#Sampling enable

[jbcchan]

[reasonsforhope]

"Once thought to be extinct, black-footed ferrets are the only ferret native to North America, and are making a comeback, thanks to the tireless efforts of conservationists.

Captive breeding, habitat restoration, and wildlife reintegration have all played a major role in bringing populations into the hundreds after near total extinction.

But one other key development has been genetic cloning.

In April [2024], the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced the cloning of two black-footed ferrets from preserved tissue samples, the second and third ferret clones in history, following the birth of the first clone in December 2020. 

Cloning is a tactic to preserve the health of species, as all living black-footed ferrets come from just seven wild-caught descendants.  This means their genetic diversity is extremely limited and opens them up to greater risks of disease and genetic abnormalities. 

Now, a new breakthrough has been made.

Antonia, a black-footed ferret cloned from the DNA of a ferret that lived in the 1980s has successfully birthed two healthy kits of her own: Sibert and Red Cloud.

These babies mark the first successful live births from a cloned endangered species — and is a milestone for the country’s ferret recovery program.

The kits are now three months old, and mother Antonia is helping to raise them — and expand their gene pool.

In fact, Antonia’s offspring have three times the genetic diversity of any other living ferrets that have come from the original seven ancestors.

Researchers believe that expanded genetic diversity could help grow the ferrets’ population and help prime them to recover from ongoing diseases that have been massively detrimental to the species, including sylvatic plague and canine distemper. 

“The successful breeding and subsequent birth of Antonia's kits marks a major milestone in endangered species conservation,” said Paul Marinari, senior curator at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. 

“The many partners in the Black-footed Ferret Recovery Program continue their innovative and inspirational efforts to save this species and be a model for other conservation programs across the globe.”

Antonia actually gave birth to three kits, after mating with Urchin, a 3-year-old male ferret. One of the three kits passed away shortly after birth, but one male and one female are in good health and meeting developmental milestones, according to the Smithsonian.

Mom and babies will remain at the facility for further research, with no plans to release them into the wild.

According to the Colorado Sun, another cloned ferret, Noreen, is also a potential mom in the cloning-breeding program. The original cloned ferret, Elizabeth Ann, is doing well at the recovery program in Colorado, but does not have the capabilities to breed. 

Antonia, who was cloned using the DNA of a black-footed ferret named Willa, has now solidified Willa’s place as the eighth founding ancestor of all current living ferrets.

“By doing this, we’ve actually added an eighth founder,” said Tina Jackson, black-footed ferret recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in an interview with the Colorado Sun. 

“And in some ways that may not sound like a lot, but in this genetic world, that is huge.”

Along with the USFWS and Smithsonian, conservation organization Revive & Restore has also enabled the use of biotechnologies in conservation practice. Co-founder and executive director Ryan Phelan is thrilled to welcome these two new kits to the black-footed ferret family.

“For the first time, we can definitively say that cloning contributed meaningful genetic variation back into a breeding population,” he said in a statement.

“As these kits move forward in the breeding program, the impact of this work will multiply, building a more robust and resilient population over time.”"

-via GoodGoodGood, November 4, 2024

[fatty-lit]

I'm becoming obsessed with the idea of having a fat wife.

Marrying a girl who isn't necessarily skinny - maybe a little thick - and then after the wedding, as we settle into our life together, she gets complacent. She stops going to the gym, gets lazy, gets more into cooking. The softness starts to naturally and gradually accumulate everywhere. She widens out, gets heavier, gets lazier, gets plump. Most days I come home to find her in a pair of sweats stretched over her wide fat ass and an apron strung tight into her back rolls and straining over her fattening belly, excited to show me the new recipe she's been working on and sampling all day.

She'll complain about getting fat, maybe even blame me for it, but she'll keep on eating exactly the same. Becoming lazier and getting fatter all the while.

Nobody will say anything, but they'll say things amongst themselves. Have you seen how much she's blown up since the wedding? They'll pity me for getting trapped in a marriage with a cow, but I'll be the happiest husband in the world. I wanted this. I enabled this. I searched for a wife who loved to indulge, who had an unmistakable sweet tooth, whom I could pamper into obesity, and I found you.

And I won't for a second let you forget how beautiful you are.

[politefroggo]

how’s your relationship with your sibling(s)?

Rb for sample size pls. I really wanna know. :}

[blackpanda-ts4]

NPC Fasion

NPC Fashion - is a configuration file for MC Command Center. It won't work without MCCC.

Compitable with the latest game patch.

If you are tired of ridiculously dressed NPCs, or you want your newly generated NPCs are being dressed at least not like weirdos and you are using MCCC, than this file is the solution.

This file contains:

1530 unique female outfits total;

1771 unique male outfits total;

341 unique female (elders) outfits total;

653 unique male (elders) outfits total;

133 unique female (child) outfits total;

245 unique male (child) outfits total;

263 unique outfits for infants.

How to install:

simply drop the file from the archive in MCCC folder and confirm replacement if needed.

In game:

Click on a Computer >> [MC Command Center] >> [MC Dresser] >> [Only Use Saved Outfits] :

**You must choose "Enabled" for MC Dresser to clean sims with outfits listed in the CFG file.

Click on a Computer >> [MC Command Center] >> [MC Population] >> [Population Settings] >> [Run Dresser] :

**You must choose "Enabled" for new sims to be generated with clean outfits.

Download here: NPC Fashion (SFS)

Warning! I have all EPs and DLSs. This means that if you don't have some clothes, which where used in this .cfg file, some outfits may be "broken" (missing bottom or top etc.).

I highly recommend using this mods to make NPCs in your game much more prettier:

NO MAKE-UP & NO ACCESSORIES ON RANDOMIZED SIMS by @simplyanjuta

PRESETS SELECTION FOR RANDOMIZED SIMS by @simplyanjuta

No Female Body Hair by YourFalseHope

African Male YA Template Fixes by @thefreshsims

This is a WIP project, it means that more outfits will be added.

Credits:

@deaderpoolmc  - For the mod (MC Command Center)

@2cool4u_1 from LovesLab - for inspo and precise instructions

https://vk.com/thesimslab - for iparticipating in the update

@sssvitlanz @mmfinds @maxismatchccworld @alwaysfreecc thank you so much for sharing!

More samples of outfits, which newly generated NPC can wear under the cut:

[ramasalon]

Kim Jen Hair

Kim Jen Hair (Classic Colors)

4 Style Options

193 Colors

Hat Compatible

Requires Master Textures (HQ or Non-HQ)

Kim Jen Hair (Duo Colors)

4 Style Options

40 Colors

Not Hat Compatible

Requires Master Textures (HQ or Non-HQ)

Kim Jen Hair Bangs

Piercings Category

Compatible with both Classic & Duo Colors

Mix & Match Enabled

Requires Master Textures (HQ or Non-HQ)

Kim Jen Hair Fringe

Piercings Category

Compatible with both Classic & Duo Colors

Mix & Match Enabled

Requires Master Textures (HQ or Non-HQ)

Kim Jen Hair for Blender (Shop Only)

Rigged for Sims 4 Female Body

Separated Materials for Mix & Match

Original HQ textures included

Please use this for renders

Requires Master Textures for Blender

All LODs // Custom Thumbnails // Disallowed for Random

Conversion // Do not recolor or convert // Do not re-upload

SUBSCRIBE

SHOP

Download the Kim Jen Hair Sample for FREE

Connect with us at: Instagram I Pinterest I Tumblr I Patreon

Render Credit: @lolapuhar

[nasa]

Sharpening Our View of Climate Change with the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Satellite

As our planet warms, Earth’s ocean and atmosphere are changing.

Climate change has a lot of impact on the ocean, from sea level rise to marine heat waves to a loss of biodiversity. Meanwhile, greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide continue to warm our atmosphere.

NASA’s upcoming satellite, PACE, is soon to be on the case!

Set to launch on Feb. 6, 2024, the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission will help us better understand the complex systems driving the global changes that come with a warming climate.

Earth’s ocean is becoming greener due to climate change. PACE will see the ocean in more hues than ever before.

While a single phytoplankton typically can’t be seen with the naked eye, communities of trillions of phytoplankton, called blooms, can be seen from space. Blooms often take on a greenish tinge due to the pigments that phytoplankton (similar to plants on land) use to make energy through photosynthesis.

In a 2023 study, scientists found that portions of the ocean had turned greener because there were more chlorophyll-carrying phytoplankton. PACE has a hyperspectral sensor, the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), that will be able to discern subtle shifts in hue. This will allow scientists to monitor changes in phytoplankton communities and ocean health overall due to climate change.

Phytoplankton play a key role in helping the ocean absorb carbon from the atmosphere. PACE will identify different phytoplankton species from space.

With PACE, scientists will be able to tell what phytoplankton communities are present – from space! Before, this could only be done by analyzing a sample of seawater.

Telling “who’s who” in a phytoplankton bloom is key because different phytoplankton play vastly different roles in aquatic ecosystems. They can fuel the food chain and draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to photosynthesize. Some phytoplankton populations capture carbon as they die and sink to the deep ocean; others release the gas back into the atmosphere as they decay near the surface.

Studying these teeny tiny critters from space will help scientists learn how and where phytoplankton are affected by climate change, and how changes in these communities may affect other creatures and ocean ecosystems.

Climate models are one of our most powerful tools to understand how Earth is changing. PACE data will improve the data these models rely on.

The PACE mission will offer important insights on airborne particles of sea salt, smoke, human-made pollutants, and dust – collectively called aerosols – by observing how they interact with light.

With two instruments called polarimeters, SPEXone and HARP2, PACE will allow scientists to measure the size, composition, and abundance of these microscopic particles in our atmosphere. This information is crucial to figuring out how climate and air quality are changing.

PACE data will help scientists answer key climate questions, like how aerosols affect cloud formation or how ice clouds and liquid clouds differ.

It will also enable scientists to examine one of the trickiest components of climate change to model: how clouds and aerosols interact. Once PACE is operational, scientists can replace the estimates currently used to fill data gaps in climate models with measurements from the new satellite.

With a view of the whole planet every two days, PACE will track both microscopic organisms in the ocean and microscopic particles in the atmosphere. PACE’s unique view will help us learn more about the ways climate change is impacting our planet’s ocean and atmosphere.

Stay up to date on the NASA PACE blog, and make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of sPACE!

[covid-safer-hotties]

Reference saved in our archive

This is an interesting study of the reliability of air sampling in hospitals, but I wanted to highlight this:

Air samples were tested for eight respiratory pathogens by qPCR, including RNA and DNA viruses and a bacterium. Air samples had an average of four detected pathogens per sample and 97 % samples contained SARS-CoV-2. 

We're so "post-covid" that 3% of our hospital air *doesn't* have covid in it! Hooray!

[cosmicstrawberrycake]

heheheh, would love more hange content from you— ofc! whether it’s drabbles, smau, or hcs. :))

more hange content!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you for enabling my hange obsession guys :D

please keep sending me asks tee hee!!! I love when people send silly little asks it’s like getting a little gift from a strange fairy

hange sleep hcs!! :3

sfw/nsfw ^_^ (cunning linguist activities)

before they met you, Hange didn’t sleep much.

they didn’t need to- there wasn’t anyone waiting for them in bed, and their work coaxed them into spending days on end inside their office.

buttttt :3!!

their drastic shift in sleeping arrangements happened after a mountain training session..

the two of you were assigned a cabin together, but the amount of people out numbered the amount of beds.

so, the two of you shared one!

it was better than sleeping alone honestly- with the shared body heat between the two of you, it was easy for both hange and you to fall asleep peacefully! <3

and they got to stroke your hair while you dozed off with a lovesick look in their eyes :3

(you woke up later than everyone else the next day because of how comfortable the two of you were)

ever since that trip, they seriously couldn't sleep.

their bed felt cold without you grr

the same went for you, to be honest... you missed hange's warm body spooning yours :(

eventually you show up in their doorway at 2:31 am one night, worming your way into the bed and hange gratefully wrapping their arms around you once again.

from then on, the two of you decided to always sleep together for the sake of your sanity's.

(two months later, you made it official :3)

after a while, they get less nervous about sleeping with you!!

this leads to them clinging onto you like a koala every night, arms wrapped around your torso and their face buried in your neck :3

nsfw :3!! 🚨

there are some nights when you physically can’t get hange to calm down from their excitement about their experiments- it’s a reoccurring thing.

usually you’d let them talk it out- ramble for hours on end until they tired themselves out enough to doze off.

BUTTTTTTTTTT

one night, they were too boisterous to calm down- not a bad thing usually, but it was 12:23 AM, and you needed them to get relaxed and tuckered out so the both of you could get a decent amount of sleep.

you managed to somehow subtly mention this to them a few minutes after they’d finished talking about their latest Titan skin sample, and of course they were worried.

they immediately thought up of a plan, dragging you further onto their bed with a manic grin on their face.

this turns into them professionally pitching their new idea to you- letting them eat you out until the both of you are so tired you could pass out.

not… the worst idea they’ve ever had.

so, you try it of course- how could you say no when they look at you like this??

they’re very gentle, of course :3 (or they try their best to be…)

every experiment they do makes them uncontrollably thrilled, but this time it’s you!!!! their beloved!!!!!! their sweetie pie!!!!!!

however, the combined force of their love for you and their excitement for scientific discovery makes it hard for them to control themselves whatsoever

which you realize 30 minutes later when their face is buried between your thighs and they’re giggling joyfully as they lap at your pussy :3

[pforestsims]

If you create CC for TS2 you probably avoid using DXT1 format, because it often looks really bad, right? Well, I've got news for you😐

‣ SimPe texture viewer can't correctly decode DXT1 textures. It often displays artifacts not visible in the game.

Up until now it was not possible to extract such texture from a package without 'glitches'. @chieltbest recently shared their revolutionary YaPe package editor. It's an experimental version, for now - it's still being developed - but I've already edited 180+ CC textures with no issues. YaPe is very easy to use. It allows you to reconvert textures inside a package to different format, remove or add mipmaps with one click, replace textures with drag and drop method - supports JPEG, TIFF, DDS and more! You can get it here.

YaPe editor is also the only app I know, that allows you to extract DXT1 texture from the package file without glitches. Below the cut you'll find a little tutorial on that. I also included a detailed comparison of DXT textures built with various plugins:

Note: YaPe is a huge time saver, however I still recommend SimPe for textures with smooth gradients, where quality is very important - such as skintones, and especially dark ones (also for removing mipmaps from such content, current version of YaPe rebuilds textures in the process fixed).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

*DXT1 format has gained a bad reputation amongst TS2 creators, mostly because of borked SimPe DXT1 texture preview/export.

But the fact is - DDS plugins (aside from SimPe DDS Builder) create DXT1 that looks quite similar or identical to flat DXT3 / DXT5.

Important thing about DXT1 format: file size is around half smaller than DXT3/5.

‣ What's wrong with SimPe DXT1 textures?

Nothing, really. SimPe /Nvidia tools DDS builder is using special settings for DXT1. It saves textures as DXT1a format.

Unlike ordinary DXT1 (DXT1c) that doesn't support transparency at all, DXT1a format has basic 1-bit transparency switch. DDS builder 'hides' black pixels from compression by enabling transparency - this trick is actually meant to reduce artifacts in some areas /thanks @chieltbest for explaining this/.

Transparent parts of DXT1a texture are displayed as black in the game, as long as TXMT doesn't have transparency enabled.

Below: DXT1a previewed in YaPe. Left pic features transparent pixels (hard to notice if you enable dark UI mode). Please note that, unlike SimPe, it displays colors and grays correctly.

‣ Extracting DXT1 texture without 'glitches' in YaPe:

Open package in YaPe editor. Preview TXTR resource, pick AltRGB24 (Raw24Bit) from dropdown menu.

AltRGB24 preview displays flattened version of the texture (texture background is exposed)

'Export DDS' button creates .dds file out of the previewed texture

/optional: If you save the changes, then you can reload the package and convert from Raw to DXT format/

exported DDS texture can be opened in apps with DDS plugin - GIMP, Paint.NET etc.

if you don't have apps with DDS plugin, you can use SimPe (click on texture in SimPe, pick 'import DDS..', choose dds exported in YaPe, then export as PNG.

Pic above: Yet Another Package Editor v0.4.0, light UI mode. My sample DXT1a texture in Alpha preview - transparent pixels are clearly visible.

⚠️ Editing original SimPe DXT1a texture with YaPe (removing or adding mipmaps - for example) and saving as DXT1 again, will most likely increase the number of 'false artifacts'

..however, the texture will still look decent in game. I edit CC with DXT1a for my own use that way - because reconverting to other formats doesn't improve texture quality, might even make it a little worse in some cases.

BUT if you're going to share such content, it might be best to reconvert it. Because if it looks very glitchy in SimPe, it also looks glitchy in Sims2Pack Clean Installer. And people might just delete it.

Alternatively, if you use DXT1 for your CC, you could inform people that "glitches" in SimPe / Clean Installer preview are not visible in the game.

DXT1 vs flat DXT 3/ 5:

(YaPe allowed me to extract SimPe DXT1a texture without glitches)

*Yes, flat DXT1 and DXT3 / DXT5 created in GIMP really looked exactly the same.

GIMP had 'perceptual error metric' option on, it slightly improves some details.

so, who won?

You be the judge. Overall, I think YaPe (v0.4.0) did really good in this particular case.

SimPe DTX3 shows more artifacts in the blue/ turquoise /black dots area but dark gradients are smoother than others. GIMP DXT had issues with black dots over the pink - red tones seep into black.

SimPe DXT1 is not bad, but has some issues - a few artifacts appeared over thin black & white stripes. Also, blurred colors in the middle became a bit crunchy. /Dark brown gradients are better than GIMP DXT tho/.

‣ DXT5 Alpha-channel quality

The difference between DXT3 and DXT5 lies only in the way transparency is handled. DXT5 can store more alpha-channel grayscale information and offers much smoother transparency.

Pic above: alpha-channels extracted from DXT5 (white = opaque parts, pure black = 100% transparent). These looked basically the same so I did another test using more demanding texture - darker alpha gradients plus thin lines:

YaPe has produced very nice alpha channel without much artifacts, the gradient looks almost as the source. SimPe DXT5 - also clean details, but surprisingly, darkest parts of the gradient are a little bit choppy. GIMP DXT5 and the other two show tiny pixel artifacts around light lines.

Last pic above is DXT3 alpha-channel for comparison - crisp details are clean, but gradients are very choppy. I've compared various plugins, all produced identical DXT3 alpha. DXT3 format is OK for stuff that's using alpha-test transparency (not smooth, not see-through) - leafy plants etc.

*Please note that's exactly why transparent clothing looks so bad when created with Bodyshop - it doesn't use DXT5, only DXT3.

GIMP DDS exporter allows you to improve transparent mipmaps for plant textures etc, you need to select 'Preserve alpha test coverage' and increase the threshold if required - it will make very thin details a bit more thick on zoom-out and reduce details disappearing.

YaPe editor also has an option to tune transparent mipmaps (increase the value with "preserve transparency" slider). YaPe lets you preview each mipmap, which is very convenient. Here's a detailed tutorial by Chieltbest.

‣ Color gradient: DXT3 /DXT5

Paint.NET (DDSFileTypePlus 1.12.13.0) did best in this case, thanks to agressive error-diffusion dithering. SimPe DDS Builder DXT 3/5 did really good and you probably won't find better DDS plugin for building clothing or skintone DXT textures, especially dark skins.

Next goes YaPe editor - gradient is quite smooth, aside from the darkest tones - quite choppy. GIMP DXT and Intel Texture Works are so-so.

*I already posted one DXT formats test here, it features darker gradients. I still need to compare how textures look as actual SimSkin or overlays in game. The TS2 game is not great at displaying grey / dark color gradations, especially on Sims...

Above, uncompressed png texture for reference.

[angel-kin]

A Comprehensive ICE Encounter Guide.

So, because of a recent uptick in ICE raids and Trump removing pretty much all remaining protection for immigrants, I've decided to compile a bunch of research and resources to help you know your rights. Specifically to combat the risky and even down right dangerous advice going around. Knowing your rights whether you're an immigrant or not is important, and can enable you to help your friends, family and community.

Disclaimer: I am not your lawyer, do your own research! Especially if you or your family are high risk (visibly BIPOC).

Firstly, what to do if you are stopped by ICE or Police.

Stay calm.

Don't resist.

Keep your hands visible at all times.

Memorise important phone numbers (family, lawyer), or keep them on you at all times.

Do NOT lie about your status.

Carry your immigration papers or ID on you at all times.

Some states require that you give your name to law enforcement if they ask for it, know your states laws, and do not lie.

If you're asked to show your immigration papers, you must if you have them on you.

Do not say anything to them, do not sign anything, do not make decisions without lawyers. Exercise your right to silence.

If you are without your papers, EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO SILENCE, say "I would like to remain silent until i speak to a lawyer."

If you're arrested by police, you have the right to a free government appointed attorney. If you're arrested by ICE, you have the right to an attorney but not a free government one, so you should ask for a free or low cost list of attorneys or already have the number for one on you.

You can say no to being searched, they do not have the right to search you without probable cause, the only exception is they may pat you down over your clothes.

If you believe your rights were violated, write down and date everything you remember as soon as you can. Badge numbers, patrol car numbers, names, agencies they're from, witnesses, and file a complaint with the relevant agencies.

What to do when ICE or the police come to your home.

Keep the door closed. It is much safer to speak to them through the door. TEACH YOUR CHILDREN THIS.

Ask: Are you immigration agents? What are you here for? Ask to see their badge through a peep hole or window, ask if they have a warrant and if they do make them slide it under the door or show you through a window.

DO NOT open the door unless they show you a search or arrest warrant signed by a judge specifically naming someone residing in your property or the specific areas to be searched at that specific address. You can find samples of warrants here.

A police arrest warrant allows them to enter the home if they believe that the person is inside BUT a warrant for deportation DOES NOT allow officers to enter the home without consent.

If they do not produce a warrant, or the warrant is just for deportation, say "I do not consent to your entry."

If they force their way in anyways, do not resist. Repeat "I do not consent to your entry or to your search of these premises, I am exercising my right to remain silent, I wish to speak to a lawyer."

Do not lie.

Do not produce false documents.

And do not talk to them or sign anything until you get a lawyer.

Once again, If you believe your rights were violated, write down and date everything you remember as soon as you can. Badge numbers, patrol car numbers, names, agencies they're from, witnesses, and file a complaint with the relevant agencies. In this case, camera footage from home cameras can also be extremely useful, make sure any relevant footage is saved and copied onto several devices.

What to do when ICE or the police come to your work/school/church.

If you're a US citizen and feel safe doing so, record the activity or immediately write down information on what you witnessed, but do not interfere or obstruct the operation. This can include yelling, running, throwing things, and so on.

If you are a citizen, ICE do not have the right to detain, arrest or question you. If they do, tell them you are a US citizen, ask for their name and badge number and say you wish to remain silent until you talk to a lawyer. Then talk to that lawyer about filing a lawsuit for fines and monetary damages. Seriously.

Do not run.

Do not carry false documents.

Say you wish to remain silent and speak to a lawyer.

Do not speak or sign anything until you talk to a lawyer.

Carry a "red card."

In all scenarios, especially for non-English speakers, it's a good idea to carry a know your rights card. The immigrant legal resource center has printable red cards with guidance on it and you can hand it to an officer of any kind and on the back, in English it invokes your right to silence and to a lawyer. This can be presented to the Police or ICE in any situation. Printable versions of these cards in many different languages can be found here. Keep your paperwork and these cards on you and your family, especially your children at all times. Spread the existence of these cards on your social media and in your communities.

The best thing you can do as an immigrant, for you and your family, is just be prepared. For US citizens and those unlikely to be targeted, it's to provide aid and record injustices and violations of rights. But with that, it is so important you do not spread false information or dangerous advice, or misreport any ICE sightings. Local immigrant resource organizations are creating hotlines that the public can report ice sightings to, and they have social media pages too. Find your local one online, and you can get the most accurate information from them. Report any ICE sightings you see to them, too. Spread their existences on your social media and in your communities. But most importantly, stick together and do not let this hard time define our futures. As my favourite poem goes, "You may write me down in history With your bitter twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise."

Resources: printable red cards iamerica know your rights cards know your rights, immigrant justice know your rights, aclu

[marvelsmostwanted]

Per Wired:

In an email sent to customers today, Amazon said that Echo users will no longer be able to set their devices to process Alexa requests locally and, therefore, avoid sending voice recordings to Amazon’s cloud. Amazon apparently sent the email to users with “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” enabled on their Echo. Starting on March 28, recordings of every command spoken to the Alexa living in Echo speakers and smart displays will automatically be sent to Amazon and processed in the cloud.

Attempting to rationalize the change, Amazon’s email said: “As we continue to expand Alexa’s capabilities with generative AI features that rely on the processing power of Amazon’s secure cloud, we have decided to no longer support this feature.”

(…) Amazon has previously mismanaged Alexa voice recordings. In 2023, Amazon agreed to pay $25 million in civil penalties over the revelation that it stored recordings of children’s interactions with Alexa forever. Adults also didn’t feel properly informed of Amazon’s inclination to keep Alexa recordings unless prompted not to until 2019—five years after the first Echo came out.

If that's not enough to deter you from sharing voice recordings with Amazon, note that the company allowed employees to listen to Alexa voice recordings. In 2019, Bloomberg reported that Amazon employees listened to as many as 1,000 audio samples during their nine-hour shifts. Amazon says it allows employees to listen to Alexa voice recordings to train its speech recognition and natural language understanding systems.

Other reasons people may be hesitant to trust Amazon with personal voice samples include the previous usage of Alexa voice recordings in criminal trials and Amazon paying a settlement in 2023 in relation to allegations that it allowed “thousands of employees and contractors to watch video recordings of customers' private spaces” taken from Ring cameras, per the Federal Trade Commission.

So it’s not paranoid to say that Alexa is listening to you.

I don’t have any of these devices but I’d throw them out if you do. Find a lower tech version from a different company. This goes far beyond AI stealing data - it’s stealing directly from your personal life and recording your conversations.

[reasonsforhope]

"Canadian scientists have developed a blood test and portable device that can determine the onset of sepsis faster and more accurately than existing methods.

Published today [May 27, 2025] in Nature Communications, the test is more than 90 per cent accurate at identifying those at high risk of developing sepsis and represents a major milestone in the way doctors will evaluate and treat sepsis.

“Sepsis accounts for roughly 20 per cent of all global deaths,” said lead author Dr. Claudia dos Santos, a critical care physician and scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital. “Our test could be a powerful game changer, allowing physicians to quickly identify and treat patients before they begin to rapidly deteriorate.”

Sepsis is the body’s extreme reaction to an infection, causing the immune system to start attacking one’s own organs and tissues. It can lead to organ failure and death if not treated quickly. Predicting sepsis is difficult: early symptoms are non-specific, and current tests can take up to 18 hours and require specialized labs. This delay before treatment increases the chance of death by nearly eight per cent per hour.

[Note: The up to 18 hour testing window for sepsis is a huge cause of sepsis-related mortality, because septic shock can kill in as little as 12 hours, long before the tests are even done.]

[Analytical] AI helps predict sepsis

Examining blood samples from more than 3,000 hospital patients with suspected sepsis, researchers from UBC and Sepset, a UBC spin-off biotechnology company, used machine learning to identify a six-gene expression signature “Sepset” that predicted sepsis nine times out of 10, and well before a formal diagnosis. With 248 additional blood samples using RT-PCR, (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction), a common hospital laboratory technique, the test was 94 per cent accurate in detecting early-stage sepsis in patients whose condition was about to worsen.

“This demonstrates the immense value of AI in analyzing extremely complex data to identify the important genes for predicting sepsis and writing an algorithm that predicts sepsis risk with high accuracy,” said co-author Dr. Bob Hancock, UBC professor of microbiology and immunology and CEO of Sepset.

Bringing the test to point of care

To bring the test closer to the bedside, the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) developed a portable device they called PowerBlade that uses a drop of blood and an automated sequence of steps to efficiently detect sepsis. Tested with 30 patients, the device was 92 per cent accurate in identifying patients at high risk of sepsis and 89 per cent accurate in ruling out those not at risk.

“PowerBlade delivered results in under three hours. Such a device can make treatment possible wherever a patient may be, including in the emergency room or remote health care units,” said Dr. Hancock.

“By combining cutting-edge microfluidic research with interdisciplinary collaboration across engineering, biology, and medicine, the Centre for Research and Applications in Fluidic Technologies (CRAFT) enables rapid, portable, and accessible testing solutions,” said co-author Dr. Teodor Veres, of the NRC’s Medical Devices Research Centre and CRAFT co-director. CRAFT, a joint venture between the University of Toronto, Unity Health Toronto and the NRC, accelerates the development of innovative devices that can bring high-quality diagnostics to the point of care.

Dr. Hancock’s team, including UBC research associate and co-author Dr. Evan Haney, has also started commercial development of the Sepset signature. “These tests detect the early warnings of sepsis, allowing physicians to act quickly to treat the patient, rather than waiting until the damage is done,” said Dr. Haney."

-via University of British Columbia, May 27, 2025

[secularprolifeconspectus]

BREAKING: new records expose that Planned Parenthood will sell body parts from healthy, viable babies to universities for intellectual property.

In a batch of freshly released FOIA documents, journalist David Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress has pieced together a horrifying reality: Planned Parenthood harvests organs from viable, nonanomalous fetuses with documented heartbeats from abortions with labor induction for research at the University of California San Diego in exchange for IP rights. In other words, PP dissects healthy premies who are old enough to live outside the womb after making sure they are alive and delivering them intact, per their contract with UCSD, in which PP gets to keep all royalties for patents developed from experiments. And the Spanish-speaking mothers didn't give informed consent to this. In other words, and they prey on vulnerable minorities for their babies.

How do I know this is true? It's because I am the associate reporter in this video, and David emailed me the documents to read for myself.

Evidence includes:

Transfer agreement outlining the exchange of fetal tissue for ownership of research IP

Research plan approved by the UCSD Institutional Review Board requesting organ samples from nonanomalous fetuses up to 23 weeks gestation (that's nearly 6 months old; periviability begins at 21 weeks)

Same research plan calling for verification of a heartbeat immediately before the procedure to ensure the fetuses are living (this keeps their tissues fresh; the fetuses cannot be given a feticide to "euthanize" (poison) them before the procedure, because this would contaminate the tissues; this means the fetuses are either bled out or dismembered alive)

Did I mention this plan calls for up to 2,500 samples from 2,500 fetuses?

Email chain discussing the use of heavy doses of misoprostol before abortions after 12.5 weeks (forces labor contractions to deliver the baby — may result in live birth)

Donation consent forms in English which state the tissue may be used commercially, but in Spanish exclude this info entirely (San Diego has a large immigrant population, so this is racist targeting)

No, I cannot say for certain that PP actually did cut up healthy premies. But I am saying, it is documented that they were willing to do so, and that should be enough to cause alarm.

Protecting premature infants is a nonpartisan human rights issue. Everyone should be outraged about this violation of the vulnerable.

I've had folks suggest to me before that this is just a few "bad actors", but they're missing the bigger picture of how the abortion industrial complex enables these crimes. It is a natural outcome of the system, and it must be dismantled. You cannot permit elective abortion without permiting violence against premature infants. Tell your representatives to divest from Big Abortion NOW.

[gothyanki]

Thinking about gender roles or lack thereof in Rauatai again (with a side of thinking about gender roles or lack thereof in the Deadfire). Rambling and headcanons behind the readmore:

It only comes up a handful of times in Deadfire, but I’m so fascinated by the idea of Rauatai as a matriarchal-leaning society where “hard” power (military might, sailing ships, guns) is gendered feminine. The Biha quest in the Gullet hints at this - if you’re playing a female character, she thinks Sedūzo will take you more seriously. She also points out that pretty much all the highest-ranking Rauataian military officials are women, which seems to be borne out by the game. (Karū, Sedūzo, and the hazanui from Tekēhu’s story are the only people of that rank we see or hear mentioned, and they’re all women.) Atsura also has an incredible turn of phrase where he refers to something as “like a child picking up her mother’s pistol” [might be paraphrasing a bit].

So if “hard” military power is seen as feminine in Rauatai, does that mean “soft” political power is seen as masculine? Maybe! There’s the divide between Karū and Atsura as the most obvious example; she’s the head of the operation who gets to be very blunt and straightforward about her intentions, while Atsura is the power behind the throne influencing events much more subtly. The ranga nui himself is a man, though I don’t think the gender of a ruler holds much weight without knowing the genders of previous rulers. It’s 100% headcanon, but I’m imagining that high-ranking politicians skew male the same way high-ranking military officers skew female.

It’s worth noting that I don’t think Rauatai has strong gender roles; absolutely nothing about their society or the characters we meet suggests that. There are plenty of men in military careers (including among the higher-ups) and they don’t seem too concerned with gender as a whole. If this divide exists, it’s more like mild background radiation that influences the way people view themselves and each other. I do feel like it adds something to both Maia and Kana’s characters if this is yet another pressure they had to deal with growing up. Some of Maia’s bluntness and in-your-face approach to life is just personality, but another part is her trying to be a Proper Rauataian Lady! Kana has to be skilled at playing politics whether he likes it or not! He talks about his mother pushing his sisters hard to succeed aaaand all three of them ended up in a military/sailing career. There’s a lot going on there!

This led me to thinking about gender in Huana culture(s), because I’m also endlessly fascinated by the similarities and differences between them and Rauatai. Gender doesn’t seem to matter to the Huana at all, not even in a very minor sense; caste is the main determiner of your role in the community. Tekēhu refers to Ukaizo as the “land of [his] mothers”, which is a friendly little reminder that There Is No Patriarchy Here (no legal marriage, no nuclear family, no tracing the bloodlines of children or differentiating between “biological” vs “adopted” kids in a household, children aren’t seen as “belonging” to their parents…) but aside from that, very little is gendered. We do see more women in leadership than men (Ruānu is the only male ranga I can think of, and he’s quite easily displaced by Nairi), but the sample size is small enough that that’s probably a coincidence. I feel like this is what enables Ahimi to shrug off Durance’s misogyny - it does bother me that the Watcher can’t answer back, but in her case, I don’t think she even sees it as worth acknowledging. She’s never had to deal with any kind of shame around or restrictions based on gender/sexuality, so he’s just saying words. (This is a point of friction between her and Pallegina, whose experience of godlike-ness is inextricable from painful gender expectations.)

…this headcanon also makes a minor in-game sequence infinitely funnier to me. There’s a moment where Onekaza and the Watcher can get into this little political back-and-forth which Karū clearly has no patience for; she’ll eyeroll at them and be all “If we’re done comparing cocks…” I like to think Rauataians use this phrase when people are diplomatically faffing around, being overly subtle, or arguing verbally without accomplishing anything. Stop using your words and punch her in the nose like a WOMAN!

[mindblowingscience]

For biologists, seeing is believing. But sometimes biologists have a hard time seeing. One particularly vexing challenge is seeing all the molecules in an intact tissue sample, down to the level of single cells, simultaneously. Detecting the location of hundreds or thousands of biomolecules—from lipids to metabolites to proteins—in their native environment allows researchers to better understand their functions and interactions. Unfortunately, scientists don't have great tools to accomplish this task. Now a multi-institutional research team has developed a tissue expansion method that enables scientists to use mass spectrometry imaging to simultaneously detect hundreds of molecules at the single cell level in their native locations. Their paper is published in the journal Nature Methods.

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