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weasleywinchester · 3 years

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Save Yourself - Chapter 6

Someone Else’s Gain Will Be My Loss

Dean Winchester x Female Reader

Eh oh!! Welcome back to this little series! (I say little but tbh I’m planning to have 25 chapters total??) I have named your coworkers and your boss because I don’t feel like typing (Y/F/N) throughout this chapter, and also when I read __x reader content I like when the friends have names so I only have to fill in my own name 😂 Anyways, I would like to thank everyone for their support and special shout out to my freaking TAG LIST?!? Yall da best!

Warnings: buckle up for a long chapter! Sam being sassy, Deans mouth in a variety of places, smutty goodness at the end 🥵

Series Summary:

"I promise.” Those two words would trap you in a life you never wanted. You are an artist, a hunter, a Winchester. And yet the pain in Dean’s eyes as he demanded you live the life he wants you to live, you couldn’t say no. You met the Winchesters by chance, found out they were real people. And you figured it was a once in a lifetime thing, but then Dean called you, and so did a new job. Both leading to the life you wanted, a family that didn’t begin or end in blood and a once in a lifetime love. And he said leave it and him behind, forget. But you can’t.

Chapter Summary:

Dean knows life is a balancing act. And it always seems to be tilting in the wrong direction. The three of you will sail through the last two weeks of your life as you know it and then you get to be a part of the Family Business. Your old job losses you, but your new job gains you and the actual Winchester brothers. But while you’re more than ready to start this new chapter, something keeps nagging at the back of Dean’s mind. He’s adding you to the small circle of family, but people who know him and Sam tend to get killed, or worse. Are you really going to be a permanent addition to his life or will he lose you too?

_____

“We should visit (Y/N) at work.” Dean states as he “researches” for more information on the graveyard.

“Dean it’s been like ten hours since you’ve seen her...” Sammy sasses over his laptop.

“We could wait… an hour m o r e...” Dean taps the computer keys. You just told him last weekend you’re hittin’ the road with him. And subsequently have spent as much time with him as humanly possible. Plus, can anyone blame him for wanting to spend every minute making you laugh?

“She said it was truck day, the busiest and most boring day of the week... I guess we could swing by.” Sam shuts his laptop. He can’t find anything more on the case; hell he can’t even find anything weird in Santa Clarita. Plus he’s been wanting to see you little frame shop that you talk about so much.

“It’s not like we have anything else to do here Sammy. Amara’s in the wind for now.” Dean starts, ignoring the last bit of Sam’s statement. He compiles a list of reasons why they should visit, counting each reason on his fingers. Sammy surely can’t so no to all of them...

“I’m not arguing with you Dean.” Sam huffs in amusement.

“Sweet, let’s move.” Dean has keys and jacket in hand before Sam can even blink.

_____

“Are you going to ask anyone where her frame shop is?” Sam asks as they waltz into your store.

“No, then there would be no element of surprise Sammy.” Dean hangs a right and walks the main aisle that loops around the store. They pass a few sections, seeing a few employees hustle around trying to reconfigure new products. Dean quickly scans to see if he spots any of the people you described.

“Just ask. Otherwise she might run into us and completely blow your surprise.” Sam grumbles.

“Excuse me, where’s the frame shop?” Dean asks one of the girls working in the summer section, her name tag says Ruth.

“Uh… it’s in the… uh… back corner.” She stammers, gesturing to the opposite corner.

“Thanks.” Sam and Dean answer, continuing on the path.

“It’s one of those places where it doesn’t seem like a stressful place to work...” Sam states.

“Ya, but from everything (Y/N) has said, they do things old school here. And the folks of Santa Clarita like to shop for a living; so keeping up a high volume store with minimal staff...” Dean glances down every aisle. There’s boxes piled high, employees in uniforms unpacking things as fast as they can. Customers milling about and the phone is constantly ringing. Seeing this in action makes both the boys a bit happier about driving you away from here.

______

“I hate truck days...” you muse out loud to your coworker, turned BFF, Georgina.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving in two weeks!” She whispers, giving you a sad smile.

“Not too long until you get to also” You smile and bump her shoulder. You two had a good cry in the office this morning when you told her. She’s very supportive and happy you get to leave, but going from seeing each other every day to maybe once a year is going to be weird.

But the main perk of putting in your notice to your assbutt of a boss was the fact he looked like he was going to faint. Which automatically made the two of you bust out laughing after he left the office.

“Ah I found you!” Tammy exclaims. “I heard the good news (Y/N)! Now you’ll be away from here like me! All we have to do is wait for Georg.”

“Hey! I have two kids to help put through college!” Georg exclaims. You and Tammy roll your eyes at her.

“So you told us you’re leaving this hell hole, and that you’ll be traveling constantly, but what exactly is your job?” Tammy leans against the wall of boxes you and Georg are working on.

“Well, you know the Supernatural books?” You smile.

“Uhh huh...” both hum.

“So the author and the fan club president have asked me to design their website, create blog posts, and design a bunch of other things!” You clap your hands to your face in excitement; the more you say it out loud the more real it becomes.

“What!” Georg smacks you in the arm, “That's flippin’ amazing!”

“If they come out with more books or merch we better be getting some free stuff!” Tammy laughs.

“And… I get to travel with my... boyfriend?” You confess. Is Dean your boyfriend? Can you call your relationship that? You imagine he wouldn’t mind…

“WHO?”

“BOYFRIEND?”

“Since when do you have a fucking boyfriend and why didn’t you tell us?” Georg smacks your arm, while Tammy smacks the box you’re working on out of your hands.

“We recently started dating, like over the weekend recently. He’s the one I met back in college.” You shrug. The both begin to scold you from keeping a secret when Ruth comes scurrying around the corner.

“Hey (Y/N/). There are two super hot guys headed to the frame shop.” she whispers.

“(Y/N) to the frame shop.” one of your associates calls over the PA system.

“We are not done with this missy!” Georg narrows her eyes at you.

“Ya what she said!” Tammy adds.

“Well, I have to go. But if you’re going to yell at me I may not come back over here!” You sigh and stroll over to the frame shop. As you round the corner you see a total of three giants: one is your associate, Alan, and the other two none other than…

“Dean? Sammy?” You laugh. Dean spins on his heels taking two strides toward you and wrapping his arms around your middle.

“Hey sweetheart.” He mumbles into your hair. You both hold each other for a moment longer than necessary. You breath in his scent, and no matter how many times you get to do that it’s still intoxicating. You reluctantly unwrap your arms from him and go to hug Sam. He too wraps his arms around you but twirls you off the ground.

“Take it easy there Sammy! You’ll throw your back out” You giggle as he sets you down.

“You’re the size of a fairy, plus anything to make you laugh.” He smiles at you, his eyes flicking over to Alan, who looks a bit awkward now. You roll your eyes at Sam, you’re anything but light, but the Winchesters always make you feel like you’re one of the most beautiful people they’ve ever seen. Which, to their defense, you are.

“I take it that you’ve met Alan.” You gesture to him.

“We did” Sam answers, both he and Dean standing a little straighter to size him up. Alan moves his gaze to the floor.

“(Y/N)!” You turn to see your boss walking back into his office, his eyebrow raised in concern.

“Um, guys this is my boss Fernando. Boss, this is my boyfriend Dean and his brother Sam.” You gesture between the three of them. Dean looks your boss up and down. He’s shorter then they imagined, but the arrogance and fake aura of masculinity you described is as plain as day.

“(Y/N) has told us a lot about you.” Sam quips. Terror flashes across your boss’s face, but his calm, cool, collected attitude quickly returns.

“Yes, well she is an important part of this team. We’ll miss her.” He gestures to you. Both Dean and Sam give him a tight lipped smile that doesn’t reach their eyes. You’ve told them a lot over the last few years; this job was the first thing you could find right out of college. You helped build the store, rose through the ranks and became so essential to your little frame shop that you couldn’t ever be promoted without it falling apart. And your boss? The boys hated his guts. Expectations outrageous, the shop highly understaffed, heck you practically lived there. And that’s not to say the Winchester’s weren’t workaholics, but you deserved to at least enjoy your job.

“Anyways, uh those air fresheners you were looking for are over in candles, I’ll show you.” You grab both boys by the elbows and lead them away from your boss and the shop.

“He’s a dick.” Dean states.

“Yes and I only need to keep my job for the next few days so I can get my vacation payout money Dean!” You grit through your teeth.

“Right. Sorry.” He takes your hand in his, giving it a light squeeze.

“So Alan...“ Sam raises his brows at you.

“Uh huh...“ You staring Sam down, daring him to push the subject further.

“He looks vaguely like me... and definitely would like to be-“

“Hey“ you hold up a finger to Sam, “It’s not my fault the only relatively attractive guy is a poor Sam look a like. And that is where we leave that.” You raise your eyebrows this time. Sam smirks but drops the subject.

“Anyways, I want you to meet my two work wives.” You flash a smile. “I just told them Dean is my boyfriend... ”

“Ooo titles.” Sam nudges Dean. Dean glares at Sam, but gives you that cute little smile that makes his eyes crinkle at the corners.

“Well that means I can hold your hand in public right?” Dean slots his fingers in between yours, your fingers so short that you can’t fully bend them around his.

“So why do you have two work wives?” Sam asks.

“Well when I first started here I tried to make friends with the people my ‘own’ age, which was a mistake. So I connected with Georg and Tammy, both are married and have kids close to my age; but we bonded over Supernatural, Friends, Psych and 80’s rock n roll. We became an amazing work trio, and since I was single every valentines day they were my valentines. Also we became amazing friends outside of work. And they’re equally important, thus two wives.”

“They sound like good people.” Dean squeezes your hand. He loves seeing you light up as you talk about your friends. As much as he can’t wait for you to hit the road, there’s always a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he’s taking you away from a good life here…

“So be prepared for questions... and comments....” You drag Dean around the corner where you left your friends.

“Tammy, Georg, This is Dean and Sammy.” You smile, bracing yourself for whatever happens. Both their jaws hit the floor as their eyes snap between you and Dean.

“Morning Ladies.” Dean smoothly adds into the silence that has settled in the aisle.

“Hi.” both of them respond.

“Georg is the one moving out of state soon and Tammy is the one who can recite all of the Deadpool movies.” You smirk. That immediately snaps them out of their daze, both scowling at you.

“You didn’t say they were still in town...” Georg says, her eyes traveling along Dean’s figure.

“We hadn’t got to that part of the conversation yet.” You raise an eyebrow at her. She raises her eyebrows in approval of the extremely attractive Dean Winchester.

“Are you staying local?” Tammy deflects from your silent conversation with Georg.

“Uh ya. Right up the street actually. Little motel.” Sam answers.

“Well maybe we could all have dinner, before (Y/N) leaves.” Now it’s Tammy’s turn to raise her eyebrow at you. You have mentioned the boys a handful of times but your work wives have known you for two years. No way in hell would they let you walk off into the sunset with anyone they hadn’t fully questioned first.

“That would be fun. Maybe this weekend?.” Dean lets go of your hand to wrap his arm around your shoulders. He looks between your two friends; they’re sizing him up. Protective of you, like himself and his brother. The worry of taking you away from their protection comes back to his mind. He can’t think like that; Georg and Tammy, they’re going to be your tether to your normal life and he’ll be there to protect you from the supernatural one.

“Ya, dinner. My house, say 6:30? Tammy, bring your husband.” Georg smiles.

“Ugh, you know he doesn’t like people.” Tammy dramatically throws her head back.

“Tammy you talk five thousand miles a minute, he won’t have to worry about saying anything!” You laugh.

_____

“(Y/N)! Tammy’s house for dinner tonight.” Georg yells in your direction as she clocks out.

“Aren’t we doing dinner this weekend?” You question.

“Yes but the three of us are going to talk beforehand. You need to give us the whole story on your very hot, much older, boyfriend.” She gives you the infamous “mom look”.

“Ok. just make sure there’s alcohol.” You yell as she walks away from you.

_____

“So when did Dean get into town?” Tammy asks as you settle onto a bar stool. She glances your direction when you don’t answer right away.

“Last Friday…”

“And all of a sudden you’re leaving with him?” Georg yells as she comes through the door.

“Leaving with him is a bonus, we had no intention of that. I haven’t physically seen him in a few years.”

“Have you slept with him?” Georg asks you.

“Georg!” You and Tammy scold.

“What? He seems like he’d be good in bed.” She shrugs as she plants her butt on the stool next to you.

“If you must know… no. But if what he can do with his hands...”

“(Y/N)!” Georg and Tammy yell.

“What?! He’s a very good mechanic!” You laugh. Tammy chucks a pasta noodle at you as the three of you laugh.

“Sam’s pretty tall. Also hot. And all they need is for their last name to be Winchester.” Georg yanks the cork out of the wine, pouring the two of you a glass.

“Well…” you twiddle your thumbs, glancing between your two friends.

“You’re fucking kidding right?” Tammy stops stirring the pasta and Georg nearly chokes on her wine.

“They’ve been friends with Carver Edlund a long time… he asked if he could ..borrow their names, as like a tribute, thing, to their long friendship?” You really should have thought about this before saying anything out loud.

“You’re going to be Mrs. Dean Winchester… I’m a little jealous!” Georg exclaims.

“He would have to want to marry me first!”

“(Y/N), you’re freakin’ adorable, you love your friends and family, and are literally the coolest young person we’ve ever known. How could he not marry you?”

You laugh at her overzealous speech. No way would Dean want to get married. He tried the whole quiet family life, it didn’t work out like he wanted. Would he try again with you? You would literally be THE Mrs. Dean Winchester. In real life. That would be…

“Hello! Earth to (Y/N)!” Tammy waves her big pasta spoon at you.

“Sorry. It would just be crazy to be married to someone as amazing as-“

“Dean fucking Winchester?” Georg finished for you.

“Ya…” you smile.

_____

Two weeks goes by faster than you think. You worried about dinner with the friends but that was stupid; your friends are awesome and so are the boys. It was a night filled with laughter drinks and some tears at the end.

Your boss let you go before your last week was finished, much to your associates' disappointment and Dean’s glee. You were able to pack up a good amount of your stuff and organize everything else before having to hit the road. Sera had overnighted the paperwork for your new job and you quickly signed and sent that back. Everything was set, now to leave your life as you know it...

_____

You slide into the front seat of the impala, sitting between both of the boys. You're blubbering like a five year old as Dean pulls out of the driveway of your parents house. The three of you are silent, The radio playing loud enough to cover your sniffles.

“I didn’t -- think I would— cry. I’ve already— left home once.” You hiccup. Sam takes your hand and gives it a gentle squeeze.

“You moved back for a few years, change is hard.” He tells you softly.

“Don’t worry sweetheart. I’m sure Chuck will be glad to fly you home when you want. And Sammy and I got your back, always.” Dean leans over to kiss the top of your head.

“I got your back too. It’ll be fun working with you two.” You say, leaning against Dean. And the three of you smile.

_____

“Ok I’ll get the gas, Sammy you get the snacks and (Y/N), you sit and look pretty.” Deans winks at you.

“Didn’t we just get snacks at the last stop?” Sammy sasses, looking at both you and Dean.

“It was a while ago…” you give Sam your best puppy eyes. He cocks an eyebrow at you, you may have Dean wrapped around your finger but no way… will he…

“Fine.” He scowls.

“Road snacks! Road snacks! Road Snacks!” You and Dean chant as Sam gets out.

Dean slides out, holding a hand for you to follow.

“Friends?” He glances at you texting.

“Mom this time.” You smile. Between all your friends and family constantly texting, it eases his mind that someone will always be in contact with you.

“Ok hot stuff, up.” He pats the trunk of the impala. You hop up and Dean immediately steps between your legs.

“Why Mr. Winchester I would say you like being between my legs.” You giggle, leaning in for a kiss. Dean’s cock twitches at the thought of being inside you, of fucking you until a smile is plastered on your face for months.

Public, he has to remember you’re in public right now. He brings his mouth to yours to calm his mind, his hands sliding along the outsides of your thighs.

“I wouldn’t mind being behind you either…” he grumbles in your ear, the tip of his nose sliding down your neck. You can feel the wetness start to pool between your thighs.

“Dean'' you softly whine. He brings his mouth back to yours, his tongue sliding along your lips until you let him inside your mouth. You tongue quickly meets his, dancing to a slow rhythm. You grab two fistfuls of his shirt to pull him closer, subtly grinding your core against his.

*CLICK*

The gas pump stops and you slowly pull your lips away from Dean’s.

“Ok I got the snacks!” Sam yells as he walks back to the car.

“Looks like we’ll have to finish this later.” Dean winks, helping you off the trunk and putting the gas pump away. You bite your lip and slide in the car with Sam.

“So what road snacks did you get Sammy?” You rub your hands together in anticipation.

“Salad shaker for you and me, trail mix, Dean’s jerky…”

“Pie?” Dean demands, raising his eyebrows at Sam.

“Pie for you and cake for (Y/N).” Sam retorts.

“Cake? Really?” Dean looks between the two of you.

“Hey! I like cake!”

“And there was only one pie.” Sam adds.

Dean nods and leaves it at that.

_____

“Hi Sera, what’s up?” You ask through a mouth full of cake.

“Hello! I Have received an email from Mr. Edlund about a hotel reservation in Dripping Springs, Texas. He said he wanted to make sure you and the ‘Winchester’s’ had a night at a nice hotel.” She cheerily replies.

“Oh wow, thanks.”

“I’ve sent you the email confirmation! Safe travels! Don’t forget to take lots of pictures!” She sing songs before hanging up.

“What was that about?” Dean glances at you.

“We have a hotel reservation in Texas, courtesy of Chuck.”

“Really?” Sam asks.

“Ya, uh says two rooms, top floor.”

“That sounds fancy.” Dean grumbles.

“Sera said he wanted us to have a nice trip. Maybe we’ll find a case. Or Amara.”

Or maybe you’ll just get to relax with Dean… in a nice hotel room… alone…

“Maybe we can relax for one night.” Sam adds.

“Sammy, we relaxed the last two weeks.” Dean scowls. He knows they have to find Amara, but this little bubble with you has been so nice.

“That’s because we were in (Y/N)’s magical safe bubble. And I’m hoping that she’s the reason we both feel calm, rested and relaxed. If it’s Santa Clarita then we’re going to have to move.” Sam shrugs, giving you and Dean a smile.

“Fair enough.” Dean concedes.

The rest of the drive is spent singing loudly to Dean’s music, arguments over who’s the best 80’s rock band, and both the boys telling you hunting stories. You take out your camera and snap a lot of pictures of places you’ve stopped, all the yummy roadside restaurants you’ve eaten at and most importantly the boys. Being literally in the middle gives you the best of both of them.

As you pull into the hotel the three of you are wheezing over a story about Bobby and a giant slinky.

“I’ll go check us in.” You pat Sam on the thigh so he slides out of the car. Dean turns to hand Sam his bag from the back seat.

“(Y/N), how do you have so much stuff?” Dean looks at the back seat that’s so full with your stuff it’s a miracle he can even see out the rear window.

“If you didn’t have your Arsenal in the trunk, it probably would have all fit back there mister!” You poke him in the chest.

“Now children…” Sam leans down to look at both of you.

“I’ve never had to actually live anywhere else, one house my entire life. Also I have emotional attachments to everything and consequently am a collector of many things. So you're just going to have to live with it.” You peck Dean on the lips and scoot out of the car.

The boys watch you walk into the lobby before Sam slides back in.

“Shut up.” Dean grumbles.

“I didn’t say anything!” Sam puts his hands up in surrender. “But you two a meant to be together.” Sam smiles. Dean smashes his lips together. Are you meant to be? Deans been down this road, and so has Sam for that fact.

“What makes you say that.” Dean asks.

“You look at her the way you used to look at pie. And she looks at you the same way. You two are pieces of the same puzzle. You connect with each other, have a ton in common but still different enough to learn from each other.”

“What about when she realizes that our lives aren’t books. They’re real and so are the consequences.” Dean puts the impala in park, but doesn’t move to get out.

“I don’t think she’ll have that moment. From talking with her, she’s ready for any world to be real. Ours, Narnia, Middle Earth. She reminds me of Charlie, except the only way she’s doing the family business is with us. No sneaking around.”

“And when she realizes we’re not who she thinks?” Dean turns to Sam. He’s breaking his own heart with these questions, but he can’t handle the doubt.

“Dean, those books, they are written word for word on what has happened to us. After she met us Chuck kept her in the loop and so did you! She wouldn’t have said yes to you if she wasn’t all in. I know, we haven’t had good luck when it comes to keeping our family safe, but she’s different. She’ll learn hunting from us, and we get to learn a bit more about the world we fight so hard for.” He claps Dean on the shoulder, giving him a smile of reassurance.

Sam’s right. The moment you waltzed into their lives, it’s felt different. Like you carry a bubble of protection around you. And that’s what Dean will have to remind himself of.

_____

“We’re all checked in! Two suites. Sammy your key card.” You hand him one little envelope, and open the other one in your hand. “I thought we would share a room?” You turn to Dean, biting your lip.

“Uh ya.” Dean tries to play it cool but Sam rolls his eyes so loud you have to stifle a laugh. The three of you head upstairs. Sam tells you he’s going to do a bit of research before dinner and disappears into his room. Dean opens the door to your room and gestures for you to walk in first.

“This is nice.” You comment as you set your bag on the bench in front of the bed. Dean hums in agreement, walking over to the dining table. There’s a chilled bottle of champagne and a chocolate pie.

“Ooh that looks yummy.” You hum as you wrap your arms around Dean's waist. “Should we open it?” Dean holds the bottle up.

“Hell ya! Champagne is my favorite.” You grab two flutes out of the rack as Dean pops the cork. He fills both your glasses to the brim and holds his out to you.

“To saving people” you offer.

“And hunting things.” Dean gently clinks his glass against yours. You both take a sip and it’s like drinking the stars.

You walk to the window, the rolling Texas hills shimmering in the afternoon heat. Dean walks up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist, his chin lightly digging into your shoulder.

You lean into him, his embrace strong and comforting. He takes your empty glass and sets it next to his on the window sill, his lips ghosting over the back of your neck.

“We’re finally-“

“Alone.” you murmur, turning in his arms. His lips eagerly find yours, the last taste of champagne lingering on your tongue. He walks you backwards until your legs gently hit the bed. He peels off the flannel you’ve already commandeered from his bag, relishing in the heat from your skin as his hands find the hem of your shirt and slowly move it up your body.

You reach out for his shirt, but he lays you down, trailing kisses down your neck and along the curve of your bra.

“Shirt. Now” you demand. And god, does that make him want you more. He quickly obeys, revealing his strong chest that’s marred with scars and the infamous tattoo.

He pressed his mouth back to yours, his tongue swiping over every inch so rapidly it leaves you drunk. You feel his hands working on your jeans and sliding everything off in one fell swoop.

You freeze. The self consciousness you have about your stomach that has a little too much-

“Fucking sexy sweetheart.” Dean mumbles in your ear, his hands grabbing two handfuls of your ass. He grinds his growing bulge into your core, the friction from his jeans making you squirm under him.

“Tell me if something makes you uncomfortable.” He whispers, his lips reattaching to your neck. He finds the spot you like best, your fingers automatically threading into his hair. He finally has you, the one who’s always been on his mind. And he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to eat you like a pie.

He slowly makes his way down your body, quickly moving past areas that make you tense up, and lavishing the ones that make you chant his name. His lips eagerly make it to your thighs, your hips rolling in anticipation. He scoots you to the edge of the bed, throwing you legs over each of his shoulders. You core is dripping for him, and he wants to taste you so bad he moans.

“Dean... please!” You mewl, threading your fingers into his hair hoping to move him closer.

He doesn't have to be asked twice, he flattens his tongue and swipes through your folds, both of you moaning in unison. Every insecurity forgotten as the sensation of the most gorgeous man alive drinks you like a fucking glass of cold water.

He remembers how you like to be touched, as if he could every forget, mimicking the movement with his tongue as he inserts two fingers into you. You arch you back, your walls clenching around his thick, rough fingers. He begins moving them in and out of you, rubbing against every spot he can reach. And like a rollercoaster your orgasm shoots through you. Dean moves his tongue away from your clit, sucking on it as your orgasm dips and rises, his fingers curling inside you the drag you high out as long as possible.

And you can’t take it. You gently pull Dean off your clit, his fingers slowing as your orgasm dulls. He slowly removes his fingers from you. You can hear him rummage around, a foil pack being opened and his belt clinking against the floor. You scoot yourself back to the middle of the bed and are quickly met with Dean’s lips against your own. You let yourself flop back as Dean gently presses naked body to yours.

“Bra.” You whisper, propping up on your elbows. Dean expertly removes it, glancing at the the beautiful sight of you beneath him. You lay back down, nodding to him you’re ready. He smiles, being his lips gently to yours as he pushes in. He gentle, letting you adjust little by little until he’s fully seated inside you tight cunt. You roll your hips into his and he about blows his load right there.

He starts moving, his rhythm growing faster as his own orgasm begins to build. But he need to feel you orgasm around his cock. His hands and mouth begin to explore your body as he angles his hips, desperate to find the combination that makes you cum.

And your own mind has gone blank with bliss. Every fiber of you is chanting for one person: Dean. He’s all you know; his name, his body, he glorious shoulders that your fingers are digging into. He perfectly pouty lips that are swollen from your kisses. And FUCK is his dick hitting the one spot you almost thought was pure fiction. You second orgasm builds faster than a rocket flying into space, and you want so desperately to tell him you’re almost there but no words come. Only moans and his name.

But he knows. He can feel you clench around his dick, feel your hands grasp for anything to hold on to. And he needs you there with him, if not before. He squeezes his hand in between your bodies, neither of you blinking at the fact you aren’t tensing from self consciousness about your body, and begins circling your clit just the way you like.

And everything breaks loose. Both of you feel like fire is running through your veins, and nothing other than you two and this bed exist. And this moment lasts for all eternity but also ends far too quickly.

Dean gently lays on his side, and gently starts to pull out.

“Not yet...” you plead. So he stays, he’ll never be able to resist you. You lay nose to nose, his eyes searching yours for any doubt. Which there is none. You may have your own body issues, as everyone does, but you’ll never have any doubt about Dean.

He kisses the tip of your nose; for right now it’s you and him. And that’s frankly all he ever wanted.

My FREAKIN Tag list?!?!

@deansqtpie

@supraveng

@winchestersgirl222

@fantasy-myth1

@laycblack

@urlgirlarrielle

#dean winchester #dean winchester fic #dean winchester smut #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester x plus size reader #sammy winchester #SPN Family #spn imagine #save yourself

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xseildnasterces · 2 years

Text

relief next to me.

2021-01-15

I wrote the bellow on the first day of the month, which also means it was written before the funeral, before my mum got covid and before I went into a full-on meltdown. I’m feeling a wee bit better now. I’m safe, to my surprise and probably everyone else’s too, I didn’t/haven’t caught covid, my dad is out of his isolation and my mum is coming to the end of hers. If nothing else, this unfortunate episode has maybe changed my way of thinking towards covid. I am still well and truly terrified of catching it yet seeing both my parents get through it has made me feel a wee bit better about the situation. Thankfully there were no hospitals involved and no issues with breathing – I hope I have not spoken too soon as my mum still has a couple of days left in quarantine. Quarantine at our house has consisted of my dad first being isolated upstairs and not being allowed down, and mum switching with him once he was out of quarantine and going up there herself for her own isolation. What a crazy, crazy world. I just want to hold out till I get back to the US. I do not want to find myself unable to fly due to getting damn covid, yet as my mum just said, it would be better for me to get it here where I can be looked after and have food brought to me, than if I am all alone in my US apartment. I have been ill a few times since moving to the US (not including my current and ongoing flare), but H lived in the US then and could help me when I needed anything. I don’t have that anymore, yet I do feel lucky that D has said should I ever need anything in such a situation, she would drive the hour it takes to get from hers to mine to assist. Regardless, I don’t want bloody covid.

2022-01-01

I honestly still have no idea how we are already here in 2022. The last two years are a complete and utter blur, yet at the same time, I feel like so much has happened. Living through a pandemic is such a weird thing. I also sit and wonder what it will be like for students’ years from now to sit and read about this time in our lives out of a textbook (if they still have them?) in the way in which we listen to and learn about the black death – something I did with great fascination as it quickly became one of my favourite historical topics of all time. I assume there will be covid-19 historians as time goes on. What a world we live in.

Some years I sit here and struggle to come up with what I want to list as my goals for the year, yet this year I have spent the last month or so writing out every possible goal that enters my head – and there have been many. So, this year, instead of my usual ten, I’m going to just list them all, and this time next year we can see whether having many goals proves to be beneficial or not.

2022 Goals.

1. Get our ICA-NP research study published

2. Complete the 12 books a year challenge

3. Travel somewhere I have never been before

4. Get through my 30th birthday without crying

5. Take myself on a date at least once a month (i.e., a walk, museum etc).

6. Work on self-publishing a book or collection of letters

7. Succeed in growing some bell peppers in my apartment

8. Buy a property

9. Make a new friend in DC

10. Get through 2022 without catching covid

11. Be more active – swim or yoga at least once a week

12. One takeaway per week ONLY

13. Try a new creative skill

14. Complete the MSE Academoney course

15. Get Lasik

16. Pass my driving theory test

17. Meet up with some friends in Europe who I haven’t been able to see due to the pandemic

18. Travel to Paris to see H, M and F

19. See a show on Broadway in NYC

20. Get a new piercing

21. Get back in remission with my IBD

22. Meet baby B!

Wish me luck – I’m going to need it, most specifically for number 4. Now that, is going to be a challenge.

#relief next to me #tegan and sara #me #personal #diary #thought #thoughts #feeling #feelings #memories #memory #goal #life #change #covid #pandemic living #my life #write #writing

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tabloidtoc · 4 years

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National Examiner, June 15

Cover: Country Music’s Lady Legends -- Triumphs and Tragedies

Page 2: Secrets behind Dr. Zhivago

Page 4: Alison Arngrim’s Little House on the Prairie memories

Page 6: Ray McDermott has lived in America for 70 and was worried she’d never speak Welsh again until Facebook came to the rescue with people who wanted to talk to her in Welsh

Page 7: Change your luck in 3 days

Page 8: Shoelaces sure are handy

Page 9: Your kitchen holds the cures

Page 10: A sharp-eyed sanitation worker saved an elderly woman’s life by checking on her when he noticed she hadn’t been putting out her garbage

Page 11: Your Health -- Canned beans pack a potent punch -- they cut cholesterol and fight diabetes

Page 12: Joyce Randolph of The Honeymooners tells all at 95 -- making the show with Jackie Gleason was scary but she was happy to have a job

Page 14: Dear Tony -- Open your beliefs to always seize that second chance, Tony predicts major changes in the Today show lineup and other morning shows will follow

Page 15: While the Kansas City Zoo has been closed because of coronavirus restrictions officials have been seeking places to provide enrichment and stimulation to the animals like the Nelson-Atkins Museum of art and the penguins loved it

Page 16: Devoted mother Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had premonitions her son John F. Kennedy Jr. would perish in his own plane and upon her deathbed the former first lady pleaded with her boy to give up the flying lessons he loved

Page 18: A team of researchers just invented an electric bike you can fit in your purse or backpack because it’s inflatable

Page 20: Cover Story -- Triumphs and tragedies of country music’s legendary ladies -- Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire

Page 21: Loretta Lynn, Trisha Yearwood

Page 22: When a high school in Texas couldn’t hold its normal graduation ceremonies because of the coronavirus the principal spent 80 hours driving 800 miles over 12 days to personally congratulate all 612 of his students

Page 28: The Good Doctor -- Signs stress is getting to you

Page 29: Brain aneurysm symptoms to watch

Page 30: The ups and downs of bipolar disorder -- shifts from joy and energy to hopelessness usually start in early adulthood

Page 44: Eyes on the Stars -- Jason Momoa on his classic Harley (picture), Derek Hough steps out for takeout (picture), Dakota Johnson has struggled with depression since her teens and admits being quarantined can add to mental health challenges but she’s been meditating and going for walks and advises others to be kind to your body and your brain and yourself, Goldie Hawn has been weeping three times a day because she feels tremendous angst and a tremendous sadness to think that there is abuse going on and anger going on and this all has to do with confinement and fear and uncertainty about what is going to happen, Zooey Deschanel has been dating Jonathan Scott since October but she’s finally a single woman and she and husband no. 2 Jacob Pechenik recently entered a judgment package in their ongoing divorce which typically means the petitioning couple have ironed out all the details of their legal split including any custody and child support issues

Page 45: Prince William and wife Duchess Kate Middleton call a game of bingo for nursing home residents (picture), David Spade (picture), Hagen Mills who starred in Baskets was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in what Kentucky cops are calling an attempted murder-suicide in which Erica Price the mother of Mills’ young daughter received multiple gunshot wounds but survived, Nikki Bella who is pregnant with fiance Artem Chigvintsev says she ended her previous relationship with John Cena because they wanted two different lives and had a hard time seeing eye-to-eye about starting a family, Annie Glenn the widow of pioneering astronaut John Glenn succumbed to COVID-19 at age 100, Twilight actor Gregory Tyree Boyce and his girlfriend Natalie Adepoju were found dead in their Las Vegas condo and the coroner is awaiting toxicology to determine their cause of death

Page 46: A big bull with an itchy backside got relief by rubbing his tail end against a pole and caused a massive power outage

Page 47: Weird facts about the White House -- the president’s residence has also been home to odd animals and ghosts

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bluewatsons · 4 years

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Françoise Baylis & Jocelyn Downie, The Tale of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada: A Tragedy in Five Acts, 25 Canadian J Women & Law 183 (2013)

In the spring of 2012, Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (AHRC)—the federal agency tasked with the oversight of assisted human reproduction in Canada—was abolished through the passage of the omnibus budget bill. This ignominious end was in part a response to the Supreme Court of Canada’s Reference re Assisted Human Reproduction Act. However, as we recount in this article, it was also a result of a series of squandered opportunities to regulate assisted human reproduction in the interests of those who use or are born of assisted human reproductive technologies. This article details the genesis, life, and death of the AHRC. We conclude that many millions of public dollars and many hours of experts’ time have been spent, all for naught.

Prologue

This sorry tale unveils no secrets. Nonetheless, it will be surprising to many. The facts carefully pieced together by the authors—at times, actors in this story— provide a clear picture of events that led to the decimation of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act (AHRA) and the demise of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (AHRC).1 The “what” of this story is a tragedy; the “why” remains a mystery.

Sadly, as a result of squandered opportunities and wasted money in the arena of the regulation of assisted human reproduction, Canadians are worse off now than they were before the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies (Royal Commission) recommended national oversight of assisted human reproduction. At the time of the Royal Commission, there was genuine hope that we would have a responsible federally regulated system that would protect the interests of Canadians. It took a long time, but we did get legislation that may have been flawed from the perspective of some but did nonetheless seriously attend to the interests of women and children. Unfortunately, this legislation was never fully operationalized and, as most will know, was eviscerated by the Supreme Court of Canada. The net result is that we no longer have some of the significant protections that were once in the AHRA, and there is little prospect of getting those protections back in the near future.

Behind the publicly available (albeit frequently difficult to find) facts are individual actors who made decisions for reasons that are known only to themselves and (maybe) to a few close friends or colleagues. Speculation might have once explained the past with reference to changes in staff at Health Canada, to personal agendas in the Prime Minister’s Office and various ministries, to a general lack of political will, to incompetence at the AHRC, or to the Québec government’s constitutional challenge to the AHRA. However, the fact is that we cannot know why history played out as it did.

Act One: 1989 to 2007

In 1989, Canada’s Royal Commission was announced2—the fruition of many years of intense lobbying for the regulation of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and related interventions.3 The commission’s mandate was to inquire into and report upon current and potential medical and scientific developments related to new reproductive technologies, considering in particular their social, ethical, health, research, legal and economic implications and the public interest, recommending what policies and safeguards should be applied.4

In 1993, the Royal Commission issued its final report, Proceed with Care: Final Report of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies.5 This report included 293 policy recommendations, a majority of which required action by the federal government. Furthermore, the final report specifically enjoined the federal government to develop comprehensive legislation:

Given what we learned through extensive consultation, data collection, and analysis over the life of our mandate, we share the widely held public view that new reproductive technologies raise issues of a magnitude and importance that not only warrant but require a national response. We reject the argument that new reproductive technologies as a general matter should continue to be subdivided into component parts and left to the provincial legislatures, or delegated to self-governing professional bodies, for regulation on a province-by-province or even an institution-by-institution basis. Considering the overarching nature, profound importance, and fundamental inter-relatedness of the issues involved, we consider that federal regulation of new reproductive technologies—under the national concern branch of the peace, order, and good government power, as well as under the criminal law, trade and commerce, spending, and other relevant federal constitutional powers—is clearly warranted.6

Acting on the recommendations of the Royal Commission, the federal government introduced Bill C-47 (An Act Respecting Human Reproductive Technologies and Commercial Transactions Relating to Human Reproduction) in 1996.7 This bill was very brief and focused narrowly on prohibited activities. It did not include controlled activities and did not include a federal oversight agency. Before the legislative process was completed, however, an election was called. When Parliament was dissolved in the spring of 1997, the bill died on the order paper. Years later, in May 2001, Proposals for Legislation Governing Assisted Human Reproduction were presented by the minister of health to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.8 The committee’s report was issued in December 2001. The report included a number of recommendations including the recommendation that a federal regulatory body be established to license, monitor, and enforce the Act.

In May 2002, a new bill, Bill C-56 (An Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction) was introduced in the House of Commons.9 This bill, based on the federal criminal law power, included controlled activities in addition to prohibited activities, and it also included provisions for the establishment of a federal over- sight agency. That same year (2002), Parliament was prorogued. Again, the bill died on the order paper. When Parliament resumed, Bill C-56 was reinstated at the same stage in the legislative process as in the previous session of Parliament (but as Bill C-13).10 Bill C-13 met the same fate as its predecessor after the thirty-seventh Parliament was prorogued for a second time in 2003. And, finally, Bill C-6 (An Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction and Related Research) (formerly Bill C-13) was introduced and passed all three readings on 11 February 2004, received royal assent on 29 March 2004, and came into force on 22 April 2004.11 Thus, the AHRA included prohibitions on conduct and the regulation of controlled activities within the domain of assisted human reproduction and provided for the establishment of a federal agency to be known as the AHRC.12

The AHRA set out the following praiseworthy objectives for the AHRC:

22. (a) to protect and promote the health and safety, and the human dignity and human rights, of Canadians, and

(b) to foster the application of ethical principles, in relation to assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies.

To that end, the AHRC had the following statutory powers:

24. (1)

(a) exercise the powers in relation to licences under this Act;13

(b) provide advice to the Minister on assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies;

(c) monitor and evaluate the developments within Canada and internationally in assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies;

(d) consult persons and organizations within Canada and internationally;

(e) collect, analyse and manage health reporting information relating to controlled activities;

(f) provide information to the public and to the professions respecting assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies, and their regulation under this Act, and respecting risk factors associated with infertility;

(g) designate inspectors and analysts for the enforcement of this Act; and

(h) do anything that is reasonably necessary or incidental to achieving the Agency’s objectives.

As well, additional AHRC powers related to the collection and analysis of health reporting information, licensing, inspection, and enforcement activities were provided through sections 14-19 (management of information) and sections 40-59 (administration, inspection, and enforcement) of the AHRA.

Not long after the AHRA was passed, on 4 December 2004, the government of Québec applied to the Québec Court of Appeal for an answer to the following question:

Les articles 8 à 12 de la Loi sur la procréation assistée, L.C. 2004, ch. 2, excèdent-ils, en tout ou en partie, la compétence du Parlement du Canada en vertu de la Loi constitutionelle de 1867?14

The constitutional question was modified and expanded on 14 February 2006:

Les articles 8 à 19, 40 à 53, 60, 61 et 68 de la Loi sur la procréation assistée, L.C. 2004, ch.2, excèdent-ils, en tout ou en partie, la competence du Parlement du Canada en vertu de la Loi constitutionelle de 1867?15

This was the beginning of what would ultimately result in the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Reference re Assisted Human Reproduction Act (Reference re AHRA).16

Meanwhile, efforts to establish the AHRC as mandated by the legislation stalled. It would be nearly two years from the time the AHRA was passed until the AHRC was formally established on 12 January 2006 by an Order in Council.17 And it would be nearly another year (21 December 2006) before the president, chairperson, and Board of Directors of the AHRC were named.18 In the interim, there was a change in government. The Liberal Party introduced the legislation and established the AHRC. The Conservative Party inherited the legislation and the AHRC but had control over the membership of the AHRC. Finally, on 14 February 2007, the AHRC opened its doors and the first Board of Directors meeting was held on 25-7 March 2007.19 In total, there was a three-year delay between the AHRA coming into force and the creation of the legally mandated federal agency responsible for the oversight of reproductive technologies through licensing, monitoring, inspection, and enforcement activities related to assisted human reproduction.

Delay in establishing the AHRC was not the only early problem to plague the agency. In addition, there was “political interference” in the independent peer review process established under the Liberal government to identify suitable candidates for Board membership.20 Shortly after the AHRA came into force, Canadians were invited to apply for board membership.21 An independent expert selection committee was created to review applications and to make recommendations to government.22 Recommendations were made to government but were not acted upon while the Liberal Party formed the government. When the Conservative Party formed the government in January 2006, they “eschewed the recommendations of the expert selection committee in favour of political appointments.”23 Only two of the twenty-five candidates selected from the applicant pool, and recommended by the independent expert selection committee, were among those named to the Board of Directors.24 At the time, concerns about “the possibility of political interests at work”25 were voiced in relation to the perceived conservative background of four of the eight board members.26

Furthermore, while the original list of recommended candidates included patients, the inaugural AHRC Board of Directors did not include a patient representative among its members.27 Meanwhile, section 26 of the AHRA stipulated that board membership must “reflect a range of backgrounds and disciplines relevant to the Agency’s objectives.”28 It is difficult (if not impossible) to imagine how the perspective of those who avail themselves of assisted reproductive technologies could not be seen as the most important of backgrounds relevant to the agency’s objectives. In this way, the original membership of the Board of Directors did not meet the spirit of the legislation.29

Another important challenge for the agency was the absence of the regulations required for the AHRC to fulfil its mandate under the AHRA. Much of the substance of the AHRA was left to regulations, and, owing to the absence of regulations, key sections of the AHRA were held in abeyance. Most importantly, as noted earlier, the following sections of the AHRA concerning the powers of the AHRC never came into force:

24. (1) The Agency may (a) exercise the powers in relation to licenses under the Act . . . (e) collect, analyse and manage health reporting information relating

to controlled activities . . . (g) designate inspectors and analysts for the enforcement of this Act.

Given the pivotal importance of the regulations in operationalizing the AHRA, one would have anticipated urgent action by Health Canada to get the regulations writ- ten and passed as quickly as possible. Instead, not a single regulation was introduced in the three years between the passage of the AHRA and the AHRC becoming operational.

The regulations for section 8 were registered on 14 June 2007 and came into force on 1 December 2007.30 In between, the Québec Court of Appeal heard the Québec Attorney General’s constitutional challenge to the AHRA in September 2007. Sadly, these myriad failings on the part of the federal government and the AHRC foreshadowed future failures to respect the terms and intentions of the AHRA. With such an inauspicious and foreboding beginning, we turn now to Act Two.

Act Two: 2008 to 2010

Act Two, Scene One: AHRC

In June 2008, the Québec Court of Appeal found in favour of the Attorney General of Québec and held that the challenged provisions of the AHRA were unconstitutional as falling outside the jurisdiction of the federal Parliament. The case then moved into the Supreme Court of Canada’s appeal process. Against this backdrop, the AHRC still had a job to do. However, as noted earlier, regulations were needed to give effect to the AHRC’s powers. Meanwhile, with the exception of the regulations for section 8, no regulations were introduced. By failing to introduce the necessary regulations, the federal government, and more particularly Health Canada, helped set the stage for the ultimate demise of the AHRC.

Two discrete official explanations have been offered by Health Canada for its failure to introduce the requisite regulations. One explanation was that Health Canada must follow the Cabinet Directive on Streamlining Regulation in developing options and recommendations for Assisted Human Reproduction. The Directive is designed to protect and advance the public interest by working with Canadians and other governments to ensure that its regulatory activities result in the greatest overall benefit to current and future generations of Canadians. The Directive includes clear requirements for the development, implementation, evaluation and review of regulations. The Government must weigh the benefits of alternatives to regulations—and of alternative regulations—against their cost, and focus resources where they can do the most good.31

The problem with this explanation is that the AHRA came into force on 22 April 2004 and the Cabinet Directive on Streamlining Regulation only came into force 1 April 2007.32 This directive, therefore, cannot possibly account for the delay from April 2004 to April 2007. As for the subsequent two-year delay between the introduction of the directive in 2007 and this proffered explanation in 2009, no in- formation or evidence is provided in regard to Health Canada’s obligation under the directive to assess “the costs and benefits of regulatory and non-regulatory measures, including government inaction.”33

A second explanation for the delay was that Health Canada has decided to delay the prepublication of draft regulations in Canada Gazette, Part I, until an opinion is provided by the Supreme Court of Canada on the constitutionality of parts of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act (AHR Act). Work continues unabated to develop proposed regulations under the Act.34

Appearing before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, the minister of health, Leona Aglukkaq, rehearsed this explanation:

In terms of the work that Assisted Human Reproduction Canada is doing, as the member [Member of Parliament Carolyn Bennett] is well aware, we are dealing with a situation that is before the Supreme Court. The agency is not able to fully implement the full scope of the legislation that is in place before us until the court decision has been made, particularly around the development of the regulations to further proceed.

So in the meantime, the agency continues to do work within the scope of the legislation, and it will continue to do so until the decision is rendered. Once a decision is made through the courts on the challenge that came forward from Quebec, we’ll be able to proceed further related to the regulations that are required for the full implementation of the legislation.35

The problem with this second explanation is that the Québec challenge included section 8 and yet the government brought forward and put into force the consent-to-use regulations after the Québec government had launched its challenge to the AHRA.36 If active litigation was not a reason to hold off on developing and introducing regulations for section 8, then it could not legitimately be the reason for holding off on developing and introducing the other needed regulations.

While neither of the explanations provided by the federal government is satis- factory, the fact remains that, with the singular exception of the consent-to-use regulations, the regulations that were to accompany the legislation were not introduced and the AHRC was effectively marginalized. In the absence of the regulations required to fulfil much of its mandate, the AHRC’s possible accomplishments were essentially limited to business undertaken with respect to a few subsections of section 24. In brief, consistent with general responsibilities outlined in section 24 (b), (c), and (d), the president and chair of the Board of Directors met with the minister; the AHRC established three sub-committees and one advisory panel (the Tripartite Committee, the Healthy Singleton Births Committee, the AHR/ART- Related Outcome Committee, and the Science Advisory Panel); and the AHRC com- missioned a set of research papers on cross-border reproductive care and hosted the First Invitational International Forum on Cross-Border Reproductive Care: Quality and Safety.37

Furthermore, consistent with section 24(f), the AHRC developed educational products (brochures and a website) and hosted a number of invitational meetings, including a Multiple Births Round Table and an Oncofertility Symposium.38 In anticipation of eventual responsibilities with respect to section 24(g) and sections 45–59, the AHRC entered into a memorandum of understanding with Health Can- ada to have Health Canada’s inspectorate enforce the AHRA under the direction of the AHRC.39 The AHRC also entered into an agreement with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for investigation of allegations of non-compliance with the AHRA.40

Consistent with section 24(h), the AHRC implemented the section 8 consent-to-use regulations under the AHRA. Finally, presumably also under section 24(h), the AHRC transferred funds to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in support of research on assisted human reproduction.41

While the AHRC was active with respect to some of its powers, it could hardly be characterized as a robust agency for the protection and promotion of the health and well-being of children born through the use of assisted human reproductive technologies and of other persons affected by these technologies, most particularly women.42 As noted earlier, some of this inactivity most certainly was due to the lack of regulations. However, a number of unchallenged important provisions did not require regulations (for example, sections 5-7), so the AHRC could have been more proactive with respect to its responsibility to promote the enforcement of the Act. There is no evidence of such activity on the part of the AHRC. Furthermore, the AHRC had the power to advise the minister of the imperative for Health Canada to introduce regulations. There is no evidence that the AHRC provided such advice to the minister. The AHRC also had the power to direct the Health Canada Inspectorate to be more active with respect to the enforcement of the AHRA. There is no evidence that the AHRC so directed the Health Canada Inspectorate.

This lack of activity is all the more troubling when the AHRC’s costs are taken into consideration. The actual annual expenditures were substantial ($134,000 for 2006–07;43 $4,898,000 for 2007–08;44 $5,289,000 for 2008–09;45 $5,200,000 for 2009–10;46 and $5,200,000 for 2010–11).47 These are arguably exorbitant amounts of money to pay for not much more than some Board of Director meetings, committee meetings, workshops, pamphlets, a website, and one international forum.

It should be noted here that this admittedly harsh assessment is supported by the Core Control Audit of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada from the Office of the Comptroller General.48 The objective of the audit was “to ensure that controls over financial management were effective and conducted in a manner that was compliant with corresponding legislation, policies, and directives at Assisted Human Reproduction Canada.”49 The audit covered fiscal years 2008–09 and 2009–10. The assistant comptroller general concluded that “[d]uring the period covered by this audit, the Agency did not have effective controls in place over financial management and were [sic] not conducted in a manner compliant with the requirements contained in eleven of thirteen policies, directives and corresponding legislation.”50

Act Two, Scene Two: The AHRC Board of Directors

As noted earlier, the AHRC Board of Directors was named in December 2006 and held its first meeting in March 2007.51 The board was established with the following responsibilities:

30. The board of directors is responsible for the overall management of the Agency, including:

(a) the provision of advice to the Minister on assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies, or on any matter referred to the Agency by the Minister;

(b) the approval of the Agency’s goals and operational policies;

(d) the evaluation of the Agency’s performance.52

In the spring of 2010, three board members resigned: Françoise Baylis, professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Barbara Slater, policy expert (formerly with the Ontario government) in Toronto, Ontario; and Irene Ryll, patient representative from Edmonton, Alberta. The first to resign was Françoise Baylis “after coming to the conclusion that the agency was failing to enforce, or was actively undermining, the principles of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act.”53 In the fall of 2010, these board members testified before the parliamentary Standing Committee on Health in regard to the many problems that had spurred them to resign.54 With respect to the Board of Directors’ legislated responsibilities, the following problems were identified: the Board of Directors of the AHRC (as distinct from the AHRC) never gave advice to the minister (section 30(a)); the Board of Directors gave approval for agency goals and operational policies identified by the president but was pre- vented from shaping or directing these goals or policies (section 30(b)); the Board of Directors did not vote on the 2008–09 AHRC annual budget (section 30(c));55 and the Board of Directors’ approval for other annual budgets can at best be described as pro forma (section 30(c)).

Following the resignations of three board members, further problems with the AHRC budgets were identified, including “difficulty getting line-item annual budgets, a lack of recorded votes, trouble getting the agency’s president to reveal what percentage of the budget was being spent on board governance . . . concerns over more than $2 million the agency allocated to consulting contracts in 2009–2010, while offering the board members little information about the services to be provided.”56 More generally, “requests for information about the budget consistently met with resistance from the president.”57 For example, board members were not told, despite repeated requests, the cost to taxpayers for the First Invitational Inter- national Forum on Cross-Border Reproductive Care: Quality and Safety, which was hosted by the AHRC.

Act Three: 2010 to 2012

On 22 December 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its ruling in response to the Québec government’s challenge to the constitutionality of the AHRA.58 Sections 10, 11, 13, 14–18, 40(2), (3), (3.1), (4), and (5), and sections 44(2) and (3) were struck down. Sections 8, 9, 12, 19, and 60 were upheld. Sections 40(1), (6), and (7), 41–3, 44(1) and (4), 45–53, 61, and 68 were upheld to the extent they related to constitutionally valid provisions. As a result of the decision, the AHRC lost much of its raison d’être. The agency nonetheless retained the following powers:

24 (1)

(b) provide advice to the Minister on assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies;

(c) monitor and evaluate the developments within Canada and internationally in assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies;

(d) consult persons and organizations within Canada and internationally;

(h) do anything that is reasonably necessary or incidental to achieving the Agency’s objectives.

The AHRC also retained powers with respect to administration, inspection, and enforcement in relation to the following activities:

prohibited procedures, offering to do or advertising of prohibited procedures, payment or offering consideration for doing any prohibited procedures;59

payment for surrogacy, acting as an intermediary for surrogacy, payment to intermediaries for surrogacy, minimum age of surrogate mothers;60

purchase of gametes, purchase or sale of embryos, purchase of other reproductive material;61

use of reproductive material without consent (inter vivos or post-humous);62

obtaining of gametes from minors;63 and

reimbursement of expenditures in relation to gametes, embryos, and surrogacy.64

Significantly, while much of the AHRA was struck down, the prohibition on the purchase, offer to purchase, or advertising for purchase of gametes and embryos and the provisions with respect to the regulation of reimbursements for gametes, embryos, and surrogacy and the implementation and enforcement of these sections were upheld. Thus, the agency retained extremely important responsibilities and powers.

Presumably in recognition of these responsibilities and powers, implementation of the agency’s compliance and enforcement program was identified among the activities for 2010–11 and listed among the priorities for 2011–12.65 However, as with previous years, there is no evidence available suggesting that progress was made with respect to this aspect of the mandate. Activities undertaken in 2010–11 included:

frequent interactions with health care professionals, patient support groups, and individual Canadians to educate and inform;

promotion of evidence-based best practices;

educational products (brochures/website); and

oncofertility symposium.66

Priorities listed for 2011–12 included:

knowledge transfer and promotion of evidence-based best practices;

implementation of stakeholder outreach program;

delivery of patient/client group outreach strategy;

integration of the results of the Canadian Community Health Survey Infertility Rapid Response Module into health promotion and educational planning; and activities to increase awareness of the risk factors associated with infertility.67

Meanwhile, during this same time period, regulations were desperately needed for the legislation to become operational and for the AHRC to fulfil its mandate (for example, regulations with respect to reimbursement for expenditures under section 12).68 The earlier rationale for perpetual delays in introducing the requisite regulations, namely waiting for the Reference re AHRA, was no longer plausible.

Sections of the AHRA upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada required regulations, and yet these regulations were not forthcoming. While the AHRC did not have the authority or responsibility to draft and introduce the regulations, it certainly had the authority (and, we would argue, the responsibility) to advise the minister to press Health Canada to draft and pass regulations.

During this time period, neither the law member who had resigned previously for personal reasons nor any of the board members who had resigned in 2010 (as described earlier) were replaced. As a result, the law, ethics, policy, and patient backgrounds were not represented on the Board of Directors. Indeed, of the allowable maximum number of members (thirteen), there were only seven members. While the AHRA required that “the membership of the board of directors must reflect a range of backgrounds and disciplines relevant to the Agency’s objectives,” the membership only included three physicians, one senior health administrator, one president of a project management and communications company, a chair of Jewish Studies, and the director of research and senior communications consultant for the Archdiocese of Toronto.

In addition, during this time period, allegations of non-compliance with the constitutionally valid parts of the AHRA were brought to the AHRC’s attention.69 And yet, no effective action appears to have been taken. Once again, the mandate and powers far outstripped the activities. Once again, the lack of activity and impact is particularly troubling when held up to the annual price tag—in 2010-11, the agency spent $5.2 million.70 The AHRC had a staff of fourteen full-time equivalent employees (FTEs).71 It is not at all evident from the record that there was anything close to good value for fourteen FTEs and $5.2 million.

Act Four: Spring 2012

On 29 March 2012, the federal government announced in its budget that it would wind down the AHRC:

The Government will introduce legislation to wind down Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, with final closure of operations by March 31, 2013. The winding down of the Agency responds to the 2010 ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada that significantly reduced the federal role in assisted human reproduction. Health Canada will take over responsibility for any remaining federal functions such as compliance and enforcement, and outreach.72

On 26 April 2012, the federal government introduced legislation to give effect to the budget.73 The bill was passed and received royal assent on 29 June 2012. The minister of health was given the authority to prevent or mitigate contravention of the AHRA immediately upon the bill receiving royal assent. The rest of the changes affecting the responsibilities, authority, and, indeed, very existence of the AHRC came into effect on 30 September 2012.74

Act Five: Beyond 2012

So it is that an extraordinary opportunity to protect and promote the interests of those who use, or are born of, assisted human reproductive technologies was squandered. Many millions of dollars were wasted. Many hours of experts’ time were squandered. Chaos was allowed to reign. As lamented by Françoise Baylis, “[t]here has been close to 30 years invested in terms of effort, energy and money [on the issue] and it’s all for naught.”75 The promise and hope of 1989 (with the announcement of the Royal Commission) was renewed in 1993 (with the report of the Royal Commission), in 2004 (with the coming into force of the AHRA), and again in 2007 (with the first meeting of the AHRC’s Board of Directors). But the promise and hope was eroded in 2010 (with the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Reference re AHRA) and dashed in 2012 (with the abolition of the AHRC). As noted at the outset, the “why” of this denouement remains a mystery; the “what” is a tragedy. The onus is now on the provinces and territories to exercise their responsibility to protect and promote the interests of those who use assisted reproductive technologies and those who are born of these technologies.

Footnotes

Assisted Human Reproduction Act, SC 2004, c 2 [AHRA].

Françoise Baylis was contracted to write several papers on informed consent for the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies.

For example, the work of the Canadian Coalition for a Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. See Margrit Eichler and Marie Lavigne, “Women’s Movement,” Canadian Encyclopedia (2012), online: Canadian Encyclopedia <http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/ articles/womens-movement>.

Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies (Royal Commission), Proceed with Care: Final Report of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, volumes 1 and 2 (Ottawa: Minister of Government Services, 1993) at 3.

Ibid.

Ibid, volume 1 at 18.

Bill C-47, An Act Respecting Human Reproductive Technologies and Commercial Transactions Relating to Human Reproduction, introduced at 2nd Sess, 35th Parl (1997).

Françoise Baylis participated in the government-sponsored press release of this initiative.

Bill C-56, An Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction, introduced at 1st Sess, 37th Parl (2002) (the last stage completed was the second reading in the House of Commons on 28 May 2002).

Bill C-13, An Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction, introduced at 2nd Sess, 37th Parl (2003). On 25 October 2003, Françoise Baylis and Jocelyn Downie penned an open letter to members of the House of Commons. A draft of the letter was given to Timothy Caulfield to re- view, and minor amendments were negotiated. The next day, Canadian colleagues in attendance at the Joint Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities and the Canadian Bioethics Society, which was held in Montreal, were invited to sign the open letter. A total of sixty-five signatures were gathered and a press release was issued. All members of the House of Commons received a copy of the open letter. On 28 October 2003, the House of Commons passed Bill C-13. However, the last stage completed by Bill C-13 was the second reading in the Senate on 7 November 2003 as Parliament was prorogued before the bill could be passed by the Senate.

Bill C-6, An Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction and Related Research, introduced at 3rd Sess, 37th Parl (2004) (assented to 29 March 2004). For more details on the legislative process from 1996 to 2004, see Françoise Baylis and Matthew Herder, “Policy Design for Human Embryo Research in Canada: A History,” Part 1 of 2 (2009) 6:1 Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 109.

AHRA, supra note 1: “(1) Sections 5 to 9 prohibit human cloning, the commercialization of human reproductive material and the reproductive functions of women and men, and the use of in vitro embryos without consent; (2) Sections 10 to 13 prohibit various activities unless they are carried out in accordance with regulations made under the Act, under licence and in licensed premises. These “controlled activities” involve manipulation of human reproductive material or in vitro embryos, transgenic engineering and reimbursement of the expenditures of donors and surrogate mothers; (3) Sections 14 to 19 set up a system of information management related to assisted reproduction; (4) Sections 20 to 39 establish the Assisted Human Reproduction Agency of Canada; (5) Sections 40 to 59 charge the Agency with administering and enforcing the Act and regulations, and authorize it to issue licences for certain activities related to assisted reproduction; (6) Sections 60 and 61 provide for penalties; (7) Sections 65 to 67 authorize the promulgation of regulations; and (8) Section 68 gives the Governor in Council power to exempt the operation of certain provisions if there are equivalent provincial laws in force that cover the field.” As cited in Reference re Assisted Human Reproduction Act, 2010 SCC 61 at court summary [Reference re AHRA].

Italics signify that the provisions did not come into force with the proclamation of the AHRA (and, indeed, never came into force).

Décret 1177-2004 (15 décembre 2004), Gazette Officielle du Québec (5 janvier 2005), 137e année, no 1, Partie 2, at 62-3.

Décret 73-2006 (14 février 2006), Gazette Officielle du Québec (8 mars 2006), 138e année, no 10, Partie 2, at 1290.

Reference re AHRA, supra note 12.

Order Designating Vancouver, British Columbia, as the Place in Canada Where the Head Office of the Assisted Human Reproduction Agency of Canada Shall Be Located, effective January 12, 2006, PC 2005-0726 (5 May 2005); Order Fixing January 12, 2006 as the Day on which Sections 21 to 39, 72, 74, 75 and 77 of this Act [Bill C-6], being chapter 2 of the Statutes of Canada, 2004, Come into Force, other than paragraphs 24(1)(a), (e) and (g), PC 2005-0725 (5 May 2005).

AHRC, AHRC Chronology of Events (20 February 2012), online: AHRC <http://www.ahrc-pac.gc.ca/v2/aaa-app/wwa-qsn/chronology-chronologie-eng.php> [AHRC Chronology].

Ibid.

Roger Chafe, Wendy Levinson, and Paul C Hébert, “The Need for Public Engagement in Choosing Health Priorities” (2011) 183:2 Canadian Medical Association Journal 165 at 165.

Françoise Baylis applied for membership and actively encouraged others to apply.

Jocelyn Downie was a member of the expert selection committee.

Françoise Baylis, “The Demise of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada” (2012) 34:6 Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 511 at 512.

Laura Eggertson, “New Reproductive Technology Board Belies Expert Selection Process” (2007) 176:5 Canadian Medical Association Journal 611 at 611. Françoise Baylis was one of the two.

Dr. Michael Rudnicki, scientific director of the Stem Cell Network, cited in Eggertson, ibid.

Françoise Baylis was identified as conservative by media pundits despite the fact that she supports women’s right to access termination of pregnancy and the research use of human embryos that are no longer wanted for reproductive use.

Eggertson, supra note 24 at 611; Laura Eggertson, “Demands Made for Inquiry into Operations of Reproductive Health Agency” (2011) 183:1 Canadian Medical Association Journal E-21 at E-22. Baylis, supra note 23 at 512.

AHRA, supra note 1, s 26(2).

At the first AHRC Board of Directors meeting, Françoise Baylis asked the then minister of health, Tony Clement, to consider adding a board member with experiential knowledge of assisted human reproduction.

Assisted Human Reproduction (Section 8 Consent) Regulations, SOR/2007-137.

Health Canada, Assisted Human Reproduction: Frequently Asked Questions (Ottawa: Health Canada, 2009), online: Health Canada <http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/reprod/hc-sc/faq/index-eng.php#q2>.

Canada, Cabinet Directive on Streamlining Regulation, Doc BT 22-110 (Ottawa: Government of Canada, 2007), online: <http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/BT22-110-2007E.pdf>.

Ibid at 8.

Health Canada, Publication of Proposed Assisted Human Reproduction Regulations Delayed until Supreme Court Appeal Is Decided (Ottawa: Health Canada, 2007), online: Health Canada <http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/reprod/hc-sc/legislation/delay-interruption-eng.php>.

Canada, House of Commons, Standing Committee on Health, 40th Parl, 3rd Sess, No 26 (15 June 2010) at 1010 (Hon Leona Aglukkaq), online: <http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4626213&Language=E&Mode=1#Int-3231507>.

Recall that the challenge was launched on 4 December 2004, that the regulations were not registered until 14 June 2007, and that they did not come into force until 1 December 2007.

First Invitational International Forum on Cross-Border Reproductive Care: Quality and Safety, Forum Report (Ottawa: AHRC, 14-16 January 2009). Françoise Baylis attended this event but did not present.

AHRC, Oncofertility in Canada: Building Connections for the Preservation of Fertility for Young Cancer Patients (Toronto: AHRC, 2010), online: AHRC <http://www.ahrc-pac.gc.ca/v2/pubs/young-cancer-jeunes-atteints-eng.php>. Françoise Baylis attended this event but did not present.

“For instance, the Agency has signed an MOU with Health Canada’s Health Products and Food Branch Inspectorate. Under its terms, Health Canada will provide inspection, compliance and enforcement services for the Assisted Human Reproduction Act under the direction of AHRC. This arrangement will address the need to respond to issues raised by AHR users and providers.” AHRC, Hope, Health and Safety: Assisted Human Reproduction Canada Annual Report 2007-08 (Ottawa: AHRC, 2008) at 12, online: <http://www.ahrc-pac.gc.ca/v2/pubs/alt-formats/pdf/pubs/pubs/annual-annuel/2007-2008-rap-eng.pdf>. “The inspection and enforcement provisions of the AHR Act (sections 45-59), which includes authorizing AHRC to designate inspectors for the purpose of the enforcement of the AHR Act, have not yet come into force. As an interim measure, pursuant to section 5 of the Department of Health Act, inspectors employed by Health Canada’s Inspectorate have been designated by the Minister of Health for purposes of enforcement of the AHR Act. These inspectors have the powers provided for in section 22 to 29 and 35 of the Food and Drugs Act. AHRC has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Inspectorate. Under this MOU, the Inspectorate conducts activities related to the enforcement of the AHR Act and its Regulations, under the direction of AHRC.” AHRC, Compliance and Enforcement Policy (Ottawa: AHRC, 30 July 2010), online: <http://www.ahrc-pac.gc.ca/v2/aaa-app/alt-formats/pdf/wwd-qnf/C-E-Policy-eng.pdf> at 4 [AHRC Compliance Policy].

“Where a breach of the AHR Act is alleged, AHRC has an agreement with the RCMP, the federal authority that may assist in investigating such complaints. If, for example, an offer to buy an egg or pay for a surrogate mother’s services (both activities prohibited under the Act) were reported and an individual or business were deemed to be in violation of the Act, the case might be turned over to the RCMP for investigation.” AHRC, supra note 39 at 12. This agreement has not been made public. Rather, it has been referred to in AHRC documents: “AHRC and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have established roles and responsibilities in relation to the enforcement of the AHR Act and its Regulations. Where there is accurate and reliable information that an offence may have been committed, AHRC may, at its discretion and under the appropriate circumstances, refer matters to a law enforcement agency, including the RCMP, for investigation.” AHRC Compliance Policy, supra note 39 at 4. In addition, “[i]n response to information regarding an alleged non-compliance, and following an assessment of the facts, AHRC may issue a compliance letter to notify a person subject to the Act of the non-compliance and to clarify what is necessary to achieve compliance. This type of letter will usually request a response within a specified time period to confirm that corrective actions will be taken. AHRC will then verify that the corrective actions have been implemented. When this is unsuccessful, as when the person subject to the Act is unable or unwilling to correct a non- compliance that may result in a risk to health and safety, other compliance and enforcement actions are available including, warning letters, on-site visits, and as appropriate, referral to a law enforcement Agency, including the RCMP for investigation. It is their role to then determine if there is sufficient evidence to bring the matter forward for prosecution and seek the consent of the Attorney General of Canada to do so. AHRC may also notify any interested authority, such as a professional licensing or disciplinary body if there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person may have acted in breach of their professional codes of conduct. Such actions may be undertaken independently, concurrently or sequentially with other actions” (at 8).

Canada, House of Commons, Standing Committee on Health, 40th Parl, 3rd Sess, No 37 (16 November 2010) at 1125 (Françoise Baylis), online: <http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4782428&Language=E&Mode=1#Int-3522112>. See also Memorandum to AHRC Board of Directors from Dr. John Hamm, Chair re: CIHR Funding, 2 April 2009 [on file with the authors].

Section 2: The Parliament of Canada recognizes and declares that: (a) the health and well-being of children born through the application of assisted human reproductive technologies must be given priority in all decisions respecting their use; (b) the benefits of assisted human reproductive technologies and related research for individuals, for families and for society in general can be most effectively secured by taking appropriate measures for the protection and promotion of human health, safety, dignity and rights in the use of these technologies and in related research; (c) while all persons are affected by these technologies, women more than men are directly and significantly affected by their application and the health and well-being of women must be protected in the application of these technologies; (d) the principle of free and informed consent must be promoted and applied as a fundamental condition of the use of human reproductive technologies; (e) persons who seek to undergo assisted reproduction procedures must not be discriminated against, including on the basis of their sexual orientation or marital status; (f) trade in the reproductive capabilities of women and men and the exploitation of children, women and men for commercial ends raise health and ethical concerns that justify their prohibition; and (g) human individuality and diversity, and the integrity of the human genome, must be preserved and protected (AHRA, supra note 1, s 2).

AHRC, 2006-2007 Departmental Performance Report (Ottawa: AHRC, 1 November 2007), online: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat <http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dpr-rmr/2006-2007/inst/rap/rap01-eng.asp> [archived].

AHRC, 2007-2008 Departmental Performance Report (Ottawa: AHRC, 2008), online: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat <http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dpr-rmr/2007-2008/inst/rap/rap01-eng.asp> [archived].

AHRC, 2008-2009 Departmental Performance Report (Ottawa: AHRC, 2009), online: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat <http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dpr-rmr/2008-2009/inst/rap/rap01-eng.asp> [archived].

AHRC, 2009-2010 Departmental Performance Report (Ottawa: AHRC, 2010), online: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat <http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dpr-rmr/2009-2010/inst/rap/rap01-eng.asp> [archived].

AHRC, 2010-2011 Departmental Performance Report (Ottawa: AHRC, 2011), online: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat <http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dpr-rmr/2010-2011/inst/rap/rap01-eng.asp> [archived].

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Office of the Comptroller General of Canada, Core Control Audit of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (Ottawa: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, July 2011), online: AHRC <http://www.ahrc-pac.gc.ca/v2/pubs/cca-vcb-eng.php> [Core Control Audit]. The three board members who resigned from the AHRC (see details later in this article) recommended, during testimony before the parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, that a forensic audit be undertaken.

Ibid.

Ibid. The following policies and directives were tested and found to qualify as “not met”: the Directive on Delegation of Financial Authorities for Disbursements, the Directive on Expenditure Initiation and Commitment Control, the Directive on Account Verification, the Directive on Acquisition Cards, the Directive on Accountable Advances, the Directive on Financial Management of Pay Administration, the National Joint Council Travel Directive, the Policies on Contracting, Hospitality, Membership Fees, and Performance Pay Administration (which includes the Policy on the Management of Executives, the Directive on Terms and Conditions of Employment for Certain Excluded and Unrepresented Employees, and the Directive on Executive Compensation). Core Control Audit, supra note 48.

As noted earlier, Françoise Baylis was a member of the inaugural Board of Directors.

Under s 32(2) of the AHRA, the responsibilities set out in ss 30(a), (b), and (c) are non-delegable powers. AHRA, supra note 1, s 32(2).

Eggertson, supra note 24 at E21.

Standing Committee on Health, Administrative Review of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, 40th Parl, 3rd Sess (16 November 2010), online: <http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4782428&Language=E&Mode=1#Int-3522112>.

Eggertson, supra note 24 at E21.

Ibid.

Reference re AHRA, supra note 12.

Section 5(1): No person shall knowingly: (a) create a human clone by using any technique, or transplant a human clone into a human being or into any non-human life form or artificial device; (b) create an in vitro embryo for any purpose other than creating a human being or improving or providing instruction in assisted reproduction procedures; (c) for the purpose of creating a human being, create an embryo from a cell or part of a cell taken from an embryo or foetus or transplant an embryo so created into a human being; (d) maintain an embryo outside the body of a female person after the fourteenth day of its development following fertilization or creation, excluding any time during which its development has been suspended; (e) for the purpose of creating a human being, perform any procedure or provide, prescribe or administer anything that would ensure or increase the probability that an embryo will be of a particular sex, or that would identify the sex of an in vitro embryo, except to prevent, diagnose or treat a sex-linked disorder or disease; (f) alter the genome of a cell of a human being or in vitro embryo such that the alteration is capable of being transmitted to descendants; (g) transplant a sperm, ovum, embryo or foetus of a non-human life form into a human being; (h) for the purpose of creating a human being, make use of any human reproductive material or an in vitro embryo that is or was transplanted into a non-human life form; (i) create a chimera, or transplant a chimera into either a human being or a non-human life form; or (j) create a hybrid for the purpose of reproduction, or transplant a hybrid into either a human being or a non-human life form. AHRA, supra note 1, s 5(1).

Ibid, s 6.

Ibid, s 7.

Ibid, s 8.

Ibid, s 9.

Ibid, s 12.

AHRC, Making a Difference: Annual Report 2010-2011 (Ottawa: Health Canada, 2011), online: Health Canada <http://www.ahrc-pac.gc.ca/v2/pubs/alt-formats/pdf/pubs/pubs/annual-annuel/2010-2011-rap-eng.pdf>.

Ibid at 4.

Ibid at 5.

Section 12(1): No person shall, except in accordance with the regulations, and a licence: (a) reimburse a donor for an expenditure incurred in the course of donating sperm or an ovum; (b) reimburse any person for an expenditure incurred in the maintenance or transport of an in vitro embryo; or (c) reimburse a surrogate mother for an expenditure incurred by her in relation to her surrogacy. (2) No person shall reimburse an expenditure referred to in subsection (1) unless a receipt is provided to that person for the expenditure. (3) No person shall reimburse a surrogate mother for a loss of work-related income incurred during her pregnancy, unless (a) a qualified medical practitioner certifies, in writing, that continuing to work may pose a risk to her health or that of the embryo or foetus; and (b) the reimbursement is made in accordance with the regulations and a licence. AHRA, supra note 1, s 12(1).

Alison Motluk, “The Human Egg Trade: How Canada’s Fertility Laws Are Failing Donors, Doctors, and Patients,” The Walrus (April 2010), online: The Walrus <http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2010.04-health-the-human-egg-trade/>; “Infertile Canadians Buy Frozen Human Eggs from US,” CBC News (22 April 2012), online: CBC News Health <http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/04/20/eggs-frozen-fertility.html>.

AHRC, supra note 47.

Ibid.

Government of Canada, Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity: Economic Action Plan 2012 (Ottawa: Government of Canada, 29 March 2012), online: Government of Canada <http://www.budget.gc.ca/2012/plan/pdf/Plan2012-eng.pdf> at 219.

Act to Implement Certain Provisions of the Budget Tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and Other Measures, 1st Sess, 41st Parl, 2012, s 713-51 (assented to 29 June 2012).

Order Fixing September 30, 2012 as the Day on Which Subsection 713(2) and Certain Sections of the Act Come into Force, PC 2012-1136 (2012) C Gaz II, 21.

Tom Blackwell, “Government Shutters Agency That Oversees Canada’s Fertility and Assisted Reproduction Industry,” National Post (30 March 2012), online: National Post <http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/30/government-shutters-agency-that-oversees-canadas-fertility-and-assisted-reproduction-industry/>.

#assisted reproductive technology #canada #genesis #life #bioethics #regulation #surrogacy #death #Assisted Human Reproduction Canada #controversy

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huffles-studies · 6 years

Text

get to know your followers!

thank you @pigeonstudy for tagging me!

Rules: Answer the questions (which you can change if you don’t feel like answering certain questions) and then tag 20 followers you want to get to know better!

1. Nickname? soni

2. Gender? female

3. Star sign? leo

4. Height? 5′2″

5. Favorite feature? eyes or hair

6. Hogwarts house? hardcore 50/50 huffleclaw

7. Favorite animal? orca whales!! (top the list but theres a lot more that make me cry its fine i’m fine)

8. Average hours spent sleeping? there is no avg cause my sleep schedule is a j o k e lol anywhere from 2 hours to 10

9. Dogs or cats? dogs, hands down.

10. Number of blankets you sleep with? two, sometimes three if i wanna get really fluffed up and cozy

11. What’s your dream trip? spain, italy, and greece trip with my best friends

12. What’s your dream job? still figuring that out but right now i’m on that path to becoming a PA-C and getting a masters in public health :) (i’m interested in genetics/bioinformatics and research tho so honestly still exploring while i’m young- let me know if you have any thoughts on these subjects!)

13. When did you make this account? around three weeks ago

14. How many followers do you have? 84! (thank you!)

15. How many pets do you have? zeroooo but i’d love to get a dog once i graduate

16. Best places to visit in your town or country? i live in seattle so i love pike place market downtown, all the coffee shops, my uni campus honestly, and gasworks park!

17. Favorite ice cream flavor? gold medal ribbon or coffee

18. How often do you read? i try to read ~15 minutes every day! right now i’m reading ‘beneath a scarlet sky’, ‘the subtle art of not giving a f*ck’, and “the life and times” fanfic my friend recommended to me lol

19. Favorite study locations? libraries at my uni (particularly the harry potter-esque one, and this one with huge windows overlooking the lake) and my room

20. Who do you stan? oh gosh rn lowkey no one- its been a while since i’ve liked a show enough to get obsessed. but i’m rewatching vampire diaries and i love them all :’)

Now tag 20 of your followers! @catenchantress, @drgabriellewestcott, @stellur, @rowanspostgradadventures, @academedical, @studies-of-witchcraftandwizardry, @patriotstudies, @historicalemily, @vanessastudiess, @studyingstuffwithem, @gradespiration, @studieux, @psychologyhermione, @theboldrevision, @themedtimes, @studywithromy, @peppermint-studign, @naichastudies, @studybeary, @kellystudiess

#studyblr #about

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boymeetsweevil · 6 years

Text

Alien!Reader crashing in Jimin’s backyard - brainstorm

Possible Genre: Comedy, Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Smut????

draft word count: 3.2k

Beginning/Context:

1[ (Alien!)You try to get support from superiors to visit earth and make a few human connections and form ambassadorship (is that a word idk) to create allies between people of earth and people of your planet. Superiors reject the proposal, writing humans off as barbaric and saying they have nothing to gain from a relationship with them even after you spent your whole scholarly life researching humans and poring through previous documents collected by other people who were researching them before humans became thoroughly taboo, so your latest knowledge is like 1999??? Funding gets cut off or something so you high jack an observation-pod to continue to study earth but end up crashing it when colliding with space debris. You land in the field one night behind Jimin’s gym in the mall while he’s closing. He investigates because he’s inquisitive, was a boy scout and a bit of a space nerd when he was younger and goes to see what happened. Finds what’s left of you encased in the slightly cracked safety orb that deploys when the pod is going to be destroyed by impact and he uses sheer brawn to crack it open.]

2[To minimize trauma and preserve brain and vital organs, your body takes on a neutral looking gumby-ish form. Still two legs because Earth and your planet and all other planets in that specific cross section of the galaxy are bipedal]

A) Jimin carries you back to his apartment and worries you’re dying because your skin starts changing in reaction to the environment once you’re exposed to the air after he breaks the vacuum seal in the safety pod.

3[the landing takes place around mid-summer???]

Your Appearance/Mannerisms:

4[in your home atmosphere, skin is rubbery opaque seafoam green texture]

B), but with the source material of Jimin’s hands initially after the crash, when your body realizes its no longer in danger, it restarts and adjusts to earth’s atmosphere and uses DNA from Jimin to create a analogous form for you

5[on earth your skin is translucent so can see blood]

6[has adaptive skin, can change at will if have copy source nearby]see 5+ B

7[black stripes appear over skin when aggressive]

8[thick blue pearlescent blood with tons of flakes of silver floating in around from heart]

9[pulse looks like a purple lightning strike when it gets fast enough]

10[a plum heart with silver lining inside that shed into the blood, but is constantly being repaired and regenerated so not to worry] see 8

11[sharp retractable teeth, vertical pupils perches on everything never sits normally EVER]

12?[hates jimin’s cat because Jimin’s cat reminds you of a breed of people from a different part of the galaxy who came and tried to invade your planet about a decade before you were born and your people just barely managed to kick them out recently and so there’s a lot of anti-cat alien sentiment on your planet and even though Jimin’s cat isn’t mean or anything, like its lazy and indifferent towards you but loves jimin, you still flip it the bird once you learn what that means]

13[Can only eat fruit and drink water with like a shit ton of table salt in it.]

14[All bodily fluids contain the silver sparkles although at much finer size than what can see in blood. Spit and sweat are translucent barring the silver and roughly same consistency as that of humans but pee and blood are deep black with the silver flakes] see 8 and 10

First Encounter:

C)You don’t wake up until 3 days later, when your body has finished completely reacting. When you wake up, he’s coming through his front door with groceries and you make really tense frightened eye contact for a super long time until he finally just shuts his bedroom door and sleeps on the couch. You thinks he’ll kill you because his muscles indicate he’s a warrior on his planet and you’re indeed trespassing (so like why not kill you amirite???). When you learns he’s peaceful, you walk up to him and slowly put your (new)thumbs in the center of his forehead to gain access to his thoughts and learn his language. He can feel you in his mind, inexplicably. First thing you says is “why do you think about breeding so much”.

First Meal on Earth:

D)Later you ask if he’s instead a breeder, because his voice is good for mating calls. He says no...but like confused. During the first few days you’re really weak and starving and he tries to give you so many things but you throw them up every time until he gives you a mango ( because he HATES them and he’s been trying to get rid of it since he bought it to try it and see what the fuss was about but, didn’t like it). And you don’t throw it up so he tentatively tries giving you broccoli and you throw it up, but he has some bananas he bought recently and you eat all of those and follow him around the kitchen but don’t talk (obvi) and soon you get really dehydrated and you’re like “take me to your ocean, human” and he’s like “the ocean is hours away what about this”. And he does some major googling and then wordlessly goes to the kitchen and dumps a half cup of salt in a gallon of water and shakes it for a while and then hands it to you and you tentatively sip at it and then chug it because THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED.

15[Mating is very simple topic where you come from and nudity isn’t really a thing since you only wear robes during special ceremonies, so you’re very open and always embarrass him by not knocking and/or walking in on him. HOWEVER, mating is also very perfunctory/not anything mindblowing which is why you can be nonchalant about it with him. Intimacy is really different from what it is on earth]

CLothes shopping:

E)The huge elephant in the room is that you’re naked way too often and Jimin is running out of sheets to throw on you whenever you walk into the room completely bare but every time he tries to get you to wear his spare clothes you’re like SORRY I don’t like you like that (see 15) and he’s like??? Just ??wear ?the clothes???? And you’re like still no, so then he goes and buys a wig (because you’re bald lmao i forgot to mention that) for when you both need to go out and makes you wear something so you can go to the thrift store and buy your own clothes because it’s weird that you kiiiiinda look like a woman and you’re naked (and frankly speaking he likes your body). You wear the wig but also skinwarp!!!! and you’re walking around with a wrinkled nose in a goodwill or something and you find some really ugly swimming trunks that probably belonged to a 15 year old boy from the 80’s and they’re oddly shiny and a weird material (but you love it because there is no fashion where you come from that is ever going to be compatible with current aesthetics) and you pick up like 4 pairs and then you see a stack of those dramatic retro shirts with wolves howling on them (or something) and you’re like “wow look at this beautiful artwork” and he’s like…REALLY? But he buys it all quick before you change your mind and now you walk around the house looking like a 10 year old boy in a wolf shirt and plastic-y swim trunks, but you still walk around naked sometimes its just less often.

???:

F)Jimin steps on your bare foot once with his socked foot lightly and you freak out and tell him the equivalent of “you’re not that type of girl” (see 15 + 16)

16[making contact with clothes on is really special and something you do with your betrothed or whatever not between acquaintances. You don’t like the idea of hookup culture because it seems like two people aren’t taking sacred oaths created by the “elder aliens” seriously]

F.5) when Jimin brings a girl home, you act very pitiful for him the next day thinking that she rejected his mating proposal because she went home and he’s like wtf no

17[You learn stupid phrases from earth tv. You love infomercials for their colors and loud voices and the weird ingenuity and often write down the ideas and whisper “I can’t wait to tell my superiors”. You also love watching daytime wine mom soaps.]

?Copmutre:

G)Eventually when you learn to use the computer. You’re still kind of childlike, so Jimin leaves a sticky note on the side of the screen with the url to a soap opera forum and you type with two pointer fingers very slowly the exact same thing on the keyboard every day and you learn to read and write via communicating with people on the forums about the shows

18[that’s the only work-unrelated thing you do on the computer]

G.5)You decide to use this as an advantage to further research and gather enough data to prove that humans are intelligent lifeforms worth allying with. Unfortunately...No technology on earth is advanced enough to record data for your superiors like you need to, though. You try to make do with writing by hand, but you hold a pencil like a dog and write like a two-year-old. Then you try to make observations using a fountain pen because it looks like the recording device you used back home. but obvi that doesn’t work :/

Gym :

H)Your muscles are weak and new from having just reformed and from only having walked around his apartment. He suggests you come to his gym one night and have you work out with him. You go but you’re sore the day after and whiny the whole time during.

Meeting Taehyung:

I)Eventually you get bored in the house one day while he’s working from home and you manage to skin-warp yourself into him, although you’re a bit shorter. You all decide that when you get bored you can go out in the streets in his image if you keep it cool. You run into Tae while you’re at a grocery store with money Jimin gave you for fruit, and he’s like “hey bud” and tries to chat you up like you’re jimin and you’re like “who are you” but also think he’s very beautiful and when he touches your shoulder in a friendly manner you squeak and must remind yourself that contact between adults wearing clothes is platonic on earth. You run off without saying anything and he’s like hmmm but doesnt’ think too much of it. When you come home you tell him about it and mention how beautiful Taehyung is and Jimin’s like “he’s okay, I guess” and you’re like “wow you’re not gonna make a move on that?” So you ask him would it be alright for you to court him using Jimin’s image and he says no!!! and you’re like seems like a waste but okay >.>

19[Whenever you go shopping at a new place, you visit the store first and catalogue all their merchandise with your memory and find out things like tax and tip and when you figure out what you need. Then you go to Jimin very seriously and ask for the exact amount down to the 10 won and he obviously never has exact change so he rounds up and gives you like 20 bucks or something and you’re like “wow extra moneys”]

Frog:

J) the first time you see something you want but don’t need is when you see a frog in the window of a pet shop and you fall in love even though it’s actually the ugliest thing and you come to Jimin with big eyes trying to lie about buying more fruit even though you both know you don’t need more (maybe because you just went shopping and you gave him a way bigger number than normal) and he’s like “I know you’re not buying fruit” and you freak out like ‘I thought you said humans didn’t possess non-verbal data transfer abilities’ and he’s like “um well I do, what are you trying to buy” and you’re very ashamed for being caught in a lie so you confess with your head hung in shame ‘a frog’ and he’s like wtf um why don’t you tell me what’s going on and in the end he skypes you from his phone and goes to the pet shop and is like tell me what to do, so you tell him which frog as he angles his phone at the tank and he buys the frog and brings it home and you cry sparkly tears of joy (see 14). You try to name the frog Jimin because “he’s nice” but Jimin is so disgusted by the ugly frog that he’s like lol no what about swamp boy ™ and you’re like “WOW a great idea even though this species would technically not live in a swamp they’re truly found in…”

Computer:

K)After a few months of staying with him, you notice that he starts to get stressed out whenever bills come and you ask him about it and he’s just like “I don’t really make enough to live in this nice apartment and pay off my gym AND support and extra mouth” but he can’t kick you out and he can’t really move to a new place because he lives far enough from the gym as is and you can’t exactly go out and get a job. You feel bad for a while and try and look for answers when you come across an online gambling site. You’re not the best at technology, not like the people you know back home, but you manage to breach the site and find the game’s algorithm and then you ask Jimin to tell you the basics of poker when he gets home and he’s like…um okay I guess and then you basically hack the server so that you can always read what other players have in their decks and see what the computer’s deck look like for each game. After more research, You make a bunch of different accounts and make it so that it doesn’t look like the winnings are being wired to the same bank account even though they are and then win a few high stakes games with each account. Jimin checks his account semi regularly and when he checks it the next time he sees that there’s way more in there than there should be, he gives you a look and you’re like…just go with it and he’s like “...yeah actually. Okay.”

Body:

L)You hear him sing in the shower once he gets comfortable with living with you and you’re so drawn to the sound that you walk into the bathroom and slide open the door to hear better and he’s like what the hell and you’re like what? and then you look down and you’re like “hey, where’s your vagina and what is that thing, it looks like these animals we have back home”. And he’s like trying to be assertive about space but then he’s too curious and he’s like “if you guys don’t have this, how do you mate” and you blush and you’re like um….and then basically describe french kissing and he’s just -.- And then you’re like “wait what is that thing for” and he’s like “…its for mating???? and peeing” and you’re like that thing???? How? And he tells you and you’re like it goes inside???? and so you awkwardly try and take a look at yourself to see how something could go inside you and he’s like go do that somewhere else please and you’re like okay :) and when he gets out of the shower he feels like he should explain himself and he goes to the living room to talk to you he hears you making shocked sounds and is like ok and goes and plays music in headphones really loudly and then 10 moinutes later you come and find him and you don’t have any pants on and you’re like guess what and he’s like maybe we should talk.

Seaon Change:

M)In the fall he packs up his jeep and drives you both out to the field behind the mall where you crashed that night and you walk around so you can get fresh air and chat and he has you bundled up in more ugly kids clothing from the thrift store and he thinks you’re weird but cute.

M.5)Winter comes and you’re not really equipped for it because 1) your body didn’t account for winter when it reformed and 2) it doesn’t really matter anyway because your planet doesn’t get that cold. ever. and you can’t keep sleeping on the couch. Jimin doesn’t have a pullout couch because it’s a nice apartment but minimally furnished for 1 person so there isn’t really space for that. And you’re cold-blooded (sort of) so you become really heat seeking in the cold months, which means you whine about being cold all the time and sit by the tiny radiator for hours at a time until he sits you down and turns on the tv and cuddles you and you’re about to freak about and be like “I’m not your wife” (see 15,16, F) but he calmly talks you down and talks about how humans are social animals and touch is important and this will keep you warm blab la blah and eventually you’re like…okay.

20[In the winter its slower at the gym so he takes more days off which means he takes naps a lot and he can afford to do this with your extra income] see K

Nap:

N)You end up getting in bed one day during a blizzard and you mention that watching the snow outside the window was putting you to sleep and hes like “yeah” cus raining and stuff like fireplaces or snow always put him to sleep and when you get into bed your heart starts beating really fast and you both ignore the implications of that but anyway so your pulse flashes and the lining of your heart sheds more (see 8-10) so its like a blizzard and a thunderstorm combined under your skin and he watches the flow underneath your skin and reaches out to trace it and falls asleep and you fall asleep too and this becomes a pattern after lunch. You both like each other but no one wants to make a move because the alien/human thing feels like it would turn the other off

HankyPanky:

O)You’re watching TV one day and he comes home and sits down and joins you and you see actors kissing on your soap and you’ve watched enough soaps and had THE TALK™ (see 17 and L) so you’re both painfully aware of the tension in the room and your skin is full of silver flakes and flashes (see 8-10) and he kisses you but afterwards you’re like what if I get pregnant!!! (see L) and he’s like…if your new body is made based off human blueprint wouldn’t you get pregnant the human way and you’re like ummm I guess so you wait a few days because that’s how long it takes to show and usually it would mean that your skin would become opaque but it doesn’t and you’re like oh…we can do that all the time then :U

End:

tbc

OKOKOK this is really long and I’ve been sitting on it for so long and IDK like I’m going to try and turn it into a full blown fic but this is still an idea i want to keep so like please respect this for all it is

FYI:

things with numbers in brackets are pieces of context I want to establish to motivate certain vignette thingies

things with letters are the little vignette thingies

both have references to other vignettes or context points as needed to guide me

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howtoloseweightfastsafely · 5 years

Text

How To Deal With the "Stress Hormone" Before It Deals With You

I think an apology is in order. On my part.

I've dropped the "C" word on and off and mentioned how it can lead to stress, inflammation, disease and more.

And I've mentioned that it can especially lead to excess belly fat.

But I haven't actually explained it more in depth, or explained how it works.

And I haven't given you some simple strategies to reduce it.

Sorry.

Let's get into it now, and end any confusion.

As you've realized if you read the chapter title, the "C" word is Cortisol.

Cortisol is better known as the "stress hormone", which your body produces to help with certain necessary responses.

Before we get into the "bad side" of cortisol, let's discuss its merits.

One of the more well-known cortisol-related responses is the "fight or flight" reaction you have when you're in danger. In this scenario, cortisol plays a vital role in telling your muscles and liver to release certain enzymes, acids, fats, and glucose, in order to give your body the energy it needs to fight or flee.

This response was crucial just as much in evolutionary times, when faced with a life-threatening bear for example, as it is these days, when you may sense danger on a dark, empty street in a bad part of town.

Beyond the fight or flight response, cortisol is known to help metabolize glucose, fats, and protein, it is an anti-inflammatory, and it regulates blood pressure and cardiovascular function.

Lastly, it is the main component of the Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR), which refers to the slightly elevated cortisol levels we have in the morning. These levels gradually drop down as the day progresses. The CAR is thought to be an evolutionary mechanism that helped us wake up, and go on waking the rest of the day.

Now that we've covered the "good", let's get to the "bad".

The main idea to understand here is: beyond the acute, helpful cortisol functions (fight or flight; helping with recovery post-workout) and the morning awakening response, cortisol can get very chronic, very fast.

And when it gets chronic, research shows we're faced with everything from unmanageable stress levels to a wide variety of major diseases (heart disease, Alzheimer's, depression, and various cancers immediately come to mind).

Let me elaborate.

For starters, there are many different reasons that people have excess cortisol in their system.

There are a few recurring themes, though - namely, diet quality (or lack thereof) and stressful life situations (long-term pressure at work, financial issues, relationship or spousal tension, caring for elderly parents, etc.). And from a genetic perspective, many are naturally prone to anxiety or depression., and the stress/cortisol output that comes with it.

There are some "unknown" causes of chronically-elevated cortisol, too.

Besides chronic stress, the top 2 hidden causes are:

1. Excessive gym time followed by under-eating

a. High intensity, long duration exercise (especially "chronic cardio") training is proven to increase cortisol significantly

b. Basically, any time spent over 60-75 minutes ramps up cortisol like nobody's business, and it's made worse when we're too hard on ourselves to decide to eat next to nothing after a tough workout

c. Follow the workouts in the "6 Weeks to Lean" manual and you'll be outta the gym before you need to worry about cortisol building up.

d. Essentially, weight lifting, cardio, and any other high-intensity workouts deal with 4 main hormones:

i. Testosterone

ii. Growth Hormone,

iii. IGF (insulin-like growth factor)

iv. Cortisol

e. The first 3 are the anabolic hormones that build muscle (more muscle = less fat = healthier body and healthier 'look'). The last one, cortisol, is useful in certain circumstances but can also become very detrimental.

f. The key here is output of the anabolic hormones (testosterone, GH, and (IGF) stops after about 60 minutes of workouts, but cortisol keeps going and becomes chronic (and damaging to the body)

g. So, if you're working out for 2 hours, that's 1 hour or more of muscle-ruining, fat storing Cortisol permeating through your system. So, work hard and fast during workouts, and then stop!

h. Cap workouts at 1 hour, or 1 hr and 15 minutes including warm-ups. Then get adequate rest and recovery!

2. High levels of caffeine and sugar, which keep you "on edge" 24/7.

a. High cortisol in the bloodstream often correlates with the morning coffee... and the brunch coffee and post-lunch coffee, and the subsequent sodas and energy drinks consumed throughout the day.

b. But let's not be hypocritical - I have my morning cup of coffee, and most people do, too.

c. It's not unhealthy to have a bit of caffeine in the morning, and a few cups of tea throughout the day. However, it's important not to overdo it. (A surefire way to overdo it is drinking 3+ cups of coffee, plus sodas or energy drinks all day like many people do.)

Basically, having too much cortisol can have a highly negative impact on your body in the long term.

Too much cortisol means your body enters a catabolic state, whereby your body starts cannibalizing its own tissues (including bone, muscle and even brain matter) to get energy. Too much cortisol also signals your body to store excess fat, particularly in the midsection region (stomach, love handles, and butt/hips).

The reason for this is that your body thinks it's in mortal danger (the "fight or flight" response), so it's suddenly willing to use whatever resources it has available at its command to survive.

And when the body is spending time trying to fight off this perceived "danger", it doesn't give a rat's you-know-what about burning fat. On the contrary, any food at or above your limit will be stored as fat in the exact place you're trying to avoid putting it on!

You see the problem here: You drank that second cup of coffee because you like the way it tastes with those little hazelnut creamer packets they have at 7-11, and you inadvertently released a bunch of cortisol in the process.

And these chronically elevated cortisol levels mean increased stress, and increased stress causes mood swings, anxiety, depression and flat-out shrinkage of brain cells.

If your cortisol has been elevated for a long time, it's also possible your brain isn't even producing healthy levels of serotonin and dopamine anymore - causing you to enjoy pleasurable feelings less, and feel down in the dumps more often.

As mentioned, your cortisol levels are supposed to be naturally high in the morning - one of the actual good effects of the stress hormone is to help you feel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when you first wake up. But they're supposed to drop off during the day - which means you have to be careful about the amount of caffeine you take into your system, and most importantly, when you take it into your system.

It's pretty simple: No caffeine after 12 PM (2 PM is OK if you go to bed around 12), except for a cup of green tea if you really need it. Generally, you want to have your last bit of caffeine at least 10 hours before bedtime, since cortisol levels are so closely correlated with our sleep/wake cycles. So for most people who go to bed around the 10-11 p.m. hour, it's best to stop drinking soda, energy drinks or coffee by noon. It's also best to have a daily "goal" of no more than one soda/energy drink/cup of coffee per day, and 1-2 cups of tea at most.

You want to max out at 400 mg. of caffeine per day (most coffee has between 150-200 mg already!) Your body doesn't really get much benefit after one, anyway - and you're just maxing out your stress levels!

While you're taking a long-term, nice and easy approach to reducing your caffeine consumption, here are some other methods by which you can naturally reduce your cortisol levels.

Interested in losing weight? Then click below to see the exact steps I took to lose weight and keep it off for good...

Read the previous article about "The Simple Detox 'Cheat Sheet': How To Easily and Properly Cleanse, Nourish, and Rid Your Body of Dangerous Toxins (and Build a Lean Well-Oiled "Machine" in the Process)"

Read the next article about "7 Common Sense Ways to Have Uncommon Peace of Mind (or How To Stop Your "Stress Hormone" In Its Tracks)"

Moving forward, there are several other articles/topics I'll share so you can lose weight even faster, and feel great doing it.

Below is a list of these topics and you can use this Table of Contents to jump to the part that interests you the most.

Topic 1: How I Lost 30 Pounds In 90 Days - And How You Can Too

Topic 2: How I Lost Weight By Not Following The Mainstream Media And Health Guru's Advice - Why The Health Industry Is Broken And How We Can Fix It

Topic 3: The #1 Ridiculous Diet Myth Pushed By 95% Of Doctors And "experts" That Is Keeping You From The Body Of Your Dreams

Topic 4: The Dangers of Low-Carb and Other "No Calorie Counting" Diets

Topic 5: Why Red Meat May Be Good For You And Eggs Won't Kill You

Topic 6: Two Critical Hormones That Are Quietly Making Americans Sicker and Heavier Than Ever Before

Topic 7: Everything Popular Is Wrong: The Real Key To Long-Term Weight Loss

Topic 8: Why That New Miracle Diet Isn't So Much of a Miracle After All (And Why You're Guaranteed To Hate Yourself On It Sooner or Later)

Topic 9: A Nutrition Crash Course To Build A Healthy Body and Happy Mind

Topic 10: How Much You Really Need To Eat For Steady Fat Loss (The Truth About Calories and Macronutrients)

Topic 11: The Easy Way To Determining Your Calorie Intake

Topic 12: Calculating A Weight Loss Deficit

Topic 13: How To Determine Your Optimal "Macros" (And How The Skinny On The 3-Phase Extreme Fat Loss Formula)

Topic 14: Two Dangerous "Invisible Thorn" Foods Masquerading as "Heart Healthy Super Nutrients"

Topic 15: The Truth About Whole Grains And Beans: What Traditional Cultures Know About These So-called "Healthy Foods" That Most Americans Don't

Topic 16: The Inflammation-Reducing, Immune-Fortifying Secret of All Long-Living Cultures (This 3-Step Process Can Reduce Chronic Pain and Heal Your Gut in Less Than 24 Hours)

Topic 17: The Foolproof Immune-enhancing Plan That Cleanses And Purifies Your Body, While "patching Up" Holes, Gaps, And Inefficiencies In Your Digestive System (And How To Do It Without Wasting $10+ Per "meal" On Ridiculous Juice Cleanses)

Topic 18: The Great Soy Myth (and The Truth About Soy in Eastern Asia)

Topic 19: How Chemicals In Food Make Us Fat (Plus 10 Banned Chemicals Still in the U.S. Food Supply)

Topic 20: 10 Banned Chemicals Still in the U.S. Food Supply

Topic 21: How To Protect Yourself Against Chronic Inflammation (What Time Magazine Calls A "Secret Killer")

Topic 22: The Truth About Buying Organic: Secrets The Health Food Industry Doesn't Want You To Know

Topic 23: Choosing High Quality Foods

Topic 24: A Recipe For Rapid Aging: The "Hidden" Compounds Stealing Your Youth, Minute by Minute

Topic 25: 7 Steps To Reduce AGEs and Slow Aging

Topic 26: The 10-second Trick That Can Slash Your Risk Of Cardiovascular Mortality By 37% (Most Traditional Cultures Have Done This For Centuries, But The Pharmaceutical Industry Would Be Up In Arms If More Modern-day Americans Knew About It)

Topic 27: How To Clean Up Your Liver and Vital Organs

Topic 28: The Simple Detox 'Cheat Sheet': How To Easily and Properly Cleanse, Nourish, and Rid Your Body of Dangerous Toxins (and Build a Lean Well-Oiled "Machine" in the Process)

Topic 29: How To Deal With the "Stress Hormone" Before It Deals With You

Topic 30: 7 Common Sense Ways to Have Uncommon Peace of Mind (or How To Stop Your "Stress Hormone" In Its Tracks)

Topic 31: How To Sleep Like A Baby (And Wake Up Feeling Like A Boss)

Topic 32: The 8-step Formula That Finally "fixes" Years Of Poor Sleep, Including Trouble Falling Asleep, Staying Asleep, And Waking Up Rested (If You Ever Find Yourself Hitting The Snooze Every Morning Or Dozing Off At Work, These Steps Will Change Your Life Forever)

Topic 33: For Even Better Leg Up And/or See Faster Results In Fixing Years Of Poor Sleep, Including Trouble Falling Asleep, Staying Asleep, And Waking Up Rested, Do The Following:

Topic 34: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 35: Part 1 of 4: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 36: Part 2 of 4: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 37: Part 3 of 4: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 38: Part 4 of 4: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 39: How To Beat Your Mental Roadblocks And Why It Can Be The Difference Between A Happy, Satisfying Life And A Sad, Fearful Existence (These Strategies Will Reduce Stress, Increase Productivity And Show You How To Fulfill All Your Dreams)

Topic 40: Maximum Fat Loss in Minimum Time: The Body Type Solution To Quick, Lasting Results

Topic 41: If You Want Maximum Results In Minimum Time You're Going To Have To Work Out (And Workout Hard, At That)

Topic 42: Food Planning For Maximum Fat Loss In Minimum Time

Topic 43: How To Lose Weight Fast If You're in Chronic Pain

Topic 44: Nutrition Basics for Fast Pain Relief (and Weight Loss)

Topic 45: How To Track Results (And Not Fall Into the Trap That Ruins 95% of Well-Thought Out Diets)

Topic 46: Advanced Fat Loss - Calorie Cycling, Carb Cycling and Intermittent Fasting

Topic 47: Advanced Fat Loss - Part I: Calorie Cycling

Topic 48: Advanced Fat Loss - Part II: Carb Cycling

Topic 49: Advanced Fat Loss - Part III: Intermittent Fasting

Topic 50: Putting It All Together

Learn more by visiting our website here: invigoratenow.com

#weightloss #diet

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your-iron-lung · 7 years

Text

Mixed Up 18 | Do You Feel It? |

Chapter Word Count: 3232

Pairings: Zoro/Sanji

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Chapter Warning: Strong Language

Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 , 17

Next Chapter: 19

Sanji didn’t know what to think.

Nearly every song that he listened to off of Zoro’s mixtape sounded exactly the same to him.

A few of them stood out as being distinct, but when he loaded the cd onto his laptop and opened it with his media player, none of the tracks were labeled. None of the artists were, either. Every song he tabbed through was by Unknown Artist off of an Unknown album.

Initially impressed by Zoro coming through on his word to supplement him with music, Sanji ended up becoming more annoyed than impressed when he realized Zoro had neglected to embed any specifics in his recommendations.

How was he supposed to ‘pick out something he liked’ if he didn’t know what it was he liked?

Even when Zoro was trying to help, he was, ultimately, rather unhelpful.

Sanji ended up having to jot down a few of the lyrics he could understand from the songs he did like and run them through Google to get the information Zoro had neglected to provide. He was bemused to find that one of them was by the Tralalaws; he was sure that would make Zoro angry somehow.

From there it was unclear to him what it was that kept him on Google, but Sanji spent the rest of his evening waiting for Nami to get in contact with him on the internet. He knew he should have been practicing, but the thought of touching Zoro’s guitar at the moment made him uncomfortable.

He started his night of internet searches with the Tralalaws, hoping to gain some more insight into the band Nami had invited him to see with them.

They had a website, but when he clicked on it, he couldn’t find any information about them that seemed relevant to him. Not that he knew what exactly it was he was looking for, but their website didn’t have whatever it was.

Wikipedia did, though.

‘The Tralalaws are a punk rock band formed by singer/lyricist/guitarist Trafalgar Law along with bassist Bepo, drummer ‘Penguin’, and guitarist Shachi.’

There was a picture of the band together on stage, and Sanji couldn’t help but notice how sickly the singer, Law, seemed to appear. More than anything, though, he appeared pissed off. The man’s eyes were full of a burning hatred that scathed him even though Sanji was merely looking at a picture of him.

He could hardly begin to imagine what he’d be like when they saw him live.

Sanji kept reading.

Career

‘The Tralalaws first album was described as the sound of a “violent, overblown and irreverent” punk band in a positive review in Pitchfork. The band then went on extensive tours of the East and North Blue continents to promote their album with The Mugiwara Menace, who performed as their opening act.’

Mugiwara Menace.

Sanji paused; wasn’t that the name of Zoro’s band?

He clicked the hyperlink and was greeted with a picture of Zoro’s angry face howling into a microphone to confirm that it was.

He’d found what he’d been subconsciously looking for.

‘The Mugiwara Menace were a punk rock band formed by guitarist/front man Monkey D. Luffy, bassist/singer/lyrcist/guitarist Roronoa Zoro, and drummer/backing vocals Nami.’

Were.

Nami had mentioned once somewhere before that they were no longer active as a group, but hadn’t supplied a reason as to why that was.

Sanji suddenly felt like he was sticking his nose into something he shouldn’t be, as though their history together as musicians was something private he ought to leave alone. Then again, it was on Wikipedia. It was public information he had every right to access; after all, none of them had ever told him explicitly not to snoop around.

Under their career section, he noticed that they’d put out a number of albums together before they disbanded, when something about one of them caught his eye.

‘The Mugiwara Menace’s full-length debut, Sink or Swim, despite gaining little attention from major critics, was well met with strong reception from independent critics. Dubbed by fans as the ‘Kuina album’, Sink or Swim gained positive reviews from Absolutepunk.net, citing singer Roronoa Zoro for having a “talent for creating lyrics and melodies that are simple and catchy, yet never forced or unintelligent.”

There was a name Sanji hadn’t seen before: Kuina. He had no idea what it meant for Zoro’s fans to call their debut album the ‘Kuina album’, but the name didn’t have a hyperlink affixed to it.

Contemplating quietly on the matter, he opened up a new browser tab to see what other internet sources might have to say.

Google didn’t help much when he searched for the name ‘Kuina’, but when he searched for Sink or Swim, it provided him with a Youtube link to the full album.

Without hesitation, he clicked it.

As the music began to play in his apartment, he sat back against the comforting cushions of his couch and focused on what he was listening to.

“I took a drive today; I thought about you. I thought about a friend who passed, and how much we just went through.”

The first thing Sanji noticed was how different this music sounded than from what he’d listened to previously on their Soundcloud. That had been uplifting and jaunty; complete with violin and more whimsical, almost tropical sounds. This was harder, heavier, and carried with it a more obvious punk sound. Zoro’s voice was gruff and almost hoarse, but it was his and it fit with the sounds they created.

“And if you’re scared of the future tonight, we’ll just take it each hour one at a time. It’s a pretty good night for a drive, so dry up those eyes, dry up those eyes.”

If Zoro really was the sole lyricist, then Sanji had to admit that he did have a knack for writing compelling lyrics. There was a lot of emotion in them; emotion that Sanji wanted to know the source of. From what little he knew of Zoro, this level of depth and complexity almost seemed to go against his character.

He sat forward again and began to scroll down some of the comments fans had left under the video.

‘This album is so good!

‘I know this is the kuina ALBUM, but whats the kuina SONG again??’

Bartolomeo: ’59 sound! If u were a TRUE mugiwara fan u would have known that!! Filthy casual

Sanji took note of this comment and paused the video to see if the songs were labeled somehow.

Thankfully, they were, but the song mentioned in the comments didn’t appear to be on this album. He resumed the video regardless, letting the music surround him once again.

”Because the radio will still play loud, the songs that we heard as our guards came down. Like in the summertime when we first met, I’ll never forget, and don’t you forget: these nights are still ours.”

‘the kuina song is good but does any1 have a link to the tashigi song? My fave and I cant find it anymore!’

Roronoa Zoro: don’t call it that.

Sanji’s eyebrows rose up when he saw that Zoro had actually replied to one of the comments. The comment thread had been made two years ago, but the fact that Zoro apparently even knew how to comment wasn’t what interested him; it was the fact that he’d bothered to comment at all that was interesting.

Expanding the thread, he saw that several people had provided the original commenter with a link. Some of the comments said that the band had taken the song down because of its affiliation with whoever ‘Tashigi’ was, and that Zoro didn’t want that association between them to exist. Fans still seemed to call it that regardless, though.

He clicked on a few of the links he saw, but a lot of them were dead. He’d have to remember to look into that later, however; he already had a lot he wanted to research that he needed to check out first.

“And I’m burning up the night she died; I’m putting every last picture aside. I’m gonna say what I need to say in my very last letter to you.”

Tabbing back into Wikipedia, Sanji continued to let the album play out as he navigated back to the bit about their first album.

‘Roronoa Zoro was given free reign as far as subject matter was concerned when writing Sink or Swim. It was theorized that Monkey D. Luffy gave him full creative control so Zoro would join the band, as he was more interested in working as a solo artist at the time. The album was created as a tribute to the singer’s late childhood friend Kuina, though he continued to write other songs about her later on in their career.’

Well, that was sad. Sanji wasn’t sure what to think about it, but was inwardly glad that it signaled Zoro’s ability to feel deep and long-lasting emotions. Not that that was what he wanted from him, but, it was nice to know.

Just in case.

“But I- I wish you knew her now; she’s a better side of me now, and I’m doing the best I can. It’s what you wanted.”

Sighing, Sanji checked his phone to see if perhaps he had missed any calls or texts from Nami, but saw that there were none. He didn’t want to bother her with his problems, but she had offered to at least listen to them. How much longer would he have to wait for her to get in contact with him?

Then again, she was probably enjoying herself too much to bother with him at the moment, anyway. Which was fine, of course; she had her own life to live without getting too involved in his.

“And the reasons always fade, and the pain gets out some day. So I’m saying my goodbyes to your deep blue eyes ‘cause I don’t know how to say, ‘Stay still in the pain. Stay still in the pain’.”

Switching back to the Youtube host of their album, he closed it without letting the album finished. Sanji no longer felt comfortable listening to something Zoro had created that was so personal to him, regardless of whatever public platform he’d chosen to put his feelings into. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, rubbing his forehead for a moment before he went and looked through some more of the comments fans had left on the video.

‘This was my first exposure to the band. I gotta say it isn’t really my favourite, but I can respect their sound. The vocals are REALLY rough, but the songwriting is good. The sound is not too hardcore, and it reminds me of late 80s/90s punk. I liked that not all the songs sound the same, since that is usually a problem in this genre. There is obvious musical talent in the band, but the vocals turned me off.’

Sanji laughed out loud as he read the review, equal parts relieved that he wasn’t the only one who was struggling with the fact that all punk music seemed to sound the same, and humored that the guy took issue with Zoro’s singing.

When he clicked the thread, a bunch of fans came to Zoro’s defense, arguing against the original commenter and trying to change his opinion. That was alright; it was good to know that he had a loyal fanbase that supported both him and the band he was creating for.

He let his laughter die off when one of his fans suggest that the original commenter take a look at Zoro’s personal Youtube page.

‘its different from the stuff he records with the mugiwaras. A lot of it is acoustic so u might like it better’

“Fuck,” Sanji muttered.

He didn’t want to pry any more than he already had, but the temptation to see what sort of content Zoro would be recording on his own was too great. Against his better judgement, he followed the link and was directed to Zoro’s personal Youtube page.

The profile itself was blank. There was no ‘About’ information filled in, and the last video that had been uploaded had been done roughly three years ago. He had tons of uploads that spanned over the many years he’d been actively uploading, each of them garnering over 40,000 views, which, in and of itself was impressive.

Sanji knew he was digging too deep into Zoro’s history; if he’d found out that Zoro or anyone else was doing the same to him, he would’ve been pissed. As he scrolled through the thumbnail previews, he couldn’t stop himself from clicking on at least one of the older videos.

True to the comment that had directed him here, the video only featured Zoro sitting on the edge of his bed with the camera focused on the acoustic guitar in his hands. His face wasn’t visible from the way he’d set it up, as he’d obviously wanted the primary focus to be more on the music than him.

“Well I wonder which song they’re gonna play when we go; I hope it’s something quiet and minor and peaceful and slow.”

His voice was a lot softer in this recording. It wasn’t gruff or coarse like it was when he sang with the Mugiwaras, and clashed with what Sanji knew about his rough nature. This was, as the opening lyric had suggested, a quiet song. A respectful song.

“And I wonder, were you scared when the metal hit the glass? See, I was playing a show down the road when your spirit left your body.”

A chill coursed through Sanji that made the hair on his arms stand up when he heard this lyric. He quickly checked to see what song it was he’d decided to click on and discovered that he’d landed upon an acoustic recording of The ’59 Sound.

The Kuina song.

“And they told me on the front lawn; I’m sorry I couldn’t go. But I still know the song and the words and her name and the reasons. And I know ‘cause we were kids and we used to hang.”

He was too invested in it now to close out of it. If anything, he felt it would be disrespectful to her memory if he did at this point.

“Did you hear the old gospel choir when they came to carry you over? Did you hear your favourite song one last time?”

Zoro’s prowess with the guitar was highlighted with the way he had the camera fixed. It focused solely upon the guitar, and the way his fingers ran across the fretboard to pick out the chords he needed was impressive to his untrained eye.

Sanji ignored the way Zoro’s voice shook when he reached the chorus.

“Young boys, young girls. Young boys, young girls. Well, you ain’t supposed to die on a Saturday night, ain’t supposed to die on a Saturday night; you ain’t supposed to leave my life.”

The rest of the song progressed along the same lines, repeating the chorus a few times before Zoro eventually slowed down until the song was finished. He stood up in the recording to turn the camera off, and then Sanji was left staring into the reflection the dark screen provided.

Feeling as though he’d done enough digging around into Zoro’s life for the night, Sanji shut his laptop down and then closed it. He set it aside on the coffee table and then stood up to stretch, deciding he really needed a cigarette.

He walked to the window that looked out onto the parking lot to make sure Zoro and Chopper weren’t out there before he went to put on his coat and step outside of his apartment.

It was dark out, but he wandered over to where a street light cast a bright light on the sidewalk before he lit up. He inhaled the smoke deeply, feeling the awful relief it provided him flood his body. In an instant, he was much calmer than he had been.

There was a lot he still didn’t know about Zoro, and of course he wanted to know all he could about the man, but in moderation, and at his own pace, and with Nami’s help.

As he exhaled the smoke he’d been holding in, he glanced at his car. He cast all his guilt and blame upon it, for it was, after all, the leading cause of how he’d become mixed up with Zoro in the first place.

“Goddamned Saturdays,” he muttered, flicking the ash off the end of his cigarette.

A vibration in his pocket stirred him out of his thoughts, but when he pulled his phone out of his pocket, thinking it was Nami finally calling him, he frowned when he saw that it was Zeff instead.

He hesitated in answering, frowning at the shitty picture he had for Zeff’s contact as it appeared on the screen.

What the hell could the old man possibly want from him?

“What, calling to beg me to take my job back already?” Sanji said in lieu of a greeting as he answered the call. “It’s only been a week, shitty old man; don’t tell me the Baratie went down without me.”

He heard Zeff grunt, dismissing his insults easily without addressing them.

“No, you ungrateful little shit. You break your dumbass curse yet?”

“You’re actually calling to check up on me? I’m flattered,” he replied, taking a deep drag off his cigarette. “It’s also none of your goddamned business.”

“I’ll take that as a no,” Zeff said. Sanji bristled. “You get a hobby then?”

He wasn’t sure why, but the question made him hesitate. Technically, yes, he had picked up a new hobby in the week he’d been out of work, but it felt weird to claim it as his own. Sanji really only felt like he was borrowing it off of Zoro, like he wasn’t really putting himself into it, but was instead only doing it because Zoro liked it.

“I guess,” he ended up saying. The faux attitude he usually used when speaking with Zeff dropped from his tone. When he replied, he spoke quieter. “I made some friends.”

“Huh. That’s good. I been telling you to do that for years.”

“Fuck you,” he said, but there was no actual anger in his voice.

“Uh-huh. See you in three weeks, eggplant.”

Sanji pulled the phone away from his ear as Zeff hung up and returned it to his pocket. He absently wondered what Zeff would think of him if he knew the entirety of his situation.

“Probably wouldn’t give a shit,” Sanji said with a sigh. He knew he wouldn’t; it was only himself that was taking issue with it.

He kept on standing there smoking until he reached the filter. Casting it to the sidewalk, he stepped on it to ground out the ember before picking the butt up to throw away.

He wished that phone call had been from Nami, but Sanji knew that if she didn’t end up calling him tonight, then she’d likely do so first thing tomorrow. With another withered sigh he returned to his apartment and got ready to lay down. After all, he had to be well-rested in order to tackle the conversation he was going to have with Nami the next day.

#zosan fanfic #zosan fanfiction #zosan #zoro/sanji #one piece fanfiction #one piece #punk au #modern day au #slow burn #mixed up

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thecomedybureau · 7 years

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The 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness to in No Particular Order of 2016

2016 is officially, finally, thankfully over (as long as you don’t think about time largely being a human construct, a new number of year doesn’t make things automatically better, and Trump becoming POTUS).

So, it’s time for our year end list, The 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness to in No Particular Order of 2016.

For reference of how we do our year-end, best of lists, which is a far cry from most other comedy best of lists anywhere else, check out our lists from past years: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Got it? Great.

Here’s 2016′s edition:

1. Jake Weisman's Send Up of Peter Travers Reviews-Rolling Stone has gone through so much recently, you might have forgot this amazing NSFW parody that Weisman made of Travers movie reviews.

2. Rory Scovel’s set on Conan Where He Went Into the Crowd-Rory Scovel pushes the envelope in stand-up in the best ways imaginable and this latest Conan set is evidence of his juggling of being fearless and silly at the same time.

3. Conan Without Borders-Conan O'Brien's trips overseas to Berlin and South Korea highlight every single comedy gear that Conan can shift into and proves that he can almost make any situation hilarious.

4. "Killer" by Matt Kazman-Kazman achieves one of the best comedic payoffs on screen in 2016, including film and TV, with this incredibly crafted short film.

5. The Jackie and Laurie Show-Jackie Kashian and Laurie Kilmartin found a way to make a podcast where comedians talk comedy and have it be original, damn funny, and crucial.

6 Hebecky Drysbell-Reigning all time UCB Cagematch champions Heather Anne Campbell and Rebecca Drysdale showcase such virtuosity as an improv duo that is as hilarious as it is, when we think about it, beautiful.

7. Chris Estrada-If you’re looking for diamonds in the rough right now, we’d say catch Estrada’s next set and you’ll see how great his jokes are drawing from his life growing up in LA.

8. Cool Sh*t/Weird Sh*t's Neighborhood Walking Tour-the LA outfit of the experimental comedy show brilliantly took its audience, one night, around the block and staged such moments as a couple fake fighting in a real Food 4 Less, a woman crying trying to explain the plot of a movie in a Walgreens, and running into an adult orphan waiting to be adopted off the street.

9. Womanhood with Aparna Nancherla and Jo Firestone-Nancherla and Firestone compliment each other so well in being goofy on this show that goes through absurd explanations of “womanhood” that it should be the next web series that gets made into a full fledged TV show.

10. Fleabag-Phoebe Waller Bridge has the UK's fantastic, epic answer to You're The Worst.

11. Giulia Rozzi's True Love-Rozzi’s hour achieves what a good rom com achieves by skewering love and all of its faults as much as it celebrates it.

12. Mike Leffingwell's 12 Angry Men: The One Man Show-The concept of a single man doing a solo show adaptation of the classic courtroom drama 12 Angry Men is funny enough, but Mike Leffingwell then pulled off performing it perfectly.

13. Josh Sharp doing an hour while dipping in and out of singing D'Angelo's Untitled (How Does It Feel?) with a live band-Sharp's stories are wonderfully crafted and told, and then, accentuated by his lovely voice singing D'Angelo’s most well known song like there's no tomorrow.

14. Not Safe with Nikki Glaser's Remote Segments-Glaser fed porn stars lines for scenes, visited a foot fetish convention, and highlighted sex in such a fun way that wasn’t attempted by any other TV show.

15. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver's Make Donald Drumpf Again-Oliver and company's take down of Trump was one of the best researched, strategized, written, executed pieces on Trump during this whole election cycle.

16. Disengaged-Jen Tullock and Hannah Utt's web series following a lesbian couple rushing into marriage was one of the best pieces of romantic comedy we saw in 2016

17. [F*ck This] Late Night Show with David Brown-In a way, David Brown sees Eric Andre’s rebellion against the traditional late night format and raises it some more chaos. He has a separate creative team ruining his talk show as it happens via flashmobs, waterboarding, etc.

18. Baron Vaughn’s Blaxisential Crisis-Baron Vaughn’s latest album oscillates perfectly between deep and crucial issues of race, class, purpose and flights of imaginative fancy putting Vaughn almost in a class by himself.

19. Crabapples with Bobcat Goldthwait and Caitlin Gill-the odd couple pairing of Goldthwait and Gill is unlike anything comedy has seen before. Because it lives in truth (they really are roommates), it’s one of the best hosting duos in comedy today.

20. Megan Gailey-Gailey, with her stand-up, is simultaneously an undeniable delight and a force to be reckoned with, which only doubles up how delightful she is to watch.

21. Liartown USA-When it comes to parodying covers for books, magazines, Netflix menus, etc., Sean Tejaratchi might just do it better than anyone as you can see above.

22. This Bill Burr joke: “How many Toyota Camrys do you have to see before you realize most people’s dreams don’t come true?”-We usually refrain from transcribing jokes out of context and in print, but we haven’t stopped laughing at this searingly honest joke from Burr since we first saw him work on it several months ago and felt it imperative that it be on this list.

23. Sing Street-The 80s, Ireland, young love, and diegetic musicals get married perfectly in this film by John Carney that spent far too little time in theaters.

24. Derek Sheen's Tiny Idiot-This album made it clear that Sheen could be an heir apparent to Patton Oswalt, bu very clearly has his own, unique comedic take on the world today.

25. Stephen Colbert's Close to His Election 2016 Live Special-For once, the world got to see the real Stephen Colbert who is so intelligent, well spoken, caring, and one of the only people that could pull of dealing with immediate aftermath of an impending Trump win on TV.

26. Will Hines' A Soundly Defeated Man-Hines, in a series of sketch vignettes, takes the comedic self-deprecation to a new level of artistry by showing how defeated one man really can be.

27. The Lobster-Yorgos Lanthimos might have made the best dystopian rom com in recent memory and, possibly, for several years to come.

28. Jena Friedman's American C*nt-Friedman is unrelenting in her dismantling of the patriarchy amongst other several other controversial issues. She handily deals with them in this special, placing her in a very important position in comedy going forward in 2017.

29. Jamie Loftus-Loftus is that amazing rare breed of comedian that blends dark, absurdist humor with genuine vulnerability and she can do so in her stand-up or through own self-styled animation (ex. doing her own animations for old tapes of how to tell children about someone dying).

30. Chris Duffy's You Get a Spoon-Duffy’s NYC based, curated variety show is filled with so much positivity from celebrating the favorite things of his favorite performers that you almost can’t leave the show without a smile on your face (or winning a prize).

31. Bear Supply-The quick, music fueled scenes of Mike Castle, Shaun Boylan, Joey Greer, Jordan Bull, Morgan Christensen and James Heaney is impeccable improvisational comedy.

32. The Cooties-Musical comedy is alive and well with the satirical power pop songs of The Cooties.

33. Aparna Nancherla’s Just Putting It Out There-Aparna’s album is proof positive that her wondrous version of self-deprecation can be ultimately uplifting.

34. Hunt for the Wilderpeople-Taika Waititi continues his film streak with a charming-as-can-be film about a troubled youth surviving in the wilds of New Zealand.

35. Don't Think Twice-Mike Birbiglia gets really close to hitting too close to home for some people in comedy, but that draws out one of the best depictions of life in comedy (or attempting to do so) that has ever been put into a movie.

36. The Opening of The Pack Theater-The DIY, punk rock, spirit that runs in the veins of much of LA comedy got a new, wonderful outlet at The Pack Theater.

37. Jetzo-Chad Damiani and Juzo Yoshida mash-up improv, clowning, kimonos, dramatic live musical accompaniment, and breaking the fourth wall to make the marvelous whirlwind known as Jetzo.

38. DJ Real (Nick Stargu)-SF comedian Nick Stargu’s alias DJ Real mixes an uncanny command of musicianship with an über-clever style of comedy that dazzled and had us doubling over laughing at the same time.

39. Daniel Webb-Hailing from Austin, TX, stand-up comedian Daniel Webb is a splendid rush of charisma that probably has a better Obama story than almost anyone you know.

40. Laurie Kilmartin's 45 Jokes About My Dead Dad-Kilmartin’s special, born out of jokes she tweeted while her dad was passing away, is so darkly funny and has an unmistakable humanity, which has us rethinking that maxim of comedy equals tragedy plus time.

41. Kristin Rand-LA got a brief glimpse of the unstoppable charm of Rand when she moved here from Denver and was all the better for it.

42. James Fritz's Still Together-The way Fritz exquisitely channels rage and bleakness into this debut album is magnificent.

43. Roast Battle-What started as two open mic’ers fighting in a parking lot has now earned its way to a March Madness style tournament shown on Comedy Central and we’re betting that Roast Battle still has much more potential ahead of them.

44. Josh Fadem-Fadem made a return to performing more regularly in 2016 and his magnetic positivity and pure, unabashed goofiness (complete with impromptu costumes) definitely got us through the whole of last year.

45. Sam Jay-Jay moved to LA from Boston and took her insightful, brash, unfiltered comedy (that happens to come through the lens of being a newly married lesbian) and has become a the LA scene favorite almost instantly.

46. Dave Waite's Dead Waite-Dave Waite's latest hour takes being a goofball to new heights of brilliance.

47. Of Oz The Wizard by Matt Bucy-Absurdity doesn't get more pure than Bucy's re-editing the classic film version of The Wizard of Oz and alphabetizing the entire thing, start to finish.

48. This Friday Forty-Most other quiz shows can’t compare to Scott Gimple and Dave Holmes' This Friday Forty that not only has topical trivia, but fantastic sketch characters to introduce said trivia.

49. Jay Larson's Human Math-Few comedians so deftly explore the minutia of human nature like Larson does on this album.

50. Josh Gondelman's Physical Whisper-Gondelman's craftsmanship in observational humor is exceptional on this album and accentuated nicely by his sunny stage persona.

51. Kyle Mizono right after the election-There was a lot of raw nerves exposed in comedians right after Trump's win and few did it so purely and well as Mizono. For a whole set, she screamed her jokes with legitimate fury, but without being off-putting (well, if you’re not a Trump supporter that is).

52. Lady Dynamite-Maria Bamford’s truth and Mitch Hurwitz’s wildly imaginative way of making episodic television combine for a comedy series that is blazing its own trail at a time where that gets harder and harder to do in a show about the life of a comedian.

53. Hail, Caesar!-The Coen Brothers’ latest comedy set in Hollywood’s Golden Age is one of their sharpest and most beautiful works that has plenty of scenes that could be amazing short films on their own.

54. Moses Storm's Sweater-Moses Storm never ceases to amaze us as he, this time, wore a sweater that had several strings attached to it for audience members to grab so they could literally be connected to him while he's telling a story.

55. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee-Samantha Bee has cemented a legacy in her short time on the air with her take-no-prisoners-and-then-some style of satirical news coverage.

56. Gene Wilder and Fidel Castro's New Year's Rockin' Eve (in Limbo)-UCB’s Beth Appel and Rose Marziale put a hell of a show to end 2016 with as they used the whole of the UCB Sunset complex to have an immersive comedy show (a la Sleep No More) that included karaoke with dead celebrities, a fake newsroom, and the woods where Hillary Clinton is living.

57. Morris From America-Chad Hartigan’s refreshing coming-of-age story following an American black kid trying to grow up in Germany with his single father hit a very sweet, feel-good note that everyone needs to see (especially since it had a short theatrical run).

58. Britanick’s “The Foul Line”-Though BriTANick had gone a few years without a new video, this absurdist folly makes up for all that time lost.

59. 20th Century Women-Mike Mills' latest is a great follow up to Beginners and is an award worthy comedy that might actually be able to compete with heavily favored dramas this year.

60. Three Busy Debras-The comedy trio of Three Busy Debras got to play Carnegie Hall through this devilishly fun crowdfunding campaign.

61. Paul F. Tompkins' on Political Correctness-One of comedy's best gave one of the best explanations of political correctness' necessary role in comedy.

62. The Dollop-Shining a light on the dark corners in American history is as important as it has ever been and Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds do so with a devilish laugh and their effortless riffing up comedy gold.

63. Floor Knobs-This AOK sketch from Heather Anne Campbell is one of our absolute favorites and, rather than spoiling anything, we'll just leave it at that.

64. David Gborie’s Late Night Stand Up Debut-Gborie takes an unexpected move in his opening to this performances that sets up a truly wonderful late night stand-up debut.

65. Cholofit-Frankie Quinones' cholo exercise guru is done so well that it leaves you wanting it to be a real exercise program.

66. Oh, Hello-John Mulaney and Nick Kroll took two characters from just being a small bit to the heights of Broadway. George St. Geegland and Gil Faizon are just so fully realized and funny that it doesn’t matter if you miss one of their references or not.

67. Chris Garcia's Laughing and Crying at the Same Time-Garcia meshes deeply personal stories and utter silliness that do the album title justice.

68. Cole Escola-Escola’s solo show follows him playing several outrageous characters (switching wigs and costumes while on stage) allowing for another fun layer in between the cavalcade of delightful, short monologues.

69. Catastrophe season 2-Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney have kept their devastatingly funny look into an unplanned family up to the very high standard they set in season 1.

70. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's Election Watch 2016-Robert Smigel might have not known that having a dog puppet on his hand roasting people to their face for years would be the perfect preparation for covering the 2016 election (on both sides of the aisle), but, as the handful of Hulu specials prove, it really was.

71. Joel Kim Booster’s set on Conan-Just telling the story of being adopted by a Midwestern white family from Korea and being gay is fascinating enough, but Joel Kim Booster made that story blisteringly funny on late night.

72. Angie Tribeca-Physical comedy and sight gags would almost seem out-of-turn in comedy these days, but the proudly silly Angie Tribeca on TBS is thankfully changing all of that.

73. Trump vs. Bernie-While ‘Trump vs. Bernie’ will probably be a presidential candidate match-up that more people will long for than ever, Anthony Atamanuik and James Adomian's Trump vs. Bernie will go down as one of the best bits (that includes the live tour, the Fusion series, and album) of comedy to come out of one of the worst elections in U.S. history.

74. Joe Pera’s Set on Seth Meyers-Pera’s weirdness is one-of-a-kind in comedy as it’s very warm and inviting. He got to share that with the world with his set on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

75. Vice Prinicpals-When Danny McBride and Walton Goggins’ diabolical teachers one-up, in the best way, any other teachers in any other comedies that go off-the-deep-end in this HBO series.

76. Brad Neely's Harg Nallin' Sclopio Peepio-Neely's latest creations seems to offer up bits from the weirdest corners of Neely's mind and this animated sketch show is all the better for it.

77. Hari Kondabolu's Mainstream American Comic-Much is deservingly said about Kondabolu’s expertise in talking politics, class, race, etc. in his comedy, but this album also shows that his comedy is stellar no matter where you fall on the political spectrum.

78. Jon Glaser Loves Gear-Glaser does meta comedy better than almost anybody else working right now and his new show on TruTV is proof of that.

79. How to Win at Feminism by Reductress-This whip-smart manifesto about feminism solidifies Reductress’ place in modern satire next to The Onion and Clickhole.

80. Great Minds with Dan Harmon-Harmon getting to spend time with some of history's most notable figures ended up being one of the best shows that the History Channel has done in years.

81. Derrick Brown-Very few poets can reach the point of being laugh out loud funny and still deeply emotive quite like Brown, both on stage and in his book, Uh-Oh.

82. Natalie Palamides' solo show Laid-Palamides makes a solo show that's so absurd and funny, it might almost be in a unique category of its own.

83. W. Kamau Bell’s Semi-Prominent Negro-Bell explores all of today’s hot button issues (racial inequality, transgender identity, gentrification, etc.) comedically, as he is very skilled at doing, but does it in such a jovial way that they don’t seem so controversial anymore.

84. Other People-Chris Kelly’s hilarious and heartbreaking movie based on his own life in dealing with the passing of his mother from cancer is one of Kelly’s finest work, which is even more impressive as his first feature done while being an SNL writer.

85. Emo Philips improvising with Jason Van Glass-Emo's comedic prowess is so great that he can improvise with Van Glass like they're a veteran improv duo.

86. Return of MST3K-Of the things from our childhoods that are being brought back, Mystery Science Theater 3000 returning with a sweeping mandate in the form of a record breaking Kickstarter campaign is one that deserves to be revived.

87. Wyatt Cenac’s An Angry Night in November-Cenac’s EP captures lightning in a bottle (it’s his set from his weekly Night Train show) of immediate post-election comedy that is pure, raw, and biting.

88. Justin Sayre’s Gay Agenda-Sayre makes a compilation of his “meetings” as ‘Chairman of the International Order of Sodomites’ that give a hysterical look into the many great, complex layers of LGBTQ life.

89. Ahamed Weinberg-Both as a stand-up and a filmmaker (watch Rasberries), Weinberg is on a path to being another great modern comedy multi-hyphenate.

90. Jon Dore Gets a Bad Backstory-Dore once again shows how to toe the line when entering the darkest territories of comedic material and do so successfully while being utterly absurd.

91. Ron Babcock videos-A dying reel and an ad for his old CRV really showcase the cleverness and ingenuity of comedy’s Ron Babcock.

92. Reggie Watts’ Spatial-Watts’ latest special is his best and most ambitious one yet as it includes his beatboxing, a faux sitcom, tap dancing, and way more.

93. Alex & Jude-Alex Hanpeter and Jude Tedmori have figured out how to give slapstick, physical comedy the proper twist for 2016 audiences, which includes a literal bit of audience participation of making Jude a target.

94. Conner O’Malley-O’Malley takes satirical field pieces to a whole new level as he plays and wholeheartedly commits to dark, fully realized characters inspired by vaping, Alex Jones, and Cubs fans. He interacts with real people at Trump rallies, vape conventions and outside of Wrigley Field and goes along with whatever happens.

95. Doug Stanhope’s No Place Like Home-Stanhope has an amazing take on mental illness in this special and opted to shoot it in his own hometown of Bisbee, AZ. Overall, No Place Like Home ranks high up in Stanhope’s extensive catalog of stand-up.

96. “Tond” by Kelly Hudson-Hudson’s short film is one of our favorite bits of existential absurdity of 2016, a year seemingly saturated in nothing but questioning ‘what it all means’.

97. Brett Gelman's Dinner in America-Gelman's last special on Adult Swim is one to remember, especially for how searing the satirical commentary on race relations are in it.

98. Miguel Marquez-Marquez bridges a gap, almost literally, between art and comedy as his wry art installations are way funnier (intentionally that is) than nearly anything you’d see in an art museum.

99. Chris Fleming's Silver Lining-The week following the election seemed as hopeless can be if you voted for Hillary and Fleming offered up a powerful, albeit one with a bit of tomfoolery, message of hope.

100. Norm MacDonald on Conan-Not only is there the expected long, winding roads of Norm’s jokes and stories in this particular appearance, but Conan does an impression of Norm out of frustration that’s spot on.

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raylovesrp-blog · 5 years

Text

This yr's Scientific Periods of the American Diabetes Affiliation didn’t disappoint much of the research into diabetes medicine, gadget improvement, and other essential info on exercise management.

Here is a temporary summary:

AUTOMATIC INSULIN DELIVERY SYSTEMS, HCL SYSTEMS AND PUMP SYSTEMS

1. New Sort Infusion Set – Capillary Band: Angle 13.5 mm, This The package is a steel-reinforced cannula that helps forestall bending. It has four "holes" for insulin to drip out of a versatile tube and seems to offer less irritation to surrounding tissues over a bigger insulin supply range

2. DIY HCL Results (College of Bern) Diabetes Middle Bern Utilizing open APS, Android APS, Loop with 80 DIY customers who have 53 in widespread. 77.5% range, 18% high, four.5% low

+ 9.Three% after altering DIY (comparable time of day and night time)

-1.2% in low range Decrease in day care, not low at night time

3. 670G Expertise – Dr. Lal, Stanford

79 patients (adults and adults) started with 670G, followed for 1 yr

Baseline A1c approx. eight%, 60% at

Automod interruption was widespread and 75% 44% of the lead-through had stopped utilizing the system

12 mo 46% (32% used it at the least 70% of the time)

Those who have been more more likely to cease using it have been younger and those with greater A1c reasons, corresponding to: sensor (60%), provide issues (17%), worry of the lowers (10%), ideally MDI (7%), sports (7%)

4. Gen Three iLet

Twin chamber with both insulin and glucagon transmissions

As well the system, you only have to enter the entered weight and wouldn’t have a run or training

If CGM knowledge shouldn’t be out there, the system offers primary knowledge based mostly on historical past and consumer flows [19659009] The CGM used within the system accommodates each Dexcom G5 and Eversensen

In a research of 34 adults w / T1, beginning with A1c <11, both in injections or in pump therapy

Goal set to 120 on gadget

Mean (days Three -7): 162 (regular tx), 155 (il)

Range (days Three-7): 62%, 70% (vital) [19659009] Low (days Three-7): .6%, .6 %

In a single day stays: .four%, zero%

Sensor MARD is larger w / Dexcom and time in low vary was larger with Eversense

5. i-Let Insulin Only Bionic Panreas

The used CGM system consists of dexcom G5 or Eversense CGM

The consumer only inputs its weight and not using a driving or coaching period

Compared to the MDI / conventional pump consumer combination (iLet vs common) remedy):

Avg 155 vs 162 (no difference)

Time <54: .7% vs. 7%

Time <70: 2.eight% vs. 3.2% (not vital)

vary: 70% vs. 61% (vital)

Night time average: 148 vs 163 (vital)

Eversense users spent more time on hypoglycemia, perhaps d / t sensor differences

INSULIN-TERAPIY

Ultrarapid Lispro (URLi) improves postprandial blood sugar

Excipients: treprostinil (vasodilator), citrate (increases vascular permeability), which helps to offer 10 minutes of earlier onset by 3 occasions the first 30 minutes

43% much less susceptible after 3 hours

Studies have been carried out in adults with T1D & T2D. Three groups: mealtime URL, consuming Humalog, 20 minute meal on Urli. The results included:

The A1c worth of the post-meal URL group led to .2 larger than in different teams

No change / distinction in complete insulin doses, basal or bolus

Submit-meal tour with URLi was about 30 points lower than Humalog with no distinction after 20 min meal URL

No distinction in hypoglycemia ranges except> four hours after meal (less hypo in meal occasions URli, nothing 20 min at postmeal URL)

Destructive use is that

Glargine u300 vs. Degludec

Weakened kidney perform occurred at> 20% of T2, a danger issue for hypoglycaemia resulting from decreased insulin clearance

As the rise of eGFR, Gla-300 Idegin increases ( especially in eGFR <60).

The A1c Discount is 0.four

Finger Head Glucose is Less

No Change in Hypoglycemia Danger

ROAD TO ARTIFICIAL PANCREAS

Everybody has a racing automotive with one of the best synthetic pancreas for diabetes customers.

Overview of Work Included:

International Diabetes Closed Loop (Tandem Management IQ)

Research at the University of Virginia

6-Month Randomized Multicenter Research, Tandem X2, Ant9x9 Gpu

closed loop

The system consists of automated correction plugs along with basal modulation and Hypo blocking system

Gradual enhancement of overnight management to slowly shift to 110-120 quick

168 members, 14 years of age, did not participate in the research; control, extreme downsides

All statistically vital outcomes:

TIR 59% vs. 71%, results achieved immediately maintained (nighttime TIR 59% vs. 76%)

Ne w / A1c <6.5 at baseline, 85% TIR worth achieved

Imply 166 vs. 156

A1c 7.39 vs. 7.06

Time <70 1.93% vs. 1.40% [19659009] Time <54.24% vs. 21%

97% CGM usage; average of 21 finger points per day

92% of the time in closed-loop mode

No onerous decrease limits occurred

Ease of use score 4.7 / 5; want to proceed to make use of four.8 / 5

Meal notification continues to be required

Customers can prolong boluses

Uses the consumer's main primary profile as the start line

Potential starting: 4 th th ] qtr 2019

Use of IQ control in youngsters

Extra glucose variants in youngsters 7-12 years than in another age group

Greatest end result when used 24/7, not just at night time.

82% Time <70: 3.9% vs. 2.eight%

TIR 59% vs. 71%

Horizon (OmniPod HCL) – Stanford

Makes use of a normal smartphone (software [19659009)] 73% time zone

The algorithm is repeatedly updated based mostly on earlier knowledge

"Hybrid" degree speeds – just like previous consumer settings

Meals to be reported [19659009] Potential begin date: Third-4th Krs 2020

] Medtronic Announcements

* Partnership with Tidepool 098] The purpose is to develop and “an interoperable automatic insulin pump for the treatment of diabetes”

* New Analysis – ”Advanced Enhanced Hybrid Closed loop System for Bluetooth Enabled MiniMed (TM) 780G designed to automate repair burners ”

-” Pivotal Trial for Next Era Controller (TM) Steady Glucose Monitoring Sensor. ”

HCL COMPONENTS

CGM T applies the next criteria:

> 87% of all 20% values of YSi

> 80% of 15% of YSi when over 180 AND no values of <70

> 70% 15%: at 70-180

> 85% within 15mg / dl when less than 70 AND no values> 180

Comparable performance in adults and in bed is required

ROC Precision Tips also confirmed

] No clinically vital gaps

EXERCISE

Dual hormone (insulin with glucagon) HCL

Citadel et al., Diabete's Care Vol 41, July 2018

Achieved greatest control throughout and after 45 minutes of exercise compared to single hormone HCL and open-loop use

Prevalence of melancholy: 3.four% (double hormone); 8.Three% (single hormone of HCL); 7.6% (PLGS)

Fasting and PM Exercise

Jane Yardley, University of Alberta

10 adults

24 min HIIT session (twelve 10 seconds) and 10 min warm-up, 11 min. Fasting (7am): Elevated 32 mg / dl (1.8mmol) during exercise, additional elevated 7mg / dl (zero.4mmol) 1 hour later

Afternoon (5pm) 1 hour after gluceran bar: decreased 7 mg / dl (0.4 mmol over time), one other 21 mg / dl (1.2 mmol) 1 h later

(p = zero.039 1 h publish)

Has day by day exercise or train contributed extra to insulin sensitivity ? [juliste]

Mano et al., Kyoto University, Japan

In topics with lower BMI (<23), exercise habits ("sweating point") correlate most strongly with impaired insulin resistance

. greater BMI () 23), non-exercise exercise (strolling for at the very least 1 h / day) correlates most strongly with decreased insulin resistance

Ridell Mike, University of York, Toronto [19659009] Sort 1 Diabetes Coaching Initiative Pilot Research

33 adults w / T1 exercising no less than 30 minutes with a mixture of aerobic, resistance, and interval training, twice weekly.

24-hour training session: TIR 57%; training days: TIR 48%. There are not any differences based mostly on the type of exercise. Time over 180 on 33% on fitness days vs. 44% on non-exercise days. Time under 70: 4.5% on train days vs. Three.eight% on non-exercise days

The difference between the teams began to blur 16-20 hours after coaching periods.

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The post New diabetes innovations and discoveries appeared first on Super Tech Plus.

#Latest #Thinking Like A Pancreas Blog

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xseildnasterces · 2 years

Text

2022 Goals.

Currently catching up on a few things and realised I hadn’t yet posted this despite writing it just after the clock struck 12 on the last day of the year.

2021-01-15

I wrote the bellow on the first day of the month, which also means it was written before the funeral, before my mum got covid and before I went into a full-on meltdown. I’m feeling a wee bit better now. I’m safe, to my surprise and probably everyone else’s too, I didn’t/haven’t caught covid, my dad is out of his isolation and my mum is coming to the end of hers. If nothing else, this unfortunate episode has maybe changed my way of thinking towards covid. I am still well and truly terrified of catching it, yet seeing both my parents get through it has made me feel a wee bit better about the situation. Thankfully there were no hospitals involved and no issues with breathing – I hope I have not spoken too soon as my mum still has a couple of days left in quarantine. Quarantine at our house has consisted of my dad first being isolated upstairs and not being allowed down, and mum switching with him once he was out of quarantine and going up there herself for her own isolation. What a crazy, crazy world. I just want to hold out till I get back to the US. I do not want to find myself unable to fly due to getting damn covid, yet as my mum just said, it would be better for me to get it here where I can be looked after and have food brought to me, than if I am all alone in my US apartment. I have been ill a few times since moving to the US (not including my current and ongoing flare), but H lived in the US then and could help me when I needed anything. I don’t have that anymore, yet I do feel lucky that D has said should I ever need anything in such a situation, she would drive the hour it takes to get from hers to mine to assist. Regardless, I don’t want bloody covid.

2022-01-01

1. Get our ICA-NP research study published

2. Complete the 12 books a year challenge

3. Travel somewhere I have never been before

4. Get through my 30th birthday without crying

5. Take myself on a date at least once a month (i.e., a walk, museum etc).

6. Work on self-publishing a book or collection of letters

7. Succeed in growing some bell peppers in my apartment

8. Buy a property

9. Make a new friend in DC

10. Get through 2022 without catching covid

11. Be more active – swim or yoga at least once a week

12. One takeaway per week ONLY

13. Try a new creative skill

14. Complete the MSE Academoney course

15. Get Lasik

16. Pass my driving theory test

17. Meet up with some friends in Europe who I haven’t been able to see due to the pandemic

18. Travel to Paris to see H, M and F

19. See a show on Broadway in NYC

20. Get a new piercing or a tattoo

21. Meet baby B!

Wish me luck – I’m going to need it, most specifically for number 4. Now that, is going to be a challenge.

#goals #2022 goals #life #thoughts #thought #feeling #feelings #me #diary #journal #memory #memories

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bluewatsons · 4 years

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V. B. Dubal, An Uber Ambivalence: Employee Status, Worker Perspectives, & Regulation in the Gig Economy, UC Hastings Research Paper No. 381 (2019)

Introduction

Before beginning to work for Lyft in 2013, Kevin Banks1 spent 25 years as a unionized carpenter in Northern California. He made “pretty dang good money”2 working in construction, especially after his promotion to general foreman. But Kevin was badly injured on the job, and the timing of the injury coincided with the Great Recession. A white, native-born American who came from a union family, Kevin had never performed non-union, low-wage work, but by 2009, his job choices were limited. With a trace of resigned shame in his voice, he disclosed in one of our conversations over coffee,

My old man was a union painter...my wife is a fourth generation Longshoreman. There was no me not being in the union, period. I used to – honestly, I used to make fun of Walmart workers and all that...until the Recession hit. And then I couldn’t find a job anywhere, doing anything. I went back to school, I got my construction management degree...It was like alright, let’s move it up. Nothing. Still isn’t any [work].3

After the stint in school, Kevin turned to truck driving, working as a putative independent contractor for the first time in his life. He purchased a semi-truck and drove all over the country for a company whose business model was analogous to the one later used by labor platform companies Uber and Lyft; he bore all the risk and costs traditionally associated with running a business. The money was low and unpredictable. Sometimes, Kevin told me, after expenses, he would end a haul with just $100, not enough to justify being away from his wife and small daughter for long periods of time. After several unhappy years driving cross country, years that took a toll on his body and on his family, a friend told Kevin about Lyft. Kevin and his wife researched the company, which had been around for roughly one year, and based on Lyft’s advertised wages, they determined that he should sell his truck, lease a sedan, and switch jobs. As a Lyft driver, he could make more money, have a flexible schedule, and be a more present parent and husband.

At first, Kevin said, things were good; he enjoyed being able to spend more time with his child and only drove while his daughter was at school. For several months, he made enough to meet his expenses. But as Uber and Lyft recruited more drivers, thereby increasing supply, the companies also dropped driver commissions. Kevin was getting fewer fares and earning less for each one. Almost overnight, his income became unpredictable and insufficient. Kevin described a few weeks in late 2015—one and a half years into working for Lyft—when the insecurities of his work made him think drivers needed to organize to form collective power.

So, when they [Uber and Lyft] started dropping the prices in this price war, and I just kept working more and more and more to where I’m going, I’m working 60, 70 hours a week. You know, over Christmas, I worked what, 60 hours every week. But the last week of December, and by the time all my expenses were done, I had $200 leftover. So, my family for Christmas presents got to go to Star Wars, that’s it. No popcorn, you know, because it’s $30 to get into the movies...It was the rate cuts. That’s how I realized we needed to get together as drivers.4

In his quest to organize Uber and Lyft drivers who could collectively demand that the companies raise and stabilize their wages, Kevin reached out to the Teamsters. Like other unions in early 2016, the Teamsters Joint Council 7 in Northern California was hesitant to invest in the organization of gig workers without a legal decision on their worker status.5 If drivers were found to be independent contractors, a union helping to organize them might run afoul of anti-trust laws and could be held liable for price-fixing, a huge legal and financial risk.6

Unwilling to support Kevin’s vision of collective driver power with sustained organizing resources, the Teamsters asked if he wanted to be involved in a lawsuit against Lyft. Kevin agreed to file an official objection in a proposed settlement to Cotter v. Lyft7, a major wage and hour class action filed in the federal district of Northern California. Nationally, at this early stage in the tech- enabled gig economy, the labor community had looked to a decision in Cotter (and a sister lawsuit filed against Uber, O’Connor v. Uber8) to settle the matter of how workers in the gig economy should be classified. Many saw a legal decision in favor of employee status as not only providing a safety- net for workers in the ride-hailing industry, but also as a way to slow the expansion of the app-based, contractor business model into other sectors of the service economy.9

Kevin said that like the Teamsters, he wanted a decision in Cotter, and not a settlement: “The settlement money isn’t that big of a deal...it’s not going to help in the long run.”10

“You think employee status will help you in the long run?” I asked. “Oh, I don’t want to be an employee,” Kevin answered. “Really?!” I gasped, “Then why did you object to the settlement?”11

Kevin explained that he appreciated why others wanted employee status; he, too, wanted many of the benefits associated with employment including a wage floor, reimbursement for his vehicle expenses, and the right to unionize. He had objected to the settlement in Cotter because he was furious at the company for “robbing him.”12 It was an act of resistance and rebellion. But Kevin also wanted the “freedom and flexibility” that he associated with being a “real” independent contractor, “I want to be able to go, you know, take my daughter fishing on Wednesday in the summer instead of going to work if I want.”13 He was worried about the kinds of rules Lyft might impose if they thought of themselves as his employer. Would he get fired for taking the day off? Would he be forced to work in the afternoon when his daughter came home from school?

According to survey-based research, the majority of drivers for labor platforms Uber and Lyft share Kevin’s stated preference for independent contractor status. Many gig companies have leveraged these findings to justify their opposition to both employment regulations and their fierce defense of lawsuits alleging misclassification. For example, in an opinion piece in USA Today timed to oppose AB5, an internationally-heralded 2019 California bill crafted to deter misclassification of workers in the gig economy, Uber’s general counsel wrote, “[D]rivers tell us in focus groups and surveys [that] they don’t want to be employees.”14 In another major class action lawsuit against Uber, O’Connor v. Uber, the company submitted to the record 400 sworn statements from drivers saying that they did not want to be employees.15 To date, these findings and assertions have played a powerful role in averting the regulation of gig work as employment.16

The results of my survey research on Uber drivers who work in San Francisco, conducted between February 2016 and August 2016, affirmed this data and the gig companies’ assertions about driver preference. Regardless of gender, immigration status, and whether Uber driving was their only, primary, or supplemental job, a majority of Uber drivers stated they preferred to be independent contractors. Despite this, grassroots ride-hailing driver associations in California supported and even advocated for the passage of AB5, affirming driver commitment to employee status as a path to economic security and resistance.

How can we explain this discrepancy between drivers’ stated preferences and their advocacy? What do perspectives like Kevin’s tell us about how drivers make sense of employee status in relationship to their lives and visions for the future of their work? And how might understanding these perspectives impact how regulators approach worker status in the tech-enabled gig economy? Consistent with the complexity of Kevin’s relationship to employee status, my extensive qualitative investigations troubled the survey data. Over 50 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Uber drivers and three years of ethnographic engagement with drivers’ advocacy groups in the San Francisco Bay Area revealed that gig workers were not of one mind about employment.17 Drivers understood employee status simultaneously as a potential source of stability and resistance and a source of fear and subjection.

To make sense of the contradictory findings between driver narratives and survey data, I draw on the social psychology and sociology literature on cognitive conflict.18 Rather than approach driver perspectives towards employment as bidimensional, as existing survey research has done, my ethnographic data uncover the complexity of drivers’ views on the concept in an antecedent context—that is, before employee status has been enforced and experienced. I argue that the paradoxes embodied in the perspectives of workers like Kevin can be theorized as attitudinal ambivalence. This ambivalence toward employee status was informed both by their relative powerlessness in relation to gig companies and by the uncertainties and insecurities specific to app- based gig work. Overwhelmingly, drivers both wanted employee benefits and feared how the companies might behave as an employer. This attitudinal ambivalence of drivers towards employment holds implications for both organizing in the gig economy and for the future regulation of work.

This Chapter proceeds in three parts. Part I provides an overview of the existing definitional debates in legal scholarship on the legal identities of gig workers. I argue that scholarship proposing refinements on the prevailing legal tests for employee status generally fail to account for the legally inscribed ability of businesses to re-shape their business models and evade employment obligations. They also reflect an understanding of employment as a natural fact, rather than a historically contingent phenomenon. In contrast, the ABC test—codified in California employment laws in 2019 by a bill referred to as AB5—shifts the focus of the legal inquiry to enforcement, thereby confronting the ability of businesses to avoid liability to and for their workers.

With the legal debates as backdrop, Parts II and III analyze select empirical findings from multi-method research on Uber drivers in San Francisco between 2016 and 2019. In Part II, I situate my survey data amidst the existing research on driver preference and then contrast these findings with worker narratives. Drivers in my ethnographic research took seriously their subjection to and by gig companies, but they also imagined and aspired to the possibility of better and more stable work lives, sometimes through the medium of employee benefits. Part III also draws on deep qualitative investigation, including participant observation, to consider how driver ambivalence towards employee status was managed by California drivers’ groups who advocated for employment status in the context of AB5. Specifically, I examine how a membership-based, driver-led group of gig workers, Rideshare Drivers United, engaged worker ambivalence about employee status and mobilized support for the bill.

Finally, the Conclusion considers implications of these empirical findings for regulators. Given the complicated ambivalence of gig workers towards employee status, this research suggests that the bi-dimensional inquiry on gig worker preference for employee or independent contractor status is the wrong question. Gig workers in the app-based ride-hailing industry uniformly desire the benefits traditionally associated with employment, but the subjection associated with employee status has produced anxieties. Rather than re-shape employment laws and restrict worker benefits to accommodate the policy prescriptions of app-enabled gig companies, regulators may use these research findings to expand the benefits available through the traditional employment regime. For example, in attending to the need that many workers have for time flexibility, regulators could inscribe scheduling autonomy into the panoply of benefits available to labor platform workers.

I. Legal Tests for Employee Status: Subjectivity, Power, and Enforcement

The legal test for employee status has been a subject of increasing debate since the New Deal when safety net protections were inscribed through employment, significantly increasing the costs of doing business in the U.S.19 Not until the late 1940s, however, did Congress, by statute, carve “independent contractors” out of the protections afforded by employment and labor laws.20 By the late 1970s, the independent contractor carve-out in work laws had begun to incentivize changes in business models in many industries, including the taxi and trucking trades.21 In 2012, labor platform companies Uber and Lyft built upon and expanded these business models.22 Using app technologies, they grew the number of people working as independent contractors.23 The rapid, high growth of these companies and the number of workers laboring without employment protections in turn spawned an entire genre of scholarship on the legal test to determine employee status.

Much recent scholarship focused on finding the “correct” test for employee status refines or builds upon the major tests that have been developed in courts and legislatures over the past forty years.24 The two tests (and versions thereof) currently used for federal employment protections attempt to capture some essential truth about employment with little regard to the legislative purpose of the work protections. The root of most legal tests for employee status—the common law of agency test—examines the putative employer’s control over the “means and manner” of a worker’s performance.25 The more a worker is controlled in how they conduct their work, the more likely a decision maker is to find that the worker is an employee.26 The majority of federal and state employment laws currently reflect some version of this test. Another, more recent test, is the “entrepreneurial potential” test which was articulated in 2009 by the D.C. Circuit in FedEx Home Delivery v. NLRB27, and in 2019, by the NLRB in Supershuttle DFW, Inc.28 In this test, used to decide whether or not workers have the rights ascribed to employees under the National Labor Relations Act (including the right to collective organizing and bargaining), the more “entrepreneurial opportunity” workers have for financial gains and losses—even if the opportunity is never realized—the more likely the worker is to be an independent contractor.

Courts and legal decision-makers who have applied these tests to determine employee status have alluded to how they capture an underlying “truth” about employment. For example, in Estrada v. FedEx29, an appellate court decision holding that FedEx drivers were employees, the decision included a now famous line: “The drivers look like FedEx employees, act like FedEx employees, are paid like FedEx employees, and receive many employee benefits....if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.”30 But y ears of inconsistent legal outcomes expose how the application of such tests reflect the subjectivity of decisionmakers.31

Indeed, Julia Tomassetti has shown through empirical research, whether a worker is determined to be an employee by the NLRB has depended on whether the administration is Democratic or Republican.32 Thus, even when factors to be considered in analyzing control are clearly delineated, application of the prevailing legal tests has not resulted in consistent outcomes. As Deepa Das Acevedo has argued, sometimes and for some people “control” is interpreted as non-interference at work, and in other moments, that non-interference is more accurately about non-domination.33 In both instances, perceptions of employee status hinge on subjective ideas and experiences of freedom.

Another reason that tests for employee status have frequently failed to protect workers is because of their post-hoc approach. The means and manner of control test is sometimes useful in capturing violations where employers attempt to “fly under the radar.” However, historically, a number of employers have attempted to “fly over” enforcement. By this I mean that employers have used their power—both structural and instrumental—to either create statutory exceptions for themselves in the law or to change their business models to conform to the tests, even after being found in violation of the law. With this in mind, Noah Zatz has argued that the legal root of the misclassification problem is not in the application of these tests, but in the fact that the tests and refinements to them “fail to confront employers’ power to shape their business practices to substitute contracting for employment...”34 As I have shown elsewhere, even in cases where employers were found in violation of employment laws through misclassification of their workers, those employers used the court’s legal decision as a roadmap to “more accurately” define their workers as independent contractors.35 In some instances, this has increased the precarity of workers’ lives instead of providing them with employment protections.36

A nascent test for employee status—the ABC test—has attempted to account both for the subjective nature of other employee status tests and for the power of companies to re-write their business models to evade enforcement. Although different versions of the test exist, the ABC test as articulated by the California Supreme Court and later codified into California employment laws by AB5 creates a presumption of employment and puts forth a conjunctive three-part test for hiring entities who wish to classify their workers as independent contractors.37 In order to get out from under the employee presumption, the hiring entity must prove that the workers are (a) free from control, (b) performing work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business, and (c) engaged in an independently established trade of the same nature as the work performed.38 The most exacting aspect of the ABC test is, of course, prong B. Whether or not this test will prevent gig companies from re-making themselves to get out from under the law remains to be seen.

II. Theorizing Ambivalence: Desires and Fears about Employee Status

In this section, I turn to empirical data on driver perspectives on employee status. For context, I begin with a short discussion of my previous ethnographic study of workers in the San Francisco taxi industry. In comparison to Uber drivers between 2016-2019, taxi workers in San Francisco in the years immediately preceding the advent of Uber and Lyft harbored fairly consistent feelings about employee status. This comparison is useful because it underscores the degree to which worker preference for or against employee status is situationally variable and may be contingent upon any number of job-specific factors including economic uncertainty and lack of access to transparent decision-making structures.

Following this discussion of worker preference in the antecedent gig economy, I examine both existing survey data on Uber driver preferences for and against employee status and my own survey data, gathered amongst San Francisco Uber drivers in 2016. A majority of drivers in all survey studies—including my own—stated a preference for independent contractor status. But I argue that as an empirical instrument, the survey—for a number of reasons discussed herein— cannot capture the complex desires, fears, and visions of workers on this issue.

Narratives derived from three years of ethnographic research amongst Uber drivers and driver groups and over fifty semi-structured qualitative interviews reinforce this critique. Using worker voices and life stories, I argue that Uber drivers do not have a unidimensional, but rather complex, ambivalent relationship to employee status. This ambivalence, I show, arises from the conflict between their need for the stability offered by employment benefits and protections, and their fears about their perceived powerlessness in relationship to gig companies.

A. The Taxi Gig Economy

In a series of articles stemming from an earlier ethnographic and historical project on the San Francisco taxi industry in the decades preceding the advent of ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft, I revealed how the employee and independent contractor categories for taxi workers were “meaningful not just for employment regulation, but also for worker identities and collectivities on the ground.”39 After taxi companies shifted from an employee-based business model to independent contracting, forcing the de-unionization of the taxi industry in the late 1970s, San Francisco taxi drivers formed worker groups to protect their interests.40 For decades, a central locus of debate among drivers in these groups was whether or not to fight for reclassification as employees.41

Through an extensive examination of historical documents and interviews, I showed how this issue was divisive among taxi drivers. Many immigrant and racial minority drivers, in particular, valued their independent contractor status and the practice of long-term leasing because of the structural control and scheduling freedom it permitted. These drivers sometimes relished “the promises of social mobility engendered by the ‘entrepreneur’ identity” that they associated with being an independent contractor.42 In contrast, non-migrant white taxi drivers—especially those of an older generation—longed for and fought for employee status, believing that employment would bring stability, professionalism, and dignity back to their work.43 This divisive approach to worker status amongst a diverse workforce frequently fractured attempts at building collective worker power.

In making sense of the steadfastness of individual workers in their perspectives on worker status in this antecedent gig economy, the regulatory framework in the taxi industry is an important backdrop. Until the advent of Uber and Lyft, San Francisco taxi drivers, though treated as independent contractors for most employment protections, benefited from relative economic stability and predictability.44 Due to municipally controlled vehicle caps and regulated fares, which were enacted in response to union advocacy during the Great Depression, drivers in the post-union taxi economy had low but predictable incomes.45 Since the taxi industry was locally regulated as a semi-public utility, drivers had regular access to city regulators and the ability to shape the rules governing their work.46 The Police Commission and later the Taxi Commission oversaw the rules governing the industry, met weekly, and made decisions in transparent public fora, always with input and advocacy from the driver community.47

In contrast to other gig workers, San Francisco taxi drivers had an unusual degree of involvement on the industry regulations that shaped their everyday work lives, some safety net protections, and a degree of economic security. During economic downturns, taxi drivers lobbied the city to re-calibrate taxi supply and fares so as to increase driver income. Although cab companies could terminate workers “at will,” drivers could appeal any decision to take away their occupational license. And while drivers did not have access to the minimum wage or the right to unionize, they could, as a result of a 1996 lawsuit, file for unemployment insurance if laid off and workers’ compensation if injured on the job. 48

In sharp contrast to this earlier moment in the ride-hailing industry, Uber and Lyft drivers in my research had very limited access to state regulators, endured high on-the-job risk, and suffer with an unpredictable income. They experienced plummeting wages and an ever-fluctuating supply of competing vehicles on the road. Long-term drivers in my research said that from 2014-2019, their incomes dropped by roughly 60 percent. Drivers also reported being unfairly terminated—or deactivated—sometimes permanently. Unlike taxi drivers, Uber and Lyft drivers absorbed the erratic costs and risks of driving all the time—including hybrid insurance, wear and tear on their vehicle, and the costs and income-loss associated with accidents. This comparison helps to explain why driver preferences for independent contractor status were relatively stable in the taxi industry, and why that changed so dramatically in the app-based gig economy.

B. Survey Data on Gig Driver Preferences for Worker Status

1. Literature Review of Survey Research on Uber Drivers’ Classification Preferences

Given the backdrop of sometimes extreme Uber driver insecurity, observers—both scholars and regulators—have been surprised by survey data suggesting that drivers are satisfied with their relationship to Uber as independent contractors. In this section, I appraise the existing scholarly research on the issue and also present data from my own survey of Uber drivers in San Francisco.

The most influential scholarship to date on Uber driver preference is a piece written by economists Jonathan Hall and Alan Krueger based on research.49 Hall and Krueger concluded based on survey research conducted in 2015 and paid for by Uber that roughly 79% of U.S. Uber drivers preferred independent contractor status to employee status.50 The data has been cited in a variety of regulatory contexts to deter employment regulations.

The specific question survey question was as follows,

Which of the following would you most prefer regarding your driving with Uber: being classified as an employee of Uber so you could be eligible for a minimum wage, health care and other benefits, but you would not have the flexibility to set your own schedule; or being classified as an independent contractor for Uber so you would have the flexibility to set your own schedule, but you are not eligible for a minimum wage, health care or other benefits?

The outsized role this data has had on policy discussions on the rights of gig workers prompted two academics employed at the ILO—Janine Berg, an economist, and Hannah Johnston, a geographer—to probe the survey. In a peer-reviewed comment, Berg and Johnston concluded that the Hall and Krueger article is “fraught with methodological problems including sample bias, leading questions, and selective reporting findings.”52 The question on worker status preference, for example, Berg and Johnston point out, is double-barreled, “forcing respondents to answer two questions at once when their opinions about the two may diverge.”53 Indeed, drawing on this critique, I argue that the question also obfuscates the law and communicates a falsehood to survey participants. Although many employees in the U.S. have an inflexible schedule, employee status is not fundamentally incompatible with scheduling flexibility, as the question appears to claim.

A more recent peer-reviewed study conducted, in part, by two economists employed by Uber, found that only a minority of Uber drivers in the United Kingdom surveyed in 2018 desire employee status.54 The economists found correlations between flexibility, self-employed status and subjective well-being that they suggested meant that “[m]ost individuals selecting into such arrangements—at least on the Uber platform—seemingly have strong preferences for autonomy and scheduling flexibility.”55 Like the Hall and Krueger study, this analysis made deceiving and legally erroneous associations between scheduling flexibility and independent contractor status. Rather than probing the presumptions that workers might have about employee status and disaggregating these associations in relationship to what the law does and does not require, both of these studies do the cultural work of entrenching misconceptions about the law. Scheduling flexibility and on-the-job autonomy arise from business practices.56 Although time flexibility is sometimes one of many factors considered for determining worker status, it is also commensurate with employment.

2. Survey of Uber Drivers in San Francisco & Findings on Classification Preferences

To get a broader descriptive view of the Uber drivers who work in San Francisco—where I conducted an ethnographic study of Uber worker collectivities—I, too, developed a survey project.57

In capturing preference for an employee or independent contractor classification, the survey instrument avoided the double barrel problem in Hall and Krueger’s question. Subjects were asked in binary terms whether they preferred to be an employee or independent contractor, and they were not given any information on what those statuses meant or entailed. To gauge what informed their preferences, subjects were then asked an open-ended question: “Why?” Findings from the binary question were similar to those in other research studies: most drivers preferred the independent contractor classification. This was true for immigrant drivers, non-immigrant drivers, women, and men. It was also true regardless of whether subjects reported that they were engaged in Uber driving as their primary work, supplemental work, or only work. Answers to the open-ended question of why drivers favored one or the other identity suggested that workers took an instrumentalist approach to answering this question; almost invariably, they associated each status with features of work they wanted or needed, e.g., health insurance, vehicle reimbursements, flexibility, autonomy. Answers also revealed that many Uber drivers—like the economists in the two studies discussed above—incorrectly conflated employee status with a mandate against scheduling flexibility.

Surveys of Uber drivers in San Francisco were conducted in-person between February and August 2016.58 Surveys were administered in Uber rides taken by researchers from different locations and at different times of the day (to capture as much driver variability as possible).59 Each survey took approximately 20 minutes, and drivers were not otherwise incentivized.60 The sole purpose of each Uber ride was to complete a survey. Of the total 218 surveys attempted, 214 were administered, and 13 were discarded for lack of completion. The collected sample was not intended to be representative of the larger San Francisco driver population, but to offer descriptive insight. The relevant demographics of the driver population were as follows: immigrant drivers made up 71 percent of total respondents; women constituted only 8 percent of respondents; 58 percent of drivers worked as a ride-hail driver as their only job; 15 percent of the sample worked as a ride-hail driver as their primary job but also had other work; and 27 percent drove as a supplement to another primary job.

Overall, 47 percent of survey subjects reported that they preferred employee status. Of the non-immigrant respondents, the percentage difference was greater; only 32 percent stated they preferred employee status. In the small sample of women, 31 percent preferred employee status. I initially hypothesized that workers for whom Uber was their primary or only work would be more likely to prefer employee status. However, the number of workers across the three categories—whether Uber driving was their only, primary, or supplemental work—was fairly consistent. For the majority of drivers working in San Francisco who answered this survey, driving for Uber is their only work, and of these, 45 percent preferred to be employees. The number of drivers who had other jobs but for whom Uber is still their primary work was the smallest, and of these, 40 percent wanted to be employees. For those who drive for Uber as supplemental work, 38 percent wanted to be employees. These percentages are reflected below in Figure 1.

Figure. 1: SF Uber Driver Stated Preference for Worker Status, by Identity Variable (2016 Survey Data)

If regulators take the position that driver preference matters—that the law should to some extent reflect the desires and perspectives of those it is intended to serve—then all the survey data across studies seem to indicate that labor platform companies like Uber and Lyft should be allowed to continue to treat their workers as independent contractors, and that employment and labor laws

should accommodate this. Indeed, in several states, it already has.61 But a survey question that conceptualizes driver perspectives as either positive or negative oversimplifies the complexity of workers’ fears, needs, and perceptions about employment. Hence, after this binary query, drivers were asked to answer why they preferred one or the other.

Unsurprisingly, a majority of drivers who indicated a preference for employee status—79 percent—stated that they wanted the security and/or benefits that come with employment. Of those who preferred to be treated as independent contractors, 67 percent stated that this answer was informed by a need or desire for scheduling flexibility and/or autonomy on the job. Flexibility may roughly corellate to real life experiences with independent contractor status, but by law, employee status does not mandate inflexible work or shift scheduling. Other survey answers explaining a preference for independent contractor classification included 5 percent of drivers who indicated that they did not know the difference between the two statuses; 4 percent of drivers who said that they did not deserve employee benefits because they worked part-time (also a legal misperception); and 6 percent who were expressly ambivalent—either would be fine. Hence, 15 percent of drivers who indicated a preference for independent contractor status in the previous question subsequently stated that they did not understand, had a misconception of what the law mandated of employment, or did not care. Accordingly, even the short open-ended follow up question of “why” drivers had a preference for one or the other status complicated the initial survey question’s findings. These percentages are reflected in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Explanation for Independent Contractor Preference (2016 Survey Data)

My ethnographic research further unsettled both the survey numbers and the practice of determining complicated preferences through an efficient survey medium. Below, based on driver narratives drawn from interviews and ethnographic data, I argue that the survey findings capture not attitudinal realities or desires, but in many cases, driver perceptions rooted in fear.

C. Ethnographic Findings on Driver Perspectives on Employee Status

In over 50 several hours long, semi-structured interviews and innumerable unstructured conversations with drivers in driver organizing meetings and social settings, I probed the question of employee and independent contractor status. How did workers’ think about these classification categories? In the context of their relative powerlessness and economic reliance on Uber, employee status was subjectively constructed through duality. It was both a desirable way to fight back against the company and a status that came with its own undesirable uncertainties, including, most critically, the potential loss of schedule flexibility.

1. Ambivalence & Powerlessness

Worker narratives overwhelmingly suggested that drivers had an ambivalent relationship to the employee identity. In making sense of these legal categories, which have been perplexing even for law professors and judges to parse, Uber drivers’ said they unequivocally needed and wanted the protections and benefits that employment status offered, but many were afraid of what a company like Uber would do if they embraced their role as “employer.” Drivers, in conceptualizing their fears, had a strong sense of the structural and instrumental power of the company.62 Their ambivalence was fueled by what a terrible employer Uber could be, how Uber would never agree to an employment model, and fears that the company would take away their flexibility—not because employee status necessitates a shift schedule—but just because they could.63

Nina’s perspectives on employee status embodied all of these concerns. A 50-year old immigrant from Venezuela, Nina began driving for Uber and Lyft in March 2015. She had previously co-owned a small company with her ex-husband. After the divorce, she was out of work and without an income. She could not hold a steady job because of a medical need to take frequent and unpredictable rest breaks. Nina was involved in a driver-led organization when I met her, and she had officially objected to a proposed settlement in a class action against Uber. Like Kevin, she told me that she didn’t want settlement money from Uber; unlike him, she wanted to be an employee. But every now and again, Nina would divulge her fears about the employee classification she was fighting for. In one conversation, she told me,

Of course, I want to be an employee, but on the other hand, I think, how would I be treated by Travis Kalanick, as him being my employer? He would have a whip on us. What is he going to do to me as an employee? I know he is capable of many things. This man is an awful man, awful to the point that I think he is a sociopath. And to have so many people feeding families in the hands of a sociopath is bad. Uber is so ruthless to these software engineers. Imagine what they would do to us [drivers].”64

On the one hand, all of Nina’s organizing efforts were oriented toward achieving employee status. On the other, she was plagued by concerns about what working conditions she would have to endure if Uber became her employer. She already felt exploited by Uber and disrespected by company executives’ attitudes towards drivers. But without access to company managers, a human relations department, or even accountable regulators, Nina funneled her fury to Uber’s legal Achilles’ heel—how they classified their drivers. Her quest for employee status was fueled by a desire for employee benefits and by a need to resist.

Like other drivers in my ethnography, Nina also frequently alluded to the company’s structural power: the amount of venture capital money behind Uber and the company’s influential political connections. My interlocutors regularly sent individual and group emails and texts with links to articles discussing investments in Uber and other gig companies or comments by prominent politicians supporting the companies for their “innovation” and “job creation.” For the senders, these articles were evidence that companies were engaged in unscrupulous graft. “They are lining lawmaker’s pockets,” was a sentiment that I heard often, from Nina and others. Many believed that the companies were actually involved in illegal bribes, but most were alluding to the instrumental power of Uber and other gig companies in their deliberate and successful political engagements.65

The companies, they believed, had so much power in the regulatory arena, that no matter what, they could not be forced to recognize their drivers as employees. For example, Rusty, a Filipino-American immigrant driver, felt there was no way Uber would give him basic employee benefits, no matter what the law and regulators said. Like many migrant drivers in California, Rusty drove from his home in Orange County to San Francisco for work because the rates were higher than in Southern California. In the context of how much he could benefit from employee benefits, he described his migrant work life to me,

[For] most of the day, I stay in my car, living in my car...I’ll have a curtain that I’ll use to [sleep]...and then there are days that I would be able to get a bath, but there are times when I’m not going to be able to take a bath for two or three days. Then you sleep in your car and as soon as you get up then you start driving. It’s really--it’s terrible. I’m far from my family.66

Rusty wanted the benefits associated with employment, but he chose “independent contractor” status on the survey. In one of my discussions with him, he explained that his preference was based on what he thought was most realistic. Over the phone, after returning home, he further discussed his thoughts on employment,

It will be great if they make us employees, but I don’t think that Uber will. They’re very smart and they’re very shrewd and very greedy. They’re not going to go for it ever because they make money out of this kind of system that they have right now. Where I have to sleep in my car. Why would they change? The law bends for them.67

Rusty’s assessment and his reason for stating a preference for independent contractor status were well-informed. But they did not reflect a rejection of employment benefits—only a realistic assessment of the company’s power. “Why fight for this? We will never win,” he told me. Eventually, Rusty stopped driving for Uber because of the toll it was taking on his mental and physical health and on his relationship with his family.

Rather than being clear-cut, Nina and Rusty’s perspectives on employee status were fueled by an ambivalence generated from a fear that the company could act with impunity. Unlike judges applying a legal test, drivers took into account the external influences that might impact their lives beyond the obvious benefits of the status. Their knowledge of the amount of money gig companies spent lobbying to get laws written in their favor, of the companies’ political connections, and of their ruthless litigation tactics left workers with little faith in the law’s ability to address their on-the-job problems.

2. Ambivalence & Schedule Flexibility

In addition to their feelings of powerlessness in relationship to Uber, the ambivalence that a majority of drivers harbored towards employee status also stemmed from the necessity of scheduling flexibility in their lives. When drivers who said they wanted to be either an employee or independent contractor said what they wanted most, benefits like health insurance and a wage floor loomed large, but flexibility was omnipresent. Whether they led transnational lives, endured disabilities that made a shift schedule impossible, or were responsible to and for young children, flexibility for work was not just a desire, it was a necessity. Contextualizing the need for scheduling flexibility and the ways in which it is conflated in driver narratives with the independent contractor classification also helps to explain—and undermine—the survey data.

For example, Paul, a white, 25-year old internal migrant from Pikeville, a poor mining town in Kentucky, had indicated in the survey that he didn’t want to be an employee of Uber. When, over coffee, I asked him, again, why, he answered,

Well, maybe not me personally because eventually I would like to move on to another job. But it would be nice to have like paid time off though. But at the same rate, Uber’s a horrible company.

If they did have us as employees, they may be a lot more strict in terms of customer feedback. Maybe if a customer gave really bad feedback, they may fire us.68

Paul’s answer was much more complicated than represented in the survey. On the one-hand, Paul wanted the protections associated with employee status; specifically, he wanted to be able to take paid-time-off.69 Our conversation troubled popular assumptions of what workers meant when they said they wanted to be independent contractors because of the “flexibility.” Paul did not mean that he wanted the privilege to work whenever he felt like it; he meant that he wanted to work whenever he could. Suffering from a mental illness that presents sporadically, Paul was, on unpredictable days, incapable of working. He wanted income protection during those times. That, he noted, would be one positive aspect of being an employee. But, like Nina and Rusty, he was afraid that if Uber were his employer, he would be even more at the whim and whimsy of the company, who might fire him based on a single customer’s feedback

Another Uber driver, Ashraf, echoed the sentiments of many other workers in my ethnography when I asked them why they preferred the independent contractor classification, “Flexibility. Nothing else. If I get someone to hire me for flexibility; I will work for them.”70 A Sudanese-American refugee who came to the U.S. in 1999, Ashraf had three small children. His wife, a healthcare worker, had a shift schedule—and health insurance. Soon after I got to know him, Ashraf had a kidney transplant. When I visited him in the hospital, he emphasized to me how much he needed flexibility in his work. With three children and living in one of the most expensive areas in the world, he needed to start working again soon.

“You know, if you were an employee for Uber, they would have to cover your gas and car expenses,” I explained as a nurse came in to check on him.

“Okay. Then it’s okay with me. Then it’s okay,” he trailed of exhausted. “I have been an employee. But I need the flexibility. For now, my situation is...I need the flexibility.”71

Ashraf needed to rest, so I didn’t want to belabor the point or force him to think about how he needed to start driving again—perhaps before he was physically ready. But I wanted to tell him—as I had to so many others—that in spite of what the gig companies told him, employee status did not mandate a shift schedule. And conversely, schedule discipline did not necessarily lead to the economic security of regulated work.

As discussed in Part I, legal analysis of employee status, by law, has mostly focused on how much control a hiring entity exerts over a putative employee. But the 8-10 hour shift is a relic of factory work and the result—not of employer control—but of massive, labor-driven reform movements that sought to exert worker control over the rhythm of work.72 If we conceptualize time discipline in the service economy not by the existence of a shift schedule but by how long one has to work to eke out a living, then gig work is fairly inflexible. Because Uber controls how much drivers earn per fare, what fares the drivers receive, how many fares the drivers receive, and how drivers conduct themselves in the context of the fare, drivers must work long, unpredictable hours and are subject to all kinds of control while at work. As one astute driver told me, “What flexibility? I sleep in my car; I eat in my car; I work in my car. That is not freedom.”73

Despite the overwhelming ambivalence toward employee status captured in my qualitative interviews and ethnographic fieldnotes, Uber, Lyft, and other app-based service workers rallied behind a California law, AB5, which aimed to stop the misclassification of workers in the gig economy. In the next section, I examine how and why drivers supported the regulation despite their deeply complicated and contested feelings about employment.

III. Organizing Ambivalence: Worker Mobilization for Employment Status in California

A bill widely-referenced as AB5 was signed into California law in September 2019, standardizing the test for employee status across state laws, including those embodied in the wage orders, the labor code, and the unemployment insurance code. In contrast to the prevailing test for employee status with its subjective focus on control exerted by the hiring entity, AB5 created a presumption of employee status and codified the ABC test to determine who is excluded from California employment protections (discussed in Part I). As a result of its potential impact on clarifying the employee status (under state laws) of workers in the platform-enabled gig economy, AB5 was heralded as “set[ting] the tone for the future of work.”74 The general secretary of the International Transportation Federation, went so far as to state, “[AB5] is nothing short of historic and must be the beginning of something big. Global unions see this as a source of inspiration in our fight for an international governance framework for ‘gig economy’ workers...”75

The law’s passage was attributable in no small part to the impassioned advocacy of drivers and drivers’ groups. In the face of aggressive campaigning against the bill by gig companies76, drivers’ groups engaged in near constant organizing and lobbying. Drivers from the three major gig workers’ groups in California—Rideshare Drivers United, Gig Workers Rising, and Mobile Workers Alliance— met with many state representatives to discuss the precariousness of gig work and their need for basic benefits. They participated in group caravans from San Diego to Sacramento to rally in favor of the bill. Some protested in front of Uber headquarters, and others came to every legislative hearing on the bill. In speaking to lawmakers and journalists covering the issue, workers conveyed the urgency of basic protections and the perils of algorithmic management.

Given the uncertainty about employee status felt by many drivers, the passionate support among drivers’ groups for AB5 defied predictability. Why were workers who felt ambivalence about employment fighting so hard to become employees? Through participant observation and ethnographic engagement with workers in Rideshare Drivers United (RDU)—77—I found that the drivers’ embrace of the law was rooted most fundamentally in fury at the gig companies. For many, the only grassroots, worker-led association of Uber/Lyft drivers in California with significant membership (in May 2019, the group had over 5000 driver members)

Drivers had endured wage cuts for many years, protested in front of the company headquarters, delivered petitions to executives, and tried to garner media advocacy around their plight. But despite all this activism, nothing in their work lives or about the companies’ behavior had changed. Getting

AB5 passed was a form of resistance that the companies could not ignore. As, Mike, a long time Uber driver and RDU driver organizer, commented,

Three-four years ago, there is no way anyone one would have been for employment. People were getting what they needed, and they felt loyalty to the company. So, if the company said come to Sacramento [to defeat this bill], they would have come. That didn’t happen this time [with the astroturf campaign]. Instead, drivers went to Sacramento to fight the companies. We are fed up.78

Mike and other RDU driver organizers also reflected on how empowered drivers felt when they heard regulators openly side with workers. “Did you hear what [Speaker of the California State Assembly] Anthony Rendon said [at the rally]?” Shaheen asked me at one organizing meeting, “he said ‘this is fucking feudalism.’ He actually said that. And the press quoted him on it. Can you believe it?” After spending years hearing how politicians supported gig companies, to finally have their working conditions recognized and condemned by state representatives was galvanizing.

In addition to mobilizing driver frustration and fury, driver advocates were also strategic in approaching the ambivalent attitude toward employee status among the gig workforce. Before the introduction of AB5, core RDU driver organizers “were not sure if employment was going to fly” among their membership base. When I asked Nicole Moore, a Lyft driver and one of the lead organizers, precisely how RDU rallied drivers in favor of employment, she explained that it happened organically and was a collaborative process.79 The driver organizers started by asking drivers about their priorities. Using their own app-based technology, they sent questions to their members on what they most wanted to prioritize to change about their working conditions. From those responses and after thousands of conversations, members democratically voted on a Drivers’ Bill of Rights. “It just happened,” Nicole said, “that what a lot of what drivers wanted mapped to [benefits provided by] employee status, including a fair wage and a union.” When I pointed out that AB5 did not give them union rights, Nicole told me, “It’s a first step. This is just the first step. We are a union, and with fair wages and basic protections, we can grow and become stronger.”80

Still, in the height of the AB5 campaign, drivers and driver organizers expressed occasional fears that they would lose their flexibility because of the law. “Even though we know employee status doesn’t mean we have to work shifts. We’re worried they’ll do it anyway. Just because it’s easier, and maybe to punish us,” said Chris, a driver I talked to at an RDU meeting. But among the core RDU organizers, the need for basic benefits and their anger at the gig companies trumped these lingering anxieties about what would happen to their schedule flexibility. “That’s our next fight,” Nicole disclosed. “First, we get this bill passed, and then we raise hell when they say we can’t have flexibility.

Conclusion

In resisting labor regulations, platform gig companies have tried to frame the debate around research findings suggesting workers prefer the independent contractor status. In this article, I have destabilized the basis for this assertion. Not only is the research methodologically flawed, but the desires and needs of gig workers on the subject of employee status are much more complex than can be adequately represented in survey research. My deep ethnographic engagement, participant observation, and qualitative interviews underscore that gig workers are ambivalent about employee status. While they need and want protections, many recognize the immense structural and instrumental powers of the corporations, and they fear what kinds of control gig companies might exert if they feel authorized to behave as employers. Workers are particularly worried about losing on-the-job scheduling flexibility. Nevertheless, both because of their precarious work lives and because they had been ignored, for years, by both gig companies and regulators, gig workers in California mobilized in favor of employee status and rallied to pass AB5.

Based on these findings, I conclude that for the purposes of workplace regulations, the question of whether gig workers want to be employees is fundamentally the wrong one. For lawmakers seeking to stabilize worker incomes and extend safety net protections to gig workers, the better inquiry is what kinds of protections do workers in the platform-based service economy need. Many of the answers to this question are embodied in the existing panoply of work protections accorded to employees. Among other things, gig workers need wage guarantees, workers’ compensation if they are injured on the job, unemployment insurance if they are terminated through no fault of their own, freedom from discrimination at work, healthy and safe workplaces, and the rights to engage in organizing and to form a union.

Instead of limiting the protections that gig workers have access to—as the gig companies have suggested in their own legislative proposals—lawmakers may approach the regulation of gig work by growing employment protections. For example, based on the professed needs of gig workers like Paul, Nina, Kevin, and Ashraf, regulators could append the right to set one’s own time schedule into state labor codes. Ironically, in their attempt to undermine AB5, Uber and Lyft penned alternative legislation in which they expressed a willingness to commit to exactly this in exchange for other basic employment protections.82 But gig workers need both. As Nicole from RDU said passionately at an AB5 organizing meeting, “Regulators cannot improve this work without engaging the people that do it. Ask us and we’ll tell you...we need healthcare, we need fair wages, and we need flexibility. And together, we are going to fight like hell for those things...All of those things, and more.”

We are going to have to fight for that, too. But right now, we are just fighting for our freedom. Our freedom to put food on the table and pay our rent.”81

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Dubal, V. B. “The Drive to Precarity: A Political History of Work, Regulation, & Labor Advocacy in San Francisco's Taxi & Uber Economics.” Berkeley J. Emp. & Lab. L. 38 (2017): 73-136.

Eagly, Alice H., and Shelly Chaiken. The psychology of attitudes. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1993.;

“Employer Costs for Employee Compensation.” Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, June 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf.

Hacker, Jacob S., and Paul Pierson. "Business power and social policy: employers and the formation of the American welfare state." Politics & Society 30, no. 2 (2002): 277-325.

Hall, Jonathan V., and Alan B. Krueger. “An analysis of the labor market for Uber’s driver-partners in the United States.” ILR Review 71, no. 3 (2018): 705-732.

Kaltner, Jillian. “Employment Status of Uber and Lyft Drivers: Unsettlingly Settled.” Hastings Women's LJ 29 (2018): 29-54.

Said, Carolyn. “Uber Circulates New Gig Bill as Alternative to AB5.” San Francisco Chronicle. Sept. 20, 2019. https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Uber-circulates-new-gig-work-bill-as-alternative-14426247.php.

Teamsters, Lyft Drivers to File Objections in Class Action Lawsuit Settlement, March 15, 2016. https://teamster.org/news/2016/03/teamsters-lyft-drivers-file-objections-class-action-lawsuit-settlement.

West, Tony. “Uber: Drivers Tell Us Through Focus Groups and Surveys They Don’t Want to be Employees.” USA Today, Sept. 16, 2019. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/09/16/uber-drivers-tell-us-they-dont-want-employees-editorials-debates/2346851001/.

“Uber in Legal Battle Over Drivers’ Employment.” ABC 7 News, Aug. 6, 2015. https://abc7news.com/business/uber-in-legal-battle-over-drivers-employment/909341/.

Snyder, Benjamin H. The Disrupted Workplace: Time and the Moral Order of Flexible Capitalism. (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Tomassetti, Julia. “Who Is a Worker? Partisanship, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Social Content of Employment.” Law & Social Inquiry 37, no. 4 (2012): 815-847.

Zatz, Noah. “Beyond misclassification: Tackling the independent contractor problem without redefining employment.” ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law (2011): 279-294.

Footnotes

Pseudonyms are used in the place of real names to protect the identity of interview subjects.

Banks, Kevin. Interview by V.B. Dubal, May 10, 2016.

Ibid.

Banks, Kevin. Interview by V.B. Dubal, April 4, 2016.

Bloch, Doug, Political Director, Teamsters Joint Council 7. Interview by V.B. Dubal, Sept. 3, 2016.

Paul, Sanjukta M. "The enduring ambiguities of antitrust liability for worker collective action." Loy. U. Chi. LJ 47 (2015): 969.

Cotter v. Lyft, 176 F.Supp.3d 930 (2016).

O’Connor v. Uber, 201 F.Supp.3d 1110 (2016).

Later, Kevin also supported the Teamsters in their attempted intervention in Cotter. Rather than allow the case to settle, the Teamsters wanted to litigate the case and get a decision on the status of drivers so as to undermine Lyft’s business model. Teamsters, Lyft Drivers to File Objections in Class Action Lawsuit Settlement, March 15, 2016. https://teamster.org/news/2016/03/teamsters-lyft-drivers-file-objections-class-action-lawsuit-settlement.

Banks, Kevin. Interview by V.B. Dubal, May 10, 2016.

Ibid.

Tony West. “Uber: Drivers Tell Us Through Focus Groups and Surveys They Don’t Want to be Employees.” USA Today, Sept. 16, 2019. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/09/16/uber-drivers-tell-us-they-dont-want-employees-editorials-debates/2346851001/.

“Uber in Legal Battle Over Drivers’ Employment.�� ABC 7 News, Aug. 6, 2015. https://abc7news.com/business/uber-in-legal-battle-over-drivers-employment/909341/.

Janine Berg and Hannah Johnston. “Too Good to Be True? A Comment on Hall and Krueger’s Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber’s Driver-Partners.” ILR Review 72, no. 1 (2019): 39-40.

The ethnographic research included hundreds of hours of participant observation and action at drivers’ meetings, protests, in meetings with regulators, on group phone calls and texts, in government hearings, and one-on-one conversations. With some drivers, who I got to know over a period of time, my ethnography continued into social spaces. All workers in the drivers’ groups were Uber or Lyft drivers, and many worked for other gig platforms as well, including Wonolo, Doordash, and Postmates. This research gave me insight into the complex and unpredictable links between law, work, and everyday life. Rather than claim generalizability or static sociological ascription, my multifarious findings problematize overbroad claims to knowledge about workers.

See generally, Margo Buchanan-Oliver and Angela Cruz. “Discourses of technology consumption: Ambivalence, fear, and liminality.” ACR North American Advances (2011); Mark Connor and Christopher J. Armitage. “Attitudinal ambivalence.” Attitudes and Attitude Change (2008): 261-286; S. Craig and M. Martinez, eds. Ambivalence, Politics and Public Policy. Springer, 2016; Alice H. Eagly and Shelly Chaiken. The Psychology of Attitudes. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1993.

Estimates put the additional costs of employment benefits at roughly one third of the employee’s compensation. See, for example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics breakdown for the average costs of employment compensation. “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation.” Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, June 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf.

V.B. Dubal. “Wage Slave or Entrepreneur: Contesting the Dualism of Legal Worker Identities.” Calif. L. Rev. 105 (2017): 86-88.

As I have shown in previous work, the taxi industry was one of the first places to shift to lower costs and risks by shifting to an independent contractor model. Taxi companies toyed with “leasing models” to lower both the overhead associated with employment and to de-unionize the industry. Rather than pay drivers by commission with an underlying guaranteed wage, the companies leased cars to drivers by the shift. Drivers paid for gas and the lease and kept the remaining earnings from his shift. V.B. Dubal. “The Drive to Precarity: A Political History of Work, Regulation, & Labor Advocacy in San Francisco's Taxi & Uber Economics.” Berkeley J. Emp. & Lab. L. 38 (2017): 100-109.

Ibid, 120-129.

Ibid.

See, for example, Keith Cunningham-Parmeter. “From Amazon to Uber: Defining employment in the modern economy.” BUL Rev. 96 (2016): 1725-1727; Nicholas L. DeBruyne, “Uber Drivers: A Disputed Employment Relationship in Light of the Sharing Economy.” Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 92 (2017): 315; Jillian Kaltner. “Employment Status of Uber and Lyft Drivers: Unsettlingly Settled.” Hastings Women's LJ 29 (2018): 44.

Dubal, “Wage Slave or Entrepreneur,” 72-75.

I use the plural “they” as a singular, gender-neutral pronoun.

FedEx Home Delivery v. NLRB, 563 F.3d 492 (D.C. Cir. 2009).

SuperShuttle DFW, Inc. and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1338. Case 16–RC–010963, Jan. 25, 2019.

Estrada v. FedEx, 64 Cal. Rptr. 3d 327 (Ct. App. 2007)

Ibid at 9.

Dubal, “Wage Slave or Entrepreneur,” 70.

Julia Tomassetti. “Who Is a Worker? Partisanship, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Social Content of Employment.” Law & Social Inquiry 37, no. 4 (2012): 815-847.

Deepa Das Acevedo. “Unbundling Freedom in the Sharing Economy.” S. Cal. L. Rev. 91 (2017): 793.

Noah D Zatz. “Beyond misclassification: Tackling the independent contractor problem without redefining employment.” ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law (2011): 280.

See generally, V.B. Dubal. “Winning the Battle, Losing the War: Assessing the Impact of Misclassification Litigation on Workers in the Gig Economy.” Wis. L. Rev. (2017): 739-802.

Ibid at 780-791.

The California ABC test was articulated in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles, No. S222732 (Cal. Sup. Ct. Apr. 30, 2018).

Ibid.

Dubal, “Wage Slave or Entrepreneur,” 71.

Dubal, “Drive to Precarity,” 111-115.

Ibid.

Dubal, “Wage Slave or Entrepreneur,” 105.

Ibid at 107-109.

Dubal, “Drive to Precarity,” 116-120.

Ibid.

The Taxi commission even had a voting driver representative. This changed in 2009 when the SFMTA took over regulation of the taxi industry. Ibid at 123.

Tracy v. Yellow Cab Coop., No. 938786 at 10–11 (Super. Ct. Cal. Oct. 22, 1996). For a longer discussion of this case, see Dubal, “Winning the Battle, Losing the War,” 758-769.

Jonathan V. Hall and Alan B. Krueger. "An analysis of the labor market for Uber’s driver-partners in the United States." ILR Review 71, no. 3 (2018): 705-732.

Although this article was ultimately published in 2018, the 2015 working paper version was highly cited.

For example, it was quoted in testimony given to the House Small Business Committee Hearing, United States House of Representatives on May 24, 2016. Janine Berg and Hannah Johnston. and Krueger’s Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber’s Driver-Partners.” ILR Review 72, no. 1 (2019): 40.

Ibid at 39.

Ibid at 43.

Thor Berger, Carl Benedikt Frey, Guy Levin, and Santosh Rao Danda. "Uber Happy? Work and Well-being in the ‘Gig Economy.’” Economic Policy (2018).

Ibid. I might argue that most people—not just those on the Uber platform—have strong preferences for autonomy and scheduling flexibility.

See generally, Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello. The New Spirit of Capitalism, (London and New York, Verso: 2005); Benjamin H. Snyder, The Disrupted Workplace: Time and the Moral Order of Flexible Capitalism. (Oxford University Press, 2016).

The survey instrument was designed in collaboration with political scientists at the University of California at Berkeley, Professor Ruth Collier and graduate student Christopher Carter.

This survey was designed alongside political scientists Ruth Collier and Chris Carter. It was completed with funding from the Chip Robertson Fund.

Neither the timing nor the location of rides was systematized to capture optimal variability.

Researchers informed the drivers upon beginning the ride that they were conducting research and that no matter whether the driver took the survey, the researcher would give them a five-star rating.

Ruth Berins Collier,, V. B. Dubal, and Christopher L. Carter. “Disrupting regulation, regulating disruption: The politics of Uber in the United States.” Perspectives on Politics 16, no. 4 (2018): 930.

For a discussion of structural and instrumental power of U.S. businesses, see Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson. “Business power and social policy: employers and the formation of the American welfare state.” Politics & Society 30, no. 2 (2002): 277-325.

Workers perceived Uber as setting the tone and practices for other companies; hence, in these narratives, Uber served as a symbolic stand-in for gig companies more generally.

Hernandez, Nina. Interview by V.B. Dubal, Sept. 20, 2016.

For more on the structural and instrumental power of Uber in the regulatory arena in the U.S., see generally, Collier, Dubal, and Carter. “Disrupting Regulation,” 919-937.

Cruz, Rusty. Interview by V.B. Dubal, May 4, 2017.

Cruz, Rusty. Interview by V.B. Dubal, Aug. 19, 2017.

Jefferson, Paul. Interview by V.B. Dubal, April 25, 2016.

Paid time off is provided under California law.

Saad, Ashraf. Interview by V.B. Dubal, May 8, 2017.

Ibid.

Snyder, The Disrupted Workplace, 36.

Younan, Tony. Interview by V.B. Dubal, Mar. 4, 2017.

Kate Conger and Noam Scheiber. “California Bill Makes App-Based Companies Treat Workers as Employees.” New York Times, Sept, 11, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/technology/california-gig-economy-bill.html.

“CA AB5 Law: Now We Need a Global Law for ‘Gig’ Workers.” Sept. 12, 2019. https://www.itfglobal.org/en/news/california-ab-5-law-now-we-need-global-law-gig-workers

Major gig companies headquartered in California, including Uber and Lyft, engaged in aggressive organizing and lobbying to defeat the bill. They flooded workers with in-app messages stating that the bill threatened their flexibility, lobbied legislators to vote against it, and even co-sponsored an astroturf campaign alongside the Chamber of Commerce entitled “The I’m Independent Coalition.” The I’m Independent Coalition paid gig workers up to $100 to appear at a rally opposing AB5. And citing the survey research discussed in Part II, the companies repeatedly told regulators and journalists that workers want to be independent contractors, and not employees.

The other two organizations have been formed and sponsored by unions.

Smith, Mike. Interview by V. B. Dubal, March 29, 2019.

Moore, Nicole. Interview by V. B. Dubal, May 30, 2019. Nicole Moore is the only driver whose real name I use in this article because she has taken on the public face of RDU.

Moore, Nicole. Interview by V. B. Dubal, Aug. 8, 2019.

Ibid.

This legislation is embedded in a San Francisco Chronicle article for reference. See Carolyn Said. “Uber Circulates New Gig Bill as Alternative to AB5.” San Francisco Chronicle. Sept. 20, 2019. https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Uber-circulates-new-gig-work-bill-as-alternative-14426247.php

#uber #labor #labor relations #gig economy #ab5 #independent contractors #labor law #precarity #gig workers #ethnography #studies #survey

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