#signs of malaria

[bookdoctorconsultationonline]

11 Most Common Signs And Symptoms Of Malaria Fever at Livlong

Check out the most common signs and symptoms of malaria you should know. Read this blog for more info on the malaria symptoms and treatment at Livlong now!

[allhealthneedsdoctorconsultation]

11 Most Common Signs And Symptoms Of Malaria Fever at Livlong

Check out the most common signs and symptoms of malaria you should know. Read this blog for more info on the malaria symptoms and treatment at Livlong now!

[orbitsuns]

[healthvise]

10 Signs and Symptoms of Malaria

Malaria disease is commonly caused by mosquito bites, In this article, we have discussed the symptoms, causes of transmission, risk, and prevention of malaria disease.

[rebeccathenaturalist]

This is a big deal. No, $48,692.05 is in no way, shape or form a fair price for the many thousands of acres of traditional Chinook land that were never ceded but were taken by settlers anyway. However, the fact that this funding from the 1970 Indian Claims Commission settlement is being released to the tribe is the strongest move toward regaining recognition in years.

As a bit of background, the Chinook Indian Nation are some of the descendants of many indigenous communities who have lived in the Columbia-Pacific region and along the Columbia to the modern-day Dalles since time immemorial. They saw the arrival of the Lewis & Clark party to the Pacific Ocean in 1805, but shortly thereafter were devastated by waves of diseases like malaria and smallpox. The survivors signed a treaty to give up most of their land in 1851, but it was never ratified by the United States government. While some Chinookan people are currently part of federally recognized tribes such as the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Reservation, the Chinook Indian Nation--comprised of the Lower Chinook, Clatsop, Cathlamet, Willapa, and Wahkiakum--have remained largely unrecognized.

That changed briefly in 2001. On January 3 of that year, the Department of the Interior under the Clinton administration formally recognized the Chinook Indian Nation. In July 2002, the Bush administration revoked the federal recognition after complaints from the Quinault Indian Nation, as the Chinook would have had access to certain areas of what is now the Quinault reservation. This meant that the Chinook, once again, were denied funding and other resources given to federally recognized tribes, to include crucial healthcare funding during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chinook Indian Nation has been fighting legal battles to regain federal recognition ever since the revocation. The funding released to them in this month's court decision doesn't make them federally recognized, but it is a show of legitimacy in a tangled, opaque system that indigenous people across the United States have had to contend with for many decades. Here's hoping this is a crack in the wall keeping the Chinook from recognition, and that they get more good news soon.

[cryptwrites]

Poisons

Hello! I'm gonna share how I go about writing poisons and the things I think are helpful to keep in mind. Now, I have never actually poisoned someone - shocker - but I have done extensive research on the topic, so I would say I know a decent amount about how to effectively poison someone. Disclaimer: This is for writing purposes only, don't poison people. Thanks.

Keep In Mind:

Poisoners need little to no physical strength although they do need a strong sense of self control & nerves of steel. Shooting or stabbing someone takes a mere moment of consideration and is frequently the result of  a split second decision, while position requires dedication. Many poisons require a certain amount of time to work and the poisoner usually must administer several doses of poison in order to work. The poisoner also usually must be within close proximity to their victim and often will have to look them in the eye and engage with the person while the person slowly dies.

Exotic poisons can be more trouble than they’re worth. Importing exotic poisons leaves a trail for authorities to follow, and they require more research to correctly use.

Smart poisoners work with what they’ve got. The clever killer looks for drugs that are already in the victim’s medicine cabinet and that could be deadly. Read medical warning labels to get an idea of how to use them.

Poison can be used in ways that aren’t deadly. If the goal isn’t death, you can render someone dizzy or dopey, making a character vulnerable to a bad influence. 

Common Poisons

Hemlock: Poison hemlock comes from a large fern-like plant that bears a dangerous resemblance to the carrot plant. It was readily available for treating muscle spasms, ulcers, and swelling, but in large doses will cause paralysis and ultimately respiratory failure. 

Mandrake: It was used as a sedative, hallucinogen and aphrodisiac. Superstition mediaeval denizens believes when the vaguely human-shaped root was pulled out that plant gave a piercing shriek that would drive anyone to madness or death - hence the harry potter scene.

Arsenic: Arsenic comes from a metalloid and not a plant, unlike the others but it’s easily the most famous and is still used today. instead of being distilled from a plant, chunks of arsenic and dug up or mined. It was once used as a treatment for STDs , and also for pest control and blacksmiths, which was how many poisoners got access to it. It was popular in the Renaissance since it looked similar to malaria death, due to acute symptoms including stomach cramps, confusion, convulsions, vomiting and death. Slow poisoning looked more like a heart attack.

Nightshade: A single leaf or a few berries could cause hallucinations - a few more was a lethal dose. Mediaeval women used the juice of the berries to colour their cheeks, they would even put a few drops on their eyes to cause the pupils to dilate for a lovestruck look which is why Nightshade is also called ‘Belladonna’ or “Beautiful woman.” The symptoms include dilated pupils, sensitivity to light, blurred vision, tachycardia, loss of balance, staggering, headache, rash, flushing, severely dry mouth and throat, slurred speech, urinary retention, constipation, confusion, hallucinations, delirium and convulsions.

Aconite: This toxic plant, also called Monkshood or Wolfsbane, was used by indigenous tribes around the world as arrow poison. The root is the most potent for distillation. Marked symptoms may appear almost immediately, usually not later than one hour, and with large doses death is near instantaneous. The initial signs are gastrointestinal including nausea, and vomiting. This is followed by a sensation of burning, tingling, and numbness in the mouth and face, and of burning in the abdomen. In severe poisonings pronounced motor weakness occurs and sensations of tingling and numbness spread to the limbs. The plant should be handled with gloves, as the poison can seep into the skin.

If someones poisoning another:

The character should analyse the daily life of the target well before attempting to poison them. Note what sort of medicines they take, at what moments they are most vulnerable, how attentive they are to their surroundings, and so on.

Choose a poison that suits your needs. You need to be as discreet as possible and not arouse suspicion. Too dramatic and people will know something is up. Choose poisons that are easy to slip into meals/don't have to be administered constantly, or you could simply frame it as an overdose by using the target's own medicines.

Think of how you want to administer the poison. Some take effect through touch while some require being swallowed. Based on that, come up with a plan to poison your target.

Make sure everything corresponds with the plot and characters, and nothing becomes a plot hole. Don't have a typically nervous character be perfectly calm when thinking of poisoning. Don't poison someone just for the sake of it. Have everything tie back to the plot, your characters rarely should be poisonings someone just for the "cool" effect. Trust me, it doesn't actually have that effect and just comes off like lazy writing. Have your characters act in accordance with their personalities.

Research time periods and history when choosing poisons. Not all poisons were popular during the same time periods, and not all of them are native to the same geographical areas.

[tomorrowusa]

Dr. Anthony Fauci voluntarily testified before a House committee and debunked MAGA Republican conspiracy theories regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Donald Trump and his lickspittles were telling Americans to drink bleach, take useless malaria pills, stick ultraviolet lights up their butts, and eat horse paste, Dr. Fauci headed an effort to develop vaccines for COVID-19.

A reminder to people with short memories who view the Trump administration as some sort of bucolic paradise: The last quarter of that administration included the worst government response to an infectious disease outbreak since 1920. Trumpsters who want us to ignore Trump's horribly botched response to the pandemic are like cruise-liner enthusiasts who want us to ignore the last 2% of the voyage of the Titanic.

Economic activity ground to a halt in 2020 as the US slid into a recession. I took this picture of a sign at a dollar store which had been completely closed for almost two months.

The whole Trump clan was disdainful of the sacrifices hundreds of millions of Americans were making.

Why has the U.S. COVID-19 response been so bad? Jared Kushner, Vanity Fair suggests.

At Times Square Jared and Ivanka's contemptuousness was made into an ad before Election Day.

If you are looking for the Original Sin of Trump's pandemic response, it was on January 22nd when he basically told CNBC's Joe Kernen that COVID-19 was nothing to worry about.

Of course it wasn't "just fine".

Trump did not declare a state of emergency for seven weeks. That gave the virus plenty of time for it to spread throughout the US.

Republicans know that their Dear Leader totally mishandled the pandemic response. That's why they repeatedly try to make Dr. Fauci a type of scapegoat for Trump's horrendous incompetence. Dr. Fauci has spent his entire career fighting disease. Donald Trump has spent his entire career narcissistically promoting himself.

Harry Truman had a sign on his desk saying: "The Buck Stops Here!" If Trump had a sign on his Oval Office desk (which he seldom used except for photo ops) it would be: "It's Everybody's Fault But Mine!"

Don't be hesitant to remind people of how awful 2020 was. And point the finger of blame at the orange blob who was responsible for the catastrophe.

[ahedderick]

In sickness and in college

It's just over two weeks until college starts back up for my kiddos. We just got results back from that very, very expensive blood work for my son. Positive for babesia. Start (once more) the double antibiotic and the malaria meds that taste so foul and mess up his head. I can feel tears at the corner of my eyes. Can he even cope with his classes with this shit going on? He's going to be immune compromised and catching every damned cold/flu bug on the whole campus. He's signed up for 400 level classes, at least two of which will not be repeated until Fall 2026 if he misses them. Are we going to have to arm-wrestle the disability office for help (again)? Is he going to be sleeping 12 - 15 hrs a day (again)? I'm. just.

[thoughtportal]

A Sumatran orangutan in Indonesia has self-medicated using a paste made from plants to heal a large wound on his cheek, say scientists.

It is the first time a creature in the wild has been recorded treating an injury with a medicinal plant.

After researchers saw Rakus applying the plant poultice to his face, the wound closed up and healed in a month.

Scientists say the behaviour could come from a common ancestor shared by humans and great apes.

“They are our closest relatives and this again points towards the similarities we share with them. We are more similar than we are different,” said biologist Dr Isabella Laumer at the Max Planck institute in Germany and lead author of the research.

A research team in the Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia spotted Rakus with a large wound on his cheek in June 2022.

They believe he was injured fighting with rival male orangutans because he made loud cries called “long calls” in the days before they saw the wound.

The team then saw Rakus chewing the stem and leaves of plant called Akar Kuning – an anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial plant that is also used locally to treat malaria and diabetes.

He repeatedly applied the liquid onto his cheek for seven minutes. Rakus then smeared the chewed leaves onto his wound until it was fully covered. He continued to feed on the plant for over 30 minutes.

The paste and leaves then appear to have done their magic – the researchers saw no sign of infection and the wound closed within five days.

After a month, Rakus was fully healed. {read}

[myemuisemo]

In both #3 and #4 of the Letters from Watson for The SIgn of the Four, Watson loses his mind and babbles when he's trying to have a conversation in the presence of Mary Morstan, and I'm here for it.

For the rest of these two letters, especially #4, I feel like I've stumbled into a story by Edgar Allen Poe or Wilkie Collins. Mr. Thaddeus Sholto feels like exactly what would happen if a colorful Wilkie Collins character -- say, the terrifyingly affable, rotund Count Fosco from The Woman in White -- stumbled into Holmes' world of deduction and logic.

Thaddeus Sholto had me digging for physiognomy texts, as that protruding lower lip feels like a detail meant to say something specific in an era that took "facial composition as a sign of character" very seriously.

The Pocket Lavatar (1817) gives us one possible interpretation:

When the lower lip projects beyond the upper, it denotes negative goodness.

Also, relevant to Sholto's watery blue eyes:

Blue eyes are frequently found in persons of phlegmatic character; they are often indications of feebleness and effeminacy.

Physiognomy and phrenology both had multiple rounds of being in fashion in the 19th century, with different gurus disagreeing on what exactly your nose or the shape of your skull meant. The whole field is, of course, wildly racist, with a garnish of ableism and a drizzle of classism. It was also a fairly familiar vocabulary to contemporary readers.

Meanwhile, I feel like every reference to Thaddeus Sholto's snobby little habits is meant to make the reader chuckle at his pretentiousness and poor taste, but I can't prove it.

Since the premise of this story seems to require acting as if plundering India for gems and wealth is okay, my hackles went up at referring to Major Sholto's long-time Indian servant as Chowdar. Turns out this was a common transliteration of a name we'd now render more like Chaudhuri.

(Major Sholto had had malaria, by the way, as evidenced from the quinine bottle present when he received his startling letter. It's likely that malaria contributed to his fragile health.)

Major Sholto's relationship with his manservant Lal Chowdar is solid enough that they hide a body together, but I have to raise an eyebrow at the major's naivete.

If my own servant could not believe my innocence, how could I hope to make it good before twelve foolish tradesmen in a jury-box?

His own servant saw how he behaved in India and probably has an accurate view of his ethics. That he'd kill out of greed happens to be wrong in this case (assuming a reliable narrator, which is a big assumption).

A face was looking in at us out of the darkness. We could see the whitening of the nose where it was pressed against the glass. It was a bearded, hairy face, with wild cruel eyes and an expression of concentrated malevolence. 

My bet was "monkey," but then the Sholtos found boot prints, so either it's a monkey that wears shoes, or it's a man. Oh well.

My hackles weren't up about taking Miss Morstan's mysterious pearls from a "chaplet," but they should have been. I blush to admit that I was envisioning some sort of tiara -- but I googled before making a fool of myself and discovered that a chaplet is prayer beads. It's like a rosary, but not all chaplets are rosaries, and not all rosaries are chaplets. Is this an Anglican chaplet made from stolen gems, or were Sholto, Morstan, and their friends straight-up stealing prayer beads of another culture?

Honestly, I'm up for the Sholtos being actively cursed, but since Holmes is a rationalist, I'm also up for the more plausible outcome of their actions having brought mundane vengeance down upon their heads.

[valiantstarlights]

Omegaverse Lore: Blue Fingers Disease

As with the previous omegaverse lore post, I talked about this on @mr-sadman discord, and I'm also posting about it here because sharing is caring. 😊 Again, feel free to use this in your omegaverse stories, as long as you give credit/tag me. Thank you! 🥰

Huge thanks to @sleepsonfutons for coming up with the official medical term for the Blue Fingers Disease, and to @arialerendeair for reminding me to post the lore! 🙇‍♀️

Thermal Dysregulatory Sensorineural Myocarditis (TDSM), or as it's more commonly known, The Blue Fingers Disease, is a Secondary Gender Disease that can happen to anyone, regardless of their secondary gender, as soon as they reach their majority.

CAUSE

Rejection (or apparent rejection) by one's potential mate.

SYMPTOMS

1.) Low body temperature and unnaturally cold skin

The longer the person is experiencing this disease, the lower their body temperature gets.

This symptom is easier to spot in alphas, whose body temperature run hotter than betas and omegas.

2.) Discoloration of the fingertips

Fingertips during early stage TDSM are a shade paler than the person's skin, while later stages of TDSM sees the person's fingertips turn into shades of blue that grow darker the more the disease progresses.

Fingertips that are almost dark blue are advanced cases, as the person could literally die at any time if not provided with immediate care.

(A sure sign that a person's cause of death is TDSM is when the person has blue-tinged lips immediately after their death, along with dark blue fingertips. The blue shade does not fade over time.)

3.) Intermittent tremor in the hands and poor grip strength

4.) Lethargy

5.) Memory loss and/or confusion

6.) Tendency to space out

7.) Lack of appetite

8.) Vulnerability to seasonal diseases

These include, but are not limited to: the common cold, influenza, and pneumonia, as well as mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue and malaria.

TREATMENT

Receiving care from other sources, such as family and friends, is a tried and tested way to cure TDSM. But the recovery is slow (taking months or years) and the person is still considered at risk until the blue on their fingertips fade completely.

The quickest way to fully cure the person, of course, would be if they fall in love with someone else, or if the person who initially rejected them returns their love. If this is the case, then it is not unheard of for the person to be cured of TDSM in a single week, though it would still take a couple more weeks for the symptoms to fade completely.

That being said, it is important to note that multiple studies conducted worldwide show that it is more common for TDSM to be cured by the care of others versus the person's feelings changing or their feelings being requited by the person who had initially rejected them.

DURATION

There is no set time for how long this disease lasts until the afflicted person dies. There have been cases where the person only lived for a couple weeks more after the rejection happened, while in rare cases, the person lived for decades after the rejection, before they finally die around the same time as their beloved.

One of the most famous long-lived cases of people who lived with TDSM is St. Francesca,* which caused early Christians to start referring to TDSM as St. Francesca's Disease.

(*It is said that St. Francesca fell in love with a married man and, realizing that it was against the teachings of the church, prayed to God to let her live so she could serve Him all her life.

However, recently discovered evidence suggests that Francesca was actually in love with her fellow nun, Sister Cordelia, who was one of her childhood best friends. When devout Cordelia decided to enter a convent upon her reaching her majority (a decision supported by her religious parents), Francesca allegedly ran away from home to join her.

She had written a note to her older brother that she made the decision to run away 'with both eyes open,' knowing that Cordelia will never return her affections, but willing to suffer TDSM (she used the term The Internal Winter) if it means still being a part of Cordelia's life.

Multiple sources write about how the two remained best friends until their later years, often claiming that Francesca and Cordelia are 'true sisters in the eyes of the Lord,' and that it is rare for one to be seen without the other.

St. Francesca died less than a day after Sister Cordelia did, at age 79, after having TDSM for more than 60 years.

Due to this, people are now theorizing that Sister Cordelia is an aromantic asexual, but that she still loved St. Francesca as her dearest friend, so Francesca did not succumb to the illness or get too sick, as others with TDSM do.

People from their hometown have asked for Sister Cordelia to be made into a saint as well, and they have commissioned statues of the two women to be made. The statues will be placed in the town square, and will depict the two sitting by the fountain, with Sister Cordelia warming St. Francesca's hands.)

There have been claims that the stronger the feelings of the person are, and the harsher the rejection was, affect the time in which the disease accelerates. And while this is a trope often used in literature and popular culture, there is no scientific basis for it as of yet.

STATISTICS

The Blue Fingers Disease is one of the top 10 leading causes of death worldwide, with more than 80% of the people who died being betas and omegas.*

(*As TDSM is more easily detected in alphas, it is possible that betas and omegas often get misdiagnosed with depression during the early stages.)

SECONDARY GENDER DISEASES AWARENESS MONTH

February is Secondary Gender Diseases Awareness Month. The month was chosen primarily for easy recall, as it is the second month of the year. However, February is also the month when new cases of TDSM spike worldwide, due to everyone everywhere celebrating Valentine's Day.

--

Note: In the original discussion, this was supposed to be an alpha-only disease, but for the sake of all the delicious angst, I say it's up to you to decide in your stories who can have this disease. 😊 Enjoy!

[scotianostra]

August 21st 1798 saw the death of James Wilson, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

Wilson was born on September 14th 1742 at Carskerdo,Farm, near Ceres, the fourth of the seven children of Alison Landall and William Wilson, a Presbyterian farming family.

He attended the Universities of St.Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. He never finished his studies, as he sailed for the New World in 1765. Aided by some letters of introduction, he became a tutor with the College of Philadelphia. He received an honorary M.A. shortly thereafter. In November 1767, he was admitted to the bar, and thus pursuing his recent-born interest in the law. He set up his own practice in Reading in the year 1768. He was quite successful, as he handled nearly half of the cases charged in the country court.

In 1774, he wrote an essay with the title:“ Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Government.” He distributed this article among the members of the First Continental Congress. Within those pages, he set down a number of arguments which severely challenged the parliamentary authority over America. In the final conclusion of this manuscript, he states that Parliament had no power whatsoever over the American colonies. Although he accepted in some ways the power of the Monarch, he would not subject himself to the whims of Parliament, in which the colonies had no representation. His manuscript was read in both America and England, and created quite a stir. He was one of the first to ever voice these opinions in a sensible, well-argumented manner.

As a member of the Pennsylvanian Provincial Congress, he made a passionate speech about the possibility of an unconstitutional act made by Parliament. Judicial Review, the American system of checking governmental acts with the Constitution, was on its way.

In the same year, 1775, he signed the Declaration of Independence as a member of the Second Continental Congress. According to sources, it seems he hesitated at first, but signed anyway. This was due to the fact that he was a representative of the Middle States, where opinions about independence differed. But by signing the Declaration, he broke the deadlock the Pennsylvania delegation was in. His signature made sure Pennsylvania voted for independence.

During the next years he was an occasional member of the Continental Congress, and was present at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which assembled with the purpose of drafting The Constitution of the United States of America. Here he was a very influential figure, whose ideas where heavily incorporated in one of the most important documents in history. Thus the Constitution bears his signature.

In 1789, he became a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, and in the same year was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court.

It’s not all good news on this Scottish born American though, he was a terrible businessman and he took flight to escape imprisonment for debt. Eventually his $197,000 debt sent him to jail twice, but only for short stays. This didn’t seem to have affected his duties as a judge though as he continued on the Federal judicial circuit despite his misdemeanors.

In 1798, James Wilson suffered a bout of malaria and then died of a stroke at the age of 55, he was buried in the Johnston cemetery on Hayes Plantation near Edenton, but was later reinterned in 1906 at Christ Churchyard, Philadelphia.

[stephensmithuk]

The Sign of Four: The Strange Story of Jonathan Small (Part One of Two)

I will split this in two parts as I've got a lot to cover here.

CW for discussions of nasty prison conditions.

The depth of the Thames is about 6.5 metres at low tide in Woolwich, near to the Plumstead Marshes as they were then. However, the river has strong currents and very little visibility, so it would be a risky operation even with 2024 diving technology for some rather small objects.

The rupee originally was a silver coin dating back to ancient times in India, becoming something of a standard currency during the Mughal period. The East India Company introduced paper rupees and while there was an attempt by the British to move their territory to the pound sterling, they soon gave up, minting their own rupees with the British monarch's head on. The currency was also non-decimal. India retained the currency post-independence and went decimal as well.

Mangrove trees are very common in equatorial coastline regions - they can remove salt from the water, which would kill many other trees.

Prisoners set to the Andaman Islands penal colony were forced to work nine to ten hours a day to construct the new settlement, while in chains. Cuts from poisonous plants and friction ulcers from the chains would often get infected, resulting in death.

The convict huts on Ross Island were two-storey affairs, with the bottom as a kitchen and took area, the prisoners sleeping on the upper floor. Designed this way as an anti-malaria measure, they however leaked and the prisoners themselves were constantly damp from the rainfall, offering them little protection from the mosquitoes in any event.

Ague is an obsolete term for malaria; adults experience chills and fever in cycles.

The British would conduct experiments with quinine as a malaria treatment by force-feeding it to the prisoners. This caused severe side effects.

The British would make use of locals as warders, who wore sashes and carried canes. I'd imagine they could probably be quite brutal.

Pershoe is a small town on the River Avon near Worcester. It has a railway station with an hourly service to London, taking just under two hours today.

"Chapel-going" in this context means that the people attended a non-conformist church i.e. not one part of the Church of England.

"Taking the Queen's/King's shilling" was a historical term for joining the armed forces - for the army this was officially voluntary, but sailors could be forcibly recruited, being known as "press-ganged" until 1815. You would be given the shilling upon initial enlistment or tricked into taking it via it being slipped into your opaque beer. You would return the shilling on your formal attestation and then receive a bounty which could be pretty substantial in terms of the average wage, although a good amount of that would then be spent on your uniform. Some enlisted, deserted and then reenlisted multiple times to get multiple payments. The practice officially stopped in 1879, but the slang term remains.

The 3rd Buffs refers to the latter 3rd Battalion, Buffs (East Kent Regiment), a militia battalion that existed from 1760 to 1953, although it effectively was finished in 1919. However, in reality, they did not go to India to deal with the rebellion, instead staying in Great Britain to cover for the regular regiments who did.

The British never formally adopted the Prussian "goose step" instead going for the similar, but less high-kicking, slow march.

The musket would possibly have been the muzzle-loaded Enfield P53, a mass-produced weapon developed at the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield. It was itself was the trigger of the Indian Rebellion in 1857 due to the grease used in the cartridges. They would also be heavily used in the American Civil War on both sides, especially the Confederate one as they smuggled a lot of them, with only the Springfield Model 1861 being more widely used. As a result, they are highly sought after by re-enactors. The British used them until 1867, when they switched to the breech-loading Snider-Enfield, many of the P53s being converted.

The crocodile would likely have been a gharial, which mainly eat fish. Hunting and loss of habitat has reduced their numbers massively, with the species considered "Critically Endangered" by the IUCN.

"Coolie" is a term today considered offensive that was used to describe low-wage Indian or Chinese labourers who were sent around the world, basically to replace emancipated slaves. Indentured labourers, basically - something the US banned (except as a riminal punishment) along with slavery in 1865. In theory they were volunteers on a contract with rights and wages, however abuses were rife. Indentured labour would finally be banned in British colonies in 1917.

Indigo is a natural dark blue dye extracted from plants of the Indigofera genus; India produced a lot of it. Today, the dye (which makes blue jeans blue) is mostly produced synthetically.

I have covered the "Indian Mutiny" as the British called it here in my post on "The Crooked Man".

The Agra Fort dates back to 1530 and at 94 acres, it was pretty huge by any standards. Today, much of it is open to tourists (foreigners pay 650 rupees, Indians 50), although there are parts that remain in use by the Indian Army and are not for public access.

"Rajah" meaning king, referred to the many local Hindu monarchs in the Indian subcontinent; there were also Maharajahs or "great kings", who the British promoted loyal rajahs to the rank of. The Muslim equivalent was Nawab. However, a variety of other terms existed. The East India Company and the Raj that succeeded them used these local rulers to rule about a half their territory and a third of the population indirectly, albeit under quite a bit of influence from colonial officials. These rulers were vassals to the British monarch; they would collect taxes and enforce justice locally, although many of the states were pretty small (a handful of towns in some cases) and so they contracted this out to the British. As long as they remained loyal, they could get away with nearly anything.

562 of these rulers were present at the time of Indian independence in 1947. Effectively abandoned by the British (Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy, sending out contradictory messages), nearly all of them were persuaded to accede to the new India, where the nationalists were not keen on them, with promises they could keep their autonomy if they joined, but if not, India would not help them with any rebellions. Hyderabad, the wealthiest of the states, resisted and was annexed by force. The ruler of Jammu and Kashmir joined India in exchange for support against invading Pakistani forces, resulting in a war. A ceasefire agreement was reached at the beginning of 1949, with India controlling about two-thirds of the territory; the ceasefire line, with minor adjustments after two further wars in 1965 and 1971, would become known as the Line of Control, a dotted line on the map that is the de facto border and one of the tensest disputed frontiers on the planet.

India and Pakistan initially allowed the princely rulers to retain their autonomy, but this ended in 1956. In 1971 and 1972 respectively, their remaining powers and government funding were abolished.

Many of the former rulers ended up in a much humbler position, others retained strong local influence and a lot of wealth. The Nizam of Hyderbad, Mir Osman Ali Khan was allowed to keep his personal wealth and title after the annexation in 1948 - he had been the richest man in the world during his rule and used a 184-carat diamond as a paperweight, at least until he realised its actual value. The current "pretender", Azhmet Jah, has worked as a cameraman and filmmaker in Hollywood, including with Steven Spielberg.

[beemovieerotica]

OKAY so I was studying abroad and YES I DID get the typhoid fever vaccine. and the thing about vaccines is they're very close to 100% effective if you're a normal human being who doesn't literally subject yourself to the worst case scenarios imaginable. at a certain point your immune system is like "I'm so sorry I know we're vaccinated but this is too much for me, goodbye"

so of course I was eating street food every single day because it was $1 and I was a student!!! I also smoked weed 24/7 and had the constitution of a little wretched lamb because of possibly lifelong undiagnosed hypothyroidism.

anyway I kept eating street food and ended up in the hospital with a fever, they gave me shots in my ass for malaria, and I stayed overnight. this was the hospital where I ran out of my IV fluids overnight and then my own blood started pumping out of my body back up the line into the empty IV bag which was NOT a thing I thought blood could do!! I shambled around the hospital in the dead of night wheeling around this IV bag slowly filling with my own blood like "hello is anybody here" and I found this pile of clothes in a dark room that turned out to be a nurse and she helped me out. anyway.

so i went home and hung out for a week or so like "hmm my tummy still hurts." that was ME walking around shitting out typhoid FOR A WEEK. eventually I was like euuguhh I guess I should go to the doctor. and then I got there and they were like HA-HA! YOU HAVE TYPHOID!

I had to stay 3 nights in the hospital and it was literally like the worst life-changing cleansing experience. nobody else was in the room with me, nobody spoke to me for 3 days except the doctor for like 5 minutes a day. the TV was permanently set to soap operas and I couldn't change it. I had 1 book which I read in 4 hours and hated. I would later tear the pages out and use them as toilet paper. I texted my boyfriend who was back in the states and told him I was breaking up with him. I think I hallucinated. but the breaking up part was probably the best thing to come out of that!!

oh also I had NO CLOTHES except 1 cheap slip-on dress that I had sweated in so much that there was an actual DYED IMPRINT OF THE DRESS PATTERN ON THE HOSPITAL BED. I was literally so gross and called my friends to bring me clean underwear from my dorm and they did, and they were also so mean and took selfies with me while I was disgusting even though I told them not to (I love them and I still talk to them 10 years later). I have the pics somewhere but it's me sweaty delirious & reeling and looking like I'm going to bite someone while my friends are making peace signs posing around me.

I ended up getting out of the hospital and everyone back at the dorm was like "wow we thought you were dead!" and then I immediately went back to eating street food.

[fatehbaz]

The archipelago of uplifted coral that is my mother’s homeland surfaced during the earth’s ancient cycles of glaciation. The early people came in sakmans, carried by wind and seas, guided by stars and clouds and bioluminescence, the fragrance of flowers, the flight paths of birds. Settlers lived and fished and farmed in this part of Oceania for thousands of years, but the naming history issues forth at the moment of subjugation. Islas de los Ladrones -- the Islands of Thieves -- they were called by the first Europeans who came. Then Islas de las Velas, the Islands of the Lateen Sails. Then the Mariana Islands, in honor of Spain’s queen regent. Before it was Guam, Guåhan was known, under Japanese rule, as Omiya Jima, the Great Shrine Island. [...] Elsewhere, settlements recall the body of the creation god Puntan: Tiyan, his flat stomach. Hagåtña, his blood. Toto, his resting back. Mongmong, his beating heart. [...]

These small islands have grown crowded with denotations, I try to tell a friend, except it comes out as detonations. [...]

---

I am reading from a passage on CHamoru history and culture. Kåntan Chamorita is an ancestral form of call-and-response, a spontaneous sung dialogue. [...] Thumbing the texts, I brandish our histories: the brutality of Japanese rule; the architectural colonization that drove the CHamoru from los antiguos, their dwelling places in latte houses; the violation of natural resources brought about by American occupation.

She [mother] tsks, waves impatiently. Hekkua’. An expression that means at once “I don’t know” and “Forget it.”  [...]

In 1917, the U.S. Navy banned the CHamoru language in the Mariana Islands. A few years later, by order of U.S. naval captain Adelbert Althouse, all CHamoru dictionaries were burned. The language was said to represent a cognitive deficiency. The adoption of English would ensure, among other things, mental well-being.

The ban has since been lifted, but my mother hid her language for so long, it’s become hard to find.

What is the word for sky? I ask her.

She shakes her head. Nothing word for sky. Only heaven: långet. [...]

---

And so did we sail out. For more than ten years [...]. We moved into other countries where other languages had been suppressed and where other people had been made invisible. There were signs [...]. In New Zealand, where I went to kindergarten, Ma¯ori children were beaten for speaking te reo in schools. Bislama was prohibited in Vanuatu, but I only remember the quietness of the bay, the great banyan trees, the malaria pills. In New Caledonia, where I went to elementary school, the Kanak languages were banned from the education system from 1863 until 1984. Gendarmes in Nouméa stood on street corners with machine guns slung across their chests. [...]

My mother is telling us something exciting. She trips happily over the words, her face laughing. [...] My mother did not want me speaking like her. She wanted me to be better than that, which is to say better than her. [...]

Kao piniten hao? -- Have you been hurt?

Hunggan. Mayulang, yu’ -- Yes. I’m breaking.

My mother corrects me: mayulang only applies to a thing that’s broken, not a person. You can be hurt, she tells me, but not broken. [...]

---

The etymology of translation refers to the removal of a saint’s body to a new location, to bearing bones and words, both sacred, across. As if anything can be moved whole [...].

We never heard the end of my mother’s stories. [...] These days, she is happy to let most of her sentences go unfinished. [...]

She raises her eyebrows, juts her chin.

I tell her, You’re a book of lost endings.

Which one? she asks.

---

It’s too small here, I said. It’s boring, hot. It’s too small. [...] We spent two years sleeping on my auntie’s living room floor. Unrolling futons and lying under the weeping air conditioning unit and peeling paint. We ate Spam and rice with ketchup. [...]

Lately, I have been confusing the CHamoru word for flight, malagu, with the word for flee, falagu. [...]

I dream now of the islands and wake with my head barely above water, my mouth filling with salt. [...]

Mamaolek ha’? -- Are you doing okay?

Maolek. I’m doing okay.

---

Text by: Hannah Dela Cruz Abrams. “Moving the Saints: Passages from a deconstructed homeland.” Orion Magazine. Spring 2023. [Some paragraph breaks and contractions added by me.]

[lucabyte]

your stantler collection is really cool, i love funky little shrines to obscure characters. i always had some trouble finding arcanine and ninetales merch, since they're my favorites (always pikachus and starters and eeveelutions...) but it's nowhere near as bad as the Stantler Situation (tm)

thank you! I specifically chose stantler *because* i thought it would be harder (but not impossible) to find merch of, which is the joke to begin with. Like... I was thinking... what pokemon is early enough in the pokedex that the tail end of pokemania was *obligated* to include it.... but just is NOT an interesting enough pokemon (even in a bad way!) to like... foster any attention at all... and after looking at the gen 2 dex I settled on stantler. Brown. Normal type. Not even the best normal type odd-toed undulate of the pokedex... just so perfectly mediocre. full of missed potential. the perfect underdog.

Ninetales and Arcanine though are such good picks. There's some old japanese gen 1 era stuff i ran into that often would put all the pokemon of one type on the same like, sticker sheets and stuff... I wonder if any of those would be good to look for for those two...

My gen 1 picks are nidorino, meowth and exeggcute LMAO. So I at least get some repireve with meowth...

I get most of my stuff from just occasionally scouring 'newest' on ebay, and since I'm in europe it helps to look up the french and german names too. So that's a good tip I'd say if you're wanting to look further afield.

I've gotten one or two things from buyee since ON OCCASION it is cheaper to get things in bulk from yahoo! auctions japan even with the import fees.

As for import shops. Pokevault.com is genuinely reasonable AND gets all the cool stuff from japan. Big reccomend to them + they do give reasonably frequent discount codes if you sign up for an account?

but yeah I'm not a particularly seasoned collector but this was my lockdown hobby for a bit so I did sniff some stuff out. It also goes to show that you can never do something ironically for long before it becomes serious.

As a side note, all of my stantlers in game are named after various drinks, though with a specific 'ill advised' medicinal theme. Gin. Tonic Water. Quinine. Chloroquine. Gin & Milk. My Malaria Cure Animals.

also while i was digging for pokevaults name i found a nicer photo of the old collection pre-legends arceus before I had to rearrange my room and put my shelves elsewhere </3