#Evaluating sources for research

[latest-info]

A Beginner's Guide to Researching Like a Pro

Research is an essential skill in today’s information-driven world. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone with a curious mind, being able to research effectively can help you find accurate information, make informed decisions, and solve problems efficiently. This guide will walk you through the steps to research like a pro, covering everything from defining your topic to…

[teh-nos]

that thing where an online community (such as but not limited to tumblr dot com) hears about an idea that's been presented in one (1) book or peer-reviewed article and this is immediately adopted as The Truth even though that's not how it works. that's not how anything works, why are you all so easily convinced? and most of you haven't even read the work in question, you just believed someone else's post about how This Is Now Definitely True :|

[marzipanandminutiae]

at a work training seminar yesterday, one of my coworkers suggested using ChatGPT for strategies to get out of uncomfortable conversations (ie a guest is taking things in an inappropriately political direction, asking about your personal views in a way you're not comfortable with, etc.)

and I was like. orrrrr you could look up strategies that a therapist or other actual human who interacts with other humans complied? maybe?

what is HAPPENING

[fmp2rubix1786]

Design Inspirations 2.

Iconic Fantasy Aesthetic

AI Prompt: What are the key features of an iconic Fantasy Aesthetic.

Rich, Dreamlike Color Palettes: Fantasy aesthetics often use deep, vibrant, and ethereal colors. Rich purples, blues, greens, golds, and silvers are common, sometimes accentuated with pastel or metallic tones for an otherworldly feel.

Baldur's Gate Series

AI prompt: What are the key features of the Baldur's Gate Series.

Rich Narrative and Character Development: Players create and customize their own characters, embarking on epic quests that intertwine personal stories with the broader world events. The series is known for its complex characters and morally ambiguous choices that significantly impact the storyline.

Classic Stereotypical Fantasy RPG Swords In Games

AI Prompt: What are the key fetaures of Classic Stereotypical Fantasy RPG Swords In Games

Classic fantasy RPGs often feature swords that are more than mere weapons; they are imbued with rich lore, magical properties, and significant roles within the game's narrative. Key characteristics of these iconic swords include:

Magical Attributes: Many swords possess inherent magical abilities, such as elemental attacks, healing properties, or the power to banish evil. For example, the Master Sword in "The Legend of Zelda" series is renowned for its ability to repel evil and protect its wielder from certain magical attacks.

[buildthoughts]

Minecrafters Using Reference

Reference as in real world architecture, not other minecrafters' builds, though that's a fair way to learn too. Studying real world architecture gives insights about designing buildings, while studying other minecrafters would give insight into how to accomplish certain effects in Minecraft.

I didn't have more than passing interest in architecture before watching mcyt, but now whenever I'm outside, I'm evaluating the buildings around me. Do I like their shape? color? Any interesting details? Any wear or texture? And above all: How would you do that detail/shape/etc in minecraft? (please note: I don't even play minecraft)

Rendition and Inspiration

There's a minecraft project called BuildtheEarth that's replicating the earth in minecraft on a 1 to 1 scale. There's some fantastic builds on there.

On hermitcraft, Joe Hills is known for creating to scale renditions of real world places/objects. In season 10, he's tackled a project of massive scale with Bell Labs. He used a map from the library of congress to layout all the shapes!

These are examples of renditions/replicas/copies/whatever you want to call it (Although Joe's doubles as a community build area in place of massive parking lots).

Then there's using the buildings for inspiration. This may involve just taking bits and pieces. Or maybe you just take a color palette. Or maybe just the shape. Maybe you don't take anything but vibes. As a general rule, I think having multiple sources of inspiration is important so the new build doesn't end up feeling like a rendition instead of its own thing.

Bdubs in season 9 used the bakery from Kiki's Delivery Service as inspiration for his mud cafe. It can be seen in the wood framing, the stairs, the archway, the shape, the shed, the chimney designs. But the colors, the composition, Bdubs made changes that made it his own and combined the addition to his previous shop Moss o Menos.

The aesthetics of Geminitay's season 10 base is based on the video game Dredge. I feel like the most obvious influence is in her research castle and fishing boats. She used inspiration from the spooky sea creatures in the game to create a uniquely frightening angler shop.

In Pearl's Build a Day series, she did a week focused on real world places. Here's the one she designed after a countryside home in Australia (her home country):

Goodtimeswithscar in season 7, when starting Aqua Town, based his shop on old department stores:

I like looking at his Aqua Town builds in comparison to his Scarland Main Street facades, which draw additional inspiration from Disneyland:

I feel like, comparing the builds you can see how he's grown; he's learned new detailing tricks, found colors and textures that work better with the architecture style. The main street has a similar layout to Disneyland, but his buildings are all unique.

Mogswamp is working on a massive build that's based on architecture drawings from Renzo Picasso:

He's incorporating groin vaults from roman architecture too!

I think builders learning about existing architecture is so good. It can give them so many ideas to add into their toolbox. It reminds them of small details that give builds life, like small sheds, some pipes, porches. And the builds don't need to be realistic; My mind goes to work by Shovel and Joel. Or everything Mumbo has done in season 10.

[writingwithcolor]

WWC’s A Beginner’s Guide to Academic Research

We are pleased to present  WWC’s A Beginner’s Guide to Academic Research!

This pandemic project has been over 2 years in the making and we hope it will greatly assist any of our readers who are eager to conduct in-depth research but may be at a loss where to start. 

Go to the Guide Here

The guide is split into 6 parts:

Introduction and Table of Contents

Part 1: Getting Started

Part 2: Searching for Sources Online 

Part 3: Evaluating Sources

Part 4: Navigating Academic Sources 

Part 5: Recognizing Your Limits

Each portion of the guide has links to connect to the previous and next sections. While it is possible to view tumblr pages on phones and tablets through the app, we highly recommend viewing this guide via browser on desktop whenever possible. Tumblr page formatting is better suited for browsers and each section is very dense with information, which will make scrolling in the app or on your dashboard difficult. 

Future FAQ/ Discussion: 

As noted in part 5 of the guide, for the next two weeks, we will be keeping an eye on the notes for this post. If you have further questions or comments about academic research, drop them here and we will select the most pertinent to respond to in a later post. 

If you find this guide helpful, we request that you consider tipping the moderators below for the work and time required from conception, to drafting, formatting and debugging. Their ko-fis are listed below: 

Rina: https://ko-fi.com/arcanabean

Marika: https://ko-fi.com/5h1njuu

[stuckyparty]

I really do think people are starting to realize the important fight is between us and the billionaires.

My mom, a longtime adherent of Everything Said on Fox News, actually used to be a thoughtful person who taught me how to vet my sources online and make my own decisions after thorough research and evaluation. The post-9/11 political scene changed her. And I see a bit of her old self come back every time I've spoken to her since the UHC CEO got shot.

Over Christmas I convinced her that nationalized healthcare and universal housing are worthy causes by framing it as, "That's the only way you get the working class out from under the thumb of our corporate overlords."

She initially started in with some means-testing response about drug addicts but I remember how to speak Evangelical Christian. So I said, "Well sure, a lot of unhoused people struggle with substance use. But who becomes unhoused in this country?" I gave several examples I knew she would have to agree with (veterans, foster kids who age out of the system, etc), and added, "Those people are sleeping rough because our system failed them in favor of lining corporate pockets. Jesus commanded us to care for the poor, not for the CEO of Amazon." And all of a sudden my Fox News poisoned mother was like, "Blackrock should be forced to give every vacant house back to the American PEOPLE so we can house the homeless!"

There's the mom I remember from the Before Times. And that's how Luigi Mangione saved Christmas!

[pseudonaivete]

I am a journalist and a researcher. In my work, I analyze journalistic texts to spot bias.

While in spaces like Tumblr, it is a known that conservative media tends to distorts reality and uses rhetoric manipulation to form their audience opinions, I must heavily point out, that so does the left. And particularly so about transwomen matters.

This article about the UK Supreme Court’s ruling on what a woman is from The Nation, written by Sophie Lewis, is a shocking example of how little objectivity is found in her work and how deeply manipulative and inaccurate her claims are. Nearly every sentence is filled with fallacies.

In just 362 words of the text, I have found TWENTY-SEVEN attempts to manipulate the audience with claims that aren’t testifiable but emotion-driven. Journalism is in crisis, and many outlets produce pieces not to inform but to spread political activism.

I ask you, please, be critical. Transgenderism is an ideology, not a fact. Trust sources like AP, Reuters, and BBC, for they are the least biased.

And do not trust my word for it. I am just a junior scientist. Use this toolkit or search for your own (persuasive language, rhetoric devices, logical fallacies, tentative conclusions, etc.) to critically evaluate the media you consume.

[carpe-mamilia]

AI often confidently hallucinates references that are inaccurate or completely made up.

(via the author, at the Ex Bird place)

[dresshistorynerd]

That ChatGPT ask about The Great Famine made me think about how generative AI is so devastating for historical understanding, but especially the understanding of dress history. There's a lot of completely inaccurate history AI slop, both generated images and writing. I'm always searching primary source images, but even then I've started to come across the occasional AI generated image, which is always very bad. Google image search is at this point almost useless.

The issue is that there's so much outdated information and frankly misinformation about history in the internet and in other source materials the AI scraps. This is of course an issue with many other fields as well, but history definitely belong to the fields which have most misinformation spread about them. When a human armed with a bit of critical thinking comes across a source they can evaluate it's validity. But AI doesn't have critical thinking. It can't think. So if there's a lot of sources, which peddle the same common misconception, AI weights it above what the few rigorous academic sources say. And then the AI becomes basically a misinformation peddling machine. And there's no way of finding our where it got it's information. Even the AI doesn't really know because of the way it works, and that's why, when you try to ask it, it tries to scours for sources that say similar things it was saying rather than giving the actual source it got the information from. And if it doesn't find a source? Well, it might hallucinate one. This is of course an issue in multiple level not just because it's filling the internet with misinformation and drowning out reliable information. It's also basically a plagiarism machine.

This is even worse with dress history than most historical fields, because dress history is such a new field and there's comparatively very little quality research. Even many historians of different fields peddle a lot of old misconceptions of dress history (sometimes you even come across a fairly new paper on dress history and there's some misconception repeated as a truth). So of course AI is very unlikely to produce anything close to accurate information on dress history.

So to see for myself how bad it actually is (and to have a bit of laugh) I decided to try out ChatGPT for the first time. I decided I would ask it a question I have answered in a blog post myself before to see how close (or far) it got.

Here's what I asked: "When did it become socially acceptable for men to wear dresses?"

I have written a very long post on this before found here.

And here's the answer ChatGPT gave with my commentary:

The idea of men wearing dresses has evolved significantly over time, with different periods in history showcasing varying degrees of acceptance. In general, men have worn clothing that could be considered "dress-like" at various points in history, though the specific social context has changed. 1. Ancient and Medieval Times: Men in many ancient cultures, including the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, wore tunics, robes, or other garments that we might now think of as dresses. These were considered appropriate for men, often signifying social status, wealth, or ceremonial importance.

Not bad, though this makes it sound like men only wore dresses to signify status, wealth or ceremonial importance, when in fact all men wore dresses. I also made a point in my post to say these were dresses, not just "dress-like". They were (mostly) constructed and (mostly) called the same as the equivalent clothing women wore, so of course I take issue with the framing.

2. Renaissance and Early Modern Period: During the Renaissance and up through the 17th century, men’s fashion included elaborate gowns, skirts, and dresses, often with frills, lace, and rich fabrics. These were considered fashionable and elegant for men, particularly among the aristocracy.

Here's were we're getting to the inaccurate territory. Yes still during renaissance men were wearing dresses, however it was becoming fashionable among especially young noble (and soldier class) men to wear extremely tiny skirts, until they stopped being skirts and turned into very fitted thighs (hose) and doublet. It was the period when dress became increasingly less acceptable for men to wear, but it was precisely lower class and peasant men, who were slower to follow the new fashions and masculine standards, not very surprisingly. But by Early Modern Period it had become unacceptable for men to wear dresses. Yes, there was still hems at points, but those were coat hems, which might seem like basically the same as a skirt hem, but conceptually they were different. It's the same today. No one thinks nothing of it if a man is wearing a long overcoat, with buttons closed, on top of a suit, but if they are wearing thighs and same length skirt? Well, for the next couple of weeks you'll get outrage op-eds and conservative influencers losing their minds over "the death of Western civilization".

Also in 1600s (roughly around 1630s-1660s) rich fabrics and elaborated detailing was not fashionable, not among women and certainly not among men. Men's fashion especially favoured a lot of black and other dark and neutral tones, influenced by somber religious atmosphere influenced by the all the Reformations and Counter-Reformations and wars about them going on at the time. (Of course there's some counter examples, but the general statement ChatGPT gave to me is simple incorrect.)

3. 18th and 19th Century: By the 18th century, Western fashion for men became more structured, and by the Victorian era (19th century), men were expected to wear trousers, waistcoats, and suits (my comment: you mean coat right, ChatGPT?? suit already encompases trousers and waistcoat). The shift towards more gender-specific clothing for men and women took root, and women’s dresses became more ornate and feminine, while men’s clothing became more utilitarian and restrictive.

First of all the height of structuring in Western fashion for both men and women, was during the Elizabethan Era, and additionally men's fashion got briefly a little less structured during the 18th century. As I explain in my post about the actual origins of modern men's suit (it was not Beau Brummel), the three piece suit with trousers, waistcoat and coat was popularized in 1670s. Women's dresses becoming more "feminine" means literally nothing when what was feminine was just seen differently. Of course it became more feminine in our modern eyes, when we get closer to the present day in the historical timeline, because modern femininity was being formed at the time. Men's fashion did become more utilitarian (I talk about a bit about the reasons why in the post about three piece suit above), but I wouldn't call it more restrictive necessarily.

Points for ChatGPT though for acknowledging that fashion became more gender specific around 18th and 19th centuries.

4. 20th Century: The 20th century saw men in dresses or skirts make occasional appearances in fashion, especially in avant-garde or countercultural movements. For example, in the 1920s, some male actors in Hollywood (my comment: here it's "forgetting" where it's going with the sentence, because it doesn't understand what a cohesive sentence means), such as Marlene Dietrich’s famous cross-dressing moments, challenged gender norms. In the 1960s and 1970s, figures like David Bowie, with his androgynous style, brought more attention to the concept of men wearing dresses as part of a wider push for gender fluidity in fashion.

The fact that cross-dressing became more acceptable in the early 20th century for women and people seen as women, didn't really do anything (or very little) to the make cross-dressing more acceptable for men, or those seen as such. Counter culture fashions in 70s and 80s were much more accepting of androgynous men and men wearing skirts, but the wider mainstream fashion was absolutely not accepting of that, definitely not outside the rock icons, who themselves were also side-eyed a lot.

5. Late 20th to 21st Century: By the 1990s and 2000s, with the rise of gender nonconformity and movements pushing for gender equality and expression, men wearing dresses became more visible and socially accepted. Public figures like Prince, Kurt Cobain, and later, celebrities like Harry Styles and Billy Porter, have worn dresses and skirts as part of their personal style, pushing the boundaries of traditional gendered fashion.

It's absolutely still not seen as acceptable for men to wear dresses. Yes, couple of celebrities have done that, and yes there's alternative fashion and queer people who do that, but if you take a look at how people in legacy and social media talk about them, it's pretty obvious that's not socially acceptable in the mainstream.

In essence, it became more socially acceptable for men to wear dresses as part of a broader cultural shift toward embracing non-binary gender expression and rejecting rigid gender norms, especially in the 21st century. Celebrities, designers, and activists have played key roles in challenging the old norms, making fashion more inclusive and fluid. This acceptance continues to grow in many parts of the world, although social attitudes can still vary greatly depending on cultural context.

"A broader cultural shift toward embracing non-binary gender expression and rejecting rigid gender norms." Laughing crying. Yeah, there was a cultural shift, but clearly it was not super broad. It's really laughable to suggest in the heart of the reactionary backlash moment that it's somehow broadly socially acceptable for men to wear dresses.

Also this "although social attitudes can still vary greatly depending on cultural context" makes it sound like outside the western context, which this answer is all about, the attitudes haven't changes as much, when in fact outside the western context dresses for men are much more often acceptable and part of the cultural norms.

Perhaps it was unfair of me to ask my question in a misleading way, since the answer to "when did it become acceptable for men to wear dresses" is "it was for a very long time, but it's not anymore". But this is part of the issue with ChatGPT and similar text based AI. When you ask them a question they will take the assumptions of the question and run with them, even if the assumptions in the question are completely false. It's not just a misinformation machine, but a misinformation machine designed to reinforce your preconceived notions. For example if you would ask ChatGPT "why were corsets unhealthy?" it might answer with a very long answer full of pseudoscientific misinformation straight from the mouths of Victorian eugenists. I did that and the answer was extremely predictably. I'm not going to go through all that since is was so very long and this is getting long enough, but for a taste, after all the bullshit reasons it gave, here's what it wrote at the end:

Why Corsets Were Worn Despite Health Risks: Fashion and Aesthetic Appeal: Corsets were primarily worn to achieve a specific beauty standard that emphasized an extremely small waist and a curvy figure. This was considered a symbol of femininity, refinement, and social status during certain historical periods. Cultural Norms: The societal pressure to conform to the idealized figure meant many women endured discomfort and health risks to fit into the norms of the time.

The biggest eyeroll. Of course nothing about how it distributes the weight of the boobs much more comfortably in the waist rather than the shoulders, or how the heavy dresses people wore needed support or movement would have been very difficult, or how it was an easy way to alter the body, any kind of body, to the fashionable silhouette without needing any invasive procedures or dangerous diets. The most classic, most predictable corset misinformation. This is exactly what I meant at the beginning. The internet is so full of this bullshit already, in the AI algorithm it makes it true.

The lesson is: do not use ChatCPT as your search engine and don't trust it as your source of information. There is numerous of issues with generative AI and the spread of misinformation is certainly one of the biggest, seeing how much death and destruction misinformation has caused only with vanilla social media. I'm afraid to think about the repercussions of refining that metaphorical misinformation machine with the literal misinformation machine. If you want to do research into dress history yourself, but don't know where to start, rather than asking ChatGPT, here's my tips for where to start.

Also be skeptical of the sources you find in the internet, including everything I write. In the age of generative AI it's even more important to use proper sourcing. I'm definitely not perfect about this, since I'm extremely chaotic in my research most of the time and bad at keeping my sources in good order (I don't want to do boring stuff when researching for my hobby, I do that enough for uni), but I'm making an effort to be better about it, at least for my more structured posts. But if you want to know any sources I've used for any reason, when I haven't listed them, you're always free to ask. I might have it somewhere among my 500 open tabs still open, or I might still be able to find it again. So anyway, be skeptical of writings (again, including mine) which don't have sources listed, not just because it could be AI, but also because the same issues apply outside AI - it's much harder to evaluate how trustworthy the writing is or to know weather it's plagiarized.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Understanding Emotions

Whether emotions are deemed positive or negative by psychology or societal norms can sometimes appear arbitrary.

Emotions, judged positive or negative, are all impulses to act. Therefore, each of the following prepares the body for very different responses (Goleman, 2006).

Negative Emotions include:

Anger – outrage, resentment, irritability, and animosity

Sadness – grief, gloom, melancholy, and despair

Fear – anxiety, nervousness, dread, and concern

Disgust – contempt, revulsion, disdain, and contempt

Positive Emotions include:

Enjoyment – happiness, joy, delight, euphoria

Love – trust, acceptance, adoration, and kindness

Positive surprise – thrill, wonder, and amazement

What then does the research tell us about negative emotions?

Memories related to being happy, in love, calm, and experiencing positive surprises are more easily recalled than negative emotions, such as being sad, afraid, angry, or experiencing unwanted surprises (Talarico, Berntsen, & Rubin, 2009).

There are some clear physical and behavioral reactions to negative emotions. Disgust is associated with narrowing the eyes and field of vision, reducing visual acuity, and recognizing something damaging (for example, rotten food). Fear, on the other hand, results in the widening of the eyes, an increased ability to detect visual stimuli, and detecting and tracking threats (Lee, Mirza, Flanagan, & Anderson, 2014).

A study including participants from 46 countries concluded that while influenced by cultural values (individualism and survival/self-expression), experiencing positive emotions was more critical to increased life satisfaction than reducing negative emotions (Kuppens, Realo, & Diener, 2008).

Research found that entrepreneurs are more likely to negatively evaluate a business opportunity when experiencing negative emotions such as fear (Grichnik, Smeja, & Welpe, 2010).

Students with a tendency toward negative emotions such as boredom perform less well in learning activities (Wortha, Azevedo, Taub, & Narciss, 2019).

It is self-evident that negative emotions have an essential role in our evolutionary past and under specific conditions in the modern world.

For example, fear may stop us from crossing at a dangerous place on the road or climbing a rock face without adequate protection.

However, when emotions such as anger, sadness, and fear take over and negatively impact the quality of our lives, it may be time to seek help.

Source ⚜ More: On Emotions ⚜ Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[thespacesay]

also even in the sciences, that's not always good advice. it's absolutely worth looking into more recent publications, but everyone is citing older things. you're gonna want to check what older things they cite as relevant, and sometimes you end up ten citations deep and find that everyone cited someone else citing a paper from the 40s... with someone just claiming something and no citation as to why. Good research involves fact checking, and you have to consider if the new science has fundamentally sound footing too.

it does make me laugh when general purpose academic advice is like "all citations must be RECENT, if it's over ten years old it's probably been superseded" and it's like. maybe in sciences bro but over here i still regularly have to cite stuff from the 19th century because nobody has written on the topic since

[bestanimal]

Round 1 - Phylum Onychophora

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Onychophora is a phylum of long, soft-bodied, many-legged animals. They are commonly called Velvet Worms due to their velvety texture, and the human propensity for calling any small animal with a long body a worm. Onychophora is the only animal phylum in which every extant (non-extinct) member is fully terrestrial.

Onychophorans are predators, preying on other invertebrates which they catch by spraying an adhesive, glue-like slime. This slime can also be used to deter predators. They will target slime at the limbs of their prey, and have even been observed targeting the fangs of spiders. The slime is stretchy, with high tensile strength, and forms a net-like structure when sprayed. It takes about 24 days to replenish an exhausted slime repository, so they will eat their dried slime when they can.

Onychophoran legs are called oncopods, lobopods, or “stub feet”. They can have from 13 to as many as 43 pairs of feet, depending on species. Their legs are hollow and have no joints, instead being moved by the hydrostatic pressure of their fluid contents. Each foot has a pair of tiny chitin claws which they use to gain their footing on uneven terrain. They sense the world via a pair of antennae, the numerous papillae covering their bodies, and a pair of simple eyes, though there are some blind species. Their mouth is surrounded by sensitive lips, and their chitin jaws, used for chewing up prey, look similar to their claws. On either side of their mouth are the oral papillae, openings containing their slime glands. Unlike their relatives, the tardigrades and arthropods, they do not have a rigid exoskeleton, restricting them to habitats with high humidity. They are also nocturnal hunters, and shy away from light, leading them to be most active on rainy nights. Onychophorans have two sexes. Females are usually larger than males, and sometimes have more legs. In most species the males will secrete a pheromone from their many “armpits” to attract females. Mating procedures differ between species. Some species are live-bearing, and some are egg-laying. The oldest known fossil Onychophoran, Antennipatus, is known from the Late Carboniferous.

Propaganda under the cut:

The little orange guy in my avatar is a velvet worm!

Some species can spray their slime up to a foot away, though their accuracy gets worse with distance.

Apparently, velvet worm slime tastes "slightly bitter and at the same time somewhat astringent.” Don’t ask how biologists know that.

It is hard to evaluate all velvet worms due to their nocturnal nature and low population densities, but of the few species that have been evaluated, all are near threatened to critically endangered. Main threats come from habitat loss due to industrialisation, draining of wetlands, and slash-and-burn agriculture. Many species naturally have low population densities and small geographic ranges, so a small disturbance of ecosystem can lead to the extinction of entire species. Populations are also threatened by collection for universities or research institutes.

While most countries offer little to no protection for their velvet worms, Tasmania is unique for having its own velvet worm conservation plan and one region of forest dedicated to preserving the endangered Blind Velvet Worm, Leucopatus anophthalmus (seen in the 3rd image).

Onychophoran’s stub feet allow them to be sneaky ambush predators which hunt only at night. They move slowly and quietly, with their body raised off the ground. They only use their claws when needed for climbing, otherwise they walk softly on the pads of their feet. They are often able to get so close to their prey that they can gently touch them with their antennae to assess their size and nutritional value before the prey is alerted.

Onychophorans have small but complex brains, and are thus capable of sophisticated social interaction. Some species live and hunt in packs, acting in aggression and territoriality towards velvet worms not in their own group. After a kill, the dominant female always feeds first, followed in turn by the other females, then males, then the young. High-ranking individuals will chase and bite subordinates who climb on them, but will allow juveniles to climb on their backs without aggression.

Somft

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

"No big deal." "Just a cold." "Back to normal."

The proportion of babies born with a congenital heart abnormality increased by 16 per cent after the first year of the pandemic, according to research at City St George's, University of London and published today in Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Heart defects are the most common type of anomaly that develop before a baby is born, with around 13 babies diagnosed with a congenital heart condition every day in the UK and impacting one in 110 births globally . These include defects to the baby's heart valves, the major blood vessels in and around the heart, and the development of holes in the heart.

In over 18 million births, researchers analysed data from US birth certificates from the Centre of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) between December 2016 and November 2022 to evaluate the effect of the pandemic on the number of babies born with a congenital heart defect.

They compared the number of babies born with a congenital heart condition every month before the Covid-19 pandemic (1st December 2016 to 30th November 2019) with those during the pandemic (1st December 2020 to 30th November 2022).

This data was then compared to the number of babies born with Down's Syndrome - a genetic condition not affected by the virus. This was to help ascertain if any differences observed might have been due to Covid-19, or if they were a result of other factors including limited access to antenatal services during the pandemic.

A total of 11,010,764 births before and 7,060,626 births during the pandemic were analysed. Data was adjusted to account for mother's BMI, diabetes and blood pressure before pregnancy, age, number of times they had given birth and the season in which prenatal care started.

The number of births with a congenital heart condition increased by 16% after the first year of the pandemic, with 65.4 cases per 100,000 live births compared to 56.5 per 100,000 births in the period studied before the pandemic.

The number of babies born with Down Syndrome did not change for the duration of the study, suggesting that the increase in fetal heart defects were not due to a disruption of health services.

Studying this large US dataset has revealed an unexpected picture for how the pandemic has affected the hearts of unborn babies, but we need to untangle the reasons for this link. We need to determine if the SARS-CoV-2 virus directly causes the development of fetal heart problems during pregnancy, and if so, how the virus makes these changes in the heart.

We don't have this type of data set available in the UK, but it's important to see if this pattern is seen in other parts of the world.

Covid-19 is still circulating and is easier to catch in the winter months. These results act as an important reminder for pregnant women to get their Covid-19 vaccinations to help protect themselves and their baby."

Professor Asma Khalil, lead author and Professor of Obstetrics and Maternal Fetal Medicine at City St George's, University of London

Source: City St George's, University of London

Journal reference: Khalil, A., et al. (2024). Congenital heart defects during COVID‐19 pandemic. Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology. doi.org/10.1002/uog.29126. obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/uog.29126

[kenyatta]

The video starts with bold red letters blaring: “2016 Democrat Primary Voter Fraud CAUGHT ON TAPE.” A series of blurry security footage follows, showing blatant instances of ballot stuffing. The only problem: The clips actually depict voter fraud in Russia. A quick Google search would have easily revealed the dubious source of the video, along with news articles debunking its claims. But when researchers from Stanford studying young people’s media literacy — the ability to accurately evaluate information in the wilds of mass media — showed the video to 3,446 high school students, only three succeeded in identifying the Russian connection. “There is this myth of the digital native, that because some people have grown up with digital devices, they are well equipped to make sense of the information that those devices provide,” says Joel Breakstone, who led the 2021 study. “The results were sobering.” It’s a startling reality about Gen Z, backed up by multiple studies and what we can all see for ourselves: The most online generation is also the worst at discerning fact from fiction on the internet.

also:

While social media may make news more accessible, there’s also little quality control to the information on the platforms. And although people of all ages are bad at detecting misinformation — which is only getting harder amid the rise of AI — members of Gen Z are particularly vulnerable to being fooled. Why? There’s a dangerous feedback loop at play. Many young people are growing deeply skeptical of institutions and more inclined toward conspiracy theories, which makes them shun mainstream news outlets and immerse themselves in narrow online communities — which then feeds them fabrications based on powerful algorithms and further deepens their distrust. It’s the kind of media consumption that differs drastically from older generations who spend far more time with mainstream media, and the consequences can be grim.

and one more bit:

Young people aren’t solely to blame for their lack of digital literacy. In school, students are taught to read closely and carefully — which misinformation researchers say has unintentionally enforced the idea that students should drill into a single video and determine its accuracy with their eyes, rather than leave the page and open Google. The technology of misinformation is advancing rapidly, and it is becoming impossible to differentiate what’s true from what’s false with mere observation. For older generations, who came to the internet later in life, there’s still at least some natural skepticism toward what they see online. For the youth, it must be taught. Gen Zers are uniquely vulnerable to misinformation compared to older age groups not just because of their social media habits, says Rakoen Maertens, a behavioral scientist at the University of Oxford, but because they have fewer lived experiences and knowledge to discern reality.

[kaurwreck]

This isn't legal advice, but as general information to combat legal alarmism, it's highly unlikely you could be, or would be, sued by the authors' estates for using the authors' names in tagged fan content of characters inspired by irl!authors and their works. It's a matter of community moderation and common courtesy to use fandom specific tags, but anon is either wildly misunderstanding the legal actions they've come across or repeating misunderstandings spread by word of mouth. In either case, anon didn't include any cognizable right of action, the authors' estates, or any other information relevant to either confirming or complying with anon's assertions re: legal liability.

Additionally, well before a lawsuit is filed, the rights holder is likely to first send a cease and desist letter or notice of some kind; especially with regard to individual infringers and fan works, which are generally tolerated and less likely to cause damages or result in infringement worth the cost of litigation. (Service of process can also be thorny where there are foreign defendants; it's usually easier and more effective to communicate with good faith infringers prior to initiating legal action.)

tl;dr: Misinformation regarding fandom and the law is common; take unsubstantiated statements about legal liability with a grain of salt — especially statements that don't mention any specific legal claim/basis for liability.

Hello, lovely Bunal Dzi art. I would like to point out that in recent years there's been increasing amount of close cases of people getting into legal trouble for their quite harmless things about bungous, whether it's BSD, Bunal, Isekai Shikkaku etc. So that's why especially in Japanese fandoms it's been a huge deal to avoid mentioning the characters' full names, and instead use abbreviations or nicknames to separate the characters from the irl authors. This is also used in the international fandom by people, why are aware of the possible problems. So tagging content would be more like the series name, and for character "Bunal dzi" or "Bunal Dazai", but never ever include the tag "Dazai Osamu", as that will make you discoverable by normal people, who some are ones that totally shouldn't see anime twinks (unless if you are ready to get legally sued by some authors' relatives, as it has happened few times). This is very old practise, but many in BSD fandom don't seem to know it or be aware how even their fandom has caused trouble to scholars and other regular people. This is just a kind heads up, nothing else. But I hope you will consider this and spread the word, as even currently there is one Japanese 20 years old girl about to face legal case by close relatives of certain guy who is a character in Bunal and few other bungou series (not in BSD, though).

Few posts that explain the tagging stuff, and overall fandom behavior that should be followed: https://www.tumblr.com/peachy-jeans/614451965120937984/didnt-think-id-have-to-make-this-post-here-but

https://www.tumblr.com/trash-candies/189860647912/a-psa-for-bungou-to-alchemist

Have a good day!

Jesus christ 😭 I never imagined something like that, thanks for sharing :D