#infectious-disease modeler

[reportwire]

Warning Signs About the First Post-pandemic Winter

Warning Signs About the First Post-pandemic Winter

This fall, unlike the one before it, and the one before that, America looks almost like its old self. Schools and universities are in session; malls, airports, and gyms are bustling with the pre-holiday rush; handwashing is passé, handshakes are back, and strangers are packed together on public transport, nary a mask to be seen. On its surface, the country seems ready to enjoy what some might say…

[mindblowingscience]

Vaccination saves lives – an astounding 154 million of them since 1974 when the World Health Organization (WHO) launched its expanded global immunization programme, according to new research. The goal of the programme was to make vaccines available to all children, and while there are enduring challenges in that regard, the upshot is abundantly clear in the multitude of deaths that were averted in the past 50 years, the vast majority of which children under 5. "We also discovered that measles vaccination accounted for 60 percent of the total benefit of vaccination over the 50-year period, which was also the greatest driver of lives saved," says Andrew Shattock, an infectious disease modeler at the Telethon Kids Institute in Australia, who led the study.

Continue Reading.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Out of control COVID means permanent segregation for many disabled people - Published Aug 15, 2024

It’s August, and we are once again in the throes of a major COVID wave.

Using wastewater data- the only data that measures the amount of circulating COVID-19 in an era of inaccessible tests and discouraged reporting- infectious disease modeler J.P. Weiland estimates that the US has yet again crossed the million-infections-per-day mark as of August 9, with about 1 in 33 Americans currently infected with COVID-19.

The CDC, indeed, reports that over half of states have now crossed their “very high” threshold, and the raw wastewater data shows a dramatic upward swing.

1 in 33 means COVID in every restaurant, every supermarket, onboard every airplane, and of course in every hospital- where infection control teams continue to harm and kill vulnerable patients by failing to implement airborne infection control measures.

I’ve written before about how, in November 2021, nearly a year after the debut of the vaccines, Fauci publicly declared that US COVID cases would need to fall “well below 10,000 a day” for us to get a “degree of normality,” and allow us to return to pre-pandemic life. In the nearly three years since, the US has never had a single day with under 10,000 new COVID cases per day; in fact, we have never had a single day with under 100,000 new COVID cases per day.

Instead, in August 2024, we have over one million new COVID cases per day.

Is over a million new COVID cases per day “well below” 10,000 new COVID cases per day? Or did this administration pivot and sell a public health failure as a public health victory?

When we talk about the failures of the vaccine-only approach to COVID, it’s important to understand what the goals of that approach were. Why did Fauci believe we would have under 10,000 cases a day, and why was that important?

Fauci and other officials around the world hoped and believed that we would achieve herd immunity to COVID, if not through vaccination alone, then through a combination of vaccination and infections. Herd immunity would protect the vulnerable- including people who cannot themselves be vaccinated or who do not mount an immune response to vaccines- from COVID exposure.

It’s also important to keep disease transmission low because, frankly, diseases are not neutral events, even for nominally healthy and abled people. It’s not healthy to be reinfected with SARS-COV-2, or any virus, once or twice each year. Disease is economically costly due to worker absences and productivity slowdowns. “Healthy” and “abled” are also permeable categories; when you infect people with diseases more often, you increase the number of “unhealthy” and “disabled” people. By keeping transmission of SARS-COV-2 “well below” 10,000 cases a day, the community at large is returned to a state of pre-pandemic well-being.

This promised land of low transmission, clearly, never happened. To understand why, you can read my piece about viral evolution and vaccine evasiveness, which explores in depth how SARS-COV-2 evolved faster than expected and escapes immunity from both vaccines and infection within months (if not weeks). This immune evasiveness successfully got the virus to the other side of the failed vaccine-only strategy, and that’s where it’s really been able to stretch its legs. Because on the other side of the vaccine-only strategy, there is no plan B. There are no masks, no mitigations; there’s no plan, and no plan to make a plan.

Instead, the approach is one of denial, misinformation, hiding data, stripping resources, privatizing vaccines and medications, and turning those who (believe they) can play “back to normal” against those who simply cannot. “Herd immunity” has been redefined to mean … well, what exactly does it mean, in the context of the entire population being reinfected over, and over, and over again? To pundits it’s a shorthand for “most people have already had COVID before.” To politicians it’s an applause line equivalent to “COVID is over.” To the public, it just means, “I don’t have to care anymore.”

For immunocompromised people, disabled people, and other people avoiding COVID, it’s meaningless. Herd immunity to measles means vulnerable people are never exposed to measles. Herd immunity to SARS-COV-2 means vulnerable people are exposed every time they leave home.

Read the rest of Julia's article at either link!

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

The recent influx of “Jason is obviously a bad person. Look at how many people he’s killed” posts is 2x more idiotic because it runs on the same premise as “Jason is a cop symbol”. There’s an infinitely more famous example right next to him that people ignore entirely.

In the real world killing people is a felony, just as vigilantism as a whole is too. The same way Batman is a fictional character in a fake world, Jason is not part of the real world either. I think if you’re above age 10 you should’ve moved past the stage of trying to point fingers to try to determine a right vs wrong way to do illegal vigilantism in a world like the dcu while pretending it’s a perfect model of a real society lol.

Batman enjoys maiming and crippling people (bad things). Why is he working with cops and throwing drug addicts into prison after beating the tar out of them (bad things). It’s proven in the real world that that does not do anything to rehabilitate them and in fact costs the government billions of dollars and actually worsens the war on drugs (higher mortality & crime rates, and increased spread of infectious diseases). Yet since the authors constantly spoon feed you lines about how heroic he is people just eat that shit up, disregarding the fact that it might be utter horseshit irl and his morals wouldn’t make much sense either.

If ‘character doing bad thing’ is synonymous with ‘character can’t possibly be a good person’, then that should negate the idea that Batman’s biggest trait is compassion (although I think it already does for other in-story reasons lol, re: he tends to be classist and discriminatory towards people who commit petty crimes, calling them degrading names like “trash” and “bottom-feeders”. No amount of donating to charity makes you a good person if at your core you see poor/homeless people as lesser and you get a kick out of mocking them).

There’s far more evidence of Jason possessing all the good traits the authors keep begging you to believe Batman has. He patiently fed and cared for his dying mother all alone as a small baby/child. He literally fed groups of homeless people like a mother hen everyday while he himself was homeless, brain dead, and running on basic survival instincts. After finally regaining higher functioning in his brain and discovering the joker was still alive, one of the first things he cried about was the countless number of other innocent people dead at the hands of his own killer. If the only justification you have for why Jason’s a bad person is that he kills, that’s a weak and baseless argument for obvious reasons.

[calculatedliterature]

Saturday, November 12

I’ve really started loving saturdays. They’re my most productive day of the week. I spend them cleaning, first and foremost. Today I did laundry, dishes, replaced my bedding, and plan on grocery shopping in a little bit. I also am typing up the research paper I procrastinated, and am genuinely enjoying it, surprisingly. It’s a fascinating subject (mathematical modeling if infectious diseases). My goal is to churn out a few pages of work, then go back to cleaning.

I also let myself sleep in on Saturdays. It’s the one day a week I have nowhere to be, which is nice. And I replace the flowers on my desk, although the bouquet on the left is two weeks old and still blooming, and the one on the right is a week old and fresh, so I may leave them another week before getting a new bouquet. Then again, maybe not. I love fresh flowers.

[shiyorin]

#Princess and the frog? No, it is Reader and the Primarchs frog... I mean 25cm doll :v

#Big E: I should have known dolls worked better than frogs sooner.

#Today's menu: Konrad and Sanguinius.

#Just a romcom story. No one ask but I still do it for funny :v

You tossed fitfully, dreaming strange dreams in the depths of night. When awareness surfaced, you found yourself in a moonlit glade, sparkling with an ethereal glow. 

A rustling came from the treeline, and out stepped a being so bizarre you wondered if still dreaming. Clad head to toe in fluttery silks of spun gold, gossamer wings fluttered serenely upon a back too broad for any bird or insect. 

"Fear not, mortal!" came an undeniably masculine though lilting voice. "I am your Fairy Godmother, here to aid you in this dark hour."

You stared, speechless. Was this truly Him? "Uh...right. Nice dress?"

The Emperor swooned theatrically. "Why thank you dear! Now, down to business - you seek handsome princes, no?" 

"Not particularly-"

"Excellent! For I have just the task." With a blinding flash, many fat toads appeared amid flickering lights. Wait...those bulging eyes seemed awfully familiar...

"Alas, these poor souls were cursed. A kiss from beauty's lips alone can break the spell!" announced Fairy Godmother Emperor. 

You eyed the frogs warily. "And what if their infectious diseases jump from mouth to mouth upon such contact?"

Fairy Emperor pouted, wings drooping. "Fear not harm, my dear! True love conquers all impediments. Now, chop chop - kiss them and claim your men!"

With that he shoved you none-too-gently towards the waiting amphibians. You dug in your heels stubbornly. "Absolutely not! I'll catch some plague for certain, kissing frogs willy-nilly."

Unfortunately, the frogs had other ideas. They began hopping toward you, croaking plaintively as only amphibians can. You shrieked and ran, the army of frogs gaining swiftly. Diving into the woods, you dashed wildly as frog gave chase.

Crashing through brambles with amphibious entourage in relentless pursuit, you fled breathlessly until-

You woke with a start, entangled in sweat-soaked sheets. Many pairs of bulging eyes stared down at you, and you realized with dread - the frogs had infiltrated your very dreams! Screaming, you swatted them away, bolting upright just in time to see...

Nothing. Only empty room greeted your wide eyes. It had only been a nightmare after all. You sighed shakily, scrubbing your face rigorously as if to purge all memory of Fairy Emperor's nonsensical demands.

From now, you vowed never to sample strange foods before bedtime again.

Konrad Curze

You returned wearily to your chambers after a long shift, eager to collapse into comforting silks. But stopping short, a glint of silver caught your eye amid folds in bed.

Approaching cautiously, you peeled back layers to reveal a stuffed doll nestled innocently within. It was fashioned to resemble a certain Night Haunter, down to each rasping spike and curl of thread-hair. 

Though only 25cm tall, its button eyes seemed eerily familiar, bearing the Primarch's unnerving gleam. You scooped it up suspiciously, turning the toy this way and that. 

Who would leave such a thing, and why model it after Konrad Curze of all beings? You wondered if it was some joke, yet detected no hint of tampering. Likely one of the Emperor's strange gifts that simply...appeared sometimes.

Resolving to ponder mysteries later, you shrugged and nestled your new companion. "Well little doll, it's true your original is far from cuddly. But you're rather cute yourself!"

Burying your face in soft felt, you swore you felt tiny muscles tensing as the doll seemed almost...desperate to escape your hold. You paid it no mind, merely tightening your grasp with a contented sigh. Because that was surely impossible! 

Observe button eyes pleading silently, On a strange impulse, you pressed a fleeting kiss to the doll's stitched mouth, stilling its squirms.

At once a tremendous plume of dark smoke erupted, swallowing the room in choking fumes. You fell back coughing, but through the haze saw a towering silhouette emerge like a vengeful wraith. 

When smoke cleared, a fully formed Konrad Curze stood before you - all ten feet of primal fury barely contained within smoldering armor. Yet his usual scowl seemed almost... bashful? His pale skin flushed to a sallow stain across razor-thin cheeks. And were those dark eyes widening in dread?

He grasped desperately for some semblance of composure, snarling to mask inner turmoil. “Explain yourself, mortal, before I flay you where you stand!” 

You gaped, struggling to process this abrupt transformation. “I, uh...kissed your doll?” 

Realization dawned in widening dark orbs. “The visions spoke true. I....”

Your mind is reeling. What in the Emperor's name had just occurred?! "My... My Lord... So... you were the toy all along?" 

A curt nod, gaze darting fitfully about as if seeking escape. Clearly the Night Haunter wished to be anywhere but here, pressed into vulnerability by his bizarre enchantment's end.

He backed slowly into a shadowed corner, hoping its folds might swallow him whole. Never had Konrad felt so exposed, so embarrassed, and at the hands of a mere mortal, no less!

"The Emperor deemed a...lesson was in order..." His whisper was ragged, commanding. Yet undercurrents of shyness shone through crackling anger and pride. "This humiliation is beyond enduring." 

You couldn’t help but smile, endeared by his fluster. But why? You should be scared and terrified when facing a Primarch!  But no, you find him... cute? Your taste in men is terrible and you should die for that. You smile wryly "There now, it can't have been that horrible a kiss to transform you so."

A mighty gauntlet shot out to capture your wrist before you could continue your word. Konrad gripped just tightly enough to emphasize his immense strength without harm, glaring daggers through slitted gaze slits.

"You shall tell no soul of this humiliation, mortal," he growled, low and menacing. Yet the effect was ruined somewhat by a pink flush darkening to fuschia across his cheek plates. You merely grinned wider. You know you are playing with fire and would die.

"Oh, I don't know. Your reaction seems payment enough for that." you mused slyly, tapping his knuckles with your free hand. "Maybe another kiss, hmm?"

Thought Konrad surely imagined eviscerating the audacious creature where you stood, lingering embarrassment gave way to begrudging intrigue instead. Leaning down, he brushed your cheek in a facsimile of affection, warmth echoing through plating. Lips brushed softly in the embrace's sheltering shadow, kindling sparks that may blossom yet into something beautiful, unexpected…

Sanguinius

You groaned, rubbing gritty eyes as reports swam blurrily before your. 11 hours straight hammering away in this suffocating medicae vault had pushed even your limit.

"Enough!" you snarled, flinging down your datapad in frustration. The neverending  bureaucracy would be the death of them all at this rate. Glaring about at mountains yet unscaled, you longed for sweet oblivion's embrace.

A flash of silvery white caught your weary gaze. On the floor beside your chair lay a small stuffed toy, a perfect miniature Sanguinius in all his golden glory. You blinked slowly, wondering if exhaustion had driven you mad at last.

"Great, Now I'm hallucinating." you muttered, scooping up the 25cm high Primarch doll. Its fabric wings extended invitingly and you couldn't help but nestle it against your cheek with a bone-deep sigh. The toy smelled faintly of plumage and night-blooming blossoms, soothing your frayed nerves. 

But as you sagged against the barricade of unfinished records, even hallucinations could not stave off sleep's implacable tide. You curled around the tiny angel and surrendered, visions fading to blankness at long last...

Light caressed your face some untold time later, lingering there as if loath to disturb. You grumbled and would have rolled away, but something held you securely yet gently in place. 

Bleary eyes blinked open to confusion. You lay slumped across your desk still, but a soft blanket had been draped protectively over slender form. And those weren't feathers caught in your hair, were they?

You sat up abruptly, dislodging more downy intruders. 

"But...how...?" you protested weakly. Only the teasing morning breeze answered through open ceiling panels, rippling records abandoned by your side.  

No footprints marred the dust-coated floor, and the door remained bolted fast. You hugged yourself, feathers floating free on invisible currents as mind chased circling mysteries endlessly. 

You eyed the tiny doll warily, half convinced you still dreamt amid paperwork piles. Gently poking its downy cheek elicited no response, yet the craftsmanship seemed uncannily lifelike. 

"Weird..." you muttered, though found yourself drawn again to those embroidered features so serenely angelic. On a whim, you pressed a featherlight kiss to its head, chuckling at your own folly. 

Smoke billowed where the doll had sat, forcing your back with a gasp. Two massive wings materialized amidst swirling mist, great plumes showering silvery motes as they stretched to their full span. Before you coalesced a giant finding you with a patient smile.

"Lord Sanguinius!" You shrieked, recoiling instinctively from this new impossibility. Your hands fumbled panic-stricken for the door behind, scrabbling at locked metal in desperation. 

"Your reaction… quite far from what I expected," came his soft voice behind. You froze at the gentle jest, relief warring with confusion and not a little dread. 

Wings rustled and a warm presence appeared at your back, blocking escape. "Am I truly so terrifying, mortal?" Sanguinius asked, hurt faint yet unmistakable. 

You dared a look over your shoulder into his earnest face. Gods, those earnest faces would be your undoing one day...Cheeks burning, you stammered, "M-my apologies, Angel. You just surprised me, that's all."

His beam could have lit the darkest void. "No harm done. Now, reward my efforts properly. Does a kiss still await?"

Heat scalded your further. Kiss??? But those hopeful eyes would accept no refusal, and truly, he deserved reward...

Slowly turning, you gazed up into sapphire orbs aglow with boundless compassion. Steeling your nerve, you leaned close and touched your lips to his gently.

Feathers as soft as velvet caressed your cheek in answer. When at last you broke away, light-headed and heartsore, Sanguinius grinned triumphantly. "See? No peril nor perilous acts to earn beauty's favor."

[taxonomytournament]

Taxonomy Tournament: Nematode Finale!

C. elegans. This nematode species is commonly used as a model organism, being the first multi-cellular organism to have its genome sequenced and neural connections mapped

Dracunculus medinensis. This nematode is among the longest nematode parasites in humans, at up to 80 cm. They burst out of their host's foot, and are on target to be the second infectious disease to be eradicated, after smallpox. Possibly the ''snake'' depicted on the Rod of Asclepius (symbol of medicine)

[gothhabiba]

Metaphors are pervasive in the language of science. Scientists regularly engage in analogical reasoning to develop hypotheses and interpret results, and they rely heavily on metaphors to communicate observations and findings (1). In turn, nonexperts make sense of, and contextualize, abstract ideas and new knowledge through the use of metaphors. While indispensable heuristic tools for doing, communicating, and understanding science, metaphors can also impede scientific inquiry, reinforce public misunderstandings, and perpetuate unintended social and political messages (2). For these reasons, it is especially important for scientists, science communicators, and science educators to acknowledge the conceptual, social, and political dimensions of metaphors in science and adopt critical perspectives on their use and effects.

[...]

Embodied cognition perspectives shed light on the imperative of metaphor in scientific thought and communication. Conceptual frameworks and theoretical models in science are rooted in the same embodied understandings of the world as those unconsciously employed in other day-to-day physical and social interactions (6). Scientific reasoning, then, is situated in what Gerhard Vollmer (21) refers to as the mesocosm, or the “section of the real world we cope with in perceiving and acting, sensually and motorically” (p. 89). Building on Vollmer’s work (as well as Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor theory), Niebert and Gropengießer (17) argue that, because the human perceptual system is not well suited to interpreting macrocosmic (e.g., the biosphere, solar systems, galaxies) and microcosmic (e.g., cells, molecules, atoms) phenomena, scientists regularly turn to metaphors, grounded in mesocosmic experiences, to make sense of observations and communicate ideas. They explain:

Though the use of metaphorical language in science has been historically criticized by some philosophers of science and scientists on the grounds that metaphors are figurative, ambiguous, and imprecise, their generative potential cannot be ignored. It is, in fact, metaphor that makes theory possible, and a great number of scientific revolutions have been initiated through novel comparisons between natural phenomena and everyday experiences (3).

Limitations of metaphors in science communication

Metaphors in biology and ecology are so ubiquitous that we have to some extent become blind to their existence. We are inundated with metaphorical language, such as genetic “blueprints,” ecological “footprints,” “invasive” species, “agents” of infectious disease, “superbugs,” “food chains,” “missing links,” and so on. While we may not be able to conceptualize, or communicate, abstract scientific phenomena without employing such metaphors, we must also recognize their limitations, as well as their potential to constrain interpretations of natural processes. In many ways, the metaphors we rely upon may uphold and reinforce outdated scientific paradigms, contributing to public misunderstandings about complex scientific issues.

–"On the Problem and Promise of Metaphor Use in Science and Science Communication." Cynthia Taylor* and Bryan M. Dewsbury. J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2018; 19(1): 19.1.46. Published online 2018 Mar 30. doi: 10.1128/jmbe.v19i1.1538.

[daniel-profeta]

The Head

There was a place between sleep and wakefulness where anything could be possible. A haze of forgotten dreams and lost promises. Her hands hung out of the window and the gleeful grin on her face was infectious. She floated between states of being completely alive and nearly dead, but right then she was whole. He smiled back and sped up as the car careened across the mountainside. The world was awash in pink as the sun set. The trees opened on one side to give way to the entire countryside with the dead city just beyond it. It was all so real; they could almost reach out and touch it.

In a past world they were barely friends, but shared experience can bring people together in a way nothing else can. He was well acquainted with this concept already as his parents had bonded over their mutual hatred of their absent father figures. He had always hoped he could break the cycle, but some patterns are more universal than anyone could have imagined.

For example, the cycle of life had finally taken a turn and allowed something new to become apex. Finally, something had surpassed the limits of human ability and taken the worms out. All that remained were ruins and some survivors. Small communities of huddled forms abounded in the wilderness, and they both knew some humans had been kept alive in the cities. All that was left was to hide and wait for death. Or so thought most survivors.

Not them, not these humans, they had taken advantage of the situation and had risen. With gallons of stockpiled gasoline, stolen weapons, food reserves, and ingenuity, they were rulers of the wasteland. They found each other and found a hope that lasted beyond anything they had yet experienced. They were one of the few who managed to carve out a life beyond simple survival, they had become explorers of a new world filled with wonders and powerful entities just beyond the layers of hopeless chaos. They were heading to the dead city to try and loot it and see what they could learn. It seemed every place they found had a story to tell regarding the end of times. He put his foot down further and they sped up.

They had become each other's shadows. In everything they did they fed off each other’s energy and had almost become one person. At first working together was difficult, but with practice they had gotten so good it seemed impossible to stop them. He would rather go a week without food or water than go a week without her company, and thanks to current circumstances that exact scenario had occurred on multiple occasions. He couldn’t believe she had stuck with him for so long, and in everything they shared everything. Except for one twisted secret.

He was dying.

Something had taken hold of him inside and he had no idea what it was. He believed he had contracted it in the bunker they had stormed a few months prior, but where he got sick was immaterial. Last week the coughs had gotten worse, and he had started coughing up blood. Earlier today he found himself coughing up what looked like black sludge. His body, once strong and lean, was weakening. He could feel his brain burning and shriveling as his eyes stung every time he tried to close them. He couldn’t sleep.

She knew something was wrong and had asked him about it, but he had lied repeatedly to try and protect her from the knowledge she would soon be alone. He somehow knew in his heart this disease would finish him; it was something inevitable. He just had to try to hold on as long as possible.

They made their way down the mountainside, and through the tall grasses that paved the way to the city as well as any road. They had gotten incredibly lucky with the car they had found; it was built to last decades. Most recent car models were victims of planned obsolescence and were vastly overpriced, but the rich had vehicles most could never dream of. No longer. Now it belonged to the strongest and the smartest.

Darkness snuck up on the world slowly and like a wave descended and crashed onto the city, illuminating through polarity the small fires still sending smoke signals up into the dry night air. As they entered the core of the city, they felt alive. Her hand crept over to his and squeezed. Driving through the empty city at night was almost romantic in a strange way. Despite everything, they still existed. Despite all the world had been through, they had found and sustained each other through love and devotion.

Parking the car and looking up at the towering skyscrapers, they were struck by how small they were in comparison to these edifices of human achievement that were slowly eroding and falling into the ground. The earth would swallow them up and time would roll on by, totally unbothered by their presence. It was freeing and exhilarating, because with this knowledge comes the idea that one can live life for the joy of living beyond the idea of constraint and boundaries. There is nothing but the never ending potential of endless wonders, and the only sadness could be regret that you don’t have time to see even the smallest fraction of them. All that was inconsequential all along is revealed. Everything comes to an end, and it was foolish to ever try to convince themselves otherwise.

There was a faint sound carried by the wind from a far distant part of the city. It sounded like a distorted voice being carried aloft by a long-broken loudspeaker, probably a forgotten loop of the old advertisements that would constantly play to remind people to consume till they could actively consume no more. Then they would be shunted aside.

Their lips met and lingered, the doors opened, and they exited in tandem, armed and ready for anything that might come their way. There were not many humans who could say they had killed one of the creatures. They had killed many of them in that bunker where he had gotten sick…

They started to search the rubble and inside smaller buildings for anything useful. Small radios kept them in contact as they split up and moved slowly through the ruins like cats on the prowl. Focus was razor sharp. They could see their breath in the cold of the night. Days had been slowly growing colder and colder since the sun had begun to shrink.

He suddenly was wracked with self-doubt and faltered as the sickness almost overcame him. He knew he did not deserve this situation. Why was it he who managed to survive and not someone who needed to? Before the end came, he hadn’t had any direction in life, and he actively felt life had no purpose or reason to it. He couldn’t stand to look at himself in a mirror, he felt as though this body was not his own. He was not really that great of a person, but he had been forced by either hidden courage or simple instinct to adapt and stay alive.

Now he had a girl who would die to protect him, and he would do the same for her. But he couldn’t help but feel as though there was no reason it was he who made it this far. As he stopped to catch his breath, he realized that - in a way - he was happy he had gotten sick. He felt it was justified if he died.

Her voice, distorted yet obviously excited, came blowing out of the radio to inform him she had found something. He smiled at the thought of her. It had not been easy for her, yet she had retained her enthusiasm for life and living despite the circumstances. Mostly.

Occasionally, there would be mood swings where she would feel like she was completely worthless and attempt to take her own life. Thankfully, they balanced each other out and kept each other's doubt and self-hatred in check. It was a system that might work better if he was as honest with her as she was with him. But that is something he felt he couldn’t do.

As he moved quickly to her position, he tried to imagine life without her. Life without her smile. Without her daily kindness and thoughtfulness. Without her unconditional love. Without her soul staying beside his.

He coughed again.

She rushed to him and they embraced beneath an awning of sheer metal hanging out over what looked to have formerly been a restaurant of some kind. Her hug was warm and bracing and his worries left him, at least at that time.

She was holding a Journal that was wrapped in some strange animal skin. He ran his hands over it and asked her what it was. She told him it was either crocodile or alligator, but it might have been fake. Not that it mattered, the book itself was real. She had discovered it in a single-story home that had remained mostly intact. She opened it and showed him what she had been reading.

The name signed inside the front cover was nearly illegible, but after staring at it for a few seconds he thought it read “Rick.” He took the book and started flipping through it. It felt strange to hold, as if it were cursed. Evil. It was only a teenager’s diary, and it felt like an invasion of privacy to even be reading it. But there was no helping it, any discovery of what had caused the end of the world was worth it. What had happened leading up to it? Why had the sun gotten smaller? How did civilization collapse so quickly?

As she realized the book felt odd, she started looking around them and felt increasingly that something was invading them. They were not cats, they were mice. Insidious and slimy, it crept within and caught hold. Despair was setting in, and something weird was happening in the sky above them. The stars had gone black.

Looking up, they felt a sickly turning in their stomachs as long tendrils or ropes began to descend from the sky. These eerie tentacles were like nothing else these naïve humans had viewed before and following them up with their eyes found no place where the dead hanging ropes could originate from. It just seemed like they went up into the sky forever. Slowly lowering down to choke any fool caught in the grasp of self-doubt.

A split second of hesitation almost destroyed them both at once, but the universe had other plans for them. They stared in awe and fear at the slender limbs as more and more slowly appeared in the inky black sky. Then he grabbed her hand and bolted for the rubble of the home she had found the book in. In the air behind them small floating lights started opening and illuminating the large gaping pores on the falling limbs with a cold and calculating pale light. Daring to look back revealed the lights were darting alien eyeballs suspended at random points in the air, slowly floating and all staring at these idiot humans who got far too overconfident.

She slammed the rusty door shut as the sound of the loudspeakers in the distance faded, replaced by a single repeating sound that continually rang out at seemingly timed intervals. The sound was that of the chiming of a bell; small, sharp, and eager to annoy with its piercing yell. They had heard this sound before, and both knew they were going to die. It was not a matter of if, but a matter of when and how gruesomely. His sickness was starting to overtake him.

They locked their eyes together and realized they were going to be stuck in the dilapidated house for a while. Long enough to at least learn from the diary of Mr. Rick. Maybe it would reveal something secret information they could use to escape this god-forsaken place? At the very least it would pass the time before their fates were sealed. They moved furniture into position to block the door, but soon heard a strange hissing sound coming from outside. It was the sound of acid devouring or water being eviscerated by fire. The things outside were trying to get in. But what the humans did not know was they already had gotten in..

listen to the song I wrote to accompany this story.

[gumjrop]

The Weather

As of September 13, 2024, national wastewater levels remain high. The CDC’s national wastewater map has contracted viral activity levels from ten grades of color to five grades of color while our map below maintains the original ten grades of color based on CDC data. We will adjust to the five grades in future reports. With schools in full session and the weather transitioning in northern regions to cooler temperatures, transmission continues to occur. Wastewater activity is either “High” or “Very High” in 37 states according to the Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) dashboard. Activity is “Moderate” in 8 states and the District of Columbia, and there is no data available for New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam. 

According to the Wastewater COVID-19 National and Regional Trends dashboard, COVID wastewater levels have plateaued, remaining between high and very high in all regions except for the West, which is having a slight increase. The highest levels remain in the West as of 9/7/2024 (data captured on 9/13/2024). 

In order to access local COVID wastewater levels, you can refer to the CDC’s state/territory trends page as well as the WastewaterSCAN dashboard. State and local public health wastewater trackers may also be available for example in Illinois, they are reporting over 80 locations. Also, the National Academies of Medicine recently published a second report stressing the importance of a robust wastewater surveillance system and its invaluable role in infectious disease surveillance. They recommend improving the consistency and quality of wastewater surveillance for COVID and other infectious diseases.

As of September 10, 2024, COVID levels are “likely growing” in 3 states and territories according to the CDC Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics dashboard. Thirteen states have reached “stable or uncertain” levels, and 31 states are seeing “declining” or “likely declining”, while levels are “not estimated” in 4 states. 

Note, this model utilizes emergency department visit data to estimate COVID transmission’s Rt, which is an estimate of the average number of new infections caused by each infectious person. An Rt greater than 1.0 indicates that infections are growing, while an Rt less than 1.0 indicates that they’re declining.

According to the CDC's COVID Data Tracker, there has been an increase to nearly 1,000 deaths and slightly more than 1,000 deaths per week from COVID during the entire month of August 2024. The last time this occurred was during the winter months of 2024. This total count of weekly COVID deaths is likely to be an underestimate due to limited COVID testing and reporting. The loss of these lives could have been prevented if layers of protections were consistently implemented in preventing infections. 

A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine highlights the importance of preventing infections especially during periods of high rates of transmission. It notes that COVID death rates were higher when healthcare systems faced a larger strain as a result of increased levels of transmission. Comprehensive policies that protect people and prevent healthcare-acquired COVID infections are needed to prevent healthcare system overload.

Variants

According to the CDC’s variant tracking dashboard, KP.3.1.1 remains the dominant variant of all currently circulating strains. Nowcast modeling projects that KP.3.1.1 will increase to 52.7% by 9/14/2024, followed by KP.2.3 at 12.2%, followed by LB.1 at 10.9%, and KP.3 at 10.6%, respectively. The most prevalent circulating variants are JN.1-derived, and closely related to both JN.1 and KP.2. Updated vaccination with any of the available options (Pfizer, Moderna, or Novavax) is recommended to better match current variants.

Vaccines and Treatment

Although the Bridge Access Program, covering the updated vaccines for uninsured and underinsured adults, has ended, several states including California’s Bridge Access Program and other departments of health have taken steps to partially address this major gap by either providing funding for no-cost access to COVID vaccines or using budgets to acquire a limited supply for their residents. Ultimately, the federal government must contribute resources to ensure no-cost access for all who are uninsured or underinsured. We continue to demand from the federal government to provide continued funding for the Bridge Access Program as well as the Vaccines for Adults Program. As people access the updated COVID vaccines, it is notable that a longer 1.5 inch needle may be needed for adults with higher body weights, in order to pass through subcutaneous tissue into muscle. Complete guidelines for vaccine administration in consideration of age, weight, and injection site can be found on the CDC's website.

It is important to seek treatment when facing a COVID infection. A recent study, reviewing population data of nonhospitalized individuals ages 18 and older during the period of January 2022 and December 2023, showed that nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid)—treatment for COVID—was less commonly used among those who identified as non-Hispanic Black and Latinx/e patients. Although the Test-to-Treat program prematurely ended, there continue to be programs available to ensure financial access to Paxlovid.

Wins

This is a reminder that another batch of no-cost COVID rapid antigen tests can be ordered and sent to your home address at the end of September 2024. Through the CDC’s Increasing Community Access to Testing (ICATT) program, no-cost access to COVID testing access is limited to those who are uninsured or underinsured at places including CVS, Walgreens, eTrueNorth, and other local sites as well as in New York City, which is supported by the NY Department of Public Health.

We are eagerly awaiting news on updates from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid on mandatory reporting of COVID infections in healthcare systems, which begins November 1 thanks to our community’s advocacy. It is invaluable that all healthcare systems participate as case data is paramount for keeping track with current COVID trends and understanding the volume of healthcare acquired COVID infections. 

Take Action

The National Institute of Health (NIH) is seeking public comment and feedback on the next phase of RECOVER clinical trials, which focus on Long COVID. Meetings will be held virtually and on-site between September 23 and 25 to solicit feedback and comments. Register to attend these virtual or on-site sessions by September 25, 2024. It is very important to participate and ask NIH to commit to studies that will result in developing a better understanding of Long COVID, effective treatments for Long COVID, and key approaches to preventing Long COVID. 

Amid ongoing COVID spread, masking in healthcare remains central to safe access to healthcare. As we await implementation of COVID hospitalization reporting and prepare for CDC’s next Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee meeting in November, you can use this letter campaign to ask your elected officials to take action for healthcare masking.

And finally, because all of us need access to the updated COVID vaccines regardless of our insurance status or ability to pay, use our letter template to demand free COVID vaccines for uninsured and underinsured adults nationally.

[brostateexam]

Swine flu caught scientists by surprise. At the time, many researchers were dead certain that an H5N1, erupting out of somewhere in Asia, would be the next Big Bad Flu. Their focus was on birds; hardly anyone was watching the pigs. But the virus, a descendant of the devastating flu strain that caused the 1918 pandemic, found its way into swine and rapidly gained the ability to hack into human airway cells. It was also great at traveling airborne—features that made it well positioned to wreak global havoc, Lakdawala said. By the time experts caught on to swine flu’s true threat, “we were already seeing a ton of human cases,” Nahid Bhadelia, the founding director of the Boston University Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases, told me. Researchers had to scramble to catch up. But testing was intermittent, and reporting of cases was inconsistent, making it difficult for scientists to get a handle on the virus’s spread. Months passed before the rollout of a new vaccine began, and uptake was meager. Even in well-resourced countries such as the U.S., few protections hindered the virus’s initial onslaught.

But the worst never came to pass—for reasons that experts still don’t understand. Certainly, compared with the 1918 pandemic, or even those in the 1950s and ’60s, modern medicine was better equipped to test for and treat flu; although vaccine uptake has never been perfect, the availability of any shots increased protection overall, Sam Scarpino, an infectious-disease modeler and the director of AI and life sciences at Northeastern University, told me. Subtler effects may have played a role too. Other H1N1 viruses had been circulating globally since the late 1970s, potentially affording much of the population a degree of immunity, Troy Sutton, a virologist at Pennsylvania State University, told me. Older people, especially, may have harbored an extra dose of defense, from additional exposure to H1N1 strains from the first half of the 20th century. (After the 1918 pandemic, versions of that virus stuck around, and continued to percolate through the population for decades.) Those bonus safeguards might help explain why younger people were so severely affected in 2009, Lakdawala told me.

Some of those same factors could end up playing a role in an H5N1 epidemic. But 2009 represents an imperfect template—especially when so much about this new avian flu remains unclear. True human-to-human spread of H5N1 is still a distant possibility: For that, the virus would almost certainly need to undergo some major evolutionary alterationsto its genome, potentially even transforming into something almost unrecognizable. All of this muddies any predictions about how a future outbreak might unfold.

(x)

[pencil-peach]

G Witch Onscreen Text: Episode 19

Haku Haku ! It is once again time! This is part 20 of my series where I transcribe and discuss the onscreen text of G Witch, as well as talk about and analyze interesting things episode by episode. We're on Episode 19: "Not the Best Way."

<< Click here to return to Episode 18 Or Click here to return to the Masterpost

We're going back to Earth...

We open the episode on a conversation between Guel and Miorine. Miorine comments on how close they are to earth, and Guel responds, "You've always wanted to go there, right?" (Left)

It could be read that Notrette might have been Earthian, which is one of the reasons why Miorine wanted to go there so badly, to be closer to her mother.

After Kenanji enters and leaves, Miorine asks him, "Don't you hate being back on Earth even more?"

I'm really really fascinated by this line because it means that at some point, Guel and Miorine talked about what happened to him when he was on Earth. How much did he tell her? Does she know about Seethia? Does she know that he killed his father? What I wouldn't give to have seen that conversation.

On the whole, I really enjoy the brief glimpses we get into their post-Asticassia dynamic. It's hard to call them friends exactly, but it's clear their relationship is now built on mutual trust and respect. And despite the seriousness of their circumstances, they can still be silly with each other: Miorine: Are you really the same Guel Jeturk...? Guel: Plus, I can't trust you to handle the negotiations alone. Mio: HA??? What's that supposed to mean?? [Angrily drinks her juice.] Or like in last episode where Guel shows her the schwarzette and she's really angrily like, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME??" and he's like "IT'S NEWS TO ME TOO OKAY!!!"

Like they're silly! It's cute !

Sorry for liking Guel Jeturk it will happen every day forever until I die lol

Look at his gay little pose here. Why is he sitting like that. It's making me so mad look at him.

When Godoy tells Prospera that he's located and verified the source of the Lfrith Models, Prospera comments that she's, "...grateful [he] has so many friends."

I've already talked about how sad I am that we never learn anything about Godoy, considering that he seems to have connections all across space. How did he and Prospera meet, I wonder? How did he become so connected? Is he Earthian? I guess it's just one of those things we'll never know.

Anyway, Prospera tells him that "The wait is over," and to "please proceed with the preparations." Lending further credence that Quiet Zero being completed was never an issue. The only remaining issue to correct was the existence of the Lfriths, and now that it's being taken care of, it can truly begin.

I like that Secelia just actually gives Martin good counseling in this scene but is definitely also just fucking with him. She's a good person but also happens to be a bitch. She's perfect !

As the Benerit Gang take the Permet lift down to the station, we hear over an intercom that in accordance with the "Earth Sphere Biological Protection Act," all passengers entering from beyond the Earth Sphere are required to undergo a biosecurity check. (Left) This isn't the first time we overhear biosafety information over an intercom, as in Episode 2 (Right) we hear a brief glimpse about preventive measures being put in place to stop the infectious spread of a disease known as "SV29." (There's also an anecdote in Cradle Planet where Suletta recieves a vaccination)

It seems that biosafety is a major concern in Ad Stella, which makes sense, spaceborn illnesses must be super scary !

Something to note is that in the next scene, we see a panning shot of a highway, with a visible highway exit sign in front. But unlike many of the other signs in the show, the text on the sign is completely illegible, being made up of random shapes and characters from a handful of languages.

This might have been done to ensure Quinharbor's location remains vague, and isn't grounded within any specific place or country on Earth.

As we drive down the highway, we see some protest signs attached to a chain link fence.

From top to bottom, left to right, these seem to say: (* denotes when I'm making an educated guess) - Down with Spacian oppression - Spacians GO BACK TO SPACE - TAKE YOUR WARS BACK TO SPACE* - NO MORE MS VIOLENCE - Benerit ignores Earthian lives - ENOUGH! END MS VIOLENCE NOW!

The one I want to bring special attention to is the one in the center, partially hidden behind the "Down with Spacian oppression" sign. At first I assumed it was, "Stop TAKING our lives for your own wealth," but when i looked closer I saw that the visible portion of that word is "-CKING." When I tried to assume what word it could be, truth be told I could only come up with:

STOP HACKING OUR LIVES FOR YOUR OWN WEALTH or, STOP FUCKING OUR LIVES FOR YOUR OWN WEALTH

You can decide which one you want to be true.

I really like how Guel is just fucking awful at this whole running a company thing. King you can't just bail on an important negotiation like this no wonder ur company is in freefall.

But that's just the kind of person he is. He's open hearted but short sighted, and doesn't think things through as much as he should. But he's trying, so we can appreciate him anyway (Although to be honest it's probably for the best he wasn't there.)

At the table with the Earthain Negotiators, we can see that there are two empty seats next to Miorine. One of them was meant for Guel, and the other was presumably for Kenanji.

Also, seeing as how it keeps being mentioned but isn't explained specifically, I think it's important to clarify what the doctor means when he talks about "The proxy wars you force onto us through war partitioning."

As best as I understand it, Delling and the Benerit Group have been exercising control over Earth (as well as providing a consistent market for their main export, weapon manufacturing) by instigating and arming conflicts across the planet along carefully partitioned political borders.

If Earthians are constantly fighting amongst themselves, they'll be unable to unite as a people against Spacians. (Remember, an impending interplanetary war is currently a major fear)

Remember what Rajan says to Miorine about Dellings motive: "And yet... even if he could control conflict through war partitioning, he never managed to achieve order [...] there was always some new enemy or rebellion."

It's important not to divorce Delling's motives from his beliefs. When Rajan says "he never managed to achieve order," or, "there was always some new enemy or rebellion," you have to ask yourself what "order" or an "enemy" means to a man who wholeheartedly believes that anyone beneath him should fully and unquestioningly submit to his will.

Quiet Zero only makes sense as a solution to a man who is too arrogant to realize that he is the disease which is causing the symptom. But we're not there yet. Let's continue.

When Norea is having her breakdown, she's drawing this picture before her pencil snaps. At a glance, it's easy to assume that she isn't drawing anything and is just scribbling nonsense, but if you look closely, she was drawing a spider being eaten by a venus flytrap (and then started scribbling over it.)

When 5lan looks through her notebook, we see some more. (Left) We see a more abstracted piece of a decaying mechanical clown head (Although it could be a broken down amusement park ride. The DOF lived near an abandoned water park prior to Plant Quetta), a spider with its prey in a web, and a decaying deer carcass.

(Right) And the landscape that 5lan wanted her to show him

Here we see the truth behind Norea's breakdown. Sophie was the only person who understood her, and now that she's dead, she’s all alone. They were supposed to always be together, but the only way for her to follow Sophie now is to die herself, and she's deathly afraid to die.

Sophie and Norea were opposites in how they coped with the disposability of their lives. Norea was afraid to die, and so she coped with it by drawing the death and decay she was constantly surrounded by. But Sophie coped by taking pride in it. She constantly sought out danger to prove to herself that she was alive. (Like in Episode 12 when she activates Permet Score 4: "My heart is hurting so badly...I can't... breathe... but I'm still alive!") In her mind, fighting for her life was what gave it meaning. She wasn't afraid to die, and in a way, she sought out Ericht so badly because she wanted to find someone strong enough to kill her. (Not in a suicidal way but in a putting it all on the line way.)

Norea pretended she was unafraid too, to keep up with Sophie, but she was always afraid. And now that Sophie is gone, she has nobody left. She has nothing to live for, but is too afraid to die. Her life is somehow even more pointless than it already was.

(Left) The moral of the story is that if you're depressed, the solution is some good soup.

(Right) Agh, I wish so badly we got some supplementary material about Chuchu and Nika. But that's a conversation for later.

When we meet up with Kenanji and Guel, they're talking to Sedo, who mentions that he's an "official refugee designated by the special reconstruction plan." His official description on the G Witch website explains a little more, stating that he "lives in a designated recovery plan area on Earth." It seems that there are consistent zones on the planet dedicated to war and infrastructure recovery.

We learn about the child rearing academy Grassley runs here as well, but we'll talk about that next episode, when it's meaning becomes more relevant. Oh, and, nobody asked but the shirt Guel is wearing here is the second shirt we see him wearing that has holes in it. (The first is the sweatshirt he wears in Episode 16.) So y'know. If you wanted to know.

So, here we learn that Shaddiq's birth name was "Jeru Ogul," and "because of that name, everyone at the Academy called him 'Prince.'"

At first I didn't what Kenanji meant by this at all, but after thinking about it and doing some research, I think I understand it now. He's called "Prince" because "Jeru" is short for "Jerusalem." This pun is actually localized from the original Japanese script too, as his name is not "Jeru" in Japanese, It's "Ieru" (イエル) as in, short for "Ierusaremu" (イェルサレム) (Jerusalem is not spoken with a J sound in Japanese because it's based on the original Hebrew pronunciation of the word, which is yerushalaim)

A remarkable child from Jerusalem? It's not a huge leap from that to calling him "Prince." (It's Jesus. It's a reference to Jesus Christ. Now that you know that you should go back and look at his character and the things he does. You'll be like, ooooohhhh, ohhh my goooodddd)

I think a lot about how Miorine immediately keeps cool and analyzes the situation logically, as opposed to Guel's righteous fury. I also like how Miorine knows Shaddiq well enough to immediately clock exactly how to catch him in the act and where he's keeping Sarius. (She's completely correct about all of it too.) She knows him better than anybody, after all.

As the fated moment begins, Eri activates a data storm around Quinharbor to take control of an Earthian tank. (Left) The error message displayed is:

CONTROL LOCKOUT: Control has been overridden due to effects of data storm space. ERROR CODE: [569]

Later, as Prospera retreats to grab Aerial's canon, we can see Miorine attempt to contact her (Which she quickly declines.) (Right)

TEXT: (Left) CODENAME: SOPHIE PULONE MS: LFRITH UR AFFILIATION: Ochs Earth Corporation

MS: LFRITH UR MODEL NO: EDM-GA-01 HEADHEIGHT: 21.2m WEIGHT: 75.9t BASE MS: GUNDAM LFRITH PRE-PRODUCTION MODEL (Ochs Earth Corporation) CHARACTERISTICS: Combat-specific unit intended for short-decisive combats, its output has been greatly increased even among the combat specific types. MAIN WEAPON: BEAM GATLING GUN / PHASED ARRAY CANON

(Right) CODENAME: NOREA DU NOC MS: LFRITH THORN AFFILIATION: Ochs Earth Corporation

MODEL NO: EDM-GA-02 HEADHEIGHT: 14.4m WEIGHT: 41.2t BASE MS: GUNDAM LFRITH PRE-PRODUCTION MODEL (Ochs Earth Corporation) CHARACTERISTICS: Support type unit intended for wide area control. Long arms and legs stabilize the center of gravity enabling advanced combat maneuvers. MAIN WEAPON: BEAM DIFFUSE GUN / PHASED ARRAY CANON

As Prospera breaks into the bunker holding the Lfriths, she pulls up Pilot data files (Tagged SO-3) on Sophie on Norea. Of critical importance here is that according to these files, "Sophie Pulone" and "Norea Du Noc" are referred to as the girls' codenames, not their real names. (Keep this in mind I'm gonna do a really cool thing next episode you're gonna be like ohh noooo) The girls are also affiliated specifically with Ochs Earth, which was supposed to have been defunct immediately after Vanadis.

Less Important but also worth mentioning is that Base Aerial was running "SYS Ver. E.S," a clever nod to Eri's initials, Ericht Samaya, but rebuild has changed that, instead running "SYS Ver. 2.0"

Also, we never get a clear look at it, but the board Bel and Feng were sitting in front of is labeled "ADJUSTMENT OF GUND PROSTHETIC LEG OPERATION." And seems to be data on a subsequent series of tests regarding the legs movement and calibration.

Okay, so, before we proceed, it's probably a good idea to clarify the current political reveals which are being made here. I think there are a lot of names being thrown around and due to the time constraints of the show, I don't think they were able to explain it as well as it could have been.

If you aren't interested, that's okay, you can just scroll past here, but I think it's important to try and understand it. I'll try and keep it as simple as possible: (This is also as best as I understand it, so ultimately take it with a grain of salt)

____________________________

The Space Assembly League is an administrative organization meant to mediate political problems and maintain peace within space. While the Benerit Group is an exceedingly powerful corporation, it's still a corporation, not a governmental institution. It has to, in theory, answer to the rules and regulations set by the League.

The problem is that the Benerit Group has become TOO powerful. Its reach and influence across space has long eclipsed even the League in terms of political power. At some point after Vanadis, the League's High Council (the people at the top of the organization, to be clear) realized this, and began to formulate a plan that would allow it to eventually suppress, and possibly even break up, the Benerit Group.

But the first issue to overcome was this: The Space Assembly League is a governmental institution, and is beholden to its own regulations. Without probable cause, it would be unable to justifiably interfere with the Benerit Group, who, by its own standards, were not openly violating the law.

So, in order to intervene with the Group, the council realized it needed to secretly contrive a reason to accuse the Group of threatening peace among the fronts, thereby giving the League the probable cause it needs to dissolve it.

(It's important to keep in mind that this plan was being conducted SPECIFICALLY by the League's High Council. By and large, the majority of the Space Assembly League DO NOT KNOW this is happening. Feng and Guston are official investigators FOR the league and discovered the conspiracy themselves during their investigation.)

This is where Ochs Earth comes in. The League obviously could not openly begin funding terrorist organizations, but it COULD secretly fund Ochs Earth, a MS Company that was very openly and publicly obliterated, and that everyone still believes to be defunct. An army of Gundams would be perfect to cause enough conflict to accuse the Group.

But here comes the second issue: How exactly do they plan to pull this off? It would be hard to organize and execute a plan of that scale without some kind of middle man. The League couldn't risk openly communicating with anti-Spacian organizations, it would be too risky.

Which is where Shaddiq comes into play. Whether or not he knew the League's intentions beforehand, he contacted them with his own plans to dissolve the group. He was the bridge that connected the League and Ochs Earth with the Dawn of Fold, and being so closely involved with the Group, he could know exactly when would be best to strike.

This eventually led to the Plant Quetta incident. Though the intention was to assassinate Delling, the unjust (and illegal) retribution of the Group upon Earthians after the fact seemed like the perfect cause needed for the League to act.

But that plan didn't work. Remember, the League is a Spacian Organization. And the unfortunate fact of the matter is that Spacians, by and large, do not care about Earthians. The unjust murder and torture of Earthians was not enough to turn public opinion (even within the league itself) far enough for the League to justify intervening.

So they tried again, with the attack on the school. Shaddiq focused on his side of the plan, working on dissolving the group from the inside by taking advantage of the imminent Presidential race, while the Ochs Earth witches stirred up more violence and discord within the Group, focusing on threatening the lives of Spacians instead, which leads us to where we are now.

____________________________

OKAY. damn. that was long. again, this is as best as I understand it, and I might be off the mark in some regards. Either way, I hope this cleared things up for you at least somewhat! Unless you scrolled past which, in that case, 1000 palms of death.

Here we see the GUND-Bit Canon firing at full output. It's the only time we see it do this, and even then we don't REALLY see it unfortunately. Still though, it should be noted that with one blast the cannon destroyed all the Lfriths in the bunker, and was so powerful it blasted THROUGH the bunker AND the mountain it was stationed in. Utterly terrifying.

But the truly tragic thing about this scene is what Prospera has done, and what that truly means. Think about what her actions have interrupted. It's not just that she's completely ruined the negotiations between Miorine and the Earthians. It's specifically how she managed to bridge that gap. With the GUND Prosthetic Legs.

This meeting was the ideals of Cardo Nabo and GUND finally being realized. GUND technology paving a way to a brighter future, finally bringing Earthians and Spacians together on equal ground. This was the future that GUND was going to save. When Prospera destroys the Lfriths, she calls Ochs Earth "The heinous sinners who trampled on GUND's ideals," but in this very moment, she has done the exact same. For the sake of Eri's future, she even struck down the future her family died trying to protect.

After the event, we see various news outlets covering the event.

Left: (From Extra Orbital Reports) BENERIT GROUP MS FIRE ON HOUSING COMPLEXES OF ANTI-SPACIAN GROUPS, WITH MANY CASUALTIES - WITH NO OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM BENERIT GROUP REGARDING ATTACKS, ITS UNCLEAR WHETHER SITUATION WILL BE RESOLVED

Middle: (From Planetary News Broadcast) [...] when Benerit MS responded to street protest by setting up roadblocks - [...] now turning into urban warfare as anti-Spacian side counterattacks with militarized mobile craft

Right: (Fom INTERPLANETARY NEWS NETWORK) IN RESPONSE TO BENERIT GROUP'S ATTACK, EARTH INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT LEADER DECLARES THEY WILL JOIN FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE - With Benerit forces dispersed as explosions take place throughout the city, fierce fighting develops between the two sides.

It seems like communications have fully broken down. The Earthians are more devoted to their demand for independence as ever. Things are even worse than before. The future has never looked worse.

When Suletta sees the news broadcast, she remembers what Ericht said to her about not being able to cling to either her or their mother anymore, but afterwards, we see a silent shot of her saying something else. It's impossible to know exactly what she's saying, (anime lip flap moment)

But personally, considering the context, and the syllables she's sounding out, to me I think she's saying "gomenasai" (I'm sorry)

And with that dour note, it seems like things can't get any worse. But, well, we all know if things can't get worse, they will.

>> Episode 20: The End of Hope The Masterpost.

[covid-safer-hotties]

As COVID Surges, the High Price of Viral Denial - Published Sept 3, 2024

COVID is surging once again and, if you live in British Columbia, you probably already know someone sick with fever, chills and a sore throat.

As of mid-August, about one in every 19 British Columbians were enduring an infection, with or without symptoms.

Although the media routinely dismisses all COVID infections as an inconsequential nuisance, that’s not what the science says. The virus remains deadlier than the flu and repeated infections can radically change your health.

An important new Nature study, for example, has now proven that the spike protein of the virus can bind with a blood protein, fibrin, setting off a chain of blood clots resulting in chronic inflammation and brain damage. Fibrin can actually form a mesh impeding blood flow in arteries to multiple organs in the body.

The Tyee is supported by readers like you Join us and grow independent media in Canada Repeated studies show in the bluntest terms that the initial acute infection is only the tip of the iceberg. Even a mild bout of COVID can leave a legacy of blood clots, heart failure, diabetes, decreased brain function (see sidebar), long COVID (now affecting 400 million people worldwide) and immune damage that increasingly makes people more vulnerable to a plethora of infectious diseases and possibly cancers.

These problems can erupt three years after an infection and are especially prevalent in patients who’ve been hospitalized by COVID.

Which is why the U.S. immunologist and COVID specialist Dr. David Putrino emphasizes, “There is no such thing as a SARS-CoV-2 infection that does NOT have prolonged consequences.”

And yet the estimated daily level of infection in Canada now hovers around the highest points reached during the Omicron variant’s peaks in January 2022 and October 2023.

That’s the finding of University of Toronto infectious disease expert Tara Moriarty, whose team bases the latest COVID-19 Hazard Index on a combination of wastewater data and modelling. In a discursive and highly valuable X posting Moriarty adds “there’s not a fresh vaccine in sight.” In fact, they are weeks away.

That means about one million infections are occurring every week and that this “severe” level of infection translates like clockwork into more than 1,000 deaths per week from COVID-19 in Canada based on five-week average trends. Ultimately these infections will result in more cases of long COVID in both younger and older populations.

There is more bad news: on an annual basis COVID infections still account for 20 times more deaths than influenza.

The data is not complete but this death toll likely made COVID the second or leading cause of death in the country last month.

According to Moriarty’s data, the number of COVID deaths per infection remain highest in Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan because they have older populations often compromised by serious medical conditions. They are also served by shrinking health resources.

Alberta, whose population is Canada’s youngest on average, claims the lowest infection fatality rate yet has already reported more than 700 COVID deaths this year. B.C. ranks somewhere in the middle.

These grim trends mirror COVID’s permutations south of the border. In the United States COVID infections hospitalized nearly five out of 100,000 Americans during the week of Aug. 4 to 10.

Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, one of North America’s leading COVID researchers, notes that, “This crucial, yet lagging indicator hasn’t been this high since February 2024.” In addition, spotty U.S. data indicates that COVID has hospitalized twice as many people than the flu since October last year.

Rocking the system

Meanwhile Canada’s hospital emergency rooms, many already stretched before the pandemic, continue to open and close with troubling frequency across the country due to chronic staff shortages and sick workers.

With little surge capacity, the continued presence of highly infectious COVID variants continues to leave many health-care systems in shambles year after year.

According to Moriaty’s data, Canadian hospitals are now spending about $37 million dollars a day on COVID hospitalizations, which averaged more than 1,500 people a day two weeks ago.

Here’s some more damning math: “On average, since the beginning of Omicron, people needing hospitalization for COVID-19 account for 14 per cent of hospital bed capacity (seven per cent if you admit only half of people needing hospitalization).”

The resulting bed shortage has created a circular crisis, says Moriarity. “A constant annual seven-per-cent increase in hospital beds required for COVID-19, in a very low surge capacity environment with a serious health-care workforce labour shortage, can have profound upstream and downstream effects on health care and health.”

The evidence is everywhere. Five Interior B.C. emergency rooms closed over the long weekend. In the last week five rural hospitals temporarily closed in Alberta, including facilities in Swan Hills, Fairview and Rocky Mountain House. In Ontario some rural citizens refer to ER closures as an “epidemic.”

Dr. Alan Drummond, a Quebec rural physician, adds that the disruption of “emergency medicine delivery in Canada continues unabated as our political leaders fail to recognize and declare the obvious crisis that it is. They do nothing, they pray for divine intervention, they obfuscate, they lie through their teeth.”

‘A recipe for forever burn’

The subject of how to respond to a slow burn pandemic remains taboo because most public health officials have already declared the emergency over. They’ve also stopped collecting critical data. COVID-19 deaths in Canada are not reported in a readily publicly accessible fashion. And most of the media pretends that an immune-destabilizing virus that can harm the functioning of your organs including your brain has little more import than a benign cold.

As a consequence, authorities can’t now turn around and admit to the breadth of their mistake, let alone acknowledge the growing disorder in public health. Nor do they dare collect critical data documenting the scale of their errors including the relentless march of long COVID.

Meanwhile the virus continues to out-evolve our response and vaccines. Two months ago, when new COVID cases exceeded 100,000 a day in Japan, the research scientist Hiroshi Yasuda imagined the following discussion in a hospital.

Nurse: COVID hospitalizations are increasing again. Doctor: I know. N: Are we fighting an endless, losing battle against SARS-CoV-2? D: No, you are wrong. N: Oh, you have different ideas, doctor? D: We are not even fighting. N: [Nods in agreement.]

Richard Corsi, the noted Texas indoor environmental engineer and creator of the Corsi-Rosenthal box, has summed up this predicament as a profound public health failure. “The general response to COVID-19 remains reactionary over precautionary. Wait until the fire gets hot and starts to burn rather than taking very simple steps to not fuel the fire in the first place. This is a recipe for forever non-containment, forever burn.”

He then points out: “The solution’s been with us since day one of the pandemic. We’ve [generalized] just lacked the will, determination and grace to make it end. Reduce inhalation dose of virus-laden respiratory aerosol particles. It’ll never end if we continue to run in the opposite direction, folks.”

The problem with running in the opposite direction, however, is that we increase the chances of landing in the arms of another COVID infection. And the reasons for avoiding such viral encounters just grow stronger by the sheer weight of evidence.

Why infection prevention still matters

Nobody sane really wants to play Russian roulette, but that’s how we should view every COVID infection. Although most people will get away with just an unpleasant biological disruption of daily life, others will take a bullet to their heart, brain, gut or immune system for reasons not fully understood.

No COVID infection is completely benign because each infection plays a role in deregulating the immune system. Even a mild infection, as one recent study noted, can increase “autoantibodies associated with rheumatic autoimmune diseases and diabetes in most individuals, regardless of vaccination status prior to infection.”

According to an increasing number of researchers, immune deregulation triggered by COVID probably plays a significant role in the dramatic global upticks in infectious diseases. The suspects include RSV, a variety of herpes viruses, whooping cough (now burning up the charts in Canada and England), scarlet fever, dengue fever, fungal infections and tuberculosis. Forty-four countries have now reported a 10-fold increase in the incidence of at least one of 13 infectious diseases compared to trends prior to the pandemic.

Although vaccine hesitancy, climate change and permissive travel have also played a role in this microbial wave, researchers strongly suspect that COVID’s disruption of the immune system has made it harder for many people to fight other infections.

Putrino, a COVID specialist at New York’s Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, recently explained the situation this way. “For the longest time we’ve told people that if you get an illness and you recover, it just makes you stronger. What we’re seeing over and over again is that’s not the case with COVID. Every time you get a COVID infection, your immune system seems to suffer.

“It’s kind of like a boxer, every fight takes a little bit more out of them. And they’re not getting stronger with every fight, they’re not getting stronger with every hit that they take. Every single time there’s an increased chance that something bad is going to happen to the immune system and I think that this influx of illness that we’re seeing is related to that.”

Another significant risk posed by playing Russian roulette with COVID infections is that each one could result in long COVID, which has sidelined 400 million people around the world at a cost of a trillion dollars. Some manifestations of long COVID include heart disease, diabetes, myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome, and a raft of autoimmune diseases that may last a lifetime.

The risk increases with the severity of acute infection but the majority of long COVID sufferers have had a mild infection. The more times one is infected, the likelier the next infection will trigger a bout of long COVID. “Cumulatively, two infections yield a higher risk of long COVID than one infection and three infections yield a higher risk than two infections, explain researchers published in the journal Nature.

Here, then, is where we’ve arrived. We’ve entered a vicious cycle where more infections generate more COVID variants. The new variants have become more immune evasive. At the same time society has generally abandoned masks, testing and basic public health messages.

We could slow and suppress the cycle by facing the challenge squarely. For example, by cleaning dirty air the way we once tackled the disease-ridden spectre of cholera-infested water.

But public health officials are afraid to talk about clean air let alone the obvious: avoiding infection.

Beating back COVID requires hard work, communal wisdom and clear policies that markedly reduce the level of infection in society.

To date we have chosen viral denial, dirty air and a triumphant reign for long COVID. [Tyee]

[satyaranjan7605]

GIS In Our Daily Lives

The involvement of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in our daily lives is pervasive, influencing and enhancing various aspects across different sectors. The integration of GIS into everyday activities has become integral for decision-making, planning, and optimizing resources. GIS helps city planners and transportation experts to provide them with information like maps, satellite pictures, population statistics, and infrastructure data. GIS helps them make better decisions when designing cities and transportation systems that are sustainable and good for the environment.

The following points elucidate the notable involvement of GIS in our daily lives:

Navigation and Location Services: GIS provides monitoring functions through the visual display of spatial data and precise geographical positioning of monitored vehicles, whereas GPS provides accurate, clear, and precise information on the position and navigation of a monitored or tracked vehicle in real-time and at the exact location.GIS is at the core of navigation applications and location-based services on smartphones. It enables accurate mapping, real-time navigation, and geolocation services, assisting individuals in finding locations, planning routes, and navigating unfamiliar areas.

E-Commerce and Delivery Services: GIS software is a powerful tool for supply chain network planning. It helps determine the optimal location for distribution centers, warehouses, or other supply facilities. GIS is utilized in logistics and delivery services for optimizing routes, tracking shipments, and ensuring timely deliveries. E-commerce platforms leverage GIS to enhance the efficiency of their supply chain and last-mile delivery processes.

Weather Forecasting and Disaster Management: Many states are using GIS dashboard to monitor the rainfall across the state, on a real-time basis, from the data shared by rain sensors installed at various locationsGIS plays a crucial role in weather forecasting and disaster management. It assists meteorologists in analyzing spatial data, predicting weather patterns, and facilitating timely responses to natural disasters by mapping affected areas and coordinating emergency services.

Healthcare Planning and Disease Monitoring: Geographic Information Systems enable the visualization and monitoring of infectious diseases. Additionally GIS records and displays the necessary information that health care needs of the community as well as the available resources and materials. GIS supports public health initiatives by mapping the spread of diseases, analyzing healthcare resource distribution, and assisting in the planning of vaccination campaigns. It aids in identifying high-risk areas and optimizing healthcare service delivery.

Social Media and Geo-tagging: GIS also helps in geotagging and other location related information in posts, it’s tools can map and visualize the spatial distribution of social media activity. This analysis can reveal trends, hotspots, and patterns in user engagement across different geographic areas. Many social media platforms incorporate GIS for geo-tagging, allowing users to share their location and experiences. This feature enhances social connectivity and facilitates the sharing of location-specific information.

Smart City Initiatives: The Geographic Information System (GIS) offers advanced and user-friendly capabilities for Smart City projects and allows to capture, store and manipulate, analyze and visualize spatially referenced data. It is used for spatial analysis and modeling. It is the cornerstone of smart city planning, enabling the integration of data for efficient urban management. It supports initiatives related to traffic management, waste disposal, energy consumption, and overall infrastructure development.

Education and Research: GIS is increasingly utilized in education and research for visualizing and analyzing spatial data. It enables students and researchers to explore geographic relationships, conduct field studies, and enhance their understanding of various subjects.

Agricultural Management and Precision Farming: Farmers leverage GIS to optimize agricultural practices by analyzing soil conditions, crop health, and weather patterns. Precision farming techniques, facilitated by GIS, contribute to increased crop yields and sustainable farming practices.

Real Estate and Property Management: In the real estate sector, GIS aids in property mapping, land valuation, and site selection. It provides real estate professionals with valuable insights into spatial relationships, market trends, and optimal development opportunities.

Tourism and Recreation: GIS enhances the tourism industry by providing interactive maps, route planning, and location-based information. It assists tourists in exploring destinations, finding attractions, and navigating efficiently.

The broad and varied involvement of GIS in our daily lives underscores its significance as a technology that not only facilitates geographic data analysis but also contributes to the efficiency, safety, and interconnectedness of modern society. As GIS applications continue to evolve, their impact on daily activities is expected to further expand and refine.

[welcomingdisaster]

i don't have the excuse of polls this time, but i kept turning this post over in my head, and i need to get it out of my system. so, to accompany the finwean post, here the careers non-finweans have in my urban fantasy au

doriath gang:

thingol: naval captain turned movie producer, owner of a major recording studio, activist

melian: minor royalty, professional witch

luthien: professional dancer, occasional model, actress, & singer-songwriter, had leaked art-project music trend number one on the charts several times

beleg: professional archer, host of a moderately successful wilderness survival tv show

mablung: bodyguard with a mysterious past

daeron: former warlock, historian; turned down a lucrative recording deal to pursue a PhD in linguistics

edain:

hurin: security guard at a museum

morwen: forensic botany

(turin: screaming tantrums because his grilled cheese was cut into squares instead of triangles, the wrong shape for a grilled cheese)

beren: ex-convict, owner of a wild-life rescue

amlach: unsuccessful private detective

andreth: receptionist and back-up tour guide at a museum

huor: employed at turgon's mountain resort

(tuor: mad cool skateboard tricks & knowing all the transformers)

haleth: martial arts instructor

amanyar:

ingwë: minor royalty, ex-army captain, landowner

ingwë: minor royalty, has a law degree

amarië: poet, playwright, experimental artist

gondolin gang:

glorfindel: ex professional athlete, one of the original investors in turgon's resort, part-time management

ecthelion: classical musician, management at turgon's resort to pay the bills

salgant: head chef at turgon's resort

(voronwe: teen lifeguard & rafting instructor seasonally in the summers)

misc & forgotten in the previous post:

edrahil: former soldier, former stunt double, finrod's long-suffering best friend and magician's assistant

cirdan: president of a small island nation

findis: trust-fund baby coasting through the power of good investments. has a combination gelato shop & yoga studio that might bring in modern if she opened it more than 3 days a week

lalwen: divorce attorney, stand-up comedian on the side

elenwe: infectious diseases specialist

eldalote: zoo vet