#about 90% of that thread is inaccurate

[pumpkinhimiko]

"Mistranslations" that are not mistranslations

Now with an additional part 2.

NISA has made plenty of mistakes while translating the Danganronpa series (and I've complained about them before), and so they have a reputation of being untrustworthy. But because of this reputation, I feel like fans are too quick to trust whatever anyone that isn't NISA states as absolute fact. So, I want to examine some instances of fan translators claiming NISA has mistranslated something, when, no, actually, they didn't.

Kokichi's last words

人にやらされるゲームなんて…楽しい訳あるかよ… A game you're forced to play... how could that be fun...

This is probably the most widespread myth in terms of "mistranslations that aren't", with the original post that makes this claim having over 2k notes: that Kokichi in the original Japanese actually says, "How could a game where you're forced to kill people be fun...?" Unfortunately, it's just not true. Fortunately for me, there's a reddit post here that breaks the line down in detail, so I don't have to do any work.

Anyway, I really wanted to make this post because of this thread, which makes several false claims.

 Kokichi says he's afraid of friends in general

オレは、そういう『仲間』が他人よりも怖いけどねー。I'm more afraid of those kinds of [friends] than strangers.

So... souiu, meaning that type of/that kind of is right there, directly before nakama (which can mean friend, especially if it's in a shounen anime, but can also just mean companion/member of a group). I don't understand how you can miss this. Not only is it right there, this claim on its face doesn't make sense. Why, in this context, would Kokichi suddenly blurt out that he's afraid of having friends? It has nothing to do with the conversation they're having.

Shuichi's words to Kokichi after the 4th trial

王馬くん、もういいだろ ? Ouma-kun, isn't this enough? その話を聞かせてくれよ。Tell us about that.

Okay, you've probably heard the phrase mou ii a lot if you watch anime, and it's almost always accompanied by a frustrated huff. Because it is, in fact, something you say when impatient, fed up, what have you. It literally means "good already", carrying pretty much the identical meaning of the English phrase, "that's enough" or "I've had enough". Shuichi does not say it's okay as in it's daijoubu, which is the word you use when trying to comfort someone. He is very much frustrated here and telling Kokichi to fess up.

Citation needed

I couldn't find a line like this in Kokichi's FTEs, but maaaaaaaybe I missed it? Shuichi's narration comments quite a few times on Kokichi acting childishly throughout the game, but I couldn't find anything like this in specific.

EDIT: Correction, I did find it, and it's covered in part two. Suffice to say, the OP got this line completely wrong.

That Kaito thing

Yeah this is patently false. It's also already been touched on in this thread with comments backing it up, so there’s another thing I don't have to get into. I'll put the text here though.

オレはテメーみて一に胸クソ悪い真似までして、If I have to mimic your sickening behavior, 生き残りて一とは思わねーんだよ。I don't think I want to survive.

Shuichi's words to Kokichi after the 4th trial part deaux

I've seen varying claims on how these lines were translated, from them being slightly tweaked, to the claim they were completely butchered to make Saihara too aggressive. I'm just going to leave it here and let you come to your own conclusions.

ダサいのはキ��の方だよ…王馬くん。The lame one is you... Ouma-kun.

百田くんの周りにはいつも人が集まってくる… Momota-kun always has people around him... でも、キミの周りには誰もいないじゃないか。But, there's no one around you.

キミは…その程度のヤツって事だよ。That's... what kind of person you are.

This is snappy in its own way, though, if you consider that 程度 is closer to meaning grade/level/degree rather than simply "type of". "That's the level of person you are," basically.

And if you doubt me on any of this, I encourage you to do your own research, get second opinions if you can. I know not everyone knows Japanese, in which case you can't really help but rely on someone else and hope their translation is accurate. That said, at the bare minimum, I think people should provide screenshots and the original Japanese text if they're going to claim something is a mistranslation. Like, I don't think you should be able to say "actually in Japanese Kokichi says he volunteers at animal shelters in his free time but NISA cut it!" and have half the fandom believe you with no proof.

[sinharder]

Everyone in this thread is mashing their critique of Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire together when they have to be considered separately (Would we discuss the LOTR movies as if they were the same thing as the books?). Yes, comparison and pointing out overlap is fine, and yes, GRRM was involved in the first four seasons - even writing a few episodes - but it was never solely his creation. The show stripped out the vast majority of worldbuilding and cultural context from ASOIAF, as well as flattening entire storylines, characters, and events. If you want to say GoT is conservative media, fine, I don't care enough about it to debate it. That said, I will go to bat for ASOIAF.

First off, a sincere question: Where has GRRM claimed GoT and/or ASOIAF are historically accurate? Maybe I'm not putting in the right search terms but I genuinely cannot find an interview or anything where he says either of them are (or are supposed to be) historically accurate. I find lots of things of him saying it's inspired by or grounded in XYZ Historical Event, but as far as I can see he seems much more interested in things being realistic* - Historical Accurary™ wasn't the point. From Entertainment Weekly:

“Now there are people who will say to that, ‘Well, he’s not writing history, he’s writing fantasy—he put in dragons, he should have made an egalitarian society.’ Just because you put in dragons doesn’t mean you can put in anything you want. [...] I wanted my books to be strongly grounded in history and to show what medieval society was like, and I was also reacting to a lot of fantasy fiction. Most stories depict what I call the ‘Disneyland Middle Ages’—there are princes and princesses and knights in shining armor, but they didn’t want to show what those societies meant and how they functioned. [..] “The books reflect a patriarchal society based on the Middle Ages. [...] “And then there’s the whole issue of sexual violence, which I’ve been criticized for as well. I’m writing about war, which is what almost all epic fantasy is about. But if you’re going to write about war, and you just want to include all the cool battles and heroes killing a lot of orcs and things like that and you don’t portray [sexual violence], then there’s something fundamentally dishonest about that. Rape, unfortunately, is still a part of war today. It’s not a strong testament to the human race, but I don’t think we should pretend it doesn’t exist.

One of the major religions we see in the series is The Faith of the Seven, which was explicitly inspired by Catholicism. GRRM has stated that he just took the concept of god being a three-part thing (Father, Son, Holy Ghost) and made it a seven-part thing instead, adding his own twist. There's a direct line here between Catholicism and the Faith; it would be ridiculous if someone complained that the Faith was an inaccurate portrayal of Catholicism, right? He's also stated the story was inspired by the War of the Roses, but even a cursory comparison between the real event and the fictional story shows a lot of differences. From westeros.org and this interview:

In general, though, while I do draw inspiration from history, I try to avoid direct one-for-one transplants, whether of individuals or of entire cultures. Just as it not correct to say that Robert was Henry VIII or Edward IV, it would not be correct to say that the Dothraki are Mongols.

That’s the general process for doing fantasy, is you have to root it in reality. Then you play with it a little; then you add the imaginative element, then you make it largely bigger. Like the Wall in my books, of course, was inspired by Hadrian’s wall

There's one really important piece of context missing in this discussion as well: GRRM was born in 1948. He's 75 years old. He grew up reading the fiction of the 50s and 60s. Despite the claims above, GRRM actually did do research (besides being an avid historical fiction reader). Do you think some guy in the early/mid-90s had access to what we would NOW consider accurate, high-quality resources regarding societies in the middle ages? Access to knowledge has changed so radically since the 90s - to say nothing of who can get what published now - that it's just kind of ridiculous for someone with the benefit of 30 years of expanded, improved, and more diverse resources to sneer at someone for trying to do their homework and not getting it exactly right. As this excellent article points out:

Martin’s mix-and-match approach to historical inspiration likely draws on secondary material rather than primary, which means that he is not using sources written down during the Middle Ages; he is instead using modern interpretations of those sources. There’s nothing wrong with that. But it does mean that there are several degrees of separation between the author (Martin) and medieval texts. [...] In addition to history books and biographies, Martin has also mentioned historical fiction novels, in particular the French series Les rois maudits (The Accursed Kings) by Maurice Druon. This series takes place between 1314 and 1420, covering most of the Hundred Years’ War. But it was written in the 1950s and thus reflects the cultural and social norms of that decade. It also reflects the state of scholarship then, or, since academic knowledge famously can take decades to spread into popular understandings, even older scholarship. [...] Thus, the “history” behind A Song of Ice and Fire is a distillation of late 20th century popular history and Martin’s own aim to reinvent and reimagine Tolkienesque fantasy. That means many of the problems I have with the books (e.g. questionable gender dynamics, Orientalism) have their roots in what popular history was doing when Martin was writing the early books in the 1990s. This was still a very white, very male-dominated field, and those were the voices being amplified in both primary and secondary sources. While those conversations are getting (somewhat) more nuanced and diverse in academic circles, it hasn’t quite filtered into the popular consciousness. [...] In short, Martin’s “medieval” world in A Song of Ice and Fire bears little resemblance to the actual Middle Ages in Europe. When the first book was published in 1996, feminist and postcolonial perspectives were relatively uncommon in medieval studies. Most of the available books about these periods privileged the viewpoints of white men, even when other perspectives could be found in primary sources. Furthermore, many of these historians had been trained in a long tradition that was rooted in colonialist rhetoric.

From this article:

Martin’s expansive lands [...] are, in point of fact, what we call “medievalism,” where a more modern work looks back upon and refashions particular elements of the Middle Ages into a new imaginative construction. It isn’t at all true to the full historical truth

Moving on.

Tywin Lannister, genius: Tywin is a ruthless and intelligent man who makes some truly bad decisions because he's a human being with his own flawed perceptions and goals (AKA "the human heart in conflict with itself," AKA GRRM's mission statement). I won't comment on whether he hits """"genius"""" levels but he is a shrewd political operator and competent administrator. His obsession with family reputation and legacy are what do him in, not a lack of intelligence.

Utterly fascinated by the claim that GRRM didn't put any thought into the workings of Westeros. The books are full of logistics!

For example: This video does a great job of breaking down one of the objectively good things the show did: the costumes. The books were actually MORE accurate than the show, believe it or not. As pointed out in this Quora thread, the show gave us this:

When we should have gotten this, both from the book and from history:

Ever seen people complaining that Medieval/Middle Ages media always depicts people in plain, drab clothing when we know that people's clothing was actually colorful as fuck back then? George wrote that in! The clothing and armor in the books is so colorful and just extra that it sometimes borders on absurdity! Council Meetings are such a big and important part of the books (and...well, not the entire show, but definitely seasons 1-4)! He writes meetings where they talk about the national debt! I could tell you how much food the Night's Watch has stored away for winter! A major plot point - across multiple books - is widespread famine which, incidentally, is improved due to Tywin Lannister's political maneuvering! Daenerys chapters are full of logistics! She marches hundreds of miles with a goddamn army and thousands of refugees! She has to figure out how to rule a city, feed everyone (an army, an entire city who had their primary food source destroyed, and three large and increasingly unruly dragons), send aid to other cities, and deal with the aftermath of upending an entire goddamn economic system. One of the major obstacles to Robb's campaign is the simple fact that tens of thousands of soldiers marching from the North takes time. Literally The Most Famous Moment of the entire show - The fucking Red Wedding - is a direct result of Robb not having the time to march to a more convenient river crossing. GRRM doesn't care about how the kingdom functions? Are we being serious here?

Wall Too Big: From westeros.org:

From the surface of the lake at the foot of the quarry [...] to the top of the Magheramorne wall was a height of 400 feet. George was stunned, and kept looking at it and muttering, “I made the Wall too tall! It’s just too tall!” He later said that he had congratulated himself on not making it 1,000 feet tall, thinking that 700 was a more realistic figure.

GRRM is bad at measurements. Writers make mistakes. Who cares. His job is crafting weird little stories, not construction. I genuinely don't know why anyone would give a shit that he didn't...what, go to the library to find out exactly how tall 700 feet is? So his enormous wall of ice built by magic and giants would be more reasonable and accurate to the capabilities of a world with magic and giants?

The Iron Islands: 1) The Islands do have agriculture, it's just difficult due to the rocky soil, and thus not a major component of their society the way fishing and reaving is.

2) Nobody wants to trade with them? Do you think the Islanders steal every piece of food that they get? Theon literally returns to the Islands on a merchant ship that is explicitly not from the Islands (Depicted in book AND show, btw).

3) Do you think all Iron Islanders, the people famous for a seagoing lifestyle, all stay on the island and park their boats there all at the same time? The Iron Fleet is not comprised of every boat the Islands have, nor is the Fleet always together but even if they were, the Iron Fleet has been burned before. It was kind of a big deal. See: Why Theon Greyjoy had to *return* to the Islands in the first place.

4) They don't have trees? You know who else lived on an island and lost almost all their trees? Iceland. See above re: merchants, seagoing people, etc.

Nobody has to like Game of Thrones, or A Song of Ice and Fire, or George R.R. Martin. All three are flawed and problematic. That said, if you're going to try and critique it you should actually engage with it...? Like I fully admit I am a huge ASOIAF nerd, but a lot of the stuff I've mentioned is not deep cut trivia. It was right there on page and screen.

*Whether his stories are actually realistic is obviously debatable; I think he dips too far into nihilism with regards to human behavior, but Westeros is not Earth. It's a planet with a binary star system and seasons that can last for decades and supernatural beings and dragons and magic. Who can say how differently humans may have evolved there?

Incredible.

[mermaidsirennikita]

thinking of starting either the great or the borgias but idk which to start first ?? which would u recommend

Well lol

That is a complex question to be asking me, but the answer is pretty simple: The Great. It's altogether a more strongly-written, strongly-acted show.

Both shows do come with TWs, imo; rape is either depicted outright or mentioned in both of them, they're pretty murder-heavy. The difference is that almost everything dark in The Great is dealt with... emotionally, but with a ton of dark, satirical humor. While The Borgias has its fair share of dark humor, for all intents and purposes the show is a straightforward historical drama whereas The Great is an anti-historical comedy (I'd arguably dramedy, but the humor is heavy). The Borgias is VERY inaccurate, but it follows.... to a light extent... an idea of the Borgia family's history, and it presents itself as a retelling of their story, whereas The Great literally has a disclaimer at the beginning of every episode about its inaccuracy, and its lack of intention to be accurate.

Both of the shows, for me, lived and died on their main ships. But I would say that The Great generally has stronger plot threads going on in the background, a more interesting array of supporting characters, whereas The Borgias.... Honestly didn't. I was ENTHRALLED by The Borgias while it was on, because I was waiting for that ship to happen. But then it did in the final season and after all was said and done I was left disappointed by the overall skeleton of the show.

And to be clear, both of these ships the shows live and die by are problematic lol. Catherine and Peter on The Great are basically Tom and Jerrying it, trying to kill one another while also falling in love. Cesare and Lucrezia on The Borgias are........ full blooded siblings. But ya know, I watched that show live, and 90% of the fandom was into it. Waiting to watch those people with the same DNA kiss kept the lights on for three seasons. So. To each their own.

Main pros for The Borgias:

--really good main ship, incredibly chemistry.... if you're okay with the incest angle

--individually, Francois Arnaud and Holliday Grainger are very entertaining as "sexy bad man who only becomes worse with every season" and "innocent virgin who grows into a vamp and is like I Can Make Him Worse"

--David Oakes does his fabulous "troubled brother of a more famous historical figure" schtick and it is EXCELLENT

--beautiful costumes, beautiful sets, Much Italy (but really it was Budapest)

--family drama. I don't really care super much for a lot of Jeremy Irons's performance on this show; to me he got waaaaaay too much focus when his character was kind of only important in season 1. However, he does flip a table when trying to tackle David Oakes, his son, at one point, and it is hilarious

Main pros for The Great:

--genuinely EXCELLENT writing, Tony McNamara has been on fire for the past few years and it shows

--Nicholas Hoult and Elle Fanning acting their former child star asses off and having enough chemistry to make you forget that he tries to drown her in the first episode

--a good supporting cast! Aunt Elizabeth is my favorite, but we have Archie, the bisexual shrooms fiend who runs the church; the scheming Swedes; Marial in the first season; Grigor!!!!; Gillian Anderson showing up to be a milf in season 2; Jason Isaacs showing up to be a ~~~~ghost dilf~~~~~ in season 2. Some people enjoy Orlo.

--great costumes also

--due to the fact that this show truly doesn't give a fuck, there is a feeling of excitement and unpredictability

Both of these shows feature Sebastian de Souza as Aw Man, That Poor Guy Who Really Shouldn't Be In The Middle of This Love Triangle, Shucks He Is In A Bad Spot. I will say that this is MUCH funnier on The Borgias, as in this case the other two people in the triangle are again, FULL BLOODED SIBLINGS, and he's like oh this is an easy win for me, I'M NOT HER BROTHER and they're like lol who knows

So. Watch both I say, but watch them knowing that The Great is a lot better.

[mantis-lizbian]

you know something i think might genuinely help? check out Darths & Droids, a webcomic that uses screenshots from the Star Wars movies that reimagines them as a series of tabletop campaigns. now, something to note, the players and GM are not good at playing and GMing. both do many things that are very much not considered "best practices". including the fact that the GM does try to actually write out whole plots that the party just veers off from within the first 5 minutes of the films.

however, while they aren't "good" per se, they aren't bad, either. while some bad play habits are exaggerated for comedic effect, it's not an inaccurate look at what actually playing a TTRPG is usually expected to look like, if exaggerated. Darths & Droids' focus is on the players, rather than their characters, which is pretty much the diametric opposite of actual plays like Critical Role.

in any case, the thing most relevant to this thread about Darths & Droids is that at the end of each movie, there's a mock page of the GM's notes, showing how he had intended for things to go, and note scribbled all over about things he was having to change at table. while he does way overplan, and 80 to 90% of his original plans get thrown out entirely, it does provide some excellent examples on how to account for things not going entirely according to plan, how to salvage and repurpose things that would otherwise be lost, and all without outright railroading the party back to his original plot.

again, the series is about making fun of bad play habits, so don't take anything from it as straightforward lessons, but there is still plenty to learn from it by applying your own critical thinking.

Now I’ve got people thinking that when I say that TTRPG campaigns shouldn’t be scripted, that I mean that they must be 100% improvised right there on the spot with zero planning or structure. I can’t fucking win.

And therefore critical role must be destroyed

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

This is the latest edition of our column that excavates the origins of public figures’ factually dubious comments. We explain what their claims are referring to, the evidence (or lack thereof) behind them and where they sprang from in the first place.

Who said what …

On July 19, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia tweeted the following: “The controversial #COVID19 vaccines should not be forced on our military for a virus that is not dangerous for non-obese people and those under 65. With 6,000 vax related deaths and many concerning side effects reported, the vax should be a choice not a mandate for everyone.” Because her post contained several false statements, Twitter labelled it “misleading” and issued a 12-hour ban on her account for violating the service’s COVID-19 misleading information policy. Greene’s claims that there have been 6,000 “vax related” deaths and that COVID-19 is “not dangerous” for people who aren’t obese or over 65 are both inaccurate. Among the more than 163 million people who have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S., 6,207 deaths1 have been reported according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but there is no evidence those were “vax related deaths.” And while obesity and old age are risk factors for COVID-19, they are not the only ones, and the disease is still dangerous for people without those risk factors.

Some background …

Since the earliest days of the pandemic, researchers have been studying which kinds of comorbidities can make someone more likely to have a severe case of COVID-19 that could lead to hospitalization or death. After a year and a half, it’s clear obesity or old age does make someone more susceptible. But so do lots of other conditions. The CDC lists 17 categories, including cancer, pregnancy and chronic lung diseases. But otherwise healthy people can also become seriously ill from COVID-19, not to mention die from it. To claim that the novel coronavirus is “not dangerous” for anyone who isn’t obese or over 65 is wildly inaccurate. And focusing on obesity as though it were the only risk factor for severe COVID-19 is a trend among right-wing communities that combines two parallel threads in online subcultures: the anti-vax community’s belief that a healthy lifestyle and one’s natural immune system are as effective as vaccination in preventing disease and the right-wing troll culture’s long fixation on fat shaming. 

In a press conference about the Twitter ban, Greene tried to clarify her statement, saying she “was talking about the highest amount of deaths, the highest risk factor” and that “78 percent of people that were hospitalized and died were obese.” That stat is based on a CDC study from March, but it comes with some caveats. First, this figure includes people who are considered  obese and people who are considered overweight. Second, 73.6 percent of Americans age 20 or over are considered overweight or obese, according to the CDC. While the numbers for people with obesity are still higher among COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized, needed a ventilator, or died, the stat Greene cited is a bit like surveying COVID-19 cases at a sorority house and finding that 100 percent of the hospitalizations occurred among women. And that’s not even taking into account that the measurement used to diagnose obesity — the body mass index — is flawed, at best. 

There is no denying that obesity is a risk factor for more severe COVID-19 infections. Compared with people with a healthy weight, obese people who contract COVID-19 are 113 percent more likely to be hospitalized, 74 percent more likely to be put in intensive care, and 48 percent more likely to die, according to a meta-analysis published in August in the journal Obesity Reviews. But obesity is not the only, or even necessarily the highest, risk factor for more severe COVID-19 infections. Smokers, for instance, have a 40-50 percent higher risk of severe disease or death from COVID-19 compared with nonsmokers, according to the World Health Organization. People diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease who contract COVID-19 have a 30 percent higher risk of death than people without Parkinson’s, according to a University of Iowa study published in September. And pregnant women who get COVID-19 are 70 percent more likely to die than those who aren’t pregnant, according to the CDC.

But Greene didn’t tweet that people who don’t smoke, aren’t pregnant or don’t have Parkinson’s disease have nothing to fear from COVID-19. She specifically singled out obesity, something many right-wing communities online have done since the start of the pandemic. 

Where the comment came from …

A common refrain in this online community is that the only people at risk for severe COVID-19 infections are those who are considered either overweight or obese. Occasionally, other medical risk factors are mentioned, but there seems to be a particular focus on obesity. On patriots.win, a forum for supporters of former President Donald Trump, there are dozens of posts about obesity being a risk factor for COVID-19, many of which are scrutinizing news reports of deaths to give an armchair diagnosis of the victims. “The vaccine would not have saved her son. He’s obese and looks unhealthy,” said one post sharing a screengrab of a Daily Mail article about an Alabama woman who regretted not having her son, who died of COVID-19, vaccinated. “Vulnerable remain vulnerable even with vaccine,” the post claims.  

After the CDC published its finding that 78 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients were considered overweight or obese, this statistic became a frequent (and often misquoted) datapoint in right-wing and anti-vax communities online. In May, Jordan Sather, a QAnon influencer shared a video with his tens of thousands of followers on the messaging app Telegram of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio promoting vaccinations. Many responded with inaccurate quips about COVID-19 affecting only obese people. “They know that obese was 90% of the reason people were in the hospital for COVID?! I guess they don’t believe in the science,” one follower wrote. “Aren’t 80 percent of all C19 deaths from obese people? Hmmm…” wrote another. 

There’s a long history of right-wing groups fat-shaming people online. To wit: an appreciable contingent of subscribers to the now-banned subreddit r/fatpeoplehate — which existed only to mock and criticize people who are overweight in the most vitriolic terms possible  — moved over to the now-also-banned subreddit r/The_Donald, where Trump supporters posted right-wing memes and discussions. Of course, fat-shaming online is not limited to right-wing trolls. It’s incredibly widespread, and many on the left are just as guilty of it — consider House Speaker Nancy Pelosi publicly fat-shaming Trump on live television, or the droves of internet users who have criticized measures to prioritize obese people for the COVID-19 vaccine, or reward vaccination with free goodies like Krispy Kreme doughnuts. But it does hold a particularly pernicious and prevalent role in right-wing communities online. The fixation on obesity as if it were the only, or most important, risk factor for severe COVID-19 infections is just the latest in right-wing trolls’ longstanding tradition of attacking overweight people online. 

[tabletoptrinketsbyjj]

Trinkets, Worthless, 10: These trinket are garbage plain and simple. They would be termed vendor trash or junk loot in video games. They aren’t touched by stray magic or mystery as with regular trinkets, aren’t made from valuable materials and aren’t particularly useful even if they aren’t damaged.

A burlap bag containing a dozen assorted doorknobs.

A rather large and dead hairy spider that looks as if someone tried to make a wig out of it.

A small beige oilcloth sack embroidered neatly with the word ‘CHEESE.’ You can smell it from halfway across the room.

An expertly taxidermied rat with a built in candle holder capable of bearing a small tea candle. The mouse is posed as if scurrying

A lump of coal with runes carved into it.

A five pound pyrite (Fools gold) ingot.

A worn minotaur’s nose ring that has been bent and beaten back into shape many times.

A lacquered wooden coin engraved with the holy symbol of a minor God of Random Neutral Domain.

A smooth, flat, black river stone.

A small, tattered canvas sack containing a dozen half-rotted teeth that are as long as a thumb, but are decidedly identifiable as human.

—Keep reading for 90 more trinkets.

—Note: The previous 10 items are repeated for easier rolling on a d100.

A burlap bag containing a dozen assorted doorknobs.

A rather large and dead hairy spider that looks as if someone tried to make a wig out of it.

A small beige oilcloth sack embroidered neatly with the word ‘CHEESE.’ You can smell it from halfway across the room.

An expertly taxidermied rat with a built in candle holder capable of bearing a small tea candle. The mouse is posed as if scurrying

A lump of coal with runes carved into it.

A five pound pyrite (Fools gold) ingot.

A worn minotaur’s nose ring that has been bent and beaten back into shape many times.

A lacquered wooden coin engraved with the holy symbol of a minor God of Random Neutral Domain.

A smooth, flat, black river stone.

A small, tattered canvas sack containing a dozen half-rotted teeth that are as long as a thumb, but are decidedly identifiable as human.

A single feather hanging from a chain of slender twigs reminiscent of a bird’s nest.

A dull-red, cloth pouch filled with five pounds of finely ground, rust flakes.

A pair of minotaur horns, which were well used by their original owner.

A tangled mess of metal wires fused together with heat and attached to a wooden plaque. It may be a worthless mess of twisted scrap metal or a priceless piece of inspired artwork.

A heavily used hand cranked wood drill that creaks loudly when used.

A foggy hand mirror that when cleaned, immediately fogs back up.

A cracked and weathered hourglass that only has some sand remaining

A battered leather satchel filled with dried red beans.

A fishing hook that cannot be bent.

A large tin canister whose lid is crudely stamped with the word “JURKY”, which contains dozens of sticks of meat jerky. Any creature can clearly identify the jerky as “meat” but as to the exact animal the dried “food” came from, (If it is only from a single species of animal) is impossible to tell.

A battered stone shaped like a heart.

A child's wooden doll that makes whoever looks at it uncomfortable.

A cloth sack packed to the brim with cat fur.

A cloth sack packed to the brim with dog fur.

A flat, round, dark gray stone speckled with reddish flecks, and about six inches across.

A sewing thimble that, when poked by a needle, will roughly squeeze the bearer's thumb.

A small brass key.

A hand mirror with a horn handle. Instead of actually functioning correctly, the mirror reflects all creature's image as a specific bald human of unknown origin.

A very roughly drawn map of the surrounding area. A knowledgeable creature is able to tell that the map is not to scale and is barely useable for actual navigation.

A spindly iron key.

A chipped nautilus shell.

A moth eaten, gray velvet clutch purse.

A fairly convincing but ultimately inaccurate map, with a single red dot marking “You are here”.

An old scratched up lyre, strung with well-worn cat gut strings.

A Random Humanoid Race’s rotting, severed head.

A crudely made staff topped by a small skull.

An uneven, gnarled length of wood from a grotesque tree.

An old and cracked velum scroll whose script has been rendered illegible by the ravages of time.

A simple, springy rod made of twisting vines and twigs.

A rotting wooden goblet filled with a festering brew of pus, blood, wriggling maggots and worms that spill from the froth on the liquid's surface.

A dusty old pair of half-moon glasses of such a strong prescription that they are unwearable for most creatures.

A cracked glass jar containing a crudely removed bear claw.

A poorly embroidered handkerchief with the words “I love you dad” crudely stitched into it.

A red, child sized, fuzzy blanket that smells of mold and mildew.

A desiccated hoof that once belonged to a large, male elk.

A simple dusty scroll has no marking, seal nor text on it. By all appearances, it is a standard sheet of writing material that is bound by a single hemp thread.

A stone jar of filled with acid. The jar's lid is badly fitting, and the acid bubbles and froths as it moves. The object's sole markings are a skull symbol resting overtop of a warning written in Dwarvish.

A bedroll that is covered in a large, dark stain, but is in otherwise fair condition.

A set of crude fishing supplies, including a box of maggots, several bent hooks and a ten foot length of wire.

A set of clothes, appearing halfling in size and design. They appear partially burnt and have a large, black stain on the chest.

A primitive woolen bag filled with bones.

A rough bag full of leaves and stems of an unknown plant.

A crude animal cage. Inside there are two dead rats a dead bat and a large number of healthy maggots feeding on the aforementioned corpses.  

A badly water damaged book whose pages cannot be read.

A set of badly maintained scientific instruments, including a compass, measuring rods, quills and ink. With some repair, they could form a cartographer's toolkit.

A humanoid skull that has been cleaned and bleached white. It has a large, drilled hole in the center of the crown and several abyssal symbols are crudely carved into the temples.

A long clock hand of dark metal, the end raggedly pointed and stained with old blood.

A dusty glass bottle that still holds a few drops of viscous red liquid.

A page torn from a hymnal book dedicated to a god of war.

A clay tablet with indecipherable symbols.

A padlock that any key can open.

A bundle of crumpled papers, each having a partially completed love poem on them. Most of the words are scribbled out and are illegible, but the intended recipient appears to be a woman by the name of Neurelia.

The skull of a bird with an iron nail driven through it.

A crude wooden mask featuring a head crest of branches. The entirety of the mask is scorched wood and it smells like charcoal.

A beaten crate filled with rotted children’s clothing and old toys.

An alligator skull that reeks of sulfur and bog water. The druidic rune for “Preserve” is carved into the forehead.

A stone statue of a goblin, paper-thin and hollow. If the statue is broken, goblin bones tumble out.

A rusty dagger with a blade that is wildly unsuited for any sort of cutting whatsoever. Dangling from the pommel-nut is a leather thong strung with teeth and walnut shells.

A latticed or deformed stone that's possibly a meteorite

A malformed doll with a strange leer that wears a sackcloth dress.

A stitched up bear composed of multiple parts from different teddy bears.

A lady’s brush, elegantly carved of ivory with boar bristle. The ivory is stained and cracked, and many of the bristles are missing.

A hefty book full of notes written by many authors and inserted pages from other books. There are bite marks and slashes on the covers and some dirt might slip from between the pages when shaken.

A wizard's spellbook that was enchanted to repel liquids. Unfortunately, the enchantment is so strong that the pages cannot be written on rendering it completely unusable.

A reasonably shiny pebble.

A plank of wood whose knots and grain, crudely (At best) depict a lesser known deity of Random Domain.

A corroded metal cylinder bearing forbidden writing. The runic script bears little coherence, appearing like mad ramblings about the things beyond.

A set of brass lockpicks that couldn't possibly fit into any known style of lock.

A sheaf of poorly rendered sketches made by children.

A torn flag of an ancient city long since fallen into ruin.

A dissected and flayed corpse of a tiny fey creature.

A syringe with a squared-off crystal barrel. The plunger, flange, and needle hardware are nickel alloy ornately etched in twining, serpentine coils. Though it has no needle, and the plunger no longer seals, it is finely made, given its age.

A rotting quarterstaff made of oak wood. The staff has grips wrapped in slimy brown ape skin.

An old pair of trousers that are almost entirely made of patches and stitches, having been kept in service long past their time.

A crooked rod of dark wood with a possum skull lashed to the top.

An antique sword, rusted to its mildewy scabbard.

A length of heavy rusty chain, entangled in an impossible knot.

A thick waxy candle the colour of sickly pallid skin. When burned, the smoky odor of roasting ghoulflesh fills the room, ideal for setting the mood for foul necromantic rituals, preparing volunteers for human sacrifice, and all manner of depraved acts involving corpses.

A large bird's nest that has human finger bones woven into it.

A thick shirt of coarse brown horsehair.

A small leather pouch containing a double handful of seemingly fresh tree nuts, still in their shells.

An ugly gray wine skin, heavier than it looks, sloshes and gurgles in response to any movement.

A large, cast pewter vial containing a quantity of strangely textured sand. It clumps and sticks in a single doughy mass.

A piece of parchment bearing an unusual symbol drawn in iridescent green ink.

A long and tangled piece of twine with tiny brass bells knotted into it every few feet.

A dingy, brown leather collar with a sea serpent branded along its length is stuck on a jagged piece of splintered wood.

An intricate and spiky ball of cat and rat whiskers.

A heavy shot glass with a cat's face carved into the bottom.

A copper coin with a small hole drilled at the top and attached to a long length of fishing line.

A small, stained sack with a crudely painted figure of a halfling on the side. Opening the sack releases an odour that invokes tears and gagging to those nearby. The sack itself contains a number of crude items designed to disguise a goblin as a halfling. Laying the kit’s inventory out on the ground, you assess its value as a tool for subterfuge and determine a figure of zero. The wig leaves an odor of wet dog on your hands. The goblin disguise kit contains the following items: a chopped and damp wig made from worg fur, flesh-toned paste that burns when applied, a set of incomprehensibly disgusting false teeth, a canvas tunic with a poorly painted “shirt front,” and a pair of greasy gloves.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, August 19, 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles, podcasts, videos and infographics I came across since the late July report, although some may be older than that.

Please note I am taking the next week off, starting tomorrow (Aug. 19), so I might be a little slow in replying to any comments. 

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

USPS has become the focus of investigations due to reported mail slowdowns. Some small businesses who rely on USPS to deliver are suffering. “The longer the policy has been in effect, the worse the backlog gets.” As of today (August 18), the postmaster says they will rollback the changes until after the election in November. This is a rapidly-moving story in part due to the push for voting by mail, and should concern anyone who ships to US customers using regular mail (as opposed to couriers). Meanwhile, they plan to temporarily raise commercial rates during the holiday shopping season, but retail rates will not change. 

Ecommerce sales are still up year over year. "Before Covid-19 hit the US in March, e-commerce made up roughly 12% of retail sales in the country. That figure grew as states issued shelter-in-place orders that shut stores and kept shoppers at home, creating tailwinds for a company like Amazon. But even as states have begun to reopen, e-commerce has remained elevated, according to Bank of America data."..."The Economist used Google search traffic for hints of how lifestyles are changing and found users are still searching terms related to cooking, crafts, and exercise above pre-pandemic rates. There has been a noticeable spike in interest around such products as gardening supplies, baking flour, and Crocs." The UK is still seeing a good increase despite the ease in reduction in lockdown restrictions. The growth is slowing a bit in the US, though. 

Half of US small businesses fail in the first year (and other stats on small business). 

It’s been second quarter report season, covering company performance from April to June 2020.  Here are results for major companies involved in ecommerce in some way (comparisons are year-over-year):

Amazon US: sales up 40%

eBay: sales up 26%

Etsy: sales up $146% [click the link to read my summary]

Facebook: revenue up 11%

Google: revenue down 2%

PayPal: revenue up 22%

Pinterest: revenue up 4%; active users up 39%

Shopify: revenue up 97%

Walmart [2nd quarter ran May to July]: ecommerce sales up 97%, same-store sales up 9.3%

ETSY NEWS 

Admin are now posting a monthly update thread, in case you fear you have missed anything. This is how they chose to announce that non-seller accounts can no longer post in the forum. Since those account owners can still read the forum, that doesn’t mean you can call out your customers now. 

Sadly, there wasn’t much media coverage of Etsy’s nearly-annual billing screw up, but this one did get some attention. 

Etsy continues to get good media coverage for masks, including masks for your dolls. They also apparently got a decent slice of Google ranking for various pandemic-related searches in May [scroll down to the “Protection and Prevention” section]. 

However, Etsy is getting some bad press (along with Amazon), for allowing QAnon merchandise, because “the FBI has warned of the movement's potential to incite domestic terrorism.” Etsy replied to a request for comment saying that “that product listings associated with certain movements are allowed as long as they don't violate the company's seller or prohibited items policies, which ban items that promote hate or that could incite violence. The company said it is continually reviewing items on the site and could remove items in the future if they're found to violate Etsy's policies.”

More search trends on Etsy, this time kids’ items. I love how they think tie-dye was a ‘90s thing and not a ‘60-70s thing LOL. “a 318% increase in searches for kids tie-dye items...71% increase in searches for dinosaur wall art or decor*, and a 37% increase in searches for school of fish items….we’ve seen kid-friendly crafts spike in popularity, with searches for DIY kits for kids up 336%.”

Also, the holiday trends guide is out. “With the holidays approaching, and most shopping happening online, more shoppers will be looking for your help to make the season feel special.” The report is lengthy, covering Halloween to New Year’s, and most listing categories, while pointing out the possible pandemic changes to the usual trends. There is also an accompanying podcast with transcript. 

Speaking of the holiday season, here are Etsy’s tips for shops. Note that it is a bit late, as businesses need to have their holiday items posted no later than July if they want to be eligible for most fall media coverage. Almost every point refers to an Etsy tool or feature, some of them costing you money, so use this as a very broad guideline & be careful to read between the lines. 

They are still rolling out Etsy Payments to more countries: Morocco & Israel are the most recent. Note that Etsy Payments is not yet compulsory in these new countries. 

Etsy Ads once again has graphs. Do you find them useful? (I haven’t run ads at all this year, so I can’t check.)

Sendle is the latest shipping company to have a label integration with Etsy shops. 

Etsy asked US sellers to lobby their reps for more support for small business and other initiatives in the pandemic aid package.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Google has stated that content on tabs is indexed and contributes to ranking as if it were on the page instead, but yet another test demonstrates that tabs may limit you. 

Due to the pandemic, Google has delayed finalizing mobile-first indexing until March 2021. (They originally announced it would be finished this September.) That means you have more time to update your website’s mobile version, ideally with responsive design. 

Site speed does matter to SEO, and Google is now asking some searchers how fast certain sites loaded for them. 

User comments on your products, blog posts and website can help you improve your SEO. The article suggests ways of getting that feedback, and ways to use it. [I’ve even had buyers give me new keywords to describe my items, in their messages and reviews.]

Getting links back to your site is important to SEO, but don’t annoy people while doing it. [sort of humour & sort of a rant, but does give some useful background on why backlinks matter.] Internal links also matter. 

There are some special tricks for food/recipe SEO, including structured data and even a WordPress plugin. 

Another WordPress plugin: submit any new or updated pages to Bing to be automatically re/indexed.

Do your keyword research before setting up your website’s sections and sub-sections, as they should serve the buyer experience, not your perception of it. Same with choosing which pages link to each other. 

SEOs are still trying to work out what happened with recent Google algorithm changes. Search Engine Journal claims that the May update was at least in part about demoting sites that had out-of-date or inaccurate information, so they suggest getting rid of the bad content on your site, or at least updating it. “Content pruning” has some advocates, but I wouldn’t worry about investing tons of time in this unless you have tons of time to spend. Just get rid of the blog posts that were wildly wrong, and the out-of-date filler. If you have a lot of sold out products, redirect those to relevant active pages. 

Meanwhile, a “glitch” on August 10 led people to think there was a massive Google algorithm update happening, but it all got fixed in less than a day. 

If you are behind on Google search news, here is a 7 minute video [with time stamped subtopics & resources links listed below], direct from Google. 

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

It’s tough to get started in social media if you don’t know the terminology, so here’s a list of the basic definitions you can consult if you get lost when reading.  

Don’t know how to blog? There are formulas you can use; here are eight options, nicely laid out, with downloadable templates. Don’t forget to figure out what your audience wants to read. And make sure you avoid these common blogging mistakes. 

If you have an email list but do not know how to take advantage of all the bells & whistles the companies (MailChimp, Constant Contact etc.) offer you, here are 4 ways to segment your lists. You can then send different offers or newsletters to different segments. 

You can optimize your social posts for people with visual impairments; excellent tips here. 

By the time you read this, the TikTok mess will likely have changed again, but here is an article on Trump’s order to prohibit US companies from doing business with TikTok owner ByteDance if the platform is not sold by September 15. 

Instagram has released its TikTok challenger, Reels, in more countries. 

Instagram is now offering a fundraising option, although it is a slow launch with some beta testing in the US, UK & Ireland to start. 

Here are step-by-step instructions on setting up your “Shop on Instagram.”

Pinterest says that searches around self-care & wellness have spiked during the pandemic lockdowns. “Pinterest has recently seen the highest searches ever around mental wellness ideas including meditation (+44%), gratitude (+60%) and positivity (+42%) that jumped from February to May….Pinterest says that searches for ‘starting a new business’ are up 35% on average, as are searches for ‘future life goals’ (2x), ‘life bucket list’ (+65%), ‘family goals future’ (+30%) and ‘future house goals’ (+78%).” There were also some searches clearly about spending more time at home: “Productive morning routine (up 6x), Exercise routine at home (up 12x), Self care night routine (up 7x)”

LinkedIn has a new algorithm; here’s how to make it work for you. [Many of these tips also apply to social media in general.]

Spotify is now doing “video podcasts”. Apparently a lot of their podcasters already did a video version of the Spotify podcasts, but had to publish it elsewhere up until now. 

Twitter now admits it is considering offering subscriptions to shore up its revenue numbers. “Shares of Twitter rose 4% in early trading Thursday following the earnings results....Twitter's growth plans are under close scrutiny as many advertisers pull back due to the pandemic. On Thursday, Twitter reported second-quarter ad revenues of $562 million, a 23% decrease compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has also been hit by advertisers participating in an ad boycott of social media, linked to the nationwide racial justice protests.” Also, the recent hack is not helping them. 

That said, it is still possible to market using Twitter, and here are some of the basics. 

YouTube is no longer sending email updates when a channel you follow posts new content. 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

Ad spend has increased again as lockdowns end, in some cases beating last year by a decent margin. 

The Buy on Google program is ending its commission fees. Participants will also be able to integrate their PayPal and/or Shopify payment options. As often is the case, they are starting with the US first, but plan on rolling it out to more countries in the future. There are more details here, and a review here (with some of the drawbacks). 

Google Product Ads are now showing the item’s “material” on the listing card (before you click). If you are doing your own feed for your website, you may have the ability to add the attributes needed for the details to show up.  

If you find Google Ads too expensive, consider buying search ads on Bing. 

eBay is experimenting with showing ads mixed in with unpaid listings; placement would depend on the same algorithm. 

Here’s a new guide to Facebook Ads [videos & text]

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING 

Bing has launched a new version of Webmaster Tools. 

There are ways to reduce the amount of traffic that Google Analytics designates as “direct traffic”; here are 15 of them. 

Currently in closed beta testing, the Google Search Console now has an “Insights” function, just like Google Analytics. I’ve found the GA one useful for telling me things I don’t always look at, so crossing my fingers that they release this to everyone soon. 

 ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

Shopify helped many businesses stay open during pandemic lockdowns, giving it the boost to start competing with the likes of Amazon in ecommerce. “Shopify merchants that had previously or entirely relied on brick-and-mortar sales would later report they were able revive nearly 95% of that revenue online.”

eBay started rolling out its Managed Payments system to more sellers worldwide on July 20th. Things seem to be going slowly, with some confusion. 

But eBay is also having a 25th anniversary party for sellers on September 25th; don’t forget to register. 

Walmart is still delaying its new subscription model to challenge Amazon Prime, Walmart+. 

Amazon in the UK has launched a “Face mask store” part of the website. I haven’t seen this on other versions of Amazon. They’ve also increased some fees for some UK sellers, based on the new UK digital tax. And they are launching a site & presence in Sweden. 

The Competition Bureau of Canada has launched an investigation of Amazon’s treatment of third-party sellers. “The bureau is asking any person or business that has conducted sales via Amazon.ca to contact them if they have any insights into the issues it is investigating.“

Amazon Prime Day has been postponed to later dates this year, starting with India on August 6-7. The remaining countries will apparently be announced soon. 

If you use WooCommerce, here are a bunch of free plugins, with brief descriptions. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

Buyers do not all make purchase decisions the same way; Google uses its massive collection of data and some new studies to provide some examples. “Worldwide, search interest for “best” has far outpaced search interest for “cheap.”

It’s cheaper to keep repeat buyers than it is to find new ones; here are 16 ways to do that. One of my favourites is ““proactively providing information on how to avoid problems or get more out of your product” creates a 32% average lift to repurchase or recommend.”

It seems that researchers can never produce enough marketing guides on Gen Z and millennials. 

MISCELLANEOUS (including humour) 

I see a lot of new sellers, and some older sellers, confused about the idea of a business plan. HubSpot not only explains them, but also provides a downloadable template. 

If you are thinking of changing careers, or just want to add skills to better run your current business, Google has many different courses, some of which they offer for free. 

There are ways you can increase your productivity without (usually) working more hours. “A study published by John Pencavel of Standford University found that how much employees get done takes a sharp drop after 50 hours of work in a week, and even more drastically after 55 hours. The study found that employees working 70 hours per week actually produce nothing more in those extra 15 hours...taking a power nap in the middle of the day can help you process new information and even learn new skills.”

[itsakyo]

saw your tweet on twitter about the sone civil war. The chart data was never the issue. It was how the fandom keep on slandering and shaming taeyeon when this kind of stuff happens. The sales thing became an issue because of the penguin and other fans start to attack taeyeon and shade her. That chart account was one the contributors. TY stans just basically had enough.

I will just say one unpopular opinion of mine. I see a range of fans because I follow a variety of accounts and it is the same problem across the board. Each fandom has fans who are saying the same thing.

Whether it’s Taeyeon fans, Sunny fans, Tiffany fans, Hyoyeon fans, Yuri fans, Sooyoung fans, Yoona fans, Seohyun fans - there are fans in every group that “just basically had enough”.

Every fandom has fans who are unhappy with other fans for one reason or another. Every fandom has people who feel their fav is being slandered/shaded/unsupported by other fans in one way or another.I have seen a wide variety of such rants on Twitter.

If I am willing to spend the time, I can definitely dig out rude/aggressive/extreme accounts from every single fandom. Rude, aggressive fans exist everywhere. There are rude, aggressive, extreme TY stan accounts just as there are rude, aggressive, extreme SN/TF/HY/YR/SY/YA/SH stan accounts.

No fandom is clear of them. The difference is the sense of numbers, because some fandoms are larger, hence it seems like there are more of them when in reality, the % is probably about the same.

The common thread is that everyone who is complaining feels ‘the fandom/the other fans’ are attacking their fav. This is a sweeping statement. If I were to dig out all the offensive accounts from each different fandom, you can expect to see the usual names appearing. How are they in any way representative of any fandom at all?

Based on general statistics, considering how fans number in the thousands, the % of offensive accounts active on Twitter should be only about 1% or less. So to say ‘the fandom’ slanders and shames any member is wholly inaccurate and sweeping.

Personally, I feel that there are many accounts that choose to reply/respond aggressively which in turn triggers a more aggressive response from the other party, and it escalates into an extended ‘civil war’ because more and more people join in, triggered by increasingly rude responses. Eventually, fans on both sides end up tearing down the other in order to defend their fav because people never say nice things when fighting.

Meanwhile, the 90+% of each fandom watches on and munches on popcorn, go on a block/mute spree while the usual aggressive, extreme accounts wage war on every single little issue there is for them to fight over.

What’s my conclusion? Our time is not worth wasting on such pathetic accounts like penguin that exist only to pick fights with people online. It’s not mentally good for us to pay attention to such things. Surround ourselves with other positive, healthy, sensible accounts and enjoy our time in our fandom.

Baram, baram, baram~

[automatismoateo]

In response to a question in a recent thread where someone asked me to go in-depth, here's a description of my experience in Education and teaching Science in Arkansas and why I finally quit. via /r/atheism

Submitted July 11, 2021 at 11:22PM by paxinfernum (Via reddit https://ift.tt/3ALPxPr) In response to a question in a recent thread where someone asked me to go in-depth, here's a description of my experience in Education and teaching Science in Arkansas and why I finally quit.

The only thing that matters

Here's something you need to understand first. In most rural districts, pretty much any idiot can get hired to a position and stay there as long as they don't piss off parents too much. The people hiring you don't really understand what you teach, and the parents don't understand or care what quality teaching is, but they care if you say something that offends their backward sensibilities. What that effectively means is that your ability to teach and stay on has more to do with being in sync with the community, who are usually racist and batshit paranoid. If you aren't in sync with that, you either have to keep your head down, or you will eventually get harassed into leaving due to vague complaints.

Abusive parenting is normal here

Okay. So starting with my student teaching. The woman I worked under was a total fucking psychopath. She bragged in the teachers' lounge about how she disciplined her daughter and people don't discipline their kids like that now. By discipline, I mean she told a story about how she chased her daughter down a hallway, dragged her by the hair of her head, and spanked her until she was raw. This was part of a story where she was bragging about how well behaved her daughter was due to her parenting.

If you're wondering if anyone pushed back against this, the answer is that they didn't. They were nodding their heads in affirmation. That's the problem with rural schools in a nutshell. The community hires from the community, and the community is backward as shit and filled with people who were raised in abusive conservative fundie homes. The parents, by the way, loved that teacher because she wasn't one of those soft "liberal" teachers. Parents, more than anyone else, wanted us to hit their kids and were always disappointed when they didn't get spanked. Child abuse is a way of life down here.

Teachers who are fearful of knowledge

Okay, so this woman was a science teacher. That's what I trained to teach. Science. I did so because I wasn't just one of those "science is awesome" Sagan-heads. I genuinely cared about teaching science as more than just fun facts, but as a methodology for uncovering the truth. I naively went into the field thinking that's what most science teachers would be like. I kind of hoped that I'd at least find a community of like-minded individuals in this ignorant state.

Over my entire teaching career, I literally never met another science teacher like me who was pro-science and pro-skepticism. They were overwhelmingly either just dumb and teaching rotely, or they were conspiratorial and fearful of science. This is exactly what an Arkansas school board wants out of a science teacher. They know they have to teach science, but they are afraid of science and see it as the most dangerous subject to teach in their little fundagelical minds. So they hire people who are afraid of science.

That crazy woman I trained under? She ranted about drones being used to spy on us. She told the kids GMOs were dangerous, and she told them homeopathic medicines were something she'd researched to help her friend with cancer. She wasn't unique in that regard. Every other science teacher I met in Arkansas was terrified of GMOs and had some conspiracy they wanted to rant about. One teacher's bugaboo was allergies and how he thought more people were getting allergies because of chemicals being put in the water. He brushed it off when I said it was probably due to more sensitive testing. Another teacher told their students the most horrendous and completely inaccurate facts about nuclear energy.

They're not sending us their best people

The point is these people weren't the best and brightest. Often, they weren't even adequate. One guy I worked with became a science teacher because he needed something to teach alongside coaching. He was dumb as a box of rocks and just barely passed his praxis exams after three tries. I know most people weren't going to ace these tests like I did, but the cutoff for a passing score in Arkansas is hilariously low. Yet, when he finally passed, it was only by a single point, and he recounted it to me like it was only by the grace of god.

Another teacher, a math teacher who was probably the worst speller I'd ever met, got certified in Texas, which has a lower standard for math, and he transferred his certification to Arkansas. So he only was able to teach math in Arkansas on a technicality. The way it works is that you only have to be recertified if you let your certification lapse. All that's required to recertify is doing 30 hours of PD per year, and then, every couple of years, you have to do the recertification process. But this idiot was too stupid to do that, and he let his certification expire. So then, he was teaching math without a license because he couldn't pass the Arkansas tests. (You're allowed to teach for so long as long as you're pursuing certification.)

Propaganda and Indoctrination

Half of the teachers I met might as well have been missionaries. It's illegal to push your religion or politics on students, but fuck if anyone will actually enforce that. Actually, let me step back there. Fuck if anyone will actually enforce that unless you're liberal or non-Christian. The state is an unofficial conservative theocracy so if the teacher wants to rant about gays or Jesus, there's very little chance any parent will even bother to complain. (Even liberals around here know they're outnumbered and won't win.) Even if the parent complains to the Principal, they'll only "have a word" with the teacher in question, most likely to have a chummy conversation where they eye roll about the parent and discuss ways they can continue to evangelize more subtly.

Even if the Principal is the type who takes this seriously, the teacher will only get a vague note in their file because no school board around here is going to fire a teacher for proselytizing children. They don't want the school to get burned down by an angry mob of Fox News zombies. Even if it makes it to the state ethics board, I've seen the state ethics board literally do nothing about a counselor who ignored a suicidal student, a teacher who was caught drunk driving, a superintendent who was manipulating the system to siphon more money into the school, and so many other things. The only thing the ethics board actually takes a license away for is cheating on standardized testing (got to keep our corporate donors happy) and actually fucking a student. Even if you bring a teacher up on proselytizing, they'll get a warning and be back in the classroom the next day.

So if you're a kid in a rural school, get ready for your teacher to unsubtly tell you about how Jesus is such an important part of their life or straight-up rant about the Democrats. When I was a student in Arkansas schools, I had teachers tell me: 1) All gay people should be thrown in prison 2) HIV-positive patients should be shipped to an island or burned (it was the 90s) 3) the Jews brought the holocaust on to themselves by rejecting Jesus 4) the teacher was boycotting Levis jeans because they supported gay people. That's just a sampling of shit I heard as a kid in Arkansas from freaking teachers.

While working as a teacher, I knew of teachers who latched onto kids with poor home lives and invited them over to their homes so they could do "prayer studies" with them. The kids went because they were kind to them and offered food. In case you're wondering, they got away with this because it was a husband and wife, so parents allowed it. (I'm just going to say that I'm actually quite certain this was entirely above board sex-wise. I knew the individuals, and while I despised what they were doing, I knew they were entirely sincere.)

Another teacher, a Trump supporter, went into a rant about how they needed to give all the teachers guns to fight off school shooters (because restricting guns in any way was tOtAlItArIaNiSm.) I nodded along because I was smart enough to know disagreeing publicly will get you shunned or harassed. All I could think in my head was "Dude, if they ever give you nutters guns, that's the day I quit. There will be 10 dead kids within a week." On that topic, one teacher I know of grabbed a student by the throat because they were pissed at them, and they didn't lose their job.

The history teacher, the one who wanted us to all have guns was teaching that the Civil War was about tariffs. You heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen. Hundreds of thousands of people went to war over tariffs that were at their lowest point in decades. It had nothing to do with the people they owned and shackled up like a Saw movie. The Civics teacher pushed Trump election conspiracies.

Another teacher, who had a family member who had a terminal illness and was literally only getting their medical treatment paid through Obamacare would go off on rants about Obama and transgender students.

Harassment

At one point, I was harassed by the campus cop. He found out I was in support of BLM, and literally screamed at me. Later, he transitioned to simply refusing to acknowledge my existence. Like, if I said anything to him, he would pretend he couldn't hear me. The dude was fucking insane and filled with hate. I'm pretty sure his domestic situation with his wife was abusive due to things he said. He was so angry and radicalized that it was never the students I worried would be a mass shooter. It was him. I was literally afraid he would come in one day and shoot the place up. He wasn't an oddity though. Every one of our resource officers was racist and unethical. One was running a vaping ring with students. Another took special joy in cracking down on Latino students.

Eventually, I started getting harassment from students though, and that's what led to me leaving. There are two things that led to increasing harassment. First, I had one conservative student who hated me and surmised that I must be a Clinton supporter. I never said that, but because I was one of the few teachers who didn't violate the rules about discussing religion or politics, they guess that I was a liberal atheist. So they started working to get me fired.

The second thing is that the Arkansas standards changed so that teaching evolution became part of my classroom standards. Just so you know, most schools in Arkansas don't actually teach evolution, even though they're supposed to. The way it works is teachers put it last on their things to teach, and oopsie, I just ran out of time at the end of the year. Some teachers know evolution is real, but they don't teach it because the backlash is too much to take. Others don't teach it because they're fundagelicals themselves, so they go along with the informal conspiracy to not teach evolution. I say informal conspiracy because it's not like they all get together in a back room and decide this. It's just the culture and incentives are all there to not teach it.

I actually taught evolution, and while I had always dealt with some degree of negativity, looking back, I have to say that was the point where I started getting a lot more. I can't emphasize enough how brainwashed these kids were. I'm not saying all of them because there were absolutely kids who believed in evolution, but they were in a minority and knew to keep their mouths shut. But it's sort of staggering to try to teach the history of the Earth and have a kid repeatedly try to prove to you that there was a global flood.

How harassment actually works in the real world

This is the thing I want people to understand. Harassment in the real world isn't usually as obvious as in a movie. No one drives by your house and throws a brick through your window. No one calls you up and leaves threatening messages. No one will ever fire you for being liberal or an atheist. Because these people are dumb as fuck, but they're also very clever at being shitty people. They know they can't walk up and say to the school board, "Fire so and so because they're teaching evolution." They know that's illegal technically.

So they just start making up vague complaints. Principals, even ones who were supportive like my last Principal, are reactive. If a parent comes to them to complain about a teacher, they're going to assume the teacher did something wrong and needs to be talked to. So the girl who found out I was a Hillary Clinton supporter suddenly decided I "made her uncomfortable" and "looked her weird." The great thing about these types of innuendos and character assaults is that you don't have to provide any real facts. It's all about how you just don't like that person. Remember that teachers are one of the few professions where you can actually be fired simply because the community doesn't like you.

So that fell flat because, like I said, my Principal was actually decent and understood how flimsy that was. So then, that girls boyfriend made a complaint about how I'd yelled at him in front of all the students. Unfortunately for him, this supposed incident happened while we were in a part of the school with cameras so it was obviously bullshit. However, parents calling in upset is still a big deal so I was told that I should try to be nicer to him in the future and win the parents over.

The point is that it's basically death by a thousand cuts from little gripes and exaggerated concerns. Another student flat-out lied and said I cussed them out in class. I know that some of this was actually instigated by a staff member who didn't like me. So they encourage students to complain about me. At one point, I know they actually set up a kid's parents to lodge a complaint against me. I know this because the language of the complaint was obviously written by them, and when I was having the parent conference, they actually stayed behind work (something they never did) and didn't leave our adjoining rooms until it was over. They apparently wanted to listen in and see how it went. This conservative teacher at various times: told me the wrong place for a meeting, got kids to say they would show up for an after school event and then not show up, convinced an entire group of students to quit a club I was sponsoring, spread rumors about me to parents.

I'm done

The final straw was covid. I tried to stick it out, but the day a kid told me he wasn't going to wear a mask because "Biden isn't the real President" was the point where I decided I was done. This came from teachers too. The biology teacher wore a mask below their nose. The staff refused to stop having potlucks throughout the entire pandemic. Some people can't be saved.

edit: I forgot to mention the English teacher I met while I was doing my student-teacher training. She was forcing her class to write essays on how Obama wasn't a real US Citizen. All throughout my teacher program, I'd been told over and over that you could get fired for talking politics in the classroom, and this bitch was literally forcing kids to write essays about how Obama was a secret Muslim. And nothing was done about it. She could get away with it because Arkansas is so white and racist. To put it into context, the county she was teaching in was 94% white and voted for Trump by 78% in 2020.

[cryptoquicknews-blog]

New Post has been published here https://is.gd/y522s5

The Strange Case of CCN and the Google June 2019 Core Update

This post was originally published here

Here at Cointelegraph, we were as shocked as everyone else in and around the crypto-sphere when we learned about the abrupt closure of stalwart crypto media outlet CCN. Established at around the same time as Cointelegraph and CoinDesk, CCN spent years competing for the crypto audience.

However, just a couple days later, as many others, we were relieved to hear that CCN was back — although we couldn’t help but feel sceptical regarding several aspects of the story and puzzled by so many questions swirling around it.

How come a key player in our own industry could go down overnight — and then come back so conveniently after a few days? How could a three-letter-dot-com domain commanding millions of monthly visits be so hooked on Google-fed traffic that a single adjustment in the search algorithm, albeit a major one, cost it 90% of ad revenue momentarily?

What was it, really? A targeted, politically motivated character assassination on behalf of the tech giant (as CCN’s founder claimed)? An unfortunate alignment of circumstances with no one in particular to blame? Possibly a PR stunt, or something else? We felt we owed it to the entire industry to take a sober look into this case to find out whether something similar could happen to any of us at any point in the future.

What happened to CCN?

CCN Markets, established in 2013 by the Norwegian entrepreneur Jonas Borchgrevink as CryptoCoinsNews.com, is currently part of the media company Hawkfish AS, which also operates Hacked, a publication that provides analysis on “future assets” like cryptocurrencies and tech stocks; MoneyMakers, a self-identified “tabloid that produces news with a special focus on money”; and HVY.com, a news platform that is designed to promote journalists rather than news stories. One of the largest global crypto-related news outlets, the majority of traffic to ccn.com comes from the U.S. As of early June 2019, the publication reportedly employed more than 60 full-time, part-time and freelance contributors.

On June 10, CCN founder Jonas Borchgrevink addressed the readers with an extensive post, declaring that the website took a massive blow from Google’s June 2019 Core Update and saw mobile traffic from Google searches drop by 71% overnight, as measured by Sistrix’s Visibility Index (the same graph also showed a 53% decline in desktop traffic). This, Borchgrevink claimed, resulted in an immediate 90% decrease in ad revenue. He added that, although CCN had reached even lower visibility scores on a few occasions throughout the past year, the latest dip proved the most devastating because of the recent expansion of its team.

Borchgrevink suspected a possible “general crypto crackdown by Google,” citing smaller but substantial losses on the same metric allegedly sustained by CNN’s competitors — i.e., CoinDesk and Cointelegraph. However, regarding Cointelegraph, the data Borchgrevink cites is inaccurate, based on conversations with Cointelegraph’s SEO team and public data that shows no reversal or even a slowdown around June 10. On the contrary, it reveals a steady upward trend in Cointelegraph’s Alexa Rank dynamics that is visible since mid-May. According to a Forbes article, other prominent publications in the crypto space, such as Coindesk and The Block, also reported insignificant effects from Google’s update.

CCN’s director went on to discuss other potential reasons for the website’s visibility collapse, including Google’s guidelines for additional scrutiny applied to “Your Money, Your Life” websites — in other words, outlets that provide information related to either health or personal finance and are therefore subject to more stringent content quality requirements. Borchgrevink then ruled out the possibility of having been taken down on the grounds of quality, listing all CCN’s well-deserved awards, quality seals, and editorial and business practices that speak in favor of the publication’s blue-ribbon status.

Finally, CCN’s boss turned to politics as an explanation for Google’s allegedly unfavorable treatment of his website. He noted that, despite being pro-free speech and providing a floor for opinions from all over the ideological spectrum, CCN has recently featured a lot of specifically “Pro-Trump” op-eds, which, he implied, was in line with the publication’s “anti-elite, anti-centralization” stance, which Google, according to him, allegedly opposed. He also pointed out that, as a result of the recent update, some right-leaning British newspapers saw their Google traffic decline, while some of their left-leaning counterparts enjoyed gains.

While there are no direct accusations of Google being politically biased in the text, in the accompanying video, rather fierce language is abundant: For one, Borchgrevink calls it a “fascist corporation” that is trying to censor anyone who “remotely dips its toe out of the left-leaning bubble.” This was followed by calls for everyone who cares about free speech to wake up and rally against the “Googlémocracy” and disrupt the overwhelming corrosive corporate power, along with a list of demands for Google.

The meltdown concluded, rather unexpectedly, with a statement of CCN shutting down in the wake of revenue losses incurred thanks to Google. Reluctant to downsize the team, Borchgrevink announced redeploying everyone to HVY.com.

What is a Google Core Update?

As Google’s numerous products and services, from Gmail to Chrome, have come to dominate their respective market segments, the company’s fundamental value proposition lies in fast and relevant search output. In response to a query, the search engine uses a complex system of proprietary algorithms and filters to furnish the user with lists of web pages ranked by relevance, also called search engine results pages (SERPs).

In order to improve the quality of this output, Google introduces hundreds of subtle tweaks to this system every year — of which, most are barely noticeable — and sometimes rolls out major updates that affect the core algorithm’s functionality. The latter often become milestones for entire businesses reliant on Google-generated traffic, severely affecting their bottom line for better or worse.

The Google June 2019 Core Update is the second large-scale adjustment so far this year, and also the first one ever to be announced by the company in advance. The previous update in March focused on areas where the so-called EAT factors (i.e., Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) are deemed the most important, resulting, for example, in massive fluctuations in health care-related websites’ search visibility.

In the wake of that update, Google specifically pointed out that, while improvements are focused on website content, its quality is not a primary criterion, and there is nothing “wrong” with websites that took a dip in visibility rankings. At the same time, there is nothing that could be done to “fix” such websites. With regard to the June update, the precise focus of the adjustment remains unclear, as websites from a variety of regions and subject fields found themselves affected.

As Glen Allsopp, founder of SEO firm Detailed.com, noted to Cointelegraph:

“Past Google updates could certainly be described as targeting certain industries, with an August 2018 update being dubbed ‘Medic’ due to how many health sites were impacted. Health and finance sites appear to have seen big swings once again, as have quite a lot of news sites. That said, this one feels broader to me.”

There are numerous criteria at play when the algorithm determines the rank of a particular web page in search output. Perhaps most prominent in the last few major updates are the aforementioned YMYL and EAT guidelines that prescribe varying quality standards for different categories of websites. In addition, Google routinely locates and takes down various schemes, which shrewd webmasters employ in order to boost traffic and ad revenues.

This Medium post, for instance, describes one such mechanism that large trusted portals use to game the algorithm and profit from the additional unrelated content on their domains. Cointelegraph’s SEO specialists observed that many financial media who took a hit from the June update saw their coupon schemes cut.

Webmaster forum development and CCN’s resurrection

In response to an inquiry from Forbes’ Benjamin Prius, a Google representative reiterated a statement from March 2018 that some websites may experience traffic fluctuations due to a core update. Moreover, the boost for the pages that come to perform better might stem from the fact that they have been undervalued previously. They also pointed to Google webmaster forums as a place to seek advice on issues that arise in the wake of algorithm adjustments.

Indeed, in the original post, CCN’s director reported seeking guidance from the webmaster community but said that their theories explaining the CCN situation did not “appear to be entirely accurate.” Meanwhile, one of the considerations that emerged in that thread around the time of the closure announcement could well be the key to understanding what happened to CCN’s search visibility. Some of the community members noticed that pages from the old domain, cryptocoinsnews.com, resurfaced in search output, redirecting to the current CCN home page — a behavior that one of the webmasters called “a sure fire way to confuse search engines.”

Two days after the closure announcement, Borchgrevink followed up with yet another statement in which he acknowledged the glitch of the old domain showing up in search results — even in search results for recent CCN articles. He also sounded less convinced that the core update was the root of the evil:

“Whether or not the Google June 2019 Core Update is to blame, we are fixing it. […] There’s still a good chance that this won’t correct our visibility on Google overnight, but I’m hopeful we are on the right path to figuring it out.”

And then, even more abruptly than the announcement of CCN shutting down, the announcement of CCN coming back arrived:

“Enough said. CCN.com is back.”

Versions and reactions

Granted, CCN’s own core readership was deeply saddened by the news of CCN’s demise and rejoiced when it was reversed. Some crypto blogs subscribed to the “evil Google” narrative unconditionally; others tried to test their own hypotheses as to what the search engine update could mean for the industry. One of them, Inside Trade, ran an experiment to assess whether the improved algorithm favored websites on Google’s own Adsense network, which yielded mixed results obtained from a tiny sample.

Some of the crypto industry’s experts, though, did not find Borchgrevink’s account of the events all that compelling. “What Bitcoin Did” podcast host Peter McCormack tweeted:

I suspect the closure of CCN is more than just down to a change in the Google algorithm. If the rollout was June 3rd and the decision was a week later, I assume they had bigger problems.

— Peter McCormack (@PeterMcCormack) June 10, 2019

Elad Mor, CEO of MarketAcross and co-founder at InboundJunction — a content marketing, SEO & PR agency for startups — told Cointelegraph that the Google search algorithm might indeed be a headache for publishers, but in this case, it was likely not the only factor:

“Google updates can be vicious. We’ve seen businesses go from hero to zero after massive Google algorithm updates. ‘Notorious’ updates such as Google ‘Panda’ or ‘Penguin’ have left scorched territories behind them and were real game-changers for SEOs and publishers relying on organic traffic.

“We’ve been working with CCN’s news department for a while, their attitude of straight shooting investigative journalism and compromised quality makes me think that this “penalty” is a very technical one and could be sorted by working closely with Google support and adhering to their strict guidelines. There might also be more to the story, since a big website like CCN doesn’t close overnight or changes its decision the day after.”

Trey Ditto, CEO of Ditto PR, a full-service communications firm with crypto and blockchain practice, suspects that more systemic determinants could be at play:

“The media landscape in crypto is shrinking. Either media outlets need to step up to fill the void, or crypto and blockchain projects need to recognize that getting media coverage is a tactic and not a strategy. Most people I’ve talked to don’t seem to be buying the narrative that Google is at fault for CCN’s shutdown. A more logical explanation is that a lot of crypto media outlets are struggling to adapt and mature with the market. If you have a high burn rate or lack a way to monetize outside of ads, you won’t last through the remainder of crypto winter. The same goes for crypto projects: Evolve quickly or die off.”

So, it may appear that at least one of the immediate reasons behind the CCN’s search visibility nosedive was in fact not triggered by the Google June 2019 Core Update, but merely coincided with it. From conversations with Cointelegraph’s SEO team, it emerged that the old domain’s sudden comeback was likely prompted by its 301 redirect — a tool used to establish a permanent redirect from one URL to another — breaking down, which resulted in old pages appearing in the search index again. As two sets of pages with identical content surfaced, Google’s algorithm identified them as a dishonest attempt at gaining visibility and began lowering their ranking accordingly.

Not all SEO professionals subscribe to this view. Glen Allsopp observed to Cointelegraph that the redirect seems to be in place still:

“This is not common, unless the old domain is resurrected in some form, which doesn’t appear to have been the case for CCN and their previous domain, cryptocoinsnews.com. You can check Archive.org and all June mentions show their domain redirect still in place. I saw the comments regarding their old domain now ranking in search results but two premium third-party analysis tools I use – Ahrefs and Sistrix – both fail to show any search visibility at all for their old domain name. They may have missed it, but I would be very surprised by that”

The confusion around what has really happened to CCN’s traffic, of course, does not mean that Google’s enormous and unchecked power over online search, advertising and publishing industries is not a pressing issue — or that online journalism’s dominant ad-based business model is not flawed.

Acquisition attempt

Shortly after the news of CCN’s shutdown hit the press, unverified claims of the publication’s attempted acquisition began to circulate online. The alleged benefactor was also specified: Stankevicius MGM, a global PR and advertising firm headquartered in the UAE. If the validity of these talks is not unfounded, the timing of the events would be crucial to understand whether the attempted deal had any influence on the general plot line.

Roma Stankeviciene, Stankevicius MGM’s executive vice president, confirmed that the negotiations did indeed take place. In fact, it turns out that CCN received more than one offer in between shutting down and coming back:

“CCN CEO’s message was quite convincing, so yes, our CEO approached them to discuss whether a sale or an M&A. We were willing to offer 7 digits net for the media site. We didn’t keep this as a secret, and told colleagues and business contacts about our interest in CCN, and so the talks spread.

“We noticed once our story hit the news, another media company decided to make an offer as well, and it was kind of a copycat move in a way because we actually approached the CCN first right after their announcement and we were serious about it, and having another company drop into the deal with a new offer only make things complicated.

“However, later we heard that CCN was not selling anymore as they got their traffic back from Google. It’s unfortunate, we would have done something great with the site.”

The statement therefore suggests that the acquisition negotiations did not prompt the shutdown. If anything, they could only trigger CCN’s decision to go back up defiantly. Meanwhile, Stankevicius MGM executives remained unconvinced by the publication’s own version of the story:

“They claimed that they lost traffic, still even if they lost it, they had more than enough traffic and brand awareness to keep the business going. […] We still think internally that their announcement was not true.”

Amid all the uncertainty, InboundJunction’s Mor aptly summarized:

“Whatever the reason is, we’re happy they are still in the game.”

#crypto #cryptocurrency #btc #xrp #litecoin #altcoin #money #currency #finance #news #alts #hodl #coindesk #cointelegraph #dollar #bitcoin View the website

New Post has been published here https://is.gd/y522s5

[obscure--cartoon-facts-blog]

*soft and melodius voice*Pin-wheel!

Pinwheel was a compilation series on Nickelodeon that ran from I believe the 70s-90s! It imported shorts from around the world and showcased them on the channel. It was a fairly popular compilation series, with varying degrees of quality from the animation. The most they (probably)ever spent was translating and dubbing the cartoons. I haven’t actually touched the available tapes,and the general nervousness I feel watching “ghost media” tends to get in the way :/

The short I wanna talk about has quite a history. It started off as a thread by a user on a forum called The Flood, just a guy wondering about an old short, trying to see if anyone had it so he could relive an intense part of his childhood. But oh how fast things spiralled out. He had listed 4 clues 1)he already checked major sources 2) it was from nick’s compilation series called pinwheel 3)it would’ve aired in the late 70s 4)it had weird, paper type claymation with low quality puppets

(here’s his rendition of how he remembered the “clockman” short :0

He gave a plot synopsis from his memory as a sick child at age 6(so it would’ve been inaccurate,but some details could’ve stayed intact with his recollection!) And surprisingly,even with all the skeptics(and those who even accused it of being a ripoff candle cove -_-) someone actually remembered!!!

More and more people told what bits and pieces they remembered accurately from the short(which by themselves don't mean alot) but if you piece it all together, you have a pretty solid plot synopsis for the short!

So the story the original poster told on the forum told was p different from the synopsis ended up being.... but!!!! that's probably because he’s pulling the memory from when he was a small, sick child. it’s actually super impressive tht he got enough details right to remind people of it in the first place!!!!

The current story is that a little girl loses a pair of shoes given to her by her mother, so she goes to the wizard(cloooooccckkk maaaan) to get a new pair. He says he’ll do it, but the girl has to tell her mother! She says “yeah!” but she doesn't tell her mom :( So the wizard comes at night and is like >:0 The girl solves the problem by helping the wizard sew stars into the sky(the stars apparantly had a felty texture??? I'm okay w/that man felt is an okay texture)and when the morning comes around the girl tells her mom about everything!

People have tried to pin down the fable(fairy tale??? idk which label is better)and its country of origin(bc pinwheel took stuff from around the world) to try and maybe track down the original, English dub or not :0

The pinwheel VHS set we have found doesn't seem to contain the short, soooo the best shot the lost media wiki friends have is to try and contact people who worked on pinwheel(or the heirs of the people who worked on pinwheel) to try and find the cloooooccckkk maaaaannn!!!!

[gordonwilliamsweb]

Readers And Tweeters Fired Up Over Employer’s No-Nicotine Policy

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names.

On Board With Snubbing Smokers?

Regarding U-Haul, good for them (“Smokers Need Not Apply: Fairness Of No-Nicotine Hiring Policies Questioned,” Jan. 13). I don’t like being around smokers. I have asthma, and the smoke also gives me a headache. I would like to see stronger efforts to get people to quit. I realize that poor people are more likely to smoke and will sometimes tell them, “You can’t afford the effects of your habit.” I also nag people smoking around me until they stop or go away.

— Therese Shellabarger, North Hollywood, California

The argument has always been that smokers use more in healthcare than nonsmoking peers… when in truth because they die earlier they actually use less… let people do what they want

— Matt Neumann (@neumann58) January 15, 2020

— Matt Neumann, LaGrange, Ohio

From my observations working in the insurance industry for 30 years, smokers are less productive workers. Low-level employees sometimes used their breaks — including bathroom and lunch breaks — to smoke. Salaried employees took more than the authorized number of breaks whenever they felt the urge to smoke, reasoning that as long as they got their work done, they didn’t have to abide by the rule hourly employees adhered to.

Co-workers who smoked often seemed less attentive to detail and couldn’t cope with work stress as well as nonsmokers. Their preoccupation with when they could go outside and smoke a cigarette took priority over work, and it often took longer for them to get their work done. Employees were offered free smoking-cessation programs, but few succeeded in quitting the habit.

If employees drank alcohol on the job during their breaks, they would get fired. With marijuana legalization, are companies going to treat marijuana smokers the same as cigarette smokers? Of course not.

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Smoking is bad for our health, and that’s a fact. It’s not discrimination to not hire smokers, and vaping should be included in the smoking category. Many employers do drug testing occasionally to make sure their employees are not smoking weed or other illicit drugs, and they could be terminated if the drug test is positive.

Sure, some people might ask: What about employees who refuse to eat well to lose weight and prevent diabetes? Employers cannot control their employees’ diet habits or smoking or drug use habits. I can see why smokers cried foul that U-Haul refused to hire smokers.

The other thing is, cigarettes are so expensive to buy. Why do low-income people continue to smoke? Because it’s addictive, and they can’t quit. So they’d rather starve or skimp on medication than quit smoking — whether cigarettes or vaping or marijuana.

If all employers started to set standards about hiring, perhaps more people would work harder to quit the nasty habits that will kill them and affect the people around them. Our society respects democracy and personal freedom, but we are paying for it in health costs.

— Lena Conway, Naperville, Illinois

Playing Catch-Up On Healthy Living

I find it most amusing that articles such as “Extending ‘Healthspan’: Brain Scientists Tap Into The Secrets Of Living Well Longer” (Jan. 2) are — over the past 18 months — in the news regularly. More than three decades ago, when I was a chiropractic student, exercise and healthy eating — wellness and well-being — were promoted and taught. However, it not being from the God-Almighty, know-all “medical” profession, it was ignored or even dismissed.

Amusing. Most amusing. At least for a wellness-based chiropractor with 30 years in practice and certified with the Athletic and Fitness Association of America, practicing for 23 years, who has walked the talk of healthy living since learning about it in chiropractic school. Especially as I watch those in my age (59) group who have until recently been sedentary and engaging in sloth and gluttony now scramble to “get healthy” … most with little success as they experience the effort and time (they are still unwilling to make) to exercise daily and eliminate the junk they eat for a healthier diet.

— David Robinson, New Bedford, Massachusetts

Get outside, in the light, move and stay connected mentally. Hey, isn’t that synonymous with living? https://t.co/KwwLzphe7N

— David Voran, MD (@dvoran) January 2, 2020

— Dr. David Voran, Kansas City, Missouri

Lead Aprons And Sticky Labels

I’m writing to draw your attention to a term used in your story “No Shield From X-Rays: How Science Is Rethinking Lead Aprons” (Jan. 15).

In the first line of the piece, the term “technician” is used to refer to the practitioners who perform X-ray procedures. As a clarification, we advise using the term “technologist” when referring to medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals. Radiologic technologists are educated in anatomy, patient positioning, examination techniques, equipment protocols, radiation safety, radiation protection and basic patient care. The medical community and American Society of Radiologic Technologists use the term “technologist,” which accurately reflects the educational level, responsibilities and skill set of registered and certified radiologic technologists.

As the professional society that represents the country’s radiologic technologists, we reach out to news outlets and request that they use the term “technologists” when referring to medical imaging professionals. As reported in the story, Drs. Feinstein and Marsh refer to their staff medical imaging professionals as “technologists.” We’re confident that the terminology more accurately represents the profession and is the standard usage among health care providers, educators and the broader medical community.

— Greg Crutcher, public relations manager, American Society of Radiologic Technologists, Albuquerque, New Mexico

I am going to follow this! We have been digital since we opened in 2008, so this hasn't applied as much to us. Digital films offer up to 70% less radiation.https://t.co/2sZJasVi9h

— Sheila Samaddar (@DrSheSam) January 16, 2020

— Dr. Sheila Samadarr, Washington, D.C.

In The Media Dance, Misleading Missteps

The interview with Seema Verma (“One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma,” Jan. 3) was notable for its lack of clarity on Verma’s part. She danced around so much that she could have been on “Dancing With the Stars,” but never directly answered questions such as what the Trump administration would do if the ACA were abolished via the courts as she and the administration want. She also misled the reader about Medicare, one of our most popular programs.

Medicare is not disliked by participants. In fact, it is rated higher in satisfaction than private-sector insurance. Verma’s free-market ideology appears to be causing her to misstate the facts, a frequent issue in this administration.

�� Jack Bernard, former director of Georgia’s Office of Health Planning, Peachtree City, Georgia

⁦@SeemaCMS⁩ masterclass in avoiding every single question: One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma | Kaiser Health News https://t.co/4q6fovJyvw

— Richard James (@pennnursinglib) January 3, 2020

— Richard James, Philadelphia

‘Nurturing’ Takes Time

The title of the piece “Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints” (Jan. 8) is inaccurate. The article reports on how a 90-day intervention to reduce costs in the sickest patients did not show any benefit. However, truly nurturing the sickest is not something that can be done successfully in 90 days. I think it suggests how degenerate American health care has become when such a short intervention can be referred to as “nurturing.” Perhaps a better title might be “Putting a Band-Aid on a Chronic Ulcer Is Useless.”

— Dr. Joseph P. Arpaia, Eugene, Oregon

#HealthCare is a #HumanRight, but it's not #community and it's not safe and affordable #housing. I do appreciate what the Camden Coalition was trying to do, but this research shows that w/out all of these things, a healthy life is real hard to achieve. https://t.co/ZPV3rXCVjn

— (((Leah Ida Harris))) 🌹 (@leahida) January 10, 2020

— Leah Harris, Arlington, Virginia

Shedding Light On Violent Patients

I want to thank Heidi De Marco for her great article about violence in hospitals (“Postcard From San Diego: Patient-Induced Trauma: Hospitals Learn To Defuse Violence,” Dec. 6). I am an occupational therapist who used to work in a hospital. Once an 87-year-old woman with dementia grabbed me by the neck, lifted me off the floor and was getting ready to punch me with her other hand. As a former victim of domestic assault, I knew the best strategy when being choked is to try to relax as much as possible. I had orders to walk the woman, but she thought I was trying to rob her. Found out she needed four security guards when she was in the ER. I ended up going to the ER myself.

The situation was especially difficult because: 1) I didn’t feel I could fight back for fear of losing my job. 2) I didn’t feel right pressing charges against her, also for fear of retaliation, and it’s not as if the woman was in her right mind. But because I didn’t press charges, the incident went unreported. I am not even sure what the answer is, but I am glad your article is bringing this to light. Thank you!

— Stephanie Blossomgame, Villa Park, Illinois

Have seen a lot of coverage lately of the issue of violence in the workplace as experienced by health care workers. We need to have a conversation about this. NO ONE deserves to be hurt on the job. No one. Everyone deserves a safe workplace. But…(thread) https://t.co/rIZcegjn84

— Kathy Flaherty (@ConnConnection) December 8, 2019

— Kathy Flaherty, Newington, Connecticut

Launch A Broad Investigation Abroad?

I am an American who works as a health economics researcher in Japan. I wanted to let KHN know how important this journalism project is: exposing health care billing that drives up the cost of insurance — even if insurance “covers” some charges upfront (“Bill of the Month: For Her Head Cold, Insurer Coughed Up $25,865,” Dec. 23). The fact that this overly complex and inefficient system is tolerated is baffling to me. I was in very deep with the U.S. system when I returned from Japan to the U.S. for emergency chemo and stem-cell transplant for leukemia (thank goodness I still had U.S. insurance!). While I received excellent care at that time, I now continue to receive follow-up care in Japan, which is just as advanced in terms of tech and more so for systematic efficiency. I use the national health insurance, and — even in another language — testing, billing, wait times, cost are all a breeze.

I wonder if KHN/NPR could compare the U.S. with health care systems of other high-income countries (Singapore, Finland, etc.), using real-world patient experiences? I think there is a common misconception that the U.S. way is the only way. Anyway, thank you very much for your hard work on this important topic.

— Russell Miller, San Diego and Tokyo

It should be considered malpractice for these doctors that concoct these dreadful schemes with shady business people. This fleecing activity needs to be called out just as much as that of hospitals, insurance companies, pharma and benefit consultants. https://t.co/V5Or5XbsbB

— Dr. Christopher Crow (@DrCCrow) December 23, 2019

— Dr. Christopher Crow, Plano, Texas

Doctor in this case should be charged with FRAUD. What a crook. https://t.co/nqnzVg4Hd8

— Wayne Allyn Root (@RealWayneRoot) December 24, 2019

— Wayne Allyn Root, Las Vegas

Readers And Tweeters Fired Up Over Employer’s No-Nicotine Policy published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[dinafbrownil]

Readers And Tweeters Fired Up Over Employer’s No-Nicotine Policy

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names.

On Board With Snubbing Smokers?

Regarding U-Haul, good for them (“Smokers Need Not Apply: Fairness Of No-Nicotine Hiring Policies Questioned,” Jan. 13). I don’t like being around smokers. I have asthma, and the smoke also gives me a headache. I would like to see stronger efforts to get people to quit. I realize that poor people are more likely to smoke and will sometimes tell them, “You can’t afford the effects of your habit.” I also nag people smoking around me until they stop or go away.

— Therese Shellabarger, North Hollywood, California

The argument has always been that smokers use more in healthcare than nonsmoking peers… when in truth because they die earlier they actually use less… let people do what they want

— Matt Neumann (@neumann58) January 15, 2020

— Matt Neumann, LaGrange, Ohio

From my observations working in the insurance industry for 30 years, smokers are less productive workers. Low-level employees sometimes used their breaks — including bathroom and lunch breaks — to smoke. Salaried employees took more than the authorized number of breaks whenever they felt the urge to smoke, reasoning that as long as they got their work done, they didn’t have to abide by the rule hourly employees adhered to.

Co-workers who smoked often seemed less attentive to detail and couldn’t cope with work stress as well as nonsmokers. Their preoccupation with when they could go outside and smoke a cigarette took priority over work, and it often took longer for them to get their work done. Employees were offered free smoking-cessation programs, but few succeeded in quitting the habit.

If employees drank alcohol on the job during their breaks, they would get fired. With marijuana legalization, are companies going to treat marijuana smokers the same as cigarette smokers? Of course not.

Email Sign-Up

Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.

Sign Up

Please confirm your email address below:

Sign Up

Smoking is bad for our health, and that’s a fact. It’s not discrimination to not hire smokers, and vaping should be included in the smoking category. Many employers do drug testing occasionally to make sure their employees are not smoking weed or other illicit drugs, and they could be terminated if the drug test is positive.

Sure, some people might ask: What about employees who refuse to eat well to lose weight and prevent diabetes? Employers cannot control their employees’ diet habits or smoking or drug use habits. I can see why smokers cried foul that U-Haul refused to hire smokers.

The other thing is, cigarettes are so expensive to buy. Why do low-income people continue to smoke? Because it’s addictive, and they can’t quit. So they’d rather starve or skimp on medication than quit smoking — whether cigarettes or vaping or marijuana.

If all employers started to set standards about hiring, perhaps more people would work harder to quit the nasty habits that will kill them and affect the people around them. Our society respects democracy and personal freedom, but we are paying for it in health costs.

— Lena Conway, Naperville, Illinois

Playing Catch-Up On Healthy Living

I find it most amusing that articles such as “Extending ‘Healthspan’: Brain Scientists Tap Into The Secrets Of Living Well Longer” (Jan. 2) are — over the past 18 months ��� in the news regularly. More than three decades ago, when I was a chiropractic student, exercise and healthy eating — wellness and well-being — were promoted and taught. However, it not being from the God-Almighty, know-all “medical” profession, it was ignored or even dismissed.

Amusing. Most amusing. At least for a wellness-based chiropractor with 30 years in practice and certified with the Athletic and Fitness Association of America, practicing for 23 years, who has walked the talk of healthy living since learning about it in chiropractic school. Especially as I watch those in my age (59) group who have until recently been sedentary and engaging in sloth and gluttony now scramble to “get healthy” … most with little success as they experience the effort and time (they are still unwilling to make) to exercise daily and eliminate the junk they eat for a healthier diet.

— David Robinson, New Bedford, Massachusetts

Get outside, in the light, move and stay connected mentally. Hey, isn’t that synonymous with living? https://t.co/KwwLzphe7N

— David Voran, MD (@dvoran) January 2, 2020

— Dr. David Voran, Kansas City, Missouri

Lead Aprons And Sticky Labels

I’m writing to draw your attention to a term used in your story “No Shield From X-Rays: How Science Is Rethinking Lead Aprons” (Jan. 15).

In the first line of the piece, the term “technician” is used to refer to the practitioners who perform X-ray procedures. As a clarification, we advise using the term “technologist” when referring to medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals. Radiologic technologists are educated in anatomy, patient positioning, examination techniques, equipment protocols, radiation safety, radiation protection and basic patient care. The medical community and American Society of Radiologic Technologists use the term “technologist,” which accurately reflects the educational level, responsibilities and skill set of registered and certified radiologic technologists.

As the professional society that represents the country’s radiologic technologists, we reach out to news outlets and request that they use the term “technologists” when referring to medical imaging professionals. As reported in the story, Drs. Feinstein and Marsh refer to their staff medical imaging professionals as “technologists.” We’re confident that the terminology more accurately represents the profession and is the standard usage among health care providers, educators and the broader medical community.

— Greg Crutcher, public relations manager, American Society of Radiologic Technologists, Albuquerque, New Mexico

I am going to follow this! We have been digital since we opened in 2008, so this hasn't applied as much to us. Digital films offer up to 70% less radiation.https://t.co/2sZJasVi9h

— Sheila Samaddar (@DrSheSam) January 16, 2020

— Dr. Sheila Samadarr, Washington, D.C.

In The Media Dance, Misleading Missteps

The interview with Seema Verma (“One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma,” Jan. 3) was notable for its lack of clarity on Verma’s part. She danced around so much that she could have been on “Dancing With the Stars,” but never directly answered questions such as what the Trump administration would do if the ACA were abolished via the courts as she and the administration want. She also misled the reader about Medicare, one of our most popular programs.

Medicare is not disliked by participants. In fact, it is rated higher in satisfaction than private-sector insurance. Verma’s free-market ideology appears to be causing her to misstate the facts, a frequent issue in this administration.

— Jack Bernard, former director of Georgia’s Office of Health Planning, Peachtree City, Georgia

⁦@SeemaCMS⁩ masterclass in avoiding every single question: One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma | Kaiser Health News https://t.co/4q6fovJyvw

— Richard James (@pennnursinglib) January 3, 2020

— Richard James, Philadelphia

‘Nurturing’ Takes Time

The title of the piece “Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints” (Jan. 8) is inaccurate. The article reports on how a 90-day intervention to reduce costs in the sickest patients did not show any benefit. However, truly nurturing the sickest is not something that can be done successfully in 90 days. I think it suggests how degenerate American health care has become when such a short intervention can be referred to as “nurturing.” Perhaps a better title might be “Putting a Band-Aid on a Chronic Ulcer Is Useless.”

— Dr. Joseph P. Arpaia, Eugene, Oregon

#HealthCare is a #HumanRight, but it's not #community and it's not safe and affordable #housing. I do appreciate what the Camden Coalition was trying to do, but this research shows that w/out all of these things, a healthy life is real hard to achieve. https://t.co/ZPV3rXCVjn

— (((Leah Ida Harris))) 🌹 (@leahida) January 10, 2020

— Leah Harris, Arlington, Virginia

Shedding Light On Violent Patients

I want to thank Heidi De Marco for her great article about violence in hospitals (“Postcard From San Diego: Patient-Induced Trauma: Hospitals Learn To Defuse Violence,” Dec. 6). I am an occupational therapist who used to work in a hospital. Once an 87-year-old woman with dementia grabbed me by the neck, lifted me off the floor and was getting ready to punch me with her other hand. As a former victim of domestic assault, I knew the best strategy when being choked is to try to relax as much as possible. I had orders to walk the woman, but she thought I was trying to rob her. Found out she needed four security guards when she was in the ER. I ended up going to the ER myself.

The situation was especially difficult because: 1) I didn’t feel I could fight back for fear of losing my job. 2) I didn’t feel right pressing charges against her, also for fear of retaliation, and it’s not as if the woman was in her right mind. But because I didn’t press charges, the incident went unreported. I am not even sure what the answer is, but I am glad your article is bringing this to light. Thank you!

— Stephanie Blossomgame, Villa Park, Illinois

Have seen a lot of coverage lately of the issue of violence in the workplace as experienced by health care workers. We need to have a conversation about this. NO ONE deserves to be hurt on the job. No one. Everyone deserves a safe workplace. But…(thread) https://t.co/rIZcegjn84

— Kathy Flaherty (@ConnConnection) December 8, 2019

— Kathy Flaherty, Newington, Connecticut

Launch A Broad Investigation Abroad?

I am an American who works as a health economics researcher in Japan. I wanted to let KHN know how important this journalism project is: exposing health care billing that drives up the cost of insurance — even if insurance “covers” some charges upfront (“Bill of the Month: For Her Head Cold, Insurer Coughed Up $25,865,” Dec. 23). The fact that this overly complex and inefficient system is tolerated is baffling to me. I was in very deep with the U.S. system when I returned from Japan to the U.S. for emergency chemo and stem-cell transplant for leukemia (thank goodness I still had U.S. insurance!). While I received excellent care at that time, I now continue to receive follow-up care in Japan, which is just as advanced in terms of tech and more so for systematic efficiency. I use the national health insurance, and — even in another language — testing, billing, wait times, cost are all a breeze.

I wonder if KHN/NPR could compare the U.S. with health care systems of other high-income countries (Singapore, Finland, etc.), using real-world patient experiences? I think there is a common misconception that the U.S. way is the only way. Anyway, thank you very much for your hard work on this important topic.

— Russell Miller, San Diego and Tokyo

It should be considered malpractice for these doctors that concoct these dreadful schemes with shady business people. This fleecing activity needs to be called out just as much as that of hospitals, insurance companies, pharma and benefit consultants. https://t.co/V5Or5XbsbB

— Dr. Christopher Crow (@DrCCrow) December 23, 2019

— Dr. Christopher Crow, Plano, Texas

Doctor in this case should be charged with FRAUD. What a crook. https://t.co/nqnzVg4Hd8

— Wayne Allyn Root (@RealWayneRoot) December 24, 2019

— Wayne Allyn Root, Las Vegas

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/letters-to-editor-january-readers-and-tweeters-no-nicotine-hiring-policy/

[stephenmccull]

Readers And Tweeters Fired Up Over Employer’s No-Nicotine Policy

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names.

On Board With Snubbing Smokers?

Regarding U-Haul, good for them (“Smokers Need Not Apply: Fairness Of No-Nicotine Hiring Policies Questioned,” Jan. 13). I don’t like being around smokers. I have asthma, and the smoke also gives me a headache. I would like to see stronger efforts to get people to quit. I realize that poor people are more likely to smoke and will sometimes tell them, “You can’t afford the effects of your habit.” I also nag people smoking around me until they stop or go away.

— Therese Shellabarger, North Hollywood, California

The argument has always been that smokers use more in healthcare than nonsmoking peers… when in truth because they die earlier they actually use less… let people do what they want

— Matt Neumann (@neumann58) January 15, 2020

— Matt Neumann, LaGrange, Ohio

From my observations working in the insurance industry for 30 years, smokers are less productive workers. Low-level employees sometimes used their breaks — including bathroom and lunch breaks — to smoke. Salaried employees took more than the authorized number of breaks whenever they felt the urge to smoke, reasoning that as long as they got their work done, they didn’t have to abide by the rule hourly employees adhered to.

Co-workers who smoked often seemed less attentive to detail and couldn’t cope with work stress as well as nonsmokers. Their preoccupation with when they could go outside and smoke a cigarette took priority over work, and it often took longer for them to get their work done. Employees were offered free smoking-cessation programs, but few succeeded in quitting the habit.

If employees drank alcohol on the job during their breaks, they would get fired. With marijuana legalization, are companies going to treat marijuana smokers the same as cigarette smokers? Of course not.

Email Sign-Up

Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.

Sign Up

Please confirm your email address below:

Sign Up

Smoking is bad for our health, and that’s a fact. It’s not discrimination to not hire smokers, and vaping should be included in the smoking category. Many employers do drug testing occasionally to make sure their employees are not smoking weed or other illicit drugs, and they could be terminated if the drug test is positive.

Sure, some people might ask: What about employees who refuse to eat well to lose weight and prevent diabetes? Employers cannot control their employees’ diet habits or smoking or drug use habits. I can see why smokers cried foul that U-Haul refused to hire smokers.

The other thing is, cigarettes are so expensive to buy. Why do low-income people continue to smoke? Because it’s addictive, and they can’t quit. So they’d rather starve or skimp on medication than quit smoking — whether cigarettes or vaping or marijuana.

If all employers started to set standards about hiring, perhaps more people would work harder to quit the nasty habits that will kill them and affect the people around them. Our society respects democracy and personal freedom, but we are paying for it in health costs.

— Lena Conway, Naperville, Illinois

Playing Catch-Up On Healthy Living

I find it most amusing that articles such as “Extending ‘Healthspan’: Brain Scientists Tap Into The Secrets Of Living Well Longer” (Jan. 2) are — over the past 18 months — in the news regularly. More than three decades ago, when I was a chiropractic student, exercise and healthy eating — wellness and well-being — were promoted and taught. However, it not being from the God-Almighty, know-all “medical” profession, it was ignored or even dismissed.

Amusing. Most amusing. At least for a wellness-based chiropractor with 30 years in practice and certified with the Athletic and Fitness Association of America, practicing for 23 years, who has walked the talk of healthy living since learning about it in chiropractic school. Especially as I watch those in my age (59) group who have until recently been sedentary and engaging in sloth and gluttony now scramble to “get healthy” … most with little success as they experience the effort and time (they are still unwilling to make) to exercise daily and eliminate the junk they eat for a healthier diet.

— David Robinson, New Bedford, Massachusetts

Get outside, in the light, move and stay connected mentally. Hey, isn’t that synonymous with living? https://t.co/KwwLzphe7N

— David Voran, MD (@dvoran) January 2, 2020

— Dr. David Voran, Kansas City, Missouri

Lead Aprons And Sticky Labels

I’m writing to draw your attention to a term used in your story “No Shield From X-Rays: How Science Is Rethinking Lead Aprons” (Jan. 15).

In the first line of the piece, the term “technician” is used to refer to the practitioners who perform X-ray procedures. As a clarification, we advise using the term “technologist” when referring to medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals. Radiologic technologists are educated in anatomy, patient positioning, examination techniques, equipment protocols, radiation safety, radiation protection and basic patient care. The medical community and American Society of Radiologic Technologists use the term “technologist,” which accurately reflects the educational level, responsibilities and skill set of registered and certified radiologic technologists.

As the professional society that represents the country’s radiologic technologists, we reach out to news outlets and request that they use the term “technologists” when referring to medical imaging professionals. As reported in the story, Drs. Feinstein and Marsh refer to their staff medical imaging professionals as “technologists.” We’re confident that the terminology more accurately represents the profession and is the standard usage among health care providers, educators and the broader medical community.

— Greg Crutcher, public relations manager, American Society of Radiologic Technologists, Albuquerque, New Mexico

I am going to follow this! We have been digital since we opened in 2008, so this hasn't applied as much to us. Digital films offer up to 70% less radiation.https://t.co/2sZJasVi9h

— Sheila Samaddar (@DrSheSam) January 16, 2020

— Dr. Sheila Samadarr, Washington, D.C.

In The Media Dance, Misleading Missteps

The interview with Seema Verma (“One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma,” Jan. 3) was notable for its lack of clarity on Verma’s part. She danced around so much that she could have been on “Dancing With the Stars,” but never directly answered questions such as what the Trump administration would do if the ACA were abolished via the courts as she and the administration want. She also misled the reader about Medicare, one of our most popular programs.

Medicare is not disliked by participants. In fact, it is rated higher in satisfaction than private-sector insurance. Verma’s free-market ideology appears to be causing her to misstate the facts, a frequent issue in this administration.

— Jack Bernard, former director of Georgia’s Office of Health Planning, Peachtree City, Georgia

⁦@SeemaCMS⁩ masterclass in avoiding every single question: One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma | Kaiser Health News https://t.co/4q6fovJyvw

— Richard James (@pennnursinglib) January 3, 2020

— Richard James, Philadelphia

‘Nurturing’ Takes Time

The title of the piece “Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints” (Jan. 8) is inaccurate. The article reports on how a 90-day intervention to reduce costs in the sickest patients did not show any benefit. However, truly nurturing the sickest is not something that can be done successfully in 90 days. I think it suggests how degenerate American health care has become when such a short intervention can be referred to as “nurturing.” Perhaps a better title might be “Putting a Band-Aid on a Chronic Ulcer Is Useless.”

— Dr. Joseph P. Arpaia, Eugene, Oregon

#HealthCare is a #HumanRight, but it's not #community and it's not safe and affordable #housing. I do appreciate what the Camden Coalition was trying to do, but this research shows that w/out all of these things, a healthy life is real hard to achieve. https://t.co/ZPV3rXCVjn

— (((Leah Ida Harris))) 🌹 (@leahida) January 10, 2020

— Leah Harris, Arlington, Virginia

Shedding Light On Violent Patients

I want to thank Heidi De Marco for her great article about violence in hospitals (“Postcard From San Diego: Patient-Induced Trauma: Hospitals Learn To Defuse Violence,” Dec. 6). I am an occupational therapist who used to work in a hospital. Once an 87-year-old woman with dementia grabbed me by the neck, lifted me off the floor and was getting ready to punch me with her other hand. As a former victim of domestic assault, I knew the best strategy when being choked is to try to relax as much as possible. I had orders to walk the woman, but she thought I was trying to rob her. Found out she needed four security guards when she was in the ER. I ended up going to the ER myself.

The situation was especially difficult because: 1) I didn’t feel I could fight back for fear of losing my job. 2) I didn’t feel right pressing charges against her, also for fear of retaliation, and it’s not as if the woman was in her right mind. But because I didn’t press charges, the incident went unreported. I am not even sure what the answer is, but I am glad your article is bringing this to light. Thank you!

— Stephanie Blossomgame, Villa Park, Illinois

Have seen a lot of coverage lately of the issue of violence in the workplace as experienced by health care workers. We need to have a conversation about this. NO ONE deserves to be hurt on the job. No one. Everyone deserves a safe workplace. But…(thread) https://t.co/rIZcegjn84

— Kathy Flaherty (@ConnConnection) December 8, 2019

— Kathy Flaherty, Newington, Connecticut

Launch A Broad Investigation Abroad?

I am an American who works as a health economics researcher in Japan. I wanted to let KHN know how important this journalism project is: exposing health care billing that drives up the cost of insurance — even if insurance “covers” some charges upfront (“Bill of the Month: For Her Head Cold, Insurer Coughed Up $25,865,” Dec. 23). The fact that this overly complex and inefficient system is tolerated is baffling to me. I was in very deep with the U.S. system when I returned from Japan to the U.S. for emergency chemo and stem-cell transplant for leukemia (thank goodness I still had U.S. insurance!). While I received excellent care at that time, I now continue to receive follow-up care in Japan, which is just as advanced in terms of tech and more so for systematic efficiency. I use the national health insurance, and — even in another language — testing, billing, wait times, cost are all a breeze.

I wonder if KHN/NPR could compare the U.S. with health care systems of other high-income countries (Singapore, Finland, etc.), using real-world patient experiences? I think there is a common misconception that the U.S. way is the only way. Anyway, thank you very much for your hard work on this important topic.

— Russell Miller, San Diego and Tokyo

It should be considered malpractice for these doctors that concoct these dreadful schemes with shady business people. This fleecing activity needs to be called out just as much as that of hospitals, insurance companies, pharma and benefit consultants. https://t.co/V5Or5XbsbB

— Dr. Christopher Crow (@DrCCrow) December 23, 2019

— Dr. Christopher Crow, Plano, Texas

Doctor in this case should be charged with FRAUD. What a crook. https://t.co/nqnzVg4Hd8

— Wayne Allyn Root (@RealWayneRoot) December 24, 2019

— Wayne Allyn Root, Las Vegas

Readers And Tweeters Fired Up Over Employer’s No-Nicotine Policy published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[jurassicparkpodcast]

The Science of Jurassic Park & More: Part Two

Today we are incredibly excited to be continuing our deep-dive into the world of palaeontology with Doctor David Button from London’s Natural History Museum.

In Part One, David tackled questions such as feathers on dinosaurs, the pose-ability of Sauropod’s necks, and much more. If you missed it, click here to take a read.

All images in the article ahead are also courtesy of our friends at Jurassic Vault – so go show them some love if you haven’t already!

We’re excited to dive into today’s part – where we will kick off by talking about new dinosaur species!

Any dinos we don’t know about yet?

Yep: many new dinosaur species are still being discovered every year, and this shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Some of these are very unusual – for example the ‘batwing’ dinosaurus Yi and Ambopteryx have only been discovered in the past couple of years. So, amazing things are undoubtedly still to be discovered.

What are the chances of finding another BIG carnivore or sauropod, like bigger than anything known right now?

Interestingly, recent years have seen the discovery of multiple species of very large sauropods – e.g. Dreadnoughtus in 2014, Notocolossus in 2016, and Patagotitan in 2017. Cretaceous fossil sites in South America are becoming increasingly well-known, and Cretaceous strata across Africa are also starting to be better explored. These are both times and places from which titanosaurs were particularly common, and so are the most likely places to yield both new exceptionally large sauropods, and massive theropods that may have fed on them. So, I reckon there is a good chance of finding more colossal dinosaurs in the future.

Were dinosaur’s adequate swimmers? Also, how long did young dinos stay in their "fledgling" stage with mother? Is there a way to tell?

The powerful legs of dinosaurs meant that most were probably competent swimmers. Evidence from oxygen isotopes, preserved gut contents and tooth marks indicates that spinosaurids mainly ate aquatic organisms and probably spent a lot of time in the water – indicating that they must have been able to swim well. The unusual dromaeosaurid Halszkaraptor, meanwhile, shows skeletal characteristics very similar to living aquatic birds, with powerful kicking legs, and short, flipper-like forelimbs. It also seems to have been semiaquatic in lifestyle.

An exception to this may be provided by the ceratopsians. Multiple large bone beds are known which preserve the remains of ceratopsian herds that drowned in flash floods. Hadrosaurs, meanwhile, were common in the same times and places, but do not occur in these death assemblages. Modelling of the centre of gravity shows that the heavy heads of ceratopsians would have pulled them forwards in the water, making it difficult for them to stay afloat. It hence seems that, during these events, hadrosaurs were able to easily swim to safety whereas many more ceratopsians struggled and drowned.

It is hard to tell how long dinosaur chicks stayed with their parents – or, in many cases, whether parental care was performed at all. Footprint evidence shows young dinosaurs associating with adults, but it is unclear whether these represent parents with their babies, or simply casual mixed-age associations. Furthermore, age segregated trackways are also known. Collections of footprints from a small number of differently-sized individuals – for example from rebbachisaurid sauropods – have been suggested to represent family groups, but this is similarly difficult to test. Similarly, although mixed-age associations of Psittacosaurus are known, it is unclear if they represent a parent or helper watching over a crèche or, more likely, simply young psittacosaurs joining together for safety in numbers.

Consequently, even though we know of cooperative behaviour in many dinosaurs, it is hard to distinguish whether genuine parental care from simple gregariousness. Even when we do have strong evidence of parental care in dinosaurs – such as in oviraptorosaurs – we unfortunately still have no real evidence as to how long that care may have lasted after hatching. Nevertheless, it seems plausible that many dinosaurs would have cared for their young for weeks or even months after hatching, like modern-day birds.

Is the Spinosaurus quadrupedal or bipedal?.. or is it still a great mystery within the palaeontology community?

Establishing exactly what Spinosaurus looked like is difficult, as we have so little fossil material of it to go on. Not only are only a small number of Spinosaurus skeletons known, but each is also highly incomplete. As a result, reconstructing a complete view of Spinosaurus requires comparison between the skeletons of different individuals, which can make figuring out accurate proportions difficult. Furthermore, it seems likely that some of the material referred to Spinosaurus actually belongs to a related genus, Sigilmassasaurus, posing even more problems for trying to extrapolate between them to get an overall picture of Spinosaurus.

With all those caveats, I hence think it is most likely that Spinosaurus was capable of bipedal locomotion – like its relatives such as Baryonyx. However, it does still seem likely that its legs were at least relatively short, and so it would look different to its depiction in the Jurassic Park franchise. Still, greater certainty on how Spinosaurus looked and moved will need to wait for the discovery of more complete skeletons of the animal.

Was there any dinosaur media (film, cartoons, documentary, series) that influenced them to follow the path resulting in palaeontology?

Many of my colleagues list Jurassic Park as their single biggest influence in pursuing palaeontology. However, for me, the biggest influence was a magazine series – Dinosaurs! – published by Orbis in the ‘80s and ‘90s. It was very effective at presenting dinosaurs as animals that we could learn about, rather than as monsters, as well as the lines of thinking that allowed us to do so. Certainly, fondly remembered, and almost certainly my single biggest early childhood influence.

In your opinion, where is the line drawn between entertainment and reality? e.g. Would a chase scene in Jurassic Park be as entertaining to a cinema audience if the animal was paleo-accurate to current knowledge and theories.

I, obviously, would generally prefer it if films were as accurate as possible, simple as that is something I find satisfying and interesting. I was, for example, very disappointed by the lack of feathers in Jurassic World, not only because they would have been accurate but also, more importantly, it showed a lack of imagination on the film maker’s part. They could have made all sorts of cool, modern-looking dinosaurs, reaching deeper horror through mixing something we think we know – a bird – with something primordial and deadly. It would also have furthered one of the key threads of Jurassic Park itself.

However, that does not mean I necessarily expect films to be accurate – after all, their job is to sell movie tickets, not to educate. Films in general make continual errors regarding everything from computer science through basic human biology, and I think that audiences are aware of that. Jurassic Park holds up despite being scientifically dated because the movie is effectively using the dinosaurs as metaphors – both for arrogance and the power of nature – as opposed to being a documentary about them. Whereas I would expect a documentary film (e.g. the Walking with Dinosaurs movie) to be well-researched, a genre-film’s job is to relate a narrative, not present facts.

So, overall, I as a moviegoer would personally would prefer it is dinosaurs in films were accurate. However, I do not expect it, and certainly think the use of artistic licence to make the films more entertaining is entirely appropriate. After all, this is their job, not education. Indeed, if we are relying on blockbuster films to educate people about science, we have much bigger societal problems than public understanding of dinosaurs at hand.

How do you feel about Jurassic Park/Worlds speculation on soft tissue and threats? For example Dilophosaurus frill and venom, Troodon venom and nesting habits, and the T. rex "bad eye sight". Also re classification like Deinonychus = Velociraptor???

The ‘bad eyesight’ of Tyrannosaurus in the films actually annoys me, as the size of the orbit and the brain structure indicates that Tyrannosaurus would actually have had good eyesight (like modern birds). The “it cannot see you if you don’t move” thing never made any sense, as a large predator would not be able to function like that. Consequently, I am glad that the Jurassic Park franchise has moved away from that in more recent years, as it has produced a persistent belief about dinosaurs that is entirely inaccurate. Similarly, there is no evidence for venom or an extendable frill in Dilophosaurus (or any other dinosaurs). Consequently, these are best viewed as not so much soft tissue speculation as just making things up for cinematic sake.

That being said, I do appreciate the need for artistic licence in movies, and giving those animals those attributes certainly did help add tension, excitement and action to those scenes. I hence can understand why those features – especially in Dilophosaurus – are included, even though they are entirely fictitious. I am glad that the movies have since acknowledged that many of the cloned dinosaurs are very different to their real counterparts, as it helps balance the need for spectacle with an open admission that these attributes are entirely fictitious.

However, I must admit that I sort of draw the line at the nesting habits of Troodon. I can accept the venom as artistic licence, but the whole thing about it laying its eggs in bodies in Jurassic Park: The Game is so absurd and preposterous that I cannot even enjoy it. I get that they wanted a new level of threat and horror from a dinosaur, but it just makes no sense at any level – no large vertebrate would incubate its eggs in that way, as it would just be a recipe for infection and death of the chicks. I mean, what, were they supposed to have spliced its DNA with an ichneumon wasp or something? Why on Earth would they have done that?!

The Deinonychus were reclassified as Velociraptor in Jurassic Park partially due to the arguments of Greg Paul, who generally supports lumping many dinosaur species together. However, this view is not backed by any other palaeontologist, and so I would rather it was not used and the dinosaurs were correctly classified. However, I acknowledge that the other half of the argument  - that “Velociraptor just sounds cooler” – means that this will never happen in the Jurassic Park franchise.

And fave dino?

It is hard to say, but my favourite dinosaur may be the prosauropod Plateosaurus. This is for a couple of reasons: firstly, a lot of my PhD research was on this animal; and secondly, I just like prosauropods. They seem like they would have been rather incompetent, unintelligent, cumbersome, bulky, reeking, omnivorous, foul-tempered animals, and something about that appeals to me. I am also fond of sauropods – particularly Camarasaurus, as a lot of my PhD research also concerned that animal.

Other favourite dinosaurs include the ornithischian Thescelosaurus (again, this is helped by me having worked closely on it) and hadrosaurs such as Corythosaurus. I also like rebbachisaurid sauropods such as Nigersaurus.

That draws a close to part two of our “The Science of Jurassic Park & More” series. Make sure to join us next week for our third and final installment.

For now, make sure to follow him on Twitter if you aren’t already, and stay tuned to The Jurassic Park Podcast for all the latest Jurassic Park news!

Written by: Tom Fishenden

[biofunmy]

Cardinal Raymond Burke Has Announced He’s Done Working With Steve Bannon

An influential conservative cardinal with ties to Steve Bannon called their relationship quits on Tuesday. The news followed a report that stated Bannon endorses allowing priests to marry and that he believes a majority of clergy members in the Vatican are gay.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, who was removed from a high-ranking Vatican post following clashes with Pope Francis, is the longtime chair of an organization in Rome working with Bannon to create a far-right political institute.

“I disagree completely with a number of Mr. Bannon’s statements regarding the doctrine and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church,” Burke said in a statement posted to Twitter Tuesday, highlighting Bannon’s endorsement of letting priests marry.

Burke also said, “I have never worked with Mr. Bannon in his organization,” and that he has only met with him “on occasion to discuss Catholic social teaching regarding certain political questions.”

Burke issued the statement in response to a post published June 24 on the anti-abortion LifeSite News that said Bannon had proposed making a movie of the book In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy by left-wing French journalist Frédéric Martel. The book is based on years of reporting and describes an underground gay culture that allegedly pervades the top levels of the Vatican hierarchy.

Martel told BuzzFeed News that Bannon invited him to lunch in Paris on May 19 to discuss his book. During the lunch, Martel said, it was suggested that Bannon’s allies in Rome were probably gay, and Bannon agreed that was likely true. Martel said Bannon endorsed allowing priests to marry and other changes to the church’s sexual doctrine so that the church can focus on “the important issue: China, Islam, immigration and so on.”

Martel said Bannon was interested in making a movie of In the Closet of the Vatican to expose the reality of the church. He also made clear to BuzzFeed News that he was not interested in making a movie with Bannon.

In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Bannon’s spokesperson, Alexandra Preate, said: “While the book is controversial and Mr Bannon does not agree with all parts, he believes there is an overwhelming argument in the book of homosexual infiltration of Vatican hierarchy.” The statement continued: “Mr Bannon does not believe his allies in the Vatican are gay.”

LifeSite News has deleted its post about the meeting. Neither its author, Maike Hickson, nor LifeSite Editor-in-Chief John-Henry Westin responded to questions from BuzzFeed News.

Hickson had shared several drafts of the story with both Bannon and Martel, according to an email exchange obtained by BuzzFeed News, which appears to confirm Martel’s account. In one version from June 18, Hickson quoted Bannon as telling Martel, “I was told it is not 80 percent [of members of the Vatican clergy who are gay] — it is closer to 90 percent.” The draft also mentioned an earlier report in a French publication saying that Bannon also endorsed allowing heterosexual priests to marry.

The email thread shows that Preate wrote to Hickson, “The version below is good for now.” But Hickson then made more changes, and Preate asked for more opportunities to review the text. The email thread does not include a final version.

In his statement repudiating Bannon, Burke also announced that he was resigning from the advisory board of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, a 10-year-old organization that describes its mission as “supporting Christians in public life.”

The meeting between Bannon and Martel was arranged by Ben Harnwell, the director of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, which was working with Bannon to develop a political training program. The institute also helped connect Bannon inside the Vatican, including hosting a 2014 address in which Bannon spelled out his sweeping vision to build a “global tea party movement.”

Burke was then already chair of the institute’s advisory board; he was recently made its honorary president. News reports suggested he was also enthusiastic about the political school, telling Reuters in 2018 he thought the collaboration would “promote a number of projects that should make a decisive contribution to the defence of what used to be called Christendom.”

“In recent time, the Institute has become more and more identified with the political program of Mr. Bannon,” Burke said in his letter on Tuesday. “I have, therefore, effectively immediately, terminated any relationship with the Dignitatis Humanae Institute.”

In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Harnwell said the LifeSite post was “inaccurate,” and that he arranged the meeting between Bannon and Martel solely in his “personal capacity.”

“Cardinal Burke has been a principal guiding figure to the DHI, not to mention a good friend, over many years,” he added.

Sahred From Source link World News

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