me

"The Witch of Time was not always the party’s 8iggest trou8lemaker. Once she was as meek as can 8e."

My father recently lost his job, we lost our house and now on top of this he has been diagnosed with cancer of the lymph nodes. 

He is a professional machinist and has been working as one for over 30 years, only to then have his work stolen from him by his own mother and sister.  We’ve been scraping by since then and now that he lost his job we have absolutely nothing to live off of.

He is such a strong person and until yesterday I have never once seen him cry.  We’re absolutely devastated - he has cancer and we have no way to help him.  

He has always refused to take money from other people and he has spent his life helping people in need, and now we are the ones who need help.

My mother’s best friend has made a gofundme to try and help us pay our bills (we currently have no income whatsoever) and get him the treatment he so desperately needs.  

If you can’t donate then (please, please, please) signal boost this.  I’ll also share with him any supportive asks I receive regarding this..

I love my father so much and I am so afraid to lose him right now.

OKAY LISTEN UP YOU GUYS. ITS TIME TO PULL UP A CHAIR, TURN ON YOUR SCIENCE EARS AND:

(I’m using Bill Nye because this is gonna be a goddamn science talk and I know you people love nostalgia)

HERE ARE SOME VERY IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT EBOLA:

EBOLA IS ONLY TRANSMITTED THROUGH CONTACT WITH THE BLOOD OR BODY FLUID OF AN INFECTED PERSON.This is why one of its nicknames is “the Caregiver’s disease”! Because most people who contract it are people who were taking care of an infected patient or handled bodies with Ebola. So the general rule of thumb to avoid Ebola (and dozens of other disease much more prevalant everywhere) is: IF YOU SEE BLOOD OR BODILY FLUIDS THAT’S NOT FROM YOUR BODY - DON’T FUCKING TOUCH IT.

THE EBOLA VIRUS HAS A SHITTY SURVIVAL RATE OUTSIDE A HOST. This means that once a strain of the virus leaves a person’s body outside through blood, vomit, snot, etc - it can’t survive very long at all. In fact many scientific studies find that it’s hard to estimate exactly how long it can survive because their samples tend to start to break down before they can even run tests. This means sitting on a toilet seat in Dallas will not get you fucking ebola. 

ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS THIS OUTBREAK HAS GOTTEN SO BAD IS DUE TO SHITTY HEALTH CONDITIONS AND INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE INFECTED COUNTRIES. And by shitty, I mean it’s hard to get clean water and supplies level of shitty. While we can argue about the shitty state of US healthcare (and it’s 100% valid discussion) - it really doesn’t compare to what these clinics have.

IT DOES NOT HAVE A 100% MORTALITY RATE. Yes, it can be very deadly (from 25-90%), but again, most of the reasons it’s been so deadly is because of the shitty health conditions pointed out in #3. But it is completely possible to survive through Ebola if you get proper treatment (which you shouldn’t have it in the first place if you followed #1).

NOT EVERY AFRICAN COUNTRY HAS BEEN INFECTED WITH EBOLA. In fact compared to other epidemics, the rate this one has spread is small (I mean it is tragic, no question about that, but objectively speaking it doesn’t even hold a candle to the Bubonic plague, Spanish Influenza, HIV/AIDS or even H1N1). The countries infected are Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, all located in West Africa. And by infected, I mean about 0.0004% of their combined populations of 20 million are infected - which in pandemic terms this is tiny. So if you or your friends or your family who are either traveling or living in other parts of Africa you really shouldn’t worry about Ebola because- Africa is fucking huge.

THERE IS NO SOLID EVIDENCE IT WAS CONSTRUCTED IN A LAB. This is a conspiracy theory that’s been thrown out there in order to explain why it’s so deadly. People get anxious, and they blame what they can.

Meet the Mona Lisa of the Prado, the earliest known copy of Da Vinci’s best portrait. Similarity in the undersketch of the painting indicates that this was very likely painted concurrently with the original Mona Lisa, by a student of Da Vinci.

There is much controversy in the art world over the question of whether or not to clean the fragile Mona Lisa, but her sister has been restored and some fairly odd later alterations removed to show the original vibrant colors and lighting. Some details, such as the sheerness of her shawl and the pattern on the neckline of her dress, have become utterly obscured in the original, but in the restored copy they’re perfectly clear.