writings and ramblings

During tonight’s volunteer shift, I had to keep six kittens in a box while a team mate cleaned their cage. (Their mom/foster mom was taking a break from them and just chilling)

Anyone with a name that starts with a “Z”, ends with an “i”, and isn’t some kind of Italian pasta, IS SERIOUS

A short rest is a period of time one hour long during which a character does “nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds.”

Warlock spells also regenerate on a short rest.

4 news headline results from a google search for NYC pride. the headlines are related to NYC cops being banned from pride until 2025. the headlines read:

- “NYC pride parade bans police; Gay officers disheartened” NBC News

- “NYC pride parade bans law enforcement from participating in events through 2025” UPI.com

- “NYC pride organizers ban the NYPD from its events until 2025” CNN

- “Police banned from participating in New York City pride events until 2025”

the next image is a screenshot of a post. text reads:

“The organizers of NYC pride announced in a press release that they would ban police participation in future Pride events, including the City’s annual Pride March, until 2025. During that time, NYC Pride will reportedly rely on community- based security and first responders, using police only for critical situations. Generally, about 200 NYPD members participate in the June NYC Pride March, but in recent years, the Black Lives Matter movement has forced a reexamination of police brutality in the justice system, and LGBTQ+ activists have called attention to police roles in Pride parades.

In its Instagram post, NYC Pride said the decision was made to ‘create safer spaces for the LGBTIAQ+ and BIPOC communities at a time when violence against marginalized groups, specifically BIPOC and trans groups, has continued to escalate. The sense of safety that law enforcement is meant to provide can instead be threatening, and at times dangerous, to those in our community who are most often targeted with excessive force with/or without reason. NYC Pride is unwilling to contribute in anyway to creating an atmosphere of fear and harm for members of the community.’

When the vaccines were first approved, we did not know if the vaccines stopped transmission, so we were told to act as though they did not stop transmission for safety reasons. They didn’t test for it in the emergency phased trials. It was speculated the entire time that the vaccines likely reduced transmission... because that’s how vaccines work.

Now we have evidence that the mRNA vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, do actually prevent transmission. Animal studies have shown decreases in transmission. In Israel, where a majority of the adult population is vaccinated (with Pfizer), they have seen a 75-89% reduction in asymptomatic infections, meaning that getting the vaccine significantly reduces your changes of being an asymptomatic spreader. Oxford also has evidence that their AstraZenica vaccine also reduces transmission. It may not be peer reviewed and replicated research, but for all intents and purposes, as of me writing this on March 31, 2021, we can confidently say that the vaccines do prevent some level of transmission.

First of all, if you take nothing else away from this post: *if you have a reaction to the second vaccine that means it’s working*. It’s ok if you don’t have a reaction to the second shot. Your vaccine is still working. But if you do have a reaction, that is good. There’s a longer explanation below, but if someone says “the vaccine made me sick” - good!

Longer science stuff here.

First, how our bodies work. When particles from a virus or a bacteria are found in our bloodstream, our body’s very first reaction is to get hot. Most microorganisms have a narrow temperature range they can survive* at. By getting hot, we can kill the pathogen. That’s why you get fevers. This is called nonspecific immunity because it’s a generic response to pretty much everything.

We also have specific immunity. These are cells whose entire job is to look out for one microorganism and kill it when they find it, before it can make you sick. For your specific immunity to develop, your body needs to encounter the microorganism first - usually, by getting sick. This is where vaccines come in.

How vaccines work: a vaccine is a way to develop your specific immunity without you getting sick first. Usually, we expose you to a large enough dose of the virus** - made weaker or killed, as Darkwingatlarge said - that your body is able to recognize that virus. Because the virus is weakened or killed, you don’t get sick, but as far as your body knows, it’s the same as if you got sick. Next time you encounter the virus, your body is able to kill it before it can make you sick. However, the COVID vaccine is a little different, and to understand how it works, it helps to understand how viruses work.

How viruses work: viruses have essentially one goal, which is to turn your cells into little factories that make more virus. Every cell in your body is constantly making proteins, all the time. Viruses co-opt this process so the cell makes copies of the virus instead. That virus goes out to infect new cells.

So, all of this leads to the big one: how the COVID vaccine works.

The COVID vaccine uses the same trick viruses use. Instead of using a killed or weakened virus to teach your body “this = bad”, the COVID vaccine uses mRNA - the same mRNA out cells use to say “build this protein” all the time. But the mRNA directs your cells to make one tiny part of the COVID virus instead. Not the dangerous part; a single spike protein that the COVID virus uses to attach to your cells.

Your body has a natural check in-process. When a cell makes a protein, it presents it to the regulatory cells and says “look what I made!” If the cell is making the right protein, nothing happens. But if the cell is making the wrong protein, either because it was a damaged, or because it’s been *infected by a virus* - this alerts the immune system and activates your specific and nonspecific immunity.

So what happens when you get vaccinated? Some of your cells start making a tiny, harmless spike protein and says “I made this! Is it good?” Other cells show up and say “absolutely not, that’s garbage, never make it again.” Your body learns that if it ever encounters this spike protein again, to kill it on sight. This is great if you get Covid, because it activates specific immunity. But, on dose two, when your body is still learning, what happens? Your body knows enough to say “no, this is bad,” but not enough to summon the specific immunity against COVID. Instead, it activates your nonspecific immunity — fever, and all the aches and pains that come with it.

You have a negative reaction to the second COVID vaccine dose, because your body starts making spike protein. Your body says “I know I hate this, but I don’t know what to do yet, so, uh, go off I guess” and does what it always does — it gets hot.

*technically, most microorganisms have a limited temperature at which they can reproduce. But, when your life span is hours, not being able to reproduce is a Big Problem.

It’s not that unreasonable for someone in Buffy’s position to want some sort of tangible proof that she is valued for more than her ability to kill and die. To be Chosen to do something she can talk about publicly, and that she asked for as opposed to had thrust upon her against her will.

I actually really like this moment in parallel with the Class Protector scene in The Prom, where she finally does get her recognition. It’s a play on the ‘classic high school’ recognition she’s longing for here but incorporates her identity/role as the Slayer, which by that point in season 3 she’s come more to terms with/

And while it is her Slaying that she’s being recognized for in The Prom, it’s the ‘saving people’ rather than the ‘killing’ or ‘dying’ that’s highlighted, which is a big thing for Buffy.

Also, I can’t remember, and I’m not looking it up right now, but isn’t it canon that Buffy has been told numerous times that being the Slayer means that she’ll die young?

I seem to remember a quote about expiration dates and cheetohs.

And for someone who was Chosen to die young saving a world that won’t ever know about her, without any input on her part, to want or think she’s owed a small moment of joy in a life that will (as far as she knows) probably end before she hits her mid twenties doesn’t seem that entitled or selfish to me.

I’d also add that before she was the slayer, Buffy was exactly the sort of girl everyone assumed would be homecoming queen: popular, pretty, vapid. Buffy was Cordelia, but bigger and better, because she lived in the big city. Not only that, but she was a legacy homecoming queen: Joyce and Hank met at the homecoming dance. Buffy ended all of that when she became the slayer and burned down her high school gym. She lost her popularity, her friends, her home — the entire life she thought she’d have.

It’s not that unreasonable for someone in Buffy’s position to want some sort of tangible proof that she is valued for more than her ability to kill and die. To be Chosen to do something she can talk about publicly, and that she asked for as opposed to had thrust upon her against her will.

I actually really like this moment in parallel with the Class Protector scene in The Prom, where she finally does get her recognition. It’s a play on the ‘classic high school’ recognition she’s longing for here but incorporates her identity/role as the Slayer, which by that point in season 3 she’s come more to terms with/

And while it is her Slaying that she’s being recognized for in The Prom, it’s the ‘saving people’ rather than the ‘killing’ or ‘dying’ that’s highlighted, which is a big thing for Buffy.

Also, I can’t remember, and I’m not looking it up right now, but isn’t it canon that Buffy has been told numerous times that being the Slayer means that she’ll die young?

I seem to remember a quote about expiration dates and cheetohs.

And for someone who was Chosen to die young saving a world that won’t ever know about her, without any input on her part, to want or think she’s owed a small moment of joy in a life that will (as far as she knows) probably end before she hits her mid twenties doesn’t seem that entitled or selfish to me.

I’d also add that before she was the slayer, Buffy was exactly the sort of girl everyone assumed would be homecoming queen: popular, pretty, vapid. Buffy was Cordelia, but bigger and better, because she lived in the big city. Not only that, but she was a legacy homecoming queen: Joyce and Hank met at the homecoming dance. Buffy ended all of that when she became the slayer and burned down her high school gym. She lost her popularity, her friends, her home — the entire life she thought she’d have.

Please consider a small donation if you can afford one. They keep a list of items and such they need on their website. https://www.thecatcade.org/

TODAY IS NOVEMBER 1 2019!

IF YOU ARE IN THE US AND NEED HEALTH INSURANCE, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THE HEALTHCARE.GOV MARKETPLACE (OBAMACARE/ACA) OPENS ENROLLMENT TODAY!

CALL THEM TO FIND OUT HOW THEY CAN HELP YOU!

YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR TAX CREDITS WHETHER YOU ARE WORKING, NOT WORKING, ETC. EVEN IF YOU HAVE INSURANCE THROUGH YOUR JOB, YOU MAY HAVE LESS EXPENSIVE OPTIONS THROUGH THE MARKETPLACE.

PLEASE CHECK WITH THEM!

Open enrollment ends December 15!

Please keep reblogging this post! Open enrollment ends December 15 and I want to make sure everyone sees this who needs to.

I want to be clear: you can call this 800 number and they will physically fill out your application for you with information you provide.  They will walk you through the plans and premiums that you’re approved for, and can even enroll you in them, if that’s easier for you to do.  Not everyone knows they can do that, and for some people that can be really really useful.