#like there are so many potential fatalities that could occur

[niceonejames7]

man, I keep thinking, do people in the wizarding world just don't know at all about science? or something even adjacent that teaches them about their body? there's potions for chemistry i suppose(even that is a stretch, chem has a lot more), and maybe a little math before they're 10 and physics basically doesn't exist so ig it doesn't matter, but what about biology?? do they not know how their body works at all? like what organs they have and what to do or not do? they don't teach you stuff like that so young

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week - June 13, 2023

1. U.S. judge blocks Florida ban on care for trans minors in narrow ruling, says ‘gender identity is real’

A federal judge temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, ruling Tuesday that the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.

Transgender medical treatment for minors is increasingly under attack in many states and has been subject to restrictions or outright bans. But it has been available in the United States for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.

2. Eagle Who Thought Rock Was an Egg Finally Gets to Be a Dad

A week after their introduction the cage where the little eaglet was put, was removed so the two could interact more closely. When they were given food, a whole fish for Murphy and bite-sized pieces for his young charge, rather than each eating their separate dish, Murphy took his portion and ripped it up to feed to the baby.

3. Little penguins to reclaim Tasmanian car park as city-based population thrives

Not far from the centre of Tasmania's fourth largest city, a colony of the world's smallest penguins has been thriving, and their habitat is about to expand into an existing car park.

The bright lights and loud noises of Burnie have not been a deterrent for hundreds of penguins who set up home on the foreshore in the north-west Tasmanian city.

4. Latest population survey yields good news for endangered vaquita porpoise

The resilient little vaquita marina appears determined to survive the illegal fishing that has brought it dangerously close to extinction, according to the latest population survey. Despite an estimated annual decline of 45% in 2018, the endangered porpoise appears to be holding steady over the last five years, according to a report published Wednesday by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

5. 'Extinct' butterfly species reappears in UK

The species, previously described as extinct in Britain for nearly 100 years, has suddenly appeared in countryside on the edge of London. Small numbers of black-veined whites have been spotted flying in fields and hedgerows in south-east London. First listed as a British species during the reign of King Charles II, they officially became extinct in Britain in 1925.

This month they have mysteriously appeared among their favourite habitat: hawthorn and blackthorn trees on the edge of London, where I and other naturalists watched them flitting between hedgerows.

6. Colombian is a hero in Peru: he rescued 25 puppies that were about to die in a fire

During a structural fire that occurred in a residential area of ​​Lima in Peru, a young Colombian became a hero. The Colombian, identified as Sebastián Arias, climbed onto the roof where the puppies were and threw them towards the community, that was waiting for them with sheets and mattresses. "I love them, dogs fascinate me," said the young man.

7. World-first trial for pediatric brain cancer

Researchers in Australia are conducting a world-first clinical trial for children diagnosed with ependymoma, a rare and devastating brain cancer. The trial aims to test a new drug called Deflexifol, which combines chemotherapy drugs 5-FU and leucovorin, offering potentially less toxic and more effective treatment compared to current options.

Ependymoma is the third most common brain tumor in children, and current treatments often lead to relapses, with a high fatality rate for those affected. The trial, led by researcher David Ziegler at the Kids Cancer Centre, has received support from the Kids with Cancer Foundation and the Cancer Institute NSW. The goal is to find a cure for every child diagnosed with ependymoma.

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That's it for this week :)

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[rebeccathenaturalist]

Okay. Okay okay okay. So. This is a HUGE discovery. Death caps and destroying angels are two of the deadliest mushrooms in the world; both are in the genus Amanita. Both species contain both amatoxins and phallotoxins, though the latter are likely not a major factor in the massive cell death that occurs in the liver and/or kidneys after consuming these mushrooms.

The most medically significant of the amatoxins is α-amanitin. When a deadly Amanita is consumed, you're likely to get the expected gastrointestinal upset that accompanies many toxic mushrooms within a few hours, and they may last for a few days. Then you start to feel better--but you can't just say "Okay, learned my lesson, I won't eat THAT one again." That's because α-amanitin has been stuck in your liver and kidneys the whole time, destroying their cells left and right, and its deleterious effects are catching up to you. So you can expect to end up in the hospital, potentially dealing with acute organ failure.

Supportive care generally includes IV fluids and electrolytes along with penicillin, oral activated charcoal, and other medications, along with hemodialysis and hemoperfusion. Some people have needed organ transplants, and numerous people have died, especially those who got medical help too late.

While compounds from milk thistle (Silybum marianum) have shown success in treating amatoxin poisoning in a small study several decades ago, there hasn't been much follow-up since. Recently, researchers studied the molecular effects of α-amanitin, and discovered that the enzyme STT3B plays a crucial role in creating N-glycans that facilitate the cell death caused by α-amanitin. Then they went looking for anything that could inhibit STT3B from a list of possible treatments approved by the FDA.

Enter indocyanine green. Developed as a dye for photography in the 1950s, it received approval for medical use a few years later, and has been used for everything from measuring cardiac performance to opthalmology. But it just so happens to also significantly reduce cell death both in vitro in human cell lines, and in vivo in mice. There haven't been any in vivo studies in humans just yet, but results are very promising.

There's one limitation--indocyanine green must be given as soon as possible after ingestion. When it was given eight or twelve hours after α-amanitin poisoning, it was no longer effective due to cell death having already occurred.

Still, the fact that we now have a potential new tool in treating acute α-amanitin poisoning is a massive hope for the future. Couple this with increasing education about safe mushroom foraging and how to identify poisonous species, and we could see a significant reduction in poisoning from those two deadly Amanita species.

[ask-thebrothers-kaiba]

👻 tell a fear they have

SETO retains a fear of failure throughout his life, even as he grows older and wiser. There is something anxious in failure, an anxiety he rejects in full and yet finds himself controlled by still. Seto Kaiba is not an anxious person necessarily, but once the pressure has been put into place, the race is ON. Be better, be faster, bolder, stronger, bigger, more elaborate - to fail in his earlier life, as we all know, would be akin to death. But Seto Kaiba now, post-DSOD, has learned enough to know better and experienced something of an ego death and rebounded into himself to account for the rest of his understanding. To fail in his present state, what I consider to be his new "canon" for this blog, is less like a fatality and more comparable to an internal pressure he can't let go. So, if he fails he may not die - so what? It still means he is lacking, that he didn't work hard enough, didn't consider all of his variables. The older he gets the more he realizes how futile this mode of thinking is, but he is never able to shake it. Not completely. Seto is also deeply afraid of anything happening to Mokuba that would result in his injury or death, and Seto's only way of coping with this is keeping in mind the statistical probability that such things would nor occur and, honestly, sheer will of force. Don't think about it.

MOKUBA's biggest fear is losing Seto in any stage of their lives being left to the unknown, and secondarily if that were to happen, being alone. Mokuba has never truly been away from Seto, not for long at least; and although not quite joined at the hip, the two were near-inseparable in their earlier years in the orphanage and shortly after Gozaburo's death. Pre-DSOD Mokuba always worried, in the back of his mind, that Seto would be lost to his own delusions and never become the person he used to be before Gozaburo. He remained uneasy for many years, the passage of time only amplifying his anxiety - Would it happen? Would Mokuba be able to stop him? When would it occur? Could he bring Seto back? Just what was within his power to do? These questions and many more like it swirled in Mokuba's mind and in the pit of his stomach. So much for being a kid while he could, but he figured this was the most important, honorable thing he could do: watch after Seto, be his saving grace should the time come, lead him towards a better path - a horrendous privilege.

As the two become older, and post-DSOD their relationship is on the mend, Mokuba struggles with the paranoia of Seto potentially relapsing. He believed his brother's promises to become a better man, on course to find peace in his life, but there was an everlasting ache from the last time he felt Seto had abandoned him, a slight tug on his heart that made him look the other way as if such promises were sincere, but empty. Both of Mokuba's fears had come to pass all at once and he was only able to cope by accepting that it was what Seto wanted the most in that moment to be fulfilled, but the longer time went on without him, the more Mokuba hurt. For Seto to have at first accepted Atem's death and then go out of his way to seek him out with Aigami's quantum cube was something between a profound disappointment and betrayal. Now that Seto has returned, Mokuba remains uncertain...

[rockybloo]

Hi, feel free to ignore this ask, or point me wearily to the FAQ if i missed it, but can I asked what inspired the world of Lore? Specifically the holistic nature of it, where different tales live side by side. I am a…hopeful, one-day fairy and folk tale scholar, and in my studies I’ve seen this concept pop up in a lot of more modern retellings/reimaginings, and one of my projects has been to see if i could find a source. When i say inspiration/source, I don’t mean singular piece(s) of media that gave you the idea (if you have one id love to know it though!) i more mean sorta your own internal source, the emotional trigger that led you to grouping separate fairy tales into one larger world. I know theres a lot to be said for the simple concept of “because it fucks, thats why” (some of my favorite interpretations of tales spawn from similar concepts) but if you have the time or energy, id love it if you’d be willing to ponder deeper motivations.

Sorry for the long ask, im absolutely obsessed with your characters and the worlds you create by taking archetypical settings and twisting them into something new and intriguing. Thank you for sharing your art (in all senses of the word) with us!

Thank you! And I very much love overthinking fairy tales and their existence SO I SHALL DO EXACTLY THAT!

For me, the reason I just plopped down every fairy tale into the same world, aside from a simple "Because everyone else does it and it's my favorite type of fantasy world" is because it makes so much sense to me.

There's a ton of repeated themes and characters in fairy tales to the point they have a classification system to make folklorist's lives easier when categorizing them. There are so many different Cinderellas, and I don't mean just the European one, as it's a fable that has been found all around the world. There are very much big differences in each story but the literal age old tale is still noticeable.

I took a mythology and fairy tale class in high school where we talked about "The Hero's Journey" which is like a template nearly every story falls into regardless of where a story is from. And for me, it was wild seeing just how many shared tropes humanity has as a whole in our storytelling.

A character that pops multiple times, aside from Prince Charming, is the Big Bad Wolf. OF COURSE it's because wolves were (and still are somewhat) dangerous animals and so that is how they are characterized in fables such as Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. But it's still noticeable that these stories overlap with each other so fitting them into a single world just makes a lot of sense.

Another gigantic reason is that we all live in reality. There's a general understanding of what can and cannot occur on Earth. We know we can't fly without some machine to aid us or talk to animals and have them speak our language back to us. And many mythical beings can potentially be traced back to specific interactions early humans had with rare instances in nature and a need to have a reason "why?".

In fairy tales, reality is fantastical. Numerous tales have talking animals, super natural beings, shapeshifting, characters defying death and recovering from "should have been" fatal injuries, and being able to live happily ever after with never ending love.

We humans don't really get that. Especially that last part with happy endings and love. Sure, we can live a peaceful life or try to but there's this level of joy in some tales that only exists in fairy tales. And love so so much more complicated than the typical "love at first sight that lasts forever without problems".

With all these elements that land fairy tales in a different realm of reality than us, I thought it made sense to actually make a realm (or rather a planet) that explains why things in the world of fairy tales are so much more different than us and even somewhat explain why our reality doesn't have magic in it.

It basically traces back to that age old human urge to explain the unexplainable with some story.

[rabbitcruiser]

National Dress in Blue Day 

The idea for ‘National Dress in Blue Day’ was originally come up with by Anita Mitchell, a stage IV colon cancer survivor who had lost a close friend and her own father to the disease. Greatly saddened by the fact that both of those tragedies could have been prevented, Ms. Mitchell saw a need to bring greater awareness to cancer that not many people wanted to discuss.

So, in 2006, she worked with her children’s school to coordinate a recognition day. That very year in March, students who normally had to wear uniforms to class were allowed to wear a blue outfit of their choice, if only they made a $1 donation to colon cancer awareness.

There have been some hopes to turn all of March, and not just the first Friday of the month, blue by promoting colon cancer awareness all month long, much like National Breat Cancer Awareness Month takes place every October.

History of Blue Dress Day

Anita then brought the ‘National Dress in Blue Day’ concept to the Colon Cancer Alliance. ‘National Dress in Blue Day’ was first launched in 2009 by the Colon Cancer Alliance in a massive nationwide campaign. It was introduced to raise awareness of colon cancer as well as to recognise the bravery of those suffering from the disease, and the now nationally-recognized blue star was chosen to symbolize both the memory of loved ones lost to colon cancer and the perspective of a better future without the disease.

With its actions, the Colon Cancer Alliance hopes to encourage people to become more interested in the potentially fatal threat that is colon cancer, by for example getting screened regularly in hopes of being able to detect any warning signs before the situation becomes much more serious.

Diagnosis of cases of colorectal cancer through screening tends to occur 2-3 years before diagnosis of cases with symptoms, and thus screening has the potential to reduce colon cancer deaths by 60%. It has been found, in fact, that most colorectal cancers should be preventable altogether, through increased surveillance and lifestyle changes, such as simple diet changes or an increase in the amount of physical activity an individual does, which makes prevention a truly important aspect.

Carmen Marc Valvo, an American fashion designer, partnered with the Colon Cancer Alliance in 2011 to promote National Dress in Blue Day after hew own personal struggle with the cancer.

How to celebrate blue dress day

Individuals, companies and neighbourhood groups celebrate ‘National Dress in Blue Day’ by wearing blue and encouraging their friends, family and colleagues to do the same. There are many different ways this can be used to raise money. Proceeds raised through ‘National Dress in Blue Day’ are used to fund important research and prevention programs, as well as to provide support to patients.

As one example, businesses can allow their employees to wear jeans and a blue t-shirt instead of their usual uniforms, in return for a small fee. Some people both raise awareness and show support for friends or family members who have suffered or are suffering from colon cancer by wearing a shirt that says simply, “I’m blue for my son” or, “I’m blue for Sarah”.

An individual can also collect sponsorship from their friends and family in return for dressing head to toe in blue for a day – including clothing, shoes, make up and even hair dye! This money is then of course donated to the Colon Cancer Alliance, and used both to help survivors of colon cancer as well as do more research into possible ways to hopefully one day cure it completely.

Source

[firespirited]

Finally got to the Doctor, turns out she's been dealing with a family emergency all December (no she's not a trauma dumper, I'm the type who asks... and listens for 40 minutes because, well, clearly she hasn't been asked by many and needed to vent about bureaucracy and paperwork and difficult family members)

So that explains why she's been technically Not on holiday but also Not available.

Gonna do stool sample number three!!! *sarcastic confetti and noisemakers* with very careful wording and hope the lab don't mess up again along with a blood test for another potential GI tract hijacker.

If that falls through, we have to find out why malabsorbtion is happening with tubes that go down and up my tubes à moi. Probably 'up' given the severe daily pains in the lower intestines.

I'm terrified of intestinal cramping during a colonoscopy causing a tear in the guts and being one of the fatal 1% but have a plan to inform everyone and sharpie warnings on my arms if it ever comes to that exam. Yes, that's getting way ahead of ourselves: Adhd brain and medical trauma means I had 5-10 brain tabs open on next step risks and pitfalls within a second of her saying the word specialist.

I forgot to inform her that I've been eating leafy greens, iron supplements and cheap chicken bits to fight the anemia so if it's not as bad as expected it's because I'm horfing down whatever iron I can get ... my bp was below nine during the appointment, could barely stay on track.

Guess I'll shoot her an email after my blood test. Might need to confirm if she expected me to auto up my bp meds without asking permission (I've been living in, like, zombie mode because that hadn't occurred to me)

So she's back, we have another option to explore, she might medicate the symptoms of malabsorbtion if it looks ugly on the tests. Progress? I think? Hope at least.

Getting 'we didn't test for candida' on the second, now more clearly marked, candida test on the 26th of December was a massive blow as I'd stupidly staked so much hope on that test. 'We will neither confirm nor deny we did a candida test because we're being pedantic about precise precriptions' over the phone a few days later wasn't reassuring either. And my dr had been on call but not replying to phone or email since early dec which was concerning.

______________

For your edutainment: here's how to do a stool sample.

If the pot is nice and big like it could contain two glasses of orange juice, you're in luck you can probably go right in it. Most are smaller single OJ if not single yoghurt plastic pots.

So first, pee. Very important step, you may pee later but at least it's less mess. Get some cling film (saran wrap) and carry a cut sheet to the loo (rather than bringing a kitchen item into your toilet room) , drape it over the back 3/4 of your toilet under the seat so there's a little poo catcher nook and make sure its well attached on both sides.

Do your poo, stuff toilet paper between your cheeks, open the pot. Get up, turn around, use the poo pot to gather a sample, close pot with loo paper. Pull down cling film at an angle and wash cling film in flush water, place it in a doggie poop bag to go in the trash.

Wipe bottom, flush again.

Wash outside of stool pot carefully, wash your hands carefully. Put stool pot in an opaque marked bag in the fridge far from food, more towards closed sauces until someone with a car can drop it off. Copro Culture takes 3 days, if you have internet access to results you could have them then.

Very important to remember : unless you have a blessèd routine involving a morning coffee and precise timing. This could take several attempts and several cling film sheets. Do not get up too fast to grab that pot if you have POTS or feel in any way drained - I promise it can wait, nearly passing out face first over a toilet with a film poop ledge is not great. Still better than most people's uninformed attempt at collecting a normal sized poo in the undersized pot!

In the same way, pee samples are 'pass under the stream briefly' not sample the whole pee. Entire pee samples come with a bottle sized pot: ask for two, we hydrate better than previous generations.

[lucidiferneedssleep]

Updating the SR lore because I want to

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, please read:

Basically, the -Verse alternate in the SR adaptation greatly differs from the original DC because it's instead much like its own globe with the universe alterations instead as citizens in countries, all within the same AU.

In short:

SR = Its own AU with several countries inside of its globe, each country representing what would USUALLY be its own AU but is instead in the same world

DC = DreamTale AU

MT = Original AU made by yours truly

DeitiaVerse = The multiverse all of these different AUs reside inside

I'm going to be talking about how SR's system works. With there being seven "mages" in the legends of Undertale and all, there is a system much like it for SR. There are seven different countries, all primarily worshiping seven different Gods. (The OutCodes ofc) The Gods can all traverse outside of SR and through the entire DeitiaVerse but must under no circumstance interact with any iteration of themselves or anyone they know. Especially not humans, that's strictly forbidden.

The same way that the seven SOULs define the traits of humans, the God the citizen is affiliated with also comes into play largely because of what the citizens will be granted in case they attend rites and the like. Now you might ask, what if people don't believe in the Gods. Well, that all loops around to the Outlands, an endless desert with a large settlement oasis, capital city (although unofficial) Omega. (Omega Timeline, get it? I'm hilarious.)

There's often beef between worshipers of different deities but tbh there's not much beef between the actual Gods, apart from the twins. Different countries have different cultural differences and standards/policies, so traveling between them can prove a hassle but is by no means against the law. (for the most part) If you decide that you wish to cut ties with a deity or simply don't have time to follow traditions, that's completely fine and allowed, but all the power you might have could easily be lost at the flip of a dime in the process.

Many rituals invoke magic to rapidly expand, increasing the power of anyone nearby, which means that refusing to accept it might prove difficult in the long run because of the effects. Magic-deprivation is no joke as it will give large setbacks for the human race and can prove literally fatal for monsters. Therefore, there have been.... Other ways to receive magic suggested. (No matter the moral complications.)

The Gods both function as a sort of higher power while also having a largely varying amount of political influence in several different nations because of beliefs differentiating from one another. For example, for some people, Gods function like a king that gets the final say no matter what, and for others, they only function as militant force or defensive maneuvers against occurring natural disasters. Some don't even consider them "Gods" and more like powerful mages because that's all they present themselves as. Although, that could have potential consequences in the future, as all of them really do have the abilities to disturb society on a massive scale.

Of course, the Gods vary in age and power. Some have larger tasks and rarely ever attend their home, while others have more down-to-earth assignments that give them a pass in communicating with humans. Some even say the most powerful God has never been seen by a human, his form trapped by his own power to not rupture the concept of reality itself...

Next part:

[moonlightreal]

Reading The Secret Circle in 2023

I love this series. It was probably my first teenage witches series, it was YA before YA was really a separate genre, and LJ Smith is a solid writer. But I’m giving it a reread to see what I see, that my teenage self, who had read much less YA, didn’t see. And I’ll just write whatever comes to mind while I read.

The first thing and the main thing that made me twitch was Faye. The femme fatale of the coven, Hera the jealous goddess, boyfriend stealer and terrorizer of the school. In her first scene she’s pressuring a guy who has a girlfriend to take her out on a date, and since the whole school lives in terror of the coven’s powers the poor guy can’t say no. This is super uncomfortable.

Ms. Smith likes this femme fatale character type, she uses it again in one of the Night World books. I don’t think I’ve ever run across this kind of character in any other YA book. Faye is a very sex-positive character but also a sexual predator of unfortunate boys. She’s not a good person but she’s presented as wicked but still one of the good guys.

In the second book there’s a buck-wild scene where Faye, Suzan and Deborah play “Pizza Man He Delivers” they get the house done up like witchy love nest with candles, incense, crystals and music, and then they order six pizzas and if the delivery guys are cute they invite them in to seduce them. And I have so many questions. 1)did anybody do this in real life ever? 2)does Ms. Smith think anybody did this in real life ever? 3)how many adult films is this exact scene in? It’s straight out of a dirty video, with characters who are supposed to be 16! Ms. Smith is a much weirder writer than you might think lol.

Good girl Cassie decides this is wrong because the guys “don’t have a choice” even though they are enjoying the proceedings. The real life dangers of seducing and sleeping with random guys don’t seem to cross Cassie’s mind, so maybe their school has really bad sex ed.

But (back to slightly more serious thoughts) reading Faye it also occurs to me that she’s the femme fatale without ever being slut shamed. Her sexuality is scary but not shameful. Suzan, the voluptuous Aphrodite of the coven who barely gets a mention that doesn’t include mention of her chest size, is not really written as less-than because she likes seducing guys. In fact there’s a scene where Suzan helps the other girls get ready for the school dance and Cassie thinks, “She’d thought Suzan was just an airhead, but it wasn’t true. Suzan loved beauty and was generous about sharing it with other people.” and that is an amazing, amazing way to write the “fashion obsessed airhead” character type. Half my headcanons for Stella are based on that image that stayed in my head from the time I first read this series to the time I started watching Winx.

Each girl in the coven is based on a goddess, and they each have a signature color. This is not a bad writing trick to handle a bunch of characters and make them distinct! The third “bad girl” is Deborah the biker chick, based on Artemis the huntress. Deborah rides a motorcycle and wears itty-bitty tops and leather jackets and at one point has a leather hat with a chain on it. And she’s “not interested in boys.”

Ms. Smith was writing in the early ninties when there were “gay books” and ‘normal books” and she was writing normal books as directed by her publisher so all her characters are white-cis-het. But Deborah, while described as very pretty with a dainty face, is kind of butch. One of the boys, the cold and emotionless Nick, is described as not liking girls, but I don’t get any potentially gay vibes off him. If you wanted to read into it Nick could be ace and Deborah could certainly be a lesbian.

This made me wonder-- if she started writing again today when representation is the trend in YA literature, what would Ms. Smith think? We can’t ask her so I can only make a guess based on her writing, her blogs, and the fact that she’s no fan of Trump… I think she’d freaking love it. Ms. Smith’s jam is writing forbidden love, and now she’d have all these new kinds of couples to write and new reasons for their love to be forbidden. Thinking Night World here because that’s a series that could be expanded, what do all the supernaturals think of same-sex relationships? The witches are very traditional but same-sex relationships happen among animals so maybe the shapeshifters are chill with it. Who knows? Ms. Smith could worldbuild that stuff to her heart’s content and I think she’d have just a grand time.

LJ Smith mentioned somewhere that she put “everything I could find or make up about Wicca” into Secret Circle. There were BARELY any books about witchcraft in 1992, and I wonder what Ms. Smith could do today, when they’re everywhere and she could look up all different magical traditions. She’d have so much to work with!

So what did she have to work with? The girls use rhyming spells and lots of candles. They use herbal teas and homemade beauty products. There are circles and books of shadows. The elements and nature are mentioned a lot, but despite the girls reflecting goddesses they don’t worship the old gods.

There aren’t a lot of magic tools, interestingly. The girls use a lot of stones, each girl has a unique “working crystal” and a type of stone that they use most. Then there are the “master tools,” a set of regalia the leader of the coven wears: a bracelet, tiara and garter. Not a wand, besom or cauldron in sight! At one point one of the characters mentions typing up spells to make a “floppy disc of shadows” which is a phrase I think I read in a Silver Ravenwolf book, but I don’t think Ms. Smith read any SRW, she’d have pulled WAY more from it if she had.

But if you are, like I was, a young magic user looking for how-tos in fiction books, the Secret Circle is great. The main magical takeaway is the use of stones and crystals, which the girls use constantly. As jewelry, as pendulums, in spells, or just to hold to absorb their attributes. Each girl mentions her favorite stone at some point so whoever you are you’ll probably be inspired to use your favorite stones more often.

In fact I think I’ll drop the page from the old Circle Daybreak website here.

Finding your working crystal Each witch in the coven, male or female, also has a special stone, often of their color choice but not always. This is their working crystal, and is used to draw out their own special virtues and powers. Here are what different crystals can be used for and what they mean. You, too, can use your working crystal, in addition to wearing a certain color, to bring out these qualities in yourself.

The garnet brings circulation to normal, helps the blood clot, and purifies. It builds balance, awareness, and well-being, as well as preventing fears and insecurities. Garnets also draw out negativity, and can make one more attractive to others.

The ruby intensify love, compassion, and sexuality. It, too, brings circulation to normal, and purifies the blood. Also, rubies are high-energy stones for courage, boldness, and action. Faye likes to wear star rubies to increase her sex appeal to men.

Carnelian stimulates energy and appetite, as well as physical power and courage. It helps ground one to the physical plane, and promotes practical application of ideas. As Suzan’s crystal, perhaps this is why she has such a fondness for twinkies.

Citrine is Deborah’s crystal and may be the source of her energy. It provides a sense of stability and promotes practical application of ideas and a rational approach. Citrine also adds energy and emotional balance. It clears the body of toxins.

Topaz calms and cleanses. It relieves and balances emotional breakdowns. It aids in the healing of nervous fatigue, exhaustion, and extreme stress. Topaz also aids with headaches.

Peridot is used for clear sight and problem solving. It is a healer of the spirit and physical body. It provides protection from nervousness, and increases fearlessness and willpower. The circle uses it for dowsing. It helps with hurt feelings.

Melanie’s crystal is jade, and she uses it for mental clarity. It brings peace and calm, and has a stabilizing effect on the body. Jade also builds courage, clarity, and tranquility of the mind. It aids stomach problems.

The emerald strengthens memory, clear seeing, and wisdom. It enhances speech and creativity. Emeralds also increase intelligence, foresight, and prophecy. It aids heart problems and asthma, and eye problems.

Malachite purifies things on the material plane. Its bands provide protection of creative ideas. Malachite also promotes tranquility, success and good wealth in business. It is sometimes called lapis liguris.

Lapis Lazuli is used by vampires in The Vampire Diaries as protection from the sun. It illuminates the mind, and has purifying and healing properties. Lapis also promotes mental endurance, insight, and wisdom, as well as building good judgment and psychic abilities. It helps emotional healing.

Azurite aids in communication. It clears thoughts, and cleanses negative mental states. Azurite also aids in insight, vision, and hypnosis. It reduces stress and depression.

The sapphire aids in communication, as well as aiding clairvoyant perceptions, divine wisdom, and prophecy. It also cleanses negative mental states and disturbances. Sapphires help with nervous and mental disorders, and asthma.

Blue Topaz adds spiritual strength. It calms, sooths, and sedates. Blue topaz also brings a peaceful and natural healing state of consciousness. It builds mental clarity, and aids emotional healing.

The amethyst, Laurel’s crystal, has a calming and healing mental effect. It enhances the meditative state, and creates pure thoughts. It also adds spiritual insight and higher values, in addition to alleviating mental stress. The circle uses amethyst to ward off evil

Extra Secret Circle stuff: There was a sequel series written by Aubrey Clark. They are not very good. I did have them from the library but it was some years back so my memories are vague. Ms. Clark did her best but she just doesn’t have Ms. Smith’s gift for getting the characters right. She also killed off some characters, I think Suzan didn’t make it, which sucks.

Ms Clark brought two new things to the series: the concept of witch hunters and Scarlett, Cassie’s half-sister. My first reaction was, “Ha-ha, Mary Sue long lost sister!” but… it’s actually a pretty valid idea. Bringing in a child of Black John is a good way to add something new and connect to the original villain without bringing him back from the dead, and Scarlett can start evil and then be turned to good. Valid plot! I, uh, don’t remember if that actually happened in the sequel series, but the idea’s good.

There was a TV show. I was excited to learn this—but I learned it too late and could only find a middle episode and something I forget what about the plot annoyed me so much that I never tried to find the rest. I really probably should at least watch episode one, give it a chance, but the CW’s style is just so not my jam.

I’ve read that the show and the sequel books have similar plot points so that could explain some of the sequels’ events, if Ms. Clark was writing to tie in with the show.

[lumen-tellus]

thinking about my oldest beloved ocs and their whole fucked up family problems re: heaven and angels and nephilim and i am specifically thinking about one of the lesser developed family members aka evan!!

its been a long time since ive thought about my ocs but my brain lowkey strayed to evan for..... whatever reason, but hes there even if thus far its just to be a narrative/character backstory device for most of my other ocs in this messed up family!!

also i may have stumbled on some really really really Really old notes i had on him so brain brr brr

summarizing for future me maybe:

what i have currently

Evan is the current (false) name of Ange’s and May’s dad. He’s among the earliest Nephilim in existence, descending from Eve, herself the first Nephilim alongside her twin sister, both descending from the first fallen angel, Lilith otherwise known as Helel aka Lucifer.

Originally, he was named Cain. And yes, had a brother named Abel. And yes, he killed Abel - but because my oc’s setting has a fucked up version of not-benevolent angels who think their fallen brethren and result progeny are undesirables to be purged, Cain killed Abel to spare the latter from heaven’s wrath.

However, the act of murdering his own family - which was on top of a pile of other traumatizing things in his life relating to his other family members being heavily ostracized by some societies due to their less human nature and also dropping like flies because of heaven’s crusade - meant he was left almost a complete wreck as he continued to flee from any divine gaze.

A gaze that caught up to him regardless, and he was executed - except, it turns out one of his angelic blessings through his mother was resurrective immortality. Even if he’s completely wiped out from existence, to the very last atom, he will automatically and reflexively reconstruct a new body for himself, even if it takes time for whatever reason.

(This led to heaven assigning a specific minor angel to be his personal executor for whenever he pops back up - his eventual wife Puriel aka Philia, but that’s a later side note.)

However, due to his prior mental instability when this ability first manifested - and for many instances after - his resurrection has a high probability of “glitching”, causing a variety of changes to his appearance, personality, and even memories. This has resulted in several resurrections where he doesn’t retain the same face, behaviors, or some form of amnesia of varying intensity.

This has led to him leading many, many different kinds of lives under numerous names. In fact, his first resurrection caused him to suppress some of his true memories and assume the identity of his brother, Abel, until his next death and resurrection - though later resurrections would reorganize his memories and allow him to remember the truth, potentially.

Similarly, his initial resurrections had him forget about his Nephilim status, causing him to be quite brutally murdered by Puriel for seemingly no reason each time and adding to his growing pile of traumas—further destabilizing the consistency of his resurrections until the right personality-memory combination occurred and he could (somewhat) accept and also be completely nonchalant about being killed (since he can just come back anyway).

Much much much much later, after thousands of assassinations and getting together with Philia, further having two children aka Ange and May - heaven eventually locates them despite their best attempts to remain hidden. But unlike before, the two are offered a choice—their children will remain untouched, but Philia must return to the divine graces. Except ‘returning’ requires ‘proving’ herself, which entails killing her husband for good.

Heaven outright tells them how to do that even - pointing them to a barren planet, with a deep valley filled with toxic miasma and extremely eroding winds. Philia is commanded to fatally strike Evan, and in the process, send him right into its depths, where she must further entrap him forever.

In so doing, while his immortality will constantly revive him, the miasma will immediately kill him - and if his new body were to become resistant to it, the harsh erosion of the winds will essentially tear apart that new body as it is being reformed. Ultimately, he will be trapped in an eternal cycle of erosion and rebirth, only to be swiftly, painfully eroded back into nothingness.

The planned conclusion is that eventually, after countless, futile and painful cycles of this, his immortality will simply cease to activate and he will remain dead at a point. Even if not, so long as he remains in that valley of death, he will never return from it. And putting all that aside - after all he’s experienced, does he even have the willpower to even climb back out regardless?

Ultimately, his fate is worse than death.

NEW STUFF ADDING IN lol

well not exactly new stuff, but with that whole summary up there - TECHNICALLY, angie-dad is still alive so like

imagines to myself a thonk scenario where angie-dad comes back SOMEHOW and anyway its a funny scenario bc like -

ange thinks he’s a missing cheater who made her mom sad

may has left him for dead - well, she knows the technicalities of the situation, but concluded that considering how bad it is, he might as well just be dead

their mom, philia, knows he’s alive but constantly being tortured into death again and again and is quite sure he will never be able to leave the valley so she more or less doomed him

sylvia? nothing. she doesnt know shit about her maternal grandfather and i think it would be so fucking funny if they meet

also i remember writing a drabble where evan - before he took up that name and identity - had encountered a tiny al so i think there is even more hilarity in the idea of evan going “u remind me of something............. Oh! maybe that apple kid” “what”

[baga24]

''The Crossroads'' Part 12. Putin was coded by global anti-culturalists.

There are ample reasons to believe that President Putin himself has become the target of covert psychological manipulations

I continue to introduce you, dear readers, in text format to the speech of esteemed Egon Cholakian in his landmark video address 

“The Crossroads”.

So: “After the onset of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, many pro-Ukrainian media outlets adopted the rhetoric that there were too many similarities between the actions of President Putin and the sequence of actions taken by Hitler. They began actively comparing the modern Russian regime to the Nazi regime. Unfortunately, however, no one approached this topic with due seriousness, turning it into another propaganda and information warfare.

Moreover, a grave mistake was made by focusing all accusations solely on President Putin. This approach is not only ineffective but also potentially dangerous. It overlooks those who are actually behind the formation of the modern form of Nazism, those who operate in the shadows, manipulating not only society, law enforcement, and judicial bodies within Russia but also the state leader himself.

There are ample reasons to believe that President Putin himself has become the target of covert psychological manipulations conducted by representatives of global anti-cultism. Sophisticated propaganda methods, distortion of historical facts, and manipulation of historical truth through puzzle coding all work not only on the population, law enforcement, and military structures but also on the country's top leadership.

There is a high probability that President Putin does not take seriously the parallels drawn between his policies and the Nazi regime in Germany. Moreover, he might even find these comparisons absurd or laughable. However, such a reaction only confirms that the head of Russia has become the object of sophisticated manipulation. Under the effect of covert influence, he is likely genuinely convinced of the correctness of his actions and decisions. The tragic irony lies in the fact that, by rejecting comparisons with the Hitler regime, President Putin is actually following the same path. He does not realize that his rhetoric, political moves, and ideological stances increasingly resemble those that led to the catastrophe of 1939-1945. As of today, Russia bears a striking resemblance to pre-war Germany in 1939.

Who, then, are the actual carriers and proponents of the ideology, methods, and practices of Nazism in modern Russia? Who, operating in close proximity to the country's leader, is methodically and purposefully transforming the state into a semblance of the regime that humanity vowed never to allow again? Who is manipulating the Russian leader, President Putin, exerting such profound influence that he, perhaps unknowingly, begins to reproduce the rhetoric and actions that eerily mirror the behavior of one of the most dreadful dictators in human history—Adolf Hitler?

The answer is simple. We are witnessing a scenario painfully familiar from the experience of Nazi Germany—the close intertwining of state and church, reinforced by the influence of anti-cult organizations, which in itself is also a hallmark of fascist regimes. This symbiosis, as we remember, played a fatal role in transforming an ordinary political party of national socialists into a Nazi regime under Hitler's leadership. The creators of the film "Impact" accurately depicted how this occurred then and how it is happening now.

Once, wise people warned that Nazism could return under the guise of fighting Nazism. To our deep regret, we are witnessing the realization of this very scenario in real time. The tragedy of the situation is that Russia, a country that suffered immeasurable losses from Nazi aggression, is now openly and purposefully transitioning to ideologies and practices that can only be described as the resurgence of fascism in its most radical and inhumane form—Nazism. 

A nation proud of its contribution to the victory over Nazism and having borne colossal human sacrifices is today, to our profound sorrow, facing the revival of Nazi ideology within its borders.

However, the situation is far more dangerous now than it was in the last century. Unlike the Third Reich, the ideologists of the modern form of Nazism possess the world's largest nuclear arsenal. This is not just a political threat but an existential risk to all humanity.

In the context of an escalating climate crisis, the use of nuclear weapons could be a catastrophic step, accelerating the advent of irreversible consequences for our planet. We risk destroying the world long before even the most pessimistic climate predictions forecast.

Therefore, it is imperative to find ways to neutralize the threat of this new form of Nazism, to eradicate the ideology of hatred and superiority before it is too late. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past. The cost of inaction today could be immeasurably higher than ever before in human history.”

## TO BE CONTINUED…

Please support this important information with likes, shares, comments, and applause!

#Allatra #ClimateChange #EgonCholakian #TheCrossroads #GlobalChanges

[customhydrauliccylinders]

Maximizing the Lifespan of Your Hydraulic Cylinders with Proper Grease Application

Hydraulic cylinders are the lifeblood of numerous commercial and mobile machinery systems, performing an essential part in delivering the ability required to conduct heavy-duty tasks. This is particularly important with such hydraulic cylinders, to keep them running efficiently as they should and avoid the many forms of possible repairs that are all in fact costly. In this article, we will discuss the uses of hydraulic grease and when it should be applied protecting your assets from wearing out due to usage.

Why Hydraulic Grease is Necessary for Cylinder Maintenance

Proper maintenance of components such as cylinder rods is crucial in the world of custom hydraulic cylinders manufacturing to attain longevity and performance. Over time, hydraulic cylinders are used at high pressures so the moving parts and documents in water wear out. Grease acts as a lubricant and also as a seal, keeping their two parts in contact but never actually together so that they both remain functioning correctly with no rubbing or friction.

a. Lubrication and Reduce the Friction

Because it is a thicker, more viscous fluid than oil, hydraulic grease can provide an additional level of protective lubrication from wear and formation between moving parts such as shafts to bearings. Especially applicable for tie-rod hydraulic cylinders and welded hydraulic cylinders, less friction is vital to limit operational roughness as well as protect the components.

a. Anticontaminants and Corrosion Protection

More than just a friction reducer, hydraulic grease also acts as a blocking agent, preventing contamination (such dirt or dust and moisture) to enter the cylinder. But when it boils down to components like telescopic hydraulic cylinders, which are exposed to the harsh environment around them, this protection is critically important. Its role is crucial since it stops contaminants getting in, prevents rust and corrosion which could prove fatal for your system afterward.

Uses of Hydraulic Grease — When And Where

Just as important as realizing the benefits of hydraulic grease is knowing when and where to apply it. Every hydraulic cylinder is different and not all of them will need any amount or type of grease.

Theoretical Use Cases for Grease Inideal

While hydraulic grease is ideal for conditions such as the above.

Outdoor storage or occasional use: Outdoor equipment is exposed to the elements and so more likely to rust. This ever-so-important step prevents corrosion or moisture that could potentially lead to rust, which means your custom hydraulic cylinders will be ready for use when you need them.

Extreme Pressure/ Extreme Temperature — When hydraulic cylinders are exposed to extreme high pressures, temperatures and shock loads grease creates thicker film that can hold up against the force of environment.

Reduces damage: Worn components „grow“ and this grows the clearances. Greal s achieves its way to reach against these growing damages so that at least, e.g., no dry runnging occurs; but instead lubricaiton is still given even when it should not be anymore as time goes by dementia could ave destryed everthing around you…

b) Cases where applying grease is INAPPROPRIATE

Grease works well at times, but in some instances it might not be the best call.

Heat Dissipation: Some hydraulic cylinders need efficient heat dissipation to function properly. Grease can turn into a thick crust under these conditions when overheated and may damage the system. Once your motorcycle is properly cleaned, make sure to throw that oil away and use a different lubricant that cools the engine down better.

It does not mean you have to select the perfect lubricant rather get one that is easy for cleaning and skin replacement if your device requires regular maintenance or grease removal due because as oppose oil, it may be too thick and never coming outMBSelectionMode:ille of being in full use.

MAINTENANCE TIPSTHESE SIMPLE MAINTENANCE ROUTINES ARE GREAT PRACTICE TO ENSURE HYDRAULIC CYLINDERS WILL WORK FOR LONGER!

Greasing hydraulic cylinders is a part of routine maintenance to ensure the long life, which we will offer ways how a work can be maintained for longer with simple steps. But you need to use the right kind of grease and apply it in specific places on your equipment.

Check your gear manual

When in doubt, always refer to your equipment manual before applying any grease. Within the manual, it will suggest specific grease to use as well as where these respective points are located so that lubrication is conducted in a fashion unique to what the cylinders require from their builder.

b. Work with a reliable Hydraulic cylinders manufacturer

To know about the right way of using grease in your maintenance schedule, it is important to join hands with a reputed hydraulic cylinders manufacturer. At www.XSLHydraulics.com we have a vast offering of product along with custom hydraulic cylinder manufacturing capabilities and knowledge. Our team is happy to work with you on proper grease and maintenance protocols for all of your cylinders.

Conclusion

One of the easiest ways to extend hydraulic cylinder life and save time overhauling your machines is proper application of a quality grease for hydraulics. Knowing where and when to use grease can help you shield your equipment from abrasion, friction so on guaranteeing reliable operation over time. At XSLHydraulics.com - we are dedicated to give you the indispensable products and expertise for your hydraulic system. Find out more about our innovative solutions by getting in touch with us today.

[carolinanadeau]

This is a bit of a long story, but I promise all of the lengthy exposition is necessary to properly deliver the ending. This is the story of how, with no human intervention at all, technology played an elaborate prank on me.

So, today, I looked up a website on my work laptop in incognito mode, and something happened that I've never seen before - it was blocked for adult content by something called Sophos.

The website I tried to access is an extremely innocuous and obscure website that sells dolls (I am a doll collector), and absolutely no one could ever accuse it of containing even the tiniest hint of adult content. So even though I know I can defend myself against that accusation with ease, it's still an potential record of me doing something blatantly unrelated to work, and I start to freak out, wondering if the bosses will be alerted, if all my browsing history is perhaps being relayed to them. I need to know more about these Sophos.

As I frantically Google to find out if I could be in trouble, some of my worst fears are confirmed. This software doesn't track all of your browsing history, but it logs the incident if you attempt to access something blocked, and all of these events are viewable from a central database.

Now, I'm no angel when it comes to not screwing around on company time. Admitting to this doesn't paint me in a very good light, but I imagine not many people can afford to throw stones about this particular vice. In incognito windows on this work laptop, I've browsed Reddit and Tumblr, I've read stories on AO3, I've worked on my sometimes-NSFW fanfic. I'm a loser with a poor attention span, what do you want me to say? As long as my work gets done it's not the worst thing in the world.

So in addition to the fear for my good standing as an employee, I start to feel sick. What could the information contained in this software reveal? It could expose me as a serial timewaster - enough to get me reprimanded on its own, or worse - but it could also rub a lot of salt into that wound by revealing my very embarrassing niche interests to my bosses, making me look perverted in some way, or even the near-fatal humiliation of leading them to discover my fanfic somehow!!!

When I am able to find the Sophos application and open it, it's not as bad as it could be - there's no AO3 on there, no Tumblr or Reddit or Google Docs, nothing but the doll website that seems to relate to my personal interests - but it certainly doesn't look good. I scroll through the "event" log, and it's not just my attempt to access the doll website that is in there, but 18 events, and they all have my name attached! The bosses are going to see all of this! A large amount of them seem to point to Google Translate. Weird and unsettling but... doesn't necessarily sound like something bad if the bosses were to see it. But there is one event that sounds terrible, and it shows up repeatedly.

Apparently I tried to access something on "tse2.bing.explicit.net". That sounds damning. And when I look up that domain to find out what it means, my suspicions are confirmed. While there are certainly far worse domains that could show up in the incident log, this is undeniably bad.

I try to think this through. I've never deliberately used Bing for anything - not only that, but some of the logged access attempts included a day when I called out sick, a time 2 hours before my shift, and a time 90 minutes after my shift. If I ever got confronted about this, I could easily prove it wasn't really me. Whatever this is, it's not my fault. But just the same, it looks very bad.

(I even start to develop paranoid thoughts - were the events that occurred when I wasn't in the office somehow logged from my home laptop? Am I being spied on through my work Gmail account or something? No, of course, that makes no sense. Unless...)

I sit outside on my break, texting with my long-distance best friend just to vent about the horrible situation I'm in, feeling vaguely ill. Oh my god, should I just quit my job right now before having to face this humiliation? Should I just throw myself in the river?

One thing is for sure - I have to know what I'm up against. I have to know what this URL leads to when typed in, whether it's something that I actually did access myself, whether it could humiliate me utterly or whether I could say with confidence, "that wasn't me!" when I'm inevitably called to trial.

So when I go back to my desk, I sit and painstakingly type in the full URL to my phone browser, a long, long string of numbers and letters, because there is no way to copy and paste the text from the Sophos app. The first time I click "go", holding my breath... I get an error. I look over the string carefully like I'm doing my taxes, fix a missing digit... and get a different error.

I check each and every number and letter one by one, even making sure the cases match in case that makes a difference. Finally, after several minutes of trying, I get it exactly right.

And, dear reader, when the image loads, do you know what "explicit" image appears on my screen?

[legend-of-the-blue-ninja]

Origin of a blue haired ninja

Zac never knew the identity of his true parents, he was discovered as an infant in the arms of a dead woman. The woman who discovered him was Reimei Stygian, the leader of the Stygian clan and a Kunochi (a subspecies of succubi that have adapted into becoming Kunoichi/female ninjas) who’s known as the demon shinobi. She treated him as his son, feeling bad for the abandoned child and raised him as her own. Zac from a young age was taught to be a killer, to assassinate like the others in the clan, though he had to rely on cunning rather then the succubi pheromones the other Kunochi had due to all of them being a subspecies a succubi. One could imagine the life that Zac led, teased and picked on by others who didn’t go all the way in fears of invoking the rage of the clan leader. He only had two individuals to call friends, an exorcist kitsune named Fennec and a fellow Kunochi named Yuki. While Zac and Fennic were like brothers…..Zac and Yuki fell in love, and became a terrifying combo once Zac’s latent water magic started to awaken. It was as if his parents had healing and water magic, passing it onto him and soon letting him form constructs with the water.

When Zac reached 17 years of age, he and Yuki were allowed to become adventurers once his adopted mother realized the potential they had at monster hunting after slaying a corrupted yokai that has heading towards the clan’s village. They quickly started to show themselves as a powerful team, Yuki serving as the main attacker while Zac was in support. It was all good until a demon attacked them. The being was crazed with the desire to cause pain and have torn apart many families in the nearby area. Zac was trying to keep Yuki from getting hit with a fatal blow, only to get tricked into being paralyzed and forced to watch Yuki get torn apart while she was alive screaming. The demon taunted Zac the whole time, threatening him that they’ll kill anyone that loves him to keep the ninja as a source of energy………Zac lost his fucking mind. The moment the paralysis wore off, Zac’s eyes glowed and started to bleed as he cried his lungs out while tearing apart the beast as his body started to expel ice. When he was done tearing the demon apart, he collapsed onto his knees at the sight of the mutilated body of Yuki, no more energy to use to heal her. She weakly told him that she loved him before dying in his arms, causing the blue haired ninja to scream to the heavens until he coughed up blood.

He had attempted to join other adventurer parties, though he always ended up on teams with other Demi-humans. This was where he noticed some humans looking down upon Demi-humans and started to exclusively team up with non-humans to show that Demi-humans and humans are the same deep down. but another tragedy occurred where an entire party got incinerated by a feral dragon, including an elf that he was developing feelings towards. This caused Zac to feel the pain again and rip the dragon apart from the inside. He swore off from ever joining another party so he never gets the chance to feel that pain again, the heart stabbing pain of loosing someone close. But as the years went on, the pain of being alone started to consume him. He was torn between which pain was worse, the pain of loss or the pain of loneliness…..he’s bound to join another party….soon realizing that would be what Yuki would want, for him to fight even if it hurts, even if he’s crying with his lungs full of blood, he will do anything to keep others from feeling the same pain he felt…..so they never experience the feeling of loss.