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aelianated-star · 1 year

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Buckle up folks because this is a long post -

Tips for newly diagnosed dysautonomia patients:

- Drink a lot of water (so much water guys. Especially if you have hypovolemic types of dysautonomia, like hypovolemic POTS, it’s crucial)

- Keep up with electrolytes/ salt intake. Vitassium makes salt pills, chews, and tablets. I personally prefer the tablets because I can just suck on them for a while, but I know a few people who prefer the pills.

- Compression socks help, A LOT! One major component of dysautonomia, in general, is blood pooling (which can greatly increase your risk of fainting). The compression/construction helps blood flow and return back to your heart and brain

- Your disability(s) are valid, even if you don’t pass out/pass out a lot!! Only about 1/3 of people with POTS (one of the most common types of dysautonomia) pass out! And of those, few pass out regularly/daily (such as myself). No matter what, you are valid! Even if you’re undiagnosed, even if your case is “mild”, even if you manage it well without much help; you’re valid!

- Especially for those of you who are just being introduced to disability (likely because of long COVID), it’s okay to grieve the life you used to have/planned to have. You can live a wonderful, full life with these conditions (and other conditions), it just may require more accommodations than you anticipated!

- DONT BE AFRAID TO ACCOMODATE YOURSELF! Seriously, use mobility aids, get a 504/IEP, and make your space(s) accessible to yourself! I use forearm crutches for short distances, but because of how severe my dysautonomia is, I’m reliant on a wheelchair (with someone pushing me/motorized aid) to go more than a couple hundred feet/longer (or anything that requires standing for more than 5-10 minutes).

- Get a pulse oximeter or watch! Certain types of dysautonomia may cause lowered oxygen (hypoxia) because of a lack of available blood. It’s extremely important to monitor this and make sure you’re aware of your oxygen levels!

- Find community! I personally love using “stuff that works”. It not only lets you crowdsource for information about medications or treatments, but lets you message other people with the same condition(s) as you.

- If you feel like something is wrong, please talk to your doctor. I know it’s scary, especially if you have medical trauma/PTSD on top of these conditions, but it can literally be lifesaving. I noticed a sudden uptick in chest pain and casually mentioned it to my doctor. Sure enough, we found I have two types of arrhythmias (p-wave inversion and flutters) Now I’m pushing for genetic testing to see if my diagnosed EDS is vEDS/cvEDS

- Don’t be afraid to start and try medications! I’ve tried numerous medications and haven’t found anything that works quite right yet, but that doesn’t mean I won’t :). And some of you may not need medication! You may be able to manage with lifestyle changes, or IV therapy, which is great! Do what works FOR YOU. Everyone is different!

- Rest days are productive! Your body is working really hard to keep you alive, it’s okay to take a break! Take care of yourself, really, it’s okay to conserve spoons.

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gold-as-hera · 1 year

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agent-calivide · 2 months

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It is Bitching About Things That Do Not Matter O'Clock, but like. I know poking fun at John Juniper is a delight. I love calling him a bitch and insulting his acting and stealing his masks, but- he's not- he's not completely incompetent, y'all know that, right?

Firstly, Zor would never hire someone they didn't think could do the job, but also a lot of Juniper's fuck-up's are directly tied to either the EOD getting lucky or Zor literally setting him up for failure.

Like, we know he's good at keeping a mask on even in a moment of panic, when the Masque of Red Death blew up the first thing the did was shout "This is not part of the show, everybody run!" to evacuate the theater, something to convince the public he was a Good Man and kept suspicions around him low.

On Jet Set, the only reason Phoenix doesn't die is the EOD getting lucky and happening to have the autonomous jet's instruction manual in their records. Like, he had signal jammers, he left on the DNA Identification security system, and he sabotaged the missile defense system just in case they had to turn to plan B. These are not things left on a jet made as a custom trap for Phoenix, the pieces to save themselves wouldn't be there if it was. This is a normal jet that Juniper uses that he ensured got sabotaged so the Phoenix would be a sitting duck. Even if he didn't personally put out orders to have the jet get sabotaged, he did have the foresight to put a few boons on the jet that could kill Phoenix. Explosive cigars, poisoned food things like that. "Please, enjoy! I picked up a box of those just for you!" So he knows what to supply the agent with to try and cut this little problem short, and even if those don't work there's still the missile and the Zoraxis base they were headed to anyways. Phoenix getting out of that mess was combination of nosiness and pure dumb luck on the EOD's part.

We don't see much of him in Eaves Drop, but we do see that Zor and Fabricator are already planning on disposing of him by using the Mimic Mask and that he is generally doing a damn good job at tricking the heads of state into various traps for the most part, we just saw it with the Prime Minister in Stage Fright and we're going to see it in Party Crashers with the Primere later.

Party Crashers is where I think most of this "Oh, he's just a whiny baby" comes from, and it absolutely is John at his worst, but it get treated like his baseline??? Like, he loses his cool, he screams, he panics, he absolutely freaks out, but he also is throwing a party to kidnap the last head of state, is being chastised by the Fabricator, his friend of multiple decades is backstabbing him actively (as Gibbs should, but it's just another stressor for Juniper), several bombs have dropped or his party got a smoke grenade thrown in it, alarms and sprinklers have both gone off, and nOW SOMEONE'S TOUCHING MY FUCKING COLLECTOR'S ITEMS?! I too would be losing my shit. Add in he is seeming surrounded by people being incompetent (throwing grenades without closing hatches, missing their shots, some reason the tank of lethal gas is empty, the woman who was supposed to be helping is just laughing at you and your entire team of security is dead save for a small handful and it's all because of ONE person???) and I can't blame him for not being chill, suave, or particularly clever in that moment. And to be frank, I think every IEYTD "Final Boss" has a moment of foolishness. Solaris throws you radiation boxes that you use to take down the Death Engine and literally says "Calculating force... aaand CATCH!" and I could make a whole other post on Prism's speech on the mountain side but they're not defined by those "worst" moments. Mostly because they don't last nearly as long as Juniper's, but that doesn't mean it should be his defining moment either.

Then, in Safe and Sound, not only does he successfully trick the agent into thinking he's the Handler in the first place, but he has them drugged, kidnaps them, and then admits that if he had it this way he would have just shot the agent. No fanfare, no crazy traps, if John coulda, he would have shot the agent in the head while they were unconscious and called it a day. But Zor is the one who wants the trap, the footage, the fanfare. Juniper is pissed that the jet didn't work as is, and now he can't even just take care of the agent the easy way and ensure that they're out of the way. He says he expects the agent to find a way out, he know what they're capable of, and he's sure they're gonna find a way out because he's the one that's been dealing with them for the last week! Zor is the one who thinks this trap is gonna work and demanded Juniper put Phoenix in it. Yeah he gives a theatrical monologue, but if he had say in the matter he wouldn't get the chance to in the first place!

Then in Rising Phoenix, HE MAKES GOOD ON THAT THREAT. Try to pick up anything that you dropped on the ground outside of the elevator, tell me how that goes for you. He's got scary good aim, he sees the Phoenix and immediately goes "well, shit, one sec folks, I gotta kill this agent" and then just pulls a gun and starts firing. And rather than focusing on the agent, he does have the foresight to shoot a MOVING, FLOATING TARGET so you can't do anything to him! He is very capable with a gun and likely the only reason Phoenix survives Party Crashers is Juniper doesn't have a firearm. And then, in a moment of panic as he hangs from a catwalk (that absolutely should not have had its powerbox so obviously out in the open if Zor wasn't planning on the agent either killing him or putting him in a position for Zor to pull the trigger) he tries to plead with the agent. He doesn't know the mask is a death trap at this point, and the only choice he has is to hope the person in the room with him can help pull him back up from the pit. He puffs up his chest, acts like he has all of the cards, but that's because that's the only chance he's got of making it out of this thing alive. He doesn't know the mask is what's gonna kill him in the end, he just knows that the Fabricator, the crazy lady who makes death traps for fun, has something in the room with him and that Zor intends on using it to finish John off.

And once John's toast literally Zor just shakes their head and mockingly calls him a disappointment before turning to Phoenix and saying it's in their hands now. But the entire time that Phoenix is working on this briefcase, Zor is teasing them, toying with them, and is audibly disappointed if you fail to disarm the briefcase in time. Phoenix was supposed to get the briefcase, John was supposed to die, and he really was implied to be doomed from the very beginning.

He's not a whining, screaming, incompetent bumbling idiot. He is very capable, he is literally just set up to fail so Zor can see Phoenix perform.

Edit: just for clarification, I do think he’s rather petulant, bitchy, he can be whiny, he’s an absolute douche, and what he did in that cellar is nothing short of a tantrum, my point is just that he isn’t a completely incompetent man baby. He knows what he’s doing and in at least one situation had more sense than Zor (Safe and Sound).

#i expect you to die #ieytd #ieytd2 #i expect you to die 2 #john juniper #spoilers

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rainydaywhump · 4 months

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Reed pt 8 - Forced to Watch (Whumpcember Day 16, Alt 2)

<- Pt. 7 - Pt. 9 ->

Cervine finds that Reed has been captured again, and she's feeling guilt. Aaaaand murder.

In other words: Cervine remembers being made to wait to rescue Reed until the cover of night, during which she had to watch what the enemy soldiers were doing to him.

CWs: male whumpee, degradation, dehumanization, creepy whumpers, multiple whumpers, caretaker fucking kills them, please not that irl medieval-ish combat was not nearly this easy unless you were really good at it, which I've decided Cervine is. Blood, some gore that isn't described much, restraints on whumpee.

I lost him.

I left him alone and defenseless.

I may as well have tossed him over enemy lines myself.

Cervine stared at the hoofprints leading away from their campsite, lips pursed and eyes smarting with anger. She had left for a last-minute forage for some more medicinal plants, and she'd left Reed on his own. After being held captive for two weeks and then being under her constant care and company for nearly another week, she figured he'd want some alone time before the journey home. Seeing as they were in no man's land, she'd thought that no one would stumble across him in the two hours that she was gone.

The shirt he'd been altering was cast aside, needle and thread still nearby. A little more searching and she found his dagger lying in the grass. But none of the items in their shelter had been taken or moved -- meaning whoever had taken him either didn't think to look or didn't even realize that they were there.

Evidently, she'd been wrong. Reed was incredibly strong considering he'd held out against his interrogators. He had been a capable agent before his time in captivity, and he would certainly become one once again, once he was fully recovered. But he wasn't fully recovered yet, and though he was highly intelligent, brave, and strong-willed, those traits wouldn't have been enough against brute strength.

Which meant Reed hadn't told anyone about her.

Which meant she stood a better chance of finding him again.

I lost him. I did this to him.

He suffered so much and he was just starting to heal a little mentally, and I betrayed him.

If he had told his attackers about me, I would've deserved it. I would deserve to be in his place. This was my mistake, not his.

The Laarylni agent knew that she had made another mistake in her mission to rescue the missing allied spy, and that was getting attached to him. She'd actually let herself care about him, not just for him. And she didn't try to resist that anymore, either. Cervine had been on rescue missions before, and she'd always been able to be calm and compartmentalized about it, but this...this was different.

A cold chill ran through her as she considered another aspect of her failure: she had never properly hidden the bodies of Reed's previous captors, the band of semi-autonomous Halyen warriors who had kidnapped him and tortured him relentlessly for two weeks. To be fair, she reasoned, she hadn't had time -- Reed was in desperate need of urgent medical attention, and that took priority. But Cervine had to admit that a large part of her carelessness came from pure emotion.

She closed her eyes and slipped into a memory of the day and night that followed her search for the missing spy.

...

The soldiers were awake and mostly sober when she settled into her hiding spot.

On a slight rise on the knoll, hidden by rocks and scraggly bushes, Cervine hunkered down under the protection of her cloak -- mottled with the colors of the landscape and breaking up her silhouette -- and forced herself to take deep breaths while otherwise staying as still as possible. She needed to make sure that she was calm despite what she was seeing, and she needed to stay perfectly still so as not to attract any attention. As darkness fell, motion would be all the more visible to the soldiers.

She wanted to jump right in and grab Reed, but she had come all this way and she wasn't going to risk mission failure just because she was being forced to watch the torture they put him through.

She watched them pull his hair and tie a thick collar around him, then tighten it until he passed out -- and then they slapped him awake or carved slits into his skin until he came to from the pain. They tied a chain leash to the collar and bound him in a kneeling position by their feet as they ate and he starved. They beat him, and then they patted his head and stroked his thighs and chest after in a sickening show of possession and dehumanization.

She watched as one of the soldiers eyed him up all afternoon and then advanced when the sun fell, rope and knife in hand. Reed, who had been reduced to a limp, bloodied, bruised body at this point, flinched at the sight of him -- and though Reed was too weak and likely too starved to retaliate at all, the soldier took sickening pleasure in calling over his comrades to hold Reed down and twist him into a painful hogtie, gagging him even more for the night.

I'm sorry, she thought, wishing there was some way he could hear her. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm not saving you now. I can't risk them hurting you or threatening to kill you if we reach a stalemate. I need you out of the way, safe.

Throughout all of this, Reed didn't crack -- and, more strangely, the soldiers only demanded information from him a few times. The rest of their abuse was merely for fun. To Cervine's horror, two of them (including their apparent leader) could even be heard talking about just taking him as a plaything instead of giving him up to more effective interrogators.

When the Harp constellation was high and the insects stopped buzzing for a moment, Cervine made her move.

The soldier on watch duty was first. Reed had made some sort of noise -- a whimper, she thought -- and the guard had made a derisive remark. Cervine shadowed spider-like through the tall grasses until she was poised, crouched on the balls of her feet, just behind the soldier.

She felled him with a simple and silent blow to the neck, nearly severing his vead and stifling his chokes with his own tunic. He may have made a small noise as she stepped over him, but he was far enough from the others that no one heard.

Eleven to go.

With a rush of addictive adrenaline, Cervine advanced and managed to stab two more through the heart before the others woke. They were up in a fury, shouting to each other and grabbing their weapons --

-- and Cervine let them.

She didn't want to kill sitting ducks. She wanted to show them that they deserved their deaths.

"Who the fuck are you?!" One soldier shouted, but Cervine didn't answer. They didn't need to know.

After that, the only sounds she heard were those that were relevant to the fight. Quick as a hawk, Cervine ran one enemy through and pivoted to parry the next, then slice the soldier from her collarbone to her armpit. More came and Cervine dodged, nimbly avoiding killing blows and turning to face them from a new angle, then another, and then another at which point the soldiers were disoriented in the dark and Cervine launched herself at them with cold, vicious pleasure.

Disarm, stun, stab to the torso, slash to the guts. Fresh blood and sickly sweat permeated her nose. Cervine breathed it all in. Parry, dodge, jump, forward, slash -- Cervine tumbled under two soldiers and cut them both down at the knees, their screams going unheard.

A killing blow to one, two, three. Two more left to kill and one actively dying. By now the two left were running away, but Cervine caught up easily. She took down one and slowed as she advanced on the last, who had fallen and was now scrambling backwards on the ground, pleading. He'd dropped his axe in panic; Cervine picked it up.

Her ears tuned in. "Why are you doing this? Just take us prisoner, we haven't done anything!"

She blinked slowly and jerked her chin over to where Reed lay.

The soldier's eyes widened even more, if possible. "Him?! He's a failed messenger! He's a worthless piece of meat! Why are you --"

"The custom in your army," Cervine cut in. "It is a disgrace to die without weapon in hand, yes?"

The enemy slumped back, staring at her with something that resembled acceptance.

"You are...an honorable enemy," he whispered gratefully.

Cervine made sure he saw her toss the axe aside before she killed him.

...

The rest of the night's sound finally returned to her conscious brain, and Cervine checked to make sure that each of Reed's torturers was well and truly dead. The whole fight had taken nearly thirty minutes. When she wrote up an official report, she knew, it would sound as if it was easy -- but she was panting, bloodstained, and nearly completely exhausted.

None of that mattered compared to Reed, though.

Cervine rushed over to where he lay. Turning him over to cut his restraints, she found that he was out cold -- whether out of pain, exhaustion, injury, or a mix, she didn't know. She checked his pulse and did a quick scan of his bare body for any urgent wounds. Finding none of the latter, Cervine sat back with his head in her lap for just a moment to catch her breath.

The adrenaline and anger were quickly wearing off, and the agent had to fight off a wave of despair at Reed's state.

"Come on," she whispered to him, although there was no way he could hear her. Cervine gently lifted the unconscious young man into something vaguely resembling a bridal carry and wrapped his ragged blanket over him, shielding his back from the cold and pressing his chest against hers.

"Let's get you home, Reed."

...

Standing alone in front of Reed's discarded shirt, Cervine forced herself to calm down. She needed to be calm if she wanted to find him again, after all.

She wondered if his new captor knew about the twelve murdered soldiers. If his new captor had told him, Reed would know that it was she who did it.

Cervine didn't regret it for their sake, but she felt a quiet sadness when she thought of Reed's potential reaction upon learning how easily she'd done it.

@whumpcember @i-eat-worlds @pigeonwhumps

#whump #whump writing #whumpee #whump prompt #whumpcember #whumpcember2023 #whump caretaker #whumpcember2023day16 #i am so goddamn tired

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covidsafehotties · 22 days

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A small but none-the-less valuable study

Abstract

As case numbers of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) increase, chronic symptoms, including those of autonomic dysfunction, are being reported with increasing frequency, leading to the diagnosis of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), or Long-COVID. In addition, small fiber neuropathy (SFN) has been reported after viral infections, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). These associations have prompted our group to systematically perform autonomic testing and skin biopsies in a cohort of patients who have developed postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) as a consequence of PASC (Long-COVID POTS). As part of this evaluation, all skin biopsy samples undergo immunohistochemical analysis of both intraepidermal nerve fiber density (IENFD) and phosphorylated α-synuclein (p-syn), the pathological form of α-synuclein associated with the neurodegenerative diseases of Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), multiple system atrophy (MSA), and pure autonomic failure (PAF), as well as isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD), a prodromal manifestation of synucleinopathy for the majority of patients.

We report the presence of p-syn in five young patients with Long-COVID POTS (LC-POTS) but without prodromal features of neurodegenerative disease. All patients underwent autonomic reflex testing in our laboratory, including quantitative sudomotor axon reflex testing (QSART), heart rate variability with deep breathing, Valsalva maneuver, and a 10-min head-up tilt (HUT) at an angle of 70°. Beat-to-beat blood pressure (BP) was measured with finger plethysmography and confirmed with an automated cuff sphygmomanometer over the brachial artery. An intravenous catheter was placed, and supine and upright norepinephrine (NE) levels were collected. All pertinent medications were held five half-lives prior to testing. Patients underwent a complete neurological examination and comprehensive olfactory testing with the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT)-40. Skin biopsy was performed at the C7 paraspinal level, distal thigh (10 mm distal to the iliac crest), and distal leg (10 mm proximal to the lateral malleolus). A multinational age- and gender-adjusted dataset was utilized for normative IENFD values.

#pots syndrome #mask up #covid #covid 19 #covid isn't over #pandemic #covid conscious #long covid #covid is airborne #wear a mask #coronavirus

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twin-books · 2 years

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About that Adrien takes, I think you have some interesting perspectives. He definitely has a greater lack of focus than in season 1. But I personally interpreted that as part of his self finding arc and also saw it as quite realistic, since real life people can change vastly between situations and moods (and hunger lol). Unlike Alya, whose personality changes with the role she has to provide for Mari, I've felt with Adrien those changes were more autonomous. When did Adrien verbally bully Felix?

I'm going to admit that I tend to exaggerate a few things for humor's sake and don't really think about how that may not come across very well in type. So I really should have used better wording than "goes out of his way to verbally bully Felix". I think I should have said, "He verbally bullied Felix" which is not untrue and would still get my point across without accidentally misrepresenting Adrien's character. I'm very sorry for that. I probably should have thought that one through. But it would be the episode "Felix" where he kind of picks on Felix saying something about how he doesn't have friends and is a bit passive aggressive the entire time. Which I had no issue with because Felix was an absolute asshole. It's just the contradiction of the fact he would be mean to Felix almost immediately as Chat when Lila has also gone out of her way to ruin his life and it took him a few episodes to finally stand up to her and that was only purely for Marinette's sake. You're definitely right. Alya's personality almost always changes to suit the narrative though her goals tend to stay the same at the very least so I have a better handle on her character as compared to Adrien. It's easier to identify the faults in her character than it is for Adrien simply because there is something to hold on to. Alya always has the goals to help Marinette get with Adrien. To be a hero. To care for her boyfriend. These are pretty clear throughout her character even if they aren't represented all that great. I think that idea is a good take where people can change drastically in real life. I think that's pretty fair. I suppose my issue with Adrien is just how much he changes and how it feels less like a gradual shift down or up and more like this squiggly line that goes here and there. Of course, I don't expect Adrien to immediately solve an issue. Like all of a sudden one day he realizes self-sacrificing so much is unhealthy and goes "I won't do that" and then just stops. Obviously that would be completely unrealistic and would also send the wrong message to children. That once you recognize a mistake you will never make that mistake again. That's not a healthy way of thinking because you absolutely will. Healing and growing is not immediate and takes time and we need to allow for that time. The issue I tend to take with how he does things is just the general fact a recognition will occur "I like Kagami" and then things get worse where he continues to fawn over Ladybug despite liking Kagami and trying to reciprocate her feelings. And things do get worse before they get better. Failure is to be expected and I would not expect him to just immediately drop his feelings for Ladybug and focus on Kagami. But I would expect he would at least try to do better when recognizing a fault or try and act on something he recognizes in general. I would expect him to feel guilt for harboring feelings for Ladybug while either leading on Kagami or being in a relationship with Kagami. Or I would at least expect him to feel some guilt for up and abandoning her even when he is direly needed somewhere else. I would also expect him to be trying to devote more of his attention to Kagami and less to Ladybug which actively seeks out and spends a good half of Lies trying to get her to show up when he has a devoted girlfriend waiting for him. Problem is that I don't see him feeling guilty at any point for how he's clearly hurting Kagami even though Adrien's character has previously been shown to be rather empathetic/sympathetic. He doesn't express any remorse for how his actions effected Kagami besides maybe a little bit when she ended the relationship. My issue with how he is written is that I am given this expectation of how he would act based on previous narratives only to have the rug pulled out from under me once I find my footing. He suddenly changes and morphs and now I have nothing to stand on once more. It's rather confusing in that sense.

However, this isn't to demonize Adrien. I just don't have the energy to demonize fictional children. I don't have anything to gain from it and I would much rather see the kids get some love. But the writing doesn't make me feel like they're very loved. It feels very careless and like they thought of the ship and jokes first and then the characters were an afterthought. It makes it hard to relate to any of them. This is also coming from somebody who used to have a huge bias for Adrien. I used to relate to him quite a bit as someone who couldn't find their own voice and opinions and was rather dependent on others. But I tried to change and I felt bad when I hurt others. I'm still trying to change and I still feel bad when I hurt others. I lost my ability to relate to Adrien when it came to those episodes where he just felt like he stopped caring about others. I'm fine with the boy being selfish every once a while, especially considering his circumstances but most of the time his selfish moments feel very... heartless, I guess, for lack of a better term. However, you're very right, they did feel very autonomous... But perhaps that's partially the issue. Sometimes it feels like he deliberately decides to not care for others which is most likely not true but that's what it feels like to me, anyway.

Also yes, hunger changes people man. Just look at Fu and Tikki. Those guys are the epitome of those Snickers' commercials. XD

Thank you for your lovely ask. <3 Sorry for the misunderstanding with Felix. I hope your having a nice day, afternoon, evening, or whatever time it is where you are. <3

#adrien salt #ml salt #ml writers salt #TB's opinion #my opinion #opinion #anon ask #ask me anything #thank you for the ask <3 #I just wish Adrien was a tad more consistent

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thisworldisablackhole · 3 months

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I’ve been wanting to talk about the 1982 film adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s groundbreaking novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" since I finally watched it for the first time ever a couple weeks ago. I’m going to dive into my thoughts on the book first since I read it prior to watching the film and I think that perspective is important to keep in mind. This is gonna contain lots of spoilers, so look away if you haven’t read or watched yet.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is hilarious. First and foremost. The sense of humour in this book is subtle but knee slappingly funny at the same time. The subtly of the humour comes from the normalization of absurdity that persists as basic truths in the lives of this novel’s inhabitants. Such basic truths that said inhabitants would never understand why you think their lives are funny. In fact, there is nothing funny at all about having to perform regular maintenance on my electric sheep (because I can’t afford a real one) in order to keep my neighbours from suspecting that I lack empathy and therefore may be a humanoid robot, thank you very much!

One of my favourite things about this book by far is this overwhelming obsession with living creatures. In a real life dystopian future, the extinction of animal life would be accepted for what it is. Sure, it would have catastrophic effects on our eco system, and common house cats (if kept alive) would become exotic symbols of status for the ruling class. The thing that sets Dick's universe apart from ours (for now at least), is the existence of androids so realistic that it is impossible to tell them apart without putting them through an empathy test. Androids can fake empathy, but their autonomic nervous system won't align with their response. Their heart rate won't rise, their pupils wont flutter. It's because of this that simply owning and caring for an animal becomes proof of the owners humanity. An android would never feed a squirrel three times a day and make sure it's cage is clean. Surely not.

Bounty hunter Rick Deckard is stopped dead in his tracks by this obsession multiple times throughout the book. His electric sheep is beginning to show signs of failure, and furthermore, his neighbour has a real horse. This makes Rick feel like a lesser man. Why shouldn't he also have a real animal? He stops at a local dealer to find that the cost of an organic heartbeat would cost him thousands upon thousands of dollars. He could put a down payment on a goat for $3,000, but he would have to work all day and retire at least three andy’s to afford it. Philip K. Dick sneaks in tangents about animals and their cost into this book in such a witty way that it just reads as pure comedy gold every time.

Aside from being really funny, this book is also touching and emotional. Secondary main character John Isadore is a “chicken head”; someone who has suffered neurological damage from the dust of decay that encapsulates earth. He didn’t pass the IQ test that would allow him to emigrate to mars, so he lives alone in an abandoned building with his only company being the television, and his empathy box which he can use to fuse with Mercer (a sort of religious figure and experience). John has a heart of gold and his main motivations in the book are connection and acceptance. When he discovers a fugitive android has moved into his otherwise empty building, he immediately formulates a plan to make this stranger feel welcomed. He brings to them… a cube of margarine. That’s what good neighbours do, right? At the end of the book, Rick eviscerates John’s new companions, turning his apartment into crime scene to be evacuated at once. He is kicked back to square one, left with nothing and no one. To see someone so pure in their intentions be taken advantage of and dismissed is one of the most twisted and heartbreaking ends to a story I’ve ever read. Damn you Philip.

I didn’t fully grasp some of the stuff about Mercerism to be honest. Fusing with the empathy box, trudging up a hill and getting stoned by imaginary rocks that somehow manifested with real wounds. It was all a bit hard to follow, but it was visceral and added a layer of complexity to the culture of Dick’s world that I appreciated.

I was a huge movie geek in my later teens and early 20s when I was an underachieving NEET living at home and doing fuck all. I recall times where I would just lay on the couch and watch 3-4 movies in a day. I was addicted to the feeling of gut wrenching emptiness I would get after watching a bleak, honest tragedy like Ordinary People or Oslo, August 31. Blade Runner had been on my watch list for years, but for some reason I never felt inspired to watch it until I finally read Philip K Dick's book. Perhaps at the time I just wasn't interested in sci fi detective stories. Seeing Harrison Ford dressed in a trench coat and tie reminded me too much of my dad's infamous Columbo marathons.

I'll get the pro's out of the way first. Blade Runner is visually stunning. It's absolutely dripping in style. The set design is incredible, showcasing a colourful neon city that is equally as dominated by futuristic technology as it is garbage and degeneracy. The director portrays this world in a highly cerebral fashion that will make you feel like you're in a dream state, for better or worse. Unfortunately the visual side of the film is about all it has going for it, and it feels like they put so much effort into making things look good that they forgot how to tell a good story. If I hadn't read DADOES? prior to watching this movie I would have had no idea what was going on. Dialog is sparse and dry and character development is almost non existent. Characters are introduced to you like you are just supposed to know who they are already. Luckily I did.

I am aware that Blade Runner is simply based off of the book and not a 1:1 adaptation, so I won't fault it for being different. I will however criticize it for it's complete lack of humour or emotional depth. They stripped out almost every facet of the world that made Dick's novel so captivating to focus solely on the narrative of a bounty hunter tracking down androids. There are no empathy boxes. There is no talk of Mercerism. Rick doesn't even seem to care about animals. Not to mention the awkward "love" scene between him and Racheal. Not only was it fully consensual in the book, but it was actually all part of Racheal's plan to cause Rick to feel some sort of empathy towards androids and stop killing them. In the film it comes off as chauvinistic.

On the flip side, J.F. Sebastian, who is based off of John Isadore's character, is hard to empathize with (ironic, no?). J.F. Sebastian is an oddball, but he is by no means a chicken head. He's a genetic designer for the Tyrell corporation who works on androids and builds living toys to keep himself company in his spare time. I did enjoy the spin on his character to an extent, but he doesn't have half the charm of Isadore, and I was beginning to feel frustrated by the writers decisions to copy some things from the book word for word while completely altering others.

The best part of the whole film for me by far was the ending fight/chase scene between Rick and Roy Batty. Now that shit had my full, undivided attention. Roy's full blown psychopathy in this scene was chilling - dislocating Rick's fingers and then playing mind games, slowly counting down from five to give him a head start. Roy cries over Pris' dead body and it makes you question exactly who is lacking empathy here. The sound of rain fills the scene as Roy howls like a wolf and stalks our protagonist through large barren rooms of a haunted mansion. One of the coolest parts of this sequence to me is the verticality of it all. Rick scales a towering cabinet to break through the ceiling into the second floor where he finds a bathroom to hide in. Roy then slams his head through the tiled wall which culminates in a scene clearly inspired by The Shining. From here the chase continues upwards by going out the window and scaling the buildings gothic exterior toward the roof.

Roy could have easily killed Rick during any point during this face off, but instead chooses to save him from falling to his death. Roy hints that all he wanted was to make Rick feel the same sense of fear that androids are faced with their whole lives, living as slaves on Mars. Roy then sits down, cradling a dove, and reaches the natural expiration date of his design - powering off forever. I could probably watch this whole ending altercation scene over and over again. The tension, symbolism and poetry of it all puts the rest of the film to shame.

In conclusion, Blade Runner was disappointing with it's lack of a fleshed out world, flat character arcs and ineffective story telling. It was however highly successful in it's ability to communicate a palette of moods with it's visceral, dream like direction, stunning set design and strong visual identity. I just found myself longing for the sense of humour and cultural richness that made the original story so appealing. I wanted to see Rick's electric sheep. I wanted to hear him chastise Isadore (Sebastian) for setting a spider loose instead of capturing it in a jar to sell like any other sane person would. It's those kind of silly details that would have really enriched the narrative of the film.

Guess I'll just read the book again.

#philip k. dick #blade runner #do androids dream of electric sheep?#ridley scott #harrison ford #film #books #science fiction

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gmgray · 8 months

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This feeling of hunting sveltnas was much like what Colin imagined the ancient people of Earth experienced hunting whales. The Esper was larger than the umiaqs and whaleboats once used to pursue the cetaceans of Earth, but this submersible was at a depth well below one thousand meters. And however powerful its harpoons, such weapons did little more than hook into the sveltnas’ scaly armor. For the next few hours, the Esper would could do nothing but cling to their prey to keep the leviathan from diving deeper.

“We gotta hold tight till the other ships in the fleet reach us,” Valtra said, softly as if only for Colin’s ears. The rest of the Esper’s crew was busy handling Nina’s shouted orders, and none of them had additional attention to spare for Colin. “They’ll help reel her in.”

Holding tight was pure agony. The whole ship was shaking, and the Esper’s engines whined as if they were on the verge of failure. Colin felt his teeth rattle against his skull, and the nausea from earlier felt downright pleasant compared to these new sensations of dizziness and whiplash as his body slammed repeatedly against the harness.

The Esper must have deployed a set of drones into the icy waters, because a series of video feeds appeared on the monitors above the deck. At these depths, even the yellow of Earth’s sun would have faded, much less the red light of QB Beta, so most of the feeds showed nothing but inky blackness, illuminated only by the camera’s light. Yet every now and then, something impossibly large and serpentine came into view if only for a moment. As the drones closed in, these glimpses grew more and more consistent until the creature became visible.

It was hard to estimate size at these depths, but the sveltnas was truly gargantuan. It sailed through the water with effortlessness despite the harpoon lodged in its side. Bioluminescent patterns danced along its flanks and belly, and its long, serrated dorsal fin cut a ragged line through the water. The fins of its tail flicked, seemingly in slow motion, but every time it surged back and forth, the fleet of drones went tumbling, their cameras losing focus for a moment before the autonomous vehicles compensated against the currents.

Despite everything — the wooziness, the pain in his muscles, the sheer discomfort of this miserable tin can vessel — Colin couldn’t help a gasp of awe. Earth had plenty of legends about dragons, but Colin had never imagined he’d encounter one in real life. For all of Earth’s biodiversity, for all of Colin’s travels beyond the solar system and across the galaxy, he’d never seen anything like this. Before them was not a fish, but a god, soaring through the black depths of her icy domain. Chasing after such a creature was insanity. It was no wonder only children of Shark Ancestor dared to fight for survival in this dark, unforgiving kingdom.

The harpooner shouted something, before a new set of warning sirens went off. Colin glanced at Valtra, and her face, previously frozen in a fierce smile of the hunt, turned grim.

“She’s diving,” Valtra explained in United Pyrean. “Depending on how fast the other ships get here, the harpoon may not hold.”

Colin’s heart pounded in his ears. This was a life and death battle — not only for the sveltnas and the crew, but for him as well. If the Esper succeeded, the sveltnas would die. If the Esper failed, her whole crew would be lost.

As if in response to these thoughts, the warning sirens grew more shrill, and the whole vessel started to shake with increased urgency. A number of crew members shouted readouts from their terminals, but Nina’s voice cut through the din. Even without knowing the words, Colin heard the clear, cold orders in her tone.

#triple strike #book 3 snippet #call me ishmael

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sudeepkedar · 1 year

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Software Testing Market To Witness Accelerated Growth by 2030

Software Testing Market To Hit USD 70 Bn By 2030. The rising demand for autonomous driving systems will outline global software testing market growth. Electric vehicles (EVs) are seeing a major increase in production volume as customers are becoming aware of the harmful effects of driving fossil-fueled vehicles.

EVs run on cutting-edge software that gives the driver vital information on the performance of their vehicle. For example, the motor controller is dependent on the embedded software to regulate and supervise the functioning of various components in an electric car, such as the accelerator and battery.

Get sample copy of this research report @

https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3382

Software testing is an integral part of sectors that use advanced technologies to carry out their daily operations. According to some reports, organizations across the U.S. incurred costs worth USD 1.56 trillion in 2020 alone due to operational software failures, thereby augmenting the need for tougher software testing standards.

The COVID-19 pandemic period witnessed a worrying rise in cybersecurity issues, such as virtual hacking due to lack of proper software testing or poor software quality. As per the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, in 2020, there was a 47% growth in cyberattacks on healthcare networks and hospitals across Europe. This scenario will accelerate the need for stringent software testing methods to mitigate the risk of losing confidential data.

1. Pure play software testing offers customized solutions:

Pure play software testing market size will expand at a notable pace over the coming years. The main role of this type of testing is to help product developers enhance the performance of their programs. Pure play testing will assist developers in identifying and solving various defects before making their products available for public use.

Many organizations outsource these services to external agencies who then work closely with the onshore teams. They can fast-track the software development processes because of their flexibility and ability to offer solutions that are tailor-made for the needs of the clients.

2. Professional services gain significant momentum:

The professional services segment will capture a sizeable share of global software testing market in the future. Software testing processes are quite tedious and time-consuming due to the complexities associated with them. They can take up a company’s valuable time who can instead focus on other core activities to boost its performance.

Professional services are helpful in such cases as consultants from external agencies can be hired to take on the cumbersome task of testing different types of software. They can also provide in-depth and personalized guidance to their clients on improving the software quality through timely checks.

Request for customization @ https://www.gminsights.com/roc/3382

3. BFSI sector undergoes large-scale digitization:

Global software testing market revenue from the BFSI sector application will increase considerably in the future as this industry vertical is strengthening its reliance on digital technologies. Many banks and financial institutions are launching online platforms to boost their efficiency and enhance their customers’ banking experience.

For instance, in June 2022, Canada-based fintech organization Nuula declared the launch of its app version in the country. The application will enable small business owners to keep a real-time track of their cashflows, while also alerting them of cash shortage beforehand.

It will also help them monitor their customers’ sentiments through online reviews and ratings. Such innovations will amplify the need for software testing solutions to ensure the seamless functioning of these apps. Fast-growing economies in Asia Pacific also represent key markets for software testing solutions. In India, mobile payments skyrocketed during the period of 2020-21. The number of transactions done through payment applications went up from 1.12 billion in April 2020 to 3.7 billion in June 2021. Similar trends will fuel the need for constant software testing to enhance an app’s performance.

About Global Market Insights:

Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.

Aashit Tiwari Corporate Sales, USA Global Market Insights Inc. Toll Free: +1-888-689-0688 USA: +1-302-846-7766 Europe: +44-742-759-8484 APAC: +65-3129-7718 Email: [email protected] Social Media: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook

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bloomberg-a · 2 years

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Software Testing Market- Trends, Competitor Analysis and Regional Share Report to 2030

The Rising demand for autonomous driving systems will outline global software testing market growth. Electric vehicles (EVs) are seeing a major increase in production volume as customers are becoming aware of the harmful effects of driving fossil-fueled vehicles.

Request for a sample copy of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3382

Pure play software testing offers customized solutions:

Professional services gain significant momentum:

Browse report summary @ https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/software-testing-market

BFSI sector undergoes large-scale digitization:

Global software testing market outlook will remain positive as there is a strong demand for smarter technologies across a wide range of sectors to improve their performance and efficiency. As more end-users opt for digitization, the importance of software testing will take center-stage in the upcoming years. Cognizant, CSC, Capgemini, Wipro Limited, Atos SE, Infosys Limited, Tricentis, Cigniti, and Accenture, among several others, are the top providers of software testing solutions. These companies offer application testing components and services to sectors ranging from IT, media, and manufacturing to BFSI, telecom, and retail.

About Global Market Insights:

Aashit Tiwari

Corporate Sales, USA

Global Market Insights Inc.

Phone: 1-302-846-7766

Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688

Email: [email protected]

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drugfoot3 · 2 years

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Germany Visa Sorts, Necessities, Software & Tips

For additional necessities, refer to the Visa acceptance agreement between you and your acquirer. Discount supplied to induce fee by money, check or comparable means not involving an open-end bank card not thought-about a credit service charge if offered to all prospective patrons clearly and conspicuously in accordance with rules. In those places and only for bank cards, a service provider might require a minimal transaction quantity of US $10 and government agencies and schooling merchants may establish a most transaction amount. If a merchant refused to simply accept your Visa card on the basis that the merchant requires a minimal or most quantity on a Visa debit card, or the amount on a bank card is greater than U.S. $10, please notify your Visa card issuer. Visit the CDC page for the most recent Travel Health Information associated to your travel. This additionally applies to all visa-exempt passport holders who wish to transit by way of China for longer than 24 hours. Failure to register with the PBS may end up in a fantastic or a ban from visa-free transit via China for as much as 2 years. In order to visit the Tibet Autonomous Region , all non-Chinese passport holders should acquire a Tibet Travel Permit from the Tibet Tourism Bureau upfront of journey. Oman and China sign visa waiver agreement throughout international minister's go to to Muscat, The New Arab, 29 March 2021. A L for toursim would also be acceptable, if you will be engaged in tourism. We’re not taking new clients this week because of the vacation. However, upon your return to Beijing, you might need to consult with us about eligibility for a residence for employment or personal affairs. I found there to be method less trouble, they've streamlined the system in the constructing itself particularly with the computerised system they use for the past yr or so, I offered our rental contract and varied documents, but my bank account was not needed. I utilized for the Q2 purely because I had a day left on my temp L visa. I utilized for the max, i.e. a hundred and eighty days, I collected my visa today and to my surprise they gave me a yr with a a hundred and eighty day stipulation to go to Hong Kong. Travelers whose valid visas are in expired passports can enter their valid visa info as properly as their new passport info to complete an EVUS enrollment. You wouldn't have to acquire a new visa if you are entering new passport data. All People’s Republic of China Passport holders carrying 10-year B1/B2, B1 or B2 visas are required to have an EVUS enrollment to enter the United States by air, land, sea beginning on November 29. If you would possibly be already in the United States on November 29, you'll not must enroll in EVUS to depart the United States. However, you should enroll earlier than your next trip to the United States. Work Visa Necessities In China The Embassy is not responsible for any related financial losses and legal consequences if your visa utility is rejected. The primary visa parameters are validity interval, variety of permitted entries, and most period of stay within the nation. In case of expiration of the visa it's necessary to acquire a model new one. However, the application could additionally be rejected and in accordance with the “Law of the PRC on Entry and Exit Procedure for Aliens” this can be adopted by fantastic sanctions. CanadaStarting from March 2015, China announced that multiple-entry L, M, Q2, and S2 visas with the validity for as much as nine years and 11 months can be issued to citizens of Canada. It has simplified the application process, permitting for the majority of the appliance to be accomplished online. For employers hiring foreigners in China, it may be very important adjust to the native laws and laws relating to expatriates. For instance, employers must be legally established and will must have the necessary certifications from the appropriate industry administration. Former nationals of China who've Mainland residency and who've lost their Chinese nationality are also required to produce their Chinese passports for cancellation when making use of for his or her first Chinese visa. The cancelled passports will be returned to the applicants together with the model new Chinese visa, demonstrating their lack of Chinese nationality. The requirement, nevertheless, doesn't apply to Hong Kong and Macau permanent residents as their Chinese nationality is determined by their respective governments. In nations without Visa Centers or CVASFs, visa application requires submitting the passport and required paperwork directly to the embassy or consulate. The most recent visa software type, type V.2013, is in use since 1 September 2013. Us State Department Eases China Travel Advisory For People I had thought the fast test wouldn't be necessary however sadly it was not said in black and white. Even higher Trudeau gasoline dropped our speedy test to reach back to Canada. If somebody has do wn West Jet out of Calgary YYC can you please clarify if my vaccine report is enough or if I also need a test? Additionally- is a traditional RAT speedy antigen take a look at sufficient or does it have to be a lab? To know that are the journey laws all all over the world, verify the map at the IATA Travel Centre. Tests undertaken earlier than returning to the country of origin are the responsibility of the passenger, i.e. at his/her personal expense. If you’re required to do it anyway, assume you’ve been compromised; have your system cleaned as quickly as you'll find a way to. Foreign security companies and criminals are adept at “phishing” – that is, pretending to be somebody you trust so as to obtain personal or delicate info. Corporate and authorities officials are most at risk, but don’t assume you’re too insignificant to be focused. Transmitting delicate government, personal, or proprietary data from overseas is due to this fact dangerous. For steerage and instructions, please email ODNI Prepublication Review at DNI-Pre- To report a potential civil liberties and privateness violation or file a grievance, please evaluate the necessities at the CLPT homepage. UC Davis travelers are suggested against all non-essential university-sponsored worldwide travel, particularly by air. We encourage finding alternate technique of conducting enterprise such as video or internet conferencing. If you might be touring on college enterprise, you mustregister your journey. For worldwide travel, you should register three weeks before meant travel dates. If you would possibly be traveling on university enterprise, you mustregister your journey.For international journey, you must register three weeks earlier than the supposed journey dates. I really hope, as with Canada, they add MÉXICO to the listing again on February 28!! Has anyone had any latest experience travelling to Portugal from Canada? Is the choice left up to the airline representatives at the check-in desk? At Pearson examine in they asked for vaccination status and Portugal locator kind. Upon arrival to Lisbon they solely asked for passport and no questions about COVID take a look at or vaccination standing in any way. Japan Evisa Requirements For Chinese Citizens The above-mentioned applicants will solely want to complete the online software forms, and print out the affirmation page, software form as properly as the Education, Employment and Marriage Form. After signing on the above-mentioned varieties, they may proceed to submit their passports and the opposite software documents on to the Chinese Embassy or Consulates-General in Canada by way of diplomatic Channels. In November 2014, the Governments of the United States and China entered into an arrangement on a reciprocal basis to concern 10-year visitor and enterprise journey visas (B1/B2, B1, and B2). That identical arrangement recognized that travelers could be required periodically to complete a web-based form updating the knowledge they used to apply for the visa. EVUS was developed to permit vacationers to supply the most present info – including name, passport quantity, address, and employment – to immigration officers before touring to the United States. Travelers seeking to travel to Ethiopia must hold a sound visa to enter the nation. This service permits the overseas companies to do enterprise in China with out setting up any authorized company in China, as the employee works for the foreign firm while employed and administered by HROne. In addition to helping you with Work Visas, we're a one-stop-shop for all administrative employment options corporations may require in China. We present office area in major cities, employ tax and accounting specialists, and have a team of authorized consultants able to deal with any points that may arise navigating by way of the Chinese system. The government has not made utterly clear what's outlined as a new occupation. However, it may be considerably deduced by the magnitude of the job change. If an employee is at present a trainer and is changing into a advisor, it's obvious that the new job is completely totally different. They have dependents with legal residence status in Taiwan (spouse, relations of "lineal relationship", or siblings only). They are taking part in worldwide meetings or actions for the purposes of "spiritual, athletic, or cultural trade" and invited by a Taiwanese group. Currently all issuance of go to permits to mainland Chinese residents are suspended as a end result of coronavirus pandemic. Visa Policy Of Taiwan The overwhelming majority of EVUS enrollments shall be processed within minutes; nevertheless, it may take up to seventy two hours. CBP recommends enrolling in EVUS properly in advance of your deliberate travel. 台胞證 who aren't eligible for the eVisa should apply by way of the Turkish embassy in China. They should print a duplicate and carry it when touring from China to Turkey. It must point out the adoptee’s information , the adoptive parents’ information , the name of the particular person or establishment placing the kid for adoption, the registration number, the registration date, and the registration authority. All notarial documents will need to have an English translation, and be connected to a certificates stating that the English translation is in conformity with the Chinese unique. Applicants of Iranian, Iraqi, Libyan, Somalian, Sudanese, Syrian or Yemeni nationality, who've a permanent resident or refugee standing in Canada/Mexico, will not be accorded Canadian/Mexican reciprocity, even when making use of in Canada/Mexico. The reciprocity charge and interval for "TD" applicants from Libya is $10.00 for one entry over a period of three months. Once the requirements have been met, Chinese tourists can then start the process of making use of for an eVisa. We recommend checking with your airline or transportation service first to ensure they'll board your youngster in these circumstances with out carrier documentation. If the airline or transportation service refuses to board your baby with out carrier documentation, you'll need to pay for and submit a Form I-131A in your youngster. Information For Visitor Visa As of June 17, 2019, visas are no longer required for American citizens touring to Brazil. Bahrain requires a two-week vacationer visa, with the application obtainable on the federal government website. Beginning in 2021, U.S. visitors to 26 member nations of the European Union might want to acquire a European Travel Information and Authorization System registration previous to arrival. It's not a full visa, however the brief on-line utility will cost about 7 euros and last for 3 years. Please see theDepartment of Stateand theFBIpages for data on scams. Find info ondual nationality,prevention of international child abductionandcustoms regulationson our web sites. The U.S. Department of State is unaware of any HIV/AIDS entry restrictions for visitors to or international residents of China. For the Hong Kong SAR, review your Hong Kong flight status together with your airline or on the Hong Kong International Airport web site. Read the country info page for the PRC and the country data web page for the Hong Kong SAR for extra information on journey. 2.2 To present shoppers with intermediate business providers, including computer entry of primary information, and transmission of passports, visas and Clients' Information between Embassies and Consulates and the Chinese Visa Application Service Facility. The Chinese Embassy will process the applying, which typically takes up to 8 business days, supplied all paperwork are valid. Your China visa will typically be prepared on the sixth day after submission, factoring in shipping time. Send your application to the Chinese embassy or a China Visa Application Service Center in your nation. A new policy took impact in 2018, mandating visa candidates from varied nations to submit fingerprints. A number of other countries do require that you get a tourist visa earlier than you permit the U.S, similar to China, India, Russia, and Vietnam. Visa Rules Relaxed For Chinese Language Vaccine Recipient In 26 Countries All the Westerners informed VOA Mandarin that touring with out quarantine restrictions would be an incentive for businesspeople to acquire Chinese-made vaccines. Anticipating that the vaccine passport will result in additional rest of travel restrictions, Vincent Hsu, a Taiwanese citizen who does enterprise in China, said that he and tons of of his counterparts are open to getting the China-made vaccines. The new coverage rewards these international locations which might be already using Chinese photographs, such as Indonesia, Chile and Turkey. For international locations already weighing the Chinese pictures, the visa coverage might supply another excuse to go forward with them. Application beneath the Visa Facilitation Policy route just isn't broadly adopted since its implementation in March 2021, because it depends on the provision of Chinese-produced vaccines domestically. Each Chinese embassy/consulate may also have its own interpretation as to the information and documents required. Chinese specialists have suggested the World Health Organization to take the lead in coordinating a vaccine mutual recognition platform globally, which can serve as a basis for journey document utility and potential quarantine exemptions. “China is actively pushing the mutual recognition of vaccines to renew personnel exchanges, and I imagine overseas vaccines will lastly be acknowledged,” Butcher mentioned, however he's not certain whether Western countries can solid aside bias and do the same. A Sydney-based Australian nationwide told the Global Times on Tuesday that because the Australian government has not permitted Chinese vaccines, he cannot profit from the coverage yet. The man who gave his surname as Butcher has received the vaccine by Oxford-AstraZeneca. Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian mentioned on Tuesday the move is an exploratory motion that aims to facilitate journey primarily based on full consideration of the vaccines’ security and efficacy, and it has no reference to vaccination mutual recognition. For vaccine recognition, Zhao said yesterday that China is prepared to communicate with different nations on mutual recognition and that foreign vaccine producers can apply to related Chinese authorities for approval. The Invitation Letter , Invitation Letter or Invitation Verification Notice issued by the foreign affairs workplaces, the departments of commerce of the provincial governments or the headquarters of central state-owned enterprises are not required. Taiwan Work Visa And Permit The utility form should be typed online and handwritten form or previous PDF visa type will not be accepted. 4) Please fill within the training background from high school onwards, family info, detailed information about your supposed trip to China and previous international journey as required. 1) Please complete all items listed online, and ensure all data is true and accurate. If there could be any change, omission or error in the application type after submission, you want to to fill in the type once more. If your software is incomplete whenever you submit it or should you submit false data or you do not meet our necessities, we could refuse or deny your application. Read the nation information page for the PRC and the country info page for the Hong Kong SAR for added information on journey. Travelers throughout the PRC and Hong Kong may be subject to necessary testing. In areas with confirmed COVID-19 instances, restrictions may include being confined to house or moved to a government- designated quarantine facility or hospital. A courier fee should be included also for courier costs payable to both Federal Express or DHL using a Draft or Money Order. An individual should possess a valid passport – valid for six months from the date of supposed journey to Taiwan. They are taking part in international conferences or activities for the purposes of "religious, athletic, or cultural trade" and invited by a Taiwanese group. They are invited by Taiwanese authorities companies when on official businesses. Currently all issuance of go to permits to mainland Chinese residents are suspended due to coronavirus pandemic.

#台胞證

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mychronicthoughts · 7 years

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I take issue with people who encourage me to function like I don't have serious, degenerative illnesses. "Believe you're not sick like a little kid believes in Santa Claus!!" That would imply that I wished myself into illness in the first place. It also encourages me to push myself past clear limits for the sake of pretending like I'm healthy. I have spent a majority of my time as a patient believing that I could still function like I could before I got sick. That is physically not the case, and I am not going to further sacrifice my mental and physical health so others can feel more comfortable/inspired about the whole situation.

#chronic illness #spoonie #pure autonomic failure #dysautonomia #arthritis

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1spoonatatime · 7 years

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It’s Dysautonomia Awareness Month! Dysautonomia means your autonomic nervous system doesn’t function regularly, so my body doesn’t regulate my heart rate, digestion, etc., as it should. The type of dysautonomia I have is POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). Symptoms of POTS include (but aren’t limited to): lightheadedness, nausea, fatigue, chest pain/tightness, tremors, rapid heartbeat, tremors, brain fog, and more. It’s estimated that 1 in 100 teens have POTS; 1-3 million people have POTS in the US alone; 70 million people have some type of dysautonomia worldwide. Have a question or want to learn more? Feel free to send me an ask, message, or visit: http://dysautonomiainternational.org

#POTS #postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome #dysautonomia #autonomic dysfunction #dysautonomia awareness #orthostatic intolerance #NCS #neurocardiogenic syncope #OI #PAN #pure autonomic failure #my text posts

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saiyanprincessswanie · 3 years

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Most people don’t know but October is also Dysautonomia Awareness Month.

There are many different types of dysautonomia, including Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Neurally Mediated Syncope (NMS), Orthostatic Intolerance (OI), Autoimmune Autonomic Ganglionopathy (AAG), Pure Autonomic Failure (PAF), Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), and more. While some specific types are rare, dysautonomia itself is not. Over 70 million people in the world are living with one or more forms of dysautonomia.

The one I have is POTS. These are most symptoms that I live with every day.

Why do I share this?

Instead of judging me, please educate yourself. Not all illnesses are visible.

#postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome #dysautonomia awareness month #potsawareness #POTS #this is me

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matt0044 · 2 years

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Master Fu Was a Good Mentor Actually.

When Season 1 came out well, “Origins” wasn’t the debut in any country. So we just had to the show at face value in terms of two teenagers being superheroes facing off against a villain that created minions of his own. The question was... how did they get their powers? Why were they, kids of all people, deemed worthy of them?

Did their Kwami scout them out? Was there some higher power at work that determined who got the Miraculous? How did Hawk Moth get his own? Why wasn’t this person, if there was one, guiding our heroes like a real mentor should? The answers came with “Origins” be it after “Volpina” or as a mid-season premiere and... were not what we expected.

Master Wang Fu is not some mystical guardian of the Miracle Box but rather an old man who’s lived for a long time. Rather than sensing the innate goodness in a potential hero’s heart via mystical means, he subtly sets up tests of character for who may each wield the two most powerful miraculouses in the world.

It could’ve been Marinette who saved him from the car or maybe not. It could’ve been Adrien who helped him up and got him his cane or maybe not. What mattered was that those who did would do so without any desire for fame or glory? Marinette could’ve been hit by the car. Adrien could’ve gone into class if he just ignored the random old coot. Yet this showed their true colors anyways.

Thus another test was made: giving them the Miraculous and allowing them into the field alone. When Hawk Moth inevitably made his move, Fu would need to see if the heroes would jump into action themselves to save Paris. If they couldn’t deal, they’d willingly let their Kwamis go off and let him retrieve them.

Yet they went to help save Ivan as Stone Heart anyways. Marinette would feel unworthy after failing to de-evilize the Akuma but bounce back come Round 2. Fu would only view them from a distance and hardly appear in Season 1 aside from a cameo in “Princess Fragrance” and “Anti-Bug” before Tikki took Marinette for a formal meeting in Volpina.

All the while, Marinette and Adrien operate autonomously without any Zordon-figures or some government official to answer to. Season 1 has Fu silently view from the shadows how his chosen heroes are allowed to flourish and craft their own way without anybody imposing on their lives. As we learn in “Feast” and with Su-Han, this flies right in the face of what the Order tried to instill in him.

When Marinette meets him, he entrusts him with the knowledge of each Miraculous and their powers off-screen. She’s never told what to use when a battle calls for extra help and trusted with her own judgement. So much so that “Kwamibuster” demonstrates her using the Mouse without a rundown of how to use it or even how to unify Miraculous, using Multitude to share the load.

It’s even implied that she knows the Kwamis on a personal basis based on how she gets on Kahlki’s case for her high expectations of Max. Hell, he gave her the Horse Miraculous in case she needed to teleport back from London and back so she could enjoy just being a teen.

Yes, he’s not exactly an active mentor who trains his chosen heroes but one only needs resolve to use a Miraculous and what their powers entail. Even then, his short-comings are a result of a lack of formal training and defiance of that training. In a way, it made him better than his forebearers in some ways.

Fu knows all too well that any hero is capable of messing up big time and hardly holds it against Ladybug for the events of “Miracle Queen.” He doomed his own order and was made an illegitimate Guardian purely because he was the only survivor of his own failure. Who better to succeed him than one who has know failure but persists to do the right thing anyways?

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #master wang fu #wang fu #master fu #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #miraculous season 4 #marinette dupen chang #adrien agreste #tikki #plagg

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mostlysignssomeportents · 3 years

Text

Facebook's alternative facts

Facebook acquired a company called Crowdtangle in 2016; it makes a social media analytics tool that the press has used to monitor subject-matter trends on Facebook, especially in the runup to the 2020 elections.

Facebook just gutted Crowtangle.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/technology/facebook-data.html

Crowdtangle had operated as a semiautonomous unit within Facebook, primarily used by media companies to track the social media performance of their stories. A turning point came when the NY Times’s Kevin Roose figured out how to rank posts that included links to the real web.

Roose created a Twitter account called @FacebooksTop10 that served as a moment-to-moment leaderboard for the most popular web-links being “engaged with” on Facebook (Facebook separates “engagement” — liking and replying — from “reach” — how many people see a post).

Roose’s research revealed that far-right cranks like Ben Shapiro and Sean Hannity were dominating Facebook’s news ecosystem. These reports were most unwelcome within Facebook leadership, whose internal communications were leaked to Roose.

These leaks reveal the anxieties of top Facebook leaders — including Nick Clegg, the former UK Deputy PM who sold out his supporters, created the conditions for Brexit, and then landed a cushy, 4-million-per-year job as head of FB’s “global affairs.”

These leaders worried that objective data about Facebook users’ “engagement” would validate suspicions that the service was a far-right echo-chamber whose US users were trending to ageing conservatives, a group that advertisers are lukewarm on.

Facebook’s leaders debated what to do about this and ultimately decided to neuter Crowdtangle, replacing it with selective disclosures that put the service in a better light, choosing among several other metrics (like reach) to characterize the discourse on the platform.

Publicly, Facebook says it’s not killing Crowdtangle, but rather, integrating it into an “integrity team” — minus its leadership (on “vacation” with no defined role at the company) and key personnel (who are being scattered to other parts of the business).

Facebook’s attack on Crowdtangle is significant, especially in light of its sustained assault on independent accountability and transparency tools like Ad Observer, a project from NYU’s engineering school.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/20/sovkitsch/#adobserver

Ad Observer tracks paid political disinformation on the platform. Its users volunteer to install a free/open browser extension that captures the ads Facebook serves to them. These are flensed of any private information and uploaded to Ad Observatory, a public repository.

Accountability journalists and researchers use Ad Observatory to track whether Facebook is living up to its public promises to limit paid political disinformation. The project has documented many failures to uphold those promises.

In its smear campaign against Ad Observer, Facebook has insisted that the project is both dangerous (Facebook falsely claims it captures private information) and redundant, because Facebook maintains its own ad repository for researchers.

But Ad Observer has already caught multiple instances of paid political disinformation that was not included in Facebook’s repository.

Facebook has proven that it cannot be trusted to honestly reflect its own practices in its transparency efforts.

As Crowdtangle enters a decline — leadership sidelined, engineers scattered — we should interpret Facebook’s promises to replace it with its own “accountability” tools, run by the leadership faction that decried Roose’s top-10 list, in light of the Ad Observer fiasco.

After all, these leaders insisted that the problem with Roose’s list is that it measured “engagement” and not “reach” — but when the company produced its own internal “reach”-based leaderboards, they looked much the same as the “engagement” ones.

Roose agrees with FB leaders in that Facebook isn’t merely a far-right echo chamber (he says that it contains such a chamber, but that’s not the whole story). But there’s one way in which FB is firmly Trumpian: its insistence on “alternative facts.”

Trump is a bullshitter, raised in the “positive thinking” church of Norman Vincent Peale, whose gospel dictated that you could manifest new realities by insisting that they were already here — “fake it till you make it” (AKA “gaslighting”).

https://www.npr.org/2017/01/19/510628862/how-positive-thinking-helped-propel-trump-to-the-presidency

This ideology — call it gaslightism — is the fantasy that powerful people can warp reality simply by declaring it to be something else (think of the GWB official who sneered at the “reality-based community” and its skepticism over war in Iraq).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community

It’s a common trait among wealthy narcissists. Elon Musk insists that the laws of physics will bend to his satellite internet network and allow for multiple universes’ worth of electromagnetic signalling.

He’s sure that the laws of geometry will bend to his tunnels and somehow relieve traffic congestion by adding private vehicles; that he will make massive leaps in computer science and create safe autonomous vehicles.

Trump’s insistence the virus would “disappear…like a miracle” was just the latest installment in a long history of bullshitting (“positive thinking”), including things like pretending to be his own publicist, boasting to journos about his prowess.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/audio-listen-donald-trump-pretend-be-his-own-hank-berrien

Facebook’s desire to “control the narrative” is part of this intellectual tradition, and it’s hardly the first time the company has done it.

Early in the company’s history, Zuckerberg defended his “real names” policy by saying that anyone who objected was “two-faced.”

It’s hard to overstate how deranged this is: surely Zuckerberg presents a different facet of his identity to his spouse, his kids, his shareholders, his co-workers and the press. It’s not “two faced” to talk to your boss differently from how you talk to your lover.

However, by forcing billions of Facebook users to confine themselves to a single identity, Zuckerberg does make it easier to target them with ads. This “two-faced” business is just an attempt to will a radical, sociopathic norm into existence.

This attitude permeates Facebook’s corporate conduct: remember the “pivot to video?” Facebook wanted to compete with Youtube — the number two supplier of display advertising, after FB itself — so it declared that videos were very popular on Facebook.

Not that videos would be popular — they were already popular. The company told its media and ad partners that they were missing out on a gold-rush because FB users loved watching FB videos.

Media companies literally laid off their newsrooms in order to hire video production teams based on this intelligence. The entire media- and ad-ecosystem reoriented itself around Facebook’s market intelligence.

There was just one problem. Facebook was lying. FB users weren’t watching its videos, and Facebook knew it. The company was just betting that if it convinced media companies to spend billions making videos, its users would watch them.

https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-lawsuit-pivot-to-video-mistake/

This fraud devastated the media world, first by triggering waves of layoffs of experienced journalists to make way for young video producers, then by killing or hobbling their employers and triggering another wave of mass layoffs.

Zuckerberg knows it’s not “two-faced” to show different parts of yourself to different people. Facebook knew that no one was watching FB videos. They were just betting that they could fake it until they made it — the core tenet of gaslightism.

The Crowdtangle affair is more of the same. Facebook’s US market is dominated by furious, old conservatives. The company knows it — but they also know that if they admit it, people who don’t match that description will be less likely to stay on its platform.

They know that advertisers don’t pay much to reach that audience. They know that an aging user-base will dwindle over time unless there’s a cohort coming in behind it. They think that if they suppress the true nature of their business, the nature will change.

Gaslightism is what Exxon embraced half a century ago, when it suppressed its own scientists’ conclusions that its product would render our planet unfit for human habitation. They were betting that if they just kept the news quiet, something might come up that changed it. #ExxonKnew

The wealthy and powerful have always practiced gaslightism (hence folktales like “The Emperor’s New Clothes”).

To be clear, we’re all prone to kidding ourselves with wishful thinking, but wishful thinking is different when it’s combined with unchecked power.

That’s why Thomas Jefferson argued for an anti-monopoly clause in the Bill of Rights — not because he disbelieved in smart people with good ideas, but because he disbelieved in infallible people.

Mark Zuckerberg is not an evil supergenius. He’s not a supergenius, or any kind of genius. He’s just an everyday mediocrity like you or me, someone who talked himself into thinking that he should be the czar of 3 billion lives.

https://locusmag.com/2018/07/cory-doctorow-zucks-empire-of-oily-rags/

The problem of concentrated, unaccountable, autocratic power isn’t evil supergeniuses. The problem is people no better or worse than you or me, indulging their worst impulses with no one to call bullshit on them.

Nerfing Crowdtangle and attacking Ad Obverser are just ways for Facebook to preventing journalists from calling bullshit on it — a way to further secede from the reality-based community. It’s pure gaslightism.

Image: Japanexperterna.se (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/japanexperterna/15251188384/

Minette Lontsie (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Facebook_Headquarters.jpg

CC BY-SA: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Anthony Quintano (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/quintanomedia/41793468502

CC BY: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

#pluralistic

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