BC SOCIETY
Saved by @Jacobtldr

Lots of folks say “you must be brave” when they find out I work in the ER.

It’s true that I don’t (usually) get upset at the sight of blood. But there are plenty of things that scare me.

A non-exhaustive list of things this emergency physician is afraid of:

 Choking

Because I’ve seen a child choke on a hot dog or grape that wasn’t cut lengthwise.
Door slamming

Because I’ve had to repair way too many fingertip amputations in little kids.
Throwing sticks

Because one time I saw a kiddo lose their eye after an innocent game with a sibling.
Jumping on the trampoline with your dog

Because...just don’t do it. It’s a bad idea.
Influenza

Because I’ve seen healthy kids, pregnant women and adults die from influenza.
Infant suffocation from unsafe sleep

Because I’ve held a mom as she crumpled in my arms and screamed when I told her we have tried everything to no avail.
Drownings

Because I’ve had to tell a parent I couldn’t reverse what happened in the blink of an eye to the beautiful child with the sun-kissed still-damp curls.
Gunshot wounds

Because I’ve seen way too many bodies, families and communities torn apart in milliseconds.
Stroke

Because I’ve seen how it robs vibrant and proud patients of their voice and independence.
Heart attacks

Because I’ve seen patients stay at home while their heart muscle is died and they developed disabling heart failure because they are worried their insurance will say it “wasn’t an emergency” and deny their claims.
Chemical dependency

Because I’ve seen patients suffer and die because they cannot access lifesaving treatment.
Depression

Because I’ve held the hand of a spouse and parent talking on the phone to their young child and holding it together so they can figure out how to tell them they only have one parent now.
Cancer

Because I’ve struggled to treat the pain and suffering of patients and their families who bravely support their loved one, knowing they are losing them too soon and powerless to change the course.
COVID-19

Because I’ve cared for patients who have died OF COVID. Because I’ve cared for patients whose spouses died OF COVID. Because I don’t want to be the link in the transmission chain that leads to someone else’s death. Because I don’t want to risk leaving my kids orphaned.
I’m afraid of these things because they are real risks.

Some are big risks. Some are small.

Some are common and cause temporary pain and suffering.

Some are small risks but disastrous with permanent damage.
Many things about our health cannot we cannot control. It’s hard to accept. But some things we can.

We cut the hot dogs (lengthwise!).

We wear helmets and seatbelts.

We get flu shots.

We have a system at the pool.

We have a no slamming doors rule.
Please know that COVID-19 scares the doctors and nurses and other healthcare workers.

We are afraid.

Because we have witnessed what it can do if you or your loved ones get severe COVID. We know that money, power and fame can’t purchase a cure.
The good news is that we know what helps to prevent infection and spread.

Wearing a mask. Distancing. Avoiding large indoor gatherings. Hand hygiene. Quarantining, even when it is inconvenient. Supporting patients who don’t have the resources to isolate or shield their elders.
Don’t confuse recklessness and hubris with bravery or bad luck.

Let’s keep normalizing compassion and care for for one another and save lives.

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The Nashville Operation - A Battle in the War

A thread exploring the Nashville bombing in the context of the 2020 Digital War (via SolarWinds) against the United States perpetrated by our enemies, likely China, Iran and/or Russia.


SolarWinds Hack

A digital "Pearl Harbor" moment for the United States, whoever was responsible had access to the keys to the kingdom for months during 2020, including sensitive military infrastructure. This is war!

SunGard + SolarWinds

SolarWinds software company is owned by same company that owns SunGard, which essentially provides data center services. A secure place to host internet servers with redundant power and "big pipe" data connections.

https://t.co/U3P3SrrkM1


SunGard Data Center

In Nashville, around the corner from their "big pipe" connection, AT&T. Like any data center, highly secure. Only authorized personnel can enter, and even fewer can access the actual server rooms. Backup generators are available in case of power failure.


If the SunGard hardware was being used to "host" critical command and control software related to SolarWinds, the US powers would be very interested in gaining special access keys that are stored on the hard-drives of specific servers.
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Capitalism demolishes society and, with it, itself.

A thread.

1/

Prior to capitalism, there were plenty of elite-centric, exploitive systems in place. European and Japanese feudalism. Roman mass slavery. The corvee labor of the ancient hydraulic state. Etc.

2/

But as exploitive and repressive as these systems were, they still retained some sense of mutual obligation among classes. Elites depend on the masses to survive and thrive. You can only exploit them up to a certain point, beyond which you threaten your own labor supply.

3/

Consider this quote from Kenneth Jupp on European feudalism. Feudalism entailed *mutual obligations* between rich and poor.

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These obligations were not equal, uniform, or always universally respected. But they were at least *there.* In return for labor and agricultural surplus, a feudal lord was obligated to protect his villeins, provide them justice, and respect their usufruct land rights.

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https://t.co/y02KFosRQ3
Highlights to follow
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@laura_bmw @Edi_Nilaj First of all, look at this one chart that tells you why the student debt crisis is happening: rising debt; stagnant income, and the gap has opened widest for minority borrowers.
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You look at that chart and you see the total failure of the human capital model to explain labor market outcomes, insofar as it even is a falsifiable social science hypothesis.
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Second, while it's true that total loan balances are increasing in income, student debt has increased most over time among the lowest-income groups. This tells you that student debt is becoming a marker of the disadvantaged rather than the advantaged.
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Third, balances on outstanding loans are rising over time, not declining. As I said in my last report, the student debt crisis is a crisis of non-repayment. This is why it's foolish to think the student debt is ever going to be paid back, whether it's cancelled now or not.
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