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chaiwu1314 · 3 years

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After washing my hair, I just grabbed it, and a handful of hair tinted down. Why is the hair loss so serious?

Generally, the hair that falls off normally is the hair in the anagen phase and the telogen phase. Since the hair entering the anagen phase and the newly entering the growth phase are constantly in dynamic balance, a normal amount of hair can be maintained. Although I usually lose my hair, I feel that my hair is falling more severely recently. What causes serious hair loss? We listed the seven major causes of hair loss.

1 Too much cold drinks Studies have found that if you eat too much ice cream and other cold drinks in summer, your hair is easy to fall out. Therefore, the first thing to take care of your hair in summer is not to eat too much cold drinks, you can drink more boiled water.

2 Reduced nutrient intake Protein is an important substance necessary for hair production and nourishment, but due to the sultry weather, people like light food, and the intake of meat food is relatively reduced. If the body's protein supply is insufficient, hair will fall off easily. Therefore, in summer, you should pay attention to protein intake, and eat more foods that contain iron, calcium, vitamin A, etc. that have a nourishing effect on the hair, such as milk, eggs, lean meat, fish, soy products, and sesame seeds.

3 Excessive heat radiation In summer, ultraviolet rays hit the head directly, and thermal radiation can cause strong irritation to the skin of the human head, causing damage to the hair. Therefore, you should protect your hair like the skin, avoid sun exposure to the head, and less activity in the sun. When going out, it is best to wear a sun hat or hold a parasol.

4 Frequent inflammation Folliculitis, furuncle, and carbuncle are prone to occur on the scalp in summer, which can make the hair base unstable and easily cause hair loss. In summer, you should pay attention to clean hair and wash your hair frequently. When washing your hair, rub your scalp with the tips of your fingers to promote blood circulation in the head. Do not scratch your scalp with your nails.

5 stay up late Studies have shown that hair loss has no obvious relationship with the length of sleep, but it may be related to sleep quality. The time to fall asleep at night is related to hair loss. People who often stay up late and work overtime are prone to hair loss. Long-term tension, anxiety, and fatigue make the quality of sleep worse and can also aggravate hair loss. Therefore, improving living habits, maintaining a relaxed state of mind, and improving sleep quality can help improve hair loss.

6 smoking Smoking is one of the risk factors for hair loss, but which harmful substances in cigarettes have a destructive effect on hair follicles needs to be further scientifically verified.

7 Chinese medicine believes that there are two reasons for hair loss, one is blood heat and wind dryness, blood heat is partial, yin blood is consumed, blood tiger generates wind, and yin blood is damaged. The second is the dampness and heat of the spleen and the stomach, the spleen is weak, and the spleen is weak. It will eat the fat and sweet taste, which will damage the stomach and damage the spleen. . However, Chinese medicine uses different reasons and performance characteristics to dialectically treat and regulate organs, so as to nourish hair roots and regenerate hair.

How to prevent hair loss on diet

Eat more vegetables to prevent constipation. It is necessary to insist on eating more grains and fruits all year round. If the intake of vegetables is reduced, it is easy to cause constipation and "stain the blood", which affects the quality of hair. Hemorrhoids can also accelerate hair loss on the top of the head.

Supplement iron. People with frequent hair loss often lack iron in their bodies. Iron-rich foods include soybeans, black beans, eggs, octopus, shrimp, cooked peanuts, spinach, carp, bananas, carrots, potatoes, etc.

Supplement plant protein. With dry hair and split ends, you can eat more soybeans, black sesame seeds, corn and other foods.

Eat more fresh vegetables and fruits that contain alkaline substances. One of the factors for hair loss and yellowing of hair is the acidic toxins in the blood, which is caused by excessive physical and mental fatigue, long-term overeating of pure sugars and fatty foods, causing acid toxins in the metabolic process of the body. The acidic substances in foods such as liver, meat, onions, etc. are likely to cause excessive acid toxins in the blood, so eat less.

Supplement iodine. The luster of the hair is related to the function of the thyroid gland. Iodine supplementation can enhance the secretory function of the thyroid gland, which is conducive to the health of the hair. Eat more kelp, seaweed, oysters and other foods.

Supplement vitamin E. Vitamin E can resist hair aging, promote cell division, and make hair grow. Eat more fresh lettuce, cabbage, black sesame, etc.

Hair-growth black beans: 500 grams of black beans, 1000 ml of water (1/4 amount in summer). Wash the black beans, put them in a casserole, add water, and simmer until the beans are saturated with water. Then take out the black beans, sprinkle a little salt, and store in a porcelain bottle. Take 6 grams each time, 2 times a day after meals, with warm water. This recipe has the effect of hair growth and hair care.

Ten secret tricks

Combing hair in the morning and evening: Combing hair a hundred times a day in the morning and evening can stimulate the scalp and improve the ventilation between the hair. Since the scalp is a place where sweating and soiling are easy, combing hair diligently can help prevent hair loss and dandruff.

Change the direction of combing: If the direction of combing remains the same, the part where the hair slits are separated will be particularly dry or thin due to the fact that they are often exposed to sunlight. Sometimes you may wish to change the direction of hair separation to help avoid hair loss.

Head massage: Head massage is best for adolescent hair loss, because head massage can promote blood circulation, make hair soft, improve metabolism, and promote hair development. The method of massage is to rub or tighten the hair with fingers. Before massage, apply hair oil on the scalp to prevent hair loss.

Salt water prevention and treatment of hair loss method: Dissolve 100-150 grams of salt in a half bowl of warm water, soak it in the hair, rub it for a few minutes, add appropriate amount of shampoo and continue washing, and then rinse it twice with water. Once a week, 2 to 3 times can be effective.

Pay attention to drying your hair reasonably: wet hair is fragile and fragile, so when you dry hair, it is advisable to press and pat dry with a dry towel instead of rubbing it with a towel. The high heat of the hair dryer can damage the hair. When using it, the blowing temperature should be low but not high. Note that the hair that is still dripping and has been dried is not suitable for drying. It is best to let the hair dry naturally.

Wash your hair frequently: The best interval between washing your hair is 2-5 days. While shampooing, you need to rub and massage at the same time, which can keep the scalp clean and invigorate the blood.

Do not use strong degreasing or alkaline shampoos: These shampoos are highly degreasing and dehydrating, and are easy to cause dry hair and scalp necrosis. You should choose an acid-free natural shampoo that is non-irritating to the scalp and hair, or choose according to your own hair quality.

Eliminate mental depression: unstable mental state, daily anxiety can cause hair loss, the deeper the depression, the faster the hair loss. For women, with a busy life and maintaining a proper amount of exercise, their hair will be radiant and black and full of vitality. Contrary to men, the more stressful life and the busier the work, the higher the chance of hair loss. Therefore, frequent deep breathing, walking, relaxing gymnastics, etc. can eliminate the mental fatigue of the day.

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soranoportfolio · 7 years

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Short Story: “A Future Day”

6 AM

Sun peered through the window into Ashe’s bedroom. The slow, lingering, early morning rays of light pierced through the blinders. The alarm rang, throwing a tantrum and making its presence known. Interrupted from a dreamless sleep, Ashe woke up. She still wasn’t used to the nagging little clicks in her lower jaw bone when loud noises triggered her bone conduction sound implant. Laying in bed, looking up at the ceiling half-asleep and annoyed, she squeezed the nail on her left index finger. The muting effect slowly unraveled over her, sound briefly splashing the nerves enveloping her skull until her senses snapped back into place.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. This was a terrible, bad, horrible idea. ”

Ashe started her new day shift at the coffee shop in a few hours. Better hours, longer days. More money, less free time, hopefully leading to less opportunities to actually spend the money. A weird bit of preemptive responsibility on her part. All of her friends had told her she was going to be miserable, even if it finally meant having savings. It would be a change in the right direction for once.

“I can do this. Yup, yup. Just have to… get… up?

Ashe grabbed the nearest pillow, covered her face with it, let out a muffled scream and then threw it at the wall, not noticing nearly hiting her favorite idol band poster. With her nerves calmed, she got up and walked into the bathroom, undressed, got into the shower unit and activated it. The gas surrounded her, cleaning and disinfecting her. This was her first apartment to have the new carbon dioxide shower models. She considered them weird at first, but they saved so much time and energy in the end.

“Hmmm. Lavender. Smells like grandma”, she reminisced.

She went back to her room and got dressed. Bland, practical clothing with nothing overly fancy, but with a few accessories and color help her get an extra boost of confidence. She moved into the kitchen to get her primary CRISPRs for the day. “One little pill a day, to keep all the bad stuff away”, as the jingle went. Still in her early twenties, she only had to take half a dozen her so. Her parents in their mid-fifties were up to twenty a day. She looked at her container.

“Let’s see here… hmmm. I think this should be it.”

One to suppress genetic diseases. One to allow to function on four hours of sleep (which had the neat side-effect of making her hair a wonderful tint of fuschia). One to keep airborne pollution from affecting her. One to power her implants and small nearby electronics. One for daily basic cancer and radiation protection. The last one enabled her to fart on cue when she focused on something. Useful for escaping unwanted attention or the odd bad date.

After a last pass through her apartment, she grabbed her things, entered the combination lock behind her and left.

7 AM

She exited her building. The streets had been cleansed and were permeated with that nice iodine smell she liked. Casually looking up at the sky, something immediately caught her eye.

“Those red clouds are something new, that’s for sure. Nice tint! Not the choice I would have picked, though.”

She’d read the news about the color tests they’d be doing over the next few weeks has Summer was approaching. Ashe was still confounded by them. Some sort of new code system to help residents identify which counter-pollutants the city would be deploying on a daily basis. This sought to protect and minimize harm to the growing mass of urban residents. With cities nowadays served by direct electricity conduction, meaning power transfer without wired conduction required, most air pollution came from outside urban areas carried by freak weather patterns. The CRISPR fees for adaptation to them were hurting, which was another reason to start those 12 hour days. Plus, it meant less random chance at bodily harm from strangers while doing regular night shifts.

“Morning!”, she hollered at the ticketer whilst flashing her badge and entering the metro tunnel. Walking down the stairs from each level, she quickly heard an incoming train and dashed to catch it in time. Nearly tripping on entry, she ran headfirst into the wagon as the door opened to not even risk missing it.

“Small victories. Maybe this’ll be the greatest day yet”, she thought to herself sitting down in the bench.

Even though she lived on the outskirts of the city, the metro was strangely empty going downtown for a Monday morning. She figured she missed a city festival announcement. Not like being in the service industry afforded her the luxury of regular time off to attend.

With the trip to work longer than hour, Ashe set her alarm back on, toggled mute on her sound implant and dozed off.

9 AM

Ashe walked into the coffee shop. A little hole-in-the-wall counter just serving coffee, with space for a few table and a single line, few windows and stuck between two massive buildings. A cute arrangement, even though the mood tended to be more ominous than endearing. As she entered, she immediately spotted her co-worker, the night shift barista, on the verge of collapse.

“Oh shit. Are you okay?”, she asked. “You look flushed and all purple in the face. What the hell man? What’d did you take?” as she approached to check him out.

“Oh?. I took a plant protein pill to stay awake. Seems like there was a bad mix with one of my CRISPRs.”, Drew replied alarmingly casual about the whole affair. “I’ll just pick up a ReSet cocktail on my way home. It’s fine. It’s happened before. Please do not worry about it.”

“Ok… if you say so… d… d-Donovan…?”, going off a leap to get his name right. She could never remember men’s names for some reason. They kind of all blurred together.

“Drew. It’s Drew. Look… I - we’ve been switching shifts off and on the past six months.”

“Shitshitshit. I am so, so, sorry dude”, she replied while bobbing her head awkwardly.

Ashe was annoyed. Why couldn’t she basically remember one of her only five co-workers in this place? Like all businesses this place never even closed anymore. Better to leave the production uninterrupted and have staff just rotate in and out. Most people did not even sleep much these days, due to cheap sleep-suppressant CRISPRs being in circulation. It wasn’t even a big deal unless certain individuals decided to bring the issue up with workplace.

“You know what? I’ll let you do clean-up and prep. Have fun with that!”, said bluntly Drew as he bolted out the door.

“C-c-cheers!”, hummed Ashe, not sure if Drew even heard her.

Done with embarrassing herself, she moved on to start her shift. The shop always hit a lull between 9 and 10 AM, as those times was when the neighboring offices switch their shifts as well. She opened the windows to let more sunlight, taking the time to get a good whiff of scented Spring air the city was distributing. She then turned to prepping the shop for the inevitable 10 am rush. Cleaning everything, repacking coffee grounds and drinks and making sure the place was presentable. That last part was puzzling to Ashe. “It’s not like anyone notices the decor.”, she mumbled.

10 AM

She was not ready for daytime. The rhythm was incessant and brutal. What was taxing wasn’t the influx of bodies, the noise, the smell and the accumulating sweat, but the coordination to manage it all. The stimuli and stress were simply too much.

“I apologize to whomever I offended in a previous life. This is garbage”, she thought as waves of panic rushed over her.

The coffee and service had to be perfect. If her public reviews hit the gutter or someone was feeling snappy, she could get demoted or fired. Her employer had barely met her in person. All of the hiring process had been done online. Sacking an employee that was risking business was more than common practice, it was welcomed rigor amongst employers. Plenty of bodies lining up to man the stations. Making coffee for another human being, as it turns out, simply hadn’t been cut out for automation. Not for lack of trying.

“Here’s your Americano. Have a great day”, Ashe smiled as she handed the 16th cup of coffee she had done that in less than 30 minutes.

She had trouble keeping up. The coffee had to be good and the service had to be impeccable. As her energy and will wavered, a creeping thought appeared.

“Oh dang. Do I still have AdrenaLines?”, she whispered. She excused herself from the counter for a brief second between customers and rushed into the backstore to sift through various containers.

“Oh Christ. Thankyousomuch!”, Ashe genuinely prayed.

She hastily masticated, broke down and swallowed every morsel of the golf ball-sized pill. The texture was unto bone meal, tasted all like chalk and was generally unpleasant to the average person. Ashe damned her brain however, because the aftereffects made the entire process such a rush to her system. She counted to three, took in a deep breath and she was off. Neuroreceptors firing at full force as the adrenaline started coursing through her veins. Snapping back to reality, she started hearing chatter from the front.

“Anyone here…? Hello?!?”, a customer asked.

“I’m coming. Here! Hello. Hi-yes-can-I take your order today?” she blurted out.

“Ooooh. I remember this! One… filter to go, right?” She remembered the man’s order from the few times she’d done mornings in the past. “Amazing. Yes! Thank you so much!”. The man left satisfied, leaving an unusually large tip to reward her for being so attentive. He had barely noticed a change in her attitude.

The rest of the morning blurred together as Ashe frantically took orders. The upside was that AdrenaLines were prohibitively expensive from over-the-counter use. Luckily, this coffee shop job had set her up a direct work account, as was becoming increasingly common in industries necessitating quick and repetitive human interaction. Downside was that she was going have a pretty unpleasant morning tomorrow. Her implants and CRISPRS were fine with mild adrenaline boosts. Not everyone had the luxury. It was her endocrine system that was still appalled by the experience and hated her for it. Over the next few days she’d have varying synaptic responses, cracks in her voice and if very unlucky: temporary diabetes.

“This is fine. I can do this”, she hoped.

12 AM

The rush finally ended. The shop only serving coffee, on the minute lunch break started customers stopped pouring in frantically. Her nightmare was over. Ashe finally had a moment to spare and collect her thoughts. The effect of the AdrenaLines, sustaining themselves on metabolic nerve activity, began wearing off. As her stress diminished. everything came back into normal focus. Nevertheless, she continued serving regular coffee and drinks to the odd outside lunch-goer desiring a small drink with their food. The noon heat rushed through the door and Ashe noticed the city had starting spreading the midday scent. Today was lilac. It was soon after a familiar face walked in.

“Hey you. How’s the high life? I heard you were barista-ing earlier from now on. You handling it alright?

“First: Hi-iiii Jeremy. Second: fuck off and learn some grammar would you? What’s your order today?”, she replied playfully.

“Mornings make you salty. Check your sleep CRISPR cause it’s obviously messing with your mood.”

“No. Everything’s fine. New shift, new apartment, new audio implant. Really. What’ll you drink?”

She was annoyed. Jeremy was nice, but he had the infuriating tendency to never stay on topic. Other customers could come in at any moment and she couldn’t be caught doing favoritism or idly chit-chatting.

“Filter dark roast. Two sugars and one enriched milk. Largest format you’ll have”, he informed her with child-like excitement.

“Coming right up - How’s school these days?”, she inquired to pass the time. Her crankiness was rising proportionally to the AdrenaLines coming down.

“It’s f-f-fine. I’m passing. I’m mediocrely averaging across every subject. If I keep this up I’ll likely graduate as the most average man to ever finish with a biochem masters ever.”

“Oh same. Well… not really. I understand”, Ashe observed.

For some bitter reason, she casually slipped some coffee grounds in Jeremy’s drink. She had no idea why, but it proved very cathartic in the moment.

“Here’s your large filter, sir. May it serve your apprenticeship well”, she said with an old British accent.

“Yeah. It was worth the detour. This place is nice and your coffee isn’t full-bad”, Jeremy thanked her.

“Thank you for the compliment, sir. I also suggest you change majors because your english puns are the worst”, she answered back,

“Bye Ashe. See you at Gita’s shindig later this week!” Jeremy hollered as he spinned around from the counter and out through the door.

To her horror, Ashe then remembered she hadn’t texted her old roommate Gita or any of her friends in over six days. She only had been working, commuting and sleeping.

2 PM

After a sudden post-lunch streak of customers had come and gone, Ashe started to get peckish. Then it her she had forgotten to bring her lunch, leaving her in a bit of a bind.

“We don’t serve food. Heck. I thought of everything up to this EXCEPT food?”, she dreadfully thought.

She couldn’t afford yet the brand new hunger-reducing CRISPRs that made service jobs more tolerable. Not that it mattered in the long term. Being the only employee, she couldn’t leave or close down shop. She would have to improvise and go hunting in the backroom.

After rummaging for a few minutes, hoping that no customers would walk in, leave and report her, she found quite the surprise.

“Oh man. I thought these all expired and were now maybe… illegal for sale? Is that it?” she said to herself out loud. Her nerves were strained and hunger was getting to her. A stomach cramp echoed within her.

She had discovered a box of meat protein pills. Probably one of the last batch ever shipped to stores and automated dispensaries, she figured. The city had introduced a commercial ban on these in an attempt to boost the economy support the local algae and miscellaneous microbiome farmers.

“Oooh you cow pills are going to save me, but first -”

She rushed back to the front of the store, served a woman a latté and immediately checked the shop’s inventory on the local network. If the meat protein pills had been banned, the store might not track them anymore and she’d have a well-earned free lunch.

“Oh… darn.”

Ashe’s gut dropped from the news. They were still tracked. She’d have to pay for them or otherwise it’d be labeled as theft if a random inventory search detected any discrepancies. It was her first day on the new shift, so until she figured out the inventory management system, she’d have to make do. Resigned, she transferred money to her account (using the generous tip from earlier) and completed the required transactions. Lunch was mediocrely served.

“One day, I’ll crime this place. Just you wait”, she muttered as she chomped down on the pills.

“Wow. These taste like ass. Like poop from a demon.”

She took the opportunity to check the label again. They had expired a week ago.

5 PM

The day continued on. In hindsight this day had been much more eventful than most workdays in a long time. In the past she could have afforded to daydream and zone out into her work. Today had been nothing but rushes, fancy custom orders she hated making, stress and one “friend” she had been petty to for no rational reason. At that moment five blabbing female customers walked in, likely from the nearby offices, interrupting her impending self-loathing.

“Hello ladies! What can I get you to help kickstart your evening?”

The tallest and loudest in the front replied: “Oh! hmm. Soy lattes? Hows does that sound everybody?” The other women agreed almost instantly in awkward manner. Did they not know each other well? They all seemed to defer authority to the one doing the coffee order. Avoid her gaze, speaking almost exclusively her attributes or always checking for her approval. It was a tense situation and Ashe wanted this moment to be over as soon as possible.

“You got it!“, she answered back. A few minutes of steam and froth later, she handed the piping hot cups to each of them single-handedly.

“Bye precious!”, the tall woman said to Ashe, commanding to her flock to exit the coffee shop.

After that bizarre occurrence, another customer walked into view, nearly avoiding the exiting ladies. He was exactly her type: same age (if not older), short and slim, stout build, light-dark skin, scruffy hair combed on the side. If he had an attitude to match, she was done for.

“Hello! Nice night! What are you looking for?”, staring in embarrassment after realizing the total euphemism she’d slipped to a complete stranger.

“Coffee would be nice? Flat white, but can you please add a layer of cinnamon in the middle?”

“Nooooo problem. It’d be my pleasure.” Ashe kept smiling begrudgingly. She hated doing these type of specificities, but desperately wanted to learn more about him.

Feeling inquisitive while doing his order, she asked: “Busy evening? Where are you heading?”. Ashe particularly wanted to know where he lived. Hopefully not too far from her.

“Home! To the mountains. Done with the day shift ‘round here”, he casually replied to her.

“Wait-what? Really? That’s almost 2 hour train from the edge of the city!”. Ashe understood this implied at least a 6 hour of transit a day.

“You got it. Is the coffee almost done? I really gotta run to catch the train miss!”, he asked while tapping his foot.

“Here’s your coffee. I mixed some cardamom with it. Hope you like it!” Ashe said, all smiles, teeth and flashing eyebrows at him.

“Uh. Yeah… bye now!”. The man left, sympathetic but obviously unnerved by Ashe’s rather inelegant flirtation.

9 PM

The minute the clock hit nine, Ashe’s will started to fade. The day had been long. The night shift person would be here any minute. She started prepping, cleaning and packing for the evening. Night time customers were sporadic, so she had ample time to repack all the unused coffee and tools in the back with minutiae.

She heard the bell on the door. A person walked in and her gut dropped. The smell overpowered the natural coffee odor of the entire place. A mix of wet socks, toenails and melted cheese that you could taste. The carrier of the odors were in horrible shape, literally. Crooked limbs bending oddly, patches of vivid colors tinting their hair and skin. They had trouble standing. Ashe only figured they had been mixing off-brand CRISPRs, alcohol and not eating at regular intervals. In the case of the latter, the genetic mods inside each CRISPR wouldn’t have the calories needed to transfer RNA chains correctly, leading to rather horrifying cell corruption.

“G-g-ot any g-ff-food?”, they gurgled gutturally at Ashe.

She didn’t know what to do. This was a person in need, probably living on the streets and exposed to who knows what. She hated the awkwardness and it was against store policy to give stuff away. All transactions were tracked to her ID during her shifts. Panicking, she threw some of her leftover meat protein pills at them, screaming: “HERE! PROTEIN! GO! AWAY!”

While the pills flew in the air and landed, Ashe hid behind the counter. As she sat on the ground, she inadvertently triggered her distraction CRISPR. Farts flew in every direction, bringing no levity or solace to the situation. She had no clue on how to proceed or how to avoid getting hurt, but now also smelled like . She was full-time, but her training had been for coffee not haphazard social work.

A few minutes passed. The door remained open, as she heard regular noise from the street. After a On all fours, she slowly revealed herself from behind the counter. At that exact moment, her replacement came in and stared her down.

“What ARE you doing? What happened? Is the floor okay? Are YOU okay? Please say the milk frothers aren’t busted again.”, Burt asked.

Ashe stood up, tried to regain some dignity and sighed despondently.

“Heyyyy Burt. Yeah I’m fine. Someone came in begging and I couldn’t give them anything. Also today was shit… so I panicked?”

“Yeah sure. That happens. They often come out at night. Most people without UV traits to care for their skin don’t make it far these days. Solar radiation messes you up long-term. ”, Burt replied with concern.

“Tell me about it. I can barely keep up myself. Look… mind finishing? I’ll owe you one?”, she pleaded.

“It’s fine, go. I’ve done double shifts. They’ll mess you up! Congrats on surviving, by the way.”

“You’re the best, man!”. Ashe grabbed her things, scuffled Burt’s hair has she dashed for the exit and ran to the nearest metro station with glee.

11 PM

Ashe arrived home, threw her things and crashed into bed. She didn’t bother to either undress or eat. She was done. Today had been so bad she figured she would need at least 6 hours to fully function the next day. Her nervous system was twitching with regular pulses, which signified acute exhaustion. She turned over, touched her left index finger and after a moment the world was drowned out once again by silence. Closing her eyes, she realized: tomorrow would be the same thing all over again. Same work, same pressure, same smells, people and pills.

The End

#writing #short story

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courtneytincher · 5 years

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A Missile Explosion, a Radiation Spike, and Kremlin Secrecy Bring Back Memories of Chernobyl

Sputnik Photo Agency/ReutersMOSCOW—Not much has changed in Russia since Soviet authorities hid the truth about the nuclear catastrophe in Chernobyl more than three decades ago. At the time, Soviet military commanders, KGB generals and Communist Party leaders were terrified they’d get sacked or end up in the Gulag if the truth came out, so they preferred to lie to the public, delaying the evacuation when radiation equivalent of 500 Hiroshima bombs was released into the atmosphere. Today, it seems the generals of President Vladimir Putin’s Russia have not learned the dangers of such deceptions: on Thursday the government’s news agency TASS published false reports by the Ministry of Defense about a “normal radioactive level” in the Arkhangelsk region, while Geiger counters indicated a far different picture. ‘This Is Our Brothers’ Grave’: Chernobyl Survivors Watch HBO Series in HorrorIn spite of internet censorship, residents of Nyonoksa, Severodvinsk, and Arkhangelsk near the White Sea in northern Russia received plenty of information from social media–something the victims of Chernobyl did not have.While the official military reports over the last few hours talked about a liquid-fueled rocket catching fire and its engine exploding, independent reports alarmed the public with news of a spike in radiation levels. “I first learned about the accident from the ‘Mash’ Telegram channel,” says Nadezhda Lyzhnikova, a reporter at the online magazine Ecology of Primorye based in Arkhangelsk. (Last year authorities banned Telegram, an encrypted message service but millions of users continue to use it as an independent source of information.)The post Lyzhnikova read on Mash said: “There is a proving ground for nuclear powered missiles near Nyonoksa, where the explosion took place, and for nuclear submarines.” Mash also said there were 15 victims and not the eight reported by state controlled media.* * *Searching for Answers* * *Even when 24 hours had passed after the explosion, nobody could give Aleksei Redford, a journalist writing under a pseudonym at the online news outlet STV in Severodvinsk, an adequate explanation on what had exploded in the White Sea on Thursday.Redford first learned about the increasing radiation from the Center of Public Defense group in his town. “We are asking the military, we are asking the administration where that radiation was from, why it increased for 30 minutes in our town but there is still zero information about the cause,” Redford told The Daily Beast on Friday.State television was sticking to the official line coming from the Ministry of Defense and did not report on the spike of radiation. Local authorities in Severodvinsk first acknowledged an increase in ambient radiation but then their own press release denied that on Friday. “The young secretary in the office must have been scared,” Lyzhnikova suggested. Just like bureaucrats in the USSR, Russian officials seem to be more serious about their jobs than about transparency, social awareness and public security.For a few hours after the accident, millions of Russians saw a map on Channel One as it aired images of the explosion that had allegedly occurred at the Defense Ministry’s base in Nyonoksa by the White Sea. Other Russian media publications speculated about explosions during the tests of the Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile.Another Telegram channel, called Baza, said that the Russian military refused to accept the offered help from the Ministry of Emergency Situations and preferred to keep complete control the rescue operation themselves.The map of Russian military bases is so vast it looks like almost a separate secret state inside the state. Nyonoksa is a closed military town with a population of fewer than 2,000 people. It is situated less than 40 kilometers away from the city of Severodvinsk. To visit the secret town, one needs to apply for a special pass at least one week before the trip, but there is little chance a random traveller, especially a foreign one, would be allowed to come in. Severodvinsk, with a population of about 189,000 also is famous for its military industry, but even for residents used to secrecy it was amusing to see the contradictory reports on the state TV channel and then read a press release on the site of the local administration about the radiation spike.“Putin’s friend Sergei Shoigu, the minister of defense, tests the latest masterpieces in the Arkhangelsk region,” Alexander Golts, a well respected military expert, tells The Daily Beast. Among them is the Burevestnik missile system, which is nuclear powered and supposed to have virtually unlimited range. “So of course it is concerning to see the radiation increase in that particular area,” says Golts.The NATO designation for the Burevestnik is Skyfall. In March, CNBC cited a U.S. intelligence report that claimed the experimental missile had yet to fly more than 22 miles. * * *Cold War Thinking* * *Russian military commanders present the current geopolitical situation as a new Cold War deliberately inspired by United States. The Americans “seeking a dominant position in everything, including the military domain,” the head of Russian National Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, told reporters earlier this month. Putin Claimed His Hypersonic Missiles Were Invincible. Then He Jailed the Developers.Patrushev criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for abandoning the intermediate nuclear forces (INF0 disarmament treaty, at the same time insisting, “Our newly developed weapons allow us to have a dialogue with the U.S. to argue for the interests that we have.”In fact many Russians do welcome the army reform and applaud the newly developed weapons shown at military parades on Red Square every year–as long as the breakthrough military experiments do not endanger them or their loved ones. But when something goes wrong, it’s hard to hide in an era of smartphones and street journalism, when millions of Russians become their own reporters and researchers looking for verifiable facts.It would have been impossible for the Russian military to keep the explosion of an ammunition depot near Achinsk a secret earlier this week. On Monday, Instagram bloggers posted still pictures and videos of a series of massive blasts that destroyed homes and led to the evacuation of 16,500 people from the area. But closed military towns are still well sealed and little or no information leaks out. Most probably we are never going to find out what exactly what caused the spike of radiation in Severodvinsk. “The Ministry of Defense has monopolized all the information about the secret tests,” says Golts. “They have not revisited their approach to censorship for years.”Greenpeace experts asked several Russian ministries and state institutions about a more serious study of the accident in Arkhangelsk region. “The analyses we see indicates that the situation might have been much more serious, since inhaled radionuclides might continue to damage, so we need more detailed data from the actual area of the accident,” Rashid Alimov, a senior nuclear campaigner with Greenpeace Russia told The Daily Beast.Although life in Severodvinsk is going back to normal, local people have stocked up on medicine–especially iodine to protect their thyroid glands from radiation–just in case.“Our reporters have checked: there are no iodine tablets, no potassium iodine left at drug stores in Severodvinsk,” Redford told The Daily Beast. But that’s not all that’s been flying off the shelves. “Red wine and vodka were also in high demand yesterday,” he said. In addition to the usual effects, said Redford, “People believe alcohol helps to scavenge free radicals”–that is, protect cells from damage due to radioactive exposure. Meanwhile, he said, “Somebody instructed kindergartens to keep all windows and doors shut, which of course would not help against the radiation.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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