#this is about CT scanners

[veggiefritterz]

"my daughter is fine" ma'am your child is lightheaded over a piece of heavy machinery

[gaykamenridermemes]

[saphronethaleph]

Did you pack your robe yourself?

“The events on Onderon were, of course, very much not as we would desire,” Palpatine said, with a slight frown of distaste. “While they ultimately worked out, the consequences could be significant.”

“Of course, Chancellor,” replied the Vice-Chair, Mas Amedda. “Is there anything we will need to do?”

Palpatine barely glanced at the Coruscant Guard clone troopers around the entrance to the executive section of the Senate building. “Perhaps,” he said. “We should especially watch out for the risks posed by large crime syndicates. Such an event could result in serious strain on the Jedi.”

With possible witnesses, there were limits to the sort of thing he would say… but with Mas Amedda, a long-time political ally who knew he was more than he appeared, he could insinuate. And he was quite sure Mas would follow the direction of his thoughts.

“That would be unfortunate,” Mas noted. “Especially if the problems were associated with Mandalore. Obi-Wan Kenobi is closely tied to the planet’s leadership, and it would be inevitable that he’d be sent – and the loss of Master Kenobi would be a major blow to the Jedi.”

Palpatine was about to reply, but as they passed through the doorway something beeped urgently.

“What was that?” he asked.

One of the Coruscant Guard troopers was watching a screen, and he signalled to the rest of the squad. They all pointed their weapons, and the sergeant put a hand to his helmet.

“What is going on?” Palpatine asked. “Explain yourselves! I am the Supreme Chancellor!”

“Routine check, your excellency,” the sergeant said. “After the hostage crisis and intelligence of a possible kidnapping attempt, we set up scanners on the doorways of your chambers. Nobody gets in without a weapon scan.”

“That does not explain why you are holding the Supreme Chancellor and Vice Chair at blasterpoint,” Mas Amedda replied.

That wasn’t actually true. It did explain why Palpatine and Mas were at blasterpoint, because Palpatine carried a lightsaber as a matter of course – a weapon that was well-concealed and difficult to detect, and which wouldn’t show up on any scan keyed to detect blasters.

But apparently the Coruscant Guard was more thorough than that.

“We currently have reason to believe that you may have been replaced by an imposter, your excellency,” the sergeant answered. “And if you haven’t been, we’ll need an explanation for why you’re carrying a lightsaber-”

“Oh, this is tiresome,” Palpatine interrupted. “Execute Order 76.”

The whole clone squad straightened.

“What is your order?” the sergeant asked, his tone flat.

“Have all weapons scanners recalibrated to avoid registering lightsabers,” Palpatine told him. “In addition, forget this conversation and record it as a negative result.”

“It will be done, my lord,” the sergeant replied, still flat, and the troopers stepped aside.

“You had to use the order?” Mas asked.

“Surveillance footage,” Palpatine replied. “If any other clone views any recordings taken of this before I can get them deleted, the effect will be the same.”

“Of course,” Mas realized, as they began walking again. “I bow to your superior skills.”

Some miles away, Keelyvine Reus stared at her screen, which was still displaying the helmet-cam feed from CT-1154-17 ‘Thinner’ as he and his squad quietly returned to their positions – and the clone at the scanner began reprogramming it, deleting certain details from the profiles it used to identify potential weapons in the first place.

When she’d been asked to quietly back up Commander Fox as the Coruscant Guard’s number-one contact for complex situations that might require a Jedi Investigator – as Jedi or investigator – she’d expected a lot… but not this.

“...well,” she said, out loud, thinking. “Order 76 implies other orders. They’re secret enough that I don’t know about them, they override the will of the clones, and the Chancellor knows them…”

It all added up in a very unpleasant way.

She considered, then stood.

This was clearly over her head, and the Council needed to know.

[herpsandbirds]

Images from the herpetology section of the university of Michigan zoological collections museum.

I have mixed feelings about voucher specimens, I didn't love being around all of these dead things, but this was really cool.

The University of Michigan, supposedly, has the largest voucher collection of caecilians institution in the United States (and possibly the world?).

They have a CT scanner and 3-D printer on site, and produced this model of a caecilian skull right there.

This facility is not open to the general public, but there was a tour for the SSAR herpetology conference. 

* some highlights for me were this Sicilian collection, a thorny devil, the skull model, and the huge paradoxical frog tadpole (which is bigger than the adult frog).

- Paxon

[sarcosuchus]

— HELP SOLEIL PAY ITS ER BILL

22/07 EDIT; I'm happy to say we no longer need help with this bill!

I have been in contact with my insurance back in Norway, and I was successfully approved for having the rest of my bill covered. thank you all very much for sharing! since you're already here, I heavily encourage you to support families in Palestine. several vetted fundraisers can be found in this document.

— hi everyone! long story short, last month I ended up having to go to the ER in the middle of the night, and holy hell ER bills are expensive.

I am physically disabled & chronically ill (hypermobile EDS, asthma, a back injury, among other things). I'd already been sick for a few weeks, but after experiencing severe unusual pain reminiscent of another kidney infection that left me crying & barely able to move in bed, my boyfriend bit the bullet and drove me to the ER as urgency care wouldn't be open until about 8 hours later.

I was severely dehydrated, so I was given liquids via IV as well as morphine due to the amount of pain I was in. after I was rehydrated, out of the CT scanner, & recovering from the morphine, I was prescribed Cyclobenzaprine and antibiotics for a bad UTI & epiploic appendagitis (which mimics the symptoms of appendacitis, hence the CT scan.)

for additional context, in December of 2023 I suffered a kidney infection, COVID, and a shingles outbreak all within the same month, something that did take a toll on my already disabled body. If you got a dollar or two to spare, I would be EXTREMELY grateful. 🫂

This is not incredibly urgent & I can manage to pay it off, but it definitely stings.

[seat-safety-switch]

I read an article recently that said some egghead scientists had hooked up a machine learning system to MRIs. They trained the computer to identify brain waves, which made the media freak out about "computers that can read your mind."

Nothing annoys me more than fantasy claptrap, so I decided to get started on the real stuff. All it took was a lot of sub-minimum-wage labour in developing countries, and a little bit of good old-fashioned random number generation. As a result, I now had an expert system (that's 1980s for artificial intelligence.) What's it do, then, wise guy? Something truly essential to humanity: it identifies the song that's stuck in your head.

That was the easy part, though. Once I fed the machine every song in the world and tweaked all of its various parameters by throwing a pipe wrench into the wiring closet repeatedly, I determined that it had developed a sort of primitive sentience. Knowing everything that there is to know about music had turned it into a snob. If Pitchfork magazine still existed, this Python script would be on top of the masthead and embroiled in some incredibly risky office drama.

So, that's the Faustian bargain then. You can know what song is in your head, the one that's been haunting you throughout your days, but not without judgment. Dare you step into the gloomy warehouse, don the stainless-steel pasta colander that makes up this insanely over-powered homemade CT scanner, and then be mocked endlessly on the internet by a series of millisecond-precise bullies that never sleep and have been reading your social media accounts?

I did. Turns out it was Jingle Bell Rock. You'd think I'd have recognized that from the lyrics. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go smash that wall of televisions before it shows you the pictures from the "blackmail" album on my phone and ruins the surprise.

[phoebepheebsphibs]

Double-Mutated Mikey

Chapter 40: Biofilm

Continued from the short story written by @boots-with-the-fur-club

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Donatello races down the hallway, checking his trackers every few minutes to make sure everything is going smoothly with the others. After this is over, he's thinking of adding hidden cameras to their masks as well, so he can also see where they are, not just know their longitude and latitude. What good is knowing where a person is if you can't know what's going on?

Donnie started getting into the trackers phase when they'd first come up against the Foot Clan, and Raph had accidentally eaten a tracker meant for a salami paper stack. That had been the inspiration to start tagging his family. He'd installed the subdermal trackers sometime after then, working on different updates and methods of inserting them under the skin or under their shells when they weren't looking or conscious or aware or -- well, you get the idea.

But as time went on, he'd started thinking maybe adding a visual or audio aspect to the tracers was a good idea. It was starting to annoy him that his brothers and father would go places alone for long periods of time and he wouldn't know why or what was happening. Donnie would never consider himself 'clingy'. Or at least, he'd never admit that he was. Donnie was just... concerned for their well-being. And it always seemed like their well-being was coming into question whenever he was not with them. He should have added the video/audio feed to the trackers a long time ago.

He'd have known what was taking Leo so long to get them back after they'd been portaled to Tahiti.

He'd have known what Leo and Papa were doing with Big Mama while they dealt with the Shredder.

He'd have known where the Shredder and the Foot Lieutenant and Foot Brute and Cassandra took Splinter and Barry when they attacked their old lair.

He'd have known what the Krang were doing with Raphael when he was captured.

He'd have known what happened to Leo in the Prison Dimension.

He'd have known about Mikey's captivity and recapture.

He'd have known how to be the genius they all needed him to be.

He'd have known how to be a better brother...

Donnie swallows the thoughts and keeps on moving. He turns a corner and sees a strange laboratory, filled with machines and mechanisms and lasers and weird gadgets that Donnie would be more than happy to take home with him... But it also has what looks like a few medical devices stored in there as well. A CT scanner, an X-ray machine, other devices that Donatello recognizes from science-fiction films and spy movies that definitely won't be found in any normal hospital.

This looks like the kind of place that a man specialized in engineering and robotics would be hiding in...

Donnie sneaks over to the room, not caring about dodging cameras. The building's been evacuated, and even if it hadn't been, everybody already knows that they're here.

The door was left open by a careless employee trying to leave in a hurry. Perfect! Donnie's ninpo can create all kinds of stuff, but making small items to hack into things like security systems takes a lot of brainpower. And -- you didn't hear it from him -- it's difficult. His ninpo works like his mind, building the items piece by piece, engineering the weapons or defense mechs however he sees it in his head. And while he is a genius, even geniuses have trouble keeping track of hundreds of thousands of lines of programming. Even a small item like the USB flash drive he gave April earlier would take a lot of internal interfacing and coding... it's exhausting. But not impossible.

But fortunately, it isn't necessary.

Donatello sneaks in cautiously. It's strange how the room is a Frankenstein mashup between a doctor's office and a robotics lab. Secretly, Donnie is taking mental notes on how to incorporate some of these ideas and designs into his own lab.

There are desks covered with tools and blueprints. Cabinets with vials and liters of mysterious multi-coloured liquids. Tables with a few unpacked boxes stuffed with strange items and labels scribbled messily onto the cardboard. On one said table is a crate. Poking out of said crate, Donatello can see a wooden staff with purple wraps, two familiar blue hilts for what he can assume are twin katanas, and the edges of a battleshell.

"Our stuff!" he whispers to himself. They definitely need to get those back...

Donnie rushes to the box and starts rummaging through it. Yep, it's all here... Dee's gear, Leo's swords, Raph's sai. He reaches in and retrieves the weapons, looking them over for anything like tags or trackers that the TCRI or EPF would have placed on them. They look fine...

"My goggles!" Dee cheers, grabbing them quickly and placing them over his eyes to inspect the software. "Oh, thank God they didn't mess with my babies..."

"Don't thank Him just yet!" a voice cries out from behind him.

Donnie yipes before ducking, narrowly avoiding a swing from a madman behind him. He doesn't look like a guard, but instead wears a standard white lab coat. His hair is wild and unkempt, dark eyebags sag on his face, his chin is stubbled with untended scruff. By the looks of it, his only diet is caffeine and the suffering of others. He must be a scientist, then. His voice sounds familiar; Donnie's sure he's seen or heard him before...

"You were on the video files from the previous building!" he realizes, quickly grabbing his bō from the box and readying himself. "You made Mikey fight monsters in the Interaction room..."

"I see someone's been doing some research!" the man chuckles, his eyes wide and firey. "I'm flattered you recognized me. The name's Dr. Rod Timothy, not that you'll have much of a mind to recall that after I finish with you!!"

Donnie dodges as Dr. Timothy grabs a futuristic weapon from the table and fires it at him. Burning red blasts of light fly through the air. Dee ducks quickly, jumping to the side as he tries to come up with a weapon of his own. His mind always goes straight to the extreme -- 'go big or go home,' 'more bang for your buck', etc. Typically, the villains he fights are durable and super-strong mutants, they require bigger weapons like missiles and giant drills or hammers, etc. Humans are small, easy to break, but fierce and determined. They're harder to gauge, and Donnie has to search his mind for a weapon he can use against him without actually causing too much damage. Not just to the human, but also to the building itself. So missiles are off the menu.

Donnie's palm fills with parts and pieces that instantly grow together and attach in method and order, creating a mini grenade. He taps a button and sends the round object flying towards the scientist. It lands just a few feet in front of him and -- BOOM -- the flash grenade goes off, blinding the man as Dee uses his goggles to guide him through the room and find a place to hide.

"AGH!" Timothy screams, covering his watering eyes as he staggers around. "Y-you... you see, this is exactly why I was hoping you'd come here..."

Donnie peeks out from behind a giant scanner, watching as the mad scientist stumbles around chuckling.

"You creatures always have such a strange tolerance... it's superhuman...!"

The man looks up and looks around, pupils dilating like crazy as he frantically flails his arms and hands, feeling for something.

"And soon, I will be too..."

He really is insane, Donnie thinks to himself.

"If you're so keen on mutants, why'd you experiment on my brother?!" Donnie snarls.

Dr. Timothy reels around and stares blindly in Dee's direction, trying to listen as Donnie ninjas away to a new location to watch Timothy... and lure him into a trap.

"Oh, yes," Timothy laughs, the tears from his watering eyes streaming down his face. "You're brother was loads of fun. I enjoyed our little exercises and examinations thoroughly... Such a fun little plaything, a wonderful puzzle to take apart and put back together."

"Anyone ever tell you to get psychiatric help?" Donnie growls.

"More often than you'd think," Timothy cackles. "But they don't see the necessity of my methods! The vision! They're all sniveling, spineless, mindless plebeians who cannot understand the future..."

"What future is that?" Donnie asks, purposefully directing the man towards the far back of the room.

"Oh, one that you'd approve of!" Timothy laughs, blinking quickly, eyes darting back and forth. "A future free of humans. A future of mutants."

"What are you talking about?" Donnie asks, genuinely confused. "Chaplin wants to eradicate the mutants, why --"

"Oh, he's nothing more than a COWARD!!" Timothy bellows, fist pounding on the side of the table and sending small items flying. "He's a pathetic hatemonger who can't see that the only way for humanity to advance is to literally advance as a species and evolve! He thinks that what we need is to take out the competition!"

Dr. Timothy smiles so wide, his face contorts as though it's made of flabby plastic.

"I say we need to switch flags."

Donnie purposely knocks over small rolling cart of supplies, causing Dr. Timothy to stagger towards the sound.

"Chaplin is a visionary, though. And a golden goose. I never would have been able to pursue my research without his funding..."

"Well, the golden goose won't be laying anymore eggs for you psychopaths," Donnie huffs. "Chaplin's dead."

Timothy grunts at the news. Donnie can't tell if he's laughing, or making strange sad noises. The deranged fiend turns to stare blankly at the table, almost wistfully, reminiscing his fellow evil scientist.

"Well... he was a very significant man. Powerful, resourceful, determined... but I can't say that I'm not a little glad that he's gone."

"Oh?" Donnie chuckles. "No love lost between coworkers?"

"I had respect for the man, it's true," Timothy grumbles, reaching across the table strewn with supplies as he feels his way around. His fingers curl over a few of the objects laid before him as he moves forwards. "But his values and ideals were misguided and foolish. Only the strong come out on top."

"I'd like to think the smart ones have a pretty good chance, too..." Donnie remarks, stepping into a side room and waiting for Dr. Timothy to tag along.

"Oh, I agree!" he laughs, following Donnie's voice into the dark room. "Which is why I hate to see you die."

Timothy grips one of the items pulled from the table and clicks a button. A long laser-weapon activates, and he laughs as he runs in after the softshell.

"Nice sword-axe-laser-combo," Donnie smirks. "Where'd you get it? Hollywood Studios in Florida?"

"Do you like it?" Dr. Timothy grins sarcastically. "It's just one of the few things I thought to bring with me for this climactic stand-off..."

He presses a button and the door behind him slams shut with a mechanical hiss. Dr. Rod Timothy brandishes the weapon casually at the mutant teen who cooly holds his bō staff out at the man as well, ready for a duel.

"Does this room look familiar?" Timothy cackles. "If you really did the research, then it should. It's the same as the one your sweet little science experiment of a sibling was made to fight in! Only right we made another one for the experiments to follow... And I can't wait to see what happens to you in it."

Donatello smiles.

"You want me to fight you? The same way you made my baby brother fight your mutant monsters?"

"Oh, you can fight one of my monsters too if you want!" Timothy shrieks with laughter, holding up a small remote control. "With a push of a button, they can come pouring in. But for now, I want to see what you can do. See what parts of you to keep and what to... scrap."

Donnie sneers.

"So this is an assessment, then."

"I suppose so," Dr. Timothy shrugs. "But we'll see who wins."

Timothy charges, laser weapon at the ready. Donatello grips his bō staff and swings it, blocking Timothy's attack. A purple shield forms and pushes him back. Timothy grunts with effort as his feet skid across the tiles. He laughs hysterically, eyes growing ever wider.

He charges again, swinging the battleaxe around before striking again. Donnie's battleshell opens up and reveals a small jetpack, which takes him up into the air. He launches over Timothy and lands behind him, clicking a hidden button on the shoulder pad and activating a wire that wraps around the mad scientist. Dee launches again and prepares to strap the man from the ceiling and literally leave him hanging.

Dr. Timothy squirms about and manages to pull an arm out, fumbling with the laser device and cutting the line. As Timothy freefalls, Donnie's jetpack crashes him into the ceiling as it attempts and fails to compensate for the sudden loss of weight. Timothy pulls another device he'd taken from the table and points it at Donnie. A small gun, almost like a pistol, which fires out a sudden blue blast at Dee's jetpack. The rotors freeze, ice covers the exhaust ports, and the whole jetpack itself malfunctions and sends Dee crashing to the ground.

"Your brother showed a severe aversion to cold, so in order to keep him in line we created a series of ice-generating weapons like this handy little prototype," Timothy boasts, twirling the pistol around like it's a toy.

Donnie growls in fury. Timothy fires a few more shots, blasting the turtle in the arm and leg as he tries to get back up from the fall. Donnie yells in pain as his limbs suffer from ice burn and start to turn red and swollen from the cold blasts. Shards of frost and ice crystals form on the skin. Donnie gasps from the pain and starts rubbing his limbs, careful not to let the injuries turn into frostbite. Timothy fires another shot, but this time Donnie is careful to dodge it, jumping out of the way despite the pain. Timothy fires again. Dee swings his bō at the man, creating shield that blocks the blast. He swings again, dissolving the shield and reforming it to create a replica pistol that fires directly at the weapon, clogging the barrel of Timothy's gun with ice.

"That was good!" Timothy laughs, dropping the gun before his fingers freeze to the metal. "Nice deflection! And it's clear that I could not defeat you physically. Your mutant genetics must have enhanced your bone structure and muscle mass, yes?"

"That's one theory," Donnie snarks at him. "Or you could just be a weak old guy with a pathetic toy gun."

Dr. Timothy laughs again.

"I'm technically not old, I'm 36."

"That's old, dude."

"Kids these days..." Dr. Timothy sighs. "If brawn cannot win, then perhaps brains shall..."

Dr. Timothy starts clicking buttons on the remote, setting off a few movement-tracking firearms. Donnie recognizes the sleek black metal machine guns from some of Mikey's recorded sessions in the Interaction Room. Dee creates another shield and avoids the torrent of bullets and darts that fly as Dr. Timothy advances again.

"Let's see how you fare against two threats at once!"

Donnie ducks back, hand and staff flying forward as he thinks up a quick weapon to make for his defense. A purple ninpo hologram forms over the wood, creating an imitation of his old tech-bo. A giant mechanical fist ignites at one end, and Dr. Timothy and Donatello exchange blow for blow, guarding and attacking as the two simultaneously dodge bullets from above.

"Where do you come up with these weapon ideas? Jupiter Jim's 19th Return to the Moon?"

"Two distractions at once, and he still finds the mental capacity for a rib!" Timothy laughs. "I should spar with my creations more often..."

"I am not your creation!" Donnie yells. "AND NEITHER IS MY BROTHER!!!"

Donnie suddenly snaps, kicking Dr. Timothy in the chest and sending him back into the wall. Timothy's weapon knocked from his hand, Donnie grabs it and flings the laser cutter towards the turrets, tearing them in half and destroying them completely.

"Very well done!" Timothy chuckles nervously, as he half-struggles to get up. "Well done indeed! You are quite the adversary. But, I would wonder how well you'd fare after I become one of YOU!"

Donnie watches in confusion as the scientist pulls a syringe from his pocket. It's glowing green.

"This is a mutation formula that I've reverse-engineered from some samples I found over the years. Your brother is one of them, true... but the majority of the formula comes from a few mosquitos we found buzzing around..."

"Draxum's ooze," Donnie gapes, his voice a horrified hush. "You're going to mutate yourself?!"

"It's about time I evolved into the higher species!" Timothy cackles madly, his mind fully gone. "And now with Chaplin out of the way, there's no stopping me!!"

"Wait!" Donnie tries to warn. "You don't know what that will do to you!!"

"I know exactly what will happen!" Timothy screams back. "I will finally be the apex predator!! Now watch as I become a random creature of mass destruction!!"

Timothy stabs the syringe into his arm, the re-created ooze seeping into his veins.

"Random?" Donnie questions. "No, you'll just turn into the last biological organism you came into contact with."

"Wait, what?" Timothy questions, sobering for one second. "What do you mean, the last thing biological organism?"

"The ooze combines your DNA with that of whatever you touched last. Didn't you know that?"

"No! How would I know that?!" Timothy screeches, gripping his sides in pain as the ooze starts to recreate him.

"Looks like somebody didn't do their homework after all..."

"What am I going to become?!" Timothy shrieks, his whole frame shaking.

"Well, what did you touch last?"

"YOU!"

"No, you never actually touched me," Donnie clarifies. "You're wearing gloves, and your weapons hit mine, but we never came into actual contact -- details matter in science, you know..."

"W-WHAT'S HAPPENING TO M-M-MEEEEEE?!?!" Timothy screams, his voice fluctuating and gargling as he begins to sweat profusely.

It's not sweat.

His skin is melting.

Donnie watches with a sickened expression as Dr. Timothy's body begins to turn into a sludge, the skin tone changing into a slimy fungus-green, every part of him slowly dissolving and gooping together in a way that turns Donnie's stomach. He looks away, and forces himself to keep away even as the man screams and pleads for mercy and help. His voice is literally drowned out as his vocal chords liquify along with the rest of him.

It goes quiet. Donnie shakily turns to see what has become of the poor deranged man. Nothing remains but a puddle of gelatinous ooze wobbling on the floor several feet ahead of him.

"L-looks like your reverse-engineered formula wasn't complete," Donnie gulps. "Or maybe the ooze really did transform you into the last thing you touched... which would have been the ooze itself. Whatever the solution, I'm not going to stick around for --"

A gurgling scream tears the room apart, as the gelatinous blob starts moving, shifting, and reforming into a sloppy mess of a man.

"Lₒₒₖ wₕₐₜ yₒᵤ'ᵥₑ dₒₙₑ ₜₒ ₘe!" Timothy shrieks, his voice a wobbly, watery mess as he slowly pulls himself together. "I wₐₛ mₑₐₙt ₜₒ ᵇe ₐ fᵢₑᵣcₑ ₘᵤₜaₙt! Nₒₜ ₐ ᵇₗᵤbᵇeᵣᵢₙg … ₜhᵢₙg!!"

The newly transformed Timothy charges at Donnie, his arm elongating and stretching like those slappy hand things Mikey was obsessed with at the age of six. Donnie dodges it at the last second, the hand slinging across the room and sticking to a panel on the wall. It rips the panel straight off, revealing a section of machinery hidden behind it.

"Whoah!" Donnie yells, dodging once again as the arm comes slinging back.

"I dᵢdₙ'ₜ wₐₙₜ ₜhiₛ!" Timothy screeches as he continues his tantrum. "I wₐₛ sᵤpₚₒₛₑd ₜₒ bₑ ₜₕₑ ₐₚeₓ ₚᵣₑdₐₜₒᵣ, ₙoₜ ₛₒₘe ₚₐₜₕₑₜᵢc ₛₗᵤdgₑ fᵣₒₘ ₜₕₑ ᵇoᵗₜₒₘ ₒf ᵗₕₑ fₒₒd cₕaᵢₙ! ᴺᵒᵗ a gˡoʳⁱᶠᵢₑᵈ aₘebₐ! ₙₒₜ ₐ Lᵢvᵢₙg Wₐₗₖᵢₙg MUD PUDDLE!!"

Timothy's body morphs again, his form splattering in twenty different directions and splashing onto several frames and tiles from the walls, ceiling, and floor. He pulls them apart, releasing a robotic arm that reaches down and attempts to attack the two of them. Donnie slides to the side and avoids the robo-arm. Dr. Timothy's tentacle releases from a section of the wall and accidentally tangles around the mechanism, getting stuck inside the gears and causing it to malfunction. The arm swings back and forth, trying to catch Donnie or Dr. Timothy before becoming hopelessly trapped in the glue-like goo that the scientist has become.

"Wₕₐₜ ₕₐᵥₑ yₒᵤ ᵈᵒₙₑ! ᵂₕₐₜ ₕᵃᵛe yoᵤ dₒₙe! Wₕₐₜ ₕₐᵥₑ yᵒu ᵈoₙₑ!" Timothy wails as he flails about the room.

His arms knock loose the devices hanging from the ceiling. They come crashing down, splatting Timothy flat and trapping him momentarily.

"Sorry doc, but this was all you," Donnie states, dodging one of the slimy appendages before tuck and rolling towards the door. "And no offense, but I've had enough slimy tentacle-induced sensory issues for one year, so I'll just see myself out..."

"Yᵒᵤ ₕₐᵥₑ ₜo ₕeˡᵖ ₘₑ!" Timothy screams, reaching out for the ninja in desperation.

"There's nothing I can do for you now, Tim," Donnie scoffs as he picks up the remote from the floor, avoiding Timothy's sludge and slime. "You wanted to be a mutant, so now you're a mutant. Congrats, welcome to the family."

Donnie stares down at the remote and all the little buttons it comes equipped with. He presses one, and the door opens.

"But don't worry. After everything you did to my brother, I won't just leave you here alone to rot..."

Donnie turns to face the mutant man, and gives him a cold smile before pressing every button on the remote.

"You said something about 'monsters flooding in at the push of a button,' right?" Donnie asks, his smile becoming almost like a snarl. "How about I leave you with some company?"

Every trapdoor in the room opens up, and hundreds of glowing red eyes appear from the darkness. The sounds of snarling and growling and howling and yowling starts to fill the enclosure.

"ᴺᵒ… ʸᵒᵘ caₙ'ₜ ₗₑₐᵥₑ ₘe ₗiₖₑ ₜₕiˢ!" Dr. Timothy begs.

"You said you wanted to be a mutant," Donnie sighs, clicking the button to close the door. "You can chill with your own kind now. See how long you last."

"Nᴺᴼ0oₒo0Oᴼ--!!!"

The doors close just as the monsters creep in and pounce for the slime man.

Donnie blinks for a moment before exhaling loudly.

"...Karma... is absolutely insane."

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[door]

this story has everything. ralph nader. a (different) guy who collects old felt tip pens. industrial CT scanners. archivists refusing to comment. an 1800 word email from a fountain pen expert. highly recommend if you want to read about people going all-in on research for no apparent reason

[shithowdy]

just here to suggest the possibility that your gas pain was actually [unpleasant description of a medical event follows] a ruptured ovarian cyst (if you have those, if not disregard). i thought /my/ ovarian cyst was gas since i felt incredibly bloated and it felt identical to bad gas but actually it was just my abdominal lining swelling so much from the bleeding. i'd be even more sus if the pain was mostly in your lower tummy, you were vomiting, had an extremely dry mouth, or felt extremely hot. or if it came on after vigorous activity. i got a ct with contrast at the ER and that dxed it - if stuff like this happens to you regularly you might consider asking a gyno for some imaging, since they can prevent it with hormonal birth control.

At the risk of embarrassing myself a little here, it was definitely gas-- after about 8 hours of suffering and right before finally getting into the CT scanner, the pain was instantly relieved with a colossal fart.

[blueiscoool]

Rare Hoard of Roman-era Coins Discovered in German Mountains

A metal detectorist in Germany has unearthed a hoard of nearly 3,000 Roman-era coins in an unusual place — north of the empire's defensive lines.

A metal detectorist in Germany has discovered a rare hoard of almost 3,000 Roman-era coins outside of the Roman Empire's ancient borders and far from any known Germanic tribe settlements of the time. Experts don't know how or why the huge hoard ended up there.

The licensed metal detectorist immediately reported the findings to government archaeologists in Koblenz, a city on the Rhine River. The subsequent excavation uncovered about 2,940 coins as well as more than 200 thin silver fragments decorated with geometric designs buried in a now-broken ceramic pot hidden between two rocks.

"Most of the coins are so called Antoniniani, which were the official silver coin in the Roman Empire in the 3rd century [A.D.] but mostly consisted of bronze with a thin silver overlay," Timo Lang, head of the Koblenz branch office of the State Archaeology in Rhineland-Palatinate who oversaw the excavation.

The coins date to between A.D. 241 and 243 until A.D. 269 and 271, so the hoard was probably buried in the early 270s, Lang said.

The discovery was made near the town of Herschbach in the Westerwald mountain range, 11 miles (18 kilometers) past the Upper Germanic Limes, the defensive line that marked the Roman Empire's frontier with the Germanic peoples. While third-century Roman coins are frequently discovered within the empire's borders, finding such a big hoard outside the empire's former lands is exceedingly rare

"Usually coin hoards outside the Roman Empire consist of a few dozen or perhaps a few hundred coins," Lang explained. He added that he knew of only one hoard from outside the empire that had more coins from this period — a stash of coins found in Poland.

The archaeologists determined that some of the newfound coins were from Rome, but most were minted in Cologne, which at the time was part of the Gallic Empire — a region including modern-day France, Belgium, Spain and parts of Germany and Italy that broke away from the Roman Empire during a time of political instability from approximately A.D. 260 to 274, Lang explained. The region where the hoard was discovered, however, wasn't part of the Gallic Empire.

So how did the coins get into enemy territory? There are various possibilities. One of them is that the Gallic Empire tried bribing German elites either not to attack them, or to attack the Roman Empire. Why the coins were hidden in the Westerwald mountains, however, where there weren't any known Germanic settlements, remains a mystery.

Lang's team hopes to analyze the silver fragments with a computed tomography (CT) scanner to digitally reconstruct their original shape. The archaeologists also plan to partner with other researchers to identify the rest of the coins.

By Margherita Bassi.

[tengritexas]

Candle Light Meditation: The Peculiar Treatment for Insomnia, Irregular Sleep Patterns, and ADHD

Hi everyone! Today Im writing about a new meditation trick Ive been testing out and Ill be sharing how to do it if youre interested.

Why I chose to do it

While I may like to do old man things, sitting at home and watching candle lights werent really my idea of a good time. However in the past few weeks Ive had really big issues maintaining a healthy sleep pattern and Ive always struggled with ADHD and getting school work done. I was told by a buddy of mine about mindfulness meditation and that has helped my adhd in the past so I figured this was worth a go!

Candle Light Meditation Craze

If you go to google or youtube youll certainly find all kinds of gurus and spiritualists suggesting this meditation will "decalcify your pinal gland" which would be something impacting most of us around the age 18-30 depending on diets and things like that

Here is the issue THERE IS NO RESEARCH TO SUGGEST THIS PRACTICE DECALCIFIES YOUR PENAL GLAND. So to say if that happens or not is not my place. Im a dude who posts bangers on the internet, not a neuro scientist.

What it did do

Despite the research not being there. I can tell you in the few days of doing it I have noticed my focus has sharply improved. My fatigue isnt so bad either. My sleep schedule hasnt improved to much yet but hey! Im a college student Im busy chatting and making friends (doing essays lol).

I believe some of these symptoms are associated with the pinal gland but again, I have no idea. All I can tell you is I do eat frozen foods often and this did help. I dont have a CT scanner in my room so beyond that I have no idea lol.

How to do candle light meditation

Grab a candle, light it and turn off as many lights to get the room as dark as you can. Try to use a candle with a still flame and turn off fans aswell.

Try to focus on the most solid part of the flame for a few seconds up till 3 minutes. You ideally want to do this until you feel a fuzzy feeling in your head.

Turn away from the candle and close your eyes, you should see the imprint of the flame, stare at that for as long as you can until it goes away.

Try to do repeat process 3 times a day (in one setting) for 5 days. Usually by 5 days you should begin to feel a strange tiredness in your mind. This is what your looking for. You are overloading that part of the brain because its not really being used. Much like trying to run for the first time in a few months.

The end result

Around day 5 you should find yourself being able to focus more! Ive also heard some people report it helps them with creative writing aswell but I cant attest to that.

Let me know what you guys think! Hope it helps :>

[uispeccoll]

Special Guest Post from John Martin Rare Book Room

Hardin Library of Health Sciences

INGRASSIA, GIOVANNI FILIPPO (1510-1580). Iatrapologia: Quaestio, quae capitis vulneribus ac phrenitidi medicamenta conveniant [Defense of Medicine: Question regarding the medicinals convenient for head injuries and meningitis]. Printed in Venice by Giovanni Griffio, 1547. 16 cm tall.

This month's book was one of six John Martin Rare Book Room items selected to be scanned as part of the Iowa Initiative for Scientific Imaging and Conservation of Cultural Artifacts (IISICCA) project. Iatrapologia (Greek: "defense of medicine") by Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia (1510-1580) was selected for two reasons. One, with backlighting through the thin, limp vellum cover, we were able to determine it had small pieces of manuscript waste that included both green and red inks. Different inks show up at different energy levels in Computed Tomography (CT) scanners - or sometimes not at all. Finding a variety of inks helps to calibrate both types of scanners used in the project.

And two, it's just a darn cool book.

Ingrassia was an influential 16th-century Italian physician. He grew up in a well-educated family and received a classical education. He studied at the University of Padua, one of the most important western centers for the study of medicine and anatomy.

There, he learned from renowned intellectuals and physicians, such as Realdo Columbo, Bartolomeo Eustachi, Girolamo Fracastoro, and, of course, the Anatomaster® himself, Andreas Vesalius. Ingrassia would go on to make his own significant impact on not only anatomical medicine but also public health and hygiene, forensic medicine, and teratology (the study of abnormalities of physiological development).

After completing his studies in 1537, he became the personal physician to a minor Italian noble family in Palermo. Soon after, he became the professor of human anatomy at the University of Naples. It was during his time in Naples that he wrote Iatrapologia. Ostensibly a book about how to treat head wounds, it was also a critique of the current state of medicine and surgery - one of the subtitles, liber quo multa adversus barbaros medicos disputantur, translates as "a book in which many things are argued against the barbarian physicians."

In Iatrapologia and elsewhere, Ingrassia argued that medicine should be considered a less subjective discipline. Treatments should be verified, results checked, and useful diagnoses disseminated among physicians. He also thought that physicians and surgeons should be integrated into a single profession to prevent surgeries by "unqualified" people. Indeed, in Iatrapologia, he states rather dramatically,

"Oh, God, so much human suffering has been caused by the vainglory of contemporary doctors. Indeed, surgery has been abandoned to some inexperienced, empiric [i.e., quack] physicians, most of whom are not only lacking in dogma, but also in what relates to the Art." p. 252

Ingrassia was also a strong believer in continuing education, suggesting physicians should refresh their dissection skills every five years so as to avoid becoming "imperfect and ignorant physicians." If nothing else, Ingrassia demonstrated a natural skill with insults!

Ingrassia made significant contributions to the field of anatomy, particularly with bones and the skull. He is most well known for identifying a third small bone in the middle ear, which he called the "stapes." He also described differences between human and animal bones, breaking down parts of each bone to make identification easier.

Ingrassia was not only a physician and anatomist but also a pioneer in public health. He held various political positions, most notably Protomedicus (chief physician) of Sicily, and implemented measures to prevent the spread of diseases such as malaria and the plague. He emphasized the importance of preventive measures, such as isolating infected patients and cleaning objects to reduce the risk of transmission.

Overall, Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia was a remarkable physician and scientist who significantly contributed to our understanding of human anatomy and the practice of medicine.

Our copy of Iatrapologia is a delight to hold and leaf through and, as indicated, holds a few secrets inside. The limp vellum cover is soft but dried out enough that it has a bit of a rattle while opening. The cover image above shows discoloration from use and bits of writing here and there. The textblock is in excellent shape, the paper bright, and almost completely free of damage.

One interesting surprise is a piece of paper that has been pasted over the verso side of leaf A3 in an attempt to cover up a printer's error (a repeated page from elsewhere in the book). At some point, someone made a concerted effort to remove the paper to see what was underneath. Whoever glued it on, though, made sure the vandal couldn't remove much!

Other surprises can be seen in the images above. The images show close-ups of the text visible with backlighting. In one image, green and red inks are still vibrant and really jump out. The IISICCA group estimates the date of the manuscript to be roughly the 10th or 11th century and suspects the complete word is some form of "archiabbas" (chief abbot).

Another image shows a small scrap where the photo is repeated several times. Different photo filters were applied in an attempt to make the text more legible.

Contact me to take a look at this book or any others from this or past newsletters: damien-ihrig@uiowa.edu

[radioactiveradley]

Can you tell us anything about how CT can be used to find small foreign bodies that may not have a density massively dissimilar from the body they're lodged in? The specific example in this case: Dog is going for a CT to look for a potential cat claw tip lodged in the face that is causing repeated abscesses.

Oooh! That's an interesting one.

TL;DR: there will probably be goo around the claw. We can see goo. If there is no goo and the claw is lodged in soft tissue, the amount of radiation attenuated by the claw and the soft tissue will be distinct enough for us to see. If the claw is lodged in bone and has a similar density, we will still be able to see it, but we will have to modulate the way we read the images, which will cause no extra dose to your poor doggo!

First off, we'll look for any anomalies in the surrounding tissue. Soft tissue might fully envelop a foreign object, but we still expect to see some sort of reaction - i.e., a granuloma, which can either absorb some organic foreign bodies (very freaky! very cool! you can 'eat' splinters that get stuck under your skin!) or encyst them in a capsule-like shield to cut them off from the rest of the body.

All my pictures are gonna be of humans because I know 0 about doggy CT... sorry...

Image courtesy of radiopedia

So, in the above pic, the arrows point to a surgical clip that went walkabout in the body, and wound up encapsulated! How cool is that!

But generally speaking... If the claw is lodged in soft tissue, it will be easy to spot.

The way CT works is, we see how much radiation can penetrate through each separate point within the person/pooch who's lying in the scanner's central bore. These different penetration levels are mapped onto a scale to describe radiodensity, known as the Hounsfield scale, with '0' being water, '-1000' being air, and '+1000' typically being bone.

The gathered values are then composited using greyscale (and. a very funky process that I do NOT have time to get into here but ask me about sinogram tomography later) to create images across three dimensions, with fluid being middling grey (depending on its content), air being black, and bone being white.

So, the claw will show up clearly as a different density to soft tissue, especially if it's surrounded by oedema. It should appear significantly brighter (attenuates more radiation) while the oedema will be darker (attenuates less radiation).

However, if the claw is lodged in bone and there happens to be minimal oedema and no telltale damage to the periosteum (the membranous sheathe around the bone) ... we would have to use a funky technique called windowing!

Image courtesy of radiopedia

Here's an example of windowing, using a human head. As you can see, the 'bone window' completely blocks out all soft tissue detail in the brain, but shows a lot more detail - i.e., trabecular patterns and mastoid cells! - within the bone.

Basically, there can be almost infinite Hounsfield units, depending on what you want to look at (if you're looking at, like, titanium, we'll be talking a RIDICULOUSLY HIGH Hounsfield number!) But the human eye can only see approximately

Image courtesy of a basic bitch google search

This is where windowing comes in! We can choose a certain point within the Hounsfield scale at which to generate a new image, focusing on one particular type of material. This is what makes CT so versatile!

If the claw is a subtly different density to the bone, it may not show up on a regular CT image. But by using a 'bony window' that selects a span of Hounsfield units to look at, right up towards the +1000 end of the scale, we can focus on the bone in far more detail, cutting out all extraneous soft tissue. This should give us a good idea of what's going on!

As a fun extra fact - windowing will not up the radiation dose to your poor pooch in any way. In CT, all we need to do is take a single 'picture', which compiles all the radiodensity info about our patient (be they bipedal or otherwise). We can then play around in 'post-production', so to speak, to our heart's content, producing different variations on the same image using windowing! Very nifty trick. :)

I hope that somewhere amidst my extensive rambling, I answered your question! And I hope that doggo gets better soon!

[risingscorchingsuns]

hi guys im homw !!!! i have been for a few hours but ive been fucked up on sedatives lmao. im still sorta fucked up but im mostly lucid, just groggy as HELL lmao

the procedure went well!!! there were a couple mishaps so minor tw for medical mentions + needlesbelow the cut if you’re curious! dw tho im perfectly safe and well!!!

so basically they had me on my stomach, and throughout the course of the procedure theyd stick me in and out of a CT scanner to check where they needed to inject. they had these long ass fucking needles and they were kinda fucking terrifying lmao, they had to sedate me pretty good bc of my severe needle phobia

my letft side went well, they numbed me, neutralized all my nerves and i barely felt a thing. but when they put the needle in my back on my right side, i inhaled when they put it in and they punctured my lung a little bit lmaoo

im okay tho !!! i was in a CT machine for most of the procedure so they would have been able to tell immediately if it was anything serious. to be safe they monitored me, and the procedure took about 2 hours instead of the expected 30 💀

overall im fine!!!! im very sleepy and my side hurts a little bit when i inhale, but the procedure was a success and im doing well!!! i had a big dinner and it didn’t even hurt at all :D

thank you guys so very much for the well wishes!!! i appreciate it so much 🫶💜🪲

[just-here-with-my-thoughts]

Day 1: Helpless / Caught in a Snare

@febuwhump prompt: Helpless @badthingshappenbingo prompt: Caught in a Snare

Fandom: The Bad Batch Characters: Cadet Crosshair, Cadet Hunter, Cadet Wrecker, Cadet Tech Cadet Batch as featured in my WIP fic 'Pieces of the People We Love' - haven't read it? All you need to know is that Crosshair is the oldest, and Hunter is the youngest! Word Count: ~935 Click here to read on AO3

Synopsis: Experimental Unit 99 are on a training exercise and struggling to shake down with their new member, CT-9931 ‘Hunter’.

Crosshair scanned the forest constantly, enhanced eyesight picking up minute details which would escape his brothers’ notice. Tech loped along on his left, tapping away at a scanner which showed a relief map of the terrain, and Wrecker was on his right, heavy gun swinging idly from his hand.

Hunter was a handful of paces ahead of the three of them, skittishly glancing about as he guided them through the unfamiliar training course. The newest addition to their squad was more at home in this wild environ than he was in the halls of Kamino, and even Crosshair was begrudgingly impressed by Hunter’s enhanced senses as he kept them unerringly on track, without once referring to Tech’s map readouts.

His gaze zoned in on the ground ahead of them, and he pulled up short.

“Hunter.”

The younger boy tuned at his name, brown eyes flashing curiously from beneath his unruly mop of curls. Realising Crosshair had stopped, he slowed his steps until he too was still.

Tech and Wrecker halted between the two of them.

“Problem, Crosshair?” asked Tech, glancing between them.

“Give me your vibroknife, Hunter.”

Hunter bristled, teeth baring in a snarl. “What do you need it for?” he asked, defensiveness clear in his voice.

“I just need it,” said Crosshair, holding his hand out demandingly. “Hand it over.”

Scowl darkening, Hunter glanced at Tech and Wrecker for support. Tech shrugged his confusion, giving Hunter a sympathetic look. Wrecker turned to Crosshair.

“You can use my vibroknife, Cross,” he offered, unsheathing the blade which hummed to life. “Let Hunter keep his.”

Crosshair shook his head. “No, I need Hunter’s.”

Begrudgingly Hunter tugged the vibroknife from its sheath and held it out at arm’s length. When Crosshair didn’t move he muttered a curse and took a step forwards to close the distance between them, shoulders rising with tension.

Crosshair snagged the vibroknife and twirled it neatly between his fingers, a satisfied smirk spreading across his face. “Thanks, di’kut,” he said with a sardonic smile, not bothering to hide the creeping satisfaction of watching Hunter seethe.

With an audible snarl Hunter spun away from him, stalking forwards along the path.

The snare closed round his ankle, swift and decisive. Hunter was whipped into the air with a yelp, instinctively lashing out at nothing. Tech echoed Hunter’s yell with a surprised exhale, and Wrecker gave a bark of laughter.

“Hunter! You walked straight inter that one!” crowed Wrecker, picking his way carefully to the inverted clone and reaching out to stop him swaying. Hunter swore and swung at him, setting himself spinning as Wrecker leaned back easily to avoid the blow.

“We were warned of the potential of traps in the environ,” said Tech, peering up to follow the cable caught round Hunter’s leg. “I am surprised that none of us noticed it–”

He trailed off as he realised Crosshair’s shoulders were shaking.

“Ah.” He straightened his goggles. “Crosshair. Am I to take it that you did, in fact, spot the presence of the snare?”

“I am going to kill you,” snarled Hunter through bared teeth, although the effect was somewhat diminished by his inverted position and the gentle spin he found himself in.

Crosshair sauntered forwards, twirling Hunter’s vibroknife casually. “Shame you don’t have anything to cut yourself free with,” he taunted, leaning down so he was on eye level with the upside-down Hunter.

“Don’t worry Hunter, I’ll getcha down-” offered Wrecker, but was cut off by Hunter’s furious glare.

“I don’t need your help!” he spat defiantly, fixing Crosshair with a look full of loathing. “Give me my knife!”

Crosshair bared his teeth in a wicked grin, carefully holding the vibroknife in front of Hunter. The smaller boy lunged for it, reaching as far as he could, but his fingertips grasped empty air and he swung away.

Wrecker failed to stifle a laugh, and even Tech was covering his mouth with his hand to hide his amusement. Hunter’s face was slowly flushing crimson, though whether it was embarrassment or just the blood rushing to his head was hard to discern.

“What’s the matter, Hunter? Infallible senses didn’t notice the trap?” drawled Crosshair, an antagonistic smirk still painted on his face.

“You distracted me!” howled Hunter, thrashing about angrily. “You asked for my knife to distract me so I wouldn’t spot it!”

“Hmm, I guess I did,” the sniper gloated, tumbling the knife across his fingers once more before sheathing it at his belt.

“Awright Cross, you had your fun,” said Wrecker, smothering his grin as he shot a sympathetic look at Hunter. “Let’s cut him down.”

“Spoil-sport,” sneered Crosshair, starting along the path again. “Come on, Tech.”

Crosshair listened to the sounds of the other two as he walked away. There was a thud as Hunter hit the ground, a muffled, “I’ll kill him-”, and the sound of a scuffle as Wrecker restrained the furious young clone.

“That was rather unkind, Crosshair,” admonished Tech, falling into step beside his brother.

Crosshair discerned the truth of Tech’s amusement in his brother’s smile. His lips pressed thinly together.

“Now he’ll know better than to give up his weapons.”

“You’re his squad leader. He trusted you.”

“That’s the point,” said Crosshair, dropping his voice so that their words wouldn’t reach Hunter’s enhanced senses. “He didn’t like that feeling. Being helpless. Better he learned that now, with us, than… somewhere else.”

He risked a glance back to where Wrecker was carrying Hunter under one arm, the smaller boy squirming and cursing the whole time. His smile softened.

“Little idiot,” he muttered, with something close to affection.

[naamahdarling]

Had the CT yesterday. Results might be in at the patient portal, I got notified for something today, but I'm not looking until I have my doctor available.

I honestly don't expect there's anything SUPER wrong since I've had it checked several times in the recent past and nothing was going on, but if there is, I'd rather have access to someone who can help me figure out what to do and how worried to be. Fortunately, my cardiologist has not yet betrayed my trust, so I'm comfortable with him.

Anyway, this particular CT scan was actually pretty cool to experience, since it was very short and I kept my clothes on, the staff was super funny, I got to see my useless veins lit up in green on my arm from a NIR scanner, experience nitroglycerin (no flavor but tasted like Sharp, sensation was very mildly unpleasant but interesting enough not to hate it), get some REAL weird bodily sensations from the cocktail of IV bullshit they were giving me (brief INTENSE heat in all kinds of unexpected places), tasted the IV tracer (faintly) and I didn't get nauseated and didn't have to stay around. I felt nasty for the rest of the day which could have been lack of sleep. The worst was that I had anxiety about being awake in time to get there.

It was overall much more interesting than upsetting. So was the stress test a couple years back, surprisingly; I got the Terror Hormone Shot or whatever, and the flood of "WHOA SOMETHIN HAPPENING" was super strange and somewhat unpleasant (dissociated for a bit, definitely didn't want to be there and wanted the hand I was holding) but didn't send me into a chemically induced panic like I had been sure it would, and I got to go lay down afterwards to go in the Tube and relax. The IV tracer tasted REAL weird on that one.

I'm okay with like 75% of being big scienced like this and find it really cool. Wish I had never been traumatized over the other 25%!