#did covid reduce brain matter or something

[mytholegy]

literally what happened to media literacy. because I swear I read more nuanced takes about my favourite books by 15 year olds on tumblr ten years ago than I have by grown highly educated adults in the past years since then

#did covid reduce brain matter or something

[mercurialkitty]

Scientists Offer a New Explanation for Long Covid (NYT)

"A team of scientists is proposing a new explanation for some cases of long Covid, based on their findings that serotonin levels were lower in people with the complex condition."

By Pam Belluck

Oct. 16, 2023

The News

A team of scientists is proposing a new explanation for some cases of long Covid, based on their findings that serotonin levels were lower in people with the complex condition.

In their study, published on Monday in the journal Cell, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania suggest that serotonin reduction is triggered by remnants of the virus lingering in the gut. Depleted serotonin could especially explain memory problems and some neurological and cognitive symptoms of long Covid, they say.

Why It Matters: New ways to diagnose and treat long Covid.

This is one of several new studies documenting distinct biological changes in the bodies of people with long Covid — offering important discoveries for a condition that takes many forms and often does not register on standard diagnostic tools like X-rays.

The research could point the way toward possible treatments, including medications that boost serotonin. And the authors said the biological pathway that their research outlines could unite many of the major theories of what causes long Covid: lingering remnants of the virus, inflammation, increased blood clotting and dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system.

“All these different hypotheses might be connected through the serotonin pathway,” said Christoph Thaiss, a lead author of the study and an assistant professor of microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Second of all, even if not everybody experiences difficulties in the serotonin pathway, at least a subset might respond to therapies that activate this pathway,” he said.

“This is an excellent study that identifies lower levels of circulating serotonin as a mechanism for long Covid,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University. Her team and colleagues at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai recently published a study that identified other biological changes linked to some cases of long Covid, including levels of the hormone cortisol. These studies could point to specific subtypes of long Covid or different biological indicators at different points in the condition.

The Back Story: A series of disruptions set off by bits of virus in the gut.

Researchers analyzed the blood of 58 patients who had been experiencing long Covid for between three months and 22 months since their infection. Those results were compared to blood analysis of 30 people with no post-Covid symptoms and 60 patients who were in the early, acute stage of coronavirus infection.

Maayan Levy, a lead author and assistant professor of microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, said levels of serotonin and other metabolites were altered right after a coronavirus infection, something that also happens immediately after other viral infections.

But in people with long Covid, serotonin was the only significant molecule that did not recover to pre-infection levels, she said.

The team analyzed stool samples from some of the long Covid patients and found that they contained remaining viral particles. Putting the findings in patients together with research on mice and miniature models of the human gut, where most serotonin is produced, the team identified a pathway that could underlie some cases of long Covid.

Here’s the idea: Viral remnants prompt the immune system to produce infection-fighting proteins called interferons. Interferons cause inflammation that reduces the body’s ability to absorb tryptophan, an amino acid that helps produce serotonin in the gut. Blood clots that can form after a coronavirus infection may impair the body’s ability to circulate serotonin.

Depleted serotonin disrupts the vagus nerve system, which transmits signals between the body and the brain, the researchers said. Serotonin plays a role in short-term memory, and the researchers proposed that depleted serotonin could lead to memory problems and other cognitive issues that many people with long Covid experience.

“They showed that one-two-three punch to the serotonin pathway then leads to vagal nerve dysfunction and memory impairment,” Dr. Iwasaki said.

There are caveats. The study was not large, so the findings need to be confirmed with other research. Participants in some other long Covid studies, in which some patients had milder symptoms, did not always show depleted serotonin, a result that Dr. Levy said might indicate that depletion happened only in people whose long Covid involves multiple serious symptoms.

What’s Next: A clinical trial of Prozac.

Scientists want to find biomarkers for long Covid — biological changes that can be measured to help diagnose the condition. Dr. Thaiss said the new study suggested three: the presence of viral remnants in stool, low serotonin and high levels of interferons.

Most experts believe that there will not be a single biomarker for the condition, but that several indicators will emerge and might vary, based on the type of symptoms and other factors.

There is tremendous need for effective ways to treat long Covid, and clinical trials of several treatments are underway. Dr. Levy and Dr. Thaiss said they would be starting a clinical trial to test fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor often marketed as Prozac, and possibly also tryptophan.

“If we supplement serotonin or prevent the degradation of serotonin, maybe we can restore some of the vagal signals and improve memory and cognition and so on,” Dr. Levy said.

[amaliaayuningts]

2022 Year-End Reflection: Why Start Bicara Udara & Why More Parents Should Join the Conversation on the Issue

Hello, my name is Amalia. People used to know me as a political activist who fought for independent candidates in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election. Today, I am a mom with two sons aged 3 & 5. In November 2019, when my second child was born, I realized that my two children would grow up in the most polluted area in Indonesia. In mid-July 2019, when I was in my second trimester of pregnancy, Jakarta was named the city with the worst air pollution in the world based on the AirVisual air quality monitoring app. The air quality value (AQI) had even touched a score of 240 which is included in the red color category, aka very unhealthy. At this stage, people should be encouraged to reduce outdoor activities or use masks when traveling. Such news every year never bothered me until I realized that the air my children freely breathe every day is not safe. From then on I was determined to learn and find out about air pollution issues. Yes, my parenthood instinct made me more aware of the risks.

Yes, my parenthood instinct made me more aware of the risks.

When I was a kid, I lived in a village in Jogja close to rice fields. Playing outside and breathing in the fresh air seemed to be the norm. Twenty years later, I didn't think that such memories would be a luxury for my children who live in the city. It feels like the right to clean air is still considered unfamiliar compared to other basic human rights. Clean air is very important for humans. Humans cannot live without air. If we hold our breath for 2 minutes, we will immediately feel dizzy. If we hold our breath for 5 minutes, we will faint and it is dangerous for our vital organs such as the liver, kidneys, and brain. Even Dr. Agus from the Indonesian Lung Doctors Association (PDPI) emphasized that the human lungs actually only work for clean air. If left untouched, this air pollution problem will threaten the lives and development of our children.

Less than a year after my second child was born, the Covid-19 pandemic locked us all into staying at home. I didn't even send my first child to playgroup because there was no face-to-face learning. This condition is not easy for all parents. And again the problem is the virus in the air we breathe. These problems in the air make me want to do something. Because air pollution and covid-19 are not problems that I can solve alone and I believe protection against both needs to be voiced and fought for.

I read many journals and articles about air pollution that I found online and asked many friends who I considered to have expertise on air pollution issues in Indonesia. The more I read, the more difficult it was to understand the problem on my own because it is not only about science, health, and environment, but also about economics, public policy, and politics. To complicate matters further, the effects of air pollution are slow and often invisible. It's no wonder it's not a priority issue because many people don't know the dangers that lie ahead. Luckily, I met other mothers who were furious about this problem and did not want to remain silent. We then established Bicara Udara, a community of learning citizens and became active citizens to encourage and oversee the improvement of air quality in Jabodetabek.

The more I read, the more difficult it was to understand the problem on my own because it is not only about science, health, and environment, but also about economics, public policy, and politics.

Almost 3 years old, the air pollution problem in Jabodetabek is still like a puzzle that we have not finished solving. We still see the air pollution problem in our days. Although we have met our path with NGOs, think tanks, academics, and the government pushing for improvements, we still need more parents to find out about this problem and do something about it. As Mother's Day approaches, I wanted to write down my concerns and share them so that I can meet more parents who want to participate in the Bicara Udara community.

These past few months I have had the opportunity to continue my studies at the University of Glasgow, the clean air that I feel every day here should also be felt by residents in Jabodetabek. As much love as we pour into our children, as much pain as we endure for them, it is only natural that we should leave a good quality of life for them.

[madamspeaker]

Having spent ages trying to get tickets I’m getting to meet Hillary on Tuesday and now I’m stuck thinking what the hell am I gonna say to her. She’s my childhood hero, the woman who inspired me to take no shit and follow my dreams… how do I put this into words without ugly crying or having a nervous breakdown?! If you have any tips I’m literally all ears 😭

I am probably the wrong person to ask on this score as @hillosi will attest to lol. My one meeting with Hillary was shall we say... erm, I was totally starstruck - I went white as a sheet (and have the ghostly photo to prove it) and I think all I managed to say was "thank you for trying to save the world". I had rather foolishly prepped in my head what I wanted to say to Bill, which was to thank him for his efforts in Northern Ireland, and somehow I actually managed to get words to that affect out, but I think Bill introducing me to Hillary fried my brain cells. Iirc @hillosi said Hillary was rather tender with me, which sort of tells you how lovely the woman is, and how brain zonked I was haha.

I think my advice based on my own experience is to have one thing you want to say. Keep it simple. I was sort of quietly impressed with myself that I was as coherent with Bill as I was, and I suspect it was because I knew I wanted to mention Northern Ireland to him and had mentally prepped it. With Hillary, I wanted to say too much and ended up mumbling one thing. Same with Nancy - actually I was a lot worse with Nancy. I was probably half a level above ugly snot filled crying there, and I definitely needed blotting powder. Actually, if you are having a photo taken, bring something to blot in the moments before - powder or sheets, because no matter how cold it is, in those moments you will sweat. Oh and for the love of god don't be like me and have a backpack on. I did that with Nancy,  and she was trying to put her arm around me. I could kick myself over that one every day.

So tips based on my goofs:

Keep it simple and to one sentence that you practice a few times. If you keep saying something enough, the brain will kick in and remember it at the crucial moment. You can preface by saying how there is so much you would love to say to her if there was the time, and then say your one sentence - that way you are conveying to her the wide impact she has had on your life, but also reducing the risk that you end up rambling by keeping it to one key thing.

Blotting powder. You do not want to be shiny in the photo if one is being taken. Also, maybe pinch your cheeks moments before for colour.

A small bag. They might well not allow bags for security reasons anyway, but if they do, a small shoulder one. If she wants to put an arm around you (hard to know how it works now with covid) don't be like me and have a backpack on stopping her.

Don't forget to breathe!

Take a good few moments to drink in the atmosphere and capture a mental picture of the room and what she looks like as you get closer to her etc, because the actual moment you meet her will zoom by so damn fast. You will want to remember it, and recalling the room, the sounds, the smells etc will help later on in building up the memory.

[sage-nebula]

Because where I work is considered essential (and because IT in particular is considered essential, and I work in IT), I’ve already received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. I thought I would share my experiences with the vaccine here in case anyone wants to hear about it from a regular person on a personal blog rather than a big media outlet or other professional source.

TL;DR: Get the vaccine, please get the vaccine, it is worth it. 

Longer version:

As you may or may not know, I am a hermit, so I’m basically in my house any time when I’m not forced to be out of my house, meaning quarantine didn’t really disrupt my normal life at all. In fact, it let me work from home which I considered to be an improvement. I bring this up because it means that at no point did I ever get Covid. What this means is that when it came to the first round of the vaccine, here’s what happened:

1st Round Side-Effects: None! Aside from the standard sore arm at injection point.

My body had never seen Covid before, so it didn’t know what to expect and had no reaction at first except for, well, something along the lines of this:

Vaccine: [arrives with Covid protein] Immune System: “Oh, I don’t like that. I don’t like that you brought that in here. I’m going to make preparations so you can’t do that again.”

So then a couple weeks passed and I got the second vaccine. When I got the second vaccine, the nurse who gave me the shot pointed to a free sheet I could take that listed all the side-effects to expect, as well as a sticker (similar to an “I Voted” sticker, but this time it’s an “I Got the Covid-19 Vaccine” sticker). I took the sticker but left the informational sheet, because I didn’t have side-effects the first time and figured that I wouldn’t have any the second time.

This was a mistake.

Because you see, this time my body recognized the Covid protein, and so the response was basically:

Vaccine: [arrives with Covid protein] Immune System: “I think the fuck NOT you trick-ass bitch!! Get the FUCK out of my house this goddamn INSTANT, I am firing up the BAZOOKAS, you are NOT WELCOME HERE!!”

And as a result, I have experienced the following side-effects:

— Body Aches: General muscle pain, which I have all the time anyway, but also random stabbing pains all over my body. These were sharp enough to wake me up from sleep yesterday morning.

— Headache: Honestly I have nearly daily headaches anyway due to a car accident I had like a decade ago (apparently this kind of trauma stays with you), but it’s been more pronounced as through my entire head than normal, plus with the addition of the aforementioned spiky pains up there. 

— Nausea: The nausea also woke up at like 6am yesterday, and I took some Pepto Bismol to try to get rid of it, but it didn’t work. The nausea persisted along with the pain.

— Vomiting: I threw up once at 8am yesterday as a result of the aforementioned nausea. Thankfully I have not experienced either nausea or vomiting since. However, that may be because . . .

— Loss of Appetite: I haven’t wanted to eat anything since yesterday! I’ve tried, oh how I’ve tried. Yesterday I had half a cup of chicken noodle soup and two pieces of sourdough bread with butter on them. Today so far I’ve had half a cup of broccoli cheddar soup with two pieces of sourdough bread dipped in. I’m also now having a milkshake to try to get some calories in me. It’s been a struggle.

— Allodynia: This might be more of a “me” thing than a side-effect thing because I don’t see this listed with normal Covid-19 vaccine side-effects, BUT it happens when I get sick. Essentially, since yesterday morning my skin has been very painful to the touch. On my scalp especially, but also down my arms, legs, chest, back — you name it, it hurts when I touch it, like having a bad sunburn or millions of papercuts all over my body. Sucks, man.

— Fever + Chills: I’ve had a fever, and as a result I’ve had chills! Ever wonder what it’s like waking up under a fleece weighted blanket, drenched in sweat but also still cold? It’s not fun. Don’t recommend it. (But my solution was still to put on heavier clothes and get under the blanket to sleep some more . . . I mean I wasn’t cold the next time I woke up but I don’t know if this was the smart solution.)

— Extreme Fatigue: Speaks for itself.

Yesterday was definitely worse than today. (For reference, I got the vaccine on Thursday, yesterday was Friday, today is Saturday. So this is Day 2.) Yesterday I was operating at 10% capacity at my best. Most of the day it was like 3% - 5%. Today it’s more like 40% - 50%. Definitely much better, but I still feel sick. I don’t count it as a real illness because I don’t actually have the Covid-19 virus in my body. It’s more that there’s a protein or something specific to Covid-19 that’s in the vaccine, and my immune system recognized it and decided to launch into ass-kicking mode. Unfortunately, the way the human body’s immune system works is that it doesn’t just 1v1 the virus. Instead it’s like, you know how people joke that they’re going to burn the house down to get rid of the spider when they find a spider in the living room? That’s what the immune system does. The immune system doesn’t grab a newspaper to smash the virus, the immune system sets fire to the body to kill the virus, and that’s what a fever is. And it sucks for all involved, but ultimately it’s worth it as long as you don’t die first. (Which is always a risk, but the immune system doesn’t care about that. The immune system just wants the spider / virus gone.) 

Anyway, I write all of this out so that you can a.) know what to be prepared for and stock up accordingly, and b.) know that it’s still NOWHERE NEAR AS BAD as actually getting Covid-19. My best friend got Covid-19, and she was hospitalized and on oxygen for a week. She had cognitive issues, like memory problems, for longer. She is still sneezing up blood clots from what the oxygen did to her, among other things. And she’s one of the lucky ones. The side-effects remind me of when I got the flu back in 2018, except still not as bad because I’m getting over them much, much more quickly than I did the flu. However much these side effects suck, I’ve been managing them with the following:

— Gatorade: I’m one of those people that doesn’t like drinking water because it’s bland, so I had a Postmate bring me three big bottles of Glacier Freeze Gatorade and I’ve been chugging them. Gatorade is basically flavored sugar water so it replenishes your electrolytes and gets you hydrated. Is it as healthy as water? Due to the high sugar content, probably not. Does that matter when you’re at risk of dehydration because you’ve puked and are sweating out a fever? Nope! I’ve drank Gatorade whenever I get sick / dehydrated ever since childhood because my pediatrician recommended it to me back then. If you don’t like water, stock up on this in preparation.

— Advil: I always have Advil on hand because as I mentioned before, I get near daily headaches regardless. But Advil has helped not only with the muscle pains, but also with the fever reduction and the allodynia. These things have all come back when the Advil wears off, but it helps in the meantime. Other medicines, like Tylenol, can probably help too. 

— Sleep: I had to work yesterday (from home), but any time I wasn’t answering an email or on the phone I was dozing off. When I ended my shift at 5:30pm I slept until 2am. I woke up long enough to drink some more Gatorade, take some more Advil, and let my dog out, and then I went back to sleep until 12:30pm. I think this is why I feel so much better tbh. Sleep is very healing. If you’re an adult who works, plan to take time off after your second vaccination if you can. You will thank yourself for it.

I did these same things when I had the flu, but it still took me two weeks to get to where I am now in two days. The second vaccine hits hard because your immune system takes things from 0 to 100, but it’s still not as bad as an actual virus, and definitely not as bad as being in the hospital on oxygen or, god help you, a ventilator. (Because my next-door neighbor, who was a nurse, told me that by the time you’re on a ventilator you only have a 30% chance of surviving. So you really do not want to get to that point.)

All in all, please get the vaccine. Yes, the side-effects suck. Trust me, I know! I couldn’t even really read an email yesterday because my brain kept fuzzing out over it. I went back to sleep at 2am because my eyes hurt too much looking at anything, so lying in the dark felt better. But I’m sure that in another day or two I’ll be back up at 100%. And in two weeks I’ll be fully protected. And that is so, so much better than being in the hospital on a ventilator.

So please, please, please get the vaccine when you can. For yourself, and for those who are immunocompromised who can’t. Stock up on Gatorade and painkillers / fever reducers and get the vaccine. It’s worth it. 

#covid 19 #covid-19 #don't clown on this or i'll block you i won't hesitate bitch

[phroyd]

Joe Biden is going to be the next president of the United States. He will be inaugurated on January 20 and take power at noon that day. There is nothing, legally, that Trump can do to stop that.

What Trump and his feckless Republican Party might do illegally to try to overturn the results of the election and prevent Biden from taking power is a different matter. Trump has evidently intimidated the administrator of the General Services Administration into refusing to acknowledge Biden’s victory and thus prevent his team from starting the transition process. Only a smattering of Republicans have acknowledged that Biden won, and most of those who have, like George W. Bush, no longer hold any political power. Trump has already filed a raft of baseless lawsuits. His people are drumming up talk of some kind of Electoral College devilry to overthrow the popular will. And Trump fired the secretary of defense, Mike Esper, yesterday, which seems like the kind of thing one does before launching a coup d’état.

Years of watching Democrats snatch defeat from the jaws of victory gives many the sinking feeling that “it’s happening, again.” But rational thought tells us that these Trump gambits, all of them, are pointless. Biden won and his ascension to power is now inevitable, whether Trump accedes to that reality or not. As a wise man once sang: Gravity always wins.

Still, we’ve all seen Trump wriggle out of approximately a billion other defeats and scandals. He’s exposed the weakness of our democratic institutions, revealing just how useless they are in the face of his norm-breaking assaults. So it feels somehow naive to believe that his loss at the ballot box will translate into his loss of an actual job. It feels smart to consider that he might have a secret plan to retain that job, despite being voted out of it. Trump is the Michael Myers of our politics: He can’t be defeated, because the horror movie franchise makes too much money to ever end.

And yet, despite all this, I have gone to bed every night since Friday confident that President-elect Biden will become President Biden. I’ve come to this peace over the objection of my amygdala, which is the part of the brain that screams in fear and anxiety and tries to overpower rational thought. Here’s what I tell myself in order to help me sleep at night. Perhaps these are conversations others can have to achieve my level of forced serenity. (Amygdala in bold italics.)

Who won the election?

Joe Biden.

Who won the election if we only count legal votes?

Only legal votes are being counted. Joe Biden won those.

What about the possibility of a recount in swing states like Michigan or Pennsylvania?

Recounts traditionally do not change more than a thousand votes. Even if we’ve gone completely through the looking glass and this recount changes an unprecedented number of votes, like 5,000, which is completely unheard of, Biden’s margin of victory is too great to overcome. A recount would not change the result in states like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin. If Trump wants to lose twice, that’s up to him.

What about all the lawsuits, especially the ones they keep filing in Arizona and Pennsylvania?

Trump’s election lawsuits fall, broadly, into three categories: lawsuits alleging poll watchers were too far away, lawsuits complaining about the established rules for submitting mail-in ballots, and lawsuits alleging Trump voters were denied their vote because of some kind of ballot machine malfunction.

None of these lawsuits provide evidence of massive voter fraud. None of the lawsuits provide evidence of voter fraud at all. Some of the lawsuits allege some accidents, but the remedy for those accidents is counting more votes, not fewer. Trump’s claims that his poll watchers were not allowed to watch the counting of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania is flatly untrue, and his lawyers have had to admit in court that they were allowed in the room. They’ve been reduced to arguing that their poll watchers were not close enough, which, whatever. The remedy for that is to move them closer, not throw out tens of thousands of votes.

In fact, none of the Trump lawsuits allege anything that can be used to throw out tens of thousands of votes. Throwing out votes that have already been counted is not something that courts do. We can recount votes, this time with Trump watchers breathing down the necks of ballot counters and giving them Covid-19, but again, recounts don’t usually change the balance of votes by all that much.

The important thing to ask with each new Trump lawsuit is this: What is the remedy? If the remedy is “throw away tens of thousands of votes from people whose votes were clear in their choice and timely in their submission,” then that lawsuit is going nowhere. And if the remedy is not throwing out those entirely timely and legal votes, then the lawsuit will not change the results of the election.

Why would the Trump people be pushing these lawsuits if there was no chance for them to change the outcome?

Because Trump people are dumb? Hanlon’s Razor tells us: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

Joking aside, there might be many malicious reasons for the Trump campaign to be pushing lawsuits they know are destined to fail. Stirring up doubt in Biden’s victory is a prelude to refusing to acknowledge his authority as president. Trump, or one of his kids, or somebody “Trump-approved” is surely going to run for president in 2024, and making Trump’s rabid, white-supremacist base feel like the election was “stolen” from them has a political upside as they fight for their new “Lost Cause.”

And, there’s also the grift. Trump’s campaign is broke. They’ve literally written checks they can’t cash. Trump doesn’t like spending his own money on these things (to the extent he actually has any). These lawsuits purportedly challenging the election are a huge money-making opportunity for the Trump campaign. If you read the fine print on the new fundraising e-mails Trump’s campaign is sending out to supporters, they say that “60 percent of contributions” will go toward retiring campaign debt.

Would the Trump campaign put America through 70 days of trauma to make a buck? You better believe it. The whole Trump presidency is a guerrilla marketing campaign for the Trump brand that went too far.

But the Republican Senate is going along. This is just like impeachment. Republicans wouldn’t remove Trump then and they won’t now.

Well, it’s not up to Republicans to remove Trump from office. The Constitution does all that work on January 20. Joe Biden is the president on that day whether Republicans acknowledge it or not.

But now Bill Barr has gotten in on the game, and he is the worst of Trump’s henchman.

Yes.

He’s given federal prosecutors the green light to open up investigations into possible voter fraud.

So?

SO?

There wasn’t election fraud. Trump’s legal team has no evidence of election fraud and has no money to investigate to find such evidence, so they’re using the taxpayers’ money to look for it. But Barr’s prosecutors won’t find anything because there’s nothing there. This is going to turn out the same way it did when Barr investigated but didn’t arrest Hunter or Joe Biden.

The head of the Election Crimes Branch, Richard Pilger, resigned. That should tell us how wrong this is. But Barr is not going to succeeded. It’s just another thing to remember in 70 days when Barr is out of a job. We should arrest him and charge him with abuse of power.

What if Trump refuses to leave the White House?

Biden can be president from Delaware until the White House runs out of cheeseburgers. He’ll come out of hiding eventually.

But what if Republicans never acknowledged that Biden is the president?

How’s that different from the way they treated Barack Obama?

Good point, but what about a re-vote? I’ve seen MAGA people online calling for a re-vote.

Re-voting is not a thing. There is no statutory or constitutional language that can compel a nationwide re-vote. States will certify the results of their elections in the coming weeks. And then the Electoral College will meet on December 14 in a pro-forma session to…

WHAT ABOUT THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE?

Damn it.

Can Republican state legislatures put forward a slate of electors who will vote for Trump even though Biden won those states?

Let’s be very clear: The states get to choose how they will determine their own electors, but that determination has to be made before the election. A state with a Republican legislature—let’s say, Pennsylvania—could have decided to choose electors based on a simple vote of the legislature. In fact, Republican legislators contemplated doing such a thing. But they didn’t. Instead they decided, like every other state, to let the popular will in their state determine the slate of electors.

They can’t change the method of picking electors after the election has taken place. Remember, when voters showed up to vote, they technically weren’t voting for “Joe Biden” or “Donald Trump” but for a slate of electors who would vote for Biden or Trump. If Pennsylvania wanted to change those rules, it would have had to tell its voters before they voted. It can’t run a bait-and-switch on an election. It can’t say that a vote for Biden’s electors was actually a vote for the Pennsylvania legislature to choose the electors. This is an election, not a Groupon.

The only legal recourse, which some Republicans are arguing for, is to determine that the voters “failed to make a choice” on which slate of electors to nominate, or that the results of that choice are somehow unclear. But the results will be clear once Pennsylvania certifies its election results (and, in this case, the governor and secretary of state, who certifies the results, are Democrats). It will be a close election, but voters made a choice and that choice will be clear upon certification.

States have until December 8 to certify the results of their elections.

But what if Pennsylvania’s Republican legislators insist that the results weren’t clear? Would the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority allow the state’s Republican legislature to choose a Republican slate of electors, even though it’s unconstitutional?

Maybe? Conservatives on the Supreme Court act in bad faith all the time. But consider that Biden has likely won this election with 306 electoral votes. For this gambit to work, legislatures in Pennsylvania and at least two of the other states Biden won would have to submit a slate of Trump electors. The Supreme Court would have to OK this upending of the popular will three times in total. That’s incredibly unlikely and would spark almost immediate civil unrest directed right at the Supreme Court, which has no army to enforce its rulings.

Well, what’s our plan for that?

My dude, I don’t have a plan for “nothing matters anymore.” The end of democratic self-government is not a thing one has a legal plan for. That’s like asking what my plan is for closing a demonic hell mouth that opens in my backyard. Die. My plan would be to die. I’m not Keanu Reeves.

What if Trump fires FBI Director Chris Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel and gets the “deep state” to keep him in power indefinitely?

I’m not Kiefer Sutherland either. I cannot find the mole.

What if Trump launches a full-scale coup d’état and uses the military to keep him in power?

Then we’re at war. Honestly, what do you want from me? Yes, there is a non-zero chance that Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election leads to a civil war and, in such a conflict, Abigail Spanberger forms a Vichy government to “compromise” with Trump supporters, and I have to pilot a jet carrying Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez off of Naboo in hopes of finding friendly Jedis willing to fight for our cause.

But there is no legitimate way for Trump to stay in power now. There’s no peaceful way for Trump to stay in power. Either he’s gone on January 20 or he remains atop a military junta willing to use violence to enforce his will.

This makes you feel better?

I find it comforting that a full-scale military takeover is now the only way for Trump to stay in power. Because if there’s one thing I know about Trump, it’s that he is a coward. President Bone Spurs is not the guy to cross the Rubicon.

I look at it this way: Captain von Trapp hiked his enormous family over the Alps to get away; all I have to do is drive my people to the Thousand Islands Bridge while we all sing “Edelweiss.” Thinking much beyond that is pointless.

Well, you could get your lazy ass on the elliptical trainer in case you’re needed to fight.

Don’t start this with me again. Goodbye.

Phroyd

#the nation #trump #election2020 #biden

[leviosally]

Tag game - Quarantine version

Tagged by @thedaywasnew (sorry it’s taken me A Minute 🙈)

Are you staying home from work/school? We did have a period near the start of Covid where we worked reduced crew and reduced hours (wherein little Levs tumbled head first into The Witcher fandom) but I never completely stopped working.

If you’re staying home, who is with you? Just me n’ Mr. Levs and ‘the pride’ (our trio of cats 😸)

Are you a homebody? Not really actually! I mean, I’ve found ways to entertain myself and stay productive, but I like being out (mostly in nature) and spending time with family and friends.

An event you were looking forward to that got cancelled? I was going to compete at a pole competition in Seattle last spring right when everything went down 😩

What movies have you watched recently? Re-watched the Star Wars films...Ooh! And the John Wicks...very good!

What shows are you watching? Re-watching Friends 🙈 (they help calm my brain during my workweek and help me sleep) I should probably get back to some SGA...also, no matter how many pots of crabs the crew members of Deadliest Catch continuously haul aboard, it’s still not enough to stop me from continuing to watch it 😂 I should seriously probably branch out and tackle something new...

What music are you listening to? Today was José Gonzales, Iron and Wine, and Nickle Creek but I’ve been starting some remodeling projects in the kitchen and Parov Stelar offers great theme music 😁

What are you reading? Still Thrawn, but I should probably get back to The Witcher (I am shame), and I would really like to finish The Wheel of Time soon...

What are you doing for self-care? Epsom salt bubble baths and wiiiiiine 🍷🍷🍷

Thanks friend! I tag @stonecoldsilly @behind-the-sin @diuretic-dandelions @do-what-the-knight-tells-you @chaos-monkeyy if you wanna!

#tag games #thedaywasnew #once upon a time forever ago a sars virus got pissed

[iggysmice]

in an effort to make more personal posts here, here's one. I currently have either covid or the flu we aren't sure yet. Here's how thats gone so far.

I'm so sorry I'm on mobile and I can't do a readmore.

So me and Aly (my fiance, the lovely alys_gay_parade no im not tagging her in this drivel) were planning to go walk around and go out to lunch at the mall food court which is home to the only panda express currently taking foot traffic. We decided she'd be dropped off at my place in the morning and from there we could get on the bus and go to the mall. I'm sure I don't have to explain why it had to be so complicated.

So that night, I felt chills, deep in my chest. I know the feeling often indicates a fever, but I am also a dramatic bitch so I went and took my temperature with the house thermometer expecting it to say about 97 because I am also a cold bitch.

It read 100.2 and the thermometer made an urgent beep at me. I took some Advil because it lowers a fever and then noticed pain and stiffness in my neck and shoulders. Feeling around I found the lymph nodes on either side of my neck swollen and tender. This has never happened to me before, but it turns out my anti-anxiety medicine can cause it to occur more often with illness and even just spontaneously on its own.

The Advil soothed the pain and chills and I slept. This went on for three days, until today (9/9/2020).

I hadn't taken medicine since about 7 in the morning and I felt alright. My lymph nodes and neck were still sore but I was sure it would heal and go away soon enough. My last temperature reading had been a low 98, even! I went about my day.

Until about 5pm. I realized in my little room I couldn't get warm no matter what. I had two space heaters in there to try and overcome my drafty window, but it just wasn't working. I went out to the living room, where my parents usually keep it very warm because they're old and become chilly easily. I parked myself in the armchair closest to the big space heater and tried to get warm.

I still couldn't get warm.

My mom assured me it was cold outside so she understood, gave me fluffy warm socks and had me put a blanket over my body which already had fleece pajama pants and a hoodie on.

I still wasn't warm. My face had become hot, but the rest of me still shivered periodically and uncontrollably.

"Er, can I have the thermometer so I can reassure myself?" I asked my mom as casually as I could, expecting it to read 97.

It beeped urgently and read 102.8.

"Oh no, that's bad." I said, fully startled by the result. I'd thought I was just being a dramatic bitch about the cold weather we had.

"It isn't bad." my mom assured me. Even so, she gave me some Tylenol to try and lower it, and urgently asked if I had any lesions from my HS currently that could be septic. I didn't, I'd checked first thing when I'd got a fever initially because I know those infections can go crazy sometimes.

I don't usually tell my parents if something is wrong unless it is very wrong. This is because I am an adult and generally handle my own problems. So, when I am in pain from an HS abscess or swollen lymph nodes, I kind of just power through it because it seems the adult thing to do. I'd been struggling to keep warm for a couple hours before I went to the warmer rooms because I did think it was my drafty window doing it.

The next two hours my mom monitored my fever and gave me more reducing medicine.

"Don't heat up and kill my brain cells," I warned, pointing at my body threateningly, "I need those to be funny."

This was after my highest spike, 103.7.

My mom is a veteran preschool teacher. She knows that if the person in charge remains calm, everyone else will too. This is important with small children because a room full of panicking 4 year olds in an actual emergency is Bad. My mom had seemed calm and not that concerned, until that high reading. Then I saw her eyes go wide and she showed it to my dad and said in the most distressed voice "Her fever is going up." (Yes I am out as NB to my parents, I just use she/her And they/them so that's fine.)

I was thoroughly scared now and also had looped back around in temperature to feeling like I was sitting too close to a bonfire and it was making me sweat and hot on my face. The last time I'd left the house was two days before I got sick and I'd gone to the 7/11. I hadn't gone anywhere with Aly, in fact I had canceled on her twice now because I had a fever and didn't want to spread disease. I got my flu shot two weeks prior to the illness. My mom asked me about all of these and wrote them in her notebook. The store was my last chance to have caught a virus, because being a homebody in a quarantine Fucks.

In the end, my fever went down with enough medication and I was sent to bed and told to monitor it. We did discuss that if it went higher than that 103 or stayed in that range, we would have to go to the emergency room because that would be dangerous- a risky fever for an adult is 103 or higher.

In the end, it did go down and I went to bed. If it spikes again tomorrow I will probably have to get covid tested which means I will have done it Twice now while my family hasn't even done it once. I cannot wait for the saliva tests to come out. Even blood tests would be less uncomfortable than a swab rubbing the back of your sinus cavity on either side.

I will update as things happen. Currently my temp is around 98, which is a tad high but not a fever anymore. Alongside antibiotics, I now think fever reducing medicine is one of humanity's greatest medical achievements.

If you thought this was long uhhh it took place over like 3 hours for me while severely ill so I captured the feeling well if it feels like it goes forever.

#iggy rambles nonsense #illness cw #i dont have a cough so we arent positive I have covid it could just be the flu #you can get the flu 'around' your shot in a few ways #like the fact it only makes you about 75% immune as an individual #or theres a strain going around that wasn't in the shot #or i was exposed before the shot took effect #so it could easily be either but goddamn i scared my mom to death

[fiddlepickdouglas]

This is a personal rant so you can scroll on if you like.

I'm an old college kid. Like, I could be done with grad school by now, but life just didn't go that way - I still have about 2 years as an undergrad. I know it looks ~meh~ to the outside world, no matter how often people say "life isn't a race, don't worry what they think!" Well, it also doesn't help that I had to move in with my parents at the start of quarantine and had trouble finding a good job until literally this past week (which I don't start until November). I'm the almost-30 year old mooch in my parent's basement right now, literally, and I know it's not a flattering position.

Things are improving: getting a job as a bank teller that has consistent hours, opportunities to move up, and I can easily plan a class schedule around it is a blessing and a miracle.

But I wish my family in general would acknowledge one particular thing and respect it, instead of treating it like they do. I've been unofficially aware that I have something that *looks a lot like* ADHD for at least the past two years. Like, I'm positive that's it, I just haven't been able to afford seeing a doctor to get an official diagnosis. Even if I'm wrong, it's clear that I'm neurodivergent - I've always been that way. I was definitely one of those "gifted" students when I was young who later had lots of academic problems later, but I can pinpoint those problems showing up as early as the second grade.

It isn't that my parents didn't really try, but they waited until I was in middle school, when puberty hit, to finally do something and everyone including the doctors just called it depression. The medication did a little work to make me seem normal, but I discovered quickly that my parents were only happy with the results if it seemed like I was an obedient child who didn't argue or question things and I spent less time in isolation.

This made me reluctant to go to doctors because I was afraid the meds were just another control tactic and not a real solution. So we stopped. I recently asked my mom why she didn't keep looking for answers, because I continued to struggle academically (among other things). She blamed it on my stubbornness. For her, it wasn't worth understanding how my brain functioned. She preferred to decide that I was just too hard for her to understand and the only way for me to please her was to force me to conform to her as much as she could.

As a neurodivergent person who lost their job and got displaced at the peak of COVID-19, living with an undertone of shame for being the adult child in my parent's home, and all the weight of things happening this year, needless to say I'm a bit of a mess and I have barely managed it.

So, to setup what's got me bothered today: I use an app to sell slightly used clothes, but I have a small mountain of clothes (organized, but it's still kind of a lot) that I need to sell and it's been taking up space. My parents have a whole freaking house plus other storage space on top of that, and they're getting bugged about these clothes not being sold fast enough. They're not just lying around the house, they're in an out-of-the way closet except for a few that I pulled out to take pictures of.

My mom goes through them - first mistake, since I've already told her several times to keep her paws off my things because she has a track record of just getting rid my stuff and disrespecting my privacy - and picks out all the things that still had tags on them and thinks the rest can just be donated. I'm glad she only got that far before I could tell her PLEASE DON'T. And then she offered to buy some of them off me and then donate them anyway because she doesn't want me to end up like my "packrat" grandmother.

She keeps acting like I'm attached to these clothes and that's why they don't sell fast enough. That's not even it! I've just collected junk over the years, or friends have dumped their old stuff and told me to do as I wish, and I want to make money off of them! I know how stingy my mom is with certain things, and I know she wouldn't pay me what I know some of those items are worth.

And then she says she thinks it'll just take up less space in my mind, as if she's being conscious of my ADHD (which she refuses to properly acknowledge and chooses to think I'm actually somewhere on the autism spectrum although she has no idea how to handle someone with autism either).

The amount of disrespect in this makes me want to scream. I'm not being given the chance to handle my own things and being treated like a child, my personal property is not safe, and I'm being mocked in such a backhanded way it's truly astounding.

And the whole thing about my grandma? I know she is an imperfect human like everyone else but she is the sweetest and most hard-working person I know and hearing her be reduced to a "packrat" is so insulting. No need to imagine why my grandma keeps things on hand even if it's too much? Her lifestyle is giving and creating - she always cooks 5x more than necessary because she hates to see people starve, she made me and my siblings pajamas for Christmas each year until her hands couldn't do it anymore, she made her home a beautiful place for us to go to whenever we could visit and it wasn't about looks, it was about warmth. When I'm old I want to be so much like her, and yeah I'm pissed that my mom, her daughter in law, thinks of her that way.

I grew up being controlled and subdued and pressured into a mere shadow of my potential and I won't tolerate having both myself and my hero being disrespected over something that to any other rational being wouldn't even be an annoyance. And I'm tired of having to constantly guard my things in fear that they will suddenly disappear one day with only a "oops" and a shrugs from my mother.

🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕

[arabellaflynn]

I am so fucking over this plague thing. More accurately, I am so fucking over everybody being paranoid of this plague thing. Leaving the house isn't giving me panic attacks because of covid, it's because of all the goddamned people.

Look. I understand why people are afraid. When covid goes bad, it can go really bad, like 'intensive care with invasive ventilation' bad. It's just that this amount of fear is incompatible with also getting on with your life in any meaningful way, not to mention it's out of proportion with reality. Hospitalization rates of people with a confirmed case of COVID-19 (so, not counting people who never bothered to get tested, or people who have been exposed and fought the virus off, or people who have never been exposed) is about 82 per 100,000, or 0.082%. Condoms, when used properly, have about a 2% failure rate. If you trust in condoms to keep you childfree, you can trust reasonable, non-paranoid precautions to keep you from dying of covid.

If you catch covid, and you're an otherwise healthy non-elderly person, your experience is overwhelmingly likely to be like the one I had with chicken pox. I was born in 1981, so my prime years as a disease vector were before the varicella zoster vaccine. I caught chicken pox when I was 8 or 9. It blew. I was off school for two weeks, and I spent every moment of that itching like a motherfucker. But, like 59,999 out of 60,000 chicken pox sufferers, I got over it, and I'm still here. This doesn't mean that it's pointless to try to avoid catching it, and it definitely doesn't argue in favor of holding "chicken pox parties" so you can give it to other people on purpose. That's just idiocy. But it does mean that going to Howard Hughes-esque lengths in order to avoid ever coming into contact with it is maybe a little bit of an overreaction.

"Flatten the curve" was never meant to keep us all from catching COVID-19. The novel coronavirus is now endemic in the human population. Everyone is going to get this. Probably not every few months, like rhinovirus-driven colds, but more like pre-vaccine influenza, where if you had common sense and a bit of luck, you'd have a sucky few weeks once or twice a decade. The idea behind "flatten the curve" was to keep everyone from catching it at the same time, so that the number of cases that did need hospitalization never exceeded the number of available hospital beds. Believe it or not the news did explain that part, in tiny words, but everyone seems to have forgotten.

I had to hike into the next town over to pick up some stuff the other day. One of my roommates gawped in horror when I mentioned that I only wear a mask when around people. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires face coverings when indoors or when maintaining a distance of at least six feet from other people is impractical. That's fair; those are the circumstances under which cloth masks impede the spread of droplet-borne viral illnesses, be they COVID-19 or some other crap you've picked up. I had a mask, because I was going to talk to another human, and a good chunk of my route went through a populated area where I was likely to meet other people on the sidewalk. But a good chunk of my route also went through parks and quiet suburbs. I was outdoors, a place with notoriously good ventilation, and it was easy to stay 10+ feet away from the few people I saw. Under those conditions, masks have no effect. As long as you handle them by the ear pieces -- because you have been breathing damp schmutz all over the face part -- you can in fact take them off to cool down and breathe, and re-set them when you see people approaching again.

Said roommate wears a mask from the instant she exits the front door to the very moment she gets back in. Even when walking the dog in our wide-open neighborhood, where there is so little traffic you can dodge the other dog-walkers and joggers by walking down the middle of the street if you want. The neighbor kids bike and play games in the road all the time. You can wear a mask under those conditions if you want to, but I can't. I already have a hard enough time not being able to breathe when exerting myself in hot, humid weather. At that point, it's not doing anything physical. Its sole purpose is to act as a talisman to allay your own anxiety about all things covid. Not just anxieties about catching it, but anxieties about not displaying the correct amount of conformity and community-mindedness. I'm not really surprised; virtue signalling is something of a local sport. But that is what's going on. 

Another roommate has taken to disinfecting all the groceries. He started out using wipes but then we ran out, so now he's just got a spray bottle of Clorox and water sitting on the kitchen windowsill. I have politely gone along with this for the most part, but I also intercept my own deliveries, lest he get it into his head to bleach my raw produce. Dr Fauci does not bleach his groceries; I know, because Colbert was a wiseass and asked him on national TV. It's possible to get covid from contaminated surfaces in the same way it's possible to get herpes from a toilet seat, in the sense that it doesn't contradict any known laws of physics, but it's so unlikely that if you can actually demonstrate that it happened you will get written up as a case study. And frankly it doesn't matter what kind of terrifying things are on the outside of your packages as long as you wash your hands.

For those of you who do not have a psychiatric diagnosis, this is what's called an anxiety spiral. Something makes you anxious and you start to see it in terms of risks to your safety, so naturally your response is to start thinking about how to avoid it. You make a plan. But then you start noticing that your plan may not reduce that risk to zero, or may present risks of its own, so you make a second-order plan to plaster over those. But then that plan has holes, so then you need a third-order plan, and so on and so forth quite literally ad infinitum if you can keep it up that long, or until you decompensate rather spectacularly if you can't. The less reliable, concrete information you have about what's going to happen, the worse it gets. If you let it continue to the point of pathology -- which I am starting to see among the general population -- you eventually dig yourself in so deep that you can't get groceries without involving a contingency plan in case of nuclear first-strike from Canada. This, understandably, fucks up your life. I've seen this both first-hand in my own brain, and in being raised by a woman who suffered from such a massive unacknowledged anxiety disorder that she blocked off the front windows of the house for fear that someone walking down the street outside might see that she had the living room lights on.

Your risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2, now that it exists, is not zero. It will never be zero. A vaccine will not bring it down to zero. Technically, your risk of contracting smallpox is also not zero, because there are still a few vials of it lying around somewhere. Your risk of unintentionally spreading it -- which is what the cloth masks are meant to do; if it's not an N95 mask it does nothing to keep you from catching it -- is therefore also not zero. But there comes a point where it is low enough, and you have to just accept that it exists as part of the background chance that you might get run over by a car or fall in the shower or discover an anaphylactic allergy the hard way or keel over from an undetected aneurysm or any of the other ways you can die without warning.

The BLM protesters are doing it right, I think. That's an important thing that has to get done, so they're doing it. They're spending hours in a large crowd of people, so they try to keep a 6' distance and wear a mask, because that's not always feasible. You can't let your fear immobilize you, and there is a finite level to which you can let that fear prompt you to make yourself uncomfortable. Risk tolerance differs from person to person. My housemates are welcome to freak out over the idea of taking the trash out without a mask; I'm not, and I'm not putting one on to spend two minutes out in the side yard at midnight.

And anyone who froths over "kids these days" referring to it as "the 'rona" can cool their jets. This is basically a pandemic tradition. You get a shot every year so you don't catch "the 'flu" -- which, yes, was how it was typographically styled in 1917-19 -- so shut the fuck up.

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#IFTTT #Blogger #Unsolicited Advice

[daniblogsthroughpandemic]

War

This is not meant to be an explicitly religious or spiritual post, but it will end with a blessing. I am very fond of blessings. I find them kind and warm and sheltering. Distilled, a blessing is love, and we could all do with more of that. In times when it is a blessing that I seek to receive or to give, I go no further than a book of them written by poet, philosopher, and priest, John O’Donohue - To Bless the Space Between Us (see the link below).

I found myself reaching for my copy today after receiving news that we will be offering psychological first aid to our colleagues who are on the “front lines” of the pandemic. I work as a psychiatric nurse practitioner and have been on a team that performs psychiatric consults for (at this time, mostly) emergency departments across the state. We do so through a slightly more elaborate and, of course, HIPAA compliant version of Skype. I have had the absolute privilege to a)still have a job that I can b)do from home. So far, all of this has been so urgently present but also so distant. I am receiving a great deal of updates on the virus and the dizzying amount of resources that we are in need of but still don’t have. I cringe when I see the federal government’s response. I’ve tried to be a source of good, thoughtful information to the people in my real-life and digital social networks. I have desperately communicated the dangers and necessities to my representatives. I feel that, for two weeks, my brain space has been thoroughly occupied by the resident COVID-19. Still, I feel eons away.

It inched closer yesterday (the day before yesterday? I can’t keep up) when I read that an attending physician on a service I formerly worked on at an academic medical center had, in part due to rationing of PPE, been exposed to the virus. She is well, no symptoms as of now, though she is taking every precaution to protect her family and has been isolating herself. She has two young children she can’t see or hold for the immediate future. I hope her and her family’s sacrifice is self-evident and won’t pretend to know what she’s going through or what she hopes others take from it. She thoughtfully summarized her experience on her personal social media page – perhaps I can link it here with her permission.

The best thing I can liken to my own personal response, though, was survivor’s guilt. You can’t help but to think “Why her, not me?” I think that question will haunt a lot of us as some colleagues make more sacrifices than others by nature of their position. Some will be exposed and other won’t be for reasons both explainable, even preventable, as well as totally arbitrary. And of course, most agonizingly, some will fall ill and some will die while the rest of us eventually walk away to live out the rest of our lives. Walking away and living the rest of our lives feels far away and my imagination is too occupied to even take that leap right now, but every combat veteran I’ve ever known has told me that that is the hardest part. The rest of our lives...but I digress. 

The organization is acutely aware of this present and future suffering, I’m sure, and is working on ways to address it. I am grateful for this insight and preparedness. I am grateful for my team that is willing to assist. This sounds selfish, and it is, but this all made the email today something of a balm. It was something to soothe a bit of the guilt by letting me think “Thank God. Finally, something I can do.” That said, the email held a lot of unknowns and non-specifics regarding the process, which is always anxiety-provoking and frustrating to me. I am high-strung and relatively inflexible (I know this. I’m not proud of it. I try my best.). I struggle when there is a lack of preparation. I want to do right by anyone who calls (maybe tonight!) and feel trepidation at the suddenness and enormity of the task, but quickly reminded myself - “So do they”. None of us are prepared.

This is the reality of the situation: We, as Emmanuel Macron put it, are at war. I don’t usually like war or battle metaphors, especially in healthcare, but this is how a lot of us feel. My colleagues were dropped in a war zone utterly ill-equipped. They have watched the enemy charging towards them from miles and miles away. Make no mistake: This crisis did not have the element of surprise, not here. They scoped it out – they knew what it was and what they needed and realized they didn’t have it. They asked for it but were told that the threat was not there, that the battle would not happen. The Commander treated an impending crisis with the logic of a child’s game of peek-a-boo – if you can’t see it, then it isn’t there. But it isn’t a game, and now the battle is here. The troops are fighting with grossly limited weapons, ammunition, provisions, etc. There is no central effort to amend this. As a result, there will be casualties that there wouldn’t have been otherwise. No matter what happens from here, that’s something that can’t be taken back. The sooner we act from here, though, the more damage can be reduced, and there’s something to be said for that, something enormous. They fight and they wait. 

I do not know what the extent of this crisis will be. There are still many choices that will create many paths that we could end up marching down. Some are less perilous than others, and I hope that the least treacherous is the one we will be led down. I do know that tonight I feel very afraid and very grateful. I hope to be of service to alleviate the suffering that I can. I have been and continue to think of those on the front lines and, as we say, hold them all in the light. So on that note, I will offer this blessing, taken from page 141 of To Bless the Space Between Us, written for nurses, but applicable to anyone in the diverse occupations who are tirelessly serving the rest of us while exposed and, at times, seemingly forgotten in the trenches of a war:

Your mind knows the world of illness,

The fright that invades a person

Arriving in out of the world,

Distraught and grieved by illness.

How it can strip a life of its joy,

Dim the light of the heart

Put shock in the eyes.

  You see worlds breaking

At the onset of illness:

 Families at bedsides distraught

That their mother’s name has come up

In the secret lottery of misfortune

That had always chosen someone else.

You watch their helpless love

That would exchange places with her.

  The veil of skin opened,

The search through the body’s night

To remove tissue, war-torn with cancer.

  Young lives that should be out in the sun

Enjoying life with wild hearts,

Come in here lamed by accident

And the lucky ones who leave,

Already old and in captive posture.

  The elderly, who should be prepared,

But are frightened and unsure.

You understand no one

Can learn beforehand

An elegant or easy way to die.

 In this fragile frontier-place, your kindness

Becomes a light that consoles the brockenhearted,

Awakens within desperate storms

That oasis of serenity that calls

The spirit to rise from beneath the weight of pain,

To create a new space in the person’s mind

Where they gain distance from their suffering

And begin to see the invitation

To integrate and transform it.

  May you embrace the beauty in what you do

And how you stand like a secret angel

Between the bleak despair of illness

And the unquenchable light of spirit

That can turn the darkest destiny towards dawn.

  May you never doubt the gifts you bring;

Rather, learn from these frontiers

Wisdom for you own heart.

May you come to inherit

The blessings of you kindness

And never be without care and love

When winter enters your own life.

To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings by John O’Donohue: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/123427/to-bless-the-space-between-us-by-john-odonohue/

[jhpsol]

-

09/08 - Covid, trauma, and their implications on pedagogy

Is it a reach to say that it’s impossible to be a stranger to trauma at this point in adulthood? Whether or not you’ve lived with supportive relationships and a warm setting, trauma is a phenomenon that can be accidental and, as we’ve learned with covid, out of our hands. 

Reading the common reactions to trauma article has reminded me of the different ways my friends and family have coped throughout covid, and even before it. As much as I’d like to avoid being maudlin, to me these reactions don’t speak to our resiliency. Suffering and enduring consequence in the face of events we should never have to prepare for isn’t something I can spin into a good thing no matter how much perspective it offers us. Trust me-- I could link all the science articles on how trauma induces irreversible damage on our brain cells, or books on why humans aren’t built for elongated periods of stress on a hormonal level. 

A lot of my reading on that subject though, laughably is another reaction to trauma isn’t it? A manifestation of anxiety and my seeking to understand if what is happening is as bad as it seems if not worse. And this is what a freak-out looks like in my twenties, eerily calm hours of research. 

What would it look like for a student at the high school age? At the middle school or elementary school stage in life? Children are incredibly receptive. Children of trauma, sometimes even more so. What does this mean for children especially in this day and age, with open access to the internet? 

Three years and counting is an incredibly long period of time for people to experience trauma. While we might think that people are getting used to the pandemic by now, changes in response to community needs, healthcare, and schooling are still being made in response to the new strains and vaccine availabilities. Changes that, with the swipe of a screen, are being broadcasted every minute into all social networks, all online press and mainstream media, and all video hosting websites.

That means that for children, change (read: a lack of stability) looms at every corner. Maybe I’m reaching for too many strings, but I feel as though many of our relatives have felt similarly in times of war and political instability. For my grandparents and their parents, it meant escaping borders and laying low. It meant survival above all else, and that’s what my parents eventually ended up learning. 

Survive. Survive. Survive. 

A lot of that intergenerational mentality took genuine mental labor for me to get out of. I no longer want to clench my teeth and think about the future as some conditional verb tense, and I am still convincing myself of that. 

Question is, how can we avoid passing this onto children during a time of collective trauma when we ourselves are going through it? 

I’d like to think I can reduce it to... don’t do what our parents did. Don’t narrow their options into the survivable ones without letting them figure it out for themselves. Don’t speak at large about how weak they are, and how there’s danger everywhere without bringing up a way to mitigate the isolation of it all: support groups, distractions to turn to for recalibration, peers and sources we can introduce children to, our history and how things have gotten better even though it might’ve taken work. Don’t ignore everything, but don’t extremize what is already suffering. And most importantly, stress how necessary it is to help others beyond yourself. 

If covid has given us a collective trauma, then we must work towards a collective healing. 

#09/08 #p1

[patriotsnet]

Is The Economy Better With Democrats Or Republicans

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/is-the-economy-better-with-democrats-or-republicans/

Is The Economy Better With Democrats Or Republicans

Demographic Differences In Views Of Economy

Does the economy do better under Democrats or Republicans?

Overall, 57% of Americans say current economic conditions are excellent or good, but these views vary across demographic groups: older people, those with higher incomes, men and whites are particularly likely to say the economy is in good shape, while these views are less widely shared among younger people, those with lower incomes, women, blacks and Hispanics.

These demographic gaps are little changed over the course of the last few years. Americans ages 65 and over are the most positive in their evaluations of the economy, with 70% saying it is in excellent or good shape. By comparison, about half of 18-29 year olds say the same. And while more than six-in-ten white people offer positive evaluations of the economy, that compares with roughly half of Hispanic people and just a third of black Americans .

There is a 12 percentage-point gender gap in these views: 64% of men say the economy is doing well, compared with 52% of women. And while 64% of college graduates say economic conditions are excellent or good, 54% of those without a college degree say the same.

Views of the economy also differ starkly by income. Among those with annual family incomes of $100,000 or more, 72% have positive views of the economy, with one-quarter rating it as excellent. Roughly two-thirds of those who make $75,000-$99,999 and $50,000-$74,999 rate the economy as excellent or good.

Do Republican Presidents Have Better Economic Records

Republicans often get the nod for being better with the economy. For example, a recent Pew Research Poll of registered voters found that 49 percent of voters trusted Republicans to handle the economy better, while 40 percent trusted Democrats. This post seeks to answer a simple question is this perception true when it comes to the presidency? Do Republican presidents have better economies?

To answer the question, I looked at a variety of measures. These included measures of economic performance, like Gross Domestic Product or the change in the unemployment rate. I also looked at some areas of criticism for Democrats that their policies lead to debt and inflation. Then, I looked at President Trumps favorite measure of performance the stock market. Finally, because this blog is about inequality, I examined how a measure of inequality did under Republican presidents and Democrats.

The results are presented in all their glory below, but let me summarize it for you. If you are going to vote for a Republican presidential candidate based on their economic performance, think again. The perception that Republican presidents get better economic performance is wrong. Across most of the measures I will present, if anything, Republicans do worse. And you dont have to believe me. Every measure I looked at came from here or here. Go have a look for yourself. Or, just trust me and read on.

Republican Presidents vs. Democrats: GDP & Unemployment

NoteData Series: NoteNote

The Philosophy Behind Democratic Economic Policy

Democrats gear their economic policies to benefit low-income and middle-income families. They argue that reducing income inequality is the best way to foster economic growth. Low-income families are more likely to spend any extra money on necessities instead of saving or investing it. That directly increases demand and spurs economic growth. Democrats also support a Keynesian economic theory, which says that the government should spend its way out of a recession.

One dollar spent on increased food stamp benefits generates $1.73 in economic output.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt first outlined the Economic Bill of Rights in his 1944 State of the Union address. It included taxes on war profiteering and price controls on food costs. President Harry Trumans 1949 Fair Deal proposed an increase in the minimum wage, civil rights legislation, and national health care. President Barack Obama expanded Medicaid with the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

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Everyone Does Better When The Presidents A Democrat

The numbers dont lie. The question is why every Democrat isnt talking about this all the time.

Our two political parties have certain identities that are seared into our collective public brain. Democrats: the party of workers, of civil rights, of compassion and fairness, and of higher taxes and more regulation. Republicans: party of the rich, big business , the free market, and lower taxes and less regulation.

And because the GOP is the party of big business, it is universally assumed that Republicans are better at handling the economy. Polls typically find that people trust Democrats more on all the things that government does, which stands to reason, but trust Republicans more on handling the economy. Just last week I saw a poll in which respondents rated Biden as better equipped than Trump to handle race relations, the virus response, and two or three other things; but on the economy, Trump bested Biden 51-46.

Its hard wired, and its wrong. Dead wrong.

Simon Rosenberg heads NDN, a liberal think tank and advocacy organization. He has spent years advising Democrats, presidents included, on how to talk about economic matters. Not long ago, he put together a little PowerPoint deck. It is fascinating. You need to know about it. The entire country needs to know about it.;

The deck consists of about 15 slides, but Ill walk you through just six so you get the idea. Lets start with job creation under each president:

Democrats, you have a great story to tell. Go tell it.;;;

A President Doesnt Really Matter For Investment Returns

The main lesson of this article is that a Democrat or Republican president doesnt really affect your investment returns. As there are so many variables that influence the S&P 500s index performance, who is president is not a significant factor.

The same thing goes for the CEO of a large publicly-traded company. If Tim Cook at Apple retired tomorrow, do you think the event would make a difference in Apples share price? There might be a knee-jerk move for one or two days, but after that, it would be back to business as usual. As a result, if you want to get rich, your goal is to try and become an overpaid CEO.

Instead of voting for a president who you think will be best for your investments, vote for a president who you think will do the most good for the most number of people. A country begins to rot if only some people get way ahead while others are left behind.

Since 2009, Ive been driven to try and help people improve their financial lives no matter who they are or who they vote for. Ive found that people who are more financially secure are nicer and happier people. More good comes out of the world as a result.

I dont believe only the rich, powerful, and connected and their children should get ahead. Theyve already got all the resources in the world that money can buy. Therefore, Financial Samurai will continue to be free for as long as Im alive.

Read Also: How Many Democrats And Republicans In The Senate

Good Morning Why Has The Us Economy Fared So Much Better Under Democratic Presidents Than Republicans

Has the economy fared better under Democratic presidents or Republican presidents over the past century? The sensible answer might seem to be: Its probably been similar.

Presidents, after all, have only limited control over the economy. They dont have much influence over the millions of decisions every day, made by consumers and business executives, that shape economic growth, jobs, incomes and stock prices. Over the course of a century, it seems logical that the economy would have performed similarly under Democrats and Republicans.

But it hasnt.

The economy has fared far better under Democrats. The gap, as one academic paper puts it, is startlingly large. Here are the headline numbers:

And here is a ranking of presidents by average annual G.D.P. growth:

The gap exists not only for G.D.P. and jobs but also for incomes, productivity and stock prices. The gap also exists if you assume that a presidents policies affect the economy with a lag and dont start his economic clock until months after he takes office. Virtually any reasonable look at the data shows a big Democratic advantage.

My colleague Yaryna Serkez and I have just documenting the pattern and the potential reasons. A few possibilities are easy to reject. Its not about congressional control, nor is it about Democrats running up larger budget deficits.

Republican presidents have been slow to respond to recessions and other crises Donald Trump and both George Bushes being examples.

The Economy Does Better Under Democrats

Republicans have managed to create and maintain the myth that their party is best for the American economy. The facts say something different.

But the facts are not on the Republicans side. Historically, the American economy has performed measurably better when Democrats are in charge.

Here are some quick stats you can use when to support your assertions about the economy:

1) Since 1947, when official GDP calculations were introduced, GDP growth under Democratic administrations has consistently outpaced that of Republican administrations. This is true even when major crises like the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic are factored out.

A similar study by Princeton economists found that from Truman to Obama, growth was 1.8 percent higher under Democratic administrations than their Republican counterparts.

2) On average, stock market growth is stronger under Democrats. Again comparing the period since 1947, data shows that markets grew an average of 10.8 percent under Democratic presidents, compared to 5.6 percent for under Republican presidents.

3) Democratic administrations create more jobs.

Since the 1960s, when the party holding the presidency began to fluctuate regularly, Democrats have, on average, outperformed Republicans in terms of job growth. Republican President Regan is an outlier, as he did post impressive job numbers. Here is a comparison:

Johnson 10 MillionH.W. Bush 3 MillionClinton 23 MillionW. Bush 1 MillionObama 12 Million

Also Check: What Is The Lapel Pin The Republicans Are Wearing

Which Political Party Is Really Better For The Us Economy

WASHINGTON ;It seems every four years in the United States it boils down to one question for voters: hows the economy doing? Even during COVID-19, the pandemics impact on jobs and finances remains a major issue, according to a recent poll. So when it comes to Democrats and Republicans, which political party handles the economy better? A new study finds it may actually be better for Americans when both parties hold power.

Analysts at WalletHub have released their review of how the U.S. economy has fared since 1950 under both parties. Looking at times where one side controls the White House and Congress and times where the government was split, analysts find the best scenario for economy emerges when a Democrat is President, but Republicans control Congress.

The study looks at several key factors including the state of the stock market, unemployment, the national debt, home and gas prices, and even the level of income equality across America. Researchers also examined how each administration since Dwight D. Eisenhower has affected the nations fortunes.

Want A Better Economy Elect A Democratic President

Who are better for the economy, Democrats or Republicans?

I enjoyed David Leonhardts opinion piece in the New YorkTimes today including graphic evidence that the econmomy performed better under Democratic presidents for the last century.

A president has only limited control over the economy. And yet there has been a stark pattern in the United States for nearly a century. The economy has grown significantly faster under Democratic presidents than Republican ones.

Its true about almost any major indicator: gross domestic product, employment, incomes, productivity, even stock prices. Its true if you examine only the precise period when a president is in office, or instead assume that a presidents policies affect the economy only after a lag and dont start his economic clock until months after he takes office. The gap holds almost regardless of how you define success, two economics professors at Princeton, Alan Blinder and Mark Watson,;write. They describe it as startlingly large.

Accompanying graphics tell the story, with a couple shown here.

My dad, a yellow-dog Democrat stockbroker in southern Louisiana, preached this to me until his dying day. His evidence was only anecdotal, of course, but very tangible.

Recommended Reading: Did Trump Say Republicans Are Stupid

Annual Growth Rate Of Nonfarm Jobs

Starting president’s economic clock…

The six presidents who have presided over the fastest job growth have all been Democrats, as you can see above. The four presidents who have presided over the slowest growth have all been Republicans.

The big question, of course, is why. And there are not easy answers.

I have shown the data to multiple economists in recent weeks, and most say they are not sure how to explain it, at least not fully. We dont quite get why its the case, Katherine Eriksson, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who specializes in economic history, told me. , an economist at the University of Tennessee, described the pattern to the graduate students in a class she teaches and asked for their thoughts. They were sort of stumped, she said.

Ezra Klein writes that midterms typically raze the governing party and explores just how tough a road the Democrats have ahead.

Michelle Cottle surveys the Republican opposition thats shaping up for 2022 and finds many candidates embracing the fiction that the election was stolen.

Maureen Dowd writes that Biden has a very narrow window to do great things and shouldnt squander it appeasing Republican opponents.

Thomas B. Edsall explores new research on whether the Democratic Party could find more success focusing on race or on class when trying to build support.

What, then, are the most plausible theories?

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on , and .

The Party Thats Actually Best For The Economy

Many analyses look at which party is best for the economy. A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that Democratic presidents since World War II have performed much better than Republicans. On average, Democratic presidents grew the economy 4.4% each year versus 2.5% for Republicans.

A study by Princeton University economists Alan Blinder and Mark Watson found that the economy performs better when the president is a Democrat. They report that by many measures, the performance gap is startlingly large. Between Truman and Obama, growth was 1.8% higher under Democrats than Republicans.

A Hudson Institute study found that the six years with the best growth were evenly split between Republican and Democrat presidents.

Most of these evaluations measure growth during the presidents term in office. But no president has control over the growth added during his first year. The budget for that fiscal year was already set by the previous president, so you should compare the gross domestic product at the end of the presidents last budget to the end of his predecessors last budget.

For Obama, that would be the fiscal year from October 1, 2009, to September 30, 2018. Thats FY 2010 through FY 2017. During that time, GDP increased from $15.6 trillion to $17.7 trillion, or by 14%. Thats 1.7% a year.

The chart below ranks the presidents since 1929 on the average annual increase in GDP.

President

1.4%

A president would have better growth if he had no recession.

Don’t Miss: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

The Philosophy Behind Republican Economic Policy

Republicans advocate supply-side economics that primarily benefits businesses and investors. This theory states that tax cuts on businesses allow them to hire more workers, in turn increasing demand and growth. In theory, the increased revenue from a stronger economy offsets the initial revenue loss over time.

Republicans advocate the right to pursue prosperity without government interference. They argue this is achieved by self-discipline, enterprise, saving, and investing.

Republicans business-friendly approach leads most people to believe that they are better for the economy. A closer look reveals that Democrats are, in many respects, actually better.

In 2016 The Media Extensively Covered Trump Supporters Economic Anxiety Will This Misperception Continue In The Lead

Since Joe Biden became president, several surveys have found a sharp rise in Republican pessimism about the economy.

This might seem surprising considering the national economy which experienced one of its worst downturns thanks to the coronavirus pandemic is now objectively improving. The United States added 916,000 jobs in March, smashing Dow Jones expectations and the unemployment rate is now at its lowest level in over a year. And economic forecasters now predict annual GDP growth in 2021 will soar to levels the country hasnt witnessed in nearly 40 years.

Yet, despite these optimistic economic indicators, most Republicans say the economy is getting worse. On the one hand, this is to be expected, as political scientists have found that how we think about the economy is increasingly rooted in how we identify politically rather than in actual economic conditions.

Take this data from Civiqs daily tracking polls, which has asked Americans about the economy each day since June 2016. Americans perceptions of the national economy have changed wildly depending on whether a Democrat or a Republican is in the White House.

Read Also: Senate Seats Republican

Trump Is Right About One Thing: The Economy Does Better Under The Democrats

Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in the Sun Country Airlines Hangar at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport November 6, 2016.

Since Im an old Democrat supporting Hillary Clinton, it might surprise you to hear that I agree with Donald Trumps top line view of the economy.

No, I dont agree with much that hes said since he started his 2016 presidential campaign, and recent revelations have rightly drawn opprobrium. But since Im also an agreeable old southerner, Ill give credit where credit is due. Donald was absolutely right when he told Wolf Blitzer in 2004: Ive been around for a long time and it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.

Thats right. Trump said out loud the same thing that Hillary Clinton has assertedand top academics and journalists have confirmed. The same thing Ive been;compiling cold, hard government data on since 1980: By crucial metrics like GDP, job creation, business investment and avoiding recessions, the economy does a lot better with Democrats in the White House than with Republicans. Just one eye-opening example: Nine of the last 10 recessions have been under Republicans.

Watch on Forbes.;Hillary Clinton Vs. Donald Trump: Where The Candidates Stand On Employment And Jobs

Pundits dont agree on exactly why. Some say the common thread may be external factors ranging from oil shocks and warm, fuzzy consumer expectations to economic cycles falling differently from political cycles.

[freebiescosmos]

 Feeling bored?

   Are you?  I don't know if you are but if you definitely are bored then you are in the right place.

  Are you feeling good because you don't have anything to do or anything to perform? Well, that is not only your problem as many as its problem if many during this covid pandemic. Yes, the covid pandemic had made people stay in their home in Quarantines due to which it is no and truthful for energetic activities to be performed. so it is natural to get bored.

 However, if you are bored does not mean that you must be frustrated. chill guys, there are many ways from which you can remove your boredom. I sometimes get bored because of this pandemic so so today I am going to be talking about some of the facts from which your boredom might get remove and along with that, you will learn something new today.

Today I will be sharing some of the facts related to human body with you. If you already know these facts then congratulation, but if you don't you are welcome to read and you know the facts. I hope this text will make you active along enrich your knowledge. I know there are lots of ways to remove boredom. You can watch movies and read books you can listen to audiobooks you can listen and read various movie reviews. But today I will be sharing with you some of the interesting facts and I hope you will like them.

1. Intestine of our body is the solely organ with its personal working automomus nrevous system.

Your gastrointestinal system , which is made up of organs like your stomach, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, small intestine, colon and rectum, is frequently referred to as the "second brain." It is called so because , it's the solely organ with its very own independent neural system, comprising a hundred million neurons embedded in the intestine wall. You can take neurons as the messengers of your nervous system. They transmit records to nerve cells, muscle tissues and gland cells in the course of your body.Isnt it great?? This "second brain" is so sturdy that it can proceed to feature even when the principal neural connection between your gastrointestinal device and the talent (called the vagus nerve) is severed. This capability that even even though your talent would not be capable to talk with your gut, neurons in your intestine wall would nonetheless be in a position to transmit the facts critical for your digestive tract to feature on its own.

2. Veins, capillaries and arteries could be stretch for greater than 60,000 miles if laid out flat.

When your coronary heart beats, it pumps blood via your circulatory device made up of blood vessels referred to as arteries, capillaries and veins. These blood vessels elevate blood to each section of your body: Arteries raise oxygenated blood away from the heart; veins elevate blood again to the coronary heart and capillaries join them together. If you had been to lay out the big community of blood vessels from an common baby stop to end, they would stretch for over 60,000 miles! In an common adult, they would stretch for nearly 100,000 miles! Your capillaries, which are your smallest blood vessels (measuring solely 5 micrometers in diameter), would make up almost eighty percentage of this length. In comparison, the Earth's circumference is about 25,000 miles. This skill the blood vessels from simply one individual should stretch round the Earth many times!

3. A normal Person loses 200 million pores and skin cells each and every hour, and these lifeless pores and skin cells can simply reduce air pollution significantly.

Your pores and skin grows fast. Like virtually fast. During a 24-hour period, you can lose up to 5 billion pores and skin cells (that's 9 zeros!) — about 200 million each hour. Your dermis (the pinnacle layer of your skin) is constantly working to exchange these misplaced pores and skin cells with new ones. In fact, ninety five percentage of the cells in your dermis work to make these new pores and skin cells. The different 5 percentage produce melanin, which offers skin its color. According to the American Chemical Society, these lifeless pores and skin cells are a massive contributor to residence dirt and can be beneficial. As your lifeless pores and skin cells fall off and accumulate round your domestic and office, they're additionally taking with them pores and skin oils such as ldl cholesterol and squalene. Studies have proven that squalene can minimize degrees of ozone – a detrimental pollutant that can irritate your eyes, nostril and throat and exacerbate bronchial asthma symptoms. In fact, the squalene in settled dirt can minimize ozone in indoor spaces, lowering indoor air pollution stages by way of up to 15 percent.

4. Your cornea is such a special part of your eye that has no blood vessels in it.

Your cornea is the obvious section of your eye that covers the scholar (the opening at the middle of your eye), the iris (the coloured phase of your eye) and the anterior chamber (the fluid-filled internal of your eye). The cornea's obvious nature approves mild to ignore onto the retina and then to the intelligence to procedure what you are seeing. What's fascinating is that the solely motive your cornea is obvious is that it is solely one of two tissues in your physique – the different being cartilage – that is totally free of blood vessels! Scientists have recognised for a whilst the cornea is obvious and free of blood vessels, however they should in no way provide an explanation for why till 2006. This protein can halt angiogenesis, or the boom of blood vessels. Without these giant quantities of VEGFR-3, our imaginative and prescient would be notably impaired. For instance, when the cornea is clouded by way of injury, contamination or peculiar blood vessel growth, your imaginative and prescient can be severely impacted, and blindness can occur. This discovery is promising for researchers searching to stop and treatment blinding eye illnesses and illnesses, such as cancer, due to the fact the introduction of the protein can be used therapeutically in different tissues.

5. Bacteria present in your intestine can affect your mood.

We already noted your intestine can do some surprisingly notable things, however did you be aware of it can additionally have an effect on your intellectual health? You have an colossal wide variety of micro organism in your intestine that are mutually referred to as your microbiome. This series of micro organism can have an effect on neural development, talent chemistry, emotional behaviors, ache grasp and stress.

Your intestine is sterile when you are born. Over time, your GI tract will improve a numerous colony of bacterial species, which can be influenced via your genetics and the micro organism in the surroundings you stay in. Your microbiome produces heaps of neurochemicals that your intelligence makes use of to alter learning, reminiscence and even your mood! In fact, your microbiome produces about ninety five percentage of your body's serotonin, the crucial hormone that stabilizes your mood, emotions of well-being and happiness. Serotonin additionally helps decrease depression, alter anxiety, preserve bone fitness and facilitate tactics such as sleeping, ingesting and digestion. And it is all feasible thanks to your gut!

6. Your brain gets shrinked duration the time of pregnancy.

This reality gives an absolutely new that means to the time period "pregnancy brain." A 2017 find out about posted in the journal Nature Neuroscience printed pregnant girls trip rate reductions in cortical thickness and floor region in sections of the intelligence referred to as gray matter. This loss of gray count number particularly happens in the cerebral cortex, in particular in areas that impact social cognition, the place we method people's emotions and nonverbal signals. Rather than having a terrible effect, this loss of extent improves the brain's capability to procedure social conditions extra efficiently, mainly when decoding babies' wants and emotions.

The find out about observed the Genius goes via these changes, which are concept to be evolutionary, at some stage in pregnancy to decorate emotion and facial recognition, promote mother-infant bonding, facilitate a mother's capability to apprehend the wants of her toddler and extra rapidly manner social stimuli that may also pose a practicable hazard to her child

Felt better? If yes, don't forget to comment down which fact you liked the most. I told you facts can also remove bordem.I hope you are energized and active. So, meet you in the next article. Till then, have a great day. Bye

#Facts

[iriscomplimentarymedicine]

Iris publishers-Online Journal of Complementary & Alternative Medicine (OJCAM)

Mandalas in the Nursing Classroom

Authored by Audrey C Tolouian*

Opinion

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, nursing education as it was known, was drastically changed. Classes were delivered in an online format, clinical experiences were cancelled and then re-created to be virtual, and the student community was essentially disbanded. This caused students and faculty to become discombobulated. Faculty had creating online courses added to their workloads with the creation of material that could be delivered virtually. They were unsure about maintaining clinical experiences and were generally put under a fair amount of stress, as many did not normally teach in the cyber world. Students were nervous about the quality of their education, they were scared to go into the clinical arena with the new virus, and they lost their sense of belonging.

For the faculty this brought about changes in the classroom, and for the students, there was a change in behavior. Grades began to drop, work was missed, and students would verbalize their frustrations. As a faculty member, it was obvious that something needed to be done, so, mandalas were brought into the classroom. Why, you may ask? Let’s start with a little history.

When one thinks of the universe, mandalas may not be the first image that comes to today’s mind. Back in B.C.E. Buddhist monks created mandalas as their representation of the universe and its ability to bring joy out of suffering. Thus, creating a perfect image of the universe, here on earth. Their path along the Silk Road was traced by the beautiful rugs and paintings that were left behind documenting their physical and spiritual journey [1]. One of the most famous mandalas, preceding the Buddhists, from 763 CE, is in Japan and is called the Taima Mandala. This mandala is thought to cure bodily ailments as well as spiritual distress [2]. These ancient artifacts have not been forgotten, and you can continue to see mandalas throughout the world today.

Throughout history the symbol of the mandala has taken on many roles, both in art and in society in general. In early Asian society, the structure of power was based on the mandala- keeping the trusted within sacred circles [3], and in many ways, our government structures and friendship circles still follow this pattern. Kingdoms themselves were physically laid out to incorporate the sacred circles to allow for political and social interactions [4]. Typically, though, mandalas were used for meditation, healing, and performing sacred rights [5].

The word mandala comes from the Sanskrit and has multiple definitions depending on the literature that one is reviewing. It is typically agreed upon that the word mandala means a circle with depiction of higher meanings [5]. Though the term mandala has also been defined a bit more general as referring to a “painting, diagram, or an architectural structure with a specific symbolic meaning” [6]. Mandalas today are typically thought of as circular, though the Hindu type of mandala is often square with four gates in the corners with a circle in the center [7]. No matter the outer shape of the mandala, the main point is to lead one to the center. There are thought to be 3 main categories of mandalas: teaching, healing, and sand. Teaching mandalas are full of symbols and showcase different areas of religious or philosophical structures. Healing mandalas are geared towards meditation, and sand mandalas are designed to purify minds [7].

Carl Jung was one of the pioneers of the use of the mandala in the West. During World War, I he would sketch a small circular picture daily in his notebook similar to a mandala- towards the end of the war, as he “came out of his darkness”, he realized that the mandala is “the path to the center, the path to individuation” [8]. With this realization, encouraged others to explore their inner selves and their relationship to the world as a whole. Henderson et al, found that forming mandalas helped to decrease depression and anxiety [9]. Potash et al, in their study found that while creating mandalas, the medical students were able to start the process of handling complex feelings and helped to reduce anxiety, allowing them time for reflection [10].

This above premise, time for reflection, was one of the things our students needed. They were overwhelmed with work, taking care of children, and trying to maintain good grades and learn the content. So, mandalas were implemented into our class time. The students were given several options for premade mandalas or they could choose their own, they were asked to bring crayons or colored pencils/pens to the session, and they were asked to come with an open mind.

We spent an hour discussing mandalas and the benefits that were found by other students, such as self-reflection, and higher score on tests [11,12]. After the session, the students were asked to post their mandalas on the discussion board and write about their experience.

Amazingly, all but one student had a positive experience. The one student that did not enjoy said it was because they did not enjoy coloring, that it actually would make them stressed due to staying in the lines. The rest of the 300 or so students, really enjoyed the experience. Some of the overall feedback suggested feeling calm during the activity. Many students actually repeated the coloring of the mandalas and included their family members and talked about the nice family bonding time that it created. Other students talked about the smell of the fresh crayons, and how that alone transported them back to their childhood when things were much simpler. And another theme suggested feeling focused on the beautiful colors and allowing their minds to completely engage in the activity.

In the Covid-19 era, everybody is under tremendous amount of stress. Both students and faculty should adopt the new system of education in the middle of stressful life middle of Covid. Any intervention that can help ease stress should be welcomed and will improve functionality of human brain. Mandalas are an easy, inexpensive and fun activity that may take our brains to the level that allows for active learning with less stress. Our findings are based on a small mixed methods study that had IRB approval (data not shown) and a larger study is needed to confirm our results as well.

To read more about this  article: https://irispublishers.com/ojcam/fulltext/mandalas-in-the-nursing-classroom.ID.000632.php

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[theliterateape]

Coping with Stress and Anxiety is a Life Skill Worth Learning

by Don Hall

You leave your home for a walk to the Starbucks and as you stroll you encounter a massive pile of shit.

This is no ordinary lump of fecal matter. This is a work of art and came from something huge. It's a mound. Like a poop emoji statue. It's so big, you can't step over it but must walk around to avoid soiling your crocks.

At the very moment of the encounter, you are faced with three choices: walk around the embankment and leave it there, go back and get a shovel to clean it up, or stand there in agony unmoving and paralyzed.

You can choose to walk around it but it'll be there the next day.

You can stand there, immobile, and allow the shit to keep you in place for an undetermined amount of time, effectively ruining your day.

Or you can fucking clean it up.

There’s a fine line between stress and anxiety. Both are emotional responses, but stress is typically caused by an external trigger. The trigger can be short-term, such as a work deadline or a fight with a loved one or long-term, such as being unable to work, discrimination, or chronic illness. People under stress experience mental and physical symptoms, such as irritability, anger, fatigue, muscle pain, digestive troubles, and difficulty sleeping.

Anxiety, on the other hand, is defined by persistent, excessive worries that don’t go away even in the absence of a stressor. Anxiety leads to a nearly identical set of symptoms as stress: insomnia, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, muscle tension, and irritability.

SOURCE

Stress is physical. Anxiety is psychological. Both can cause a near paralysis of action. Both trigger the flight part of that instinctual fight or flight response to stimulus.

Both can make us stupid.

When we’re stressed, our brain releases hormones that damage our higher brain functions and stymie our mental performance.

The prefrontal cortex is where we derive our intelligence.

It’s responsible for the invention of vaccines, video poker, and both the real Eiffel Tower as well as the fake one on the Las Vegas Strip.

The prefrontal cortex enables social intelligence. Without a defined sense of that, you instantly become Donald Trump. No one wants to be fucking Donald Trump, right?

Stress and anxiety disable these high-order functions. They make you stupid and prone to making stupid decisions.

Research also shows that stress hormones weaken your immune system as well as damage your heart. The irony for those of us (everyone) having dealt with a year+ of COVID anxiety is that the very fear of COVID makes us more susceptible to COVID.

From an evolutionary perspective, stress is merely an expression of fear. In our collective past, fear of danger was a useful thing: without a healthy sense of fear, velociraptors would not have needed the hunting thing and just stroll up and snack on us. In 2021, the dangers are far less likely because dinosaurs only exist in movies and we are the über-predators on the planet. Our biggest danger is ourselves and our over-active imaginations.

A study at Cornell University, in which subjects were told to write down their worries for two weeks and then track which actually came true. They found that the vast majority of their worries—85 percent—never ended up happening. Of the 15 percent that did actually happen, it often wasn’t that bad: in fact, 79 percent of the time things went better than expected.

All in all, the study suggests that around 97 percent of our worries are either exaggerated or complete fabrications.

How much of your day is wasted conjuring problems that haven't occurred and may never come to fruition? How much of your day involves becoming stressed out because of finances, family issues, work problems?

Dealing with physical stress is just a matter of further physicality. Meditation, yoga, running, weight-lifting. Hell, the physical activity of cleaning your home or washing your car (like, actually washing it rather than running it through a car wash) can help relieve stress.

One of the things that does not help reduce stress is eating. We love our concept of comfort food but the simple physics of stuffing our faces with carbohydrates, sugar, and whatever faux-food that Cheetos are only burdens your body. 

Anxiety is a bit more complicated.

This is not as simple as positive thinking. An optimistic attitude certainly comes into play but there's far more adjustment required to manage true stress and serious anxiety. A shift toward letting go of things beyond your control (which comprises most things in the world) and actively understanding how much time and energy is wasted predicting a host of potentially awful outcomes are both necessary.

What truly makes the difference is the decision to see your choices as wholly yours to make.

At the casino, which can be a true Petri dish of humanity, I used to walk among some folks who seem helpless. They blame the machines for taking their money. They blame the corporation for not fixing up certain things on the property. They blame other employees for not doing their jobs. They stare at their phones to watch the clock advance so they can leave and go home and bitch about how much they hate their jobs and if only they could be paid more and how boring it all is and convince themselves that they work really hard but it’s okay to not put too much effort into things because no one else does and who gives a shit anyway?

I’m talking to a guest playing Roulette. He’s a regular and we see each other on most days.

“You are almost always in a good mood around here. I think I’ve only seen you look tired or out of sorts once or twice. Always a smile, always dancing in between the slot machines. I wish I had an ounce of what you have.”

“I guess the knowledge of my freedom to choose my day is that secret sauce, you know?”

“Freedom? What freedom?”

“I dunno. I look at it this way: I could strip down naked right now, run to the pool outside and take a swim. Sure, there would be consequences...”

“You’d get canned...”

“Yeah, but I have that freedom to choose that action and no one in the world could stop me. When I look at my life as entirely my responsibility, my job as an agreement to work the floor for the money offered, my day as my own, it feels like I’m in charge of my destiny. I’m happy to be here, wearing a Marvel tie, in a smoky room filled with people chasing the dragon of financial windfall and drinking for enjoyment or escape, because I got up this morning and chose to come. If it’s my choice, it’s up to me to make the best of it, right?"

Choice. Every time you make a choice (even if it is a choice between two bad things) it is entirely you to be rewarded for it or face the music if it turns to shit.

You choose to wake up. You choose to live where you live and with whom. You choose to eat or not, to exercise or not, to read or watch Netflix, to create or consume. Every breath you take is the result of a choice.

This is the same for your choices to live with stress and anxiety or choose to live without them.

Choice. All yours.

You can choose to walk around it but it'll be there the next day.

You can stand there, immobile, and allow the shit to keep you in place for an undetermined amount of time, effectively ruining your day.

Or you can fucking clean it up.

#stress #anxiety #choice