extent of damage associated with a brain contusion depends on the size of the bleed, the length of time it lasts, the effects of surgery, and the location of the injury.

Generally this shows up after a serious head injury/loss of consciousness. Victims often wake up confused, tired, agitated, or emotional. Severe contusions can lead to brain swelling within 48-72 hours.

Symptoms of brain contusions may include:

Memory loss

Attention problems

Emotional disturbances

Difficulty with motor coordination

Numbness

Loss of ability to understand or express speech

Diffuse Axonal Injury

A diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is an injury to the brain that doesn’t cause bleeding but does damage the brain cells.  With a DAI, the head jerks about so violently that the brain stem cannot keep up, causing tears in the connections of the brain. A DAI can be caused by shaking or strong rotation of the head, as with Shaken Baby Syndrome, or by rotational forces, such as with a car accident. Extensive tears can cause brain chemicals to be released, causing additional injury. The tearing of the nerve tissue disrupts the brain’s regular communication and chemical processes.

This disturbance in the brain can produce temporary or permanent widespread brain damage, coma, or death.

The damage to the brain cells results in them not being able to function. It can also result in swelling, causing more damage. Though it isn’t as outwardly visible as other forms of brain injury, a DAI is one of the most dangerous types of head injuries. Victims will likely need intensive rehabilitation after receiving this (but what whumpee doesn’t need that?)

Symptoms include 

disorientation or confusion

headache

nausea or vomiting

drowsiness or fatigue

trouble sleeping

sleeping longer than normal

loss of balance or dizziness

Second Impact Syndrome

A second impact before the first is fully healed is more likely to cause severe brain damage than a first, even if the victim does not lose consciousness. However, loss of consciousness after the initial injury followed by secondary brain damage enhances the vulnerability of the brain, greatly increasing the risk of death, even if the second injury was far less intense.

Second impact injury can result within a matter of days or weeks, or it can occur within a few hours if the victim isn’t removed and treated after the first concussion. Neither impact has to be severe for second impact syndrome to occur. Symptoms usually occur immediately following the second impact and progress rapidly.

Common symptoms include:

Dilated pupils

Loss of eye movement

Unconsciousness

Respiratory failure

Death

Coup-Contrecoup Brain Injury

A "coup" injury is the initial site of impact. For example, if you were in a car accident and struck your head on the steering wheel, you might have a "coup" brain injury near the location of the forehead.

A contrecoup injury happens at the opposite side of the site of injury, so if you struck your forehead, the brain injury would be at the back of the brain. This happens because the brain is the consistency of firm pudding, moves within the skull. The initial impact on the forehead causes the first injury, but the movement of the brain within the skull causes the second impact against the back of the skull.

Together, these injuries are called a coup contrecoup injury, indicating that both injuries are present. There does not have to be an impact to cause either the coup or contrecoup injuries. Shaken babies, for example, can have these injuries even if the head is never struck by another object. The movement of the brain within the skull is enough to cause the injuries.

Symptoms include

Trouble swallowing

Muscle weakness,

Paralysis, and/or sensory changes.

Problems with decision making, speaking, and language comprehension.

Loss of consciousness

Coma

Confusion

Headache

Seizures

Dizziness

A loss of balance and coordination

Fatigue

Nausea or vomiting

Memory problems

Mood issues, including depression, agitation, or anxiety

Blurred vision

A ringing in the ears

Sensitivity to light and noise

Slurred speech

Penetrating Injury

A penetrating injury occurs when an object penetrates the skull and brain - such as the impact of a bullet, knife or other sharp object - that forces hair, skin, bones and fragments from the object into the brain.

These injuries can be fatal if not promptly treated, because they often cause severe bleeding, blood clots, disrupted oxygen supply to various brain regions, and other immediate side effects.

Removing the object that penetrated the skull may worsen the bleeding or further damage the brain, so never remove an object lodged in the skull.

Objects traveling at a low rate of speed through the skull and brain can ricochet within the skull, which widens the area of damage.

A “through-and-through” injury occurs if an object enters the skull, goes through the brain, and exits the skull. Through-and-through traumatic brain injuries include the effects of penetration injuries, plus additional shearing, stretching and rupture of brain tissue.

The devastating traumatic brain injuries caused by bullet wounds result in a 91% firearm-related death rate overall.

People who survive penetrating injuries may need repeated brain surgeries, high doses of antibiotics, and an assortment of therapies designed to restore function. Ultimately, the degree of disability and the prognosis depends on the location of the injury, its severity, whether there was a brain bleed, and similar factors.

I don’t think this one really needs a symptom list 😂

[icanheartheoceanwaves]

Title TBA - Jily Fanfic

( Hey guys, I’m super new to Jily fanfic, and I’d never imagined I’d ever write any of it, but I just had this nagging idea in my head after reading @petals-to-fish‘s “On A Scale of One to Ten” and @elanev91‘s “The Yeast I Could Do,” I knew I had to just get it out, so I wrote a chapter. I honestly don’t quite know where it’s going, and I can’t even guarantee that I’ll finish it (my track record is......not so good), but hopefully I can find some direction and some semblance of a plot. Seems like it’ll be a Lily-centric Muggle!AU Jily story. Here’s a snippet below! )

6:46 PM.

Lily walked out of the staff room, slid her badge through the card reader, and clocked in. With slow steps, sleepy eyes, and red hair loosely thrown over one shoulder, she walked the quiet hallway to pass through the large double doors onto the unit. The bustle of activity and various alarms hit her senses immediately, and she deeply wished she were back home, snug and warm in bed.

Entering the nurses’ station, she saw that there were a few day shift nurses and nursing assistants already waiting to give report, and some of her fellow night shift nurses looking up their patients.

“Hey, Lily! Ready for your shift?” a day shift nurse asked cheerily. “I’ve got one patient for you!”

Lily grunted in response. “No way. And don’t you dare give me report until 7,” she replied, half-jokingly. Some of the day shift staff laughed in response, but they had reason to feel relieved. After all, with the arrival of the night shift, they got to go home.

She quickly jotted down her assigned room numbers and sat down at an unoccupied computer. It appeared that she would have five patients tonight. Scrolling through the unit list, Lily found three of her patients, but she could not find the fifth. She would probably be getting an admit or a transfer from another floor at some point then.

Lily swept her hair up in a high bun, and quickly perused the four patients’ charts, writing down the important details on her organizational brain sheet. There were the scheduled and as-needed medications, admission diagnoses, hospital events, past medical history of note, active orders written by healthcare providers, protocols in place; as well as the details that the average person might not realize—like if a patient needed assistive devices to get up and around. She even scrolled through the EMR, the electronic medical record, to find out when her patients’ bowel movements were last. “In the hospital, we celebrate bowel movements—unless you’re having too many,” she and her fellow nurses often told patients.

Minutes later, one of the day shifters, Kingsley, approached her. “I’ve got three for you when you’re ready,” he said.

“I’ll never be ready,” she joked, “so just tell me about these patients anyway so you can go home.”

Kingsley laughed and said, “I’m so ready to be out of here; this is my third day in a row. Only one more for me and then I don’t have to be at work for four days!”

“Shacklebolt, you poor, unfortunate soul,” Lily said with an eye roll, but laughed all the same. “I’m on day one of three, so maybe I’m the poor, unfortunate soul. I’ve only been off for two days and already I feel so off-kilter!”

The next half-hour was a blur of obtaining new information. Her patients seemed straightforward enough for a medical-surgical unit; one was an admit from earlier in the day for a blocked artery somewhere in his left leg, probably going for a bypass at some point; the second was a small bowel obstruction who seemed to be doing better with a nasogastric tube placement and bowel rest; the third had come in for cellulitis, a serious bacterial skin infection, of the right arm; and the fourth was here for a tibial-fibular fracture of the right leg and would be discharging soon.

“Hey, Lily,” a passing nursing assistant called out to her twenty seconds after she’d gotten report on her last patient. “The guy in room 15 is asking for pain meds. He says his IV site might be leaking, too.”

And so began her shift.

[streamondistro]

Health

A 5 song EP by Irish Artist EMR

EMR has been writing and performing self written songs almost all of her life. With a passion for music and being a multi-instrumentalists the next step was to graduate with an honours degree in Music Production.

Her first EP, The Shades of You which was released in October 2018 featured four songs with the song Blurred Stars which is a powerful and sympathetic song written for suicide awareness.

The musical journey then started toward the EP Health which which was written as a concept EP focusing on the topic of mental health.

These days it is difficult to find a EP theme is that takes you on a musical journey where yet each song stands on its own.

From the opening line of the title track song Health where it asks ‘What’s the matter you don’t look yourself, are you taking care of your health?

To the fifth song Rest which is realistic yet hopeful message which repeats ‘I’m tryna fix the hole that I dug in my own chest, I’ll love you in the morning but for now I need to rest’.

The EP Health touches topics like abandonment in ‘There’ll You Be’ seeing a friend suffer in ‘Easy Does It’ almost a comfort in being ‘lost’ in the haunting and Celtic ‘I’m tired now’

Health is a truly exceptional EP and worthy of being heard by all those impacted in anyway by mental health, or by anyone who just loves a great concept EP.

You can follow EMR on Spotify and other streaming services, follow her on Instagram and Twitter @emr_creates or visit her website

[moremedtech]

AI-based detection of leadless implanted electronic devices

A pre-deployment study promises high accuracy and improved patient safety with AI-based detection of leadless implanted electronic devices. Small leadless implanted electronic devices (LLIEDs) have emerged as a safer alternative to lead-dependent cardiac rhythm-management devices, with advancements in miniaturization, battery technology, and communication. Intrathoracic LLIEDs can not only help in cardiac pacing but also enable the monitoring of cardiovascular and electrophysiologic activity, and non-cardiovascular physiology. However, their subsequent detection and identification (location, general category, specific type, etc.) is critical, especially prior to situations like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans involving electromagnetic and radiofrequency exposures. In pre-MRI safety screening, existing methods involving direct interaction between the patient and physician, electronic medical records (EMR) and chest X-ray (CXR) provide limited and inadequate information. They are, therefore, insufficient for the recognition of evolving, infrequently used, and much smaller LLIEDs. Moreover, the issue is compounded by the small LLIED size, suboptimal screening technique, motion-related blurring, and similarities in appearance. LLIEDs can easily be overlooked on a CXR during emergency situations. Moreover, the inability to tell whether an LLIED is a pacemaker, or a recorder can put the patient at a considerable risk during MRI scan. Although both are considered “MRI conditional,” the pacemaker requires cardiology device and patient oversight before and after, and possibly during, the MRI examination. Responding to the need for prompt and accurate detection of LLIEDs during MRI pre-screening, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based model was previously developed by researchers led by Richard D. White, an eminent radiologist at Mayo Clinic Florida, USA. In their recent study published in the SPIE Journal of Medical Imaging, White’s team assessed the readiness and operational prerequisites of this model with the aim of progressing towards real-world applications. “LLIEDs span a spectrum of categories based on their MRI exposure safety, from being ‘MRI conditional’ to being ‘MRI unsafe.’ Our AI model for recognizing continuously evolving LLIEDs is based on LLIED classification obtained from the identification and labeling of regions of interest from retrospective and/or future organization wide CXR data,”explains White For the pre-deployment assessment, the team used a two-tier cascading methodology comprising LLIED detection (tier 1) followed by classification (tier 2). They performed a five-fold cross validation during tier 1 to assess the durability of the “Original LLIED Model” initially comprising 9 LLIED categories. To imitate real-world trialing, they further applied the two-tier cascading AI model on 150 new CXR images from randomly selected newer patients, already revealing 3 new LLIED categories. Further, the team incorporated some essential technical developments to facilitate real-world deployment of their AI model. These included a Zero-Footprint (ZF GUI/Viewer) viewing platform for imaging, DICOM-Structured reports (DICOM-SR) for enabling end-user inference-result adjudication and, most importantly, continuous learning with the addition of the 3 new LLIED types to create a 12-class “Updated LLIED Model.” They then used new additional cases to further test this model using the two-tier methodology. The tier 1 study yielded 100% detection/location sensitivity of LLIEDs for both the 9-class and 12-class models, and its durability was further attested by the five-fold cross validation. In tier 2, both models achieved very high accuracy in identifying the type of LLIED (MRI safety category and specific type). While no LLIEDs remained undetected in tier 1, the few cases of misidentification occurring in tier 2 were attributed to suboptimal image quality. Remarkably, the AI model did not misidentify any of the “MRI stringently conditional” or “MRI unsafe” LLIEDs. “While the actual value of the AI model can only be assessed in a true real-world clinical setting, these results harbor optimism in favor of deploying the AI model in the near future for assisting pre-screening evaluation by radiologists for patient safety.”Discussing the significance of their study, White says Focusing on mimicking real-world conditions for validating their model, the team incorporated continuous learning, retraining, and modernization of AI models based on end-user experience. This is the first study of its kind to report AI-based radiographic detection and identification of LLIEDs. Going forward, White and his team plan to capitalize on these results and launch the AI model in a relevant clinical setting. They also expect to address the limitations of this study by future retraining and fine-tuning of the AI model. Read the full article

[georgealbert588]

Top 6 Ways Your Dental Practice May Benefit from Dental Software in Saudi Arabia

CloudPital #1 Top Dental Software in Saudi Arabia for record-keeping, graphing, and booking patients, however at that point likewise keep up with one more framework for imaging and regulatory undertakings. Then again, a dental EHR has every one of the highlights of an EMR, in addition to incorporating imaging highlights, practicing the board devices, and different implicit devices for better independent direction. With the dental business a fundamental piece of all-encompassing patient consideration, dental suppliers shouldn't miss the benefits EHRs give.

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Mobile: +966547315697

Email: sales@bilytica.com

CloudPital #1 Dental Software in Saudi Arabia

In this computerized age, EHRs are as of now not a choice, however, a need, to accommodate the progression of care and assist you with maintaining a fruitful business. That is only the start. Past that, here are considerably more things an EHR can accomplish for your training:

Better Coordination with a Patient's:

Oral issues can be the principal indications of a substantially more critical medical problem, diseases, or wholesome inadequacies, meaning the requirement for a consistent information trade between the two disciplines is imperative. Dental Software in Saudi Arabia are intended to be interoperable so dental and clinical suppliers can without much of a stretch trade clinical history and better survey patients' necessities. Inherent apparatuses like Health Information Exchange (HIE) permit constant information sharing and quicker navigation.

Develops Efficiency and Productivity:

Dental programming assists dental practices with accomplishing more quickly than expected. Indeed, even before a patient comes in, your staff can really look at protection qualifications and request clinical history, current meds, or current medical issues. With Dental Software in Saudi Arabia data available as of now, you can diminish patient holding up time without forfeiting a patient-focused approach. The advantages of utilizing an EHR even stretch out after the patient visit. EHRs can assist with working with post-visit assignments like charging and guaranteeing accommodation, references, and e-solution.

Charging Cycle and Increases Revenue:

The objectives of each business incorporate amplifying income, and your dental practice is the same. Dental Software in Saudi Arabia have coordinated charging instruments that oversee charging cycles and guarantee installments. Underlying scouring and pre-check highlights decrease coding mistakes and increment your possibilities of getting compensated the initial time. You can make your front work area an income-producing resource by adding suggestions to gather installments when treatment.

Develops Data Organization:

Physically recovering and rearranging through periodontal graphs to observe past test profundities can be tedious and awkward. With Dental Software in Saudi Arabia , you can rapidly pull up a patient's past graphs and effectively contrast them with settled on informed choices. Furthermore, paper dental and periodontal outlines can blur after some time and may become undecipherable.

Builds Accuracy of Care:

Reconciliations with computerized x-beams additionally work on the capacity to analyze really since dental suppliers can undoubtedly switch to and fro between the picture and the patient's dental history.

These sorts of advantages are much more evident while overseeing meds. With Dental Software in Saudi Arabia connection checking apparatuses, you will be cautioned of any expected contentions prior to endorsing a medicine. Incorporated EPCS backing can forestall chronic drug use, add wellbeing measures for the two patients and suppliers, and track use over the long haul.

Errors and Cost should be Minimized:

Errors in patient management can be costly, and can even result in malpractice lawsuits. Good practice management software can help you avoid charting inconsistencies, billing and insurance issues, and other missteps that can hurt your Dental Software in Saudi Arabia l firm's bottom line. Software with integrated billing and insurance capabilities can frequently examine user-entered data for errors before updating and correcting them before submitting an insurance claim.

Cloudpital Specialty:

Dentistry EMR

Nephrology EMR

Community Health EMR

Hematology EMR

Psychiatry EMR

Psychiatry EMR

Ophthalmology EMR

Pain Management EMR

Plastic Surgery EMR

Internal Medicine EMR

Physical Therapy EMR

Dermatology EMR

Pediatrics EMR

ENT EMR

Mental Health EMR

Podiatry EMR

Gynecology EMR

Cardiology EMR

Family Practice EMR

Orthopedic Surgery EMR

Neurology EMR

Diabetology EMR

Pulmonary EMR

Gastroenterology EMR

Urology EMR

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08/03/2022

[sadladypoetssociety]

the personal/political

bell hooks, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center

All too often the slogan “the personal is political” (which was first used to stress that woman’s everyday reality is informed and shaped by politics and is necessarily political) became a means of encouraging women to think that the experience of discrimination, exploitation, or oppression automatically corresponded with an understanding of the ideological and institutional apparatus shaping one’s social status. 

…They were encouraged to focus on giving voice to personal experience. Like revolutionaries working to change the lot of colonized people globally, it is necessary for feminist activists to stress that the ability to see and describe one’s own reality is a significant step in the long process of self-recovery; but it is only a beginning. When women internalized the idea that describing their own woe was synonymous with developing a critical political consciousness, the progress of feminist movement was stalled.

Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution 

Of Woman Born was both praised and attacked for what was sometimes seen as its odd-fangled approach: personal testimony mingled with research, and theory which derived from both. But this approach never seemed odd to me in the writing. What still seems odd is the absentee author, the writer who lays down speculations, theories, facts, and fantasies without any personal grounding. On the other hand, I have felt recently that the late 1960s Women’s Liberation thesis that “the personal is political” (which helped release this book into being) has been overlaid by a New Age blur of the-personal-for-its-own-sake, as if “the personal is good” had become the corollary and the thesis forgotten. Audre Lorde asks in a recent poem: 

What do we want from each other after we have told our stories do we want to be healed      do we want mossy quiet stealing over our scars do we want the all-powerful unfrightening sister who will make the pain go away the past be not so

The question of what do we want beyond a “safe space” is crucial to the differences between the individualistic telling with no place to go and a collective movement to empower women. 

Merve Emre, “Two Paths for the Personal Essay” 

For the women of [Deborah Nelson’s Tough Enough: Arbus, Arendt, Didion, McCarthy, Sontag, Weil], dwelling on the emotional effects of an experience often occluded painful reality, shrouding one’s objects of criticism behind the cheap veil of sentiment and self-regard. Bringing an audience to tears was a parlor trick that preyed on people’s perverse attraction to suffering—their ability to take any awful situation, no matter how remote, and make it about their uniquely hurt feelings. Yet pain and suffering were as ordinary as living and dying, and absent-minded feelings of woundedness and pity and even love were the most illusory ethical grounds on which to build a shared world. ...Unsentimentality had its rewards too. Time and again, I found myself moved by Nelson’s simple, yet powerful, insistence that we disentangle ethics from empathy so that we might see anew the obligations we have to each other and to the world we share. We see it in Weil’s “painful clarity”: her simple, yet brutal, prose style that stressed concrete detail over abstraction in her descriptions of factory work, and thus extended neither sympathy nor empathy to laborers but a far greater form of compassion: attention and intellectual honesty. We see it in Arendt’s “realism”: her insistence that building a shared world after Auschwitz requires steering clear of both boundless sympathy and the “mania for introspection”—a solipsism that denies the plurality of human experience by appointing the self the primary arbiter of what is worthy of attention. We see it in McCarthy’s “factuality”: a journalistic practice of perception that attempts to isolate the truth and, in the process, often alienates the writer from her political community. We see it in the cold gaze of Arbus’s camera when she turns it on her beloved “freaks”: a willed concession of artistic control that shows us how the experience of physical and intellectual limitations is the most normal thing of all. We see it in Sontag’s strict management of desire and Didion’s moral toughness in the face of death.

...Under what conditions should we care about the stories of other peoples’ lives? Why, especially, should we care about them as works of art? I think there is a lesson to be learned in recalling the barest definition of “care”: “To feel concern (great or little), trouble oneself, feel interest.” Nowhere does it specify what the character of care must be; how hot or how cold it must run to do some good in the world. One can, as Nelson has, build a very persuasive case for compassion that is based on thoughtfulness, particularity, intellectual honesty—a more persuasive case, even, than compassion based on the boundlessness of feeling.

[sayalibhokare]

Five Reasons Why E Health Software & Services Are Better

E-Health software and services that are used to store, record, transmit, and manage data connected to the delivery of healthcare services and the maintenance of medical records. E-health, according to Evers, is playing a significant role with the help of the internet.The use of digital technology in healthcare is referred to as eHealth (or e-health). The use of the Internet to provide healthcare services to IoT devices and mobile apps are all examples of eHealth. Software and services that handle, transmit, store, or record information used in the delivery of healthcare treatment, payment, or record keeping are referred to as eHealth applications. eHealth applications, for example, often use the Internet to transmit and retain patient data for a provider or payer.

Its types can vary depending on how eHealth is approached.

Telemedicine, for example, is a service given over the Internet.

Electronic health records, including the usage of Internet of Things (IoT) devices or those linked to smartphones.

by way of Bluetooth

Mobile applications for health monitoring and research are referred to as mHealth or m-health.

The lines are blurring, as the examples of eHealth applications curated in this article demonstrate. To overcome diverse challenges, several methods use more than one form of eHealth. Let’s try to understand the different types of healthcare software used by various healthcare providers.

different types of healthcare software

eHealth applications are available in a wide range of applications, devices, and form factors. Electronic health records (EHR) or electronic medical records (EMR) providers and software systems, such as EPIC EMR, as well as mobile health apps like Apple's new Healthkit and Health app, are all examples of eHealth.

E-health  software & Services advantages

EHRs offer a slew of benefits to medical practises.

Cost-cutting. EHRs reduce the quantity of documentation and storage space required because they are paperless.

Improved patient care. EHRs allow doctors to share crucial patient information. When all clinicians have access to the same data, they can improve overall care quality and reduce medical errors.

Providers and consumers alike benefit from electronic health records, which include improved service quality, increased convenience and efficiency, and access to federal financial incentives. However, there are a number of possible drawbacks to be mindful of, including inconvenients and inefficiencies, as well as privacy and cybersecurity risks, according to the potential to frighten patients unnecessarily, increased malpractice liability worries, and issues of cost, both in terms of time and money

5 Reasons why E-Health software & Services are better

Enabling quick access to patient records for more coordinated, efficient care o Providing accurate, up-to-date, and full information about patients at the point of care

Sharing electronic information with patients and other physicians in a secure manner

Assisting doctors in better diagnosing patients, reducing medical errors, and providing safer care.

Improving the patient-provider relationship as well as communication and health-care convenience

Reducing expenses by reducing paperwork, improving safety, reducing testing duplication, and improving health.

[jazzworldquest-blog]

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2021: Afrika Love, the breathtaking third album by Alchemy Sound Project

  Afrika Love, the breathtaking third album by Alchemy Sound Project, traverses boundaries of genre and geography

cebookwitterEmre

An ode to the grandeur of nature, reflections on relationships, and a pair of musical tributes comprise five eclectic, aurally compelling original works

Released May 14, 2021 via Artists Recording Collective

Alchemy is defined as “a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination” (Oxford English Dictionary). It’s hard to imagine a word that more aptly suits Alchemy Sound Project, a collective in which five esteemed composers and bandleaders — pianist Sumi Tonooka, woodwind players Salim Washington and Erica Lindsay, trumpeter Samantha Boshnack, and bassist David Arend — form a potent ensemble greater than the sum of its parts. A synergy that seems almost supernatural, especially given the far- flung home bases from which these artists converge, is evident throughout Afrika Love, the band’s third album, released May 14, 2021 via Artists Recording Collective.

Alchemy Sound Project formed in 2014, two years after the group’s members met in Los Angeles at the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute, where, over the course of a week, they learned to utilize Western classical music concepts and orchestration techniques. “We were five friends and colleagues who had all these similar connections,” Tonooka recalls, “and I wanted us to be able to extend what we do together musically, instead of leaning on other projects or other commissions — to set up our own small chamber group to play and record.” What resulted is a diverse, eclectic group that makes powerful, original music meant to blur the boundaries between notated composition and improvisation.

Sessions for Afrika Love took place in January 2018 in Conshohocken, PA. But the album’s title, borrowed from the composition that Washington contributed to the album, reflects the band’s keen awareness that this recording arrives in the wake of one of the most tumultuous years in recent U.S. history — a pivotal period in which race relations and social justice protests have taken center stage.

According to Tonooka, the band found the title “appropriate in terms of what’s happened with the Black Lives Matter movement, and with what the country still has to deal with in terms of conversations about racism and the aftermath of slavery, and the fact that we still haven’t gotten it together to really heal, because no one seems to talk about it in a way that is healing.” Seen in that light, the multi-gendered, multi-racial makeup of Alchemy Sound Project in itself offers an understated, buoyantly positive example of cooperation and mutual regard.

Given that each Alchemy member is so distinguished individually, it’s no surprise that their collective effort shines. Tonooka, who presently makes her home in Philadelphia, was a 2020 Painted Bride Composer Grant recipient, a 2019 Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant winner, and a 2018 Philadelphia Jazz Legacy awardee, among other accolades. Seattle resident Boshnack issued a debut album with her band, Seismic Belt, in 2019, and led the group in appearances at Winter Jazzfest, the Festival of New Trumpet Music, and Seattle’s Earshot Jazz Festival.

Arend settled in Los Angeles in 2018, just in time to see local screenings of Changyou’s Journey, a short film for which he served as composer and co-producer. After making his debut as acting principal bassist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, he completed his first major orchestral score. Lindsay, based in upstate New York, is an artist-in-residence at Bard College, teaching jazz composition and arranging as well as leading a contemporary-music ensemble, and in 2019 she was an artist-in-residence at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center. Washington, based in Durban, South Africa, leads a busy performance career with several respected groups — the newest, a quartet he leads jointly with piano prodigy Afrika Mkhize, in whose honor Washington penned the album’s title track.

Completing the lineup on Afrika Love are two versatile colleagues, trombonist Michael Ventoso a student of Lindsay’s who plays in both classical and jazz settings, and drummer Chad Taylor, a dynamic solo artist and bandleader, and cofounder of the renowned Chicago Underground Duo. The group elected Arend, a seasoned studio hand, to produce the album, which showcases one original composition by each member.

“The title says it all,” Arend says of “The Fountain,” which opens the album. “I was inspired to depict in music the imagery of a huge fountain of water, both the larger scale of gushing energies as well as the smaller scale of individual water droplets. Tightly organized at the beginning and end, the piece contains a central section that is pure free improvisation.” On this track, the musicians’ cohesive free play is bookended by curve-hugging tightness at the start and finish.

Tonooka says that in writing “Dark Blue Residue,” she was thinking about the aftermath of any experience that brings people together. “A relationship, it could be a group, it could be any social type of situation — the quality of what’s left behind is a sort of residue. People move on, people move forward, but there’s a residue that’s left. And dark blue has to do with the bittersweetness of that, when you’re left to reflect on what you have, and what you’ve done.” Throughout the piece, Arend slips seamlessly from classical arco playing with and among the winds and horns to a woody pizzicato throb beneath, lending nuance and dimension.

“Afrika Love” is Washington’s tribute to his South African compatriot, pianist Afrika Mkhize, son of renowned pianist-composer Themba Mkhize. “One day he called me up out of the blue, simply to say, ‘I love you,’” Washington relates. During their conversation, Mkhize talked about a distinctive pitch system native to Zulu musical tradition. “I began experimenting with this system, and decided to write a composition with it,” Washington says. An unaccompanied horn establishes the tone dramatically from the start, and the composer’s oboe soliloquy is a highlight of this rich, original conception.

“The Cadillac of Mountains” is about feeling awestruck in the face of nature’s grandeur, says Boshnack. “As a hiking enthusiast living in the dramatic environs of the Pacific Northwest, this composition conveys the inspiration I feel when enjoying the overwhelming beauty in the outside world.” The composer’s sky-scraping trumpet lines evoke heavenly expanses, which Washington’s plummy bass clarinet counters with elemental earthiness. Lindsay’s tenor sax solo conveys the composer’s passionate vision, while a contrasting section anchored by Tonooka and Arend evokes nature’s tendency toward unpredictable shifts. And not to be overlooked is Chad Taylor’s subtle and varied accompaniment.

A different sort of marvel animates “Kesii,” Lindsay’s sly, earthy closer. “I named this piece after a friend of mine who passed away this year at the age of 107,” she says. “The journey of life and the path it takes us on holds so much wonder and unexpected gifts.” The piece, she explains, is meant to evoke all the twists and turns a life can hold with a constantly changing series of moods, tones, and colors. “I took a 5/4 repeating clarinet phrase as a starting point, and let the music tell its own story,” Lindsay notes.

Each of these five compositions tells a story worth hearing. Together, they serve to remind the listener that, for all of its unanimity of spirit and intent, Alchemy Sound Project showcases five compelling individuals, each with their own powerful creative vision. The genuine magic in the band’s work is that artists so individually strong and distinctive can fold themselves into one another’s visions so completely and sympathetically. The result is alchemy at its finest.

alchemysoundproject.com

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[kieracesareo]

Blog 20

Theory of Social Media II

Before diving into social media and everything that comes along with that, it is important to understand how social media is defined. Social media can be defined “as web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system” (Boyd and Ellison, pg. 211, 2008). However, these interactions are not limited to digital communication, but that is what the increasingly popular medium used is, and will continue to be as we advance. When thinking about social media, the first thing that will pop into most people’s heads are traditional websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Technically, radio show calls, letters to editors, and journalism are forms of social media, just not the kind that would pop into someone’s head originally. Citizen’s journalism is something that has been around for a long time and is where “nonprofessional journalists produce and disseminate journalistic knowledge, has been vastly enabled by social media platforms” (Humphreys, 2016, pg. 70).  This type of communication can be online, but is not limited to, where users can build off each other's stories. 

A lot of people see stuff in the news and overlook it because it doesn’t seem to pertain to them on a daily basis. However, I personally believe social media is something everyone should pay attention to because whether we want it to or not, it is ingrained in the way society works. Social media is becoming something no one can ignore; especially in the younger, more digital generations. On a college campus, it can be assumed that more than 90% of a group of students are active on social media in some way. What likely happens in these situations is the concept of status is created. This concept is the relative place someone fits into within a social grouping (Weber, 1978). This deals with the petty, immature stuff that is associated with social media, like the amount of “likes” someone receives, followers, reposts, and attention their media created. In this instance, someone that has a lot of followers and receives a lot of likes is going to feel that they are superior and have a higher social status over someone who is less popular on social media. 

With the rise of social media, this tool is used on an individual basis and in groups. Collaboration is a common tool that can be found when looking online and through media. Collaborative production is a type of co-creation that happens when fans or community members collaborate on a product” (Humphreys, 2016, pg. 71). This type of production usually lures people in by them having an intrinsic interest to contribute to whatever task that may be, but there are downsides that come along with it. Two of the main ones are the fact that people’s motivations will wane if there is no sort of reward, and it is likely to fail without the proper organization and cooperation. A lot comes along with these types of collaborations, including the good and the bad. Most people are more likely to have some sort of social media account which gives them access to online groups that vary in range. On a positive note, a lot of social reform and change is pioneered through social media as a place to collect followers and establish a plan, whether that be a rally, informative messages, etc. These groups promote positively by being able to reach a large number of people, and can recruit others to join them. On the other hand, big groups of people can have negative effects too. Anger and rage are two issues that are commonly seen on the dark side of social media. This usually consists of online groups or communities that have some sort of toxic group mindset, which is increased through the filter bubble, and translates to real life events. The Incel Community is a great example of an online community gone wrong.

The name Incel comes from "involuntary celibates" and are members of an online subculture. The men who associate with this group think of themselves as unable to find a partner, whether that be sexual or romantic, despite all their efforts to do so; this state is described as inceldom. This community is easy to research and investigate as there are many online forums, Facebook groups, and YouTube videos openly describing their beliefs and the reasons behind them. Discussions in incel forums generally are fueled by resentment, misogyny, misanthropy, self-pity, self-hatred, racism, a sense of entitlement to sex, and violence against people that are sexual active. I believe that Incel user’s opinions are amplified through the “filter bubble” which is where people are exposed to limited information, often that is biased to their own views, that may result in political and cultural consequences. This holds true as there has been violence within the community that is supported by others, in turn creating a community of monsters. Engagement in this community can be measured through attention, engagement, and conversion. Attention is how much a site is visited and how many views it has, engagement can be seen through retweets, shares, and likes, and conversion is how many votes, downloads, purchases, and donations made to the specific organization. Although engagement can be vague, online content in communities often translates to real life behavior. Like a lot of online subcultures, incel communities have an extensive amount of trolling. These forums are mainly consistent with provocative comments to get a rise out of people, but despite that, experts on mass violence express concern by what they see from the incel community.

This is the type of community that uses social media to form mass hysteria. By taking a group of like-minded individuals and putting them together creates a monster. This relates back to the psychology concept of “groupthink” where in a group where everyone is participating in something, the individual loses sense of self and responsibility, and is more likely to participate in the activity. Unfortunately, this behavior is not specific to the Incel community, or just one community at all. The downsides of social media are shown through some communities like this. 

In today’s social media culture, a current big issue is not the coronavirus specifically, but the fake news that comes along with coronavirus. Fake news is a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of intentional disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional news media or online social media. This problem is everywhere and has been blurring the lines between fact and fiction. Fake news isn’t entirely new and has been a tactic used by the media to publish stories that have turned out to be untrue. A big concern about fake news is its ability to create an environment of distrust between Americans and their government and turning neighbor against neighbor. Regarding fake news, director-general of the World Health Organization said that “we’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic. Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous. And if we don’t tackle this, we are headed down a dark path that leads nowhere but division and disharmony” (Naughton, 2020, pg. 1). Not only is a war being fought against an invisible enemy, but also against fake news which is spreading as quickly as the virus. In any other situation, the dangers of fake news lean towards the political side and bashing candidates, but in this specific case with the coronavirus, fake news can cause actual deaths. Correct information that is published about this disease is crucial because people understand more about its effects, and precautions they can take to prevent getting infected. On the other hand, if this information is false, people don’t have an outlet to get current information which can be deadly, as new information about the virus comes out everyday. 

As time passes, I believe the human race will become even more immersed in social media, if possible, and leading us down the oath of becoming even more and more like a cyborg. This is significant as it changes everything; the way people communicate, process feelings, collect and process information, and operate on a day to day basis. As this sounds like it comes with a negative connotation, I do believe there can be pros in all this. Communication can be quicker than ever, information can be accessed even more than it has been resulting in a world that is run simultaneously by humans and by bots. 

  References

Boyd, D., & Ellison, N. (2010). Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 38(3), 16–31. doi: 10.1109/emr.2010.5559139

Humphreys, A. (2016). Social media: enduring principles. New York: Oxford University Press.

[heartlesslywhumping]

Head injuries: A rundown for whumpers

Part Three

Hello again! Welcome to part three of my very dry and boring research compiled. As always, proceed at your own discretion. 

DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional, do not look to this post for professional advice or treatment. Occasionally I consult with my EMR certified friends and family but the majority of the information I am sharing has been gathered from going down Google rabbit holes. Most of my research came from authorized medical websites but the internet is the internet. All of this will be lovely for creative purposes but not for real life application

Boredom Disclaimer: This is probably going to be suuuuper dry and boring. I try to keep it short and relevant but who knows how well I actually do there.

Today we are discussing 

Non-Traumatic Brain Injuries

The “trauma” in TBI refers to physical trauma, not psychological trauma. Non-traumatic brain injuries can be every bit as emotionally challenging as traumatic ones. They also demand prompt treatment.  These guys just have brief descriptions as some are fairly common knowledge and others just don’t exhibit that many symptoms and whatnot.

Infections

Brain infections can occur through many processes. Sometimes a serious infection spreads through the blood to the brain, damaging brain tissue. In other cases, a brain injury makes it easier for bacteria to get into the brain, undermining brain function and health. One of the most common brain infections, meningitis, occurs in both a bacterial form and viral form. A related condition, encephalitis, causes damage similar to that associated with a brain infection. Encephalitis is swelling of the brain tissue. The swelling itself can impede brain function until it goes down. Swelling may also damage surrounding brain tissue, or result in other problems, such as loss of oxygen to the brain or fluid on the brain. Brain swelling is often the product of an infection, but can also be due to an untreated autoimmune disorder, cancer, and even some allergic reactions.

Tumors

Not all brain tumors are cancerous, but even benign tumors can cause brain damage. When a brain tumor pushes on a region of the brain or deprives it of oxygen, function may be impaired. Sometimes removing the tumor fixes the problem, but brain surgery is a risky undertaking. In some cases, the damage might already have been done.

Strokes

A stroke is a cardiovascular event that temporarily cuts off blood supply to the brain. In most cases, it's due to a blood clot that narrows a vein or artery or travels to a region that affects blood flow to the brain.

Locked-in Syndrome

Locked-in syndrome is often caused by a stroke, and results in brain damage so significant that the survivor cannot speak or move, but may be able to move the eyes. Consciousness remains fully in tact, so the victim of such an injury is quite literally locked into their brain.

Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM)

AVM is a condition that causes blood vessels to malform. Sometimes the blood vessels are in the brain. Though the condition is often congenital, most people don't know they have it until the malformed blood vessels cause a problem—either by cutting off blood supply, rupturing, or pushing on part of the brain. When this occurs, injuries range from minor dizziness to catastrophic, including strokes and other life-threatening events.

Loss of Oxygen

Minor brain damage may begin as early as one minute into the oxygen deprivation, while lasting and severe damage requires only four minutes of oxygen deprivation. At the four to six minute mark, oxygen deprivation becomes fatal.

The brain can be deprived of oxygen in many ways, including:

Drowning

Choking

Anaphylactic shock

Allergic reactions to various substances

Drug and alcohol overdoses

Physical assaults

Strokes

Symptoms/effects include:

headache

difficulty coordinating balance

blurred vision in one or both eyes

milder vision problems

seizures

changes in sensory perception

trouble speaking and swallowing          

changes in sleep pattern

lack of bowel and bladder control

changes in sexual function

motor impairment

personality changes

difficulty forming sentences

confusion

trouble communicating

difficulty with reason, focus and logic

memory impairments

depression

poor concentration

mood swings

limited attention span

disorientation

forgetfulness

acting inappropriately

Encephalitis

Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain. It is caused either by an infection invading the brain (infectious encephalitis) or through the immune system attacking the brain in error (post-infectious or autoimmune encephalitis).

Most people with viral encephalitis have mild flu-like symptoms, such as:

Headache

Fever

Aches in muscles or joints

Fatigue or weakness

Sometimes the signs and symptoms are more severe, and might include:

Confusion, agitation or hallucinations

Seizures

Loss of sensation or paralysis in certain areas of the face or body

Muscle weakness

Problems with speech or hearing

Loss of consciousness