#decentralized studies

[ccrpsorg]

Decentralized Clinical Trials and Contract Research Organizations in 2023

Decentralized Clinical Trials for the CRO

Decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) are a relatively new concept in the world of clinical research, but they are quickly becoming more popular. In 2023, DCTs are expected to become even more widely used as the technology and infrastructure needed to support them continues to develop.

A decentralized clinical trial is one that is centered around patient needs and improves the patient experience by allowing them to participate from their own homes or local healthcare providers. This type of trial eliminates the need for patients to physically access hospital-based trial sites, which can be difficult for some people due to distance or other factors. It also allows for greater flexibility in terms of scheduling and data collection, as well as improved accuracy of results due to fewer potential sources of error.

In addition to these guidelines from the FDA, there are several ethical considerations that must be taken into account when conducting a decentralized clinical trial. These include ensuring patient privacy and confidentiality, providing informed consent forms that clearly explain the risks associated with participating in a DCT, and ensuring that all participants have access to appropriate medical care if needed during the course of the study.

How CROS can Implement DCTs

Contract research organizations (CROs) can implement decentralized clinical trials by modifying their protocol to incorporate remote data collection, patient-centric protocols, and virtual engagement between trial participants and CRO personnel. Remote data collection allows for the capture of participant-generated data outside of a traditional clinical setting via digital devices. Patient-centric protocols allow for a more personal approach to clinical trials by allowing patients to participate in activities such as self-reporting on symptom severity, digitally submitting medical images and lab results, and engaging with physicians from the comfort of their own home. Virtual engagement between trial participants and CRO personnel can be facilitated through secure video conferencing tools that enable real-time interactions.

Further modifications to the CRO protocols could also include integrating artificial intelligence technology into the trial process such as automated monitoring of patient behavior, prioritizations of interventions based on individual risk profiles, and remote health guidance by virtual nurses or other healthcare professionals. Mobile applications could also be used to remind participants about upcoming appointments or events related to the study as well as remind them about taking medication or completing questionnaires. Incorporating these types of technologies would ensure that decentralized clinical trials are conducted efficiently while providing participants with an enhanced user experience throughout every step of the trial process.

Five Steps to Implementing Decentralized Clinical Trials

1.Educate Project Managers: Contract research organizations (CROs) should ensure that their project managers are educated about the benefits of decentralized clinical trials and how to go about implementing them. This could include learning about the technology, regulations, data privacy, and other important elements related to this type of trial design.

2. Establish Data Security Measures: Before conducting a decentralized clinical trial, CROs should have strong data security measures in place to protect participants’ information and ensure that it is secure throughout the study duration. This includes accessing participant data only with permission and using encryption protocols when transmitting or storing any sensitive information.

3.Evaluate eClinical Platforms: A key part of implementing decentralized clinical trials is choosing the right eClinical platform for your study design. CROs should evaluate the various eClinical platforms available to them and select one that meets their needs for a successful trial, such as being user friendly for participants, having features such as remote monitoring capabilities, offering robust reporting capabilities, and providing easy access to data from multiple sites.

4.Utilize Mobile Technologies: To make a decentralized clinical trial successful, leveraging mobile technologies can be extremely helpful for CROs to communicate with volunteers remotely, manage participant engagement in real-time, collect patient-reported outcomes quickly and accurately from anywhere, track compliance with protocols on site visits or assessments done remotely, etc., reducing the need for face-to-face visits whenever possible.

5. Create Protocols: Having clear protocols in place is essential if a CRO wants to successfully implement decentralized clinical trials as they help ensure consistency across different sites by setting expectations around communication between sites and central teams; supervision of staff; quality control procedures; safety reporting; use of investigational drugs; collection of patient data; follow up on withdrawals or lost patients; etc., throughout the duration of the trial

How do DCTs Work?

Decentralized clinical trials offer a variety of benefits to CROs, such as reduced costs associated with traditional on-site trials, improved patient recruitment, faster data collection and analysis, and greater efficiency.

Decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) offer a promising new model for contract research organizations (CROs). By leveraging decentralized technologies such as blockchain and distributed ledger technology, DCTs provide a secure, efficient, and cost-effective alternative to traditional CRO models.

The key advantages of DCTs for CROs include enhanced security and data integrity, improved consent management, faster and more secure patient recruitment, and greater visibility into the trial process. With DCTs, CROs can leverage existing research infrastructure while streamlining processes such as data management and quality control.

To further explore the potential of DCTs, it's helpful to look at some recent developments in the industry. In 2018, Decentralized Clinical Trials LLC partnered with Johnson & Johnson to create JLABS@TMCx to develop innovative digital health solutions for clinical trials. This collaboration unveiled two major projects that leverage decentralized technologies: Project Catalyst and Project Ovenbird.

Project Catalyst seeks to develop a system of protocols that will allow researchers to securely exchange information in real-time. The project is currently focused on developing decentralized application (dApp) versions of standard protocols and applications used in clinical trials. Meanwhile, Project Ovenbird seeks to create an enterprise-grade distributed data platform that will enable researchers to collect structured data from decentralized sources while maintaining privacy standards comparable to those set by HIPAA.

In addition to these projects with J&J, Decentralized Clinical Trials LLC has also partnered with Microsoft Corporation on a pilot program called "Verified Credentials." This program leverages blockchain technology to ensure accurate identity verification during patient recruitment processes for clinical trials.

For CROs interested in exploring DCTs further, there are several resources available online that can help provide a better understanding of their benefits, applications, and potential challenges. The National Institutes of Health recently launched the Decentralized Clinical Trials Hub (DCThub), which provides educational materials about DCTs for research professionals. Additionally, several companies offer products tailored specifically for DCTs such as TrialX from OptumIQ or Oneyield from Castor EDC Solutions Ltd., both of which are designed to support decentralized clinical trial design and implementation workflows.

Types of Remote Monitoring in DCTs

Decentralized clinical trials are conducted using remote monitoring technology to capture data from patients rather than requiring them to come into a physical research site. This allows for more flexible trial designs that can be tailored to specific patient populations and geographic locations. In addition, patients can more easily participate in a trial without having to travel or take time off from their daily lives. For example, virtual visits through telemedicine can be used for initial screening and assessments, reducing the number of visits required at an on-site research facility.

Data collected from decentralized clinical trials is often more accurate than what is typically collected in traditional on-site trials due to the use of continuous wearables, mobile devices and other innovative digital technologies that provide real-time monitoring of health parameters such as blood pressure or glucose levels. This increases the quality and granularity of information available to researchers while decreasing the amount of labor required for data collection. Additionally, electronic health records (EHRs) can be integrated with decentralized trial platforms allowing for rich longitudinal datasets that enable deeper insights into patient outcomes over time.

One example of a decentralized clinical trial is the use of telemedicine to support remote monitoring. This could involve providing video conferencing for patient-physician visits and using smartphones for tracking vital signs. In addition, telemedicine can enable doctors to monitor patients with chronic conditions remotely, by collecting medical data from sensors that have been placed on the patient’s body. This type of monitoring allows doctors to keep track of changes in health parameters without requiring an in-person visit, significantly reducing both costs and risks associated with traveling for treatment.

Another example is direct-to-patient (DTP) trials, in which medication is shipped directly to a patient's home instead of them having to travel to a clinic. In this case, study coordinators can monitor the progress remotely via phone calls or text messages while also providing support when needed. This approach has enabled researchers to conduct studies involving large numbers of participants located around the world who would otherwise not have been able to participate due to geographic distance or lack of transportation resources.

Finally, wearable devices are also being used increasingly in decentralized clinical trials as they allow researchers to collect more accurate data about activity levels and other health metrics over long periods of time without needing frequent interventions from healthcare personnel. It is possible for these devices to be connected directly with electronic data capture systems so that the collected information can be analyzed quickly and accurately by researchers.

Larger Patient Engagement

The decentralization of clinical research also opens up new opportunities for CROs to reach larger populations by enabling simultaneous studies across multiple sites around the world and removing many logistical barriers related to travel or geographical distance between participants and study sites. Additionally, leveraging social media platforms for recruiting further expands access potential outside of traditional recruitment networks and offers ways to engage with potential participants more directly than before.

Decentralized clinical trials, also called virtual studies or remote research, have the potential to revolutionize the way clinical studies are conducted. A decentralized clinical trial is a type of clinical study where participants are distributed across geographical and other boundaries, allowing them to participate from their own homes or from one of many remote sites.

To explore further options regarding DCTs and related technologies, interested parties may consult companies such as Medidata Solutions (www.medidatasolutionsinc.com), IMS Health (www.imshealth.com), HRA Pharma (www.hrapharma) or IQVIA (www.iqvia). These firms specialize in providing comprehensive services related to DCT implementation, ranging from development and customization of software solutions through full project management services that cover all aspects of a clinical trial operation from start-up through completion – including training protocols for implementing these new technologies at each site visited during study duration and beyond..

Overall, decentralized clinical trials represent a significant opportunity for CROs looking to move away from costly on-site studies in favor of more cost effective approaches that offer equally robust data sets but require fewer resources from both researchers and participants alike. As technology continues to advance so too will our collective ability to take advantage of decentralized trial designs for bigger impact studies without sacrificing quality or rigor.

Decentralized clinical trials offer many advantages over traditional site-based studies. They provide greater convenience for patients while still maintaining high levels of safety and efficacy standards. As technology continues to advance in 2023, we can expect even more opportunities for DCTs to become available.

More Examples on Decentralized Clinical Trials:

In the past decade, the advent of blockchain and other technologies have made it possible for clinical trials to be conducted in a decentralized manner. Here are five examples of decentralized clinical trials currently taking place across the world.

1. Mediledger Clinical Trial Supply Chain: This trial is being managed by MediLedger, a healthcare-focused blockchain consortium. The goal of this trial is to use blockchain technology to streamline and secure the global movement and tracking of drugs within the supply chain. The solution will enable parties to share data about patient safety, drug expiration dates, and more in real-time – all while remaining compliant with regulatory standards.

2. CardiLynx Smart Phone ECG Readings: This study is being conducted by CardiLynx, a healthcare technology company that specializes in mobile health applications that measure electrocardiograms (ECGs). The aim of this trial is to use an app on a smartphone to accurately detect heart arrhythmias in patients over time, as well as identify early symptoms and risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases like stroke and heart attack.

3. Cogstate Cognitive Testing Trial: This study is sponsored by Cogstate, an AI-powered cognitive assessment platform that uses computer games to measure cognitive performance across multiple disciplines such as memory, attention and executive functioning. The purpose of this trial is to evaluate how well Cogstate’s technology can accurately detect changes in cognition over time in various patient populations and disease states.

4. Takeda Whole Genome Sequencing Study: This research project is sponsored by Takeda Pharmaceuticals, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. In this project, researchers are using whole genome sequencing technology to increase our knowledge about genetic mutations related to certain diseases such as hemoglobinopathies or rare blood disorders. They are also trying to identify new treatment options based on these mutations that could help improve patient outcomes overall.

5. Verily Life Sciences Patient Health Monitoring Project: This project involves Verily Life Sciences working with healthcare providers, payers and employers on an initiative called “Project Baseline” which uses wearables and other devices such as Fitbits or Apple watches to monitor patients’ health data in real-time while they go about their daily lives outside of a clinical setting. Through this project, Verily aims to understand how different lifestyle behaviors can influence health outcomes; enhance patient engagement; reduce healthcare costs; and ultimately improve population health management globally

6. GlaxoSmithKline’s digital platform trial: GlaxoSmithKline developed an innovative digital platform to conduct a clinical trial of its new asthma drug, mepolizumab, in the United States. The trial involved recruiting participants through a web-based interface, using secure electronic data capture (EDC) tools to collect and store data in real time, and utilizing mobile devices for remote patient monitoring. This decentralized clinical trial was able to reduce the traditional costs associated with running a large-scale clinical trial because it eliminated many of the steps required for enrollment and data collection. Additionally, it enabled GSK to recruit more geographically diverse participants who would not have been able to take part in a conventional trial setting.

7. Merck's MyEHRConnected study: Merck conducted the MyEHRConnected study, which sought to evaluate the efficacy and safety of its diabetes medication Januvia (sitagliptin). This was an international phase III study that utilized electronic health records (EHRs) from more than 60 sites located throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Canada in order to identify eligible patients with type 2 diabetes. The EHRs enabled Merck to recruit participants quickly without requiring physical visits or extensive paperwork. Furthermore, researchers could securely access patient data stored within the EHR system during the duration of the study for analysis and evaluation purposes—a process that would have been impossible with paper-based records.

8. Sanofi's Telcare Diabetes Trial: Sanofi conducted a revolutionary telephone-based randomized control trial known as the Telcare Diabetes Trial (TDCAT), which aimed to assess the impact of telemedicine on diabetes care management among patients at risk for complications due to uncontrolled blood sugar levels. Patients were randomly divided into two groups—one group received standard care while another group received a combination of traditional care plus remote support provided by nurses through weekly phone calls over a period of six months. Results showed that those participants receiving telemedicine services had significantly better glycemic control than those who did not receive any telemedicine services at all—highlighting one powerful benefit of decentralizing clinical trials using technology such as telephone communication services.

9. Novartis’wearable device clinical trial: Novartis launched an ambitious clinical trial involving 20,000 individuals across nine countries in order to evaluate whether wearable devices such as smart watches can detect early signs of heart failure before medical symptoms appear. The decentralized nature of this study offered numerous advantages over traditional studies in terms of cost savings as well as recruitment speed; enabling Novartis to rapidly reach out potential participants worldwide instead of relying solely on localized recruitment methods used previously by other companies conducting similar trials with much smaller sample sizes due to limited resources or geographic restrictions

10. Eli Lilly & Company's eCOA Study: Eli Lilly & Company recently completed an innovative eCOA (electronic Clinical Outcomes Assessment) study that leveraged mobile applications and internet-connected devices in order to record patient outcomes over longer periods of time compared with traditional studies involving paper forms or periodic clinic visits alone. By using this decentralized approach, Lilly was able to gather more accurate data while reducing costs associated with running conventional trials; making it possible for them to enroll larger numbers of patients in shorter periods than ever before.

11. The IQVIA-sponsored study by the Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative (API). This study was designed to evaluate the effects of an investigational oral form of the drug solanezumab on the cognitive decline associated with early stage Alzheimer's disease. It was a decentralized trial conducted using remote monitoring, which allowed participants and clinical sites to interact online via web-based video visits, digital questionnaires and remote diagnostic testing. The trial collected data from over 800 participants at over 30 clinical sites in 12 countries.

12. A decentralized clinical trial launched by Durect Corporation to assess its investigational drug DUR-928 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The Durect NASH study was conducted across 16 countries and used innovative telemedicine technologies for patient monitoring and data collection. In addition to traditional site visits, remote video visits were performed with patients and caregivers to observe adverse events, review patient-reported outcomes, analyze lab results remotely and monitor compliance with the protocol.

13. The Institute for Qualitative Medicine’s (IQM) pilot study that evaluated an innovative approach to decentralizing clinical trials using mobile health technology (mHealth). The mHealth platform was used to connect participants remotely with healthcare professionals who monitored vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation level and body temperature using wireless medical devices connected directly to smartphones or computers. In addition, the platform included a chatbot that trained participants on how to use their medical device correctly or send real-time reminders when it was time for follow-up appointments or tests.

14. An analysis conducted by PPD Incorporated comparing decentralized vs centralised clinical trials for a Phase IIb study evaluating an investigational vaccine for malaria prevention in children aged 1–6 years old. They found that decentralizing the trial saved approximately 25% in total resources spent compared to a centralized approach and resulted in shorter recruitment times due to increased convenience for both investigators and participants alike compared with centralised approaches where people had to travel long distances for appointments or procedures.

15. A global Phase IIIa research program sponsored by GSK which evaluated an experimental shingles vaccine involving over 17000 elderly individuals across 11 countries in Europe and Latin America including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Germany Spain France Italy Netherlands Poland Portugal UK..The study incorporated various decentralized models such as virtual/remote clinic visits with self-administered questionnaires through smartphones/tablets; home delivery of intervention product; remote diagnostics; online physician/patient communication through video calls; collection of sample storage through kits sent remotely from local courier companies etc., thus enabling a truly distributed model of conducting clinical trials without relying solely on physical presence at site locations

Want to train your staff to run decentralized clinical trials? Enroll them in our in-depth clinical trial certification courses with hours of lectures focuses on remote monitoring alone.

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[jeeva-trials]

Dealing with challenges in Quality Evidence Generation with a Real-Time Analytical Framework that makes Clinical Sense for Innovators

Evidence linking interventions with health outcomes is vital for healthcare decision-making. Making sound choices about healthcare requires the best possible and quality evidence from clinical research. However, some of the decisions currently made during the drug development process are not supported by high-quality evidence.  As such, making informed decisions for allocating adequate resources to guide clinical Research development becomes challenging. At mid-stage clinical development, the challenge entails in determining the specific indication, if there are multiple potential indications. Moreover, evidence that is complete for some individuals or groups may be incomplete for others, leading to inefficiencies in decision-making.

Evidence generation strategies are especially important at Phase III and Phase IV trials to allow for effective navigation through competitive and regulatory hurdles, while it may be difficult to effectively communicate potentially attractive product attributes to the stakeholders, especially when it has no clear advantage over comparators. Stakeholders also lack the evidence needed to make real-world decisions on approval, coverage and use of treatments as most current processes used in evidence generation focus narrowly on the safety and efficacy of treatment.

Datasets to inform real-time decision making

The traditional demarcation between pre- and post-approval phases does not fit many medical products, as regulatory decisions could be informed by the same evidence that informs the use and coverage decisions, though the criteria for decisions should not be the same for both cases. Validated tools, based on large datasets to help inform real-time decision making are invaluable, yet they are currently limited. When new treatments are approved, healthcare payers and those who participate in shared savings base coverage determination on their value which is calculated by the evidence of benefit and net costs. The incorporation of real-world data (RWD) and patient-reported outcomes (PRO) into the evidence generation process could assist in making coverage determinations by rendering clinical evidence and research more immediately translatable to the beneficiary population.

Real-world data (RWD) and real-world evidence (RWE)

Additionally, large differences usually exist between the evidence required for initial adopters, such as surveys and studies, and that required for most prospective randomized control trials (RCTs). While the healthcare community uses RWD and RWE to develop decision support tools for use in clinical practices, medical product developers use these data to support clinical trial designs and observational studies to generate innovative treatment approaches. FDA uses RWE and RWD to monitor adverse events, post-market safety of the drug, and to make regulatory decisions. While RWD can be collected from various sources such as electronic health records (EHRs) and product and disease registries, RWE can be generated by different study designs including observational studies and randomized trials.  

Aligning stakeholders for evidence generation

Aligning stakeholders is another big challenge of evidence generation as different stakeholders will have their own perspectives on uncertainties throughout the drug development lifecycle. Regulators may have different views as to what is acceptable to that of the patient. As such, it remains an industry-wide challenge to provide credible evidence for clinical research to innovators and investigators. Challenges exist for healthcare innovators to keep up to date with compliance and regulations about evidence generation as regulatory space evolves fast.

Because pharmaceutical companies tend to delegate evidence generation to individual departments that are often siloes, the process occurs sequentially, resulting in delays in crucial milestones such as getting regulatory approval before initiating an outcomes-based study.

https://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/10.2217/cer-2017-0073

An analytical framework model that makes clinical sense

There is a pressing need for high-quality evidence generation as regulators and payers seek more long-term data on product safety and effectiveness. As such, more efficient methodologies for generating evidence are required for decision-making, and to enhance clinical evidence collection and interpretation. An analytical framework model makes clinical sense as an evidentiary pathway, however, the challenge for investigators in evidence gathering is to fill out the framework. If the study design is weak, then the link in the evidence chain is also weak. Studies need to be carefully and prospectively designed, and opportunities exist to add well-designed studies into current practices. Study teams and researchers should consider how to most effectively translate diagnostic tests into practice needs within clinical settings.

Quality clinical evidence of safety and efficacy

The Jeeva™ eClinical Cloud platform provides clinical decision-makers with a modular and integrated approach to evidence planning and generation. From a single dashboard, study leaders can monitor data in real time to track safety and efficacy in representative patient populations across vast distances. The Jeeva™ eClinical Cloud is designed for efficient, remote long-term follow-up, natural history and other observational studies as well as interventional clinical trials regardless of therapeutic area. Jeeva™ enables quality clinical evidence generation to evaluate treatment safety and efficacy and tracks patients’ adherence to medications, in compliance with regulatory agencies such as Institutional Review Boards, EMA, FDA, and GDPR.

Digital-first approach to evidence generation

Study teams, innovators, drug developers, biopharmaceutical sponsors, clinical researchers, hospital sites and contract research organizations (CROs) face challenges to overcome the “no evidence, no implementation—no implementation, no evidence” paradox. Jeeva™ provides a new, digital-first, patient-centric approach to evidence generation that considers patients as partners for clinical trials, not merely subjects.  

The Jeeva™ eClinical Cloud is user-designed software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that allows volunteers to conveniently complete clinical trials wherever they are. The flexible and modular bring-your-own-device (BYOD) solution works on any browser-enabled mobile device and cuts out 70% of logistical burdens for study teams and patients. The modular and flexible Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription-based model is enriched with many features such as automated enrollment workflows, electronic patient-reported outcomes, 2-way email and SMS communication, uploading of lab reports, and more that are designed to encourage innovators to undertake research activities, rather than be intimidated by the complexity, logistical burdens, duration and costs of the traditional evidence generation approaches.

Quickly setup clinical studies of any scale or duration

Jeeva™ applies an innovative approach to remote screening, eConsent, patient registries and natural history studies can enable the generation of higher-quality, low-cost and more timely evidence generation for clinical trials. Jeeva™ offers a cost-effective solution to quickly set up and conduct clinical studies, of any scale or duration, with or without patient travel involved (e.g. hybrid or fully decentralized clinical trial protocols). Jeeva™ provides a more effective clinical trial design in terms of evidence generation, accelerating patient recruitment, site feasibility and endpoints that bring unmatched efficiencies in terms of the quality of evidence, time, and costs.

#clinical trial protocol software #clinical trials recruitment and retention #patient retention in clinical trials #software used in clinical trials #clinical solutions research platforms #clinical research software #software for clinical trials #software used in clinical research #clinical trials software #clinical study software #decentralized clinical trials software #clinical trial recruitment challenges #mobile eclinical #clinical trial cloud software #eclinical platform #eclinical cloud

[swazzielindazzie]

.

#being a grad student fucking sucks #like yeah im living my dream doing work i love avoiding getting a real job #and immersing myself in studying and academia and mentorship from some of the most educated scientists in my field #but then you like #stick your finger with a dirty needle #and spend literal hours stressing over whether or not you should report it to safety #because theres such a culture of 'move on its fine just deal with it its probably not an issue' #when in any actual corporate setting it wouldnt even be a question it would just be reported #that it feels like youre causing actual problems by following procedure #with how decentralized everything is and no like... hr or anything #it becomes so up to you as an individual to advocate for yourself #when people are actively telling you not to raise things as a problem #its exhausting and frustrating and just such a reminder of the way grad students are barely people #feeling feelings tonight #my finger hurts :( #im filing the report though

[anyab]

Via NasAlSudan

Learn about the Sudanese revolution, the significance of December 19, and a legacy of resistance and resilience.

Join our call to action today and everyday during Sudan Action Week.

December 19 2023

Transcript:

Breaking it down

What is the Sudanese Revolution?

The Sudanese Revolution refers to the popular uprising in Sudan that began on December 19, 2018 and eventually deposed 30-year dictator of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, on April 11 of 2019.

How did the Revolution begin?

Protests first began in Atbara, a city with historical significance to the labor movement in Sudan, in response to the rising costs of basic supplies such as bread and fuel.

Protestors set fire to the national party headquarters, and the news of their revolt quickly spread, inspiring protestors first in other cities, and then in the capital of Khartoum itself.

Online, the caption #TasgutBas, translating to #JustFall, grew in popularity and helped connect the diaspora to those in Sudan.

Was it really just bread?

No. The rising cost of bread in developing nations is an indicator of how badly the economy is strained, to the point where it impacts members of every social class.

At this point in time in Sudan, subsidies on essential goods had been rolled back, funding for social and state services such as healthcare and education was nearly nonexistent, and it is estimated that nearly 90% of economic activity took place in the informal sector, all while the military budget continually increased.

Transcript:

Who led the charge? Creating a revolution

Group: Sudanese Professional's association (SPA)

Who they are:

Group of labor and trade organizations formed in secret in 2012 and publicly declared in 2016

Backbone of grassroots organizing in Sudan

Role played:

Led action on the street, organized national protests, like the initial march on Khartoum for increased wages before the transition to calls for regime change, and worker strikes.

Group: Local Resistance Committees (LRCS)

Who they are:

Initially formed as groups of students and youth organized together on the more local, neighbourhood basis during the Bashir era

Membership is extremely diverse across socio-economic, ethnic, tribal, religious, and political lines

Role played:

Considered the lifeblood of the revolution, with youth organizing local protests and ensuring safety against governmental repression by standing on the front lines + providing security, food, water, and medication to people

Group: Forces for freedom and change (FFC)

Who they are:

Coalition comprising the SPA, LRCS, the Sudan Revolutionary Front (group of anti-governmental Darfur militias), political parties, and civil society groups

Role played:

Essentially became the political mouthpiece of the revolution and signed onto the transitional government with the military on behalf of Sudanese civilians

It is also crucial to note that from a demographic perspective, it is youth and women that largely led and comprised the Sudanese Revolution.

Trabscript:

How did the revolution succeed?

01. Learning from the Past

Following the Arab Spring wave, Sudan also attempted a revolution in September of 2013

Civilians faced violent crackdowns within the first three days of protest. 200 killed, 800+ arrested

Activists were deterred from mobilization + felt a lot of guilt at the massive loss of life and spent the next 5 years grounding themselves in the study of nonviolent theory and action

02. Building a Movement

Coalition Building and People Power

Diversification of the reach of the movement to make sure all sectors of Sudani society were represented

Decentralization of Activism

Past revolutions in 1964 and 1985 were concentrated in the labor movement and educational elites in Khartoum

This time, experienced nonviolent activists trained those in the capital and ensured ethnic, religious, and tribal diversity

Newly trained activists then taught others locally across the Sudanese states

Transcript:

Why december 19?

On December 19, 1955, the Sudanese parliament unanimously adopted a declaration of independence from the Anglo-Egyptian colonial power.

The declaration went into effect on January 1, 1956, which is why Independence Day is officially January 1, but December 19 is when the Sudanese people were truly liberated from colonial rule.

The flag shown is Sudan's independence flag. The blue is for the Nile, the yellow for the Sahara, and the green for the farmlands.

The current Sudanese flag was adopted in 1970, with the colors used being the Pan-Arab ones.

During the 2019 revolution, protestors often carried the independence flag instead as a form of resistance to the narrative of an exclusive Pan-Arab Sudanese identity.

December 19 is ultimately a tribute to Sudanese strength and resilience. It honors our independence and revolutionary martyrs - not just those of the 2019 revolution, but the democratic revolutions of 1964 and 1985 as well.

Transcript:

Why is the revolution ongoing?

The goal was never just the fall of a dictator. The goal was, and is, to build a better Sudan, one free from military rule. One with equal opportunities for everyone, with economic prosperity and safety and security - the key principles of freedom, peace, and justice that the revolution called for.

Today, though, before we rebuild Sudan, before we free it from foreign interests and military rule and sectarianism, we need to save it. Each day that passes by with war waging on is one where more civilians are killed. More people are displaced. More women are raped. More children go hungry. To live in the conflict zones in Sudan right now - whether that be Khartoum, Darfur, Kordofan, or now, Al Gezira, is to be trapped in a never-ending nightmare, a fight for survival. And to live elsewhere in Sudan is to wonder whether you're next.

Sudan Action Week calls on you to educate yourself and others about Sudan, and then to help the Sudanese people save it, because we can no longer do it alone.

Transcript:

What can you do? Uniting for Al Gezira and North Darfur

As we witness the unfolding events in Al Gezira and North Darfur, the communities of Abu Haraz, Hantoub, Medani, El Fasher, and many others are reaching out for assistance. Sudanese resilience persists to this day, with individuals on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok seeking and providing guidance on transportation services, medical care, food, shelter, protection, safe zones, operational markets, and more. This isn't new for the Sudanese community. A legacy of unity emerged, notably during the 2019 revolutions, where nas al Sudan [the people of Sudan], both within the nation and in the diaspora, rallied together to support each other online. Beyond merely sharing stories on social media, this was about strengthening collective action, enhancing mobilizations, and building a resilient community rooted in solidarity. The essence of the Sudanese community lies in people supporting people, notably during the uprising in 2018 and following the events of April 15th, 2023

Swipe to see how you can help.

Transcript:

What can you do?

This week, on a day nearly mirroring Sudanese Independence and the popular 2018 uprising, Sudanese resilience endures as war follows nas al Sudan to Al Gezira and again in North Darfur. Our call to action this week is not just to share; it's a collective effort to uplift one another.

Share Resources:

If you have access to resources that can help such as transportation services, medical assistance, food, shelter, etc., please comment below.

Community Requests:

If you are in Al Gezira or North Darfur and require specific support, please comment on your needs

Connect Individuals:

For those unable to share resources directly, help amplify requests by sharing this information within your personal networks. Your connection may lead to support from individuals who can assist.

Spread the Word:

Share this call to action on your social media platforms to broaden the reach and encourage more people to contribute.

Transcript:

Hanabniho

حنبنيهوا

[We will rebuild]

#keepEyesOnSudan

#SudanActionWeek

#sudan #sudan action week #keep eyes on sudan

[cryptoinfowatch]

New Study Shows That Bitcoin is Not Decentralized

New Study Shows That Bitcoin is Not Decentralized

The Bitcoin 64 are the original miners that dominate the Bitcoin hashrate Cryptoinfowatch has previewed a new study which says that Bitcoin is not as decentralized as it could be. The study was conducted by Alyssa Blackburn, a data scientist at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. The report says that it studied leaks from the Bitcoin network to determine how decentralized…

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#Bitcoin decentralization #Study shows bitcoin is not decentralized

[femmefatalevibe]

Femme Fatale Guide: Pleasure-Centric Sex Ed. Facts Every Woman Should Know

Some basic sex education: Decentralized from men and heteronormative perceptions of sexual pleasure.

Important for everyone AFAB with any sexual orientation: heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, asexual, trans, non-binary, etc. Here are some ways to reclaim your sexuality from the patriarchy and heteronormative gaze.

Understand your anatomy, seriously. The clitoris is the female sex organ responsible for pleasure, not the vagina. While you may think of the bean as an isolated love button, it is actually anatomically analogous to an inverted penis and extends internally through the inside of your vaginal wall and the inner lips of your vulva. If you want to more aptly gauge your state of physical arousal, evaluate for hardness in addition to wetness (yes, it looks like a mini boner, lol).

All female (genital-induced) orgasms are clitoral orgasms. Whether they're external, internal, or both. Like its male anatomical equivalent, every clitoris has its own unique shape and size, which can be best stimulated in different ways externally and internally depending on your personal anatomy. Common pleasure zones include the external head "the clit," the "G-spot" (around 2-3 inches deep on the front of the vaginal wall), the "A-spot" (around 4-6 inches deep on the front of the vaginal wall), and anal region (stimulates clitoral legs for some AFABs).

Remember your brain is one of the most important sex organs. Sex is as (or more) mental as it is physical. According to Dr. Emily Nagoski, it is more common for AFABs to have a responsive desire style (aroused by their external environment/erotic cues that stimulate the 5 senses) versus a spontaneous desire style ("heat of the moment" sexual desire that requires minimal foreplay/build-up for pleasure and gratification).

The cervix height and density changes (and can affect how you experience sexual pleasure) throughout your cycle. If a certain position hurts sometimes and is pleasurable at others – whether alone or partnered, know this is normal. Your cervix tends to sit lower with a firmer texture from the end of your cycle and progressively raises/gets softer (thanks to rising estrogen levels) until it reaches its peak height & softness around ovulation. The cervix opens slightly during ovulation and right before/during menstruation (haven't seen a study researching the correlation between cervix opening and higher libido, but I would love to see one on this due to the correlation here for so many women). Learn what positions and techniques are most enjoyable for you during different times of the month (consider this practice as cycle syncing for your sex life).

#sex education #sex advice #female sexuality #sexuality #patriarchy #intersectional feminism #female pleasure #female socialization #women's health #women's rights #health and wellness #femme fatale #dark feminine energy #dark femininity #it girl #high value woman #the feminine urge #high value mindset #female power #queen energy #dream girl #female excellence #knowledge is power #femmefatalevibe

[sagemonsters]

Though Hell Should Bar the Way

Summary: Bess is a night owl and a college student—a combination that turns out to be dangerous when she realizes she can’t make it back to her residence during an ice storm at 3am. After being saved by a strange, mute motorcyclist who is reluctant to remove his helmet, Bess is eager to uncover his secrets.

Status: SFW

Relationship: cis female human (she/her) x cis male dullahan (he/him)

Word Count: 2,200

Notes: this is a modern AU fanfic of Alfred Noyes' poem "The Highwayman"

Chapter 1 of 1

Bess all but screamed when someone tapped her shoulder in the small study cubicle on the fourth floor of the Holger Library. One of the assistant librarians, Alex, grabbed her half-empty Starbucks cup before Bess could knock it over as she recoiled, and her Beyoncé-induced study euphoria ended as that motion yanked her wired earbuds out of her ears.

“—Closing in five minutes, Miss Noyes,” Alex said.

“Right, yeah… What time is it?” Bess asked. 

Alex set her Starbucks cup back down on the desk. “Five minutes to three o’clock in the morning,” he answered, and then looked down at his wristwatch. “Four, actually.”

Bess blinked, then dived for her phone in her backpack; the time was correct. “Damn,” she muttered. She had an English final—a timed essay—in six hours; she needed to get whatever sleep she could before it started.

“Be careful out there—the snow feels like falling glass, and everything’s iced over,” Alex warned. He crossed his arms over his chest. “I hope you don’t have far to walk to get back to your dorm.”

“My apartment is on Kerr Green,” Bess said.

Alex looked at her in horror for a moment, then gave her a wince of sympathy; Kerr Green was halfway across the city, since Losthaven University had a decentralized campus whose student residences gave grief to the aforementioned students and city planners alike. 

“Get an Uber or Lyft or whatever,” Alex said. “You cannot walk there in weather like this.”

Bess shook her head as she shrugged on and buttoned her navy blue peacoat. “I’m broke at the moment. I’ll be fine, though. Thank you.”

Alex gave her a final, worried look, then left the cubicle and resumed his patrol for other students who had missed the closing announcement. Bess shouldered her backpack and took the stairs to the library’s front door, and then paused.

The pavement outside the library was slick and shining with ice, just as Alex had promised, and she could see more ice coating the streetlamps and the lone USPS box. The plows had already come by, so the roads looked reasonably clear—but snow piled high in dirty, irregular drifts to either side of the street, and more was falling by the minute.

For a few moments, Bess allowed herself to despair. She could call her mother in Florida and ask for twenty-five dollars to get an Uber back to her apartment—but that would be the second time this week she asked for money, and it was three o’clock in the morning, so her pride forbid such a thing. Bess huffed to herself, then pulled on her hat and gloves and stepped outside.

The wind hit her like a broadsword, slicing through her layers and carving straight to her core. This was, without a doubt, a proper New England winter storm, and Bess fancied that she could feel ice crystals making shallow cuts into the inside of her lungs as she inhaled; the air was so cold that breathing hurt. She wobbled in place as the wind threatened to bowl her over on the slick pavement.

Bess managed to get five blocks in the direction of Kerr Green before she realized she should have swallowed her pride and called her mother. She had fallen twice during those five blocks, and her fingers were aching with cold inside her gloves even after she had shoved them into her coat pockets. 

She eased herself into an alleyway for some reprieve from the wind and unzipped her backpack with clumsy, gloved fingers. After some digging, she managed to pull out her phone, and then removed one glove with her teeth to unlock the device with her fingerprint. The cold ache intensified in that hand, so much so that it shook with pain. She could barely feel the phone anymore, but managed to open the CALL app—

The phone slipped out of her fingers and fell to the asphalt at her feet. The screen went dark, and when Bess picked it up she saw a spiderweb of cracks across the screen. 

Crying is useless. Crying is useless. Crying is useless… Bess told herself, but the tears were welling up anyway and stinging at the corners of her eyes. She fumbled her glove back on and turned to trudge back out into the wind. Maybe there was still someone at the library, and she could beg them to let her use the phone at the front desk…

A headlight sliced through the snowy nighttime murk in front of the alleyway, followed closely by the deafening snarl of a motorcycle engine. An all-black bike with a helmeted rider swathed head to toe in black leather gear pulled to a stop in front of the alley, its engine settling into a low, coughing growl. The rider’s helmet, with its shadowed visor pulled down, turned toward Bess. He let go of the handlebar and held out his hand to her.

Bess stared.

The rider curled and uncurled his gloved fingers in a beckoning gesture. After a moment’s hesitation, Bess stumbled toward him. The sidewalk was slippery beneath her boots. She tottered as another gust of wind hit her, instinctively reaching out for support, and the rider grabbed her wrist and helped her upright—helped her the final few steps toward him, too.

“Can you take me to Kerr Green on West River Street?” Bess asked, shouting to be heard over the wind and the engine. The rider was still holding her wrist.

The rider nodded, and Bess was cold and desperate enough to climb on behind him and wrap her arms around his midsection. The motorcycle’s engine howled to life like a thing possessed, and she and the rider tore down the street. 

The wind whipped icy snow into her eyes, so Bess hid her face against the rider’s leather-clad shoulder. At this speed, it was even colder than before, and she was so very tired. She’d have to get her phone replaced tomorrow, and she had her English final too…

When Bess lifted her head after a particularly hard turn, she saw tongues of green ghostfire licking at the motorcycle’s wheels, and more streaming out from the engine like banners. One flame seemed to be in contact with her leg, but it didn’t appear to be spreading to the cloth of her pants and Bess felt no heat. She blinked hard, but the flames didn’t go away. 

This is real, she realized, and a moment later: this isn’t a normal motorcyclist.

“Stop! Stop!” Bess shrieked, and shook the rider’s shoulder. A moment later he swerved into a narrow side street, slowed to a stop, and put his feet down to balance the bike. The green ghostfire dimmed and then faded to nothingness. He looked over his shoulder at her.

“Who are you?” Bess demanded. “What are you?”

The rider said nothing.

“What do you want?”

The rider twisted around as much as he could so that he could face her properly. Bess looked into the visor, but couldn’t see even the faintest shadow of a face beneath it. The rider reached up a hand and brought two fingers to her cold lips in the barest ghost of a touch, then pulled away.

“What does that mean?” Bess asked. And then, more softly, “Are you mute?”

The rider nodded. 

“Okay,” Bess whispered after a moment. “Okay, let’s… let’s keep going, then.”

The rider gripped the hand that she still had wrapped around him, threading their fingers together and giving a light squeeze, then pulled away and started the motorcycle again. Bess tucked her head back down against his shoulder and did her best to endure the cold and wind and ice, but the flaring ghostfire provided no warmth; by the time they arrived at Kerr Green and the student residences that lined the park, she had largely stopped shivering. 

The cold had numbed her mind as well as her extremities, and it was hard to move. The rider had to help her to her door, and he followed her inside when Bess struggled with her gloves in the entryway. He heated water in a bowl in the microwave of the kitchenette, then helped her remove her gloves and submerge her frostbitten hands in the warm water.

“Thanks,” Bess said, and started shivering again as her body thawed. The rider, still in all his leather gear, pulled off her ice-rimed hat and coat and boots, then draped the blanket on the back of the couch over the space heater to warm it up before wrapping it around her shoulders where she sat at the kitchen table. 

“You can take off your helmet if you want,” Bess said when feeling started to return to her fingers and toes.

The rider hesitated, and then the helmet shook from side to side.

Bess attempted a reassuring smile. “I promise I won’t tell anyone what you look like.”

Another shake of the helmet. 

When Bess’ fingers no longer hurt, she pulled them out of the bowl, flexed them experimentally, and then started fidgeting with a tassel on the corner of the blanket.

“Thank you for all your help,” she said. “It really… I mean, I think I might have died without you.”

The rider nodded, then moved toward the door.

“Wait!” Bess said. “Please… please don’t leave just yet.”

The rider paused and looked back at her. Bess stood up, still with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and went to him. She reached out and touched his arm; there really wasn’t a single inch of exposed skin showing among the black leather, not a single smidgen of humanity or clue towards his identity.

“What’s your name?” Bess asked.

The rider shook his head, then reached up and brushed his gloved fingers over her lips again. 

Bess felt her cheeks heating in a blush. “Kiss me,” she whispered. “Kiss me before you go.” She knew it was a ridiculously romantic thing to say, something out of the trashy romance novels she kept hidden under her bed, but what else was there to say in a situation like this? What else was there to do?

The rider reached into a pocket of his jacket and brought out a small, dogeared notebook and a stub of pencil. He wrote for a few moments, then showed the page to her:

I CAN’T KISS.

“Why not?” Bess asked. 

The rider started to move past her, toward the door, and Bess darted in front of him and put her back to the door to bar his path. “I’m not moving until you tell me what’s going on,” she said. 

There was a pause. The warm yellow lights in the apartment flickered, dimmed, and then died entirely, and that sickly green ghostfire curled out of the lamps and from the burners of the stove. A chill crept in, not as terrible as the storm raging outside but still cold enough that Bess wrapped the blanket tighter around herself.

The rider took off his helmet, revealing empty air; he had no head.

Bess’ eyes went wide.

The headless rider wrote again in his notebook and showed it to her: SCARED?

“No,” Bess said, even though that wasn’t quite the truth. She stepped forward and put her hands on the chest of the rider’s jacket. “Show me the rest of you.”

The rider pulled off his gloves. He had normal-looking hands, although they were room temperature at Bess’ touch and had no warmth of life within them. The high-collared jacket came off next, revealing a plain black shirt that had a human-seeming chest underneath it. When Bess laid a hand over where his heart should be, however, there was no beat beneath her fingers, and his tattooed skin was cool.

“Why did you help me?” Bess asked.

WHY NOT?

Bess frowned. “That isn’t a good answer.”

YOU SHOULD STOP ASKING QUESTIONS, THEN.

Bess folded her arms over her chest. “Absolutely not. You…” She felt her cheeks heat in another blush and forced herself to be brave: “If you can’t kiss me before you leave, then I’m sure there are other things we can do.”

SUCH AS? the headless rider wrote.

Bess’ blush intensified. She reached for the top button of her blouse, but then hesitated. “I don’t know how to start without at least a kiss,” she confessed.

CAN I SHOW YOU?

Bess nodded. “Please,” she whispered, and the long ribbons of emerald ghostfire burned high and bright throughout the apartment as the headless rider set aside his notebook and reached for her.

•

The storm had died by the time dawn arrived, and newborn sunlight glittered atop the ice that sheathed the city in crystalline glory. Bess awoke alone, and found that her final had been postponed via an email from her English professor. She smiled and plaited a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Enjoy my writing? Please consider buying me a coffee so I can have a warm drink while I write.

You can also read this story in the August 2023 edition of the much-loved M❤️NSTER magazine.

#monster romance #monster lover #terato #sage's portfolio #monster x human #monster boyfriend #dullahan #romance writing #romance fiction #the highwayman #fanfiction

[zoobus]

I'm not normally a victim of FOMO tactics, nor do I usually let being late to the party stop me from chatting about a piece of media but I'm genuinely sad I didn't get into Obey Me/Nightbringer earlier. It makes me want to write a million essays but the disposable and decentralized nature of gacha kind of makes it feel like you missed your chance to talk about it. I keep coming across years old, unrepliable comments that I want to jump on sooo bad but I can't because the moment is gone and most of these people have likely moved on to less overtly money-hungry games.

Which sucks! because one essay I want to write in particular is how this game is extremely skilled in arousing your desire to create, to actively engage with the characters and worldbuilding, to do fandom shit, and I find this enormously fascinating in itself. The story isn't good but to a certain extent, it's not supposed to be; it functions as an elaborate set of writing/art/rp prompts for its audience to expand on and tailor to their needs.

And I think Obey Me does this well! Amazingly well. I find discussion of narrative structure fascinating, the study of how we define writing as effective, good, or as failures, so I'm drawn to this story full of contradicting lore, one-note characters, and half-finished plots. The story isn't good but that hardly matters because it's not here to be a good story; it's here to throw you into imagination boot camp. It compels you to speculate what it could be, what this character could be, what a slightly different tone would look like, what other people think about it. It feels distinct from the average popular show fandoms where, to an extent, creators congregate simply because that's where the people are. Creating for your own sake is nice and all but validation is usually a stronger force. Usually.

I keep coming across old high effort researched posts about abrahamic religions and occultism from fans setting themselves up for inevitable disappointment. I keep coming across creators leaving notes on their work like "I haven't written a thing in ten years, but,". I keep losing it over heartfelt posts defending x and y canon story decisions with their whole chest, oblivious to the fact that they're misremembering their personal tweaks/headcanons as what happened in the game, like it's seriously so cute when they're so passionate and completely wrong.

I have no idea if fandom actually plays a role in the lucrativeness of a franchise (though as a personal anecdote, I 100% started Obey Me after a single piece of horny Mammon fanart crossed my dash), but it makes more sense to me now, less a projection of wishful/haterful thinking from those with strong opinions about Fandom. Maybe it really does matter.

---

Other essays I missed the boat on:

A Casino Right in Your Home: goddamn is the pre/sequel's gacha obscene

Satan: how to put a mid character into S-tier with one simple trick (make him insane)

Sorry Belphie defenders but you're imagining a better psycho than you were given

Solmare added a shiny new rhythm game but didn't fix the now four year old coloring error on Levi's hands lmfaooo the disrespect is crazy

Remember when you saw the Nightbringer trailer of them glaring in bdsm gear with freshly blackened wings, and you thought "ah, so this takes place right after they fought god and lost. After they went to war to protect their sister only for her to die anyway. After one brother in particular saves someone, but not her, the focal point of the war. They will finally take these to their logical, guilt despair rage pain and grudge filled ends." And you were correct until that very last sentence? lol

Remember when the Ruri-chan event gave you the option to tell Levi you're not cheating on him and then the rest of the event was just making out with his brothers? Then it ends with you kissing him in front of them? Bring that energy back!!!

#obey me #obey me nightbringer #niche effortposts #eh kinda. i spent time on it #anyway it's a game that makes you wanna write and draw things and all things considered I think that's pretty cool =)

[uuuuuugh0-0]

Socialized medicine in the US is a partial solution to the myriad of problems with western medicine at best.

Western medicine is theoretically speaking the application of the scientific method to the human body, right? So it seeks to isolate "variables" in the name of "objectivity". Another word for variables here is context. And you just can't in a real way separate context from an individual's state of health; something medical professionals are VERY MUCH AWARE OF (see: shit life syndrome for one example) that exists in tension with both the current regiment of distributing healthcare and with the foundational mythos of western medical knowledge formation.

Western medicine is also beholden to the rest of the world. In places in the US where medicaid is actually relatively accessible, for example, you still have shit like racism and sexism and transphobia and ableism impacting care people get. And I understand that like, when people talk about their ideal socialist utopia, there's mechanisms in place that deal with social oppression; but I want you to think about just how big a project uniform care actually existing would be.

So in our current world, another obstacle to Making Medicine That Works is legality, especially re: the drug war. Very useful, known, well-studied substances have documented properties making them extremely useful or potentially useful for a variety of medical treatments (examples: THC for everything from gut stuff to emotional support; LSD for crohns and potentially diabetes; good old opiates and opiate-related-chemicals for chronic pain, some cases of depression and a subset of the experiences often diagnosed as schizophrenia and/or ADHD): but prohibition prevents application or further study (even for chemicals like THC that are legal in some states, if any program that receives federal funding is involved, can't use it! Fun right?). But sure, we can waive that one aside to and say that universal healthcare will also mean a total end to prohibition. That'd be cool!

So now that we've magicked away these problems, we have uniformly available healthcare that's getting better every day because all the social, legal and financial limits on medical exploration have been taken away. What do we have?

Well aside from a system that's gonna die with the rest of industry any time from next year to a few decades from now, still heavily dependent on plastics and factories and worldwide shipping and coerced labor in other countries, we still have a hierarchical structure where prescriptive knowledge is generated by centralized institutions who's abilities and members are dictated by governmental legislation and that inherently cannot see or account for the context of various people's bodies and lives and thus still limits the ability of disabled and mad people to explore/access unapproved/not-yet-approved treatments. But no, we can magic this one away too, obviously in the ideal socialized healthcare, everyone's needs will be accounted for so we'll have decentralized community medical exploration! And we'll use existing holistic healthcare tools and make more to account for individual people's context! And nobody will be subjected to coerced labor or nonconsensual treatment! And we'll find ways of creating medicine that are locally feasible, don't require global industry, and are resilient against climate collapse!

...so we no longer have contemporary western medicine (or civ, for that matter). Cheers!

But wait! There's more! You can live in this brave new world RIGHT NOW! what do you do with ur time, huh? You play video games? I bet you've put a lot of time and effort and skill-building and resource accumulation into it! Maybe you're poor as shit like me and have figured out emulators and pirating or talk to other people who share your interests about how to access them or you're into indie games! That is cool and meaningful! Maybe you like music! Maybe you like fiction! I bet you know a lot of lore/specifics/techniques/etc related to SOMETHING! maybe it's birds! Idk you but I am absolutely positive that there is SOMETHING you know a lot about that you have figured out how to know in a way that's accessible to you and applicable to your life. Maybe it felt easy, maybe it was really hard, maybe you did it because you want to, maybe you did it because you had to, maybe it's a really big topic, maybe it's a small one, maybe you can think of it right this second and maybe you'd have to ask some friends to point it out to you. Whatever it is, whoever you are, YOU HAVE BUILT A KNOWLEDGE SET AND YOU CAN BUILD ANOTHER ONE! You can start learning about the medicine that is applicable to your life right now. Go read the Wikipedia page for some medications you have around! Or for some ingredient in a food nearby you don't know what is! Or one you do know what is! Figure out a question about it! Google that question! Keep googling! Read some studies that come up and then search all the words you don't know and keep looking until you understand them! Look at you you're doing it! Keep going! This is how it starts!

Medicine exists in the same world we do and we can take it for ourselves and make it better!

[grandhotelabyss]

Any thoughts on nick land / mark fisher?

I've encountered both of them essentially as bloggers—I don't think I've ever read a word of either on paper—so I can't say I've studied them formally or mastered their thinking.

Land's concept of capital as autonomous alien intelligence assembling itself through retroaction on human agents—do I have this right?—is fun science fiction. I accept that as a theory of cultural temporality in general but not necessarily as a theory of technology or capitalism in particular. As for his more (shall we say) "ethnic" idea about "exit" and the Anglo character—maybe there's something to that. Modern history as the struggle between decentralized commercial sea empires (UK, US) and despotic communist land empires (Germany, Russia, China). And his new thing about Anglo-Zionism—I believe he's read Milton deeply—is right on time. All his Compact pieces on the English canon are paywalled, so I haven't read them, but it seems like he's approaching the idea that the God of the Bible is the force he previously identified as capital. (I think this is similar to what Mitchell Heisman outlined in his Suicide Note, but I only read some of that, and only once, on one sleepless night over 10 years ago, and doubt I'll revisit it. Does Heisman cite Land? I don't recall.) Hyperstition is real, as any manifestation girl on here or on TikTok or on YouTube will tell you.

Now Fisher was a sad case. I think all that anti-humanist theory did him no favors, personally. I'm not sure he could stand in that desolate place, the way Land could. I don't believe I ever directly interacted with him online when we both were bloggers in the same milieu circa 2005 or so. Maybe once or twice. He had a positive Marxist take on Batman Begins, and I had a negative one, and I think somebody sent him mine when he had comments open. (He had a whole thing, which anticipated the "vampire's castle" image, about "gray vampires" who stalk the comments section and suck the life out of your imaginative assertions with their point-missing nitpickery. He wasn't wrong!) I'm sure he thought I was hideously naive if he ever thought about me at all, and I was naive, I was essentially a Stalinist, an obvious example of humanist theory gone wrong, but there are limits, too, to that gothic style he picked up from Land and the CCRU.

I think he said Kafka was his first major author. There's a case to be made that you should read Kafka only after Dickens. (I don't mean literally but metonymically. Nor do I mean the 19th century vs. the 20th or even realism vs. modernism. Replace Kafka with Baudelaire and Dickens with Joyce and it'll mean the same.) And I'm not talking about politics here or even ethics. No panacea for politics and ethics can be found in books. Kafka, for that matter, was probably a nicer guy qua guy than Dickens was. But, just as someone who has to live in the world in your skin, it can't hurt to read a non-anti-humanist book from time to time if you're a bookish person. To not always try to conceptually outflank as a ruse of power every obvious humane sentiment. And to try not to need your humane sentiments to be conveyed only by the most alienating stimulus, to need them to come in the form of their opposite. I never got over his review of The Passion of the Christ:

What, from one perspective, is the utter humiliation and degradation of Jesus's body is on the other a coldly ruthless vision of the body liberated from the 'wisdom and limits of the organism'.

Masochristianity.

Christ's Example is simply this: it is better to die than to pass on abuse virus or to in any way vindicate the idiot vacuity and stupidity of the World of authority.

Power depends upon the weakness of the organism. When authority is seriously challenged, when its tolerance is tested to the limit, it has the ultimate recourse of torture. The slow, graphic scenes of mindless physical degradation in The Passion of the Christ are necessary for revealing the horrors to which Jesus' organism was subject. It is made clear that he could have escaped the excruciating agony simply by renouncing his Truth and by assenting to the Authority of the World. Christ's Example insists: better to let the organism be tortured to death ('If thine own eye offend thee, pluck it out') than to bow, bent-headed, to Authority.

This is what is perhaps most astonishing about Gibson's film. Far from being a statement of Catholic bigotry, it can only be read as an anti-authoritarian AND THEREFORE anti-Catholic film. For the Pharisees of two millennia ago, puffed up in their absurd finery, substitute the child-abuser apologists of today's gilt-laden, guilt-ridden Vatican. Against all the odds, against two thousand years of cover-ups and dissimulation, The Passion of the Christ recovers the original Christ, the anti-Wordly but not otherwordly Christ of Liberation Theology: the Gnostic herald of Apocalypse Now.

This is why I found him frustrating when I read him as a daily blogger almost 20 years ago. Plus the over-solemnity about pop-culture ephemera. I found him a bit naive, too, in the end, though he was almost 15 years my senior. I also sometimes just didn't and don't know what he was talking about, because I sort of hated and hate theory.

In his purely political commentary, he was right, however, to focus on bureaucratization as an effect of neoliberalism—the way capitalism and communism converge in the present for the worst of both worlds, everything is at once a competition and frozen in a statist hierarchy. I'm not sure I'm persuaded by the "hauntology" thesis. I've thought through that issue in a different way and am not convinced the end of the myth of the revolution or the myth of the avant-garde has to mean that we have no future. In fact it might mean the opposite. But good for him for putting into public consciousness an interesting and melancholically beautiful idea that would otherwise have remained confined to smug Derrida-readers.

He is fun to read. That's the highest compliment I can pay. I'm sure the big K-Punk book is a wonderful thing to own and to browse through: to watch a movie or read a book or listen to an album and then see what he had to say about it. He was one model of the blogger as true essayist.

#nick land #mark fisher

[13atoms]

Anthology (Count Orlo x Reader)

There's someone in court distracting Orlo from his daily duties, who loves the written word as much as he does. 1.5k, fluff, F!Reader

📚📚_

There were very few things in the palace as predictable as Count Orlo. He rose in the mornings, he ate when food was presented to him, and he completed his work on time. When Peter teased him, he did not rise, and when he made choices he followed the most pragmatic route which still offered some kindness.  

He could name each person at court, how they were related to each other. He often didn’t know who was sleeping with who, or when cruel words were passed between courtiers, but he knew the things which mattered.

In each part of his routine there were a hundred variables each day, and he could cope with all of them.

Except for you.

When you appeared in the library, or sat beside him at dinner, or smiled at him as he stood beside Peter and suddenly made his hands shake. It confounded him, that he would look for you in every room he entered. If you were behind him on the staircase, he would grow self-concious of the way he walked, the words he spoke, the way he held his papers.

Gradually, his steady routine had become decentred, until finally he was altering it with the hopes he might spend a little more time with you.

It was one of those evenings, where sleep was too far away and work was too much of a chore. He wandered the corridors, waited for some crisis which never seemed too far away.

At each wide-hipped skirt flitting around a doorway, his heart skipped  with the hope it might be you.

Finally Orlo settled in the library, hoping that if he could not read, he might find some solace wandering amongst the books. Hoping against hope that you would be there again.

He was so set upon his wallowing for the evening, that when you were there, he hardly noticed.

Orlo had closed the door behind him and wandered halfway across the room, before he heard your soft voice.

“Good evening.”

There had been precious little opportunity to speak in private before tonight, and now it was happening, Orlo had no idea what to do.

“Evening.”

You were sat at the oversized study table, which he recalled Peter ignoring lessons at when he was a child. Around you were a dozen chairs, the ghosts of academics which no longer existed in this part of Russia. He picked a book from the shelves blindly, and fumbled to smoothly pull a chair free of the part of the rug it had become stuck in.

You looked up at him, a few chairs down from the one he had chosen, and Orlo fumbled for words.

“Do you mind if I sit there?” he asked, suddenly struck by the fear he was intruding.

“Not at all,” you replied softly, “be my guest.”

In truth, Orlo realised he had little interest in the history volume he had picked up, and the moments passed interrupted only by the scratching of your pen. Long minutes stretched by, and yet he did not grow bored. Instead, Orlo found himself fixated on the thought of his body so close to yours in space.

Of what might be in your head, whether it might chime with what was in his.

“What are you writing?”

You looked up in confusion, your forearm curled around the page protectively, and he bit back an apology.

“Hm?”

“You’re writing, I assume? If it is not personal, of course.”

“Oh, no. It’s… it’s poetry. Nothing good, I’m afraid, I just… I admire a great many poets –”

“Me too!”

Orlo regretted his interruption at once, it had seemed like a wild thing, trapped in his chest and fighting to get out. You smiled at him, and he thought from the crinkling of your eyes it must be genuine, before continuing.

“Anyway, I just… I thought I would never know if I was any good at poetry if I never tried it.”

“That’s wonderful.”

You chuckled, and Orlo found himself smiling along for no reason he could name.

“How are you doing, then? Trying it?”

With a shrug, you gestured to the page in front of you, and Orlo could see you were halfway through a notebook.

“I’m doing okay. It’s a puzzle, but I enjoy it. Truly, it’s nothing special, but I find it settles my mind.”

“Incredible,” he murmured, and you couldn’t help wondering if he was teasing you.

“Do you write?”

“Poetry? No!”

Startled, Orlo stopped attempting to read what was on your page, and instead found himself staring at your face. A prospect which induced his heart to beat even faster.

 “Could I read anything of yours?”

It was impertinent to ask. He had predicted the hesitation on your face, anticipated the moment you could freeze and turn your face away from him as embarrassment burned at your cheeks.

It was worth it, though, for the moment he watched you stand and pull a book from the shelves opposite the table. It was smaller than all the others, without an ornate cover, and as you thumbed through the pages Orlo could see it was entirely handwritten as many of the older tomes in the library were.

“This is my favourite piece,” you offered, handing the open book to him.

Orlo thought he would melt to the floor, holding his breath as he read, and you watched with an intensity he had never seen from you amongst the frivolities of court.

“I wonder if you studied under Dante himself?” he finally commented.

Orlo was delighted at your response, the fear you might misunderstand him entirely gone.

“Actually, I wrote something closer to his tone – though obviously incomparable…”

 As you flitted through the pages, a furrow in your brow, Orlo could only stare.

The evening passed in moments of silence and moments of laughter after that moment. You were selective in the pages you showed him, glancing nervously if his fingers strayed to turn a page.

Yet you trusted him. You returned to your words as he read, and laughed in delight as he praised your work. You had moved a seat closer to him, and brought the candles around both of you, and if Orlo focused for long enough he imagined he could feel the heat of your body in the cool night.

When the night finally grew too late, you excused yourself with a sincere regret that made Orlo’s heart ache with hope. He took the book to his room, and devoured it cover to cover, in a way only someone with a true love of a poet can.

Between each piece he thought, trying to imagine where your mind had been as you wrote it.

The tone oscillated between love and loss and distress and simple joy, from piece to piece and stanza to stanza, and some hidden part of Orlo felt voyeuristic to have such a sudden insight into your inner life.

Each page was written with the tempo of good poetry, a few dozen meticulously penned words, followed by a flowing stanza of more rushed handwriting – as though you were desperate to get the words onto the page as inspiration struck.

When he finally fell asleep, it was with a jolt awake, as he carefully removed your book from where it had fallen atop his sheets and placed it on his bedside table.

*

When Orlo awoke, there was a sealed letter on his desk. It bore no other markings, not even his name – though once the page was snapped open the handwriting seemed as familiar as his own.

Time is curious, how it hangs around us

Languorous when it seems abundant, and short when it is scarce

An hour of joy lasts barely a blink,

A second of sorrow long enough to wrinkle crows feet.

Time is not told by the clock, but by the heart as it beats.

Orlo, my days here are often meandering,

Filled with banality,

Yet I find time flies, when you are near me.

Once Orlo had finished reading, he sat on the chaise by the door, and he read again. By the morning light streaming through the windows. In the privacy of his bed, curled up against the pillows, pulling the paper to his chest once he had read. Finally, he put the paper down and rushed to the door, only to return and read it again.

When he found you, it was at the breakfast hall, your meal long abandoned and your eyes firmly set upon the main doors. He had taken a shortcut, and watched you for so long he interrupted the servers and feared you would catch him staring as they swerved, swearing, around him.

It would be a decade before Orlo acted as a proxy to help you publish your first collection of poems, but his decision was made in that moment. Once your eyes met his, the time flew by.

#is this techincally a drabble? #count orlo x reader #count orlo #count orlo fic #13atoms #fic #requested #this would've been half an hour back in the day #now it takes like 3 days #wild #If you have anything negative to say about the poem just know #I’ll kill this blog and then myself #ily requesting anon give me a shout if you want to be fwiends

[wachinyeya]

#good news #swiss #clean energy #green energy #decentralization #switzerland

[jeeva-trials]

Empowering Sponsors with Compliant Data Collection and Integrity for a Variety of Clinical Studies | Jeeva Trials

Traditional clinical guidelines, and stand-alone patient study and care pathways are proven to be increasingly inadequate, especially in a post-pandemic world with low clinical adherence, disrupted workflows, and stay-at-home orders. Disrupted workflows means more time required to complete a study, fatigue of the research team, and wastage of resources.

Researchers and study teams are increasingly adopting eClinical cloud trial tools that are designed to augment researchers, study teams and clinicians to augment their complex decision-making processes with targeted clinical knowledge, patient information and computerized clinical workflows. It directly improves the quality of clinical documentation. AI technologies provide the tool capabilities for drawing insights into data beyond what humans can. CROs (Contract Research Organizations) evaluate clinical study tools largely based on speed, flexibility and cost-efficiency. However, amidst these concerns, data integrity is not to be understated or taken for granted. Data integrity is not only important for a study, it needs to be addressed throughout the product life cycle across Good Clinical Practices (GCP), Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), and other Good Practice (GxP) areas.

Data integrity is critical for studies

Good risk mitigation and management is essential to data integrity as multiple points of risk exist throughout data recording, storage, transfer, reporting and other stages of data lifecycle during a study trial. It is achieved by making data traceable throughout audit trails. Transparency is demonstrated with a chain of custody from data origin to its analysis. Without data integrity, it is not possible to regenerate a previous clinical trial result reliably. Data integrity cannot be validated by point-to-point interfaces of individual systems alone, it requires a more holistic approach towards validation and quality management as these systems need to work together across corporate borders and multi-site systems.

Quality of data can affect the quality of decision support because if data collection is not standardized, the study trial data is effectively corrupted and increases the risk of failure during the submission procedure for approval by Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and other regulators. Regulators in the US and across the world continue to stress the criticality of data integrity in clinical trials.

Points to consider while choosing an eClinical study solution:

A good system should not delete or obscure previously-recorded audit trail information and prevent modification by the user.

It should record complete audit trail records including identification of the data element that was changed, who authorized the change and implemented them.

It should provide early visibility to reliable data to quickly make sound decisions and bring life-enhancing treatments to life.

Cyber security is a mission-critical consideration for electronic clinical outcomes assessment (eCOA) risk management for any eClinical solution.

Regulatory-minded study teams will have data integrity plans in place as regulators can raise questions about data collection compliance, warranting rescue action. By utilizing the Jeeva Informatics eClinical cloud, study teams can have regulation-compliant risk mitigation with complete transparency, traceability, and documentation. Jeeva is a flexible bring your own device (BYOD), SaaS (Software as a Service) solution that is designed to maintain data integrity with features and protocols that fit the specific trial protocol, ensuring reliability and authenticity of the study data by adhering to the most current compliance regulations in force.

Shortening the Distance from Study Data to Action

Jeeva’s highly scalable SaaS architecture provides a cost-effective approach to support trials for multiple studies, phases and therapeutic areas. Its intuitive interface eliminates the multi-step process to navigate reports and shortens the distance from study data to action. In clinical research, data integrity and reliability of trial results are paramount. The value of a comprehensive and compliant eClinical tool is absolute. Data integrity continues to be a major theme across inspection results. The collaborative technology used in Jeeva automates high-value clinical trials recruitment and retention tasks and provides insightful retrieval of information. Adherence to the International Council on Harmonization (ICH) GCP is a core tenet for data integrity at Jeeva.

Leading research organizations have consistently been using Jeeva for compliant and adaptive research with access to immediately actionable patient data. It provides researchers personalized clinical study documentation across solutions, platforms and devices, anytime and anywhere, regardless of physical location.

Enabling Clinical Research at Scale

A failed trial not only sinks investment into the early stages of the trial itself but also results in dissatisfied sponsor clients and impacts your long and fruitful business relationship with them. Jeeva is designed to support the conduct of clinical trials utilizing validated functionality and processes. The modular software enables clinical research at scale and saves more than 70% time and logistic burden on the study teams. Utilizing the platform-agnostic software with advanced features like bi-directional communications, scheduling and touch-less electronic informed consent, investigators can rapidly enroll participants in the study, and investigators can safely review the study material remotely and conveniently from their own mobile device.

Complying with the Current Regulations

Jeeva Trials follows a human-centric approach with a deep understanding of the perspectives and requirements of various stakeholders including regulatory compliance specialists, IT security and privacy professionals, auditors and coordinators. The burden of ensuring regulatory compliance of technology solutions, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), human subjects protection guidelines, GCP (Good Clinical Practice) guidelines by ICH (International Council of Harmonization) of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human use, and other regional guidelines lies with the study sponsor. Jeeva adheres to the current federal, state, and international regulations or guidelines for conducting clinical trials using electronic patient data such as the FDA 21 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) Part 11, SOC 2 (System Organ Classes), Amazon Well (AWS) Architected Framework Review, AWS Foundational Technical Review, GDPR privacy policies, and others. Avoid having to validate multiple a la carte tools as you can now achieve the same goal with a single all-in-one integrated SaaS platform.

Saving on Costs of Failed Trials

It takes on average 10-15 years and USD 1.5-2.0 billion to bring a new drug to the market. Approximately half of this expenditure covers testing, preclinical compound discovery and regulatory processes. The high failure rate of clinical trials due to regulatory issues, patient non-adherence, low retention and high drop-offs during long-term studies is a major stumbling block in drug development. Less than one-third of all Phase II compounds advance to Phase III, with more than one third of all Phase III compounds failing to advance to approval. The most complex Phase III trials carry nearly 60% of the overall trial costs, resulting loss per failed clinical trial to the order of 0.8-1.4 billion USD.

Flexible Platform to Accelerate Patient Recruitment

Study build delays cause timelines to drag on, as such CROs face not only dissatisfied sponsor clients but they could lose a fruitful business relationship. There are major regulatory implications as well, as unverified, disintegrated and dubious data quality can land organizations in court. Jeeva Informatics Solutions is designed to reduce timelines for study startup and participants by up to more than 50%, while complying with data integrity regulations of the federal and state governments. Jeeva makes it easy for longitudinal cohort studies to collect validated data from participants in real-world settings over extended periods of time. The flexible platform accelerates patient recruitment and retention, and enables long-term engagement for 5, 10, or 15-year follow-up studies for long-term trials, such as cell and gene therapy.

Affordable subscription-based pricing of Jeeva makes it easier for the study teams to plan budgets with predictable expenses. The modular SaaS subscription model helps clinical researchers, Contract Research Organizations (CROs), and sponsors manage a clinical study’s annual budget on a simple, per participant basis.

#eclinical cloud #clinical trial cloud software #eclinical platform #mobile eclinical #clinical trial recruitment challenges #decentralized clinical trials software #software for clinical trials #clinical research software #clinical study software #software used in clinical research #clinical trials software #software used in clinical trials #clinical solutions research platforms #accelerating patient recruitment #patient retention in clinical trials

[bedtimestoriesforbrokengirls]

The Daily Dad — Feb 11, 2024

Things you might want to know:

Is There Lead in Your Reusable Water Bottle? 💭 I feel like “drank hourly from a lead-tainted tumbler” is going to be the origin story for the world’s worst super-villain. UltraKaren or some shit. She’ll have the power to sigh loudly in line at the coffee shop and then shamelessly take five minutes to negotiate the preparation of her own venti latte.

WhatsApp Chats Will Soon Work With Other Encrypted Messaging Apps ❝ New EU rules mean WhatsApp and Messenger must be interoperable with other chat apps. Here’s how that will work.

Should you flush with toilet lid up or down? Study says it doesn’t matter 💭 A parallel study concludes that pointless clickbait is a waste of everyone’s time.

Bluesky CEO Jay Graber Says She Won’t ‘Enshittify the Network With Ads’ ❝ WIRED spoke with Bluesky CEO Jay Graber about the X competitor opening signups to all, how to crowdsource deepfake porn moderation, Jack Dorsey, and more.

Wil Wheaton Rages at Larry David for Elmo Attack: “Appalling, Unforgivable, Despicable” 💭 Oh for fuck’s sake, Mr. Wheaton. I loved Stand By Me. I skipped the first couple seasons of TNG so I have no anti-Wesley bias, and bear you no ill-Wil. But c’mon, dude… it’s a fucking muppet. My dad hated and screamed at me, too… but we’re adults now. Intentionally triggering yourself with stupid, entirely optional shit and then publicly freaking out about it is infantile. And as for the sanctity of beloved Elmo…? Have you considered how many dicks Elmo has jerked off after-hours in a locked bathroom on the set? Elmo has probably done The Artistocrats for private audiences. Elmo goes to work every day with a man’s hand up his ass. Settle down, bud.

Merlin is a brilliant pig who communicates through "speech buttons," and loves to dance and eat ice cubes ❝ Pigs are so very smart, and this one named Merlin is no exception. In this terrific video, Merlin, who lives in West Sacramento with his human, Mina Alali, demonstrates how he communicates through pushing…

Ars Technica used in malware campaign with never-before-seen obfuscation ❝ Vimeo also used by legitimate user who posted booby-trapped content.

Polyamory Has Entered the Chat ❝ Mainstream awareness of polyamorous relationships is becoming more widespread. On dating apps, making connections is about more than sex.

TikTok is full of tryhard slang 💭 When people with sex blogs do it, they’re called “neolojisms”.

Bluesky Social Network Ditches Invite Codes, Opens Registrations to All ❝ Bluesky, the decentralized social media platform conceptualized by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, has now opened registration for everyone. On...

Plex Launches Movie Rental Store ❝ Media platform Plex today announced the launch of a dedicated movie rental store, allowing U.S. Plex users to purchase content directly from Plex...

feeeed: Embracing Feed Diversity and Personal News Curation 💭 I don’t think it’s for me, but feeeed is interesting… it’s essentially a news and social media bucket for your life, collecting everything from dozens of sources and presenting them via an algorithm tuned for the end-user and not advertisers.

Apple Updates Its Collection of Windows Apps ❝ Today, Apple introduced a redesigned version of its iCloud for Windows app. The updated app, which allows users to access photos, files, passwords, and other content on a Windows PC, has clarified how it works and where synced content can be found. The app also adds physical password keys and other refinements. I don’t spend

Why Everyone Can’t Stop Talking About Palworld ❝ Palworld is the first video game blockbuster of 2024—but it’s not what it seems.

Landline Phone Owners Are Protesting AT&T’s Plans to Drop Service ❝ In California, AT&T is designated as the Carrier of Last Resort. The fight is on to keep it that way.

Disney invests $1.5 billion in Epic to create ‘persistent universe’ tied to Fortnite 💭 When Epic rebooted a flailing Fortnite —ripping off PUBG in the process— I decided to give it a try… it’s such a mishmash of mechanics, I figured there had to be something in there for me to enjoy. I was wrong. Bleh.

The Best Vibrators to Get Your Groove on ❝ Gender? I don’t even know her! No matter what you’ve got, these tools promise good vibes for all.

Apple Vision Pro Users Are Mad They Can't Watch 3D Porn ❝ Sorry, horny weirdos. You’ll have to find another way to get off.

A Designer Dog-Maker Regrets His Creation ❝ The inventor of the Labradoodle believes he created a Frankenstein.

Deepfake scammer walks off with $25 million in first-of-its-kind AI heist ❝ Hong Kong firm reportedly tricked by simulation of multiple people in video chat.

Carl Weathers, Rocky, Predator and The Mandalorian star, dies aged 76 ❝ Actor played Apollo Creed in the Rocky film franchise

Microsoft may bring Bethesda’s Starfield and Indiana Jones games to the PS5 after all 💭 After the massive, long-term strategy leak last year, it’s entirely possible that Microsoft is ready to just throw up its collective hands, pull a Sega, and exit the hardware business entirely.

Apple made an AI image tool that lets you make edits by describing them ❝ The model, called MGIE, lets users type out their edits to photos. MGIE is open source and available for download on GitHub.

#news

[natache]

Controversial opinion, greek plays, postmodernism and fanfiction are kinda similar

I'm in a book club, it's been my turn to pick a book and I chose Medea... I thought that most of my friends, who are well read and tend to know stuff would have some idea about the story of Jason and the Argonauts, but nooooo we did a quiz, mf aren't quite sure what titans are, how are they gonna get the subtle implications that Medea comes form Helios therefore her act of violence can be excused because of her divine origin

It feels like I'm trying to get people to read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead and nobody read Hamlet

But that's the point of postmodernism, "postmodernism represents a decentred concept of the universe in which individual works are not isolated creations, much of the focus in the study of postmodern literature is on intertextuality: the relationship between one text (a novel for example) and another or one text within the interwoven fabric of literary histor" aka you gotta read book B to understand book A you wanted to read in a first place

What I'm trying to say is fanfiction is an excellent example of postmodern literature and should be treated as such, I mean I know mostly it's just horny, but it's postmodern horny, and that's slightly more interesting then just horny horny

#deep thoughts on relationships between fanfiction and postmodern

[bringmemyrocks]

Anyway, recent lefty jumblr sub-drama has shown that a lot of y'all still think Jews Are A Race and that's. Not good. Maybe you should unpack that.

Also worth examining why you think the modern, ultra-convoluted, non-halachically-based Conversion Industrial Complex has any credibility whatsoever. (I don't mean the requirements of some study and mikveh immersion, I mean all the other bs.)

We need to decentralize the whole system. It's bs and it's based in bureaucracy, not tradition.

This isn't to say that abusive ppl shouldn't be called out or w/e but recent events have shown that a lot of you aren't as progressive or anti-authoritarian as you think you are.

#i