#local vaccine production

[farmerstrend]

Vaccination or Exploitation? Why Rift Valley Farmers Are Rejecting Livestock Vaccination Plans

“Discover why Rift Valley dairy farmers are opposing the government’s mandatory livestock vaccination campaign, citing concerns over misplaced priorities and economic challenges.” “Rift Valley farmers resist livestock vaccination drive, urging the government to focus on critical issues like healthcare, milk prices, and agricultural reforms.” “Explore the growing debate between Rift Valley farmers…

[wormgremlin]

And fun fact: as usual, conservative states under report in the name of "not causing panic" and at the cost of human lives (typically vulnerable populations). If you live in a conservative area, they will wait until there are deaths before they announce that they have been trapping positive mosquitoes for weeks.

If you are exposed (mosquito bites within the last week) and start showing symptoms (dangerous disease outcomes are meningitis or encephalitis, aka potentially fatal swelling of the central nervous system), most concerningly neuro signs, headache/neck ache, and fever, GO TO THE DOCTOR. IMMEDIATELY.

West Nile cases are on the rise across the country.

West Nile is spread by the bite of a mosquito. You can prevent bites by:

Wearing an EPA-registered insect repellent

Wearing loose, long-sleeved clothing

Check the CDC page on West Nile for more info

[roseglazedlens]

⦑ THE FUCKING DEAD ⦒ 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

➠ series masterlist | 🔃girl’s route | 🔃boy’s route |

𝐒𝐌𝐔𝐓┇𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑┇𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐅𝐈𝐂┇𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐀𝐃𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 LEON S. KENNEDY & CARLOS OLIVEIRA X AFAB GN! READER ADA WONG & JILL VALENTINE X AFAB GN! READER chapter synopsis: You are amongst the top five selected for this infiltration to take down Glenn Arias. An argument unfolds between the agents and you are forced to pick a side. chapter content: smut in next chapter, resident evil: vendetta spoilers, zombies, haunted mansion, explicit themes throughout this series. a/n: welcome to my second series!! (need to finish my first one oops) on a thursday one month ago, i thought to myself 'zombie threesome hehehe', then i took the idea and sprinted with it and this series is born. so, uh... zombiefuckers rise up?? « 3.3 k words | general masterlist | ao3 | reblogs appreciated! »

Millions are dying—Mass infections are happening across the globe swamping the streets with an unbeknownst fear. The symptoms of this virus are faint, indecipherable next to an x-ray of a man who is perfectly healthy. Not even the carrier themselves are aware of how the virus lies underneath their veins, dormant, until a click of button is pressed from a commander far away, then their symptoms worsen: a headache, a cold, veins turning purple as the poison hatches in them, spreading, until the only thing that can manoeuvre their limbs is the word: KILL.

That’s the greatest strength of this virus. Anyone can be infected, and maybe, you already are.

This product first reached the underground market three months ago. Called the A-Virus; a bioweapon succeeded in the market for its ability to infect targeted communities remotely and leaving no evidence on the perpetrator, which no other distributors had successfully produced before.

Engineered by Glenn Arias, the researcher sold over thousands of this bioweapon, becoming a billionaire overnight at the cost of lives lost from the whims of the rich. He supplied the wealthy and corrupted, like insatiable brats, with new remote-controlled monster trucks, who only aims to tear down families and have their victims beg mercy to a monster that will not speak reason.

Hence, this problem brought attention to a global scale, having the DSO come in alliance with the BSAA and other independent mercenaries to hunt down the vaccine and put a stop to Arias’ grand schemes. Handpicking five agents who are equipped with both experience and skill to combat a zombie attack on this scale of doom and urgency.

Those five agents are Jill Valentine, Carlos Oliveira, Leon S. Kennedy, Ada Wong, and you.

A plan is already in place. A distraction concocted with your intel and the help of a senior researcher of all things bioweapons, Rebecca Chambers. While Arias is busy attending fake business meetings on the other side of the world, the five of you will infiltrate his private mansion to retrieve a concentrated sample of the A-Virus. Rebecca can use the sample to reverse engineer it into a cure and send her findings to facilities across the world.

The plan sounds brilliant in writing, but when you arrived his private mansion in Queretaro region, Mexico, something is off about this place.

Arias is a mastermind, you had been warned many times, in which you appropriately prepared all your best gear for this mission to treat it with utmost gravity. You’re thinking armed guards, well-equipped security, BOWs. But when the five of you pushed open the front doors of his mansion, it was quiet.

Empty. Not a single soul. Just five of you greeted by the whisk of wind through weakly hinged windows that somehow makes the humid air stick to your skin further. Did Rebecca get the wrong info? No one lived there. From what you heard when you were in town, not even the locals dare to venture anywhere near the odd gothic mansion on the top of the hill. They said it’s abandoned, cursed, rumoured to whisk away young children if they ever step foot inside.

It’s a story they say to stop the naughty kids, you remind yourself. It’s not haunted. And you’re not a kid anymore.

The inside is abandoned. Cobwebs lay thick between cornices and carved columns, the floors laced with a film of dust on the luxurious dark wood flooring, creaking with worn age as you take each step. Besides the chandelier, every single piece of furniture is either the same colour of black or red, or nothing else. The soft red velvet upholstery and the rug are made with the same fabric. And you can find the same dark wood in every corner of this house. It’s in the tables, the shelves, the chaise, the painting frames, and stone-like head sculpture whittled with the same exact dark wood, ridged the exact uniform way.

Then, you look at the wall. Black patches of mould smearing across the burgundy wallpaper like a crime scene.

Something creaks behind you. The hair on your arms stands up as you shiver, immediately followed by a wave of embarrassment. Despite the number of times you had taken down hordes of incoming zombies like they’re cardboard targets, why is a bit of wind freaking you out? It’s not a ghost, just old foundations, maybe mice, or wind kicking something off a table, like how every old house sounds like. You look around to see if anyone else catches you jumping at nothing, before Jill says, thankfully unaware of your worry:

“God, the smell. What have they done to this place?” Her hand flies over her nose as if that will help to shield any smell whatsoever. Unfortunately, the building is moulded far beyond salvageable that the stench lingers in every part of the mansion.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad. We get weeks-old corpses in body bags every day. It’s absolutely retching.” Jill’s earpiece fizzes into life, and she recognises the familiar playful lilt of Rebecca’s voice on the other side of the line.

“At least that’s refrigerated and contained, Rebecca. This fucking stinks.” Jill scrunches her face like she just ate something unpleasant.

“I’m sending my sympathies from my well-conditioned lab right now.”

Carlos appears from Jill’s behind, placing a firm, teasing hand on top of Jill’s shoulder. His wavy curls catch in the wind and his teeth glistens sparkly white. “Yeah Jill, got a problem with my natural musk?”

Jill shrugs his hand off, grimacing at his attempts at flirtation. “Take a shower first, then we’ll talk.”

In which Carlos laughs, holds his hand out at his heart as if it was just torn into shreds. “That hurts my feelings, Jill. Why aren’t you ever saying things like that to pretty boy over there?”

“I have a name, Oliveira.” The blond man turns around at the call of his nickname, familiar with the nickname, but it's not pleasantly received by him.

“I think pretty boy suits you more, Kennedy.” Carlos replies, a glint in his voice that hints something a bit less than friendliness between them.

“Ah, so you do know my name.” Leon quips back while staring directly into Carlos’ eyes, before getting cut off by Jill.

“I would, Carlos, but if I have to hear one more corny ass comeback from Leon’s mouth, I’ll throw myself out the window right now.”

“Takes a genius to get my humour.” Leon smirks.

Your eyebrows raise almost immediately to chime in. “Erm… I think we have different meanings for the word ‘genius’.”

Quiet chuckles ripple through the room. It helps that you have worked with these guys throughout the years and had come to know and get close to them—some a bit closer than just friends—but none of them are strangers by far. Usually, you would be working with only one or two of these guys, never in a big group like this, but it seems that everyone is already well-acquainted with each other.

You toss a glance at Carlos and catch him staring at you, smiling. Ah, you see now. Carlos must have been trying to lighten the mood because you had been jumpy ever since you had arrived. You nod at him, a silent thank you before the five of you venture deeper into the eerie atmosphere.

The goal is to arrive at Glenn Aria’s office. According to Rebecca’s intel, Arias hid a concentrated sample in a safe last time he was here. You will need Ada to crack the safe to retrieve the sample and deliver it to Rebecca. As you traverse the corridors, it twists and turns in different directions—whoever engineered this did not enjoy unexpected guests at all. But under Rebecca’s guidance, she walks you and your team through the labyrinth with ease and precision.

But unfortunately, not ease and precision on your part. You trip over your own leg and almost fall to the floor as you round a harsh turn according to Rebecca’s instructions, and Jill catches you right on the arm before you fall.

“Easy there.” Jill pulls you up the ground, and you regain some balance. “You good? Mind your step.”

“Why did I agree to babysit?” Ada speaks, finally, for the first time in this mission. Despite how quietly she spoke under her breath, her words abruptly cut through the air, and all attention is on her and the red sweater dress that curves into her frame perfectly now.

“Oh, I bet once you get your paycheck it will be worth it. Or will you be betraying us, huh, Ada?”

Leon smirks loudly. Ada’s face goes from tired to exhausted in one second. “You just can’t let bygones be bygones, can you?”

“That’s rich coming from someone who used to work for Wesker.” Ada’s heels come to a stop, and with a slow turn, she stares deeply into Leon’s eyes that speak a million threats without needing to be utter a word. Oh, and believe me, you do not want to be messing with Ada. You learnt that the hard way.

“Woah, guys. Let’s keep this civil. No need to get heated.” Carlos rushes to stand right between them as the duo glares at each other with passionate fury and resentment.

You nod, joining Carlos’ side to stand by him. “Carlos’s right. This is not the time to pick a fight.” But it falls on the deaf ears of Leon and Ada.

“Thousands were killed. I want what’s good for the people, and I’m not sure Ada here is on the same page.” Leon continues, adding fuel to the fire.

Ada lets out a disbelieved gasp in response, before recollecting herself and replying in her usual tone of calmness: “Someone has to pay the price. I’m just the executor.”

“Regardless of our motivations, we all are on the same side here.” Carlos attempts at resolution again, putting his hands up in between them, and fails embarrassingly once more.

The air is heated with hostility; Leon and Ada’s eyes are locked in a trance, a hazy spite that reigns their composure, that looking away from each other means forfeiting. You don’t see either of them walking away first, they are both prideful people after all.

“Uh… Jill? Some help?” Carlos looks around to find Jill, who is leaning against a wall, her arms relaxing by her sides, unphased by the fire stirring right in front of the crowd.

“Not my circus, not my monkeys.” Jill is merely waiting for either one of the parties roll over.

You feel speckles of flame through the two of them, as if steam is retreating over the top of their heads, burning not just them, but also everyone else in the room. Until the boiling point hits, and it erupts all in one second. The duo walks away, off to different directions in bitter adrenaline, until you and Carlos are just looking at each other.

“I guess we’ll take five. There’s a safe room up ahead.” Carlos is speaking, but you’re the one listening.

The five of you enters the safe room in silence. It is a storage room—despite its name, it’s quite large for a normal storage room—with boxes stacked on all ends that made the room seem smaller in comparison. A ceiling light illuminates the room dimly, but it isn’t enough to shade away years of old animosity from their past.

The lively conversations you had mere minutes ago is gone now. Just silence and awkward rustling as each of you sits in your own designated corner. Carlos and Jill find themselves a seat on top of a firm box. Leon and Ada giving each other the silent treatment, standing on farthest end of the room to each other. You are simply minding your own business, gathering materials to craft a flashbang to pass the time. Doesn’t hurt to have more supplies anyway.

There is a notable division on each side, an imaginary alliance that you choose to be on neither side. Until Leon crosses the boundary line, somehow making his way to you. He picks up an empty grenade case next to you, assembling the pieces together for your project.

“Sorry you had to see that.” A little guilt tugs at Leon’s voice.

“Not at all. I get why you felt that way.” Leon nods, a look of gratitude hanging softly through a smile. His other finger seals the flashbang cap and hands it back to you. “But you need to learn to control your temper. Especially when it comes to Ada.”

Speaking of Ada, a shiver runs down your spine suddenly. The feeling of someone sending laser signs and telepathic warnings towards you. You turn around towards the direction of the aura to find Ada, her back leaning against the wall, arms crossed without engaging or acknowledging anyone in the room. She stands by herself alone, and that’s how you had always known Ada—distant and in her own mysterious world. Not really a chatter, despite the number of times she had saved you in the past.

Ada does not look at you, but you can feel her glaring down—either you or Leon—with her entire body.

“Good to see the two of you getting along at least.” Carlos holds out two plastic water bottles to you two from a supply crate he found in the room, which Jill has finished downing two of them already.

You two gesture ‘no thanks.’ Ada does not spare Carlos a glance at his direction when he offers.

“You’re welcome, I guess.” Carlos says sarcastically, before taking in a generous sip from his drink.

There’s a moment of silence. Then, a moment of dry coughs; a squeak of footsteps, a joint click from a stretching neck. Then silence once more.

“I’ve had enough.” Jill slaps her hands on her thigh before pushing herself up from her seat. “You guys gonna keep acting like kids? Grow up, this isn’t high school anymore. Take your drama outside. If we’re gonna take down Arias, we have to get along. And yes, that means moving on from shit that happened… five years ago? Five years ago and you two are still hung up? Unlike you all, I’m actually looking forward to go home and get a decent shower, hopefully soon.”

You nod in approval as Jill speaks her mind, and you are glad at least the few of you have their priorities in order. Ada flicks her head away from Jill, but her silence is telling of how much she is thinking over Jill’s words.

“Leon, can you accept this?” Jill asks.

There’s a bit of reluctance in his voice, but he agrees anyway. “Fine.”

“Ada?”

Before Ada can respond, smoke is creeping into your vision, coming in quick. It merges into your view, obscuring it, and you whiff something artificial, some kind of chemicals that is piercing to your nose and eyes. You can’t help but wince, hands groping the air in attempts to find comfort in the person closest to you—anyone for that matter—to indicate you’re safe and is indeed not under attack. Your fingers find themselves in a fistful of someone’s shirt, muscles tensing tightly underneath the fabric on their shoulder cap.

“Leon. Is that you?” You cry out.

“It’s me. Stay close and don’t let go. It’s an ambush.” Leon pulls your arm towards him, securing your safety with his hand in yours.

There is some coughing through the air, faint panic in voices underneath the hissing of gas that seems to be coming from above. You hold onto Leon a bit tighter.

Carlos calls out desperately “Where are you guys? Is everyone okay?” as he flaps his hand around the smoke to stir it away. He finds you and Leon almost immediately, and looks down to your hands, finding them clasped tight against each other. Your hand lets go of Leon flying behind your back, but Carlos already saw it.

Jill is coughing deep from the smoke. “I-I’m here!”

“It seems like we’re all here.” Ada says, composed as ever despite the circumstances.

The smoke dissipates—until most of the fog fades away, escaping through the cracks underneath the door to the other side. Leaving the five of you standing in the same storage room darting eyes around, seemingly unharmed, and even more confused.

After what feels like a while later, Jill finally breaks the silence: “Huh. What was that?”

“No enemies.” Ada unholsters the pistol from her belt, inspecting the room and the door behind the room. “Clear on this side too.”

It’s strange. If this is an ambush, why isn’t there an attack?

Leon places a finger on his earpiece to activate his microphone. “Rebecca, come in. We’ve just been ambushed by some kind of smoke, but nobody’s hurt. Happen to know what’s going on?”

His earpiece buzzes into life. “Hmm, let’s see. From the architecture plans, I see the vents are connected to a lab below. It seems abandoned, there are no signs of anyone triggering an attack on my end.”

“Whatever it is, we need to investigate.” Leon’s voice is firm and serious. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

You swallow deeply, fear settling back inside you. “You think it’s a trap?”

“I think…” Leon pinches his chin. “…Arias knows that we’re here.”

Your heart drops—Bundle of fear, anxiety and stress springing back into your nerves as you probe at the possibility of Glen Arias knowing where you are. What you’re trying to do. Making sure you will never reach that sample despite your hardest wills.

“He shouldn’t. Rebecca, didn’t Arias get on the jet?” Carlos is also thinking too.

“Affirmative. Security footage showed Arias walking into his private jet, and it took off four hours ago. He should still be in the air. No signal of them making a pitstop anywhere.”

You hear black pumps clacking against the hardwood floor. “I’m getting the sample.” Says Ada, her foot is already halfway out of the door. “Follow me or not, I don’t care. I’m here for the objective, and only that.”

“And what if something happens to you?” Carlos asks, genuinely concerned.

“I’ll deal with it if it happens.” Ada waves dismissively.

“Ada’s right, we could be set on a wild goose chase.” Jill chimes in. “Millions of lives are dying. We don’t have time to waste.”

“I guess it’s just you and me then, pretty boy.” Carlos rounds his arm around Leon’s neck, bringing him closer in an almost choking grip, a little too close and tight to his liking. And with Leon’s history with Carlos, Leon refuses to believe this is just a friendly gesture.

Leon grimaces, removing Carlos’ hand over him. “So that’s it? We’re splitting up?” The answer is unanimous. “Fine. I guess we’ll cover more ground if we split up.”

Rebecca, through the other side of your earpiece, speaks: “Be careful everyone. You don’t know what kind of schemes Glenn Arias had set up. Please stay safe.”

“We’ll be fine, as long as we don't have any traitors in our team.” Leon says the word ‘traitor’ while maintaining eye contact with Ada. She ignores him, simply deadpans.

“Well, what about you?” Leon nudges at your arm.

You are faced with two options. Indulge in your curiosity and find the source of the gas, or stick to mission as planned? Both options will be dangerous. So who will you trust with your life?

[OPTION A] “I’ll follow the girls.”

[OPTION B] “I’ll follow the boys.”

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 thanks for reading! come check out my other works! —yours truly, rose. i love my beta reader @scar-crossedlvrs! series taglist: @j3llyd0nut @ovaryacted @daydreamrot @madcap-riflette @access--granted @obsolescent @briermelli @secretiveauthor @ghosty-frog @navstuffs @slowcryinginthedark @rentaldarling @lesbntired © roseglazedlens — please do not repost, plagiarise, or feed to ai.

[boymanmaletheshequel]

Subtle ways to honor Hygeia 🫧⚕️

- be kind to yourself

- brush your teeth

- use soap and shampoo

- take baths or showers

- treat wounds or infections

- be kind to care providers and nurses

- be kind to sanitation workers and custodians

- clean your bathroom when it begins to turn nasty.

- trim your nails

- sanitize and sterilize surfaces of items or objects that could accumulate bacteria and make you sick

- do your dishes

- use tissues and other proper sanitary devices like toilet paper and face masks if necessary.

- dispose of garbage responsibly and correctly.

- treat blemishes like acne and pimples holistically and safely.

- use hygiene products that are safe and effective for your skin and body

- wash your hands after using the bathroom (I know some of y’all don’t, too)

- please for the love of GOD flush toilets, especially public ones.

- use deodorant and perfumes

- get necessary vaccinations

- support local bills and political proposals that benefit public health and safety

- correct people on dangerous medical misinformation surrounding disease and sanitation.

[38sr]

I know this is gonna be a strange one, but I do have an industry question;

I've been looking for a job for the last 4 years post-grad, I've tried every bit of advice I've gotten over my 6 years in school and 4 years out. Is it too late for me?? Or more so what advice would you have at this point?? I'm starting to feel really negatively about this venture, and getting a day job has been just as difficult;;

Hello Sky! Hope it's okay to call you that. Ah post-grad job hunting.....I don't miss that period of my life at all. Before I begin, just want to preface that what I say going forward is strictly from my perspective/experience. I am not the absolute of the animation industry so if what I say doesn't align with you, you do not have to follow it haha. Alright, advice for post grad job hunting.... Well, I think I want to start off giving a bit of context for the animation landscape these past 4 years that has been rough for everyone (trust me it'll come back around to your question): 1.) COVID Pandemic

This one might be a confusing for some people because when COVID hit in 2020, the only facet of entertainment that was able to keep going was animation. If you remember, during this time streaming numbers went up because people were stuck at home, every studio was launching their own streaming platform (HBO Max, Disney+, Peacock, etc.) and celebrities were given animated shows because live-action had stopped dead in its tracks. This period allowed artists outside of California state to get hired because what's the point of capping the talent to the local area when we're already working remotely? In short, it was a boom. But an exponential boom rather than a gradual boom. You never wanna grow too fast because you'll crash out quicker (and harder) which leads us to our second factor.... 2.) Netflix's first ever round of layoffs in summer 2022, streaming actually isn't profitable?????

In short, this year is when Netflix's growth finally stopped and was the beginning of The Great Animation Contraction. Other studios who were looking to Netflix as a the new model of distributing/creating entertainment had realized Netflix wasn't invincible. As well as their business model. So naturally, they got scared and and take action (aka layoffs). I was affected by these layoffs while working at Marvel Studios and many artists got laid off at studios to save face from the mistake that was streaming (though at this point studios were still double downing on it). Also, around this time live-action was slowly restarting thanks to vaccines and social distancing protocols. So those celebrity studded animated productions dwindled down (and also they caused so much havoc for us animation workers because most of those celebrities had no animation production experience). Which now leads us to...

3.) Mergers everywhere! Yeah, uh, mergers fucking suck. People kept losing their jobs because companies kept absorbing into each other and multiplying their debts to ungodly dollars amounts! Apparently no one took a math class and understood if you multiply any number by zero you will always get a zero. These merger also caused more shows to get shelved and canned, making the job market even slimmer. And by then we get to 2023 and the....

4.) WGA, SAG and TAG Contract Negotiations By now, studios have realized that streaming is losing them money because it costs a butt load of money to not only create a streaming site, but also maintain it, update it, create new media for it, acquire established franchises for it, and maintain the current library. Streaming shows aren't being advertised like they used to on cable so shows don't last beyond one or two seasons. Worker contracts are becoming shorter and shorter (I had a co-worker who had a 3 month contract! Isn't that insane?). And what happens in the midst of this streaming meltdown?

WGA, SAG and TAG are gearing up for their contract negotiations. And as we know SAG (actors) and WGA (writers) did strike which good for them! But now there are no live-action jobs and once again, animation (TAG) is the only one running because our negotiations don't officially start until 2024. At this point, so many animated productions have been cancelled left and right for the sake of "saving money and cutting costs". And the effects were very much being felt in the animation work force. Some animation workers were starting to leave the state of California to more affordable cities, some getting day jobs as baristas, hell some leaving the industry all together. It didn't help that studios were kind of withholding production greenlights 'cause 1) they're greedy corporations 2) these strikes were putting pressure on them. And when we did enter 2024 for our contract negotiations, that contraction was at the tightest. The job market for animation had become so bone dry that you have director-level talent taking entry level jobs to stay afloat. But because of that new, emerging artists are blocked out from breaking in. Anytime a job listing would go up people would go in a frenzy and try every thing they could to get the job. That's how little shows were in production this year specifically. Of course, by now it is public that TAG has ratified the contract (meaning we will not strike). But up until then, studios were quite literally waiting with baited breath for the duration of negotiations. A ton of stuff was in development but nothing was getting a greenlight in fear of a strike. So many animation workers at this point have been laid off for at least 2 years, got priced out of LA county, or got so burned by the industry that they left for a more sustainable paycheck. At this point of the post you're probably thinking, "Why is she talking about all of this and not answering my question?"

And the reason for that is because I what to highlight you didn't miss your chance. You unfortunately graduated at a time where the circumstances were not good for breaking in for the past 4 years.

I'm not saying this to deter you from animation either. I just want to be transparent and honest about the current state of animation because it really has been bleak for the past 4 years. So it's not your fault but rather the industry was just in a seriously bad drought. Both emerging and veteran artists have been struggling to find work and when they do it didn't even last for 6 months. Hopefully, with the renewed contract studios will start greenlighting productions again so everyone isn't fighting for one job opening. But I can't tell 'cause I am not Raven Baxter haha. But what advice can I give during this tough time? Start developing your own projects. Things may be pretty dry right now but now is the time when you can create and develop your own original stuff that can be used in your portfolio. Short or long form, showing progress videos, just create. Because once you start working it's gonna be hard to find that personal project time (trust me I'm going through that right now haha). Also, you'd be surprised how just doing your own thing can garner the attention of someone who does have the power to hire you. How do you think I got to work on the shows I have in the animation industry? Almost all of my jobs happened because I was just creating my own thing and it just happened to match the sensibilities of a show produced by a Hollywood studio. And if I had any additional advice... it would probably be don't think that Hollywood is the only way you can tell your stories.

This one is more of....a recent revelation I've had after going through a pretty bad work experience but Hollywood isn't the only way you can be a storyteller. Whether it's comics, games, streaming, animation, or film....the Hollywood system isn't the end all be all. And by Hollywood system I'm referring to breaking into a big studio like Disney, Nick or something and trying to get your own movie/tv show to win an award or something. That system often works for a certain group of people and fails other groups. That's why I say develop and create your own thing because you might find something that fits your creative voice more than Disney or any other Hollywood studio. Maybe that's inconsiderate of me to say as someone who's been incredibly lucky to work in the animation industry for almost 8 years now....but I still wanna be honest that there are other avenues that isn't the Hollywood way. All in all, please don't give up or beat yourself up. The current state of animation within America was out your control and resulted in many artists struggling to find a job. You aren't too late. In fact, I would say now is your time to do your thing in preparation for when that hiring boom comes again (or you can just take another route to tell your stories). I hope that answered your question!

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive (Daily updates!)

By DEVI SHASTRI

A regional public health department in Idaho is no longer providing COVID-19 vaccines to residents in six counties after a narrow decision by its board.

Southwest District Health appears to be the first in the nation to be restricted from giving COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccinations are an essential function of a public health department.

While policymakers in Texas banned health departments from promoting COVID vaccines and Florida’s surgeon general bucked medical consensus to recommend against the vaccine, governmental bodies across the country haven’t blocked the vaccines outright.

“I’m not aware of anything else like this,” said Adriane Casalotti, chief of government and public affairs for the National Association of County and City Health Officials. She said health departments have stopped offering the vaccine because of cost or low demand, but not based on “a judgment of the medical product itself.”

The six-county district along the Idaho-Oregon border includes three counties in the Boise metropolitan area. Demand for COVID vaccines in the health district has declined — with 1,601 given in 2021 to 64 so far in 2024. The same is true for other vaccines: Idaho has the highest childhood vaccination exemption rate in the nation, and last year, the Southwest District Health Department rushed to contain a rare measles outbreak that sickened 10.

On Oct. 22, the health department’s board voted 4-3 in favor of the ban — despite Southwest’s medical director testifying to the vaccine’s necessity.

“Our request of the board is that we would be able to carry and offer those (vaccines), recognizing that we always have these discussions of risks and benefits,” Dr. Perry Jansen said at the meeting. “This is not a blind, everybody-gets-a-shot approach. This is a thoughtful approach.”

Opposite Jansen’s plea were more than 290 public comments, many of which called for an end to vaccine mandates or taxpayer funding of the vaccines, neither of which are happening in the district. At the meeting, many people who spoke are nationally known for making the rounds to testify against COVID vaccines, including Dr. Peter McCullough, a Texas cardiologist who sells “contagion emergency kits” that include ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine — drugs that have not been approved to treat COVID-19 and can have dangerous side effects.

Board Chairman Kelly Aberasturi was familiar with many of the voices who wanted the ban, especially from earlier local protests of pandemic measures.

Aberasturi, who told The Associated Press that he’s skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines and national public health leaders, said in the meeting and in an interview with the AP that he was supportive of but “disappointed” in the board’s decision.

He said the board had overstepped the relationship between patients and their doctors — and possibly opened a door to blocking other vaccines or treatments.

Board members in favor of the decision argued people can get vaccinated elsewhere, and that providing the shots was equivalent to signing off on their safety. (Some people may be reluctant to get vaccinated or boosted because of misinformation about the shots despite evidence that they’re safe and have saved millions of lives.)

The people getting vaccinated at the health department — including people without housing, people who are homebound and those in long-term care facilities or in the immigration process — had no other options, Jansen and Aberasturi said.

“I’ve been homeless in my lifetime, so I understand how difficult it can be when you’re ... trying to get by and get ahead,” Aberasturi said. “This is where we should be stepping in and helping.

“But we have some board members who have never been there, so they don’t understand what it’s like.”

State health officials have said that they “recommend that people consider the COVID-19 vaccine.” Idaho health department spokesperson AJ McWhorter declined to comment on “public health district business,” but noted that COVID-19 vaccines are still available at community health centers for people who are uninsured.

Aberasturi said he plans to ask at the next board meeting if the health department can at least be allowed to vaccinate older patients and residents of long-term care facilities, adding that the board is supposed to be caring for the “health and well-being” of the district’s residents. “But I believe the way we went about this thing is we didn’t do that due diligence.”

[mariacallous]

On a visit to Barnes & Noble in middle school, I asked my mom to buy me “The Book of Jewish Values,” by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. We weren’t Jewish — though my paternal grandfather was — nor religious in any way. But I was fascinated by the book’s instructions on applying moral principles in day-to-day situations, from citing your sources to quitting smoking. As I got older, I would flip past the esoteric Ethicist pages in the Sunday New York Times and go straight to the etiquette column, where I could learn about the real nuts and bolts of ethical daily living. I loved the logical process involved in deducing the best next step from a broader moral rule.

In college, I charged into adulthood believing the rest of the world was engaged in the same ethical study as I was, taking pleasure in trying to match their actions to their principles. “Of course the basketball team should suspend our best player while he’s under police investigation,” I’d say confidently. “Sports are about character, not winning at all costs!” My Midwestern classmates were not persuaded, to say the least. I began to feel like an alien who had learned about life from books.

By the time the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and many people refused to change their lifestyles in the slightest, I thought I might be completely alone in my convictions. I read Holocaust memoirs, trying to learn how to behave in a world devoid of principles. Viktor Frankl’s work encouraged me to believe I always have control over one small corner of the world — my own actions — even though “decent people … always will remain a minority.” I decided to take an introduction to Judaism class and begin attending a local synagogue’s Zoom services.

At the time, my friends and I worked for employers who emailed us anti-vaccine misinformation, logged our every keystroke with productivity software because they felt sure we’d spend every work-from-home day watching Netflix and, in one case, asked employees to donate PTO to a coworker who became gravely ill after being required to work in the office during a known COVID outbreak. I strained to understand the principles behind any of these actions. (Is fear a principle? Is greed?) One day, I received a different type of email, this time from the synagogue.

Synagogue leadership wrote to inform us that they had made the difficult decision to part ways with a core team member for noncompliance with “an important synagogue policy.” Because vaccines had just become widely available, one could surmise what the policy might be. The policy, the email said, served one of the highest values of Judaism: pikuach nefesh, saving life.

The message felt like seeing another traveler in the desert. Even though it was difficult, the rabbis and the board of trustees had started from a shared moral principle, and then acted accordingly — just like in my beloved Telushkin book. Several months later, I converted to Judaism. I took the Hebrew name Gavriella to honor my personal Jewish hero whose principles transcend her situation, former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Joining a Reform congregation made me realize just how breakable my principles had been when I believed they were mine alone. For example, in college, I dated a guy who vociferously opposed any social plan that did not involve alcohol. Whenever I suggested we take the night off from drinking, he would tell me I was lame and that no one would ever be interested in the types of booze-free dates I proposed. At first, I thought maybe he was right and joined him in drinking to excess, with predictably poor results. Then, I was furious with him for being reckless and cruel to me. It was only years later, after he got sober, that I saw how my reactions hurt both him and me. I was engaging with a diseased idea that deserved neither consideration nor debate.

The position I took — that the desire to be cool is not a good reason to take risks with your health and safety — is a time-tested truism that follows the moral principle of pikuach nefesh. It was not “just like, my opinion, man,” to paraphrase a classic film by two Jewish brothers. If I had understood that my then-boyfriend was not fighting me but the fundamental principles of well-being, I might have been able to react compassionately, recognizing his words as a cry for help.

I believe some principles are universal. As the filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille said, “We cannot break the Ten Commandments. We can only break ourselves against them.” Where we should continue to debate and engage one another is the application of the principles, the “wrestling with God” that defines the Jewish people, so that we can fight dogma, stagnation and injustice. Each time I attend Shabbat services, I’m among other people who have carved that moment out of their lives to focus on the big, important things: What can we do to help the sick? How can we bring more peace to our communities? When I re-enter day-to-day life, I feel stronger and more courageous. During the early pandemic, I even found the words to speak up at work about COVID misinformation.

Millennial and Gen Z women are leaving organized religion in record numbers, many citing oppression against women within some branches of religion, according to research by the American Enterprise Institute. Many religious institutions are due for a reckoning. But we also know an individualistic society rarely works. Even the most determined, self-serious 12-year-old who spends her Barnes & Noble money on rabbinical texts will falter without others who share her values. Becoming Jewish has taught me that we need wisdom traditions and we need community around them, or else we are each rowing our own small boat, susceptible to every shift of the wind.

[fatehbaz]

British presence in the Straits Settlements […] (Penang, Singapore and Melaka) as a whole opened the way […]. Governor Andrew Clarke [...] clearly intended that economic botany should follow the quest for tin. Hardly three months after the [signing of the treaty legitimising British control in Malaya] [...] the Governor pressed Lord Carnarvon, Secretary of State for the Colonies, himself a keen botanist and collector, for the services of a ‘scientific botanist’. [...] Intimate plant knowledge among local [people] [...] assisted the discovery of many [plants valuable to European empire] [...] and the absorption of a number of vernacular names such as kempas (Koompassia), pandan (Pandanus) and nipah (Nypa) into scientific nomenclature. Equally, indigenous names for timbers, pre-eminently meranti and cengal, attained the status of trade names on the international market. Malay knowledge [...] proved also invaluable for commerce and [...] industries.

The Great Exhibition of 1851 at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, which displayed representative samples of colonial resources, was a microcosm of empire. Empire [...] co-sponsored the surveying, mapping and inventorying of people, lands and products for the ends of imperial power. Tropical nature, once a source [...] of wonderment, was brought to the domestic market place.

High on the imperial economic agenda were the Malayan territories, the source of gutta percha (from Palaquium gutta). Ingeniously adapted by the Malays [...], the plastic qualities of gutta percha were investigated for medical and industrial use by the [English East India] Company surgeons, T. Mongtomerie (1819-43) and T. Oxley (1846-57). [...] At the same time Oxley successfully pioneered the use of gutta percha for plastering fractures and preserving vaccine, the latter hitherto unable to be kept even for a few days. When a Prussian artillery Officer [...] then perfected its use for insulating telegraph cables, the product immediately gained strategic importance for the empire. Similar adaptations of other indigenous uses of plants paid dividends to industry and agriculture. [...]

---

The emergence of Hevea rubber in the Peninsula, superseding gutta percha as an industrial product was, again, the result of scientific exchange within the close-knit colonial botanical network [...] [following] [t]he illegal exportation by Kew [Royal Botanic Gardens in London] of the seedlings from South America to Ceylon and the Singapore Botanic Gardens [...]. Out of the seedlings sent in 1877 to Singapore, seven were planted by Hugh Low in the Perak Residency Garden. These and those raised in the Botanic Gardens furnished the seeds for the first plantations.

Though an introduced species, indigenous knowledge [...] of a wide variety of gums and exudates [...] benefited the plantation industry.

This [...] scored a major triumph for the colonial plantation industry. [...]

Large areas of Melaka had already been laid to waste by [...] a fast-growing variety of Brazilian cassava introduced in 1886 by Cantley.

The same cultivators soon turned the Imperata grasslands to rubber, but its rapid spread meant that a number of native plant species either became very rare or were entirely exterminated. The wild ancestor of the domestic mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) is a likely example. [...] During his visit to Singapore in 1854 Wallace identified, within just a square mile, some 700 species of beetles [...].

---

All text above by: Jeyamalar Kathirithamby-Wells. "Peninsular Malaysia in the context of natural history and colonial science." New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies Volume 11 Number 1. 2009. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[doberbutts]

Sorry you've apparently become The Rabies Guy overnight lol. But since you have, and it was absolutely a childhood special interest/fear of mine that's 👉👉 laid dormant 👉👉 for quite some time, would you happen to know (if you're not sick of rabies asks by now)-

1) why is the rabies vaccine itself so much cheaper and easier to make and administer in dogs and cats than for humans? Obviously part of the cost equation is just that demand dictates production scale and its easier to educate and avoid in the human relationship to rabies, but it's interesting to me that we don't treat it like tetanus or other relatively-rarer and somewhat avoidable/environmental risks we do still vax for, and that are produced at scale accordingly and so are cheaper. I've heard the other factor of low demand is that it's also a pretty rough vaccine for people that work in relevant professions that *do* have to get it to receive (and is even worse if you have to get it after being potentially exposed). It doesn't seem that way for pets though? I'd be interested to hear if you have any insights into all that from the vetmed side.

2) are you aware of any changes that the recent mRNA vax advancements of recent years may be bringing to the way we approach the rabies vaccine in pets or people? That'd be cool and interesting!

Thanks! Hope people aren't being too rabidly annoying in your notifs lol

1: There's a couple different factors here:

To my knowledge the human rabies vaccination and the dog rabies vaccination and the cat rabies vaccination and the hoofstock rabies vaccination are all slightly different from each other with different methods of creation and ingredients and dosing. This will contribute to the difference in cost.

Simply put, animal medicine is often cheaper than human medicine because human medicine has inflated prices due to hospital and insurance markups. In other words, if your human hospital scaled the cost of services the way your dog's hospital does, and health insurance wasn't a thing that exists, the price would be astronomical. If you ever go to an ER and get fluids, compare the "before insurance" price of just your room and bag of saline and catheter to what your vet charges for the same thing.

The animals we vaccinate for rabies do experience a lot of the same side effects, but animals are stoic and do not often complain about the side effects. Lethargy, muscle aches, low grade fever, vaccine-site soreness and localized reaction (swelling, redness), depression, and irritability are all common side effects of the rabies vaccination in our domesticated animals. Usually these side effects resolve within 24 hours but can last in rare cases up to a week. Less commonly, vomiting, diarrhea, facial swelling, and trouble breathing, but those are more allergic reactions than side effects. This is why a lot of anti-vaxxers don't want to vaccinate their pets for rabies, it does put a lot of stress on the immune system and thus can result in some pretty dramatic symptoms. It's just that "1 to 7 days of feeling shitty every couple years" is a significantly preferable outcome to "rabies outbreak".

Post-exposure prophylaxes is something else entirely- immunoglobulin is administered in addition to the vaccination to give your body a running start on the whole "don't let rabies get to my brain" thing. This is not an option for exposed domesticated animals, so not only is this very expensive but it is also human-exclusive because immunoglobulin is not cheap or easy to get ahold of and thus all of it that we have is dedicated to human cases.

Remember, in countries with robust vaccination protocols for domesticated pets and a culture of keeping their domesticated animals contained and away from wildlife, human deaths are fairly rare and are caused by rabies virus are almost exclusively caused by encounters with wildlife, which is why in those countries the chosen path is "tell people to stop touching animals they can't verify vaccine status of" and not "vaccinate everyone". The US has maximum like 5 human deaths due to rabies per year. Compare that to India, where vaccine availability is not as good and there is a very serious loose, wandering dog problem, and that number soars to 21,000 human deaths due to rabies per year. If 21,000 humans in India are dying from rabies, what percentage of them are receiving an incomplete post-exposure prophylaxes (usually incomplete due to expense) and what are the numbers for people who were able to complete the series (largely those who either can afford it or who chose serious debt over a grisly death)? We need that immunoglobulin to help the people we can still save from rabies exposure, so it's not really available in large amounts to be experimenting with pets every time a dog picks a fight with a fox or raccoon.

(Also the problem is that rabies bites tend to cause severe trauma, which you can't really deliberately cause severe trauma to an animal in a laboratory ethically, and even if you could you can't do it to easily handled animals like mice because as said before most rodents can't survive that level of trauma for very long before they just die, and researchers very do not want to deal with the potential of handling known rabid dogs, so that's sort of at a standstill as far as studies go)

(Also also, the Milwaukee Protocol costs $800,000 to attempt to save a single person and as discussed has a significant failure rate, so if people aren't getting PEP due to expense, they very can't afford the incredibly expensive experimental treatment that's more likely to kill them than save them either, so it's not like with that amount of deaths we've gotten a lot of people trying anything more than strapping that person down and waiting for them to die)

In addition, of those 21,000 deaths, over 96% of them are caused by bites from dogs. This means that if we fix the loose, wandering dog problem, rabies cases should plummet very similarly to the way they did in the US when we started enforcing our own rabies protocols. There are programs in place to fix this problem but it is multifaceted in origin and not as simple as one might think. As said before, dogs are the #1 rabies vector in the world, even if rabies is technically a "bat virus". The only reason we blame bats here in the US is because we fixed the dog problem. Not every country has been able to do that.

So... very much a complex problem with not a very easy solution. This costs a lot of money and countries just do not have the funds to pour into experiments solving a disease that's more or less 100% fatal when they could just as easily tell people to stop touching animals that aren't vaccinated.

2: The only change I'm aware of is that there's an ongoing attempt to create a single-dose rabies and chemical castration vaccine as a one-and-done to help countries like India and others with loose wandering dogs, which will both cut down on the dog population because they won't be able to breed, and also will cut down on rabies infections within the dog population that currently exists. They have not yet been successful. Again, resolving the problem of the packs of unvaccinated dogs living in close proximity to humans will significantly reduce the instance of rabies deaths in humans as well, since that is the leading cause of rabies spread to humans at time of writing worldwide.

[granulesofsand]

🗝️🏷️ RAMCOA intermixed with conspiracy theories

I forgot how out of pocket RAMCOA professionals(?) can be. Like, I agree we should believe people and support their healing the best we can, but this video I’m watching has more conspiracy theories from the admins than the survivors. There was one survivor who spoke about one big cult trying to normalize Luciferianism and pedophilia among other things, but they are also on the admin panel. One other survivor still hadn’t worked through the ‘specialness’ groups fed them and thought they had physical psychic powers, and even that was mild compared to the staff.

First admin to speak was the ‘global Satanic cult’ survivor, and they sincerely believe that vaccines are a lie and pandemics are made in labs. After them was a guy who was really insistent that weed and caffeine were common for mind control purposes, and that TV was made to normalize violence and put people into trace — which, he wasn’t entirely wrong, but also not too close to the bullseye there. Then one mostly normal guy who very gently asked whether the world was going to shit because of hundreds of coincidences or a plan, pretty open-ended and tolerable. Then the only guy with a degree listed seemed okay, and then started talking about abusers being soulless and COVID masking having no purpose but to remove loving emotion.

The intro to this video was a cringy song about saving the children, and the first speaker cited remote viewing as corroborating a facility in another state doing mind control (uncertainly, but he did say it).

Most of the survivor testimonies at least made sense, but half the video is over and it’s already been an hour and a half. I was hoping to add this to my list of resources for a new clinician we got through the DV shelter, but. I think not. Probably gonna go back to annotating Miller’s clinician book, cause it’s looking like that’s as good as it gets.

Yeah. We do believe governments participate in organized abuse and cooperate amongst themselves and local groups/people who can afford to get away with it, and we do understand that many products used and sold can aid in mind control, but that doesn’t mean that every piece of every story is true off the bat. Many drugs have a mostly normal history of getting onto the street, though many have ties to organizations in the present. Many trance-inducing mediums came to us naturally, though some are used (in a minority of contexts) for more nefarious purposes. They just don’t make the distinction, and the religious ideology bleeds into all of it even worse. We’re pretty open minded about sanctioned atrocities, but they go too far. And we were abused in a Satanic cult who killed children. Wild.

They just went on a whole tangent about saying COVID was overdone/a lie, and that both that and 9/11 were Satanic death rituals. Y’all. They did just get to how poverty and foster care was bad — nevermind they made it a Satanic thing again. They are taking all of these non-coincidences, but incorrectly attributing them to one big cult. Girl. The word ‘culture’ and ‘cult’ are alike because they are etymologically from the same Latin root. And they called transgenderism against humanity. It gets progressively worse. I’m listening in real time now and you can tell. Every mildly true take is followed by three more bullshit ideas.

It is an enemy of progress to assume that all issues are related by perpetrator. The events do intertwine, but we’re ignoring those intricacies and the true causes — and how to work with them as a result — to shove them under one cause we cannot prove. We will not find where they are tied if we have already decided it is this one specific way. It would be okay if it were true or at least undisputed, but much of what they talk about does not fit the research and existing examinations despite also not providing resources to support these theories. The strings laid out, I can see how they reached their conclusions, but I cannot get around the refusal to see other explanations. It weakens their argument so deeply it has nearly no integrity remaining. And they speak of rationality and sense as if they would know it if it came up and bit them.

The next segment is saying not to criticize them because it discourages conversation. I could be politer, good communication is important. This is the one guy who I would listen to again. I agree that we need to have more in-depth conversations to make heavy topics make sense. I am still not willing to tolerate faith tradition as science or accept any explanation without talking about it, but I would have a conversation with any of these people. I simply can’t listen to them speak conference style.

Why has it been so difficult to communicate? Because of you. Because you provide no sources except half-inaccurate non-academic works. Because you use every other sentence to attack another construct that is largely helpful. Because you don’t want to talk, you just want to say it. And the Christians are taking about their savior complex again.

Mmm, judges wear robes because global Satanic cult. All government is in on out. Again, some people are. There are symbols of faith traditions in government that don’t need to be there. Many stand-out details become easy places to meet or reinterpret for victims if they weren’t already made for dangerous purposes. There are many generational and governmental genuine conspiracies that do occur, people who do collaborate. Still infrequently that structured or globally involved. It’s a funky mix of things that can and do happen and calling it all one giant Satanic operation. Too many big claims with no backup.

These speakers talk about empowerment and shaking free, yet they use mind control tactics themselves. Tell us what to consume and how, from information to literal food. He called the TV a hypnobox. This is not safe. Educate people about why, host conversations about what they can do, but issuing commands and layering it with fear is half of what they are saying is Satanic.

We should be healthy. We should be watching out for dog whistles and nonsensical political decisions, but not every music video is a ritual and not every painting is a message. Talk to people with different opinions, see if your community’s ideas hold up against theirs. It’s not all wrong, but very little is right.

And they’re forcing spirituality again. Gross. We can believe in morals and kindness without having to share a faith tradition. And here comes Global Satanic Cult as the true enemy, describing introspection as soul. Icky icky. “Pedophile transgender agenda”. We’re not right wing conspiracy theorists tho. Created unnatural weather events. Use a source, any source, y’all are dropping these left and right. Psychopaths as any person we don’t like.

Re-educating children to keep them from doing away with gender norms. The guy talking about this one is preaching kindness while telling us we are evil for not being traditionally male or female, or, worse, transgender✨.

So basically Satanic global cult and gender roles. That’s what this was about. They spoke next to nothing about education or what to do to help survivors. Just fearmongering and ignorance.and a shitty ending song. I feel like those 2 hours were stolen. It was all just poking at wounds. Disgusting. I won’t be linking this video, I find it would cause more harm than good. We don’t need their shit, we’re doing better on our own. Good riddance.

[khalid-albeshri]

Key sectors in KSA manufacturing market:

Here’s a concise overview of the key sectors in Saudi Arabia's manufacturing market:

1. Petrochemicals

- Central to Saudi Arabia's manufacturing, leveraging vast oil and gas reserves to produce chemicals like ethylene and polypropylene.

- Major players include SABIC and Saudi Aramco.

2. Pharmaceuticals

- Rapidly expanding with a focus on local production of generics, vaccines, and biotech products.

- Supported by government initiatives to reduce import dependency.

3. Food and Beverage

- Vital for food security and economic growth, focusing on dairy, processed foods, beverages, and halal products.

- Expanding into regional and international markets.

4. Automotive

- Developing sector with a focus on assembling vehicles, manufacturing parts, and electric vehicles (EVs).

- Growing interest from global manufacturers.

5. Construction Materials

- Driven by mega-projects, producing cement, steel, aluminum, and sustainable materials.

- Key to supporting infrastructure development.

6. Metals and Mining

- Emerging sector with significant resources like gold, phosphate, and bauxite.

- Focus on extraction, processing, and downstream industries like aluminum smelting.

7. Textiles and Apparel

- Small but growing, with potential in high-quality textiles and traditional clothing.

- Opportunities in fashion and design.

8. Renewable Energy Equipment

- Focused on producing solar panels, wind turbines, and related components to support renewable energy projects.

- Significant growth potential aligned with sustainability goals.

9. Packaging

- Expanding due to growth in food, pharmaceuticals, and e-commerce.

- Innovation in sustainable packaging solutions is on the rise.

10. Defense and Aerospace

- Strategic priority with efforts to localize military equipment production.

- Supported by GAMI, focusing on parts manufacturing and maintenance services.

These sectors highlight Saudi Arabia's drive toward economic diversification, with strong government support and strategic investments fostering growth across the manufacturing industry.

#KhalidAlbeshri #خالدالبشري

[fancyfeathers]

Okay, sorry for the long winded thing, but ever since I got into MTP, I had this idea: William x a Doctor

So reader is a noble woman. She has no siblings, mother died in childbirth, and her father was rather harsh on her. She is a medical genius and due to her family owning an international pharmaceutical company/been involved in the medical field, she’s been taught all things medicine since she was young. She would sneak out and give medicine to the orphans at local orphanages (maybe to a pair of blonde siblings to help with the younger’s heart condition?) Her father pulled some favors with the queen and got her into medical school when she was around 15 (at the time medschool lasted 5 years) and when she was 20, her father died and left the family estate, business, and fortune to her (favors with the queen again) 

Reader is someone who also cares for the lower classes and opened many medical clinics with extremely low prices as she doesn’t need the money. The nobility don’t like her as she’s a smart independent woman and at the time, that meant you were unable to have children (she knew that was hogwash) but when they’re ill they come crawling to her. She’s kind and treats everyone with her best care but is socially clueless as she grew up studying instead of socializing. She is serious and can be laser focused with medical emergencies but the moment someone flirts with her she is a shy rabbit

Remember how she was the sole inheritor? Her uncle on her mother’s side was furious with this and is now pressuring her to get married. If the suitors aren’t in cahoots with him, they want her money and for her to raise her prices and give everything to them. SO she struggles in that field… until a somewhat familiar blonde man with scarlet eyes offers her a deal. He remembers her sneaking to the orphanage to provide medical aid to his younger brother and knows of her clinics and wants to repay her, but repaying her becomes twisted as their arranged marriage goes on. What are your thoughts?  

Fed, I was fed today with this one. There is no thing called too long of an ask for me anon, thank you.

I am just imagining her as a young lady, maybe when she sixteen or fifteen and William was fourteen or thirteen, and she would go and attend her lessons and then on her way home she would walk to go visit an orphanage and give the medical treatment she knows how to give and medication she may or may not have stolen from when her father took her to look around the production plant. It is all medical treatment the orphanage could never afford without her help. The one of the times she is there she treats the children with sprained ankles, broken arms, vaccines, and so on, then when she is leaving, skipping down the stairs to where her carriage driver, who picks her up each time and keeps it a secret from her father, waits for her and then she spots two blonde twins sitting on a nearby bench, reading. She has never seen the two of them before and the lady of the orphanage did mention two new children were taken in so these must be those two. She approaches the two of them with a smile and extending a hand and smile..,

“Hello! It is nice to meet you two!”

And he just looks up to see her bright smile looking down at him, almost like an angel. The young man was almost star struck for a moment that he didn’t even get to respond before her carriage driver was calling her, telling her that her father would be home soon and she needed to get back, so she just quickly says goodbye and runs off with a skip in her step.

From then on he sees her kindness just radiating off of her, caring for the children at the orphanage from a distance including caring for his Louis’ condition and she was just so kind to William, doing everything without expecting anything in return.

Then one day she just stopped coming, no one knew what happened to her. William went out of his way to go to her family’s home to question her carriage driver who used to pick her up and he tells him…

“She’s gone lad, the lord of the house sent her off to America to attend some sort of school there.”

“Do you know when she will be back, sir?”

“…Five year, six maybe, sorry lad.”

William and Louis get taken in by Albert’s family and those deaths happen and the years go by. William grows up and becomes a mathematic professor but more importantly the Lord of Crime. He sometimes thinks about that kind aristocrat girl who used to care for Louis and the other children, but his mind has moved on to other things like his plans. That is until one day he reads the news of the death of her father and how everything was left to her in his death and she would be returning to England after her prolonged studies in the states, which was not five years, or six years, but ten whole years, out of sight and out of mind from her extended family, until now that is when she is the sole inheritor of all of her father’s assets, fortune, and tittle, but of course since she is not a man there is not much she can do with some of those things.

Upon her return, William sees her at parties from a distance, hears about how she is lowering medical prices to make the more accessible, and building quite the distain for her from the upper class. William and Albert were fortunate enough to meet her maternal uncle and hear his rant about his successful niece, she is a spinster and should have never inherited her father’s will and how her father should never have sent her off to America because she should have been looking for a husband to run his business one day instead of her. William did not know much about her father, he was withdrawn from society since his wife’s death but when looking for information about her hearing things about her, William finds out that her father deeply cared for her but due to his grief he could not express his emotions properly, so he showed his care for her by pushing her studies, sending her off to one of the best schools in the world with a favor from the queen because it was an all men’s college prior, and leaving everything to her in his death and not her future husband.

William meets her again properly at a party, some sort of charity ball. She practically runs right into him when skittering away from a suitor after a rather embarrassing interaction with them. When she apologizes profusely he just laughs and shakes his head, telling her it is alright and asking her if she would like to step outside with him for a bit of fresh air. He takes her by the arm bed leans her out into the garden for the two of them to catch their breath from the party. Then catching their breath turns into introduction, and introduction turns into small talk, and small talk turns into a long winded conversation with the two sitting down on a garden bench laughing and talking the entire party. Then near the end of the night she confides in him, telling him of the stress from her family to find a husband in her father’s death.

“Sorry for throwing all of this on you, my problems really are irrelevant compared to the rest of the world-“

“I do not think that… hm… perhaps I may be able to help you and we can come to an agreement that benefits you.”

“You want to help me?”

Of course he does, his darling was one of the only people who showed them kindness all those years ago and the least he can do is help her now.

When the two return to the party they certainly catch every single person’s attention when William announces their engagement, it is an agreement that would allow her to have full autonomy over her deceased father’s business and her medical career along with getting her uncle and family off of her back.

From then everything happens so quickly, the wedding is scheduled for the end of the month, after that she moves into the Moriarty Estate while still using her old home as an office and she hopes to one day turn it into a hospital. She has her own room in the house so she can have own space. Overtime friendship turns into affection even though William has long carried affection for her and she moves into his room with him and everything is carrying on very well, that is until she finds out he is the Lord of Crime.

It would be one late night when he comes home that she finds out, William just tells her that he had a late meeting with a sponsor for the mathematics department and the two get ready for bed and while she is grabbing something she left downstairs she sees William’s walking cane in the drawing room, left out, she grabs it to put it away but then she notices the dampness of blood in a crack in the wood. She slides it open to see the blade inside that is absolutely covered with blood.

“Dear, what are you doing?”

She nearly screams when she hears William’s voice behind her and she drops the blade on the ground. William just looks at her terrified form for a long moment before walking past her and picking it up.

“There are somethings you should not see.”

From then on, she is either constantly watched or constantly locked away in the house, William has a hand on her waist whenever they are out in public or at meetings for her company he is sitting right next to her, making sure she doesn’t slip anything out. He has already repaid her for her help at the orphanage but that was her biggest mistake.

[various-things]

rambling about my feelings and Past Tense and Julian and covid and other 2024 problems

Adding a cut since this is a long post.

I have a lot of grief and disappointment about covid stuff I haven't fully found my way out of. Maybe I never will, and that is what it is. You love the world and the world breaks your heart and you love the world. There's probably some wonderful quote about that I can't remember right now. But, this moment from Julian in the first part of Past Tense was something that resonated really strongly for me for a while when it came to my struggles (that haven't ceased to exist, but the pain is a lot quieter these days) with people (especially friends and those I knew directly) not masking in shared public indoor spaces:

SISKO: It's not that they don't give a damn, Doctor. It's that they've given up. The social problems they face seem too enormous to deal with. BASHIR: That only makes things worse. Causing people to suffer because you hate them is terrible, but causing people to suffer because you have forgotten how to care? That's really hard to understand. I have my own little desperately-clung-to headcanon that Julian, who I relate to and admire so much, would share these feelings. That he'd still put on a mask in our 2024 when running an errand and definitely in a medical facility. That he wouldn't accept the vulnerable falling "by the wayside" as an acceptable cost of forgoing that practice.

Masks work. Cleaning the air works (it's why risk is so much lower outdoors if not in a crowd). We could have had something so different than our current circumstances in the US where we insufficiently track infections, where vaccines (which do not stop covid transmission but remain incredibly important) are becoming inaccessible to so many. 1 in 10 infections (a fairly conservative commonly used stat) results in long covid and access to effective treatment is a huge issue. We don't have access to up-to-date at home tests and our current generation of RATS suck at giving us accurate negative results. Even as so many of covid's dangers sicken and disable, it remains a leading cause of death. And I know that so many people do not know these things. That they have been under-served and lied to by the institutions that should (sigh, "should") offer accurate science, and affordable (or free) resources to stay safe with—but don't. Even people who do know these things often have to face isolation, or ostracism, or worse if they try to hold out on some of their precautions.

It could all be better. The exchange between Sisko and Julian at the end of Past Tense's second part made me reflect the other day—maybe I saw it in a gifset? Julian says:

BASHIR: You know, Commander, having seen a little of the twenty first century there is one thing I don't understand. How could they have let things get so bad? The Past Tense two-parter focuses on issues of (I don't think I can do a good job of summarizing this but) failed and oppressive systems, houselessness, classism, societal collapse. It reflects so many of our current problems. "How could they have let things get so bad?"—"they" meant generally, I think. But they didn't. We didn't. This fucked up situation we're in is a product of choices from very rich and very powerful people. I know that's an obvious statement. I know! But it's a true one. I don't have any polished conclusion to this. We can do what we can. We can try to build community. We can use every tool we have available to us and that also involves contacting our representatives and shit even when they ignore us. It's very, very, important that we look to our local communities and see where we can help. If we all put some time, which will look different for everyone, into helping each other locally that would, has, will change so much. We don't have to do that alone. Help can look like so many things, our needs and skills have so much important variety. This isn't a conclusion but it's the end of the post. Transcripts taken (and cut down in places) from http://www.chakoteya.net

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum at Popular Information:

In a wild presidential election featuring dozens of criminal felony charges, fallacious claims about election fraud, and sexist invective, it's easy to forget a fundamental truth: The real impact of the election will be expressed through changes to federal law and policy. 

[...] There is one policy area where Trump has been much clearer. At his Madison Square Garden rally on October 27, Trump said he would put RFK Jr. in charge of the nation's health policy. "I’m going to let him go wild on health, I’m going to let him go wild on the food, I’m going to let him go wild on medicines," Trump told the crowd. At an online event the following day, RFK Jr. said that Trump had promised him "control" of all federal public health agencies. What are RFK Jr.'s plans once he controls federal public health policy? On Saturday, RFK Jr. posted on X that he would "advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water" on the first day of Trump's presidency. 

According to the CDC, fluoridated drinking water in the United States is "one of the ten greatest public health achievements in the United States."  Specifically, "[d]rinking fluoridated water keeps the teeth strong and reduces tooth decay by approximately 25% in children and adults." Fluoridation of community water supplies is "recommended by nearly all public health, medical, and dental organizations including the American Dental Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, US Public Health Service, and World Health Organization." According to the American Dental Association, "every $1 invested in water fluoridation saves $38 in dental treatment costs." While the federal government is not directly involved in fluoridating water, there are many ways for the federal government to influence state and local policy.

Community water fluoridation has been criticized by cranks and conspiracy theorists since the 1950s when some claimed it was part of a plot by Communists to brainwash the American public. Others falsely claim that the practice was started by the Nazis as a method to poison and pacify Jews. In his post, RFK Jr. incorrectly describes fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral, as "industrial waste." Fluoride can be a byproduct of the production of aluminum and certain fertilizers, and conspiracy theorists have claimed that water fluoridation was pushed by corporations looking to offload their excess fluoride.  [...]

The Trump campaign, notably, chose not to contradict RFK Jr.'s claims about the Trump administration's plans for fluoridation. “While President Trump has received a variety of policy ideas, he is focused on Tuesday’s election,” Trump adviser Danielle Alvarez told the Associated Press.  Fluoride is not the only issue where RFK Jr.'s views deviate from public health experts. RFK Jr. has also falsely linked childhood vaccines — which have saved millions of lives — to autism and chronic diseases, claimed that COVID-19 was engineered to spare Ashkenazi Jewish and Chinese people, and claimed that 5G technology "damages human DNA [and] causes cancer." 

[...]

The truth about Project 2025

Dozens of people appointed or nominated to positions in the first Trump administration and transition created a policy blueprint called Project 2025 under the auspices of the Heritage Foundation. Project 2025, which spans 922 pages, calls for withdrawing approval for the abortion pill, banning pornography, slashing corporate taxes, abolishing the Department of Education, replacing thousands of experienced federal workers with political appointees, imposing a "biblically based… definition of marriage and families," and placing the Justice Department and other independent agencies under the direct control of the president. Trump has sought to distance himself from the document, saying he "has no idea who is behind it." Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, however, told the Financial Times that he is "personally close" with Trump and talks to him "often."

Putting a conspiracist crank like RFK Jr. in office is a bad bad idea.

See Also:

MMFA: Fox vouched for RFK Jr.’s health views. Now that bill may come due.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

G20: Brazil aims to create coalition for regional vaccine production

Health ministers from the G20 countries are meeting this week in Rio de Janeiro. The assembly should see the nations reach a consensus on the production of vaccines and medicines. The group’s summit will be held on November 18 and 19, also in Rio, under the presidency of Brazil.

At a press conference Tuesday (Oct. 29), Brazilian Minister Nísia Trindade said the greatest contribution the G20 can make to global health will be to support the creation of a coalition for the local and regional production of vaccines and medicines in countries and regions that have difficulty accessing them.

“This will be unprecedented. We have been working to reduce inequality between countries and to increase access. This is the main measure we hope will be approved. We cannot continue with the dependency seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many countries took a long time to administer the first dose of the vaccine,” she went on to say.

The minister further said Brazil will also defend the expansion of digital health strategies, measures to mitigate the effects of climate change, and the creation of an instrument to deal with new pandemics.

Continue reading.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

Novavax has faced a lot of financial losses this year. Hopefully PR stunts and vaccine drives like this will help. They have a good product. I'd hate to see it disappear.

Useful for those in and around Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA – Novavax, a global company advancing protein-based vaccines with its Matrix-M™ adjuvant, is proud to announce an exciting new partnership with the Los Angeles Rams aimed at "Protecting the Rams House" this respiratory virus season. The partners will hold a Vaccine Drive at the Hollywood Park Farmers' Market in Inglewood on Saturday, November 16, 2024.

With respiratory disease season underway and rates of infection expected to rise during the winter, Novavax and the Rams are committed to safeguarding the health and well-being of fans and the broader Los Angeles community. Together, they are bringing convenient vaccination options to the public, starting with this engaging, family-friendly event at Hollywood Park.

The Vaccine Drive at the Hollywood Park Farmers' Market in Inglewood will provide COVID-19, flu and other vaccinations for all eligible individuals, along with educational resources and giveaways. Los Angeles Rams Cheerleaders and mascot Rampage will join the event to rally fans and locals, raising awareness about the importance of vaccination in keeping Los Angeles communities safe.

"At Novavax, we believe that protecting public health means engaging in partnerships that put people first," said John Trizzino, President and Chief Operating Officer, Novavax. "By teaming up with the Los Angeles Rams, we are excited to offer accessible vaccination opportunities, including our COVID-19 vaccine as an option, ensuring Rams fans and the surrounding community can stay protected this respiratory disease season."

"We're thrilled to partner with Novavax to 'Protect the Rams House' this season," said Molly Higgins, EVP Community Impact & Engagements, Los Angeles Rams. "This initiative not only emphasizes the importance of immunization, but also brings our fans together for a cause that supports the health and safety of our community."

The Vaccine Drive will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. PST at the Hollywood Park Farmers' Market on November 16. No pre-registration is necessary, but insurance cards are required, and vaccinations will be administered on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last.

For more information about the Vaccine Drive, please visit: www.farmhabit.com/hollywoodpark.