Aspiring writers, masters of funk, and happily married.

According to the CDC, in 10 percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch the child do it, having no idea it is happening. Drowning does not look like drowning—Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene magazine, described the Instinctive Drowning Response like this:

“Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled before speech occurs.

Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.

Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.

Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.

From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.”

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble—they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the Instinctive Drowning Response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long—but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

Head low in the water, mouth at water level

Head tilted back with mouth open

Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus

Eyes closed

Hair over forehead or eyes

Not using legs—vertical

Hyperventilating or gasping

Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway

Trying to roll over on the back

Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder

So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK—don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you all right?” If they can answer at all—they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents—children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

Source/article: [x]

I’ve been a lifeguard for 6 years now and of all the saves I’ve done, maybe two or three had people drowning in the stereotypical thrashing style. And even those, like the save I made last weekend, it was exactly like OP describes where the person’s head is going in and out of the water but it isn’t long enough to get any air. Mostly you recognize drowning by the look on someone’s face. If someone looks wide eyed and terrified or confused, chances are they’re drowning. That look of “oh shit” is pretty easily recognizable. And even if you can’t tell for sure: GO AFTER THEM ANYWAY. I’ve done “saves” where a kid was pretending to drown and I mistook it for real drowning, but that’s preferable to a kid ACTUALLY drowning.

Also please remember that even strong swimmers can drown if they have a medical emergency, get cramps, or get too tired. If your friend knows how to swim but they’re acting funny get them to land. And even if someone can respond when you ask them if they need help, if they say they do need help? GO HELP THEM.

However . If the victim is a stranger, I can’t recommend trying to get them. Lifeguards literally train to escape “attacks,” because people who are drowning can freak the fuck out and grab you and make YOU drown as well. If you do go in after someone, take hold of them from the back and talk to them the whole time. IF YOU ARE GRABBED: duck down into the water as low as you can get. The person is panicking and won’t want to go under water and should release you. Shove up at their hands and push them away from you as you duck under. Don’t die trying to save someone else.

When the lifeguard got us both out, a woman came running down and accused me of harming him and said he had been completely fine in the water. That there was no reason to drag him out of there. The lifeguard had to explain to her that her son had been drowning, to which her response was to say that she didn’t hear him call for help.

I've gotten a few messages asking about the nails of different female characters in the past. I figure I'd do a master post covering nails in ATLA, as well their significance to Asian culture.

In general, long nails have historically been a status symbol for women in many parts of East and Southeast Asia, as they indicated that you did not have to perform physical labor for a living. This appreciation for long nails has also led to the development of unique nail coloring techniques and extravagant nail accessories.

Unsurprisingly, the four nail notables of the ATLA franchise have all been royalty or nobility: Azula, Ursa, Mai, & The Earth Queen.

Azula & Ursa

Interestingly, both Ursa and Azula style their nails the exact same way: Long, unpainted, and shaped like claws. For Ursa, it hints at her mama bear nature: She's someone who is both traditionally feminine, but also dangerous when she needs to be. For Azula, while I'm sure those elements are there as well, I can't help but wonder if it's also a subtle form of connection to her mother.

It's worth noting that, after Ozai abandoned her to become "Phoenix King", Azula is shown with blunt nails on the day of her coronation. It's very reflective of Azula's poor mental state that she eschewed something that was once a marker of her high-status and connection to her mother.

Mai

On a lighter note, the next fancy fingered female we'll be covering is Mai! Like Ursa and Azula, Mai also favors talon-like nails. Perhaps this is a popular nail shape in their world?

The most notable detail of Mai's nails is that they're painted a very dramatic black. From a meta perspective, her nail color is obviously meant to signal to the audience that she is the Avatar world's equivalent to a goth girl. Funnily enough, though, her black nails also happen to be quite appropriate for her design's primary cultural inspiration: Ming Dynasty China.

During the Ming Dynasty, red and black were the nail colors of choice for royalty and nobility, while commoner women were only allowed to color their nails light pink. I believe the prestige of these nail colors were for two reasons: First, red and black traditionally symbolized strength and power in Dynastic China. Second, it also took more time and resources to color nails intense colors like red and black compared to softer colors like light pink.

During the Ming Dynasty, nails were dyed using a paste that included beeswax, egg whites, gelatin, various plant pigments, alum, and gum arabic. The fingertips would then be wrapped in cloth or leaves, allowing the color to soak into the nail overnight. The next morning, the nails would be dyed a vibrant hue that would last for weeks.

The Earth Queen

The final boss of long nails in Avatar is Earth Queen Hou-Ting. As previously mentioned, long nails were a status symbol for much of East Asian history, representing a life free of toil and labor. The most extreme form of this status flexing were nail guards or zhǐ jiǎ tào (指甲套). As the name implies, these claw-like finger covers were meant to protect long nails from accidentally breaking or getting chipped. They were also quite decorative and gave the impression of having even longer nails than you already had. However, because nails guards were still quite cumbersome and impractical, even the most pampered of royalty typically only wore them on their ring and pinky fingers most of the time.

Fun Facts About East Asian Nail Culture

In traditional Chinese and Vietnamese culture, it is believed that pinkies that go up to or past the top joint of the ring finger attract wealth. To simulate the appearance of a long pinky, many men and women will grow out their pinky nail. Contrary to popular belief, it's not for cocaine-sniffing or nose-picking.

Plenty of transphobic cis folks are green. Virtually every trans-positivity account is red except for the ones who are unapologetically transphobic to at least part of the community. Countless trans women who vocally uses the term transandrophobia are marked red. Several trans women who dont even use the term but have at least on one occasion defended or sympathized with trans men are red. Several trans women who are bigender/NB/Etc with inclusion of any "male" or masc terms are red regardless of whether they seem to have anything to say about trans men.

It is BLEAK. I've been trying to remove reds and greens as I assess, but it is really really gross that it was a pretty well-known soft rule a decade plus ago that you didn't mark trans people red at all even if they were shitheads, unless they were actual proud terfs, because the flagging was guaranteed to isolate them from community.

Inability to assess risk and a total aversion to narratives that contradict what you assume to be the case for others is getting people into a lot of trouble.

The original Tweet says "At a certain magnitude of cunt severity, getting misgendered by your family stops hurting and starts being funny. I have D cups, Grandpa. The waitress thinks you have dementia."

One of the lesser known early symptoms of dementia is that people start being more disagreeable.

Part of this is probably the natural result of being increasingly confused and upset day to day constantly. Another possible thing is that the same mechanism that causes dementia is also attacking the part of the brain that does emotional regulation.

Swords and Stars Collide in SENTINEL STARFALL!!!