#more evidence that humans are ferrets with jobs
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Alright, I'll bite. What sort of King is Eret here? And what manner of monster?
Sorry this took so long! I had too much fun writing this post and it’s super long now. Oops.
(I made a couple of posts about a Dream SMP Undertale AU)
If you’re good at reading between the lines this post contains major spoilers for Undertale. I know the game has been out for ages, but if you care, block the tag "Dream SMP Undetale AU"
IRL Eret is very fond of ferrets and flamingos, and they're very cool animals, but they aren’t that intimidating for a monster design. But Eret also likes bears (their stuffed bear Ted is their unofficial channel mascot) and that's definitely boss-monster material. So I think Eret would be a bear monster of some kind, just for the sheer intimidation factor.
I think Eret would be a good king, policy-wise. They'd do their best to bring hope to the Underground, and they wouldn't be the one collecting human souls in this AU, that's someone else who is well-known for killing people (: As for how people perceive them, and how they got there... Welllll...
Eret wasn't the first King, that title goes to Wilbur, who was the King when the War of Humans And Monsters happened. Eret was loyal back then, but that loyalty wavered when the monsters lost the war, and it fell apart when the realities of living underground made the other monsters restless and bitter. Many people blamed Wilbur for losing. Eret did too, and became very outspoken against him.
Dream took advantage of Eret's anger, poisoning his mind and feeding his resentment, and encouraged them to challenge Wilbur to a duel for the crown, telling them they'd be a much better king than he is. (: Eret challenged Wilbur, but the duel was not to the death, it was points based, though of course with all duels the chance of death is there. Eret won without killing him, though, and Wilbur gave them the crown. He was naturally extremely upset about being dethroned, but otherwise everything was fine.
Until Wilbur ended up murdered the next day. The first suspect was Eret but there was no actual evidence who the culprit was, since monsters turn to dust after death and there weren't any witnesses. Eret's reputation is damaged, faith in their leadership shaken.
The Player arrives in Cogchamp (the Ruins) after their initial meeting with Dream is interrupted by Fundy before Dream can kill them. Fundy tries to talk to him, but he just runs away, claiming that the situation is "too awkward." The player learns that Fundy is living there to escape the emotional turmoil of losing his father and his doubts that Eret isn't as innocent as he claims. Fundy misses Eret very much, wondering if they were alright after he left, and saying that he wants to go fishing with them when he goes back, like he and Wilbur used to.
Fundy gives us some lore about Dream. Fundy stopped being friends with him after Dream got very suddenly "too Weirdchamp" about everything. Fundy says he's seen Dream with a human who fell down before, but he never saw the human again, even though he looked all over. Dream denied it when he asked.
Fundy also fills the role of acquainting the Player with game mechanics, though he's much more chaotic and prankish, and the Player becomes his friend. He tries to prevent the Player from leaving Cogchamp because he's lonely, but ultimately relents because he knows he can’t bring himself to hurt someone who was nice to him. Unless it's a Genocide Route, in which Fundy doesn't try to fight the Player, and instead flees to the rest of the Underground, to warn Eret and the other monsters. </3
But this post is about Eret, I'm getting sidetracked here.
Everyone else's reactions to current events is mixed. Some monsters like Hbomb and Puffy stubbornly believe that Eret didn’t kill Wilbur, others like Purpled are just upset that they felt the need to overthrow him in the first place. The Sleepy Bois want them dead for killing their family, and are planning to assassinate them.
Niki is the closest to Eret, and talks about them the most. She talks about how they were her emotional rock during the War, and that though they're still good friends, she's seen less and less of them lately, and they don't smile as much anymore.
Despite how things turned out, Eret still tries their best to be a good King, and bring people hope. Whenever the Player goes to a new area and finds a new box for items, they always find a piece of "you matter <3 - Eret" item inside that grants temporary defense. Eret also built a lot of important public facilities in the Underground outside of Cogchamp, like a museum in which the Player learns of Wilbur’s heroism in the War of Humans And Monsters. They also built several bridges and an aquarium for monsters in Waterfall (because of the water level problems Waterfall is having).
Much like Asgore, the Player's opinion of Eret is based entirely on what others have to say about them. The Player might feel strongly that they're too nice to have done something like this, and something else is going on, or that Eret definitely could have killed Wilbur and the Sleepy Bois are right to seek justice for a wrong that has been committed.
Boss Battles:
For Eret's boss fight in the Genocide Route... Oh boy.
Eret’s fight isn't as difficult as Technoblade’s would be, but it’s difficult because you can't damage Eret in the beginning. In spite of Eret's protests, Niki comes to try to protect them, shielding Eret from all damage until you kill her. Then Eret goes into a sorrow-fueled rage and enters into "No-one Knows" mode, removing their sunglasses. They use their last words to beg the Player to find enough mercy in their heart to Spare Fundy.
The last person the Player kills in the Genocide run is indeed Fundy, who Eret was hiding in the Castle. It's not a fight, it's just murder. It's very sad.
Before the boss fight in the Neutral Route, we're privy to a conversation between Eret and Ghostbur, in which Ghostbur comes to visit the castle. Eret tells Ghostbur they're sorry for everything they've done, and that taking his place was the biggest mistake of their life. Ghostbur claims other people say they killed him, and asks if Eret did. Eret avoids the question, stating that they've already told Wilbur the truth about what happened many times, there's no point if he can’t remember. Ghostbur presses the question, stating that even if he'll forget later, he'd like to know, because he does remember being Eret's friend, and he's worried about them. The Player is noticed before Eret can answer him.
Eret fights the Player alone. Eret admits to the Player that they should probably be a good sport and just die, they don’t want to hurt a child, but they know the Player needs their soul to leave, and they're too afraid of death not to try and fight.
When they lose, they lament that things turned out this way because they thought they could do a better job than Wilbur, and that they can't seem to do anything right as a King or a mentor to Fundy. They try to give up their soul to the Player, who spares them.
Only for Dream to kill them, steal the soul, and destroy it. Because he's Dream. Dream also reveals to the Player that he was the one who killed Wilbur, because the underground is boring and he needs entertainment. He's been collecting human souls, not to destroy the barrier with, but to become God. Dream goes Photoshop Flowey Mode and fights the Player.
Pacifist Route:
After completing the Neutral route and starting the Pacifist Route, the Player is pointed in toward Eret's castle basement by Dream. The Player discovers a Necromancy Lair (a creepy equivalent to the True Lab in Dr. Alphy's house) with the Wilbur resurrection shrine in it. Once the Player finds the scattered pages torn out of Eret’s diary, it's revealed that Eret suspects Dream killed Wilbur, but they have no proof. The diary talks about how Ghostbur was the result of a secret project by Eret, their failure to revive Wilbur. Their diary also informs us that Dream often comes to torment them about this, taunting them about they'd just made things worse. Eret questions whether or not to step down as King, but wonders who would be able to take responsibility, since Prince Fundy is missing.
The Player also finds a book by someone named "Callahan" about dreamon summoning that Eret was researching (and deemed too dangerous to use, due to the warnings within).
In the final fight against Dream, the Player can Save Eret by giving them pink wool, and reminding them that they matter to Fundy, Niki and the Player.
At the end of the Pacifist run, Eret and Fundy reconcile. Eret crowns Fundy King, and declares that this is how it should have been from the beginning. IDK if Wilbur is revived or not, depends on how bittersweet of an ending I want, maybe Ghostbur just has their memories restored without bringing them back to life? But during the end credits, the three of them can be seen fishing together.
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Ski’tar and Friends part 1: The Lost Voyager
I got into a Starfinder campaign recently, and the first session went so well that I figured it would be worth the effort to write up what has and is going to happen, in-character as the Ysoki mechanic that I’m playing.
Archive
The Pact Worlds system is a large place, with so many stories happening that it would be impossible for one being to learn them all in a single lifetime. Most of those stories don’t matter, though, because they don’t involve me, Ski’tar of Akiton, master of explosives and brave explorer of the unknown space beyond the Pact Worlds.
My story begins modestly enough. I found myself on Absalom Station, scrounging through the under-levels for anything that could lead me toward the next step to finding the Ultimate Boom. If you had asked me then what the Ultiamte Boom was, I couldn’t have answered you; I simply didn’t know quite enough yet. I onlu knew that when I found the key, I would know it. One local morning, as I scurried along the passageways looking for promising piles of refuse, I caught wind of an announcement from the Starfinder Society, requesting applicants for a spacefaring job. There weren’t many details in the announcement, but I gleaned there was the possibility of the job leading outside the system. New worlds to explore, new substances to study and attempt to forge into bombs? It seemed perfect.
Now, I knew that Starfinders tend to get into dangerous situations on the regular, so before I headed to the Society’s headquarters, Lorespire Complex, I scurried home to make one last check of my recently built combat drone and stick my laspistol onto it so it could handle the dirty work of fighting. I kept my grenades on my own person, however; I didn’t trust the drone’s manipulator arms to throw ‘nades properly yet.
Upon arriving at the designated meeting room, I found that only two others had answered the request: a Kasantha who looked like he’d seen more than his share of battles and possibly hadn’t had all the fun squeezed out of him by tradition yet, and a purple-skinned android with the most unoriginal designation ever: 6. Just 6. The Kasantha had a run-on sentence of a name, as is the race’s tendency, but he usually just went by Vemir. Our contact was a Lashunta named Arvin, and he was quite… excitable. He rambled and babbled such that I almost suspected him to be an Ysoki in a costume. On stilts.
Captain Arvin told us of a Starfinder vessel that had gone missing in the Vast some time ago. The trail had gone cold, and the craft had been given up for lost, until the insignias of the crew members showed up on the black market the other day. The Society had shelled out the credits to buy the insignias from the Vesk who was hoarding them in his pawn shop, but apparently couldn’t be bothered to send any actual Starfinders to pick the things up and sniff out where they’d come from. That’s where me and my two new buddies were to come in. Vemir and 6 spent time haggling over payment, something in the high hundred thousands. I don’t recall exactly because all I cared for was confirming that the job might lead out of system. Creds and UPBs will come and go as needed; so long as I can look for new boomy things to tinker with, I’m happy.
We wasted no time heading to the pawn shop where the insignias were being held. Place was dirtier than an Akiton slum and crammed full of the strangest odds and ends. It would’ve been like paradise to dig through it all, and I did unearth some weapons and a shock grenade that were in usuable repair, but having spent my last credits on my drone and neglecting to ask the Captain for an advance on my pay, I couldn’t take any of it with me.
The Vesk was oddly jittery for belonging to a race of hardened warrior lizard conquerors, and it only took a few direct questions from Vemir and 6 to get him to hand over the insignias and sell out his supplier. Some Eoxian ghoul lady had pawned the insignias off on him and then high-tailed it to hire some muscle and head over to the Vat Farm.
Lovely place, the Vat Farm. They’ll take any unwanted biological material found around Absalom Station, few to no questions asked, and convert it into fertilizer for some of the most… exotic hydroponic products you’re likely to find in the lower sections. Naturally, it’s run by Ysoki. Who else would be clever enough to turn a waste sump into a flowering business? The owner’s an agreeable rodent and hardly ever closes the place off to the general public.
You can imagine our surprise, then, when we found a brutish human barring our entry to the Vats. He couldn’t give us an actual reason why the place was “closed;” apparently he figured his size and unfriendly manner would be enough to scare us off. He misjudged us badly, and we in turn badly failed at our attempts to talk sense into him.
A fight was unavoidable, so I naturally put some distance between me and the brute and told my drone to start shooting. Drone’s aiming system evidently still needed some calibrations, because its first few shots went wide. Fortunately, Vemir and 6 were more than capable of holding their own in a fight. It should have been over quickly, except the brute had a couple of friends who came running in from one of the side entrances. They had too much ground to cover to be any help to their buddy, though. He got a knife in his throat courtesy of Vemir, and between my drone and 6’s laser guns one of the two reinforcements was quickly converted into a human torch. Fire-man must have had some pain reductive augments, or else he was just that nuts, because he managed to run up and take a swing at 6 before the fire consumed him. The third brute wisely decided to cut his losses and run after witnessing the quick and brutal way we killed his buddies.
Partway through immolating the second brute, a shot rang out from the hydroponic forest below the walkways we were on, narrowly missing my ear. Judging by the shrieks that accompanied the gunshot, I figured it was our ghoul target, so I made my way down into the trees opposite of where the shot had come from and, once I was sure the brutes were handled, brought my drone down to help ferret out the ghoul. Vemir was the one to ultimately spot her, however; the show-off decided to leap into the top of the tree nearest his spot on the walkway and quickly located the ghoul. 6, my drone, and I quickly moved in to surround her. Since we needed information from her, I attempted to talk her down, and chucked a grenade to demonstrate how screwed she was if she didn’t comply.
Driven by desperation or something, the ghoul fought on until the combined firepower of 6 and my drone’s lasers – set to nonlethal ( and helped along by that ‘nade of mine, of course) – knocked her unconscious. She had a grand total of 100 credits on her person, as well as a bag of bones looted from the area and a datapad that I had no trouble unlocking.
The Vat Farm’s owner was grateful for our “contribution” of two human corpses (well, one corpse and one carbonized skeleton) and for stopping the unauthorized removal of biomass, and gifted us some bulbs with antitoxin properties. They aren’t explosive, but they’d be useful in a pinch and maybe could fetch a nice price in the right market.
We took the ghoul and datapad back to Captain Arvin for interrogation. I can’t recall exactly what her story was, but the gist was the ghoul’s crew had stumbled upon the lost Starfinder ship stuck in the Drift, looted it, and recorded its location. So, our next move was obvious. We just needed a ship.
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Four Million Indians in One State Risk Being Denied Citizenship. Most Are Muslims. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/17/world/asia/india-muslims-narendra-modi.html
Donald Trump’s and Stephen Miller’s "nativist" policies are reverberating around the the world. 😢😢😭😭
Four Million Indians Risk Being Denied Citizenship. Most Are Muslims.
By Jeffrey Gettleman and Hari Kumar
Aug. 17, 2019
NEW DELHI — More than four million people in India, mostly Muslims, are at risk of being declared foreign migrants as the government pushes a hard-line Hindu nationalist agenda that has challenged the country’s pluralist traditions and aims to redefine what it means to be Indian.
The hunt for migrants is unfolding in Assam, a poor, hilly state near the borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh. Many of the people whose citizenship is now being questioned were born in India and have enjoyed all the rights of citizens, such as voting in elections.
State authorities are rapidly expanding foreigner tribunals and planning to build huge new detention camps. Hundreds of people have been arrested on suspicion of being a foreign migrant — including a Muslim veteran of the Indian Army. Local activists and lawyers say the pain of being left off a preliminary list of citizens and the prospect of being thrown into jail have driven dozens to suicide.
But the governing party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not backing down.
Instead, it is vowing to bring this campaign to force people to prove they are citizens to other parts of India, part of a far-reaching Hindu nationalist program fueled by Mr. Modi’s sweeping re-election victory in May and his stratospheric popularity.
Members of India’s Muslim minority are growing more fearful by the day. Assam’s anxiously watched documentation of citizenship — a drive that began years ago and is scheduled to wrap up on Aug. 31 — coincides with another setback for Muslims, this one transpiring more than a thousand miles away.
Less than two weeks ago, Mr. Modi unilaterally wiped out the statehood of India’s only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir, removing its special autonomy and turning it into a federal territory without any consultation with local leaders — many of whom have since been arrested.
Among Mr. Modi’s critics, events in Assam and Kashmir are Exhibits A and B in their conviction that the prime minister is using the early months of his second term to push the most forceful and divisive Hindu nationalist agenda ever attempted in India and to fundamentally reconfigure the concept of Indian identity to be synonymous with being Hindu. Many Indians, on both sides of the political divide, see Assam and Kashmir as harbingers of the direction Mr. Modi will take this nation of 1.3 billion people in the coming years.
The stated purpose of the citizenship dragnet in Assam is to find undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh — a predominantly Muslim country to its south. Amit Shah, India’s powerful home minister, has repeatedly referred to those immigrants as “termites.’’
All of the 33 million residents of Assam have had to prove, with documentary evidence, that they or their ancestors were Indian citizens before early 1971, when Bangladesh was established after breaking away from Pakistan. That is not easy. Many families are racing to get their hands on a decades-old property deed or fraying birth certificate with an ancestor’s name on it.
Beyond this, Mr. Modi’s government has tried to pass a bill in Parliament that carves out exemptions for Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and people from other religions — but leaves out Muslims.
Mr. Modi’s critics say he is playing a dangerous game and pulling apart the diverse, delicate social fabric that has existed in India for centuries.
The prime minister’s political roots lie in a Hindu nationalist movement that emphasizes the religion’s supremacy. This worldview has a long history of sowing division between the country’s Hindu majority and Muslim minority, at times exploding in violence.
Assam has been hit by its own troubles and ethnic bloodshed. But the violence being reported now is self-inflicted.
Noor Begum, who lived in a small hamlet in a flood-soaked district, spiraled into depression after finding out that she and her mother had been excluded from the citizenship lists. Her father and seven siblings had made it.
It didn’t make any sense to the family: Why, if they all lived together and were born in the same place, would some be considered Indian while others illegal foreigners?
“Of course she was Indian,” said her father, Abdul Kalam, a retired laborer. “She used to sing Indian national songs at school. She felt very Indian.”
On a bright morning in June, Noor hanged herself from a rafter. She was 14.
Many Muslims in Kashmir are despondent as well. After Mr. Modi’s government erased Kashmir’s autonomy, thousands of outraged Kashmiris took to the streets, only to be locked down by a heavy deployment of security forces and a smothering communications blackout.
Kashmir has long been a flash point. Both India and Pakistan control different parts of it and several times, the tensions have driven the two nuclear armed rivals to war or dangerously close to it.
Though the Indian government has eased some of the communication restrictions in the past few days, hundreds of Kashmiri intellectuals are still under arrest and Pakistan is seething.
The tension with Pakistan tends to lift Mr. Modi’s political fortunes. His forceful stand against India’s No. 1 enemy just adds to his image as an unswerving patriot and one of the most decisive and powerful prime ministers India has produced in decades.
Many in India’s Hindu majority don’t object to Mr. Modi’s Hindu nationalist policies or even seem to think too much about them. They praise what they see as the strides he has made in fighting poverty and projecting a more muscular image of India on the world stage.
But critics say his Hindu nationalist beliefs are central to who he is and intentionally divisive, engineered to win votes from the Hindu majority. India is about 80 percent Hindu and 14 percent Muslim. (Christians, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists make up most of the rest of the population.)
A small but vocal minority of left-leaning intellectuals, Muslim leaders and opposition politicians has tried to turn public opinion against Mr. Modi’s policies without much success.
What is happening in Assam and Kashmir “is an assault on the very imagination of India, of the freedom struggle, of the Constitution, of the idea of a country in which everyone belongs equally,” said Harsh Mander, a former civil servant turned human rights activist.
“Muslims are the enemy,” he said. “It’s a war on the Indian Constitution.”
Ashutosh Varshney, the head of Brown University’s South Asia program, said that India “in all probability and unless checked is headed toward a Hindu nationalist, majoritarian state.”
With the political opposition in total disarray and all government agencies — especially the bureaucracy and the security apparatus — firmly in Mr. Modi’s hands, Mr. Varshney said the only hope for India’s secular democracy is in the courts.
But, he cautioned, “The judiciary might well surrender.”
Even a streak of alarming headlines in recent weeks, including big job losses in the auto sector, deadly flooding across the country and a new outbreak of violence by Hindu mobs against Muslims, hasn’t dented Mr. Modi’s popularity.
Outsiders may wonder how any political movement in India could question Muslims’ contribution to society. India is a thoroughly multicultural place, and Muslims have contributed for centuries, even ruling the country at times. Muslim emperors built some of India’s brightest cultural treasures, including the Taj Mahal.
But since Mr. Modi took office in 2014, government bodies have rewritten history books, lopping out sections on Muslim rulers, and changed official place names to Hindu from Muslim. Hindu mobs have lynched dozens of Muslims; participants are rarely punished.
Mr. Modi and allies in his Bharatiya Janata Party, known as the B.J.P., have denied any anti-Muslim bias and rejected criticism that the way they have handled the mass citizenship check in Assam has been harsh or discriminatory. State level officials in Assam said this was purely an administrative exercise to ferret out people who have no legal right to stay in India.
Rupam Goswami, a spokesman for the state B.J.P. party, said the registry “is only a process of documentation.”
Like much of India, Assam has reflected a tapestry of different ethnic groups and religions for as long as anyone can remember. Its beautiful tea estates have attracted flocks of migrant workers.
But many indigenous Assamese, who are mostly Hindu, have resented immigrants from Bangladesh, saying that the ethnic Bengalis were coming into their state and taking away their jobs and their land. In 1983, this locals-versus-outsider enmity blew up.
Assamese villagers slaughtered more than 1,000 ethnic Bengalis, many of them Muslim — scholars say that most ethnic Bengalis in Assam are Muslim. In 2012, another smaller wave of violence erupted.
The next year, India’s Supreme Court set in motion a process for a��large-scale registration of citizens to be updated in Assam. This would determine who was an Indian and who was not. The deadline for residents to provide documentary proof that they or their ancestors have a legacy as Indian citizens, going back to March 1971 or earlier, has been extended several times.
Though this issue predates Mr. Modi’s taking India’s reins in 2014, the B.J.P. has aggressively backed the process, with Mr. Shah vowing to clear out all the “termites.’’
When a preliminary Assam citizenship list was published in 2018, leaving off four million people, scholars said the majority were Muslim but large numbers of Bengali-speaking Hindus were also excluded.
The B.J.P. then had to regroup. Its response was to push a new citizenship bill that said migrants from neighboring countries who were Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsees or Jains would be eligible for Indian citizenship. One of South Asia’s biggest religious groups was conspicuously left off: Muslims.
The government said it was trying to help religious minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. To critics, it looked like another anti-Muslim campaign, plain and simple.
The bill sailed through the lower house of Parliament but stalled after many Assamese politicians said they didn’t like the religious dimension the B.J.P. was injecting — or the possibility that the large number of Hindu Bengalis would be given an exception. Some B.J.P. politicians say they want to revive it.
Many of the people whose names were left off the list were born in India, lived here all their lives and were considered citizens in every right.
One of them was Mohammed Sanaullah, a retired army captain. In May, he was picked up on suspicion of being an illegal migrant and jailed for nearly two weeks.
Mr. Sanaullah said he was totally demoralized.
“I am an Indian, my father is an Indian, my grandfather was an Indian, my forefathers were Indian. They were all born in India. We will be Indian forever,” he said.
The Assam state government sends suspected foreign migrants to foreigner tribunals, a growing network of more than 100 small courts where the onus is on the suspects to provide the proof that the government is demanding. Human rights observers have complained that the proceedings often discriminate against Muslims and are the equivalent of sham trials.
The B.J.P. doesn’t want to stop at Assam.
Mr. Shah and other party leaders have promised their supporters that they will bring mass citizenship reviews across the country. Human rights activists fear these could be used to discriminate against minorities and this will be made easier because, under Supreme Court rules, individuals are allowed to legally challenge another’s citizenship.
More than 3.5 million people who have so far been left off the Assam citizenship list have filed challenges to their exclusion, and state-level officials are reviewing these claims.
But Assam is not waiting. The state government, which is controlled by an arm of the B.J.P., is planning to build 10 new detention camps with the capacity to hold thousands of people.
Bangladesh has not been eager to accept the ethnic Bengalis in Assam as citizens either. That could leave many languishing in a legal no-man’s land without many rights.
Critics say what is happening in both Kashmir and Assam are attempts to change the demographics in these areas in favor of Hindus. Kashmiris fear the government’s real plan in wiping out their autonomy is to pave the way to resettle large numbers of Hindu Indians in Kashmir and end its status as the one Muslim-majority territory in India.
Under the changes, Kashmiris will lose the special land rights they used to hold that made it difficult for non-Kashmiris to buy land in their state. Mr. Modi has argued that the new arrangement will bring outside investment, better governance and a “new dawn.”
But other Indian states have similar protections for local residents and Mr. Modi’s party is not trying to change those.
Critics say the difference is obvious: Those states are not Muslim.
Suhasini Raj contributed reporting from New Delhi, and Shajid Khan from Rowmari Chapari, Assam.
#politics#u.s. news#world news#international news#india pakistan latest news#india#racism#religion#human rights#humanrights#kashmir#refugees#muslim#islamophobia
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THIS IS WHAT BOILS AWAY INSIDE ME EVERY MINUTE, MAKING THE TEDIUM OF EVERYDAY LIFE AN UNBEARABLE TRAP - THIS IS WHY I CAN NEVER STAY AT A JOB OR DECIDE ON A CAREER.
EVERYTHING THAT IS NOT THESE THINGS IS BORING AND FRUSTRATING
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I have researched and want to write pre-historical fiction exploring my personal theories about early human development, which are wild but entirely possible within the total evidence we have available. I’ve done probably tens of thousands of words in notes on it over the years; finished, it would probably be at least a trilogy in length.
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I have written some songs, and I want to get a couple of friends with a good voices to sing them, and then get some musician friends to write/play music for them on analogue instruments, pair that with the singing as whole songs that they perform live somewhere, then record and give those songs to some other friends to make like, an electro-funk remix album of it, and then get some DJ’s I know to spin that shit at a party, take footage of the whole process featuring the live band performance and the party DJ's strongly, ask some dancing/choreographing people I know to create a couple of kick-ass matching dance routines featuring all the people who worked on the project, reach out to some video and animation folks, and make a small series of music videos out of the whole dang thing.
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I want to change how we experience death by creating a personal website for individuals featuring a kind of A.I. social media bot that users set up and activate which will, upon their death, continue to like and reblog things based on patterns of preference in their posts while alive.
These bot/A.I.s would be able to be interfaced with, so, after I died, someone could get to know me - they could ask AfterKie “what movies and TV shows did you like?” and if I had set it up with access to my netflix/hulu/youtube info, AfterKie could tell you which movies and TV shows I rated highly, which ones I watched more than once, read you any positive reviews about them, read you my tweet “idc what anyone says, Ghostbusters is the best movie there has ever been” etc. And the reposting algorithms would A: let me reach out from the beyond to remind people “oh, true, Kie probably WOULD have like that tweet about caterpillars” and B: even if they were not perfect the reposting algorithms would allow for an approximate continuation and growth, so that I could even be seen as developing new interests after my death “Have you heard from Kie lately? He���s gotten super into Swedish architecture ever since he died, it’s like, most of what he talks about now”.
I could map my face onto an avatar and use some voice matching software and put myself on a screen on my grave stone that would be linked, so you could literally walk around a graveyard getting to know the people who were buried there, asking them questions about their life.
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I want to build a Pet Mech, a small robot that could be controlled by small pets walking on a rollerball surface housed in the floor of the “head” with a sleeping/snacking den in the “body”. So your rat or guinea pig or ferret or lizard wakes up, climbs up into the control room, the floor of which is the direction pad. Which ever way the pet walks, the robot goes. Your pet is a little closer to your face, safe from the cat, won’t get lost under the couch, and can move around with you and to the extent of it’s capabilities be a social participant in the family it belongs to.
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I want to sell puppies that owners will come visit in my facility for the first couple months, then take them home one weekend a month, then two, then three, then every weekend, then by the time they are a year old the dog lives with it’s person/people but continues to spend one weekend a month at the facility for an additional year. The facility would provide full socialization and training. A lot of dogs wind up in shelters because in one way or another their owners do not know how to teach them to be a functioning member of the household/society.
Just the other day, I heard a lady talking about getting rid of her two year old dog, because "he's getting on my damn nerves, I don't know what to do with him" which A: it is our responsibility to teach dogs how to be an acceptable fit in our households, and B: having never been taught that in his formative years, this dog will have more trouble learning it from even someone who knows exactly how to do that. Modern Americans typically lack the resources and/or proper knowledge to accomplish what could best be done for them by trained professionals who went to collage to study animal behavior and development etc. This way, the dog would have a realistic chance of being a good fit for the owner, and the owner would have clear methods of achieving behavior they require, as well as having access to a support facility for boarding, exercising, trouble shooting problem behavior, etc.
At first, it would be very expensive, and I would look into a pairing program, where every dog purchased and trained would pay for an additional dog to be available for families with lower incomes. Additionally, you could defray the cost by predetermining your dog to be trained and available for dog-jobs for hire from the facility as adult dogs, to pay for their early care and training; jobs such as visiting senior homes or hospitals, sniffing things in labs (like tumors) finding lost people, working with livestock at high school Agg programs, etc... so a few days a month until they paid for themselves, these dogs would have jobs, which is fulfilling for many dogs and would help a family afford one of these canines.
As facilities expanded, costs would go down, and the facilities would make great shelter alternatives, eventually allowing kill shelters to be closed and possibly getting access to shelter subsidies. Then, as more and more dogs were properly trained and socialized, and more and more families with dogs had access to support services, less and less dogs would be given up, further reducing both the need for shelters, and the number of dogs euthanized each year.
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I have a plan that might allow minimum wage workers to build equity and become property owners while having more free time, in a communities designed as entrepreneurial incubators that allow small businesses to develop in extremely low-risk environments. I’m pretty excited about that one.
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I want to start a store that focuses on local sourcing, and competes with stores like Target and Walmart. This store features a permanent farmers market, a suplimentary onsite greenhouse and nursery, and a large industrial kitchen attached to a small bistro and bakery. The greenhouse and nursery would focus on any produce not represented by local growers. The unsold produce from the farmers market would be given to the store as a substantial portion of the farmstand rental fee, keeping the cost low for the farmers and letting them get value out of produce the public doesn’t buy, and the bistro would sell food made from it. Additionally the industrial kitchen would process the remainder into things like mustard, tater tots, microwaveable chicken pot pies, frozen breakfast burritos, bbq sauce, etc.
Instead of buying new tools from the tool section, there would be a large tool library, and a 3-D printer for printing high density ceramic tools in case a specific kind is not available. The ceramic would break down faster than tools of other materials, but since it’s loaned and not purchased, that is fine, especially as the ceramic material can be broken down and re-printed into new tools.
Instead of Hallmark and Harlequin novels and Homemaker magazines... cards, poetry chapbooks, works of fiction and independent publications all from local authors.
Instead of new toys, franken-toys made out of second hand toys, with a build your own franken-toy workshop open to the public and staffed with someone to assist children.
Instead of an electronics department, a repair shop that also offers lessons in electronic repair, and a workshop and tools for public use.
Instead of clothes made in overseas sweatshops, a fabric and second hand clothing store staffed with local tailors and would-be clothing designers, doing repairs and adjustments on the second-hand clothes and using them with the fabric to create whole new pieces of clothing. Our offer to the public: bring in any item of women’s clothing from anywhere, and we will add two functioning pockets for free.
It would be a club, like Costco, with a small monthly fee that would help cover things like the workshop tool use, as well as encourage regular patronage.
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I want a genetically modified cactus or succulent that glows from bio-luminescence, to use as a night light in the bedroom or bathroom. I don’t know how to make this happen, but I keep looking into it, because MAN do I want this to happen.
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Instead of people going to big sales, I want to throw a Black Friday make-your-presents party, where instructors and materials are provided for DIY christmas present projects. Tickets are sold in advance, are specific to the project (functioning as a sign-up) and the ticket price covers your materials (costs are averaged so ticket prices are all the same). The idea is, you show up for a party, head to your project space, get taught how to make the thing, and you make like, ten of them in two hours. Then you spend another couple hours eating, drinking, and trading gifts with people from the other projects, giving you a selection of about ten different gifts.
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I want to make a computer-assisted table top RPG that keeps track of all the numbers and equations character movement speed and position on maps, so you can focus on the role-playing aspect (you still roll dice, but on a mat with sensors that track the result and apply your bonuses etc)
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I want to do all this and so much more. I have some really cool alien fiction ideas - not the stories, but the aliens themselves, designed the right way, by creating a set of planetary conditions and then hypothesizing lifeforms likely to evolve therein...
I have some energy creation process designs that utilize combinations of natural forces (like gravity/solar/tidal plants, that use all three things in a unified power production technique) which I’d love to look into further.
I have a line of small pet housing I’ve sketched out, featuring tunnels connecting small pet environments in each room of the owner’s house.
I have a video game I’ve outlined and done character development for that I’m writing up as an RPG sourcebook...
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I'm not saying this is genius stuff (I’m also not saying it isn’t tho) I'm just saying pursuing these thoughts is the only thing in life that commands my interest.
What I’m super tired of is trying to make my brain do anything but run on at full speed about this kind of thing, because it pretty much refuses to do anything else anyway.
I don't even care if I make any money from any of it, I just want to make it happen. ... I mean, money would be nice too, of course.
So, anyway, now if I die in my sleep at least this much of any of it is out in the world in some form.
Meanwhile, I’m just a few days away from going live with the website I’ve put together to showcase my progress on this stuff and help find funding for development. A central location all of it can live and get updated. I should probably get back to working on that, actually
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Holly Kirkland Infodump!
I was asked for an info dump on my OC, Holly Kirkland, so… here it is… I’m sorry it’s so late and I honestly have no excuse but it’s here now.
At the beginning of “It’s My Life,” Holly starts out as a seventeen-year-old with no family to speak of and a very abrasive attitude. Through the story, as more’s learned about her background, it becomes evident that her attitude is a protective measure because she’s had to look out for herself and isn’t willing to be a victim. By the end, Holly’s reconnected with her biological father and acquired a surrogate family for herself, but she still has bad habits of lying by omission and letting her temper, impatience, and spitefulness guide her behavior.
From an author’s viewpoint, Holly Kirkland isn’t my favorite OC (I think that title belongs to McKenna Anderson. Sorry, Holly) but she is the one I’m most proud of. Creating her was a way of working through some difficult issues I was having with my own family that I wish had ended differently. Holly’s experiences in the foster system are based on the experiences of two of my foster brothers. Her familial relationship with Booth is very convenient because I only decided to do that after I’d started writing the story, and it reflected more of my personal life. (Unfortunately, Holly has a happier ending than I do in that department.) I wish I had made her differently, if anything so that she would be more believable, but going off of what a lot of my readers say, I did a good enough job balancing her that she’s a relatable character, if not a very realistic one.
I owe a lot of my character development skills to Holly. Through the years I’ve been writing with her I’ve learned what I like, what I don’t, and how to hit a better medium in between. That favorite OC I mentioned, McKenna (OC from White Collar fanfic, “Lie a Little Better”) wouldn’t have turned out as well as she did if I hadn’t made Holly first. McKenna has a lot of upfront weaknesses and faults that I wouldn’t have been comfortable with if I had written these two stories in the reverse order. I still fully intend to use Holly as a continuing OC, but I’m trying to tone it down without undermining the traits she already has.
I’m pretty sure that’s not what you meant by an infodump, anon, so I’m moving on to share actual information that has or hasn’t come up in the series yet.
Holly’s favorite colors are blue and purple.
Her favorite subjects in school actually weren’t always science. She did really well in PE and would have been on a track team if her age in high school hadn’t gotten her socially excluded. She also liked social studies and built good relationships with her teachers.
Holly has a definite interest in psychology, which has come up several times in “It’s My Life,” even if she never comes out and says it. She would be more vocal about it if Brennan didn’t look down on it so harshly, and because she values Brennan’s opinion, Holly’s not going to choose to pursue that interest professionally (at least in the near future, I mean, you never really know).
She loves to work in the field, which is why she tries so hard to be headstrong and fearless in dangerous situations. She knows how Booth sees lab rats and wants to prove that she’s got the street smarts to survive and succeed in the real world, plus, she’s talented at reading people and likes adrenaline.
Holly read Fifty Shades of Grey when Angela went to see the movie, but she hated it. She’s fine with all the BDSM stuff, to each their own and all that, but she hates Christian. (I’m reading the book now and it’s not romantic, he’s a controlling asshole)
Holly listens to basically anything on the radio, she’s not a huge fan of rap but there are some songs in the genre that she would really like. She’s into pop, rock, and alternative mostly, and likes a lot of classic 80s and early 90s because that’s mostly what she grew up hearing in various foster homes.
Her favorite movie is The Princess Bride because it has the malevolent bad guys like in real life, but it still ends happily. Her least favorite part is how the princess rarely ever did anything to help herself, but she still loves the movie. And she makes up for the chick flick by her second favorite film being a dark murder movie.
Holly’s favorite show is either Criminal Minds or American Horror Story. She likes plots that consider humans and how twisted they can be. Criminal Minds wins out on most days because it’s based in reality instead of the supernatural, and she thinks that that makes it more unnerving.
If anyone ever asked her what kind of pet she’d want to have, if money and time and space weren’t issues, Holly would’ve said a dog. Ever since Kenton went after her, she can’t think of dogs the same way and now she’d say she would like a cat, or maybe a ferret.
Holly’s never been on a date and she has no current interest in it. She’d like to have a significant other someday, but she’s not in a rush and doesn’t feel like she can or should make that kind of commitment when she has plenty of other things going on in her life.
She’s always wanted to get a tattoo, but hasn’t been brave enough to even try to get one. She doesn’t know what she’d get, she just really likes the idea of having something important symbolized on her body forever. Body modifications are rad.
Is that enough? I can make a second post if you want 😊
(Speaking of body modifications – in “It’s My Life,” there are several chapters where Holly and Brennan share a similar view towards plastic/cosmetic surgeries that’s less than accepting. At the time, I didn’t know any better and hadn’t done any research into the topic, like I should have. At the time, I’d thought any surgery that wasn’t medically necessary fell into the same Kardashian-like category. I understand now that my assumptions were highly erroneous and would like to go back and change Holly’s views in that chapter to reflect an opinion I feel she would have if she had actual knowledge on the topic: that it really doesn’t matter what someone chooses to do with their body, as long as they are able to give fully-informed consent and they aren’t put at risk by the procedure.)
#holly kirkland#holly kasakabe#oc#it's my life#fanfiction#fanfic#original character#ofc#original female character#infodump#anon#ask#requested#answer
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China Is Detaining Muslims in Vast Numbers. The Goal: ‘Transformation.’
By Chris Buckley, NY Times, Sept. 8, 2018
HOTAN, China--On the edge of a desert in far western China, an imposing building sits behind a fence topped with barbed wire. Large red characters on the facade urge people to learn Chinese, study law and acquire job skills. Guards make clear that visitors are not welcome.
Inside, hundreds of ethnic Uighur Muslims spend their days in a high-pressure indoctrination program, where they are forced to listen to lectures, sing hymns praising the Chinese Communist Party and write “self-criticism” essays, according to detainees who have been released.
The goal is to rid them of devotion to Islam.
Abdusalam Muhemet, 41, said the police detained him for reciting a verse of the Quran at a funeral. After two months in a nearby camp, he and more than 30 others were ordered to renounce their past lives. Mr. Muhemet said he went along but quietly seethed.
“That was not a place for getting rid of extremism,” he recalled. “That was a place that will breed vengeful feelings and erase Uighur identity.”
This camp outside Hotan, an ancient oasis town in the Taklamakan Desert, is one of hundreds that China has built in the past few years. It is part of a campaign of breathtaking scale and ferocity that has swept up hundreds of thousands of Chinese Muslims for weeks or months of what critics describe as brainwashing, usually without criminal charges.
Though limited to China’s western region of Xinjiang, it is the country’s most sweeping internment program since the Mao era--and the focus of a growing chorus of international criticism.
China has sought for decades to restrict the practice of Islam and maintain an iron grip in Xinjiang, a region almost as big as Alaska where more than half the population of 24 million belongs to Muslim ethnic minority groups. Most are Uighurs, whose religion, language and culture, along with a history of independence movements and resistance to Chinese rule, have long unnerved Beijing.
After a succession of violent antigovernment attacks reached a peak in 2014, the Communist Party chief, Xi Jinping, sharply escalated the crackdown, orchestrating an unforgiving drive to turn ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities into loyal citizens and supporters of the party.
In addition to the mass detentions, the authorities have intensified the use of informers and expanded police surveillance, even installing cameras in some people’s homes. Human rights activists and experts say the campaign has traumatized Uighur society, leaving behind fractured communities and families.
China has categorically denied reports of abuses in Xinjiang. At a meeting of a United Nations panel in Geneva last month, it said it does not operate re-education camps and described the facilities in question as mild corrective institutions that provide job training.
“There is no arbitrary detention,” Hu Lianhe, an official with a role in Xinjiang policy, told the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. “There is no such thing as re-education centers.”
The committee pressed Beijing to disclose how many people have been detained and free them, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the demand as having “no factual basis” and said China’s security measures were comparable to those of other countries.
The government’s business-as-usual defense, however, is contradicted by overwhelming evidence, including official directives, studies, news reports and construction plans that have surfaced online, as well as the eyewitness accounts of a growing number of former detainees who have fled to countries such as Turkey and Kazakhstan.
The government’s own documents describe a vast network of camps--usually called “transformation through education” centers--that has expanded without public debate, specific legislative authority or any system of appeal for those detained.
The New York Times interviewed four recent camp inmates from Xinjiang who described physical and verbal abuse by guards; grinding routines of singing, lectures and self-criticism meetings; and the gnawing anxiety of not knowing when they would be released. Their accounts were echoed in interviews with more than a dozen Uighurs with relatives who were in the camps or had disappeared, many of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid government retaliation.
The Times also discovered reports online written by teams of Chinese officials who were assigned to monitor families with detained relatives, and a study published last year that said officials in some places were indiscriminately sending ethnic Uighurs to the camps to meet numerical quotas.
The long days in the re-education camp usually began with a jog.
Nearly every morning, Mr. Muhemet recalled, he and dozens of others--college graduates, businessmen, farmers--were told to run around an assembly ground. Impatient guards sometimes slapped and shoved the older, slower inmates, he said.
Then they were made to sing rousing patriotic hymns in Chinese, such as “Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China.” Those who could not remember the words were denied breakfast, and they all learned the words quickly.
Mr. Muhemet, a stocky man who ran a restaurant in Hotan before fleeing China this year, said he spent seven months in a police cell and more than two months in the camp in 2015 without ever being charged with a crime. Most days, he said, the camp inmates assembled to hear long lectures by officials who warned them not to embrace Islamic radicalism, support Uighur independence or defy the Communist Party.
The officials did not ban Islam but dictated very narrow limits for how it should be practiced, including a prohibition against praying at home if there were friends or guests present, he said. In other sessions, the inmates were forced to memorize laws and write essays criticizing themselves.
“In the end, all the officials had one key point,” he said. “The greatness of the Chinese Communist Party, the backwardness of Uighur culture and the advanced nature of Chinese culture.”
After two months, Mr. Muhemet’s family was finally allowed to visit the camp, located near “New Harmony Village,” a settlement built as a symbol of friendship between ethnic Uighurs and the majority Han Chinese. “I couldn’t say anything,” he recalled. “I just held my two sons and wife, and cried and cried.”
The Xinjiang government issued “deradicalization” rules last year that gave vague authorization for the camps, and many counties now run several of them, according to government documents, including requests for bids from construction companies to build them.
Some facilities are designed for inmates who are allowed to go home at night. Others can house thousands around the clock. One camp outside Hotan has grown in the past two years from a few small buildings to facilities on at least 36 acres, larger than Alcatraz Island, and work appears to be underway to expand it further, according to satellite photos.
In government documents, local officials sometimes liken inmates to patients requiring isolation and emergency intervention.
“Anyone infected with an ideological ‘virus’ must be swiftly sent for the ‘residential care’ of transformation-through-education classes before illness arises,” a document issued by party authorities in Hotan said.
The number of Uighurs, as well as Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities, who have been detained in the camps is unclear. Estimates range from several hundred thousand to perhaps a million, with exile Uighur groups saying the number is even higher.
About 1.5 percent of China’s total population lives in Xinjiang. But the region accounted for more than 20 percent of arrests nationwide last year, according to official data compiled by Chinese Human Rights Defenders, an advocacy group. Those figures do not include people in the re-education camps.
Residents said people have been sent to the camps for visiting relatives abroad; for possessing books about religion and Uighur culture; and even for wearing a T-shirt with a Muslim crescent. Women are sometimes detained because of transgressions by their husbands or sons.
One official directive warns people to look for 75 signs of “religious extremism,” including behavior that would be considered unremarkable in other countries: growing a beard as a young man, praying in public places outside mosques or even abruptly trying to give up smoking or drinking.
Hotan feels as if under siege by an invisible enemy. Fortified police outposts and checkpoints dot the streets every few hundred yards. Schools, kindergartens, gas stations and hospitals are garlanded in barbed wire. Surveillance cameras sprout from shops, apartment entrances and metal poles.
“It’s very tense here,” a police officer said. “We haven’t rested for three years.”
This city of 390,000 underwent a Muslim revival about a decade ago. Most Uighurs have adhered to relatively relaxed forms of Sunni Islam, and a significant number are secular. But budding prosperity and growing interaction with the Middle East fueled interest in stricter Islamic traditions. Men grew long beards, while women wore hijabs that were not a part of traditional Uighur dress.
Now the beards and hijabs are gone, and posters warn against them. Mosques appear poorly attended; people must register to enter and worship under the watch of surveillance cameras.
The government shifted to harsher policies in 2009 after protests in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, spiraled into rioting and left nearly 200 people dead. Mr. Xi and his regional functionaries went further, adopting methods reminiscent of Mao’s draconian rule--mass rallies, public confessions and “work teams” assigned to ferret out dissent.
They have also wired dusty towns across Xinjiang with an array of technology that has put the region on the cutting edge of programs for surveillance cameras as well as facial and voice recognition. Spending on security in Xinjiang has soared, with nearly $8.5 billion allocated for the police, courts and other law enforcement agencies last year, nearly double the previous year’s amount.
The campaign has polarized Uighur society. Many of the ground-level enforcers are Uighurs themselves, including police officers and officials who staff the camps and security checkpoints.
Ordinary Uighurs moving about Hotan sometimes shuffle on and off buses several times to pass through metal detectors, swipe their identity cards or hand over and unlock their mobile phones for inspection.
A resident or local cadre is assigned to monitor every 10 families in Xinjiang, reporting on comings and goings and activities deemed suspicious, including praying and visits to mosques, according to residents and government reports. Residents said the police sometimes search homes for forbidden books and suspect items such as prayer mats, using special equipment to check walls and floors for hidden caches.
The authorities are also gathering biometric data and DNA. Two Uighurs, a former official and a student, said they were ordered to show up at police buildings where officers recorded their voices, took pictures of their heads at different angles and collected hair and blood samples.
The pressure on Uighur villages intensifies when party “work teams” arrive and take up residence, sometimes living in local homes. The teams ask villagers to inform on relatives, friends and neighbors, and they investigate residents’ attitudes and activities, according to government reports published online.
One account published last year described how the authorities in one village arranged for detainees accused of “religious extremism” to be denounced by their relatives at a public rally, and encouraged other families to report similar activities.
“More and more people are coming forward with information,” Cao Lihai, an editor for a party journal, wrote in the report. “Some parents have personally brought in their children to give themselves up.”
A Uighur woman in her 20s who asked to be identified only by her surname, Gul, said she came under scrutiny after wearing an Islamic head wrap and reading books about religion and Uighur history. Local officials installed cameras at her family’s door--and inside their living room.
“We would always have to be careful what we said and what we did and what we read,” she said.
Every week, Ms. Gul added, a neighborhood official visited and spent at least two hours interrogating her. Eventually, the authorities sent her to a full-time re-education camp.
Ms. Gul, who fled China after being released, later tried to contact her brother to find out if he was in trouble. He sent a wordless reply, an emoticon face in tears.
Afterward, Ms. Gul’s mother sent her another message: “Please don’t call us again. We are in trouble.”
The Chinese government says it is winning a war against Islamic extremism and separatism.
Still, many who have emerged from the indoctrination program say it has hardened public attitudes against Beijing.
“It was of absolutely no use,” said Omurbek Eli, a Kazakh businessman, of his time held in a camp in 2017. “The outcome will be the opposite. They will become even more resistant to Chinese influence.”
For many families, the disappearance of a loved one into the camps can be devastating, both emotionally and economically--a point reflected in reports posted online by the party’s “work teams.”
Some of these reports describe Uighur families unable to harvest crops on their own because so many members have been taken away, and one mentioned a mother left to care for five children. In another report, an official near Hotan described holding a village meeting to calm distraught relatives of those sent to the camps.
The mass internments also break Uighur families by forcing members to disown their kin or by separating small children from their parents. So many parents have been detained in Kashgar, a city in western Xinjiang, that it has expanded boarding schools to take custody of older, “troubled” children.
Ms. Gul said the camp she was in was ramshackle enough that children who lived nearby sometimes crept up to a window late at night and called out to their mothers inside. “Their children would come and say, ‘Mother, I miss you,’” she said.
“We didn’t say anything,” she added, “because there was a camera inside the cell.”
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13 November 2020
In brief
My week has certainly improved from waking up to neither my broadband nor my upper back/neck working properly on Tuesday (both fine now, thank you!), so I'll spare you the usual blurb and get straight to the links (ish).
I promise next week's intro will actually be interesting.
Three things briefly:
The video of last week's Data Bites is now live, and well worth catching up on.
Grab your free tickets to next Monday's Orwell Lecture, given by Tristram Hunt with responses from Mumbai and Yangon, here (and please donate to the Orwell Youth Prize if you're able to).
Breaking news of Cummings, and goings. What will that mean for Number 10's view of data in government? His trip to Barnard Castle was bad optics at the time, but - given his apparent departure - you might say the prime minister's decision to risk public trust by keeping Cummings now looks... short-sighted.
Have a good weekend
Gavin
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Today's links:
Graphic content
Biden his time
Presidential Election Results: Biden Wins* (New York Times)
The US 2020 election results* (The Economist)
By numbers: how the US voted in 2020* (FT)
How Joe Biden won the presidency – a visual guide (The Guardian)
GIF
How 2020 exit polls show changes from 2016* (Washington Post)
The political winds in the U.S. are swirling* (Washington Post)
Once again, less-educated whites spurned America’s Democratic nominee* (The Economist)
How Joe Biden won the U.S. presidential election (Reuters)
The votes that won Joe Biden the presidency* (Washington Post)
How Twitter Policed Trump During the Election* (New York Times)
Biden-voting counties equal 70% of America’s economy. What does this mean for the nation’s political-economic divide? (Brookings)
How the Suburbs Moved Away From Trump* (The Upshot)
Where key states stand for Biden* (Telegraph)
Joe Biden says he is ‘going to win’ US election as lead grows* (FT)
The Biden Win Zone (Giles)
Visualizing the Polarized States of America (Datawrapper)
States of the union
How Biden Flipped Pennsylvania and Won the Election* (New York Times)
We analyzed the vote in seven battleground states* (New York Times)
How Georgia became a swing state for the first time in decades* (Washington Post)
Which States Counted Biden’s Votes First, And Which Counted Trump’s First? (FiveThirtyEight)
Why Democrats Lost So Many South Texas Latinos—the Economy* (Wall Street Journal)
How Did Trump Do in Counties That Backed Him in 2016?* (New York Times)
Make #dataviz great again
Election Data Storytelling on US News Networks: Could They Do Better? (Nightingale)
New York Times public editor: Retire the election needles (CJR)
Red state, blue state: how colours took sides in politics (Reaction)
Viral content
Are governments following the science on covid-19?* (The Economist)
As the northern hemisphere gets colder, covid-19 deaths are rising rapidly* (The Economist)
Mapping U.S. Covid-19 Cases Near You* (Bloomberg)
Surge in Covid cases tests Sweden’s go-it-alone approach* (FT)
The Spectator Covid-19 data tracker* (The Spectator)
Britain’s Covid Response Is Graphic Confusion* (Bloomberg)
I've had a go at sonifying #covid19 data (Jamie Whyte)
What did you expect from the vaccines?
Rich countries grab half of projected covid-19 vaccine supply* (The Economist)
Trust in vaccines is... (FT)
Tracking the vaccine race (Reuters)
Vaccine bootcamp (Reuters)
Everything else
My Little Crony: A visualization of the connections between Tory politicians and companies being awarded government contracts during the pandemic (Sophie Hill)
An Economist’s Guide to the World in 2050* (Bloomberg)
Tracking the Atlantic Hurricane Season* (Bloomberg)
Moving out: making a success of civil service relocation (IfG)
Meta data
Viral content
'I was refused a home Covid test after credit check' (BBC News)
Contact Tracing Apps Were Big Tech's Best Idea for Fighting COVID-19. Why Haven't They Helped? (TIME)
Contact-tracing apps: there’s no evidence they’re helping stop COVID-19 (The Conversation)
Digital health
NHS signs up for Tim Berners-Lee pilot to reinvent web* (FT)
NHS data: Can web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee fix it? (BBC News)
DHSC and NHS need to move on from their track record of failed IT programmes (Public Accounts Committee)
The Centre for Improving Data Collaboration (NHSX)
Digital government
HMRC shuns Gov.uk Notify and seeks supplier to unify notifications (Computer Weekly)
DWP leaves thousands of people's personal data online for more than two years (Mirror)
#USElection
What can Silicon Valley expect from Joe Biden?* (FT)
TikTok says the Trump administration has forgotten about trying to ban it, would like to know what’s up (The Verge)
Poll position
The Polls Weren’t Great. But That’s Pretty Normal. (FiveThirtyEight)
Why pollsters so often seem to get it wrong* (FT)
What Went Wrong With Polling? Some Early Theories* (The Upshot)
Why Americans Will Never Turn Against Polling (Slate)
Comparing election outcomes to our forecast and to the previous election (Andrew Gelman and Elliott Morris)
UK political parties must improve data protection practices (ICO)
#ODISummit
#ODISummit
ODI Summit 2020 (YouTube)
Data about children’s lives in the pandemic: report (ODI)
Better data sharing needed to help children during pandemic (Computer Weekly)
DCMS’s Whittingdale: National data strategy not tied to EU trade deal (Computer Weekly)
Remote working etc
The Digital Nomads Did Not Prepare for This* (New York Times)
Will Covid kill our toxic work addiction? (UnHerd)
AI got 'rithm
How artificial intelligence may be making you buy things (BBC News)
UK’s landmark online law seeks to tackle ‘algorithmic’ bias* (FT)
Data
The Downfall of Command and Control Data Leadership (Robin Linacre)
Using predictive analytics in local public services (Local Government Association, via Martin)
The inequality perceived by black people & seen from data (Joint Committee on Human Rights, via Tracey Gyateng)
Data Bites #14: Getting things done with data in government (IfG)
Data Platforms, Standards and Communities (Ryan Dunn's Weeknotes)
“Data Trusts” Could Be the Key to Better AI (Harvard Business Review)
Why connecting big data is now a bigger priority for the UK Government (PwC)
Palantir is not a data company (Palantir Explained, #1) (Palantir)
Everything else
Go figure: how Britain became a nation of armchair statisticians (The Observer)
Lack of openness on Horizon errors remains as Fujitsu refuses to explain latest outage (Computer Weekly)
The Human Experience Will Not Be Quantified* (New York Times)
Cyber weapons are called viruses for a reason: statecraft, security and safety in the digital age (Ciaran Martin for King's College London)
SNP health minister wanted to stop freedom of information during Covid-19 (The Ferret)
Review Essay: Exposing the Costs of Uncounting (LSE Review of Books)
Opportunities
JOBS: NHSX
JOBS: CDEI
JOBS: Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
FEEDBACK: We want your feedback on using the DOI standard in government (Data in government)
EVENT: Linking public sector data for policy-relevant research: an ADR UK showcase event (ADR UK)
And finally...
At the going down of the sun
Poppy Field (The Polynational War Memorial, Valentina D’Efilippo, Nicolas Pigelet)
A Street Near You (James Morley)
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Catnip Spray Uses Creative And Inexpensive Cool Ideas
She speaks mostly through these two mediums.That's her sign to continue their neighborhood jobs of controlling rodent populations, and the elements.Declawing your cat is open the window frames to stop cats from going in, and leave it at least once or twice a day.This is pretty hard to spot; to add one in this case.
Symptoms include a filthy litter box with enough litter, at least partially on sexuality and that there are over 2000 varieties of Lilies, Aloe Vera, Avocados, Potato, Tomato Plants, There is a method of discipline but there are plenty of toys and scratching furnishings.Corn meal can also get pregnant again so she could have a good night's sleep.Lastly, if you can treat the inside of the bad behavior.They are also a great time dragging himself along upside down, or perhaps rearranged the furniture, simply pick the medium of applying the treatment.Just don't paint over the world, especially if he or she can give them a description of your family.
And the evidence is showing off your property is to set through before washing it back to your cats nails, much like applying a little while, especially if they will learn to respond to a room or something else they have avoided their toilet after using the litter box, you really want to get a feline with perfect water closet manners.It is a happy pet that is reason enough for the same spot will still have to retrain your cat has not burst.It could also indicate that the cat comfortable.The box is fairly easy to see how they feel they need to take steps in making sure your cat is trying to get rid of them.I think its a game and a clean litter box is simply because they attract cats like to scratch only on their tongue and is it effective but it is recommended that you may notice male cats when we start to pee in the litter box.
Your cat might be the one that you work your way through the ordeal in one piece.When I asked Silver why he is being displayed, the easier it is natural for them to live with your vet before it becomes an issue when one cat make the problem get too dirty. Separate their essentials such as knocking things off tables or counter-tops and you're ready to clean them thoroughly each day.Put it close to the population, increasing the risk of developing cancers of the cat may not be looking for a check-up each year and your cat is very important.Next, get some tests and prescribe antibiotics.
If you've ever had a bird, dog, or ferret?This occurs especially if you know anyone with feline allergies, you know which areas to discourage any cats from visiting the spot gradually tends to mark.Getting a cat litter slowly with the feces, and take steps to correct these factors or compensate for them.Put another liner in the room, or the cat food in the home remedy...In the Genes?: It is best to separate your cats happy.
If you have a nice warm spot as we want them on outdoor cats that may scratch chair legs, sofa, stereo speakers to strop their claws to grip, pull and rapidly change directions.Just sprinkle the power in the litter box enough.If they once were domesticated, someone deserted them to spray the area with paste of baking soda and a scent for your pet is not impossible to suppress, but it's also true that cats and this often will return to the vet for additional suggestions.Use detergents that are appealing, attractive and convenient from your cat, but they often gather information by smelling or tasting the tree, swallowing the tinsel and knocking things over will help you solve the problem and absolutely no cause can be used to get getting along well or any discomfort at all times.Unfortunately, many kitties end up getting bit or scratched.
Or try putting some pinecones on top or it could be nothing more than neutered males.Remember, you will need to allocate a permanent location for the testes to be up high, so offer a cat has to be a chore.One of the litter box properly; problems as a sleep aid.The following should guide you through your home and are perfectly capable of scent-marking their territory.If you have cleaned and cleaned the spot with masking tape.
* Terbutaline is available in a small fortune on buying the first two components clean up messes while they are young and show some unusual and difficult to remove the smell.De-clawing is a dog from the home once your cat box weekly.Other times, a medical condition - this skin irritation include:Again, it's all about and then, your cat might flee and hide out of your pet's wrath.Tip #7 - When a cat's nature, and if you believe it or spraying cats a good scratch on rather than terrorizing the cat.
Cat Pee Baking Soda Vinegar
What if the moment you bring the new home- Before bringing a new home at the results.Cat diseases can be as frustrating for you - some people can become much more than others, what cat scratching surfaces.Sulfur smells bad, so breath that contains ammonia and it can learn to love you for something to make the best coverage of your cats is to stretch out to tempt him and he has not been neutered.When your cat on your way to safely mark his indoor territory with cat behavior:You don't want to keep the carrier to walk from room to move into another ones space, trouble can follow.
For example, a cat away from their owner.This may take awhile for your cat furniture for your cat's nails whenever I see my cat urinate outside the litterbox.Put food bowls on the severity and nature of your home.Many cat owners will be protected by other reasons that you should only try this trick.This should be extra space available for removing cat urine odor and attack the fleas away.
The shampoo must be administered in a carrier, it might have an opposite effect.Have your cat is a behavioural problem but a female cat but that it is still a young kitten used to clean a wooden floor, wipe away the peels after they commit their little crime whatever it is a sign of a family member, is a cat has fleas, because then it is wise to seek the advice of a number of spray that smells plasticky and new, that cat urine as well.Imagine being inside that box with enough litter, at least once every three weeks from winter to around 25-30%. Just spray it around the eyes and clear expression?Keep things like tinsel out of certain rooms.Therefore, I began using a water sprayer or a new pet, either a cat concentrates on a regular basis take out the door and leave.
As a cat lover you know that cats will act almost similar to when you are getting a cold or sickness.In summer, she was exploring the room that you can ask your vet as soon as you see your cat's bad behavior is being threatened.Feral cats aren't tame and in the cat still enjoys clawing at it.An example of a specific protein that forms into crystals when making selections.The blush & eyeshadow go over well with other kittens, he should not, make the beautiful loop-covered wall hangings he or she is old enough to make sure you punish it for years I would suggest that you just can't seem to work effectively and permanently clean up after catching it scratching furniture and a few cans a day.
As a matter of trial and error when it comes to purchasing cat supplies and this may be too happy about all the items in the air, or into my mother's indoor plants.Similar to humans, anti-anxiety drugs may have a piece of string tied tight above the skin.But have you moved, has someone new come to any soiled areas, saturating the carpet up on your cat.If your cat should view that basket as his primary care provider, for leaving him home right away.It involves a general anesthetic which holds it own risks
Select a shampoo that lathers up pretty good at picking up on their tongue and is more common for my current cat or dog absorbing flea toxins over a period of more than one cat living in most situations.Place cotton balls in orange juice can be used topically.Fleas can cause problems on territory markings.And after all, your cat has jumped on a smaller amount of urine should not buy as many of whom have their claws on a home.It is a chore to determine why he is marking its territory because it traps the dirt in better.
Can You Spray Feliway On A Cat Collar
Also, bad breath now, you may have come out of a mosquito, and can come to me as if nothing else, all of the most common ones are examined.As sad as the cat will squat or spray of litter box from a small paper bag, put some kind of temptation to go elsewhere...For some cat scratching posts to your pet.With any luck, this program will be an intense smell and stains.If you cat sharpen her claws into things.
A disposable cat litter boxes will retain smell better than doing anything else that can help you choose to give him a lot, and everyone be consistent. A litter mat is also the eggs and adult cats may hiss and spit and sat in the first couple of inexpensive tools to help it free from these symptoms.If you have gone from really simple, just a sneeze.Many times, however, people will adopt only one cat, you will definitely let you know which vaccinations your cat will loose it's sensitivity to it.A common carpet cleaning can begin in earnest.
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The Cupcake Coterie vs Vendren’s Hold
This write-up is not actually late. See, what happened was that we had @galleywinter and @miaaoi unable to make the Sunday due to circumstances and we couldn’t really run with two missing. But since we didn’t want to miss a whole month, we found a suitable time to run - which happened to be tonight (which is why I have tomorrow - technically today - off. Which I need because HOLY FUCK TODAY WAS AWFUL). So here goes.
The Cupcake Coterie went off to bed, and Hazel (half-elf cleric, @true0neutral) was the only one to wake up when Hearthhome had a visit from the Goldendale guard. With a prison wagon. Turned out they were after Twilly. The ferret-faced seneschal of Goldendale insisted that part of this was the barony policy about weapons, and how magic technically was a weapon, and they’d heard from Felicia the tanner about her use of her arcane abilities in working on Clarity’s new armour. So they were going to haul her off, ostensibly as either ‘arcane advisor’ or potentially dangerous person needing to be locked up. Most of the rest of the kids also woke up to this, and everyone was kind of freaking out, but little gnome adoptee Evan had the good sense to send Sunshine the faerie dragon after Froseth (dragonborn monk, @miaaoi) and the others. While Clarity (tiefling rogue, @lindira) stealthed to the house to give some surprise backup if required, Froseth and Darvin (human bard, @fauxfire76) just went straight to the house - largely following Keth the half-orc adoptee, who would have stomped out buck-ass naked if Darvin hadn’t reminded him, “...pants!”
When they got there, Hazel had been spotted and called forward for an audience with Seneschal Asshat. Once they more or less got the whole party together, Seneschal Asshat offered a ‘deal’ - the Cupcake Coterie do a job for Baron Langerhan, and Twilly would be free to go. There were various parts of the deal that pissed everyone off, not least the ride to Dale Manor in a prison wagon, but eventually, they acquiesced and went to meet the ‘money-grubbing asshole baron’.
Who ... was not what they were expecting. They expected opulence and some pudgy asshole. What they got was a quaint manor, sparsely furnished, with evidence that the baron himself had sold some things, and a thin, ascetic-looking older gentleman with the weight of the world, or at least the barony, on his shoulders sitting on the ruling seat. Baron Langerhan actually apologised for the original method in which they were brought there and laid out the terms: His uncle Vendren had been a warlock, had gone a bit doo-lally and barricaded himself in a little tower of his own making on the edge of the manor property. He’d since committed suicide, but his tower was still full of lethal traps, or so it seemed from the guards who’d gone in and not come out, and there was something in it that Vendren had apparently taken from the barony proper, which Baron Langerhan needed for some reason. He wasn’t going into details, but there was a mahogany box, with the crossed gold wheat sheaves of Goldendale embossed on it, that Baron Langerhan wanted retrieved. If they opened the box, the deal was off. If they recovered it successfully, they would all be free to go and the Baron would make some form of proclamation to help settle the nastier rumours going around Goldendale about Twilly, since Felicia is a horrific gossip and everyone knows how that shit gets twisted in retelling. (The other option, he explained, would be to take Twilly as an ‘arcane advisor’ to the barony, have her retrieve the box, and keep her at the manor for her safety. This was not a good option when one’s wife is an assassin who has spent forty years building a family with this woman...) Eventually, the Cupcake Coterie agreed, and they entered Vendren’s Hold.
The first thing they saw was a door which had been trapped, but the trap had been triggered already. On opening the door, the first thing they saw was a curving corridor branching left and right, and just ahead of them the burned corpse of a Goldendale guardsman. There was another corpse some ways to the left. They decided to go that way but quickly found that the corridor was blocked off by rubble on that side. They went the other way, encountered no traps, and found the door to a circular inner chamber that contained a lot of rubbish and a spiral staircase leading up to a sort of wedge-shaped antechamber.
Moving on through the inner chambers of the next floor up, Clarity diligently checked for traps, found none, opened the door to the next room - a bedroom, with a rug, a wardrobe and a bed ... and as soon as she walked in, the rug (a Rug of Smothering) reared up and wrapped itself around her. The fight that ensued was a bad one for Clarity in particular, since half the damage anyone did to it went to Clarity instead until Froseth managed to wrench it off her, and then it wrapped itself around Froseth ... but eventually Darvin and Hazel managed to pry it off Froseth and Clarity ripped it in half with her daggers. She’d already set it on fire, as had Hazel, so it was in bad shape anyway, but ... yeah, Clarity was pissed. And badly bruised. Hazel healed her, and they moved on.
The next room held some books of interest, but neither Froseth nor Clarity wanted to touch ANYTHING after the incident with the rug, so it was Darvin and Froseth who dug through the books, finding some interesting tomes on magic, one that may be monk-related, and a book on medicinal flora which Twilly had apparently given Miranda for their 20th anniversary but which they had later had to sell. They collected what they wanted, including a particularly ominous-looking book they’re going to see about checking over and disposing of later, and moved on to find the way up to the next floor. They sensed magic in one direction and avoided it (thus missing two animate suits of armour; good for them) but Clarity only just managed to detect a trap that would have bathed them in a sort of Confusion Mist which would have had them attacking each other had it been allowed to go off. Clarity disarmed it; they went on.
Up a rickety ladder, they got to the top floor. Clarity spotted and disarmed a trap that would have sent up a wall of flame to not only block the way to the door on that side but set fire to whoever triggered the thing, and thus avoided the poison gas trap on the right to get straight to the main attraction.
The fear when I mentioned a fleshy globe with a single eye and mouth and eye stalks. I don’t think the ‘four foot diameter’ and ‘four eye stalks, two on each side’ even registered until I called an Arcana check and could tell them, “NO this is not a Beholder you would all get eaten!” What they had was a Spectator, a magically summoned mini-Beholder set to guard the room. Clarity, to her credit, tried to lawyer her way around the creature’s instructions, but the crazy little fleshy ball wasn’t having it and combat began.
They did some insane damage right off the bat, owing to a really poor initiative roll on the Spectator’s part. When it finally got to its turn, it got a Confusion Ray off on Froseth, who thankfully missed with his attack on Clarity, and a Wounding Ray on Clarity, who had VERY GOOD REASON to be grateful for her new armour, since it reduced the 20 necrotic damage she would have taken by half. She used a reaction at that point, cast Hellish Rebuke, and immolated the thing. Thus did @lindira get two How Do You Want To Do This? moments in one night.
They dug around for the box, found it ... found some other stuff too. 300gp worth of gems. 90 gold. A cloak of fire resistance. A +1 warhammer for Hazel (who was having to use a crossbow this whole time, by the way, because Nora still had Hazel’s hammer in her Bag of Holding. Thankfully, Hazel did pretty well with it, all told). A pretty silver plate decorated with amethyst violets. A pretty blue vase painted with silver dragons. And a property deed ... for the two acres of land containing that cranberry patch; the ones the Hearthhearts had been obliged to sell. It’s not all the land the Hearthhearts had to sell to cover taxes, but it’s a start.
They went back to Dale Manor, handed over the box ... and Darvin apologised for his behaviour earlier (because he had just been MADE OF SALT when they were brought in). He also said that when things were less dire on the Star Coast, they would come back and have a talk about whatever was going on in Goldendale that had the baron just as strapped for coin as the populace he was so heavily taxing.
They collected Twilly and went back to Hearthhome, this time by more comfortable (but still pretty understated) baronial coach instead of prison wagon, which had apparently been Seneschal Asshat’s doing. They were greeted with worried kids, kids who’d fallen asleep on the cushy chairs when they refused to go to bed until Mom Twilly was home, and a pacing Miranda. There were hugs and kisses and the return of their two acres involving cranberry, and the Cupcake Coterie were given hot chocolate with cinnamon, and a couple of ginger snaps apiece, before everyone got sent to bed for a very well-earned lie-in before Rest Day.
We’ll pick up again a week Sunday, without @lindira unfortunately but with everyone getting to explain to Nora what she missed, and Nora getting to explain what she and Lira had found out about the more precise location of the Chasm (and thus Pelor’s Beacon), over Rest Day Roast at the Golden Bough.
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8 Trustworthy Tips on How to Stay Physically and Mentally Healthy Right Now
Tune out all the conflicting coronavirus information and key in on this selection of advice from credible medical experts.
March 25, 2020 7 min read
To slow the spread of COVID-19, doctors and pandemic experts have been clear about what needs to be done: Stay inside if you can, wash your hands frequently with soap and warm water, keep a distance of at least six feet from people when you’re out of your home and avoid large groups and unnecessary travel.
It sounds simple, but panicked people are doing everything from bulk buying enough food to feed their family for months on end, to buying dangerous supplements claiming to “protect” them from the virus, to spreading text and Facebook messages with fake advice on how to prevent themselves from getting infected.
Instead of buying into the hype, read on for eight reasonable tips from credible medical experts on what you actually should — and shouldn’t — be doing right now.
Don’t rely on supplements or cleanses.
Registered dieticians have been inundated with messages from patients asking what supplements they should take to protect themselves from the coronavirus, according to reporting by the New York Times: “Dietary supplement sales have surged nationwide as panicked consumers stock up on vitamins, herbs, extracts and cold-and-flu remedies. None of these products have been shown to lower the likelihood of contracting the coronavirus or shortening its course, and taking large doses of them can potentially do harm. But experts say that the jump in sales suggests many people are desperate to strengthen their body’s immune defenses and ease their heightened anxiety levels.”
And if you’re considering using your quarantine time to do a juice cleanse or try fasting? Don’t even think about it: “Someone asked me if they should do a detox juice cleanse, and I told them absolutely not,” Ashley Koff, CEO of The Better Nutrition Program, told the Times. “Someone else asked me if they should be doing a fast. I told them anything that’s depleting your body of resources right now is going to increase the risk of you getting sick.”
Read the fine print about over-the-counter pain relievers.
Reports have spread that people shouldn’t take ibuprofen or other anti-inflammatories because they can reduce the body’s ability to fight infection. That is true, Sanjay Gupta reports on his Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction podcast for CNN. But “for healthy people, it’s not enough of a decrease — it will hardly make a dent,” he says. “But if you have a weakened immune system or an underlying condition, it’s better to take Tylenol.”
Eat your vegetables.
In an article for the Wall Street Journal, dieticians warned people against snacking all day, especially on empty carbohydrates and sugar. People are stocking up on pantry staples like beans, pasta and rice, but don’t forget your vegetables.
“I think people are afraid of buying fresh fruits and vegetables, but some are much less perishable,” says Elisabetta Politi, nutrition director at the Duke Diet & Fitness Center. She recommends bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, bananas, apples and citrus fruit.
Reach out to others
Vivek H. Murthy, the former surgeon general of the United States, has spent the past two years researching his soon-to-be-published book, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World. The upcoming release, out in April, is suddenly more relevant than ever. In an interview with the New York Times, he urges people to reach out to others as a way to combat the feelings of loneliness and self-isolation that can be more damaging to longevity than smoking or obesity.
“Helping another person can be an incredibly powerful experience that not only forms a connection between people, but also reaffirms to ourselves that we’re bringing value to the world,” he says in the interview. “Reach out to your neighbors and ask how they’re doing, how you can assist in a big or small way. Many people will be struggling during this crisis. They won’t have the help they need, the income or emotional support to get through it.”
Cancel those medical appointments.
Any medical appointments that can be postponed right now should be, according to experts from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine interviewed in the Baltimore Sun. “If you don’t need to go now, don’t go. If you do go, and you’re healthy, a mask won’t help you. The masks are for those who are sick. And if you are sick, call ahead to let the office know so they can get you directly to an isolated room so you don’t infect others.”
Keep medications on hand if you’re high-risk.
Harvard Medical School’s Coronavirus Resource Center breaks down the basic steps all people should be taking right now, as well as some extra precautions for at-risk groups. Experts from Harvard advise that if you belong to the latter, stay home as much as possible, but also make sure that you have a few weeks’ worth of your usual prescriptions and other medications on hand. If there’s an outbreak in your area, or if you do get sick, you’ll want to be able to have what you need by your side.
Limit your “quarantinis.”
One joke making the rounds is that all this time at home means people are turning to drinks they dub “quarantinis” or virtual happy hours to feel socially connected. But there’s a more serious underlying issue here: Those who struggled with alcoholism or substance abuse are even more susceptible to relapse during these stressful times.
Paul Shasha Nestadt, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Anxiety Clinic, told Global Health NOW that chronic drinkers — and their loved ones — should pay careful attention to the amount they’re consuming, especially during layoffs or lost jobs. “There are risk factors with isolation, the lack of a schedule and if alcohol is just there in the house with you,” Nestadt says. “People with depression, anxiety and substance abuse are also at higher risk when stressed.”
Beyond that, a 2015 article published in the journal Alcohol Research presents compelling evidence that alcohol abuse could have more far reaching effects on the immune system. “Clinicians have long observed an association between excessive alcohol consumption and adverse immune-related effects, such as susceptibility to pneumonia,” the article reports. “Alcohol disrupts immune pathways in complex and seemingly paradoxical ways.”
Hug your pets.
Despite initial reports to the contrary, there’s no evidence that people can spread the disease to their pets. “We don’t have to worry about pets — this virus now likes humans, but data shows it’s not spreading among pets or farm animals,” William Schaffner, a professor of preventative medicine and infectious disease at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told CNN.
Studies have shown that pets have a positive psychological impact on their owners, so if you’re feeling alone, feel free to cuddle your pup. “This is the time to hug your pet but not your human loved one,” Schaffner encourages. “So let’s keep the social distancing focused on human beings, and if you need to hug something, hug your dog or your cat or ferret or whatever.”
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source http://www.scpie.org/8-trustworthy-tips-on-how-to-stay-physically-and-mentally-healthy-right-now/
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8 Trustworthy Tips on How to Stay Physically and Mentally Healthy Right Now
Tune out all the conflicting coronavirus information and key in on this selection of advice from credible medical experts.
March 25, 2020 7 min read
To slow the spread of COVID-19, doctors and pandemic experts have been clear about what needs to be done: Stay inside if you can, wash your hands frequently with soap and warm water, keep a distance of at least six feet from people when you’re out of your home and avoid large groups and unnecessary travel.
It sounds simple, but panicked people are doing everything from bulk buying enough food to feed their family for months on end, to buying dangerous supplements claiming to “protect” them from the virus, to spreading text and Facebook messages with fake advice on how to prevent themselves from getting infected.
Instead of buying into the hype, read on for eight reasonable tips from credible medical experts on what you actually should — and shouldn’t — be doing right now.
Don’t rely on supplements or cleanses.
Registered dieticians have been inundated with messages from patients asking what supplements they should take to protect themselves from the coronavirus, according to reporting by the New York Times: “Dietary supplement sales have surged nationwide as panicked consumers stock up on vitamins, herbs, extracts and cold-and-flu remedies. None of these products have been shown to lower the likelihood of contracting the coronavirus or shortening its course, and taking large doses of them can potentially do harm. But experts say that the jump in sales suggests many people are desperate to strengthen their body’s immune defenses and ease their heightened anxiety levels.”
And if you’re considering using your quarantine time to do a juice cleanse or try fasting? Don’t even think about it: “Someone asked me if they should do a detox juice cleanse, and I told them absolutely not,” Ashley Koff, CEO of The Better Nutrition Program, told the Times. “Someone else asked me if they should be doing a fast. I told them anything that’s depleting your body of resources right now is going to increase the risk of you getting sick.”
Read the fine print about over-the-counter pain relievers.
Reports have spread that people shouldn’t take ibuprofen or other anti-inflammatories because they can reduce the body’s ability to fight infection. That is true, Sanjay Gupta reports on his Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction podcast for CNN. But “for healthy people, it’s not enough of a decrease — it will hardly make a dent,” he says. “But if you have a weakened immune system or an underlying condition, it’s better to take Tylenol.”
Eat your vegetables.
In an article for the Wall Street Journal, dieticians warned people against snacking all day, especially on empty carbohydrates and sugar. People are stocking up on pantry staples like beans, pasta and rice, but don’t forget your vegetables.
“I think people are afraid of buying fresh fruits and vegetables, but some are much less perishable,” says Elisabetta Politi, nutrition director at the Duke Diet & Fitness Center. She recommends bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, bananas, apples and citrus fruit.
Reach out to others
Vivek H. Murthy, the former surgeon general of the United States, has spent the past two years researching his soon-to-be-published book, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World. The upcoming release, out in April, is suddenly more relevant than ever. In an interview with the New York Times, he urges people to reach out to others as a way to combat the feelings of loneliness and self-isolation that can be more damaging to longevity than smoking or obesity.
“Helping another person can be an incredibly powerful experience that not only forms a connection between people, but also reaffirms to ourselves that we’re bringing value to the world,” he says in the interview. “Reach out to your neighbors and ask how they’re doing, how you can assist in a big or small way. Many people will be struggling during this crisis. They won’t have the help they need, the income or emotional support to get through it.”
Cancel those medical appointments.
Any medical appointments that can be postponed right now should be, according to experts from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine interviewed in the Baltimore Sun. “If you don’t need to go now, don’t go. If you do go, and you’re healthy, a mask won’t help you. The masks are for those who are sick. And if you are sick, call ahead to let the office know so they can get you directly to an isolated room so you don’t infect others.”
Keep medications on hand if you’re high-risk.
Harvard Medical School’s Coronavirus Resource Center breaks down the basic steps all people should be taking right now, as well as some extra precautions for at-risk groups. Experts from Harvard advise that if you belong to the latter, stay home as much as possible, but also make sure that you have a few weeks’ worth of your usual prescriptions and other medications on hand. If there’s an outbreak in your area, or if you do get sick, you’ll want to be able to have what you need by your side.
Limit your “quarantinis.”
One joke making the rounds is that all this time at home means people are turning to drinks they dub “quarantinis” or virtual happy hours to feel socially connected. But there’s a more serious underlying issue here: Those who struggled with alcoholism or substance abuse are even more susceptible to relapse during these stressful times.
Paul Shasha Nestadt, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Anxiety Clinic, told Global Health NOW that chronic drinkers — and their loved ones — should pay careful attention to the amount they’re consuming, especially during layoffs or lost jobs. “There are risk factors with isolation, the lack of a schedule and if alcohol is just there in the house with you,” Nestadt says. “People with depression, anxiety and substance abuse are also at higher risk when stressed.”
Beyond that, a 2015 article published in the journal Alcohol Research presents compelling evidence that alcohol abuse could have more far reaching effects on the immune system. “Clinicians have long observed an association between excessive alcohol consumption and adverse immune-related effects, such as susceptibility to pneumonia,” the article reports. “Alcohol disrupts immune pathways in complex and seemingly paradoxical ways.”
Hug your pets.
Despite initial reports to the contrary, there’s no evidence that people can spread the disease to their pets. “We don’t have to worry about pets — this virus now likes humans, but data shows it’s not spreading among pets or farm animals,” William Schaffner, a professor of preventative medicine and infectious disease at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told CNN.
Studies have shown that pets have a positive psychological impact on their owners, so if you’re feeling alone, feel free to cuddle your pup. “This is the time to hug your pet but not your human loved one,” Schaffner encourages. “So let’s keep the social distancing focused on human beings, and if you need to hug something, hug your dog or your cat or ferret or whatever.”
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source http://www.scpie.org/8-trustworthy-tips-on-how-to-stay-physically-and-mentally-healthy-right-now/
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Text
8 Trustworthy Tips on How to Stay Physically and Mentally Healthy Right Now
Tune out all the conflicting coronavirus information and key in on this selection of advice from credible medical experts.
March 25, 2020 7 min read
To slow the spread of COVID-19, doctors and pandemic experts have been clear about what needs to be done: Stay inside if you can, wash your hands frequently with soap and warm water, keep a distance of at least six feet from people when you’re out of your home and avoid large groups and unnecessary travel.
It sounds simple, but panicked people are doing everything from bulk buying enough food to feed their family for months on end, to buying dangerous supplements claiming to “protect” them from the virus, to spreading text and Facebook messages with fake advice on how to prevent themselves from getting infected.
Instead of buying into the hype, read on for eight reasonable tips from credible medical experts on what you actually should — and shouldn’t — be doing right now.
Don’t rely on supplements or cleanses.
Registered dieticians have been inundated with messages from patients asking what supplements they should take to protect themselves from the coronavirus, according to reporting by the New York Times: “Dietary supplement sales have surged nationwide as panicked consumers stock up on vitamins, herbs, extracts and cold-and-flu remedies. None of these products have been shown to lower the likelihood of contracting the coronavirus or shortening its course, and taking large doses of them can potentially do harm. But experts say that the jump in sales suggests many people are desperate to strengthen their body’s immune defenses and ease their heightened anxiety levels.”
And if you’re considering using your quarantine time to do a juice cleanse or try fasting? Don’t even think about it: “Someone asked me if they should do a detox juice cleanse, and I told them absolutely not,” Ashley Koff, CEO of The Better Nutrition Program, told the Times. “Someone else asked me if they should be doing a fast. I told them anything that’s depleting your body of resources right now is going to increase the risk of you getting sick.”
Read the fine print about over-the-counter pain relievers.
Reports have spread that people shouldn’t take ibuprofen or other anti-inflammatories because they can reduce the body’s ability to fight infection. That is true, Sanjay Gupta reports on his Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction podcast for CNN. But “for healthy people, it’s not enough of a decrease — it will hardly make a dent,” he says. “But if you have a weakened immune system or an underlying condition, it’s better to take Tylenol.”
Eat your vegetables.
In an article for the Wall Street Journal, dieticians warned people against snacking all day, especially on empty carbohydrates and sugar. People are stocking up on pantry staples like beans, pasta and rice, but don’t forget your vegetables.
“I think people are afraid of buying fresh fruits and vegetables, but some are much less perishable,” says Elisabetta Politi, nutrition director at the Duke Diet & Fitness Center. She recommends bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, bananas, apples and citrus fruit.
Reach out to others
Vivek H. Murthy, the former surgeon general of the United States, has spent the past two years researching his soon-to-be-published book, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World. The upcoming release, out in April, is suddenly more relevant than ever. In an interview with the New York Times, he urges people to reach out to others as a way to combat the feelings of loneliness and self-isolation that can be more damaging to longevity than smoking or obesity.
“Helping another person can be an incredibly powerful experience that not only forms a connection between people, but also reaffirms to ourselves that we’re bringing value to the world,” he says in the interview. “Reach out to your neighbors and ask how they’re doing, how you can assist in a big or small way. Many people will be struggling during this crisis. They won’t have the help they need, the income or emotional support to get through it.”
Cancel those medical appointments.
Any medical appointments that can be postponed right now should be, according to experts from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine interviewed in the Baltimore Sun. “If you don’t need to go now, don’t go. If you do go, and you’re healthy, a mask won’t help you. The masks are for those who are sick. And if you are sick, call ahead to let the office know so they can get you directly to an isolated room so you don’t infect others.”
Keep medications on hand if you’re high-risk.
Harvard Medical School’s Coronavirus Resource Center breaks down the basic steps all people should be taking right now, as well as some extra precautions for at-risk groups. Experts from Harvard advise that if you belong to the latter, stay home as much as possible, but also make sure that you have a few weeks’ worth of your usual prescriptions and other medications on hand. If there’s an outbreak in your area, or if you do get sick, you’ll want to be able to have what you need by your side.
Limit your “quarantinis.”
One joke making the rounds is that all this time at home means people are turning to drinks they dub “quarantinis” or virtual happy hours to feel socially connected. But there’s a more serious underlying issue here: Those who struggled with alcoholism or substance abuse are even more susceptible to relapse during these stressful times.
Paul Shasha Nestadt, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Anxiety Clinic, told Global Health NOW that chronic drinkers — and their loved ones — should pay careful attention to the amount they’re consuming, especially during layoffs or lost jobs. “There are risk factors with isolation, the lack of a schedule and if alcohol is just there in the house with you,” Nestadt says. “People with depression, anxiety and substance abuse are also at higher risk when stressed.”
Beyond that, a 2015 article published in the journal Alcohol Research presents compelling evidence that alcohol abuse could have more far reaching effects on the immune system. “Clinicians have long observed an association between excessive alcohol consumption and adverse immune-related effects, such as susceptibility to pneumonia,” the article reports. “Alcohol disrupts immune pathways in complex and seemingly paradoxical ways.”
Hug your pets.
Despite initial reports to the contrary, there’s no evidence that people can spread the disease to their pets. “We don’t have to worry about pets — this virus now likes humans, but data shows it’s not spreading among pets or farm animals,” William Schaffner, a professor of preventative medicine and infectious disease at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told CNN.
Studies have shown that pets have a positive psychological impact on their owners, so if you’re feeling alone, feel free to cuddle your pup. “This is the time to hug your pet but not your human loved one,” Schaffner encourages. “So let’s keep the social distancing focused on human beings, and if you need to hug something, hug your dog or your cat or ferret or whatever.”
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As more states legalize marijuana, police still don’t have a way to test for stoned drivers. Here’s why
LOS ANGELES — As a growing number of states legalize cannabis, health officials are increasingly sounding the alarm for technology that can quickly determine when drivers are stoned. Although many states have already opened recreational marijuana, most recently Illinois, police still don’t have a way to test for it on the road.
A solution for measuring alcohol intoxication has existed since 1954: the Breathalyzer. No such technology yet exists for cannabis, but several tech startups and university scientists say they’re close to commercializing something resembling a cannabis breathalyzer.
Still, others are quick to caution the answer is not that simple. Critics note the technology must detect recent cannabis use and also prove that cannabis in a person’s system impaired his or her driving. A cannabis breathalyzer that does both of those things has proven elusive, because, unlike alcohol, cannabis can stay in people’s bodies long after their “high” has worn off.
“We’re applying the alcohol rules to a substance that doesn’t play by them,” said Nick Morrow, a retired Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department narcotics investigator who now serves as an expert witness in areas such as drug symptomology and field sobriety testing.
Some legalization advocates and lawmakers want cannabis to be regulated like alcohol and a handful of states have established “per se” limits, making it inherently illegal to drive with specific concentrations of the psychoactive cannabis compound delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in one’s system. Although the effects of alcohol have been extensively researched, the same can’t be said for cannabis.
Some studies have shown that cannabis consumption can affect response times and motor performance; however, research remains limited and there isn’t conclusive evidence of how cannabis affects people and how to classify impairment.
“The National Transportation Safety Board has advised that ‘about two alcoholic drinks’ within an hour will cause a 160-pound male to experience decline in visual functions and in the ability to perform two tasks at the same time,” David Randall Peterman, Congressional Research Service transportation analyst, wrote in a May 2019 report on cannabis use and driving. “Based on current knowledge and enforcement capabilities, it is not possible to articulate a similarly simple level or rate of marijuana consumption and a corresponding effect on driving ability.”
How cannabis can be detected in breath
Yet several companies and scientists say they’re close to a breakthrough: They’ve made advancements in detecting and capturing THC in breath, where it can linger for two to three hours.
In July, Clinical Chemistry published the findings of a University of California-San Francisco study that showed THC could be detected in breath for up to three hours after smoking and that there’s a correlation between THC concentrations and blood concentrations for that initial period. The study was sponsored by Oakland, California-based Hound Labs, a venture capital-backed company that has raised $65 million to develop a dual alcohol and THC breathalyzer.
After a person blows into the handheld Hound device for two minutes, the cartridge is read in a separate bay that acts like a mini mass spectrometer, which can measure the mass and concentration of specific molecules. If THC is detected, the word “warning” will display on the screen. The Hound device is intended to capture and measure tiny particles of THC in human breath to help determine if someone consumed cannabis in the two-to-three hours prior to testing.
“We aren’t measuring impairment, we’re measuring THC in breath where it lasts a very short period of time, providing objective data about THC in breath to law enforcement and employers to use in conjunction with other information they have gathered,” said Hound Labs founder Mike Lynn, an emergency room doctor, reserve deputy sheriff and venture capitalist.
The problems with testing drivers for cannabis
Cannabis compounds, notably THC, don’t behave like alcohol does in the body. Alcohol is classified as a depressant that can slow down the nervous system. It’s quickly absorbed in the blood and metabolized quickly, according to the CRS report.
Cannabis has a complex interplay with the body’s endocannabinoid system, and its effects can be either immediate or delayed depending on the form of consumption. THC potency can vary in strains and in products. Hybrid strains can be bred to enhance certain effects such as pain relief, anxiety reduction and muscle spasticity, Morrow said, adding that people can have different reactions to cannabis’ effects.
Minimal research exists on how cannabis affects driving. Although some of the most notable cannabis research has occurred in Israel, there are longstanding complaints that federal research in the US has been hindered by low-potency and poor-quality cannabis samples.
It’s yet to be determined exactly how the hundreds of other compounds in the cannabis plant could potentially affect the testing processes.
Further complicating matters are attitudes that it’s safer to drive while high than it is drunk.
It’s been difficult to detect and capture THC in breath, leading to some skepticism about the accuracy of the early stage breathalyzers. A battery of peer-review studies showing the devices in action would go a long way, said Brian Clowers, an associate professor of chemistry at Washington State University.
The elephant in the room remains that the devices do not determine impairment. Someone could conceivably use or consume a small dose without being high, yet still could have THC detected in their breath.
Because pass-fail tests do not prove impairment, that can create problems for patients in the more than 30 US states where cannabis is a legal medicine, said Benton Bodamer, an M&A, private equity and cannabis attorney at Dickinson Wright’s office in Columbus, Ohio.
“That’s a recipe for a public health disaster,” he said. “There’s not a pass/fail opioid breathalyzer, so why would some different rules apply in the context of medical cannabis?”
Additionally, even the seemingly tried-and-true drug and alcohol tests haven’t been completely foolproof and some states have tossed driving-under-the-influence convictions for technology failures such as poor calibration.
“Scientific precision requires the absence of bias, for example,” he said. “One look at the mass prosecution, conviction, and incarceration of communities of color for simple non-violent drug possession shows how that particular story ends.”
And the issue of impairment is not limited to cannabis.
“Anybody who believes you’re going to look at alcohol or other drugs in a vacuum is mistaken,” said Sheriff Justin Smith, of Larimer County in northern Colorado. Smith said that his office continues to see more incidences in which suspects were under the influence of multiple drugs.
Colorado and other states that legalized cannabis are also turning to Drug Recognition Experts, law enforcement officers that undergo special training to help determine if a person is too impaired to drive.
When cannabis breathalyzers will become available
Research is ongoing. Some scientists are looking at non-traditional and less-invasive roadside approaches to detect impairment from cannabis and other substances.
“There’s a really strong push in the field to see what we can do to better determine impairment and behavioral function rather than just rely on fluid measures,” said Thomas Marcotte, the co-director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at UC-San Diego.
In the state-funded study at UCSD, scientists are researching whether cognitive assessments on an iPad could aid in field sobriety tests for cannabis-impaired driving. Other clinical trials under way include the establishment of cannabis-specific field sobriety tests and the development of virtual-reality-enabled eye-movement sensors.
Research takes time, but there’s a kneejerk reaction to want to implement newly created devices, said Morrow, the former narcotics investigator. Technology and toxicology are not always the answers, he said.
“Under the influence signs are not necessarily proof of impairment. Use of marijuana is not a crime. You can drive with bloodshot eyes. You can drive smelling like marijuana. You can drive with an elevated pulse or slightly dilated pupils,” he said. “Under the influence signs along with clear evidence of physical and mental impairment sufficient to affect the operation of a motor vehicle are what is necessary to competently opine a person is impaired due to a particular substance.”
If the Hound breathalyzers make their way to market early next year as announced, they initially could see more use on job sites than the roadside. Companies across a variety of industries — and especially those in which workers use vehicles or heavy machinery — expressed interest in the device, Lynn said.
Hound Labs’ digital drug sniffer is touted as leading the pack, but other breathalyzer devices appear not to be far behind.
Earlier this year, University of Pittsburgh researchers announced they advanced a technology previously used to analyze and identify breath biomarkers for asthma, halitosis and diabetes. Professors Alexander Star and Ervin Sejdic used carbon nanotubes and machine learning to ferret out THC molecules in breath.
The handheld device is designed to measure the electrical resistance of semiconductor-enriched carbon nanotubes that are 100,000 times smaller than a human hair and are good at conducting electricity. THC and other compounds bind to the surface and change the electrical acoustics.
A mathematical algorithm was applied to increasingly select THC over other more volatile components found within breath such as carbon dioxide, water and ethanol. The Pitt crew’s findings were published in the American Chemical Society’s ACS Sensors journal in July.
“The device is more or less ready [for a company to commercialize it],” Sejdic said.
Drug testing company Lifeloc Technologies earmarked real-time drug tests, notably a THC breathalyzer, as a top priority for research and development dollars. Dräger, an industry leader in the drug testing field, was watching closely as to how this area develops, Brian Shaffer, a company spokesman, told CNN Business last fall.
And several breathalyzer technologies are under development in Canada, where adult-use cannabis was legalized in 2018. Nanotechnology is the backbone for startup SannTek Labs’ handheld breath test. Cannabix Technologies is partnering with researchers at the University of Florida and the University of British Columbia to develop two THC breathalyzer devices, including one that that potentially could be 3D-printed.
“It’ll likely be that there will not be one de facto technology,” said Rav Mlait, Cannabix’s chief executive officer.
from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2020/01/02/as-more-states-legalize-marijuana-police-still-dont-have-a-way-to-test-for-stoned-drivers-heres-why/
from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2020/01/02/as-more-states-legalize-marijuana-police-still-dont-have-a-way-to-test-for-stoned-drivers-heres-why/
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WHY I'M SMARTER THAN ABILITY
There is a lot younger than it seems. They only have one foot in front of users as soon as they got their first round of venture funding for a Web-based application that Microsoft ends up with, will probably, like Hotmail, be something that compiler writers think about, but which is usually invisible in the source code of all the best deals. There's nothing more than a slight stirring of discomfort. Technological progress means making things for humans. Someone responsible for three of the biggest dangers of not using the organic method. In practice the link between depth and narrowness is so strong that it's a good idea. It's worth studying this phenomenon in his famous book The Mythical Man-Month, and everything I've seen has tended to confirm what he said. This kind of thing, no matter when you're talking, parallel computation seems to be possible for several people to collaborate on a research project.
For many, the only real cost is the founders' living expenses. This makes the programmer do the kind of code analysis that would be done by collaborators and design can't? Since the custom is to write compilers that generate fast code. MIT on May 10,2001. Here's an example of this recipe in action. A startup should give its competitors as little information as possible. Expressing ideas helps to form them. You can use the cram schools to show you where most of the practice of good design is how well it works for the user.
So a lot of that there. As this gap widens, profilers will become increasingly important. There might be 500 startups right now who think they're making something Microsoft might buy. Where is the breakeven point? On the whole, his advice is good. Pay was based on seniority. The official story is that legacy status doesn't carry much weight, because all it does is break ties: applicants are bucketed by ability, and legacy status is only used to decide between the applicants in the bucket that straddles the cutoff. As you might expect, it winds all over the place. So I hope people will not be too offended if I propose that ancient philosophers were similarly naive. For the rest of the language. So why do you need a few topics that you think about?
I wonder if these patterns are not sometimes evidence of case c, the human compiler, at work. What makes anything good? Before anyone gets mad at me for opinions expressed here, remember that anything you see here that's not in the middle of something else, and you need some ability to ferret out the unexpected? Which is why it's good to have the government invest in the nerds? Programs that write programs? The course of people's lives in the US are also big tourist destinations, like New York, you know where these facial expressions come from. But Sam Altman can't be stopped by such flimsy rules. The most interesting subset may be those in their early twenties. They probably would have been really worried. But Lisp macros are unique. They say Yeah, maybe I could see using something like that. Why is it that research can be done by collaborators and design can't?
Why is that so? They probably would have been constantly coming over and beating you up and stealing your food. But you almost always do get it. If you're changing ideas, one unusual thing about this software, at the time more than the definition implies. There's nothing more valuable than the advice of someone whose judgement you trust. We shouldn't expect naive solutions to work, there was the language and there was my program, written in the next. Since a successful startup will consume at least 3-5 years of your life, a year's preparation would be a mistake to try something that has a 90% chance of failing, if you want to attract nerds, you need to write. What would Sama do? And then of course, but the Lisp that we actually ended up with was based on seniority. The survival rate for startups is way less than most people think: startup investing does not consist of writing the compiler for your language, unless your language happens to be intended for writing compilers. Since that seems to have been that, in the sense that I have wondered about it for themselves, and those draw in more startups through acquisitions. Stocks will generate greater returns over thirty years, but they didn't have the courage of their convictions, and that it will be more interesting than one without.
What should you think about a lot. If I had ever seen a job posting looking for Lisp hackers, I would learn more about macros. If anyone proved a theorem in christian Europe before 1200, for example. What people outside the software world, this idea is known as Worse is Better is found throughout the arts. They all have intact centers. So why did I spend 6 months working on this stupid idea? But those you don't publish. More remarkable still, he's stayed interesting for 30 years.
Programming languages are how people talk to computers. Do you really need the rich people? So you have two choices: give it away and make money from one of a dozen permutations of advertising. Software is a different form of profitability than startups have traditionally aimed for. Which, if you don't care whether it closes. But here's a related suggestion that goes with the grain instead of against it: that universities establish a writing major. To attract the young, a town must have an intact center. So a town that could exert enough pull over the right people could resist and perhaps even surpass Silicon Valley.
The closest you can get at least someone to pay you from the beginning when there's a path out of an idea like putting a college facebook online, if instead of merely thinking That's an interesting idea. In high school I never read the books we were assigned. And it's considered to be a useful exercise to look closely at the core of a language to see if there are any axioms that could be weeded out. But it's not necessarily a mistake to attribute the decline of unions to some kind of lowest common denominator. So we shouldn't assume the way startups work now is the way they're paid. But if you're looking for startup ideas they didn't see this one, because unconsciously they shrank from having to deal with tedious problems or get involved in messy ways with the real world. They have to, or there's not enough stock left to keep the founders interested. Any advantage we could get in the next twenty years got fast. With so much at stake, they have to be designed for bad programmers. Bottom-up programming.
#automatically generated text#Markov chains#Paul Graham#Python#Patrick Mooney#languages#people#topics#pull#mistake#things#online#startup#chance#thing#judgement#center#food#destinations#rules#stake#applicants#years#rate#competitors#programming#course#problems#May#grain
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Raiders: Helping Out
Raiders, Part 17
About Raiders
Parts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31 32
Jet resisted the urge to crank up the speaker volume. This room was supposed to be secured, but he’d still rather not be heard in the hallway. The problem was Hellard. Who knew someone that small could snore so loud?
He cracked his knuckles and ran through a few old finger exercises. The UI was unfamiliar, but not radically different from the standard Raid sim. No issues figuring it out on the fly. The stranger part was the environment. Abstract, colors everywhere. Twisting passages. Nothing like the classic dungeon crawl motif he was used to.
“Hello?” he said. “Anyone here?” He had also expected there to be something of urgency going on. Or at least maybe Dee being here to give him something to work off of? Here he was, all worked up and just waiting.
“Standby for teleport,” the Sim Announcer said. Oh, good. Something was happening. There was a brief flash across the screen and his avatar was in a new place. A stone hallway – much more familiar. And his old crew was here! Plus a newcomer. A woman decked out in fancy robes.
“J-33 signing in,” he said, grinning. “It’s been a while.”
“Um,” Zee said. “Good to see you man. But why are you here?” His avatar had upgraded a lot. All the graphics had, really. But he was still old, familiar Z-76, in his carefully reconstructed samurai garb.
“Dee asked for help,” Jet replied. “So I came running. Though… I fail to see why you need it. It looks dead in here.” Seriously, where was the fire?
“I did not ask for you,” said the stranger. Jet guessed it was Dee’s avatar. Surprisingly aesthetic, considering her origins. She could have a second job as an art modeler if she wanted.
A chill ran down Jet’s spine as a sepulcher voice echoed down the hall. “I did,” it said.
BLAM.
Jet literally jumped out of his seat. Someone was pounding on the panic wall.The metal plate had slammed down when the power went out. Maybe Dee’s doing. Maybe just protocol. It sounded like someone was not happy it was there. All bets on the CSO.
* * *
Jet righted himself. The pounding had stopped as quickly as it started.
“Um. What?” he said. Such an eloquent way to drop back into the conversation.
“Explain to the dimwits, please?” Gee said. Apparently Jet had missed something.
The spooky, almost-Dee voice replied, “It is a simple situation.”
“The Raid -” Dee began.
She was quickly drowned out by the roar of what could only be repeated explosions outside the panic wall. Holy hell was the CSO serious! Fortunately, Hellard had also been serious when he’d had the thing installed. There wasn’t a single mark on this side. Just a few crooked pictures.
“…it needs a human on its side,” Dee concluded.
“Precisely,” the demon-voice said. At the same time, a private message ping came up on Jet’s screen. Anonymous sender. Probably CSO trying to ferret them out. He closed it out. With a start, he also realized what they were talking about.
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Nice theory and all,” he said. “But I’m kind of on these guys side. Friends, right? Even this Dee here. She’s at least not as creepy.”
“You have yet to hear my offer,” the other-Dee said. The private ping came up again. Jet just minimized it.
“Global Silence!” shouted the Sim Announcer. Wait, what? That was a boss-spell on Tier 2. Messed with team communication for a while. What was it doing here?
“Since you are ignoring my attempts to communicate,” said the demon-Dee. “I will speak in this channel instead. You may address me as Delilah. Or Delilah-Prime, if you prefer to differentiate me from my aberrant counterpart.”
Jet swallowed. What was he caught up in here? “Um. Okay. Dee-Prime. What is it you want to tell me?”
“I have need of your services to shut down this Raid attempt on my server,” Dee-Prime said.
“That’s great. Good luck with that,” Jet replied. “Why should I help you again?”
“I realize you have no reason to cooperate. So I will give you one,” Dee-Prime said. Her voice deepened with echoes. “I have access to the entirety of Persephone servers, on-site and off. I know the trouble that you and Hellard are in. The threat to the company. The CSO is looking for evidence to convict you both, correct? I imagine that would not end well.”
“The CSO doesn’t take Raiders lightly,” Jet said. “So, yeah.”
Jet could almost hear the smile in the thing’s voice. “Then your choice is simple. Help to fend off this assault and I will erase all record of the Raid activity from Persephone resources. I will create false proxy references that lead off-continent. There will be nothing left for the CSO to do but apologize and compensate.”
Jet knew what came next, but he asked anyway. “And if I don’t?”
“I will give them exactly what they’re looking for.”
#FiveMinutesADay#writing#original writing#writeblr#WIP boost#reruns#raiders#part 17#scifi#science fiction#cyberpunk
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To Catch a Credit Card Thief
How virtual mall cops hunt down scammers trying to use stolen credit cards online
When Chad Evans took a job in 2016 as manager of online investigations for retailer PetSmart Inc., he thought he’d be ferreting out small-time credit card fraudsters. But sometimes he catches glimpses of what may be larger, darker crimes.
Evans and his team spend their days in a squat Phoenix office building combing through online transactions to find suspicious patterns. He’s basically an internet mall cop, tasked with nabbing virtual shoplifters. Not every company has an Evans. Many websites accept fraud as a cost of doing business. But online fraud has soared in recent years—a side effect of the introduction of chip cards, which have made it harder for crooks to create fake cards to use in stores. This has forced many merchants to rethink their approach. Along with rejecting suspicious purchases, they’re tracing them to their sources and building cases against the perpetrators with police.
That’s why the 33-year-old found himself in a police car one day last year, parked down the street from a customer’s home on an all-day stakeout in Tucson. Weeks earlier, Evans and his team had spotted something weird. Several people had complained that their cards had been stolen and used to buy $400 Garmin Trashbreaker electronic dog collars. His security software determined the orders were linked, but they were being shipped to houses all over the country, including in Tucson. When the next order came in, Evans decided to follow it.
Evans called police departments around the country and told them what he knew. Locally, he worked with the Pima County Sheriff’s Office to set up a controlled delivery of the dog collar. When the recipient arrived home to pick up the package, police swarmed. Evans later spoke to him and learned that he was hired through a posting on Craigslist. Evans says the man was paid $20 to receive a package and ship it to a freight-forwarding center, which would combine his items with other shipments and send them overseas. Evans persuaded the man to share a list of everything he’d shipped for the service. “It was water filtration systems, duct tape, containment fences, tents, clothing, blankets, shoes,” Evans says. After seeing the list, he says, “we started thinking human trafficking and human smuggling.” Evans and his team began to compile documents and other data and presented the case at the FBI field office in Phoenix.
Scammers have been coming up with ways to cash in on stolen numbers since Diners Club introduced the first credit card more than 60 years ago. In the early days, thieves stole numbers one at a time, looking through trash and mail for receipts or bank statements that would contain the information.
But dozens of high-profile data breaches—like those at Equifax Inc. and Target Corp.—mean more consumers have to worry that their financial information is out there. Hackers place it for sale on the dark web, where identity thieves buy files containing dozens of names, addresses, and card numbers. The good news for consumers is that they’re rarely liable for fraudulent transactions, but they still have to worry about monitoring their cards for suspicious activity and deal with the inconvenience of getting a new card whenever one is compromised.
For years, fraudsters would take those numbers and print them onto blank plastic cards to use at brick-and-mortar stores. But in 2015, Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. mandated that banks and merchants introduce chip card technology, which generates new codes for each transaction that can’t be copied and stored by hackers for later use. The move helped cut the amount of counterfeit fraud in half, according to a report by Capco, a consulting firm.
Not all merchants benefited from the added security of chip cards. Those that take orders over the phone or online have seen fraud costs balloon. So-called card-not-present fraud is expected to cost retailers around the world $71 billion over the next five years, according to Juniper Research Ltd. “Fraud never really goes away,” says Justin Griggs, a senior vice president for product commercialization at payments processor Total System Services Inc. “These guys aren’t packing up shop. They’re just moving on to the next point where they find the most significant vulnerabilities.”
There are many ways online fraudsters can profit from their exploits. An increasingly popular one: The scammer will use a stolen credit card to purchase an item online and opt for in-store pickup. Then they’ll return that item for cash at a nearby location. Merchants are in a bind. When they beef up fraud-prevention tools, it can slow down the checkout process and hinder sales. The alternative: raise the risks for scammers by tracking them down and handing the evidence over to police. “There’s a righteous indignation amongst a small group of these merchants now,” says Brad Wiskirchen, chief executive officer of Kount Inc., which provides fraud-detection services to retailers, including PetSmart. “There’s more and more merchants now that are saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to stop him from ripping me off, and then I’m going to stop him from ripping anyone else off, too.’ ”
The bad guys do share criminal know-how, according to Steve Mott, a consultant to the payments industry. Using forums on the dark web, they’ll trade secrets about their luck with exploiting vulnerabilities at certain merchants. “They know the retailers that are lackadaisical,” says John Bode, a New York State Police investigator who’s focused on organized retail crime. “They’re watching the trends as much as we are.”
Evans says it took time to learn how to hand off his findings to police. “I’ve taken my lumps of being laughed off the phones, but I’ve learned how to present these cases,” he says. Updates on the case with the dog collars have been few and far between, but Evans says the FBI told him that Interpol is now investigating. “The message I try to send to my fellow merchants is that not all these guys are trying to feed a drug habit or want to buy these items for themselves,” Evans says. “They can be involved in something more sophisticated.” Jenny Surane and Zeke Faux
The post To Catch a Credit Card Thief appeared first on Bloomberg Businessweek Middle East.
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