#poor diet implications

[athomewithmrse]

Can a Poor Diet Lead to Immune-Compromised Health Issues?

We often think of our immune system as something that only matters when we’re fighting off a cold or trying to avoid getting sick. But the truth is, your immune system is working every minute of every day – and it depends heavily on the food you eat. So, can a poor diet actually lead to immune-compromised health issues?The short answer: yes – and the effects go much deeper than most people…

[coochiequeens]

Can there be an ethical way to exploit a woman for a womb and treat a baby like a commodity?

The global surrogacy industry is experiencing an unprecedented boom, raising ethical concerns across borders. As more couples turn to surrogacy as a path to parenthood, this assisted reproductive technology has evolved into a multi-billion dollar market.

According to recent research, the global surrogacy industry is projected to grow from $21.85 billion in 2024, to $196 billion by 2034. This explosive growth is primarily concentrated in Europe and North America, where surrogacy is legal and regulated. 

However, the legal landscape of surrogacy remains a complex patchwork across nations, with some countries embracing it while others maintain strict prohibitions. This inconsistency in regulations has created gray areas.

Scientific research highlights the possibility of abuse arising from gaps in legal frameworks and disputes, whether surrogacy is legal or not. It points to unethical practices such as trafficking of women, coercion of both surrogates and prospective parents by agencies, lack of respect for bodily autonomy or informed consent, ‘sham’ procedures and multiple embryo exchanges.

Cross-Border Exploitation: A Dark Web of Surrogacy

Surrogacy-related abuse often happens in a region formed by three countries: Turkey, Georgia and Northern Cyprus.

While surrogacy remains illegal in Turkey, it’s perfectly legal in its northeastern neighbor Georgia and southern neighbor Northern Cyprus, creating a dangerous legal vacuum that enables exploitation.

The Hope for the Future Association, based in Tbilisi, Georgia, is one of the organizations reporting cases of abuse and illegal surrogacy in the country. 

“Our organization has evidence of both Georgian and Turkish citizens being used as surrogate mothers, along with cases of children being transported across borders with falsified documents,” said Tamar Khachapuridze, the association’s director. “We’ve reported these to the prosecutor’s office. Despite a decade-long investigation by Georgian prosecutors, these cases remain collecting dust. It appears someone is working to keep these dark dealings under wraps.” 

While surrogacy remains illegal in Turkey, it’s perfectly legal in its northeastern neighbor Georgia and southern neighbor Northern Cyprus, creating a dangerous legal vacuum that enables exploitation.

The Hope for the Future Association, based in Tbilisi, Georgia, is one of the organizations reporting cases of abuse and illegal surrogacy in the country. 

“Our organization has evidence of both Georgian and Turkish citizens being used as surrogate mothers, along with cases of children being transported across borders with falsified documents,” said Tamar Khachapuridze, the association’s director. “We’ve reported these to the prosecutor’s office. Despite a decade-long investigation by Georgian prosecutors, these cases remain collecting dust. It appears someone is working to keep these dark dealings under wraps.” 

Khachapuridze cited a particularly alarming case involving a Turkish surrogate mother. After undergoing embryo transfer in Georgia, she was reportedly transported to Thailand three months before giving birth, where she delivered a baby intended for a single Chinese man.

This case directly violates Georgian law, which explicitly prohibits embryo transfer or any surrogacy procedures for women from foreign countries.

When we obtained the case number from Khachapuridze’s files and approached the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office with written questions about the existence and content of the investigation, our written inquiries and follow-up calls went unanswered.

Rusudan Nanava, a Tbilisi-based lawyer handling surrogacy cases, explained the wall of silence: “I doubt you’ll get any information from the prosecutor’s office. Criminal cases, especially those involving surrogacy, are treated with the highest level of confidentiality.”

Georgia’s Legislative Tug of War: Balancing Ethics and Economics

In a significant policy shift, the Georgian government is grappling with proposed legislation that could fundamentally reshape the country’s surrogacy landscape. The move comes amid growing concerns over human trafficking and exploitation in the industry.

“We’re seeing cases of law abuse, including human trafficking,” said independent member of parliament  Tamar Kordzaia. “While the government pushes for change through surrogacy laws, I believe we could address these issues through other regulatory measures.”

The controversial bill, introduced in June 2023, would effectively end commercial surrogacy in Georgia, permitting only altruistic arrangements. This shift would bar foreign couples—who currently make up 95 percent of intended parents—from accessing Georgian surrogacy services, restricting the practice to Georgian citizens only.

However, Kordzaia remains skeptical about the bill’s future, which has yet to take effect.  

“This is moving at a glacial pace, despite the government’s ability to fast-track legislation when it wants to,” she said. “The economic implications are severe—both for medical facilities and the women who rely on surrogacy income. I suspect the bill will ultimately be withdrawn.”

In a country where 11.5 percent of women aged 18-65 live below the absolute poverty line, surrogacy has become a lifeline for many Georgian women struggling to make ends meet. Their stories paint a stark picture of economic desperation intersecting with the global fertility market.

Take Teona, a 42-year-old teacher and domestic violence survivor, who turned to surrogacy twice a decade ago. “As a woman, I wanted to help another woman who couldn’t have children,” she said, her voice tinged with both pride and pragmatism. “Of course, there was financial motivation. My main goal was to buy my own apartment, and I did it—for my child’s future.”

Dr. Keti Gotsiridze, director of the Reproductive Health Center of the Chachava clinic, one of Georgia’s well-established health institutions, said according to the data research of her clinic, surrogacy practice contributes $300 million a year to health tourism. Gotsiridze said 90 percent of their clients are foreigners. Surrogate mothers are paid 25-30 thousand Euros; Chachava works with an average of 300-400 surrogate mothers a year. 

For the time being, it seems that the new legislation to change the practice of surrogacy in Georgia has been shelved due to economic concerns. However, the question of how to prevent human trafficking, which has also emerged with the abuse of the existing law, remains unanswered. 

Cross-Border Surrogacy Investigation Closes With No Charges Filed

A prosecutorial investigation has revealed an alleged surrogacy trafficking network spanning Turkey, Georgia and Northern Cyprus, highlighting the devastating human cost of unregulated fertility treatments.

The case began on Sept. 3, 2021, when Turkey’s Health Ministry received an anonymous tip about “F. IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) Center,” a fertility clinic in Istanbul’s affluent Beşiktaş district. According to the whistleblower, the clinic was targeting vulnerable young women, including minors, from the working-class neighborhood of Ümraniye with promises of financial gain through surrogacy.

The scheme was elaborate: Women were provided with fertility drugs to use at home for durations  ranging from two to 12 days. They were then allegedly trafficked to Georgia and Northern Cyprus using forged documents, with all expenses covered by the network. The fertility medications were reportedly sourced from pharmaceutical warehouses and distributed through a café in Üsküdar, serving as a front for the operation.

Despite the gravity of these allegations, the investigation faced significant hurdles. After a year-long probe, authorities could only identify one suspect, known as A.A., who allegedly recruited the women. The café implicated in the scheme closed its doors just one month before police surveillance began.

When we reached out to M.K., the lawyer who owned the café, he confirmed his ownership but denied any knowledge of the fertility drug distribution, claiming he was also a victim in the scheme.

Another crucial lead emerged regarding Dr. S.T., who allegedly treated the women at “F. IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) Center” and later deleted their medical records. However, police terminated the investigation, citing lack of evidence and the doctor’s clean criminal record.

When reached for comment, Dr. S.T. denied all allegations, dismissing the claims made in the investigation as baseless.

The case took another turn when the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the case in January 2023. The Provincial Health Directorate appealed, arguing that “the investigation was inadequate” and “the material and moral elements of the crime have not been fully established.” Nevertheless, on May 31, 2023, the Istanbul 7th Criminal Court of Peace rejected the appeal without explanation.

The case remains closed, leaving crucial questions unanswered about the fate of these young Turkish women, the conditions they endured, and the clinics involved in Georgia and Northern Cyprus. The Ministry of Health has remained silent on queries about similar reported cases, raising concerns about the scale of this cross-border surrogacy trade. 

A Cross-Border Underground Surrogacy Network

A police raid in Istanbul in 2019 exposed a sophisticated trafficking network spanning Turkey, Georgia and Northern Cyprus. The operation revealed a complex web involving a Northern Cypriot ringleader and two Moldovan accomplices who coordinated the trafficking of Turkish women for surrogacy purposes.

During the raid, police discovered large quantities of fertility drugs. According to detained suspects’ testimonies, these hormones were supplied by the Northern Cypriot kingpin and administered to potential surrogate mothers recruited from Turkey. The women were then trafficked to clinics in both Northern Cyprus and Georgia, with one prominent facility identified as “IVF Tours Georgia” in Tbilisi.

To verify whether this clinic continues to engage with Turkish women five years after the raid, we conducted an undercover investigation. Posing as potential surrogates from Turkey, we contacted “IVF Tours Georgia” via email. The response was swift and telling: Not only did they accept our inquiry, but they immediately began discussing financial arrangements and medical screenings. This exchange revealed a striking fact: Despite Georgian law restricting surrogacy to Georgian citizens, the clinic openly offered services to Turkish nationals, highlighting the persistent nature of this illegal cross-border trade.

Lack of Oversight Fuels Surrogacy Concerns in Northern Cyprus

In Northern Cyprus, a growing surrogacy industry operates within a complex web of legal ambiguity and insufficient oversight, despite having well-crafted regulations. Former health minister (2018-2019) and Republican Turkish Party MP Filiz Besim warns that human trafficking cases persist due to inadequate supervision.

“While we have meticulously drafted laws permitting surrogacy, the lack of oversight remains a critical issue,” Besim said. “Our unique position outside international law, due to our unrecognized status, has created vulnerabilities that are being extensively exploited. This has led to the emergence of illicit international networks involved in human, women, and child trafficking.”

Deputy Besim emphasizes that women—particularly from Caucasian countries—are being brought from abroad as surrogate mothers in violation of laws. He notes that due to insufficient oversight, questions remain about the agreements, facilitators, and conditions under which these women are transported.

Our anonymous field interviews and observations reveal serious concerns about surrogacy practices stemming from the country’s lack of oversight. A troubling gray area has emerged where low-income women face potential exploitation. Women may be pressured into surrogacy due to financial hardship, raising ethical concerns about the commodification of women’s bodies and children’s rights.

International organizations like U.N. Women have voiced similar concerns about surrogacy practices in regions like Northern Cyprus, citing these risks and inadequate oversight. They stress the importance of protecting surrogate mothers through proper safeguards: ensuring they are fully informed, free from coercion, and fairly compensated for the risks they undertake

Surrogacy became legal in Northern Cyprus in August 2016 under the Law Regulating Human Cell, Tissue, and Organ Transplantation Rules. A new, more robust bill was drafted in April 2023, though Parliament has yet to convene to discuss these changes.

Northern Cyprus has emerged as Europe’s leading destination for reproductive treatments. The industry’s prominence is evident in everyday encounters in the capital, Lefkoşa, where stories of successful surrogacy arrangements—including a recent case involving a European couple—are commonplace.

While official statistics remain undisclosed, artificial intelligence analysis estimates approximately 500 surrogacy arrangements occur annually in Northern Cyprus. According to LaingBuisson, a London-based healthcare market research firm, the country handles about 11 percent of all egg donation treatments in Europe.

Social Media’s Underground Surrogacy Market

Despite legal bans and restrictions, a thriving underground surrogacy market in Turkey continues to operate in plain sight. There are numerous advertisements openly seeking surrogate mothers on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. 

In one of these advertisements, we wrote  to a woman who said  she could  be a surrogate mother, with a request to have a child. Ten years ago in Turkey, the woman said she had been a surrogate mother once and explained how the process would work and offered us two methods to help her conceive:

“The child could be from my egg and your husband’s sperm. Would you be okay with that after birth? We’d never need to know each other. We wouldn’t even need a transfer. We could handle it ourselves – inject your husband’s sperm directly into my uterus. Or, we could select healthy eggs and have your and your husband’s eggs transferred to me.”

Most alarmingly, she assured us that certain private clinics would perform these procedures clandestinely, promising there would be “no issues” with birth certificates—a clear indication of document fraud.

The desperation of infertile couples seeking parenthood through these illegal channels may be understandable, but the risks are severe. These back-alley procedures not only endanger the health of all parties involved but also expose them to serious legal consequences. The combination of medical risks and criminal liability creates a potential storm of challenges for vulnerable individuals. 

The Delicate Balance: Finding a Legal Middle Ground

Is there a way to craft ideal legislation that prevents exploitation while acknowledging the deep human desire for parenthood? Attorney and professor Dr. Özlem Yenerer Çakmut believes the answer lies in nuanced regulation rather than absolute prohibition.

“We can’t simply ignore the profound yearning of those who dream of experiencing not just parenthood, but the entire journey—from pregnancy to birth,” Yenerer explained. “These are couples who want more than adoption; they want to be part of every moment, every milestone.”

“The challenge lies in striking a delicate balance between regulation and prohibition,” she continued. “A blanket ban isn’t the answer, especially in societies where having children carries immense social and cultural weight. While we can’t legitimize illegal practices, we can work toward meaningful legislation that protects all parties involved while acknowledging these deeply human desires.”

There is also a section of the world strongly opposed to surrogacy. At its forefront stands the Casablanca Declaration, a document signed by 100 experts from 75 countries in March 2023, calling for a universal ban on surrogacy practices.

Leading this charge is Olivia Maurel, herself born through surrogacy in 1991, who has emerged as one of the movement’s most compelling voices. 

“Standing against surrogacy means advocating for its universal abolition,” Maurel declared with conviction born of personal experience. “This isn’t just about abstract principles—it’s about defending the fundamental rights of women and children, about protecting human dignity in its most basic form. Surrogacy, by its very nature, undermines these essential values.”

For some, surrogacy represents a last resort in their journey to parenthood. A 46-year-old woman living in Georgia, who chose to remain anonymous, shared the challenging aspects of this process. After having her uterus and ovaries removed due to health issues, she and her husband decided to pursue surrogacy six years ago.

The woman described maintaining close contact with the surrogate mother both before the transfer and throughout the pregnancy. “I monitored her doctor visits, tests and medications regularly. I ensured she maintained a healthy diet, and I was present during the birth. I was with my baby from the moment of delivery.”

Despite being a challenging and costly process, she pursued surrogacy to fulfill her dream of motherhood. “If surrogacy is the only path to becoming a mother, you must give it your all, learn to manage your emotions, and stay focused on your goal. The difficulties and pain are temporary; the love for a child is permanent,” she said.

E.U. Redefines Surrogacy Regulations

Recent legal scholarship challenges the traditional binary approach of outright bans versus complete legalization. Instead, experts advocate for a nuanced international framework that transcends cultural and moral absolutes while protecting fundamental human rights. This perspective emphasizes the critical need for comprehensive national legislation in countries where surrogacy exists, whether legal or not, to safeguard the rights of both women and children.

Amid this contentious landscape, the European Parliament Council took decisive action on Jan. 23, 2024, reaching a provisional agreement to classify exploitative surrogacy practices as human trafficking. The measure was formally adopted on May 27, 2024.

The new framework imposes strict penalties on those who exploit women through forced surrogacy or deceptive practices, while establishing comprehensive support systems for victims. E.U. member states must implement these protections into their national legislation within two years.

The production of this investigation is supported by a grant from the IJ4EU fund. The International Press Institute (IPI), the European Journalism Centre (EJC) and any other partners in the lJ4EU fund are not responsible for the content published and any use made out of it.

This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalist

About Seda Karatabanoğlu and Zeynep Yüncüler

Seda Karatabanoğlu graduated with a bachelor's degree from Istanbul University's Faculty of Communication in Turkey and a master's degree in European studies and international relations at l'Université Paul-Valéry in France. She worked at Cumhuriyet Newspaper. Her articles have been published on many online platforms such as Euronews Turkish and DW Turkish. Currently residing in France, she continues her work as an independent journalist.

Zeynep Yüncüler is a graduate of Izmir University of Economics, where she studied in the Media and Communication Department. She worked at Milliyet Daily, 'Artı 1' TV, BirGün Daily, ‘Artı Tv’ and Punto24, an independent journalism platform in Turkey. She also served as the secretary for the Journalists’ Union of Turkey's Istanbul branch. She was honored with the best interview award (2016) by the Progressive Journalists’ Association (ÇGD). Currently, she is a freelancer.

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

Let's talk about zoo animal welfare for a second...

(And I want to preface this by saying I have a 4 year Bachelor degree in Animal Science (focusing in welfare and behaviour with a major in Canine and Equine Science) before I got sidetracked into zoo animals and did 3 internships working with wild canids, ungulates and marine mammals - this involved both hands on behaviour modification/desenitisation as well as hands off behavioural observation and welfare study. I worked for 2 years as a marine mammal specialist and worked specifically in facilities to improve husbandry, behavioural training and welfare practises.

I also worked in a facility in the Asia Pacific, working to improve welfare standards for bottlenose dolphins and continued to work with cetacean welfare researchers after this. I also did a course in zoo management, husbandry and welfare and this involved working in an accredited zoo facility learning things like exhibit design, behaviour management and husbandry with multiple species.)

So a few points to say about zoo animal welfare when discussing zoo standards and practises:

The average person does not have the expertise to do behaviour observation and welfare evaluation in zoo animals - that's why when the general public visits a zoo and says "the animal looks sad" it's worth being skeptical of that claim. But it doesn't mean a gut feeling about a zoo's quality can be completely invalid. Just that it might be worth researching further or seeking more information.

However, with experience, it is possible to analyse behaviour in the context of welfare. And context to that behaviour is always important (for example, Moo Deng showing stress related behaviour towards the specific context of being touched or followed around by her keeper - very much an indication of poor handling practises)

Poor animal husbandry and welfare is not limited to specific countries or regions, however it can be more normalised and accepted under the influnce of cultures and laws. Or even just the culture of the zoo itself such as the "this is the way we've always done it" places.

Being an accredited zoo is a start to good welfare, but it doesn't make any sort of welfare concern obsolete. And accreditation is supposed to ensure that welfare concerns are addressed but because they are mostly run as a volunteer based organisation, they often don't have resources to check into every concern (unless it's a government funded organisation)

A zoo contributing to conservation research is great, but not if it is at the expense of the animals' welfare - welfare should always be prioritised, with research and conservation efforts to follow.

Welfare is a state that is in flux. So a negative welfare state can move into positive welfare state under different influences.

There are multiple factors that influence zoo animal welfare: enclosure/habitat, expression of natural behaviour, guest interaction, diet, enrichment, water quality, hygeine ect. It'll rarely just be one factor, though it does depend how salient that factor is.

Just because a keeper or management of a zoo have been there for a long time, doesn't mean they can't be criticised - it is possible to be still using outdated practises and believing in methodologies and management practises that need updating - that's the whole point of continued education

Having limited resources can often impact welfare. Giving a facility the resources they need to improve is a good start to improving welfare.

Even if an animal is being handled in an inappropriate way for a short time, that doesn't mean that can't have long term implications for welfare eg. if every time your dog jumped on you when you got home and you smacked him in the face once before going on with your day, that doesn't mean that your dog won't learn negative associations with your arrival just because it was one time.

Best practise husbandry of zoo animals involves:

Use of positive reinforcement based voluntary husbandry and health care

All interaction based on choice and voluntary interaction that is reinforced with primary reinforcement such as food

Mostly hands off approaches for the species that require them (ungulates, large primates, large carnivores)

Relatively stable social groups with aggression only in specific situations/contexts that are normal for the species

Back areas for animals to rest outside of public view

Species appropriate habitats to meet species specific behaviour requirements

Five freedoms of welfare being met but goes above and beyond the bare minimum

Poor zoo animal husbandry involves animals:

Being forced into anything such as presentations, education programs, medical procedures/gating

Any use of physical punishment such as chasing, slapping, pushing or poking - negative reinforcement such as bull hooks are also fairly outdated in handling species like elephants

Being excessively handled, chased and touched/restrained for no reason (eg. for social media videos)

Showing signs of avoidance and aggression constantly towards their keepers

Have constant conflict happening in their social groups

Are living in enclosures that are not suitable for their specific specific needs - size is only one factor in this. Substrate, habitat design, water quality ect. are also things to consider.

Are too close to the public/at risk from the public

Have no areas to retreat from the public/rest away from potential stressors

Have no enrichment program/no daily enrichment

Those are all flags that there could be some poor welfare happening and that a zoo is not prioritising welfare

Okay there's the ramble of the day done. Feel free to ask questions for further clarification if needed.

[everythingspokenfor]

Helping hand

All characters are aged up 18+. MDNI

꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦

"So you have never done it." You looked at him expectedly, like the answer you want from him is a day to day query, like this isn't an embarassing situation to land up in.

Bakugou fidgeted with his fingers, rosy blush spreading from his ears to the column of his throat. He looks at everything but you.

"there is nothing wrong with it," you are trying to help, "you have nothing to be embarassed about", but you aren't really helpful, every word that leaves your glossy lips pushing Bakugou further into humiliation.

"it's just.. I don't do it.. like my quirk, I sweat alot, I don't wanna blow my, you know", words finally spill out his lips, a little jagged but you take what you get. A big small part of you want to make a crude joke, tease him, say something stupid like he doesn't want his dick blown- but you stop, he has barely started coming out of his shell, any further teasing is simply going to get you kicked out of his room.

So, you choose to wait, let him get out any more words he wishes to say, when he doesn't, you continue," I see, we don't have to do anything major today", the implication of your statement makes Bakugou's imagination wild, his hips subconsciously humping the air, you notice it, he doesn't, "I'll go easy today, it'll help with the nerves, do you watch porn?."

You question baffles him but he still answers, nodding his head before already answering the question you would have asked next,"it's.. mild.... Like mild stuff, foreplay then sex haven't really paid mind to it", he is no longer fidgeting with his hands, they are now tightly gripping the bed beside his thighs.

Nothing to obstruct your view of his lap, you see his cock, it's hard and it's thick so thick that it probably won't be able to lift it's own weight. And it's creamy, distinct head of his cock, visible easily because all the precum that's leaking out, it's alot, messily smeared over his sweats.

"I guess I'll take things in my hands", another crude joke bubbles in your mind at your own words,"I'll do things at your pace, today I'll give you a handy, tomorrow we'll figure more out."

As much as teasing him was fun, you knew he needed release, today you'll spear him, you suppose.

Bakugou tensed up, probably imagining you giving him a handy, the word itself making him cringe. "you can do it", he mumbles, humping his hips up again this time more prominent. "Do what?", you question innocently, hand barely hovering over his thighs.

He knows you are teasing him, he looks at you like he hates you but his cock weeps, prominent drop of precum dribbles out. "Give me a handy, bitch." Desperation evident in his voice, tongue spitting venom because you won't let his cock splurt.

He barely has time to react before you grab his cock through his sweats and squeeze , already hard for so long, poor Bakugou cums before you even have a chances to stroke him.

His orgasm causing him to hunch over, both his hands grabbing your wrist and tightly pressing against his cock. Mouth open, in a silent moan, toes curled hlon his sock clad feet. He lets go of your hand and collapses back on the bed. Heavy breathing, accompanied by loud heart beats ringing in his ears.

You slowly pull your hand away, motion causing him to let out a hiss. "Don't fucking say it." He grits out, hand over his eyes.

You don't really know why you do it, the thought of teasing him not really in your mind, maybe you were asking pathetic of a mess as he was.

You looked at your hand, cum smeared on your fingers, before you put them in your mouth and sucked them clean.

"good diet." You breath out, before swiftly leaving the room.

Bakugou lay there, dumbfounded, and more pent up than he was before.

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[wisteria-lodge]

About the gender in hp thing: I know JKR wrote the books wanting the patriarchy to have minimal impact on the world but even through a couple of the metas you wrote you can see that that’s not the case. In your character crying post there’s a clear implication that showing that kind of emotion is a weakness but also that it is not masculine. Equating strength with masculinity is foundational for cultures with strong patriarchies, and this idea infests every other aspect of their lives. Idk because of that and many other reasons I have a very hard time of writing the wizarding world as anything other than a patriarchy

This is a watsonian analysis vs doylist analysis issue.

I 100% do think that JKR went out of her way to really, really downplay the importance of gender in her worldbuilding - and this contributes a lot to the specific feel of the world. You could genderflip, idk. Neville. Snape. Draco. Hermione. McGonagall. and almost no plot elements or character dynamics would change. (Maybe James would bully Severus slightly differently? Idk. He honestly might not.)

Compare HP to something like His Dark Materials, another British fantasy series released at the same time, marketed to the same demographic... in which gender politics are REALLY important. Lyra conforming or not conforming to specific gender norms hugely impacts the way a lot of other characters treat her. So much of Mrs. Coulter's character has to do with how she's navigated the back ways and side avenues into power, because the patriarchy that runs *that* world is extremely explicit and plot relevant, and there's a lot she just can't do.

Now is JKR *good* at writing a gender-blind world? Not really no. So she's stripped out the importance of gender in a fairly surface way, while leaving evidence of the foundations intact. Everyone's a het couple, women take the husband's last name, Molly and Petunia are at home while their husbands work and there's no inverse of that situation, Fleur's father walks her down the aisle at her wedding, it's important that Hermione be able to tame her hair when she wants to, but for Harry it doesn't matter...

There is ALSO the narrative voice poking through and putting its own spin on everything. This is where we start getting judgment (for example) directed both at girls who are too feminine, and at girls who aren't feminine enough. Or sexual assault not really "sticking" if it's directed at boys. We don't have a character talking, in-universe, about how it's wrong for a woman not to want children. We just have a book where the only women who don't have kids (or take care of kids) are villains. Same thing with masculinity = strength = no crying. That's something the narrative framing / bias of the author brings to the table, but it's kept out of the mechanics of the magical world. I guess you could say Harry and Draco equate crying/fainting with weakness (but not explicitly anti-masculinity)... but then Lupin goes out of his way to separate 'fainting' from 'weakness' anyway.

Interestingly, gender is much more baked into the muggle worldbuilding. (Part of why I think leaving that aspect out of the wizarding world was a deliberate choice.) Smeltings is an all-boys school, so is St Brutus.' Dudley teases Harry about his "boyfriend" Cedric, Vernon sizes up Arthur and Mad-Eye by how masculine they are. At the beginning of Book 4, Dudley's diet is this very gendered conflict between Vernon and Petunia, where Vernon doesn't want a "little nancy boy for a son" - and that is one of the only truly gendered insults in the whole series. "Crybaby" almost counts... but the Slytherins tease Hermione for crying too, so idk. They tend to go for pretty gender-neutral insults, like "poor" "unimportant parents" "looks like a chipmunk" ... etc.

Like... I'm trying to imagine a scene were Lucius lays into Draco for not being masculine enough, and I can't. I think that in a canon-compliant fic, a scene like that would feel odd. The conflict would need to be framed more like a "you disgrace the name of Malfoy with your weakness" or "never tell anyone outside the family what you're thinking" or "your believe yourself to be more intelligent than you truly are." Not "you need to man up."

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

By Nikhil Prasad

Medical News: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, new research highlights a startling link between the virus and metabolic disorders. A study conducted at the "Victor Babes" University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Timisoara, Romania, reveals how COVID-19 can trigger insulin resistance, even in individuals with no prior history of diabetes. This development sheds light on the long-term metabolic consequences of the virus, raising concerns for millions of COVID-19 survivors worldwide.

The research team focused on understanding the relationship between long COVID-19 syndrome and metabolic disruptions. This Medical News report aims to make their findings accessible to a wider audience, emphasizing the risks associated with the virus's lingering effects.

The Study: Design and Key Findings This prospective observational study included 143 non-diabetic individuals who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between January 2020 and December 2022. Participants underwent evaluations at the time of hospital admission, and follow-ups were conducted four and twelve months later. Researchers measured fasting glucose, insulin, and C-peptide levels using intravenous arginine stimulation tests, along with body mass index (BMI) and inflammatory markers like high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR).

Key findings from the study include: -Insulin Resistance and Long COVID: Approximately 30.7% of the participants developed long COVID-19 syndrome. Of these, 75% exhibited insulin resistance and eventually developed diabetes within one year, compared to 55.8% of those without long COVID-19.

-Impact of Obesity: Among obese participants (BMI > 30 kg/m²), 62% experienced elevated blood glucose levels a year post-infection.

Surprisingly, obesity rates did not differ significantly between those with and without long COVID-19, suggesting that other factors, such as chronic inflammation, play a pivotal role.

-Inflammatory Markers and Metabolic Disturbances: Elevated hs-CRP and ESR levels correlated with insulin resistance, highlighting the role of inflammation in disrupting metabolic health.

However, the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index, another marker of insulin resistance, showed weaker correlations, pointing to the complexity of the underlying mechanisms.

Chronic Inflammation: A Central Culprit The study underscores the role of chronic inflammation in the development of insulin resistance among COVID-19 survivors. Prolonged activation of the immune system, potentially triggered by viral remnants or autoimmune responses, can interfere with insulin signaling. This disruption leads to poor glucose absorption by cells, resulting in elevated blood sugar le vels.

The virus's ability to infect pancreatic beta cells, which are crucial for insulin production, exacerbates this problem. By binding to ACE2 receptors on these cells, SARS-CoV-2 can impair their function, causing a decline in insulin secretion. This interplay of inflammation and cellular damage creates a perfect storm for the onset of metabolic disorders.

Implications for Public Health and Patient Care The findings highlight the urgent need for healthcare systems to prioritize monitoring metabolic health in COVID-19 survivors, especially those with long COVID-19 syndrome. Routine screenings for insulin resistance, glucose levels, and inflammatory markers could help identify at-risk individuals early, enabling timely interventions.

For patients, adopting a healthier lifestyle becomes more critical than ever. Weight management, regular exercise, and a balanced diet can help mitigate the risk of developing insulin resistance and other metabolic complications.

Future Directions in Research and Treatment The study opens the door for further investigations into the molecular mechanisms linking COVID-19 to insulin resistance. Understanding these pathways could pave the way for targeted therapies to prevent or reverse metabolic damage. Potential treatments might include anti-inflammatory drugs, insulin-sensitizing medications, and advanced glucose-lowering therapies like SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists.

Moreover, ongoing trials, such as the DARE trial examining dapagliflozin's efficacy in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, may offer insights into how existing diabetes treatments can benefit long COVID-19 sufferers.

Conclusion This research highlights a concerning connection between COVID-19 and insulin resistance, even in individuals without prior metabolic conditions. The long-term implications of this link extend beyond the immediate health crisis, signaling a potential wave of diabetes cases in the years to come. As healthcare providers and researchers grapple with these findings, a comprehensive approach addressing both respiratory and metabolic health will be crucial.

The study findings were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Personalized Medicine. www.mdpi.com/2075-4426/14/9/911

[ihazyourkitty]

TW: animal death.

There is something that truly perplexes me about people who say cetaceans, esp orcas, are ill suited to captivity. In this case I’m referring specifically to people who are otherwise pro-zoo, but then anti-cap when it comes to cetaceans.

As evidence, they will point to things like necropsy reports, stillbirths/miscarriages, infections, injuries, stereotypic behaviors, etc, or they’ll talk about infrastructure problems that can occur, or whatever. Now, it’s not that these things aren’t concerning, or that there aren’t lessons to be learned from them. There is always room for improvement, and constant vigilance is a good thing. What perplexes is this: what do they think these sort of records would look like for species most people would typically associate with doing well in captivity?

Because I think they’d be surprised to learn that such records, on the whole, would be pretty comparable to many other species most people are perfectly fine with keeping in captivity.

Horses are a good example. They are a domesticated species, yes, but they are still prone to things like stereotypic behaviors, to say nothing of the abuses that can/do occur in horse sports. One could easily, easily, weaponize these sort of things to argue why horses should not be in captivity, and in some ways they'd be right. Some of the common practices employed in the horse industry would be utterly unacceptable if applied in a zoo/aquarium context, but people accept it with horses because "it's a domesticated species and that's just how it's always been done." So? That doesn't make it right.

A better example though, in my opinion (at least in that I have more firsthand experience with this) is fish. How well do you think fish, on the whole, fare in captivity, particularly in the pet trade?

There are species of fish you'll commonly see in pet stores that SHOULD NOT keep as pets. Most of society agrees that big cats should not be pets because very few people are qualified to care for one. Oh, but those baby red bellied pacu for sale? Bala sharks? Clown loaches? Common Plecos? Arrowanas?

Each of those species, Pacu especially, will get massive, and in fairness some pet stores will not sell them to people who are not prepared to deal with that. To be clear, I have massive respect for these kinds of responsible vendors.

However, this myth still persists in many other circles: "fish will only grow to the size of their tank." No. You will either stunt its growth (which indicates poor husbandry), or it will continue to grow, and then what? People will either scramble to rehome a massive fish, or just set it loose in local bodies of water, wrecking havoc on the ecosystem.

"Here, buy this pleco, it will clean up all the fish poop in the tank!" Bro.... Don't. Make. Me... HURT YOU!!!! What do you think happens when the pleco poops? Oh, I'm sorry, did you think their poop just magically disappears!? You think they're gonna be healthy on a diet of fish poo they don't want to eat, supplemented by minimal algae?

FEED YOUR PLECOS A PROPER DIET, AND CLEAN YOUR DAMN FISH TANK YOURSELF!

Also, there are many fancy, ornamental fish in the pet/aquarium trade that are mainly, if not only, acquired via wild collection. For species whose numbers and wild habitat are already in a delicate state, you can imagine the kind of conservation implications this has, to say nothing of how stressful it can be to fish acclimating to captivity.

By the way, how long do you think goldfish can live? Ask the average person. Not long, they'll say. Their lifespan is 10-15 years in the right conditions. How many goldfish sold as pets will make it that long? Incredibly few.

But even in professional, accredited aquarium settings, welfare issues don't just go away. They're better, but I've still observed necropsies that were just gnarly. Necrotic ovaries due to egg binding, parasites, impactions, cancer, chronic fungal, viral, or bacterial infections.... things that we only have so much power to treat, both because fish are incredibly good at masking symptoms until it's too late, and also because fish medicine is still in need of a lot of research. A lot of fish husbandry deals with managing water quality, as it's often poor water quality that leads to disease, and there are some species that are just simply incredibly sensitive to even the smallest fluctuations.

I've also seen perfectly healthy fish get gruesomely cut up because the mesh to the intake pipe got a hole in it and sucked up someone who got too close. I've seen/know of severe aggression issues, stereotypic behavior, broken jaws due to swimming into the walls after kids hit the glass, poor breeding outcomes, things breaking overnight leading to elevated temperatures and hypoxic conditions in the morning, overfeeding, scoliosis, major deformities likely caused by disease or malnutrition, entire tanks dying off due to toxic contaminants in the water... I could go on.

And I want to be clear, these are not normal, every day occurrences. Far from it. I'm purposely highlighting the extremes. Professional aquarists (good hobbyists even), bust their butts to prevent these problems, or fix them before they get worse. Like other animal keepers, they do incredible work. Yet even the best captive fish habitats will still have problems. Fish will die, sometimes horribly, simply due to the the limitations of care we can provide, normal wear and tear on equipment, or even just as the natural byproduct of the mortal world we live in. Frankly, this is the reality for every animal we have in human care. It is not so simple as good or bad. Welfare is a continuum that can change over time due to a variety of factors beside just outright neglect.

To be clear, it is sad to read what has gone wrong with cetaceans in captivity. There are noteworthy welfare issues that have historically occurred. Early captures of orcas in particular were horrific and wrong. No, I'm not against keeping cetaceans in captivity provided that they are properly cared for, but I do think there are plenty of perfectly valid complaints to made about the industry.

Still, given what I've seen in just the few years I've worked with fish, I honestly can't help but wonder if the common narrative that's been built around cetaceans isn't just weaponized transparency that maximizes shock value. I could just as easily spin a similar narrative around fish, while purposefully ignoring all the progress that's being made, to effectively argue why many of them shouldn't be in captivity (and yes I do think there are some fish species that should not be in captivity).

But none of this would make the headlines like it does for cetaceans, because you know... "they're just fish." This mindset utterly drives me up the wall.

Welfare for the noble cetacean is more important than welfare for the fish, because something something, "cetaceans are intelligent and sentient!" something something...

Hot take: sentience is not, in and of itself, a welfare standard, particularly since what makes an animal sentient or not is a loaded topic that's hard to define. Animal welfare is animal welfare, regardless of whether or not you're treating a dolphin or a shrimp. Excusing poor welfare for a supposedly non-sentient species sets a bad precedent, in that it excuses substandard care for species less like us. How egotistical and anthropocentric of us. How incurious and disrespectful to approach animals in this way.

But because most people see fish as dumb, ornamental props, it's fine to, for example, put them in the same habitat as the Commerson's dolphins in SW Aquatica and laugh as said dolphins constantly harass them.

The Russian Whale Jail sparked international outrage (deservedly so), but the common housing conditions pet stores employ every day for goldfish or betta fish? Totally fine.

So yeah... when I see someone who is otherwise pro-cap say "I'm fine with keeping these other animals in captivity, but not cetaceans..." even though the issues they highlight with cetaceans will still exist in other animals they're perfectly fine seeing in human care.... it's puzzling to say the least.

[blackstarchanx3new]

FSR rambles 17 ways Dark can insult you

It's been aWHILE.

Not Green practically begging this man to stop abusing Dark Link.

Shadow being insanely bitter at Green's position as the "Leader" of the group isn't well hidden here. When Shadow was in charge of things, he has shown to be very...Abusive. Like there's not a lot of ways around that lmfao. He was seemingly way less abusive to the Hinox's than the rock monster but like, we barely saw them interact.

Green appealing to Dark's emotions by stating "Shadow's kinds scary" is hilarious to me. Throw the shade Green Shadow deserves it a little at this point.

Green's got the right idea that introductions this late is probably a very bad idea given EVERYTHING going on.

I personally just love Dark chewing on Green's fingers it's cute. It's the kind of thing a cat would do lmfao. Green doesn't seem to mind it since he lets him do it till the next panel lmfao.

"Vaati's such a prick!" Shadow says. As if Vaati chose to make the curse sentient...And it wasn't like. A mistake. Quite the assumption there pal.

Ya think it would have assumed a physical form 7 years ago when he was created if that was the case but ehhhh-

As soon as Green falls into his anxieties Dark laughs like a crazy person. Because this dude feeds on emotions and that power is rated E for everyone, he doesn't discriminate against good or bad emotions.

Yeah well for laughing like a loon Daddy Shadow's gonna abuse him some more. You're a terrible dad Shadow Link.

Poor Green is concerned about Dark's wellbeing.

The fucking face Green makes after Dark is yanked is based on this meme:

Because it's funny as hell to me.

Also Shadow wrongly assumes what Dark's powers are:

I mean it's TRUE that he does feed off negativity. But the same is true for positive emotions too. Dark Link actually outright admits to preferring them on a few occasions. Dark Link is bad at being a parasitic curse.

Shadow dramatically stuffing Dark back into his hat is one of my favorite panels of this sequence. It's so dramatic and silly.

CALL. HIM. OUT. SIS.

Shadow needs to know when he's being an ass.

Green will give credit when it's due but Shadow was AWFUL TO THEM.

Some stuff to note:

Green doesn't actually answer the question on if he forgives Shadow or not. Haaaah.

That sure won't be relevant later, but it's pretty heavily implied he hasn't fully forgiven Shadow but IS willing to make an effort to accept him anyway.

Green being a bro here is smth I liked writing.

Green's hard to characterized so I ended up taking him in a different but SIMILAR direction to his cannon manga counterpart.

Like...Green didn't have a lot of his own traits vs the OG Link. He mainly just existed to be the voice of reason. Which is fine. But giving him depression means he can be a bit more interesting in my eyes than just "Diet Link" XDDDD

Green reminding us that him and Link had full conversations with each other at various points.

Which is. Interesting. I can't remember how much I dived into the concept of that in fsr rambles. But that is weird.

It suggests a level of detachment Link has from the four of them to the point he is able to have his own opinions/thoughts/and is able to do actions completely dethatched from all four.

Link is destinctly his own entity compared to the four of them...If that's the case. Where did that consciousness GO.

Perhaps a question to look into at a later date.

For now Green's giving some good ol hugs and thoughts to his pal Shadow Link.

Hah I'm sure you were glad Shadow.

And this page makes me laugh like hell at the implications in the 2nd to past panel.

I'm flabbergasted yall didn't catch that on release of these pages.

Like.

C'mon now.

They're blushing and touching each other.

Next panel they're missing articles of clothes (Their tunics specifically.) and have distinctly embarrassed looks on their faces, Green is hiding his neck for some reason and Blue's dialogue eludes to a substantial amount of time passing.

They did smth sus off screen and yall just, missed that.

I'm very disapointed nobody caught that till I pointed it out. I thought I was being too obvious with that shit.

Green hasn't exactly been hiding the fact he's been very eager for physical contact is all I'm saying.

LMFAO. Okay funny thing:

Shadow didn't have a bed. Because: Why the fuck would you give a shadow a bed.

Shadow also couldn't FEEL things in his weird limbo shadow state. Because he has been IN Link's bed before. Just couldn't actually feel it being comfortable.

No wonder dude has been touch starved to hell.

Idk what it is about the second to last page but I like Green and Shadow interacting and Shadow being a happy little camper.

Even though he's a dick he deserves to be happy with his family. (Smth I dislike strongly is how that dude got relegated to being Link's damn shadow at the end of the manga like...Noooooooo)

Green's had time to think about the things necessary for them all to live together which is sweet.

Link didn't do this before to have less suspicion he was actually gonna draw the sword.

Adding rooms to the house when he lives alone would have been SO SUS.

Green's excited at the prospect of their new life. Even if it'll be hard.

I did an oopsie in this page and didn't color shadow's glove and I'm not fixing it lmfao. Pretend it's there, this is a free comic on the internet. 😭

Blue yeeting a pillow at Green is funny since this is the second time this night the dude has told Green to get some damn sleep.

Greeeen can't sleep though.

I get it pal. I'm an insomniac too. 😞

Vaati's back.

And he cut his hair.

Dark's a silly goofy guy and noticed that because he's a creep.

There's just a whole other level of rude here because like:

Dark it's cut already wtf is he meant to do? X'D

Visually: it's worth noting they're in the temple Shadow dragged vio to at the beginning of the story.

Vaati has seemingly made that place his new home.

Dark's bluntness in the first panel just gets a kick out of me. He really thinks Vaati is dumb as hell and it shows.

Just to make it more obvious:

Dark wasn't ever referring to Vaati with the term "Master" in reference to he himself being Vaati's worker. He was referencing it in terms of Vaati being his teacher.

Which is like rubbing salt in a giant stab wound considering Vaati's former Master Ezlo and him weren't on good terms.

A fun thing to note: After Dark asks up front what he SHOULD call Vaati. Vaati responds with "Get off my bed" and didn't verbally protest to just "Vaati".

You'll notice Dark calls Vaati just "Vaati" from here on out I believe exclusively.

Which is pretty funny to think about because if Vaati had pulled his head out of his ass for a second and just told Dark what he preferred to be called, Dark probably would have actually listened in this moment since it was a genuine question.

Dark Link is only an annoyance if you fall into his traps. or have a bloated as hell ego like Vaati.

Vaati holding Dark Link like a spider by the leg here is so damn funny to me while Dark just, openly shows he would start touching this man the second he got to close if given the opportunity.

He did kiss Vaati without warning a few chapters ago so, don't really blame Vaati for wanting to avoid that. X'D

This entire sequence is just funny to me. But what's new.

Dark's being an oversharing weirdo and Vaati can't handle affection.

Smth I'm sure yall have noticed: Dark's expressions started off as creepy and disturbing and now have evolved into being goofy as fuck.

Dark can't emote properly. So the idea his face is just, all kinds of messed up expression wise has just as much comedic value as creep value. It can either be uncanny or silly.

The more frequently Dark makes "Disturbing expressions" the audience will get numb to it. As Dark becomes a character the audience outwardly is meant to like, smth disturbing about him becoming smth funny is a way of shifting perspective on a lot of aspects of him.

Smth I particularly like about the last panel is how Vaati visually cannot see dark but just knows he's there. XD

The fun thing about this scene is how you could really see it from both their perspectives here.

Vaati is very cynical. He's been hurt a lot (His own fault but still) he doesn't trust people and feels very alone. He misses the one time he connected with someone (Link from Minish cap).

But he's hesitant to make connections due to his attempt at redemption falling flat.

And then There's Dark Link:

Dark Link, is delusional to a degree but also painfully aware of other things.

His delusion is that he's a hero. Vaati's specifically which is why he compared Vaati to Zelda when he spoke to Shadow Link.

Vaati is the one he's protecting and keeping safe, Vaati is someone he cares about deeply even if Vaati, in every way: Sucks majorly.

But unlike Minish cap Link he doesn't try to get Vaati to change who he is.

He likes Vaati for who he is. Even if he thinks he's literally the worst.

At the end of the day: Dark isn't protecting Vaati because he was MADE too. He protects him because he wants too. And that's smth Vaati takes majorly for granted which we'll see down the line...

Dark's offering him unconditional love and Vaati can't understand that shit. Dark's loyalty confuses and just kinda frustrates him.

Since it's not logical. It's purely emotional.

Oh so much to say.

It's so hard to put into words what I think about their dynamic and why I love them. They're very messy but on equal footing. Vaati could push Shadow around and disrespect him in FSR I took the route Shadow and Vaati have an abusive parent and child relationship. But with Dark, that shit just doesn't work on Dark (at least for now) because the man is delusional as hell.

He truly believes he is not only smarter than Vaati but that he is THE ONLY THING protecting him and in a lot of ways: That's outright true.

A LOT of Dark Link's delusions have roots in reality. (Shadow saying they were "Family" so he wrongly associates Shadow as his "father" the only family Link had for instance.)

Vaati has to be kinda stupid from a writing standpoint (Cannon manga or not) because he needs to be defeat-able. His flaws boil down to making stupid as hell choices because he's narcisistic to a fault.

He can't think of shit outside of purely benefiting himself which...In the long run fucks himself over.

Dark is the kind of person you cannot argue with. Because he's insane.

Dark's not afraid of death, or pain...So it leads you to wonder what his weakness is. (And oh boy I hope that pays off haha.)

You throw something at Dark, he will spit it right back in your face 10 fold and he will be MEAN about it. Dark will low blow you into oblivion because it works.

Dark's morals are ALL OVER THE PLACE because he simultaneously thinks he is a curse made to destroy people emotionally and also thinks he's a hero.

In this case, Vaati's ego is Dark's ego.

At this point: Dark hasn't failed. He's done exactly as he's been asked in a round about way/depending on how you look at it.

I ain't even gonna pretend this scene wasn't meant to be sus.

Dark's very "Words are important" kind of guy for someone who sucks at communication haha.

Smth to note dialogue wise:

Dark's insult in the 2nd to last panel was him calling Vaati a baby effectively lmfao.

Since Picori are like mice/rats him calling Vaati a "Pup" was meant to insinuate Vaati is acting an infant Picori which just adds to the insult imo. Like instead of JUST calling Vaati a child he used language that was more suited to Vaati's upbringing.

That just cracks me up.

He went the extra mile to effectivly say "you're a poopy diaper baby huh?"

The last panel is just such: You have to get the last word huh? moment for Dark hahaha. X'D

1st panel:

Dark insinuates he is something OTHER than a curse which is odd. Though you can assume he just means he's a hero. But then again: Why does he think he's a hero exactly.

And the further conversation leads to a very odd revelation.

Vaati, by being in the four sword connected to Link, was cursed.

Which explains why Dark Link can see his memories when Vaati earlier in the comic referenced that he SHOULDN'T.

Woops.

This also explains why it works on Shadow Link. Because Shadow was magically attached to Link at the time of being cursed, Dark affects the three who were influenced by the sword and it's wielder at the time.

Dark's dialogue is further confusing/has weird implications when he asks Vaati:

"Perhaps you forgot what you WANTED, and where you WERE when you created me?"

Dark on multiple occasions has outright referenced the idea he was made to protect Vaati.

Which is weird if you think about it.

Dark wasn't made to just hurt people, but to protect something. Specifically VAATI, but this behavioral aspect makes a lot of sense when you consider he was created for.

Smth a bit morbid:

Dark Link outright states here he believes Link/his colors will kill him. And doesn't seem to care in the slightest.

Well Dark seems fine with his mortality as long as he gets to use it to protect Vaati.

2nd panel insult had me rolling it's so mean and out of pocket but what's new for Dark.

He brushes off Vaati's threats of curse breaking because: Well he's right about Vaati needing him at least for now.

We end on a very goofy note of Dark begging for more kisses if he does a good job. Which shows dude has optimism pouring out of his ass rn.

[krillbot]

I saw someone recommending High Potential so I started watching and I'm quite enjoying it. S1E5 though, hehehehe. Now obviously the writers aren't expected to know every in and out of whatever they're using in the plot but also this is the "random knowledge and attention to detail" show so like,,, that frog did not kill her. No way. (Pardon the poor quality pictures, I had to take pictures of the tv since all streaming services are terrified of screenshots)

First off, that's very likely a CGI frog just because it's not easy to get a frog to sit nicely in the same spot for several shots, also because that tank looks dry af and wouldn't be good for an amphibian over the course of the shoot.

Also loving the implication that the frogs sit on their respective logs all the time and that is enough to tell them apart lol.

Any the point is, poison dart frogs get their toxicity from their diet, in the wild they eat, I believe fire ants, and other insects, that make them poisonous. Here's the thing though, no one feeds dart frogs fire ants in captivity. You just feed them fruit flies or the like, and suddenly it's not so poisonous. The frog in the show Dendrobates tinctoris, wouldn't be a real threat and certainly couldn't kill someone from brief contact, especially as she was holding her hands under running water. The only way she'd actually die was if it was recently poached from the wild and then she put it in her mouth.

The other thing that's really funny to me is they kept editing in animals

I was laughing so hard at these omg. So the major one here is the absolutely giant Carolina Anole, frozen in a little territory display. These are not big lizards, they're half tail.

I'm holding an adult male in this picture, they get a little bigger than this but not by much. And in the show it's blown up to look like the size of bearded dragon or something. Quite silly

We also have two more poison dart frogs, the lighting on the red one makes it obvious that it's edited in. The little yellow one though is very ironic to me because that's the Golden Poison Dart Frog, Phyllobates terribilis, which is considered to be the most poisonous animals species on the planet! And you didn't use that one for the murder?! Not only that but they are also very endangered. So not only would this actually kill her, it would also create a good correlation to her trafficking exotic animals. Again I'm not expecting the creators to understand the techniques used to reduce toxicity in captive poison dart frogs, but I do think it's funny that they walked right by the logical fit and used it as a background set piece with their oversized anoles.

Lastly, watching the guy lose, and scramble after a Uromastyx was so funny. Those are not "jump several feet out of a tank, onto the floor and skitter away faster than a person can chase" creatures that's anole behavior. So watching the actor scramble around looking for this devilishly fast beast, while knowing the Uromastyx is just chilling? Very silly, very enjoyable.

Look at him! He's so silly! And I know that posture, he's been sitting on his handler's nice warm hand and he got plopped on the ground and he's not sure about if he wants to bother moving yet or not. I can relate.

[hometownrockstar]

i think people on tumblr have good intentions but it does irk me sometimes when they say stuff abt fatness that perpetuates incorrect ideas, even if they mean it in a good way this time... just thinking abt the tags on a certain post that's going around lately, the tags sometimes conflating exercise with weight loss, and like exercise builds muscle, lots of athletes are bulky and fat also, same like how diets dont cause permanent weight loss, either. But both misconceptions are ingrained into society as "basic scientific facts" so i get why people repeat them, despite there being evidence that diets cause weight to regain 95% of the time within 5 years... the point im making here is that weight is complicated and not easy to change, much less change permanently. It's affected by genetics and different kinds of disabilities sometimes and perpetuating the idea that it can be changed with lifestyle changes (not even considering the implications of changing lifestyle for poor people) goes directly into feeding fatphobic mindsets of "they should have just worked harder and ate less to change their bodies, so they can't call out fatphobia bc being fat is a choice"

[mayhemchicken-varneyposting]

Varney the Vampire, Chapter 14: I Do Not Drink...Wine

[Previous chapter] [Next chapter]

A servant enters, bringing a tray of refreshments, but Henry is in no mood for snacking and Varney is...ahem...on a strict diet. Henry notices a scar on Varney's forehead, and remembers that the man in the portrait has the exact same scar. By this point Henry has had enough, and rises to leave. Varney asks him for an answer about the selling of Bannerworth Hall, and Henry replies that Varney can have it if he promises to never show his face to anyone in the family again. Varney is disappointed by this answer, as he was hoping to get to know Henry's sister, and Henry all but calls Varney a monster to his face.

Henry and Marchdale finally leave. Henry is so agitated that he wants to either kill Varney or die. Marchdale urges him to cool it on the thoughts of murder, reminding him that his sister, whom Henry had forgor, is also in danger of becoming a vampire, and only has Henry for support. Henry points out that she also has Charles; Marchdale scoffs at this, predicting that Charles will desert Flora due to her having been tainted by the vampire. Henry is offended on Charles' behalf but stops short of becoming angry with Marchdale.

The two of them briefly discuss methods of killing a vampire, but soon set such plans aside, focusing instead on the task at hand of lying to the rest of the family to spare them the awful news.

For a story with almost no cultural staying power outside of the Victorian era, Varney sure did grandfather a lot of vampire tropes.

"You take nothing yourself?" said Henry.

"I am under a strict regimen," replied Varney. "The simplest diet alone does for me, and I have accustomed myself to long abstinence."

"He will not eat or drink," muttered Henry, abstractedly.

The narrative goes out of its way to single out wine as one of the provided refreshments, by the way.

Speaking of weird Dracula coincidences, if I had a nickel for every time a literary vampire had a distinctive forehead scar that was used to identify him, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.

Varney continues to wind Henry up on purpose, this time with some creep remarks about his sister. I must assume the implication here is he wants to court her, presumably after the fashion of Lord Ruthven.

"How very unkind. I understand you have a charming sister, young, beautiful, and accomplished. Shall I confess, now, that I had hopes of making myself agreeable to her?"

"You make yourself agreeable to her? The sight of you would blast her for ever, and drive her to madness."

"Am I so hideous?"

"No, but—you are—"

"What am I?"

You can almost see him struggling to hold back a grin. Poor Henry is making this so easy for him.

By the time they leave, Henry is spiraling. The visit with Varney, having confirmed all his worst fears, has nearly broken him.

"He is a vampyre. There are such things. I cannot doubt now. Oh, God, I wish now that your lightnings would blast me, as here I stand, for over into annihilation, for I am going mad to be compelled to feel that such horrors can really have existence."

"Henry—Henry."

"Nay, talk not to me. What can I do? Shall I kill him? Is it not a sacred duty to destroy such a thing?"

Henry, as I said last chapter, doesn't really have the Jonathan Harker murderous determination in him, but he's certainly trying to work it up here. Marchdale, however, talks him down.

"I must destroy him."

"And wherefore?"

"Can you ask? Is he not a vampyre?"

"Yes; but reflect, Henry, for a moment upon the length to which you might carry out so dangerous an argument. It is said that vampyres are made by vampyres sucking the blood of those who, but for that circumstance, would have died and gone to decay in the tomb along with ordinary mortals; but that being so attacked during life by a vampyre, they themselves, after death, become such."

"Well—well, what is that to me?"

"Have you forgotten Flora?"

A cry of despair came from poor Henry's lips, and in a moment he seemed completely, mentally and physically, prostrated.

"God of Heaven!" he moaned, "I had forgotten her!"

"I thought you had."

Also on display here is Henry's almost comical lack of object permanence. You forgot her? Your entire sister? Henry.

Once again, Dracula presents a fascinating contrast. In Dracula, the threat of Mina turning is presented as a motivator to the characters to kill Dracula; here, the same threat to Flora serves the opposite. Van Helsing is adamant that killing the vampirized Lucy is an act of mercy; Marchdale here seems to imply the reverse is true.

From here, the conversation takes an odd turn.

"My dear friend, Henry Bannerworth, although I am not an old man, yet I am so much older than you that I have seen a great deal of the world, and am, perhaps, far better able to come to accurate judgments with regard to individuals."

"No doubt—no doubt; but yet—"

"Nay, hear me out. Such judgments, founded upon experience, when uttered have all the character of prophecy about them. I, therefore, now prophecy to you that Charles Holland will yet be so stung with horror at the circumstance of a vampyre visiting Flora, that he will never make her his wife."

This after Charles has already sworn, multiple times, that he will not leave Flora's side no matter what horrors she faces. Marchdale really seems to have it out for Charles.

"It has often been my misfortune through life," said Mr. Marchdale, sadly, "to give the greatest offence where I feel the truest friendship, because it is in such quarters that I am always tempted to speak too freely."

"Nay, no offence," said Henry. "I am distracted, and scarcely know what I say. Marchdale, I know you are my sincere friend—but, as I tell you, I am nearly mad."

It continues to sadden me how easily Henry falls for Marchdale's passive-aggressive behavior. He's being so manipulative, Henry! Don't listen to him!

After this, Marchdale counsels that Henry not tell the rest of the family his conviction that Varney is the vampire. Once again, lying to your loved ones is painted as Good Actually.

Henry resolves to kill Varney if he ever shows his face around them, and he and Marchdale bring up staking and fire as two methods of killing a vampire. Contrary to modern pop culture, where a wooden stake is a sort of vampire-killing magic bullet, the rationale for a stake killing a vampire is that it pins them to the earth, preventing them from rising - an explanation which, as I understand it, is much closer to original vampire folklore.

Next: A couple of new characters are introduced

[crowsyart]

Me and my friend (@saintgabe)have been thinking about the differences between humans and weapons and you guys know me I overthink so now we’ve got some speculative biology here my magnum opus is my witch biology which one day I will be brave enough to post (once me and my friend finish the infographics) anyways. This is a long one so strap in

The major difference in their bodies is weapons being built to specifically digest souls. The things that weapons have really held onto is having sharp teeth and chambered stomachs. The teeth are used to puncture the outer layer of the soul to get to the liquid inside. Their sharp teeth will come in with the loss of their baby teeth. Their chambered stomachs are similar to some herbivores, and have specific parts being targeted directly for absorbing as much nutrients and energy from the soul as possible. Ancient weapons used to be able to survive off of souls alone, but modern weapons due to symbiosis and making offspring with humans have lost this ability, instead only able to absorb finite nutrients and magic from souls. A human eating souls would be unable to gain any real benefits. In fact, there are many detriments, the big one being developing into a kishin egg. In fact, as a human consumes more and more souls, their body will start to undergo a rapid adaptation in order to consume them easier, developing weapon traits. This is a painful and exhausting process, but the excess of magic contained in a soul is enough to force the change, especially when reacting with the madness in a human body. A modern weapon needs to supplement their diet with normal food, but they often have a proclivity for meat, and are able to digest it raw. It is unknown specifically when or why this happened, but the most commonly accepted theory is that souls were such a small thing inside a person that it would lead the weapon to lose more than it gained, so their bodies allowed them to digest the rest of what they needed. Weapons still contain more magic than humans naturally, but less than witches. It is theorized that weapons evolved in the first place to hunt witches, their souls containing the high amounts of magic energy a weapon would use for their transformation.

Weapons did not always look like humans. Originally they were more like how Excalibur and Ragnarok look. As they began to spend more and more time with humans, the weapons that had humanoid features became more successful, some even reproducing with said humans. This continued on until all weapons today are at least partially human. Two human parents can make a weapon because it is entirely possible for a recessive weapon gene to be in their dna. Two weapons parents are able to produce a human because of the same reason. No ‘true’ weapons exist anymore in the way that they used to be. It’s like there are no more wolves, just wolfdogs and domestic dogs. This brings me into the topic of show weapons, one of the most common types of weapons today. Almost every modern weapon has some ‘show’ trait, whether that be flashy patterns or intricate symbols. As weapons and humans came to interact more, humans wanted more noticeable weapons, and as almost a form of natural selection, weapons with these traits became more successful and more likely to pass these desirable traits on. These traits come with side effects, as their human forms also may exhibit ‘show’ traits, such as bright hair, unnatural eyes, or overly sharp teeth even for a weapon. This can lead to issues such as poor vision, trouble speaking, etc. Some families of humans had paired with weapon families through generations, some even selecting certain traits to be passed down to try and ‘breed’ more powerful or impressive weapons. There were a lot of sociopolitical implications of this but this is biology class so I’m not gonna get into it you can figure it out or maybe I’ll talk about it later

As a subset of this, some weapon lines have become specialized in specific magic, such as Marie’s lighting and healing wavelength and Azusa’s clairvoyance. Any weapon can have specialized magic, but older lines have developed it much further than newer weapon lines. It’s not very common though, and isn’t something that’s being really looked at, but can be a bonus for a lucky meister. Weapons with more ‘show’ traits aren’t as sought after as fighting partners, as oftentimes they’re considered more symbolic than actually powerful. Dwma weapons, though, are mostly picked for their ability to perform resonance, rather than physical traits.

Some subsections of weapons refuse to interact with humans, forming sects or cults. Not much is known about them, but a major one worships Vajra and is known to ransack villages to try and further their unknown goals. The people in groups such as this often have vestigial weapon traits due to lack of interaction and reproduction with humans. Many of these weapons are more ‘simple’ tools, such as blades or blunt objects, like their early ancestors. More complicated weapons such as guns evolved later, but it is unknown exactly when they started popping up and why. Early on, Star Clan was mistaken for a rogue weapon group, but it was discovered a majority of them were human.

Humans have also adapted some traits to better fit their weapon partners, such as many meisters having a nictitating membrane that allows them to see souls. It’s theorized that weapons used to have these as well, but as they integrated with humans more and more, it became no longer necessary and was lost. Rarely a weapon can be born with this, like a human being born with a tail.

There are some behavioral differences as well, but this post is already long as shit so I’ll do another one for that some time anyways hope u guys enjoyed we worked hard on this and it was a lot of fun :3

[impcler]

Serpentine physiology + Mutualism

This has been talked about a lot, but I do agree with the general consensus that Messmer does indeed feel what his snakes feel and that is not just generalized to touch. It's a muted sensation but he can feel the strokes upon their scales as if it were on his own skin. If his companions are hurting, then he hurts with them etc.

His companions also share other senses with him such as sight and smell. While the seal Marika replaced his eye with does permit some level of vision, it is very poor and tinted with gold so for the most part he allows his serpents to be his guides.

What they do not share is taste given that the snakes do not necessarily need to feed to sustain themselves. Messmer alone is enough to nurture all of them through his own diet. (No one dares question when he takes his cuts of meat extra rare for fear of facing consequences)

Speaking of, the serpents bodies end pretty much where they are attached with exception of the one sprouting from his back that burrows through his shoulder and out his chest. They entirely lack scales where their flesh melds with Messmer's internal organs and muscular structure. If their bodies had been independently whole and with the implication of the lengths they can stretch themselves out to from the intro cutscene, Messmer's skin would be bulging and writhing with them.

Shedding is an entire event altogether in which Messmer will take days in isolation to himself to assist his companions in shedding their old scales. Messmer himself also sheds in patches (in base form this would be exaggerated greatly) and the entire process is not entirely pleasant to endure. Visitation at that time is completely out of the question and so it is his most trusted men the fire knights that tend to protect their Lord's privacy for the duration of his vulnerability.

May add more to this list in the future should I come up with more

[duhdumb89]

A Forbidden Happiness | Chapter 19

Everyone knew that the food at The Empress Dowager's banquet would be more than luxurious. The Empress wanted the meal to be something people talked about for years. To even lay eyes on it was something most people would die to do.

Not wanting Xiang gui ren to miss out, The Emperor delivered each dish to her. The servants needed to push three tables together to lay out the entire banquet. Molan and Bolin 'ooh-ed' and 'ahh-ed' over The Emperor's care for their mistress. Jiayi cursed him. The Emperor had been by Xiang gui ren's side since she was bedbound and knew she couldn't open her mouth very much or chew tough foods. He was right there when Hwang taiyi and Lou taiyi described the strict rejuvenating diet Xiang gui ren would have to follow if she wanted to heal with no deep scars.

At best, Xiang gui ren could have fingernails' worth of each dish. Wasn't it cruel to send her all the food she could't have?

"Everything looks so exciting," said Xiang gui ren, "It's a shame I can't eat it. Ah, I hope His Majesty doesn't behave like this every day,"

"Mistress, we won't eat if you can't. We'll send it back!" Said Ping'er.

Xiang gui ren waived away the idea, "No, I'll just seem ungrateful. Eat, eat! It'll give you all something to do other than wait for me to drop dead,"

"Mistress!" Jiayi gasped at the implication.

"It was a joke!" Said Xiang gui ren.

Jiayi huffed and walked around the tables, looking for something soft and light for Xiang gui ren. If she cut the pieces fine enough, her mistress could have a treat.

"What's that over there on the 2nd table near the hot pot?" Asked Xiang gui ren.

"Shark fin soup, mistress," replied Molan.

"Didn't First Princess talk about how much she liked that? It's awful that she has to miss it. Poor thing," said Xiang gui ren.

The mention of First Princess made Jiayi's stomach turn.

Molan nodded, "Mmm, she liked the pork trotters and steamed cakes here, too. Mistress, why don't we send some over to her? I've heard she's been so sad, locked in her rooms,"

"I'll take it," said Jiayi. It was a small gesture, but it would make Jiayi feel better if First Princess felt better.

"Good. Oh! Since you'll be over there anyways, take that green brocade and white fox fur and drop it off in Sixth Princes' rooms. The Internal Affairs department sent over a few things to make my winter clothes, but green isn't really my color, and I think brown and red furs are more dashing," said Xiang gui ren.

Molan placed the dishes in a lunchbox and neatly folded the green brocade and furs.

"Don't worry, jiejie; I'll save the pork belly for you,"

The Empress Dowager's banquet was large enough that many servants, no matter what department they worked in, were pulled in to help. Seeing the streets empty of the usual servants sweeping, washing, and trimming was strange. A cooler-than-usual breeze made Jiayi shiver. She looked down at the brocade and fur, wondering if an odd boy like the Sixth Prince would appreciate it.

The Sixth Prince looked nothing like The Emperor. At this point, Jiayi had painted all of the princes and princesses and could match the features of His Majesty in all of them. With Sixth Prince? There was none. When Xiang gui ren entered Sixth Prince's rooms, his nursemaids asked if they could relieve themselves and tidy up when Xiang gui ren was around to watch Sixth Prince. They didn't bother asking their master but instead shuffled out.

She placed her paintbox on the table and frowned at the dust and food stains that littered the tablecloth. Jiayi would have to clean it before putting down the parchment.

"The Empress Dowager is going to love this portrait of you," said Xiang gui ren, "Did you pick out your clothes?"

Sixth Prince didn't look up from the scroll he was reading, "What does it matter? Can't your maid paint me in anything?"

"Even so. Do you have a favorite color?" She asked.

"Green,"

Xiang gui ren nodded.

"Sixth Prince," said Jiayi, "Where would you like to be painted?"

"You'll have to paint me here. I'm not leaving my room," said Sixth Prince.

Jiayi bowed her head, "I apologize. I mean, what would you like to be doing in your portrait? First Princess was embroidering, and Third Prince was on horseback. What would you like?"

"Does it matter?" Asked Sixth Prince, "Can we just get this over with?"

Jiayi looked around at Sixth Prince's desk. Piles of scrolls and books littered the surface, with more of the same spilling out of the bookshelf behind him.

"Sixth Prince looks like a dashing scholar at work at his desk. Would you like to be painted like that?"

"Fine,"

Sixth Prince sighed and griped when Jiayi gently posed him and ordered Molan and Bolin to tidy up around. It couldn't have been more than an hour before Sixth Prince claimed to be tired and all but chased them away.

"Mistress," said Molan, once they were well away from the A Ge Sou, "That was weird, wasn't it?"

"What was?"

"Sixth Prince. His nannies were gone the entire time, and his room? Dusty all over? I tried to find a green yifu for jiejie to paint, and all his clothes were old and thin. That's not how an Imperial heir should live,"

It had taken several sessions to finish Sixth Prince's portrait. In that time, the child rarely had visitors. When Jiayi painted Third Prince's portrait, Fourth Prince and Eighth Prince weren't far from his side. First Princess and Second Princess dropped by as well. But Sixth Prince was alone. On one occasion, Tong pin dropped by and spent time fussing about Sixth Prince's dirty fingers and sullen face, but she mostly chatted with Xiang gui ren before leaving. Sixth Prince kicked them out soon after.

A young lady and a maid strolled passed her, "Gêgê, let's go back. The fireworks will start soon," 

Jiayi felt a sharp burning burst of jealousy at the gêgê's effortless beauty. But like the sting of a mosquito, it was there for only a moment. 

Jiayi was dragged out of her thoughts when someone hissed her name.

"Psst! Wei guniang! Over here!"

It took her a few turns before realizing that someone was waving at her from behind a corner.

"Sang'er?" she asked.

"Lower your voice," he said, "Wei guniang, may I ask a favor of you?"

Jiayi looked down at the lunchbox in one hand and the fabric in the other, "I'm a little busy. I can come back later,"

Sang'er shook his head, "It can't wait! Please, Wei guniang, it won't take long,"

"Sang'er–"

The eunuch dropped to his knees, pleading in earnest.

"Don't do that!" Jiayi said, walking over to him, "Fine. If it's quick, I'll help you,"

"Thank you, thank you!" said Sang'er, "Come with me, quickly!"

Sang'er brought her around the corner, where Prince Han, in Jiayi's opinion, appeared out of thin air. She yelped at the sight of him. Sang'er and Prince Han frantically shushed her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "My lord, what's going on?"

Prince Han cleared his throat, "I need a small favor,"

Jiayi was familiar with this kind of conversation. Every servant was. It was always a 'small favor.' Just drop this off. Just switch these plates. Just deliver this message. Those small things usually landed them in a coffin.

The thoughts must have shown on her face because Prince Han quickly reassured her.

"It's nothing so grave," he said, "I need you to talk to someone for me,"

"Did you pass by a gêgê on your way here?" Sang'er asked, "Very pretty and walking with her maid?"

"I did," she replied.

"My lord would like you to ask her to return to the banquet. If she asks after him, tell her he's drunk and already retired for the night,"

"At 5 in the evening?" asked Jiayi.

"You can say anything within reason," said Prince Han, "Just stop her from walking up and down the corridors so I can escape,"

Jaiyi's arms were beginning to get sore.

"My lord, if this gêgê is bothering you, I'm sure Her Highness could help,"

Prince Han's face went through a series of convulsions before he collected himself. He nudged Sang'er.

"Oh! Here," Sang'er held out a tael of silver to her.

Seeing that her hands were occupied, Sang'er relieved her of her burdens before pressing the money into her hands.

"On your way now to deal with Yehe-Nara gêgê. I'll keep these safe for you,"

Jiayi had no choice. She pocketed the silver and stepped back onto the road. The gêgê that Prince Han was so weary of made an about-face and walked straight toward her.

"My lady," Jiayi called, "Do you need some help?"

"Oh," said Yehe-Nara gêgê, "Yes. Have you seen Prince Han? I have something I want to give him,"

"I passed by Prince Han on my way back. He was red-faced and leaning on his eunuch. Perhaps my lady should wait to give Prince Han this gift. He may displace it,"

Yehe-Nara gêgê deflated and let out a small sigh, "You're right. I suppose I'd be bothering him,"

"Don't worry, gêgê," said her maid, "The Empress invites you here so often, you'll see Prince Han again,"

It made Jiayi's heart ache to see the young woman so sad. How much could it hurt that she wanted to spend some time with Prince Han?

Yehe-Nara gêgê nodded, "Fine then, let's go back to the banquet,"

"Wait," said Jiayi,  "May I ask your name?"

"My lady is Xiurong of the Yehe-Nara clan," said the maid.

"Being the daughter of such a powerful clan, your father must be invited to the Mulan Autumn Hunt*," said Jaiyi. 

"Master is a decorated general of His Majesty's army," said the maid, "He's invited every year,"

"Do you go with him?" Asked Jiayi.

"Oh no, I'm not very fond of horse racing and such," replied Yehe-Nara gêgê.

Jiayi leaned in close and dropped her voice to a whisper, "Prince Han is going. I've heard that men and women don't live as separately in Mongolia as in the capital. If you went with your father, you could spend even more time with him,"

Yehe-Nara gêgê smiled at her maid in excitement before turning back to Jiayi, "You're a very smart maid,"

"Thank you, my lady,"

Jiayi waited until Yehe-Nara gêgê was out of sight before returning to Prince Han and Sang'er.

"She's gone,"

Prince Han and Sang'er exchanged a look of relief.

"Wei guniang, you don't know how much you've helped us," said Sang'er.

Jiayi went on her way as quickly as possible. First Princess' food could only stay warm for so long.

_____

The fireworks died, and the guests were traveling back home. Shen huang gui fei could finally drop the false smile that covered her face. How could her smile be anything but false? The Emperor was shunning her and Huabao, and The Empress Dowager was furious with her for marrying her cousins into Duke Zian's household. It was unfair. How long would The Empress Dowager be by her side? Why was it such a crime for Shen huang gui fei to think of her future? Until she had another son, it was all she could do! But still, depriving The Empress Dowager of an opportunity to douse the Imperial Family with more Mongolian blood was a heavy crime.

"Let The Empress and De gui fei eat you alive, you ungrateful wretch!"

So De gui fei finally made a move. Shen huang gui fei would admit that as the years went on, De gui fei became less and less of a threat. Their daughters may have been born right after the other, but His Majesty stopped frequenting De gui fei's bed years ago. With no son and no favor, De gui fei faded into the background like an old, ugly painting.

The Empress must have promised a great something for De gui fei to step off her moral high horse and attack Huabao. And with Xiang gui ren moving to Chengqiangong, the picture became clearer and clearer.

If De gui fei wanted to make the mistake of going against Shen huang gui fei, it was her funeral. It was too early to take action so soon after Jiang pin's foolishness so she would wait until their return from the hunt. Then, she would show De gui fei the error of her ways. 

In the dead of night, Jingse informed her of an interesting tidbit regarding Xiang gui ren's little maid and Prince Han.

How fun. 

–––––––– *The imperial hunt of the Qing dynasty was an annual rite of the of during the (1636–1912). It was first organized in 1681 by the at the imperial hunting grounds at Mulan (modern-day Weichang Manchu and Mongol Autonomous County), near what would become the of the Qing emperors at Starting in 1683 the event was held annually at Mulan during the autumn, lasting up to a month. The Qing dynasty hunt was a synthesis of earlier Chinese and hunting traditions, particularly those of the and . The emperor himself participated in the hunt, along with thousands of soldiers, imperial family members, and government officials.

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(You can vote for this story on wattpad here)

[steadylocketmartyr]

Spotting Signs of Stress in Your Saltwater Fish

Introduction

Maintaining a vivid and thriving saltwater aquarium is either an paintings and a technological know-how. As any pro aquarist will let you know, one of the most most serious factors of this undertaking is understanding the indicators of tension in your saltwater fish. Fish are frequently unable to vocalize their soreness, so it really is vital for aquarium lovers to be vigilant about spotting diffused ameliorations in habits and appearance. In this entire instruction, we are able to delve deep into spotting signals of pressure for your saltwater fish, equipping you with the skills had to make certain a healthful aquatic environment.

Spotting Signs of Stress in Your Saltwater Fish

When it involves deciding upon rigidity on your saltwater fish, you have to comply with their habits, bodily appearance, and environmental points inside your aquarium. Stress can stem from a lot of sources inclusive of water fine considerations, inadequate tank length, aggressive tank associates, or even unexpected differences in temperature.

Understanding Fish Stress: The Basics

Stress seriously isn't just a buzzword; it has critical implications for the wellbeing and fitness and effectively-being of your aquatic pets. When wired, fish can express symptoms that stove from easy lethargy to severe defect.

What Causes Stress in Saltwater Fish? Poor Water Quality: High ranges of ammonia or nitrite might possibly be toxic. Temperature Fluctuations: Sudden changes can surprise fish. Overcrowding: Too many fish can cause territorial disputes. Incompatible Tank Mates: Some species purely do not get along. Improper Diet: A lack of vitamin can weaken immune platforms. Behavioral Changes Indicative of Stress

Fish talk their stress thru habits variations. Here are some normal behavioral signals that would imply misery:

1. Lethargy

If your once-lively clownfish has begun to hover close to the lowest or remain motionless for prolonged intervals, it could be a signal of tension.

2. Hiding

While some species savor hiding spots, excessive hiding can suggest that a fish feels threatened or uncomfortable.

3. Aggression

Uncharacteristic aggression in opposition t tank mates also can imply that a fish is stressed by using its ambiance or rivalry for resources.

Physical Signs of Stress in Saltwater Fish

Alongside behavioral cues, actual signals are similarly great to display screen:

4. Faded Colors

A vibrant palette is more commonly indicative of exceptional wellness; having said that, for those who observe dulling https://ameblo.jp/alexisxfak060/entry-12910583328.html colorings to your fish, it's time to analyze similarly.

five. Rapid Gill Movement

Increased gill job could sign that the fish is struggling with oxygen phases or poor water exceptional.

6. Frayed Fins or Tail Damage

Physical harm sometimes outcome from aggression between tank mates or negative water situations.

Environmental Factors Contributing to Stress

Your aquarium's ambiance performs a the most important function w

[wat3rm370n]

If you "agree with" any of MAHA you're signing onto eugenics.

MAHA is a movement involving anti-vax eugenicist principles. Even if you can pick out one little part of it that sounds ok, do you really want to sign on to the stink of eugenics?

"Eugenicists frequently focused on dietary habits, and their objectives “often dovetailed with broad public health and hygiene practices.”" is how Daniel Kracov described it in a journal publication in Food and Drug Law Journal in 2022, when talking about the early days of The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), from 1906 to the enactment of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. The article goes over the history of regulating diet from over a century ago and how tied into product promotion this always has been, and about an “influential factor in that critical period typically goes unnamed or unexamined: eugenics”!(1)

Back during the campaign to eliminate polio, there was an anti-vaxxer that was really out there named Duon H. Miller, described as “the cantankerous owner of a cosmetics company in Florida” by an article in Slate, which reported, “To Miller, “polio” was not an infectious disease. It was a state of malnutrition caused by midcentury American diets, particularly soft drinks—his mortal enemy.”(2) Sounds awfully familiar!

It’s not just RFKJr who’s into quackery around diet either among the Trump administration officials. Kash Patel had been promoting supplements with the false claim that they were “a detox” for covid vaccines.(3) And loads of livestreams of Donald Trump events feature covid products,(4) especially the disproven claimed remedy ivermectin in “contagion” emergency kits.(5)

It’s common to push these types of products in the context of “taking control of your own health” and other pseudoscience and eugenics type frames. I don’t think most people notice this of course, because nobody stops to think about where this kind of narrative leads. Sure of course people can like healthy food and exercise. But the problem comes in because that stuff is just part of the eugenics ideology. And what you think is something positive, gets spun as a reason to claim some people don’t deserve to live. We’re back to how anti-vaxxers assert that people shouldn’t need vaccines if they’re “fit” and eat right, and if you get some disease, you must deserve it. It’s related to the “invisible hand of the market” that makes no sense in markets,(6) let alone disease or anything else. The invisible hand of the market is apocalyptic hopium, because there’s no tipping point where people wake up and magically start doing the right thing and it’s the same reason I think relying on FAFO is a terrible strategy.(7) And it’s why I say eugenics ideology is a form of pseudoscience.(8)

And it’s ugly. Peter Greene described it very well saying that they “believe the marketplace is God's own way of sorting out the deserving from the undeserving. Their own wealth and success are a result of their superior awesomeness, not the luck of timing and circumstance. And if you are poor, that is a reflection of your unworthiness, your moral failings, your character flaws, and trying to boost you out of that is to go against the laws of nature. The implication underlying all this? Not everyone can succeed, and not everyone should.”(9) The same thing gets applied to health, where people are set by the wayside and that’s just the way it is,(10) or that they actually should expect to be sacrificed not just for the health of anyone else but for The Economy as a false god.(11) The herd immunity ideology, and public health gets twisted to where people with “underlying conditions” are the cause of not only their own illness, but everyone else’s too, that’s the propaganda that’s been pushed for years now in the pandemic.(12)

And all this is pushed together. This is how these things work, and it’s well studied.  At an MIT Digital Economy seminar they discussed how the anti-vax influencers have various ways to get income including subscription fees, maybe from astroturfed sources, and selling conspiracy theory swag. A guy in my neighborhood was wearing a Qanon shirt in 2021. We’ve all seen weird bumper stickers. A researcher at the Digital Economy presentation said: “So if you are anti-vax, you are selling supplements right, if you are, you're selling essential oils, you're selling products that are directly benefiting from the disinformation or misinformation that is circulating.”(13) You can quickly see how the diet and exercise wellness influencers also so obviously play into this mix.

All sorts of influencers play in the “awareness” and special people with special knowledge being able to overcome the health challenges that others do not. 

They “do their own research” and go counter to what experts say. This is part of the reason I object to the term "covid conscious" that some people online use to mean that they’re actively avoiding covid, either because of high risk or personal preference. It’s akin to “health conscious” and unfortunately the term seems to have been born out of covid wellness influencers who promote the idea that people avoiding covid are superior, more “aware” and even more intelligent,(14) and so promoting the perversely comforting idea that people thus will win the zombie apocalypse with the eugenics of not having covid or covid complications. This isn’t public health, and it’s not even realistic, because disease is never fair, and because eugenics is a pseudoscience. Someone can do everything right and get a deadly disease, and some people get lucky despite all the risks. It is what it is. We can’t individualize ourselves out of a collective problem, but there are a lot of people ready to sell us on that, and to try to sell us a lot of products. 

Individual control and specialness makes for a compelling narrative. It's a good story, especially if you want to promote using products based on that.(15) Many products which are dubious in some way -- maybe just mixed up in financial schemes,(16) or sold by people who are gaming the rules,(17) or have unproven efficacy and safety,(18) or are even hazardous.(19) This “alternative” health movement is NOT benign. Trying to get public health out of individualism and profiteering is like trying to get ice out of fire, it just doesn’t make much sense. 

And we sure don’t get public health by opposing public health! Nevertheless, Monica Gandhi has been trying to gaslight us into going against established public health knowledge to claim that you can convince people to get vaccinated by discouraging vaccination.(20) There’s no common ground and you can’t meet anti-vaxxers halfway to hell. Mike Osterholm was quoted in Stat News over 2 years ago saying that he thinks public health leadership is trying to “thread the needle” between people who want to be vaccinated and the anti-vaxxers who want nobody vaccinated.(21) How could that work? The MAHA people don’t want anyone using fluoride.(22) It also seems they don’t want anyone drinking pasteurized milk, yet they also don’t want anyone halting the spread of avian influenza on dairy farms either.(23) These people are fringe, and not the majority, why should we cater to them anyway?

And the people against public health always frame it as a right to so-called “medical freedom” even while they limit other people’s freedom by not only spreading disease instead of getting vaccinated themselves, but also trying to stop other people getting vaccinated. Republican politicians in Montana have tried to pass a law against all medicine involving mRNA technology,(24) which could potentially stop people getting vaccines or other medical treatments in the future. 

I realize some people are also busy being big fans of Paul Offit and Katelyn Jetelina, imagining that they will lead The Resistance to anti-vax by solving this thorny problem - but they both have problems. Katelyn Jetelina has a history of being a terrible communicator when it comes to accurate information - leading with the lies and helping anti-vax to spread(25) under the guise of being a debunker influencer.(26) Her popular newsletter has always seemed to exist to soothe and coo people to believe everything’s going to be ok no matter what, telling people what they want to hear. And Paul Offit just straight up has been pushing anti-vax for years, he has himself long lobbied for the restrictions the Trump administration and RFKJr are imposing now.(27) And now Katelyn Jetelina is paired up with Paul Offit and the guy who ran around New York City with ebola in 2014.(28) And they say they’re “learning from MAHA”,(29) when surely public health should be the ones educating people about real science, not joining their cult to try to fix the problem from the inside of MAGA by driving the murder trolley,(30) or maybe join them instead of beating them or whatever they think they’re doing. 

I listened to an interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates who never specifically mentioned public health, but what he said really applies across the board on all our public good when he said that: “people have to have some positive vision of the state, like that has to happen, like at some point people have to feel like the state itself the government not America as an abstract concept, but the government is itself good for something.” Ta-Nehisi Coates also acknowledged the concept of finding common ground to build coalitions, and the realities of running for office, but noted the problem with having to avoid certain topics regarding civil rights and human rights just in order to do that, and how it throws people under the bus essentially, just as all of mainstream politics has done toward the clinically vulnerable with regards to the pandemic. Ta-Nehisi Coates described a conversation with someone about this, and it’s a discourse we’ve probably all heard before in some context or another, he said: “they were making the point I think you know it was an astute political point that “hey I won't go out and talk about you know say you know trans rights or immigrant rights you know to this person over here I will focus on the things that we have in common economically you know what I mean and try to build the coalition there. It's not that I'm anti-trans or anti-immigrant but you know I'm trying to build a coalition and coalitions have to be built on the things that are shared.” And I said yeah that makes sense but what happens when your opposition starts attacking those people?”(31)

I get that some of these doctor influencers might truly believe they’re going to break bread with anti-vaxxers and so convince these people to save themselves by being nice to them. I understand the impulse coming from doctors especially. But those people are already killing people, so what are they going to do with their MAHA learning sessions when more people are being killed? 

What are they going to do when those MAHA people and the contrarians in charge at the government want to go further? We know they never stop at just a little, they keep going. The J6 insurrectionists weren't just pardoned, now they’re demanding reparations.(32) And we’ve already seen that RFKJr wasn’t satisfied with “personal choice”, they’re looking to wrongly but officially discredit vaccines so nobody will get them. So the future might not just be withholding the prevention of suffering such as restricting vaccines. Forced breeding, sterilization, deprivation, and murderous executions have happened all over when authoritarians get into power and start implementing policies based in eugenics. 

I see people assuring each other that they’ll be able to use one of the many underlying conditions that puts one in the at risk category now allowable under the current covid vaccine restrictions.(33) But MAHA clearly wants vaccines to be taken off the market, and claim that vaccinated people are dangerous, they’ve been saying this for years, and I keep trying to tell people what is being said in fringe right-wing circles,(34) the base of the current administration running federal public health and healthcare agencies. I’m just going to keep asking - why the hell do we need to cater to these people?  

And still many people are reluctant to be “alarmist” because that of course is shamed, for reasons.(35) But reproductive health professionals and lawyers warned us repeatedly about the decades about Roe V. Wade, and yet so  many (probably PR placed) op-eds insisted on that it was "settled law". In 2021 Corey Robin had an essay published in The New Yorker magazine arguing that fear of fascism and the overturning of Roe V Wade was overblown and essentially alarmist. So don’t worry. Then a year after that was published, Roe V Wade was struck down by the Supreme Court. Historian Thomas Zimmer pointed out that after that happened, The New Yorker quietly changed the wording in Corey Robin’s article,(36) apparently to move the goal posts to keep chastising people as overreacting but acknowledging that what they said wouldn’t happen absolutely happened.

These MAHA people want pasteurization gone, no fluoride in toothpaste, and may start criminalizing being “unhealthy” based on who knows what. Maybe they’ll use the standards of some wellness bro influencer and right-wing podcaster with a concierge clinic who thinks covid should’ve been allowed to cull the human species more.(37)

This is bigger than public health of course. Andrea Pitzer described it as a “pre-1945 mindset”,(38) and that seems to be driving all of societal logistics in a distinctly not good way.

References:

1

KRACOV1, DANIEL A. “Eugenics and the Development of U.S. Food and Drug Law.” Food and Drug Law Journal, vol. 77, no. 2, 2022, pp. 135–75. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27186356. Accessed 28 May 2025. Despite its focus on race and genes over environment, eugenics was seen as having a particularly important connection to hygiene, diet, and public health. In the eugenic mindset, “(c)leanliness often referred to as much having a pure hereditary lineage and unblemished moral record as it did keeping one’s body and home free from dirt.”68 Hygiene indicated “high evolutionary status, for by avoiding disease the health- conscious individual increased personal and national productivity, fitness, and superiority.”69 Eugenicists also had a preoccupation with efficiency and “flow” through the digestive system as well as optimizing the human body.70 A regular feature of eugenic displays at state fairs and national expositions were displays on hygiene and the ideal (and invariably white) human body.71 This was part of a broader “exhibitionary culture” at the time that utilized such events to reach “the multitudes with their messages of better healthcare for mothers and infants, immigration reform, and sterilization of the socially and racially unfit.”72 Advertisements presented the streamlined “eugenic ideal,” showing products in which eugenics ideas had a direct relationship to product design, from cars to kitchens to buildings to dinnerware.73 The objective was achieving an “earthly utopia”—”a seamless society made of perfected people and products.”74

2

Slate - The Loneliest Anti-Vaxxer. Even the popular polio shot had its haters. By Nick Keppler, Nov 26, 2021 Under the banner of his organization, Polio Prevention Inc., Miller distributed hair-raising mailers with claims like “Thousands of little white coffins will be used to bury victims of Salk’s heinous and fraudulent vaccine.” A self-made shampoo magnate, he was one of the few malcontents who publicly campaigned against the polio vaccine. His crusade shows that even during a public embrace of the polio shot that many people frustrated at COVID anti-vaxxers have held up as the ideal reaction to a new lifesaving vaccine, there was dissent, some of it as vitriolic as that you find in the corners of Twitter that swap anti-Fauci memes and Bill Gates rants—and just as weird. To Miller, “polio” was not an infectious disease. It was a state of malnutrition caused by midcentury American diets, particularly soft drinks—his mortal enemy. “Disease and malfunction do not ‘strike’ us; we build them within ourselves,” he wrote in one of his two-sided handbills.

3

NBC News - Trump’s pick for FBI director promoted bogus supplements to ‘reverse’ vaccines - Kash Patel has posted about a supplement line that claims, without evidence, that it can help people “detox” from Covid vaccines. Dec. 4, 2024, 5:00 AM EST By Aria Bendix “Spike the Vax, order this homerun kit to rid your body of the harms of the vax,” he wrote in another. It is not clear whether the posts were paid promotions; they were not labeled as such. Warrior Essentials sells what it calls a “Spike Protein Detox Protocol,” a set of up to three supplements that it claims, without evidence, will “undo the damage from the spike protein,” a component of the coronavirus. The mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna prompt the body to produce and fight an altered version of the protein to train the immune system. Warrior Essentials is one of many companies that trade on unfounded theories about the dangers of vaccines, which have proliferated in the alt-right social media landscape since the pandemic — ideas that are not backed by science.

4

Trump still promoting covid pseudoscience quack products. Mar 20th, 2024 The image is a screenshot of timestamp 2:12 in the video. On screen is Donald Trump speaking at a microphone at a podium labeled National Religious Broadcasters. Taking up nearly a quarter of the screen is a big ad that says IVERMECTIN question mark, in all caps.

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Trump rally streams still pushing ivermectin. Nov 1st, 2024 screenshot of the Majority Report on youtube for Oct 28, 2024 titled “Trump rally goes full racist” and shows a stream from the Trump rally at Madison Square garden with a 3-way split screen with the featured comedian in the middle, a view of the entire arena filled with people on the left, and on the right an advertisement for ivermectin with the caption Ivermectin question mark, “contagion emergency kit” with the same advertisement at the bottom, the livestream logo in the bottom right says RSBN 255PM

6

PBS Hacking Your Mind Weapons of Influence Episode 102 Aired: 09/16/20 Thaler helped to create a new field, behavioral economics, for which he won the Nobel Prize. One of the field’s key insights is that gut feelings like loss aversion lead consumers to make predictable mistakes, and companies in a market economy make a lot of money by encouraging us to make those mistakes. Until then, the widely accepted view had been that markets actually protect consumers from their mistakes.Thaler: “And so I would often hear something like the following — “Yes, yes.I understand that the people in your experiments and some of the people I know do foolish things, but in markets, then — and then I claim…” They could never quite finish this sentence without literally waving their hands, and the argument is somehow if you choose the wrong career or fail to save for retirement, that the market will somehow push you back toward being rational. There’s a reason why no one can make this argument without waving their hands, and that’s because the argument is just silly. You know, if you don’t save enough for retirement, what happens to you? You’re poor when you’re old. The market doesn’t discipline you.

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DOES FAFO EVEN MATTER? - #MAGA REFUSES TO #LEARN W/ CHLOE HUMBERT! - The Letterhack There's no invisible hand of the market That is religious That's a religious hope It's apocalyptic hopium that there's going to be some tipping point where everybody suddenly magically wakes up and starts doing the right thing And um yeah I just I just don't like let's just get away from this idea There's nothing wrong with mandates We have a mandate to pay into social security It works It works

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Eugenics as an ideology. Legal and political agendas have motivations to make semantic arguments that obscure eugenics and maybe that’s why we don’t have a separate word for eugenics as an ideological belief. Chloe Humbert Nov 30, 2023

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Curmudgucation - School Choice Isn't Uber. It's LulaRoe. From September 2021 - PETER GREENE SEP 14, 2023 They believe the marketplace is God's own way of sorting out the deserving from the undeserving. Their own wealth and success are a result of their superior awesomeness, not the luck of timing and circumstance. And if you are poor, that is a reflection of your unworthiness, your moral failings, your character flaws, and trying to boost you out of that is to go against the laws of nature. The implication underlying all this? Not everyone can succeed, and not everyone should. This is not an idea that translates well to public education, but it is a foundational belief about how the world works, and their ideas about the freedom to rise or fall on your merits echo those of fellow multi-level millionaires, Dick and Betsy DeVos (in fairness, Betsy's money also comes from the manufacture of auto parts).

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Teen Vogue - COVID Isn’t Going Anywhere. Masking Up Could Save My Life. Disability Visibility is a column on being disabled in a nondisabled world. By Alice Wong January 17, 2024 Many are promoting the idea that COVID is not the mass disabling event that many argue it is, that everyone will be fine because vaccines and antiviral medications exist without acknowledging structural barriers and racial disparities, and that high-risk people are inevitable acceptable losses. In an August interview with the BBC, Dr. Anthony Fauci said, "...even though you'll find the vulnerable will fall by the wayside, they'll get infected, they'll get hospitalized, and some will die. It's not going to be this tsunami of cases that we've seen.” Dr. Vinay Prasad wrote the following in his newsletter: “If your child is sick, you should not test them, and you should send them to school if they are mildly ill… Go to work if you feel up for it; stay home if you are too sick to work. Don’t test.” The condescension of people in positions of authority who are telling the public not to worry dismisses the valid fear of high-risk people who struggle to exist in public spaces without being harassed for masking or requesting accommodations because society abandoned us in a push to return to “normal” while leaving many behind. For many, the pandemic is not over. People need to continue to wear masks and get vaccinated if they can, in addition to pushing for better air quality and other mitigation efforts, instead of worshiping the individualistic “you do you” philosophy.

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Politico: A far-right rallying cry: Older Americans should volunteer to work. Older Americans are key drivers of the country's faltering economy — and more at risk of dying from the coronavirus. By Tina Nguyen. 03/27/2020 And Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, himself a former radio talk show host, went on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show to argue that older Americans would willingly sacrifice themselves to keep the economy afloat and prevent the country from sliding into a depression.

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The Economy demands full participation, herd debt paid on an altar of lies “Public health” is operating, but with the wrong information and the wrong solutions to solve the wrong problems, because those calling the shots have the wrong goals. Chloe Humbert Dec 23, 2022 This theory is definitely not based in any science and is completely without any reality. But I think the false concept being floated is actually worse than most realize. People are being convinced to blame all disease mitigation. They are being propagandized into blaming, and resenting, the people who have in fact been isolating or otherwise taking precautions to avoid sickness.

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MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy - Thinker-Fest: Session 1 - Fireside Chat - How to Fix the “Splinternet” Mar 3, 2023 They are really invested in gaining social capital and reputation for participating in these types of industries. And they also have economic models at play. You can buy flat earth sweatshirts, you can buy anti-vax stickers and notebooks, you can pay subscription fees, you can watch videos that are monetized on YouTube. And this is also very much a reputational economy. We also have a factor that I don't think is talked about a lot which are intentional antagonists otherwise known as trolls. What's interesting about them from a digital community perspective is that they too are chasing social currency but the reputation that they're cultivating within their own communities is one where the more chaos they create, the more reputation credibility that they have. And so these three forces are kind of at play when we look at what's happening from an individual and community's perspective. The issue is that if you broaden out, you start to see that all of these dynamics can take place because there are very clear revenue models and businesses. People are making money from this. For example I trace what's called direct benefits. So these are companies that are selling products and services directly related to the idea that's circulating. So if you are anti-vax, you are selling supplements right, if you are, you're selling essential oils, you're selling products that are directly benefiting from the disinformation or misinformation that is circulating.

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Jessica Burn Notice - Chloe Humbert · Jan 22, 2023 To be an influencer of course means she has a way of ingratiating herself into hearts and minds by telling her audience what they want to hear. People see what they want to see because the influencer leaves things vague and open ended enough to facilitate that, while inserting the ads or narratives. It’s also quite alluring to be told you’re special, that you have special knowledge, that you’re smarter than other people. Maybe that you’ll survive when others won’t? Disease is neither fair nor just and this would qualify as ableism at best, or worse, could be characterized as eugenics.

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Jessica Overdose This time Jessica appears to be promoting the idea of buying LOTS and LOTS of supplements. Chloe Humbert · Oct 9, 2024 She makes brief passing reference to actual proven mitigations for covid, but then lists a bunch of studies that are supposedly about supplements as covid remedies and we have no idea if they actually prove anything at all or if so, what, but assures everyone that her family is using a load of supplements and asserts that “we can up our supplement game”. Do I think you should take medical advice from a pseudonymous financially successful influencer, who you don’t know what country they live in or who they are, or who is paying them for what, but they tell you they have a phd in english? I’d say no. Go to a doctor who at least has a legal responsibility to give you expert individualized advice, don’t just listen to some rando blogger saying “looks like it works”.

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Making Novavax into a memestock is a threat to public health. All 3 vaccines approved in the U.S., from Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax, are basically in the same ballpark with efficacy. Chloe Humbert · Nov 11, 2024 Often people will hype the shit out of anything that is rosy about a particular stock and I suspect there are troll farms and probably botnets paid to do so, because that’s what people do nowadays in the information landscape and the internet of fakes. Many overly rosy posts about Novavax on social media include the stock symbol which is kind of a giveaway! There’s substantial money involved. Novavax is one of the most shorted stocks too. So there’s plenty of interest in manipulating online conversations and creating controversy about the product, in order to manipulate the perceptions, the automated systems monitoring social media for stock signals, and people trying to influence the stock market. I’m concerned some could be trying to orchestrate something akin to a pump & dump scheme.

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Ignore nose hype and don't waste money. More pandemic profiteering that might violate regulations, and definitely isn’t ready for prime time. Chloe Humbert Dec 03, 2024 I don’t see how a personal care product could reasonably be said to prevent disease, and how they could say it’s drug free when what they’re describing is a product that absolutely fits the objective definition of a drug. It sure seems like someone should be verifying that this product is or is not a drug, and if it is or is not in compliance with regulations of the FDA and FTC. Personally I think it’s wrong to just say anyone can circumvent safety regulations just by claiming something’s not what it obviously is being sold as.

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The Best Approach to COVID Prevention? It’s Not Up Your Nose Nasal sprays aren’t part of a science-based multilayered COVID-prevention strategy Kaitlin Sundling Apr 29, 2024 Unproven products can seem attractive, especially when social media marketing overhypes potential benefits, without mention of risks or uncertainties. Even for people who are highly informed about COVID, it is easy to be swayed by aggressive advertising and personal anecdotes about unproven products. Unproven methods for COVID prevention can cause harm in at least three ways.

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I stay FAR away from any avoidable UV lights. If it’s UV, it’s likely capable of harming human cells - there’s no long-term evidence otherwise. And exposing people to risks repeatedly while insisting IT'S MILD sounds awfully familiar. Chloe Humbert Aug 07, 2024 Some people, often promoting products - or just hyping this “new technology” - often have been pointing to studies that have been ridiculously small and that don’t actually back up the safety claims at all. Fraudulent Appeal to Authority - the tactic of citing sources that don’t actually back up a claim, is sadly very much rampant in marketing that happens on social media. In one case a study that has been cited, it was one person experimenting on themselves! This person exposed their own skin and gave themselves a yellow spot sunburn with the “far uvc” wavelength. We have no idea what’s going to happen to that person some years from now, or the tissue on that person’s body that was affected. This is not a reassuring thing to cite as reason to trust exposure to UV at any wavelength is safe. The study itself includes the statement: “This single individual study does not provide a definitive answer to the question of skin safety. Our study is the basis for future exploration above the current ICNIRP limit values, which would allow quicker inactivation of the virus than is currently permitted in occupied spaces. Furthermore, what this research and other published literature clearly highlight is that the hazard of all wavelengths emitted must be appropriately assessed—it is too simplistic to state that far-UVC devices are “safe for humans.”

20

Don't take public health prescriptions from repeatedly wrong Doctor Monica Gandhi. Don't Wait For Everybody - Episode 023 Chloe Humbert May 11, 2025 In an era when we have a renowned, prolific, and horrific anti-vax advocate in charge of the governance over vaccines, there are two doctors who want to seem like they're trying to split the difference between what should be a robust and protective public health plan that saves lives and a dark and gloomy world of rampant disease spread with eugenics schemes. No, I don't want to go halfway to hell.

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Stat News: FDA offers radio silence on question of spring Covid boosters, as other countries push ahead By Helen Branswell March 16, 2023 “We currently live in a world where those that want additional booster doses really want them. And those that don’t want them don’t want them at all. And what we’re trying to do is thread that needle,” Osterholm said.

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NBC News – FDA moves to take prescription fluoride drops and tablets for kids off the market Despite decades of evidence that fluoride prevents cavities, the agency said the best way to keep kids’ teeth strong is to stop eating so much sugar. May 13, 2025, 12:11 PM EDT By Erika Edwards Dr. Meg Lochary, a pediatric dentist in Union County, North Carolina, said she’s been prescribing more of the drops and tablets since county commissioners voted to stop adding fluoride to its water supply last year. “This is really going to hamper our goal of providing kids with fluoride,” Lochary said. “It’s ridiculous, and it takes away the choice of parents to allow their children to have better dental health. It doesn’t make scientific sense.”

23

Seriously, don't drink the raw milk: Social media doubles down despite bird flu outbreak Portrait of Mary Walrath-Holdridge USA TODAY May 14, 2024 The spread of these claims has led experts to express concern for consumers who may be exposed to or convinced by these messages, as the consumption of raw milk can be especially dangerous for the elderly, children, pregnant people and those with compromised immune systems. Here's what to know about pasteurization and what it does to the products we consume: Pasteurization is the process of heating milk to a high enough temperature for a long enough time to kill harmful germs, according to the CDC. The process of pasteurization became routine in the commercial milk supply in the U.S. in the 1920s and was widespread by the 1950s. As a result, illnesses commonly spread via milk became less prevalent.

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Montana House votes down bill to ban mRNA vaccines by KATE HESTON Daily Inter Lake | February 21, 2025 12:00 AM Proponents of the bill argued that the gene-based vaccinations were harmful while opponents argued that a ban would infringe on medical freedom. Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, chaired the session on Wednesday where legislators debate the legislation. Rep. Lukas Schubert, R-Kalispell, spoke in favor of the legislation, telling his colleagues he believed that someone who received the Covid-19 vaccine could spread it to other people. “These vaccines spread like diseases, you can look it up,” Schubert said on the floor. “As an individual who did not receive the Covid vaccine, I don’t want to have vaccines forced upon me without my consent.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that Covid-19 vaccines recommended for use in the United States do not shed as they don’t include a live virus.

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Don’t wait for the influencers. Don't Wait For Everybody - Episode 010 Chloe Humbert Sep 21, 2024 Transcript: I didn't even name names in this because I had hoped at the time to help people who were doing this unwittingly. So I didn't mention that I was talking about Kristen Panthagani and your local epidemiologist at the time. But I'm no longer sure that these people want to do better on messaging. I just don't feel like wrapping anyone in cotton anymore about this. They don't want to hear it. So I'm just going to warn others about the problems I see with this. Repeat the truth. Don't lead with a lie.

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Repeat the truth, don't lead with a lie. The "truth sandwich" means leading with the facts and repeating the correct information. It's probably the only way to debunk lies without helping to promote them. Chloe Humbert Oct 14, 2022 The tweet that got to me was from a doctor — MD PhD who unfortunately led with the lie on the first tweet of a tweet thread. I was momentarily fooled into thinking fictitious research took place. The initial tweet went viral — hopefully because later in the tweet thread she debunks the claims. BUT THE FIRST TWEET ONLY CONTAINED THE LIE AND THE BOGUS INFORMATION — and that’s the tweet that went viral. An irony is that the doctor also publishes a debunking blog, yet seems unaware of this basic strategy for fighting misinformation. If you only saw the first tweet, especially the first sentence, you could easily have believed untrue claims. After all, an MD PhD who’s pro-vax was presenting this scary anti-vax stuff. Several people I’ve talked to since said they would not have even seen this garbage at all — had it not been for the many twitter stars shouting it out in their timelines —dozens or more decided to prove their big shot debunking chops on this one. The tweet I saw was not the only one where someone decided to lead with the lie. Some people quote-tweeted, driving engagement. So the disinfo was repeated, highlighted, and promoted by both anti-vax AND pro-vax accounts, doing the social contagion work16 of aiding the propagandists.

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I don't trust Paul Offit. I wouldn't recommend looking to Paul Offit for leadership on vaccines, because what the Trump administration is doing he was lobbying for in the Biden administration all along. Chloe Humbert May 29, 2025 Paul Offit always wanted to restrict them to 75+ and the severely immunosuppressed all along. Getting the age down to 65+ & people with conditions is better than what some of these (supposedly) liberals we've been fighting have argued for. Anti-vax has permeated everywhere.

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Craig Spencer, Doctor in New York City, Is Sick With Ebola By MARC SANTORA OCT. 23, 2014 Dr. Spencer, 33, had traveled on the A and L subway lines Wednesday night, visited a bowling alley in Williamsburg, and then took a taxi back to Manhattan. The next morning, he reported having a temperature of 103 degrees, raising questions about his health while he was out in public.

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What I’m learning from MAHA And why public health needs to catch up with the curiosity-driven movement Katelyn Jetelina Jun 06, 2025

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Don't drive the murder trolley. I hate all the trolley problems. Chloe Humbert Aug 18, 2024 The trolley problem cartoon, except the trolley is already running over a full set of people on the tracks and there’s a bit of red ink following it and the caption says I became a murder trolley driver to help fix the trolley system from the inside!

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Ta-Nehisi Coates Unleashed on Trump and the LA Riots | Bulwark Podcast The Bulwark Jun 9, 2025 people have to have some positive vision of the state like that has to happen like at some point people have to feel like the state itself the government not America as an abstract concept but the government is itself good for something And it would be helpful if that something was not just violence so for instance if it was not just the cops or the military like it like there has to be some positive articulation of the state And I think that that is important because when you are asking people to go out to vote for something when you're asking people to go out and support something (…) I was talking to somebody a couple months ago you know who I you know actually was you know I think you know further to the left and they were making the point I think you know it was an astute political point that hey “I won't go out and talk about you know say you know trans rights or immigrant rights you know to this person over here I will focus on the things that we have in common economically you know what I mean and try to build the coalition there It's not that I'm you know anti-trans or anti-immigrant but you know I'm trying to build a coalition and coalitions have to be built on the things that are shared.” And I said yeah that makes sense but what happens like when your opposition starts attacking those people right like that that that really is you know I get it hey you don't want to highlight it and talk about it you know I I understand that you know I mean that's not the you know the point of how you get elected but when people decide that they want to talk about it you know what what do you do then yeah you know and I probably am one that feels that it's it's it's immoral to um see bullying and to look away from it And not to mention you know as some people are now pitching jump in on it.

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CBS News - Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, 4 other members sue U.S. government over Jan. 6 Updated on: June 6, 2025 Five members of the Proud Boys, a far-right militant group, claim their constitutional rights were violated when they were prosecuted for their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a lawsuit filed Friday. The lawsuit was filed in Orlando federal court by former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean and Dominic Pezzola. It seeks unspecified compensatory damages plus 6% interest and $100 million plus interest in punitive damages.

33

More people are “high risk” than anyone seems to realize, but this information is in fact available from the CDC. Dec 7th, 2024

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Many will be following the politics, not the science. Feb 23, 2025 Alex Jones routinely agitates his audience to believe (wrongly) that doctors are being made to do experiments as a type of hazing ritual to weed out people who aren’t willing to torture and kill patients for “they”, something which Alex Jones bizarrely asserts is happening all the time at hospitals. He stokes fear of healthcare a lot with wild stories.

35

Alarm is appropriate, the volcano is erupting - Chloe Humbert Jul 06, 2022 People respond to crisis with alarm — which leads people to take appropriate actions. Humans are generally actually good about reacting appropriately to disasters — it’s the elites who succumb to what disaster researchers call “elite panic” and behave counter-productively, putting a higher priority on controlling people over controlling the problem. There are countless stories of people escaping disasters and other calamities because they were “alarmists” — and also wrenching stories about people perishing because they did not or could not take timely action in a crisis. The the story of Pompeii is riveting. One may be led to think initially that the people frozen in place by the volcano were merely caught unaware. But only about 2,000 people out of around 20,000 actually stayed behind in Pompeii to get pyroclasted into a grim posterity. The vast majority were alarmists who fled the city — in abject fear of the volcano… and escaped in time and therefore lived out the rest of their lives. What led that minority to stay behind? Normalcy bias? Propaganda? I wonder if perhaps elites convinced some essential workers that they needed to stay behind and keep the economy going.

36

Democracy Americana The Anti-Liberal Left Has a Fascism Problem Prominent leftwing intellectuals are allowing their singular, disdain-driven focus on (neo-) liberalism to completely distort their perspective on the Right THOMAS ZIMMER MAY 24, 2024 I’d be very interested to find out what happened here. Maybe I missed something, but I couldn’t find an acknowledgment anywhere in the anthology that the selected pieces might have been altered and updated. In the credits, it merely says “reprinted.” The update, clearly, has been made to reflect that something major had happened in between the original publication and the reprint, something that in many ways directly contradicted a key argument. Robin’s overall assessment in 2021 was that Liberals needed to calm down since the Right wasn’t ever exercising its power in the way Liberals decried, the liberal doomsday scenarios were never coming true. But in Dobbs, the Right did exercise power in a dramatic way, stripping half the population of bodily autonomy and equal rights.

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Alt-right podcaster espoused eugenics pseudoscience, then founded a concierge medical clinic. Jack Murphy’s all over the weird map. Chloe Humbert Oct 15, 2024 tweet by podcaster @jackmurphylive says “If covid had been left to do it’s thing our nation would have become as a result, healthier, fitter, and younger — ie stronger. 10:32 PM 11 December 2021

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The concentration camp tendency, part 2 How our domestic detention nightmare is also a global one, and likely to get worse. June 03, 2025 Andrea Pitzer, Degenerate Art The return to a pre-1945 mindset has other consequences. I don’t think the expansion of concentration camp-style indefinite detention is random, nor is the targeting of vulnerable classes. All of this mirrors the period between World War I and World War II, when it became acceptable around the world to indefinitely detain the homeless, the mentally ill, or suspect ethnic groups—and even Black people in the wake of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Involuntary mass detention was seen as ubiquitous, unremarkable, and even desirable. Humanity is currently on a path to repeat that era. But this time we have lost the excuse that we cannot imagine where it will lead. These crises of asylum and detention are only likely to get exponentially worse with climate change, which will amplify water and border disputes, lead to more natural disasters and heat-related death, as well as spurring overall conflict. Unfortunately, climate change is another area where the administration and much of corporate America are actively accelerating current, dangerous trends.