I'm getting my maryland licence sometime in th enext week as I moved up here for work. Work provides housing but mail does not come to this physical location, it goes ot our headquarters office and then disrubted to different buildings. It kinda has an address, like it has a house number but putting that address into any map service yeilds being routed to a nearby field.
For my ID what address do I put, on the one hand one can receive mail but isnt where I live, and on the other where I live is well, where i live but if they sent me a letter it wouldnt show up here.
What should i put? i can talk to work on monday about a potential workaround but i still dont think the mail will be routed the right way, we dont even have a mailbox for the house.

Does anyone else experience this?
Whenever I dream about a place I've lived before (usually my hometown in Maryland or my grandmother's condo at the beach), the physical geography of that place is quite different than in reality though generally the towns/cities are laid out in a similar orientation to their real-life counterparts, albeit on a different scale. What I find interesting is that between dreams, the geography for these dream locations remains fairly consistent. This dates back for many years. This is true on both a micro scale (e.g. the neighborhood I grew up in) and on a macro scale (the region I grew up in as a whole).
Things that are different in my hometown include my street being a canal of sorts, there's a large lake in the part of town I rarely went to, there are small mountains to the north and south, hills are generally more exaggerated, the adjacent neighborhood has more waterfront public property, the peninsula my neighborhood sits on is much larger and connects to an island, etc.
This could just be a function of me being a map/geography nerd from an early age, but I'm interested in hearing about your dream geography.

The purpose of this post is not only to serve as a reflective piece in regards to the war and what led up to it but to detail the likely political outcomes that will arise following an (almost certain) Israeli victory, as well as to suggest measures and positions I think people should take that would result in the best outcomes for humanity. Feel free to critique any of the points I bring up, preferably directly with quotations instead of going on tangents after skimming it.
As of writing this post, we are in the beginning stages of the Rafah offensive, an offensive which signals the closing period of the war following Hamas being ousted from power in large swaths of the Gaza Strip. ~1.3 million Palestinians are currently taking refuge in Rafah.
For years many people observing the conflict have warned against irredentism and irredentist policies as a flame to the fire of the conflict. It is objectively true that while Israel undoubtedly has the benefit of being the dominant power in the region, Jews make up either just under half or barely half of the people in the region from the river to the sea. Yet despite this, right-wing Israeli parties with explicitly irredentist wishes have repeatedly won elections in Israel both local and national for decades leading up to Bibi's nearly twenty-year term(s) with some brief stints in his reign. In spite of Israelis' "democratic" desires and their desire to maintain Israel as a Jewish-majority state, they are still very much pushing for their irredentist ideas, which, chiefly due to unfavorable demographics, find themselves at odds with ideas of democracy and maintaining the Jewish character or Jewish majority of Israel. In essence, Jews essentially need no more than a "comfortable" minority of enfranchised Arabs in their state, so that they are able to sustain a Jewish political majority and keep democratic processes intact. This concept of what certain % of Arabs in a Jewish state should be a worry was well explained by Ben Gurion himself:
"Addressing the Central Committee of the Histadrut (the Eretz Israel Workers Party) days after the UN vote to partition Palestine, Ben-Gurion expressed his apprehension, stating:
"the total population of the Jewish State at the time of its establishment will be about one million, including almost 40% non-Jews. Such a [population] composition does not provide a stable basis for a Jewish State. This [demographic] fact must be viewed in all its clarity and acuteness. With such a [population] composition, there cannot even be absolute certainty that control will remain in the hands of the Jewish majority... There can be no stable and strong Jewish state so long as it has a Jewish majority of only 60%.[130]"
How do they accomplish their irredentist desires to the best of their abilities while maintaining a Jewish-majority state that they (the Jews, with a 'comfortable' minority of Arabs) can vote for democratically? I like this passage from an interview with Ilan Pappe that explains what occurred following the Six Day War, though I also like this comment which explains the options presented to them well:
"Democratic Zionism hinges on a Jewish majority and full rights for minorities. Territorial expansion is poison: The moment Israel conquered enough land that Jews were a minority in the territory it controlled, the Jewish political majority can only be sustained artificially through the disenfranchisement and segregation or outright expulsion of the Arabs, aka apartheid and genocide. It's also self perpetuating because the people who managed to enrich themselves by dispossessing Palestinians of their land will want to hold on to their ill-gotten gains and will block-vote for fascist parties that perpetuate the occupation. Rather than surrender occupied land, irredentists would expel or exterminate the locals, and this way you get genocidal Kahanists as a mass movement."
While there was a "Naksa" in 1967 it wasn't large enough to counter these issues. As a result, Israelis opted for the perpetual disenfranchisement and in many ways segregation of Palestinians while simultaneously building and expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank. In addition to this, following over two decades of the PLO's struggles against Israel culminating in the first intifada and subsequently the Oslo accords, Israel made use of the PA to function as the governing power of what can best be compared to Bantustans for Palestinians within Israeli-controlled territory. They are not independent in any meaningful capacity and have historically served the role of lapdogs for the Israeli government. Their function, aside from parading a veneer of Palestinian "autonomy" or pseudo-independence, is - whether by design or by default - to serve as a pain reliever for the Israeli government against accusations of disenfranchisement and apartheid, the P.A's faux authority over Palestinians is regularly brought up as a means of ignoring the state of affairs which in effect is a system of apartheid against Palestinians. Essentially people often like to separate the PA-controlled areas enough from Israel so far that they compare them to say Canada and the United States in an attempt to absolve Israel of its oppressive domination over Palestinians and all the negatives that come with it. There's a reason comparing border checkpoints on the U.S-Canada border and checkpoints in the West Bank doesn't work. There's a reason Israel's "border wall" is unique from other border walls around the world. Of course how the P.A came to be is more complex than this but this is the role they serve in reality. For the same reason the existence of Bantustans for black South Africans excluding them from the political system did not serve as a meaningful justification for the state of affairs they were forced to endure, the Bantustans Palestinians currently have is not enough to dissuade all accusations of apartheid against the Israeli government. Israelis still directly govern hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Area C and they still indirectly govern millions of Palestinians in Areas A and B of the West Bank, not only by holding unyielding power over the P.A, punishing them whenever they are too out of line (more recent example here), but in effect Israel controls virtually every aspect of Palestinian society and even basic means of how and when they can travel outside of their tiny Bantustans or enclaves and to where. For some people who've seen my other comments, this might sound like I'm a broken record but it's important I get the point across. What does this "state of affairs" entail?
Well for many years settler violence has undoubtedly been a problem Palestinians faced. More often than not when it is brought up in official and non-official capacities people trivialize the settlers and their backers, underestimating them as a fringe subgroup in Israeli society. This cannot be further from the truth. If you are interested in learning about how fundamental the settlement movement is within the Israeli government, some of the inequalities Palestinians face, and who exactly they target aside from Palestinians here is an excellent piece by the New York Times comprehensively covering the history of the settlement movement and how they have so stringently permeated Israeli political culture. Please pay attention to what they wrote and try to read the entire thing instead of skimming it, it is well-written and informative.
As I've said above for many years now Israelis have repeatedly elected political parties stringently in favor of increased settlement of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, take Likud's charter for instance (Likud has been in power and the dominant party in Israel for the better part of two decades by now). I linked a comment of mine with the source highlighting the relevant bits due to character limits on posts, but feel free to read through the entire platform. This is precisely the platform Israelis have elected to represent their interests, although it must be stressed not all Israelis agree with these views, obviously. It is not a secret that Bibi and friends are expansionists to the depths of their soul, Bibi for instance has made an innumerable amount of public appearances and statements in favor of Israeli expansionism, settlements and annexations. On numerous occasions, he has pushed strongly for annexing portions of the West Bank before things like the Abraham Accords disrupted them. Now that you understand at least part of the significance of pro-settlement sentiment in Israeli politics, it shouldn't be hard to understand the aforementioned issue of settler violence. In a UN report from September 2023 prior to October 7th, it was revealed that settler violence has displaced over 1,100 Palestinians just since 2022 alone. Since October 7th the number of incidents of settler violence has increased. To use a more anecdotal example, I had this to say about a then-disbanded settlement near my family's village in the West Bank under the second quoted part, (can't copy-paste due to character limits for posts).
The Palestinians were compared to the KKK in that very thread, but this outpost was re-established the following year, and lo and behold I found this in the New York Times just a few months ago, please just read through the bits I highlighted in the article at least. In that same article a Jewish settler literally uses the “We’re here because God gave us this land in the Torah,” (his exact words) argument to justify the illegal outpost. Side note but this type of thing is precisely why people in general must take a stance on "personal" religion in matters even tangentially related to politics, under even the slightest bit of scrutiny it is anything but personal. It is instead in large part an arbitrary set of reactionary and hostile beliefs that one feels are immune from criticism which subsequently affects political discourse and leads them to break international law and/or commit heinous acts of violence as well as derail efforts to reach a peaceful resolution. Let's not delude ourselves into believing secular parties like Likud are any better but religious fanaticism is also a problem. Hopefully this puts the issue of settler violence more into perspective.
Some of the more common occurrences that have been occurring for a while and that I've been complaining about include Israeli authorities engaging in beating (including of little kids) Palestinians, kidnapping Palestinians often arbitrarily, including innocent Palestinians, torture, and murder, including of little kids (another example) and regularly, theft both big and small, and often arbitrarily engaging in the destruction of property (desecration of Shireen Abu Akleh's memorial, destroying roads, pretty much any and all national memorials) as well as desecration of mosques (Exhibit A) (Exhibit B), administrative detention and keeping countless Palestinians imprisoned without a right to trial, and you get the point. This is just in the West Bank. Any attempt to respond to these actions is met with what is quite clearly articulated here and here. Any Jew from anywhere around the world can move to settlements in the West Bank sometimes specifically made for immigrants where they're then able to vote and live under civilian law/rule while their Palestinian counterparts are disenfranchised and living under military rule. Palestinians are banned from obtaining legal permits to build anything in the overwhelming majority of the West Bank, whereas settlers routinely build settlements on land stolen or expropriated from Palestinian localities or privately owned Palestinian land, only to have their outposts and settlements legalized and expanded, as was the case with numerous outposts that were 'legalized', like Homesh, which is the focus of the article I linked above.
This state of affairs simply isn't sustainable for Palestinians. The kleptocratic Palestinian authority and all the major players in the Arab league have time and time again offered a two-state solution with East Jerusalem as its capital and Shtayyeh even called for it to be demilitarized with land swaps. The issue is that no matter how "liberal" Palestinians are, or to what extent they increase or decrease terrorism, Israelis simply see their domination over the West Bank the best, most safe and comfortable option. As Ilan Pappe explains:
"In 1967, the government treated the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a natural part of “Eretz Israel,” the land of Israel, and this attitude has continued ever since. When you look at the debate between the right- and left-wing parties in Israel on this issue, their disagreements have been about how to achieve this goal, not about its validity."
I and other people far smarter and more knowledgeable than I am have already anticipated every security concern that could come out of a Palestinian state and they are pretty much all solvable, whether it be by demilitarization, land swaps, ensuring cooperation, some limited troop presence or a combination of all these things and more. It's the irredentism amongst Israelis, sprinkled with religio-historical fetishism also coupled with the resources (including but not limited to groundwater) present in the West Bank that simply makes it seem like holding on to such a large chunk of an important territory is worth all the disenfranchisement, oppression and humiliation Palestinians have to face, only perpetuating the conflict.
As far as they (by they I mean Israeli irredentists) are concerned, a few Palestinian lives being taken every year is a small price to pay for the West Bank, "mowing the grass" in Gaza every now and then isn't ideal for them, while there's a lot they'd like to change, they know they simply can't ethnically cleanse or genocide Palestinians, therefore they can essentially just wait the Palestinians out, solidify their control via settlements, Olim (or jewish immigrants) and later annexations and no one can stop them. Even the United States and a plethora of the world's nations had already begun to recognize Israel's "right" to annex East Jerusalem. Same with the Golan heights which was annexed even with the approval of "leftist" Israeli parties. As far as they're concerned they could replicate the situation with the Golan heights and East Jerusalem in parts of the West Bank leaving behind enclaves for Palestinians until those inevitably fall under Israeli control as well.
This technique of slow death simply was not accepted by Palestinians. Like any other group of people, when faced with the situation they faced in the West Bank they took up a long-winded campaign of guerilla warfare. Do not mistake this statement with me saying every instance of violence by Palestinians can be excused because of this, absolutely not. The massacres on October 7th do not fall under the umbrella of justified violence/resistance against the occupation. But Palestinians in large part did carry out genuine methods of counter-attacks against their oppressors or soldiers/militants/combatants in the West Bank. The Palestinians weren't so complacent to the plans of Israelis to have them continually locked in within a grey area or kept in limbo until Israel was comfortable with it's majority enough to annex some more land. It is not reasonable to value the comfort of the Israeli state in it's irredentist ventures against Palestinians naturally having to react to their frustrating state of limbo. This limbo and statelessness excludes Palestinians from basic human experiences as a dignified people other people often take for granted and keeps them in a perpetual state of oppression.
It must be stressed, though, that Israelis misusing the amount of power they have to reach a peaceful resolution does not mean we as Palestinians don't also need to work with them, we absolutely do.
Above my focus has mostly been on the West Bank, now I am shifting to the Gaza Strip. If you thought what was above is bad, its nothing compared to what has been going on in the Gaza Strip.
Following the Second Intifada Palestinians got a blank slate in the Gaza Strip but were still plagued by the plight of other Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (as well as parts of the diaspora), the failure of secular Palestinian politics in granting Palestinians proper independence, coupled with growing Islamist influences following the failure of predominantly secular governments in the Six Day war and following conflicts led to Hamas and other Islamist groups like the PIJ gaining a pretty much never-ending reserve of frustrated Palestinian youth that they can recruit from. To the dismay of Palestinian parents for example in Nablus, which however is in the West Bank.
I have long believed that Hamas is an evil organization at its very core which is kept alive by the constant stream of (rightfully) frustrated Palestinians (and foreign funding from oppressive regimes like that of Iran) who Hamas and allied groups then use in order to follow their short-sighted policies of meaningless terrorism often including against Israeli civilians in Israel proper as a garbage alternative to striving for peace. Here is an exhaustive list of just some of their attacks you can sift through. Their carelessness for protecting Palestinian lives is highlighted by the fact that not a single bomb shelter was built for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Whether or not these bomb shelters don't exist as a result of their resources being used to build/develop Gaza's complex tunnel warfare system/other military installations/weapons or because as some theorize Hamas deliberately wants as many casualties as possible is mostly irrelevant, in all cases the bottom line is the same, these groups regularly drag the Gaza Strip as a whole into wars while Palestinians basically have nowhere to take shelter in. This degree of incompetence or as some theorize outright malice in protecting Palestinian lives also serves as a pain reliever for basically any and all civilian casualties that arise from Israeli strikes. When Israel committed that particularly terrible strike on the refugee camps in Rafah a few days ago that killed over 45 people (where there was a video of a beheaded baby being held) it was justified or noted by the IDF (and noticeably by a Saudi paper almost immediately, make of that what you will) that two Hamas officials were reportedly there who engaged in militancy against the IDF in the West Bank, before Bibi called the entire strike a mishap and a tragic mistake. Israelis are so used to killing dozens or hundreds of Palestinians in one fell swoop and having it justified since Hamas doesn't provide Palestinians with bomb shelters which covers up or casts a cloud of doubt over their strikes/operations that it still thinks this behavior is fine when Palestinians are decidedly in regions where they don't live/don't have access to bomb shelters. Israel warned civilians to move, but this seems pointless since militants (or rather anyone just tied to Hamas, who Israel also targets) could also move with them since they also obviously live amongst civilians. It feels like virtue signaling, as Hamas members can blend in with civilians and relocate as instructed. This makes the warnings ineffective. People with more expertise in this field can clarify this or correct any misconceptions I have.
Even if we were to say this claim about the officials isn't dubious the fact that no one accepts the same premise when rockets are fired at Tel Aviv or cities in Israel where military/governmental institutions and officials are located in or near shows some degree of double standards. As a matter of fact, There are a ridiculous amount of plaques (you can search some of them yourself here) dotted all over Israel commemorating buildings that were used as places to store weapons, train militants etc. while they were schools, religious buildings and hospitals by the Irgun, Lehi and Haganah. There is something deeply disturbing about the IDF publicly using Hamas' tactics of storing weapons or having command centers in or near civilian areas and infrastructure to justify killing thousands of civilians in the process when the IDF's emblem stems from their predecessor which did the exact same thing, yet they celebrate them and it's apparently only bad when Palestinians do it. Just to be clear I don't agree with the practice of shooting missiles at Israeli cities but having no problem with killing many civilians because one official or something might live in the same proximity to them strikes me as very wrong.
Yes, I am aware all forms of resistance are punished, functionally Israel does not care whether you are targeting Israeli civilians in Israel proper or violent Israeli settlers/combatants/soldiers in the West Bank, you will be arrested, tortured and imprisoned for the rest of your life if you are caught resisting Israel or attacking basically any Israelis in almost any capacity, that is if you somehow don't manage to get killed on the spot. In spite of all this we must still be aware that this is irrelevant to the fact that what Hamas did on October 7th is not only morally abhorrent to anybody with a soul, but is ultimately just a garbage policy even for us Palestinians and does not qualify as any meaningful form of "resistance". Some pro-Palestinians will unfortunately try to cherry-pick instances of militants going into homes and not harming the people there but sorry, this does nothing to placate the fact that Hamas and friends were involved in murdering civilians on a mass scale. I suspect people will accuse me of some form of "bothsidesism" but both Hamas and friends as well as Israel have demonstrated time and time again that they are fine with carrying out horrifying and murderous actions.
Israel's behavior in the Gaza Strip thus far has been nothing short of abhorrent. whether it be murdering elderly civilians (another example, and another example of murder), arbitrarily destroying civilian homes, infrastructure (including mosques as seen here and here), universities and schools, mass murdering Palestinians (Exhibit A), (Exhibit B), not to mention the mass graves and starvation as a weapon of war, you get the point. As you can see in many instances they voluntarily recorded and uploaded these things to social media. Israel is slowly but surely going to take power over millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip directly, they will be under direct Israeli rule, Israelis' responsibility if no deal is worked out where the P.A or something takes over and will remain very close to Israelis. Palestinians collectively know Israel isn't there to "save them from Hamas" as is portrayed on their Twitter accounts, this behavior and keeping them in concentration camps is a good way to ensure Palestinians remain entrenched in political violence against Israel, no one cares when Avichay Adraee speaking Arabic embarrasses himself on Tiktok and tries to disway Palestinians from becoming militants, treating Palestinians with humanity is the best way to ensure they don't regress into further political violence.
As this war has demonstrated Palestinians simply cannot afford to try and achieve ridiculously idealistic and unrealistic goals in the face of such a dominant superpower let alone using such animalistic violence. I am well acquainted with the extent of irredentism present in Palestinian society (both in Palestine and in the diaspora), while it can match that of Israelis, at the very least the corrupt kleptocratic P.A is the only genuine force in the region interested in a two-state solution. Even one-stater Palestinians have celebrated the recent recognition of Palestine as a state by Norway, Spain, Ireland and Jamaica (might be missing a few), which is a point to strengthen my camp's base as a means of proving we actually manage to get at least parts of our vision done. I understand Palestinians are frustrated with their state of affairs, and yes I am aware of the plethora of IDF soldiers present in the casualties of October 7th that are constantly referred to as innocent civilians including in the state of the union address, none of this does anything to justify raping women or killing kids. Hostage-taking is another issue, for many years hostages were used by Palestinians as a bargaining chip since they were crucial to freeing countless unlawfully imprisoned Palestinians, eventually, the hostages were returned to their families once again, no lives were taken and Palestinians advanced their quest for liberty, Hamas and friends simply are far too different from the Palestinian militants of old, they deliberately kidnapped children on top of all the murder, rape and destruction they put forward. I do not care that some of the hostages said they were treated well or weren't harmed, children are off-limits and their actions were not only pointless and detrimental to the Palestinian cause, but also downright evil.
Hamas and their allies are sure to be dealt a critical blow as a result of this war and their heinous actions, as is Bibi's government, what is going to unfold in the coming years, following this colossal and seismic shift in the political culture and what courses of action or positions are best to take? I'm not a political analyst so this part is going to be lackluster but thats fine because I want to generate discussion/critique about any part of this post.
As recent opinion polling would show, popularity for Bibi's government has been steadily declining following his re-election in 2022, initially mainly in response to Likud's plans for the judicial reform, and particularly following October 7th. Following the attacks on October 7th, the National Unity Alliance (made up of Gantz' blue and white, New Hope and independents) is leading the polls, though the inverse is slowly starting to come back true again. Now following October 7th, Gantz' party has formed a war cabinet with Likud, and Gantz was appointed as a minister without portfolio in the thirty-seventh government, led by Bibi. What does this mean for Israel's following elections? Well I don't know. I'm not being facetious here, it's just that Israel is notorious for having a metric crap ton of new parties that keep popping up and dissolving. Case in point, Yamina which existed for only three years, one of it's founders Bennet was the prime minister of Israel briefly. Their politics are very volatile. What's important here is the data showing Bibi being dealt a critical blow. The plethora of protests against Bibi's government even before October 7th aren't an indicator that Bibi's political career will survive much longer. The ICC's warrants only make him and by extension his country more of pariahs, even if as some say Israelis would generally stand alongside Bibi against the ICC, there's no reason to keep digging the hole they're in by re-electing Bibi over and over given the security failure and judicial reform.
Palestinian polling is a little less interesting since they don't have elections and now is a bit of an awkward time to ask people for political opinions (at least ones they come to on a clear head) but here is a comment of mine going over some political polling a little while before Oct. 7. I suppose we'll have to wait until this war is over to see what Palestinians think the next course of action is best to take, right now they're obviously concerned with surviving the turmoil. Aside from Hamas' looming destruction, the situation in the West Bank can easily just stay the same until Abbas dies, if people don't bother interfering with his rule on a mass and organized scale.
People's opinions are generally malleable, whether it be from Israelis and Palestinians. In favor of a 2ss and against it. Both populations are notoriously quite stubborn but they are not aliens and the hope for a 2ss isn't completely lost.
I'll talk a bit about the United States, given that they've been bankrolling this thing on a mass scale. Now I love the United States as a country for a number of different reasons, but I will not delude myself into believing they had anything resembling a right or coherent policy.
I don't think anyone needs an explainer as to how pro-Israel Trump is, but it's possible people aren't exactly familiar with Biden's history regarding Israel:
"In 1982, shortly before Reagan bluntly ordered Begin to cease his ‘holocaust’ in Lebanon, a young US senator who revered Elie Wiesel as his great teacher met the Israeli prime minister. In Begin’s own stunned account of the meeting, the senator commended the Israeli war effort and boasted that he would have gone further, even if it meant killing women and children. Begin himself was taken aback by the words of the future US president, Joe Biden. ‘No, sir,’ he insisted. ‘According to our values, it is forbidden to hurt women and children, even in war ... This is a yardstick of human civilisation, not to hurt civilians.’" (https://tinyurl.com/352k8zna) (https://theintercept.com/2021/04/27/biden-israeli-invasion-lebanon/)
Glossing over the absolute hilarity of Begin of all people talking about not killing civilians or women and children, when the population has to choose between Trump or someone who said the above quite clearly as a conscious adult political figure you're looking at trouble. Biden even attended and spoke at Herut's (Menachem Begin's old party) Zionist for America convention. Today of course he has milquetoast Democratic Zionist takes and faux sympathy for Palestinians, but at his core he is still a politician who (very poorly) adapts to his voter base. I don't think this is surprising for a vast number of politically active Americans, Biden's lifeline as a politician is people looking at him as a lesser evil to Trump. This is hardly the biggest issue though, virtually all U.S senators are currently being bankrolled by pro-Israel lobbying groups like AIPAC, this is all public information (see list of recipients and the top contributor organizations). Likely as a result of this, for instance, the house recently passed a bill that expanded the definition of antisemitism to include the one from the IHRA, which includes "Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor." as an example of antisemitism.
Apparently bringing up that Israel needs to uphold the Nakba to continue to exist is hate speech now. Even if it and other claims regarding racism of early Zionist leaders is backed up by innumerable quotations from Zionist and Israeli leaders. This trouble was amplified following the recent protests at U.S colleges and universities. Federal, state and local institutions, as well as countless violent mobs of provocateurs and citizens started a relentless spree of attacking protestors, shutting down protests, suspending students, and demonizing them. The liberal facade of these colleges fell apart when faced with the voice of the students at America's (and the world's) brightest and most well-known institutions. Snipers on the rooftops at colleges in place to target protestors and the violence we saw against students is simply unacceptable. This is nothing new. The same exact thing happened when they protested the Vietnam war, the Iraq war, etc. There was also a leaked audio call (apparently later they claimed it was public) from Jonathan Greenblatt who is the CEO/director of the ADL complaining about Tiktok (Confirmation by ADL themselves as real here). Soon after the house passes a bill banning TikTok. Also your nations' representatives shouldn't be signing missiles with "finish them" (another similar example), when those same missiles can result in the killing of many civilians and children in the process even if military targets are said to be the focus. Like even if the strike was going to target a legit horrible person or terrorist but it would have a number of civilian casualties, making a joke out of it or signing the missiles is not normal behavior. Perhaps for politicians it is. Otherwise you'd need to get checked for signs of sociopathy or something. Thankfully Americans are generally more than aware of how absurd stuff like this is. I'm not even gonna touch on some proposals from U.S representatives to essentially ethnically cleanse Gaza.
I don't think people are naive enough to believe there will be a warm peace between Israelis and Palestinians, however, that is irrelevant since what's needed is a cold but functioning peace and its up to reasonable people to spread the word that their interests generally lie in a two-state solution. As we have demonstrated above militancy in disgusting forms as it has been shown by Hamas when it is not needed is not only evil but a hurdle to the cause and as we have shown above so long as you consistently keep trying to further oppress Palestinians the evil that is inflicted upon them will undoubtedly fall upon your heads as well, i.e “A nation cannot be free and at the same time continue to oppress other nations.” either by only flaming the fire of terrorism and political violence by frustrated Palestinians or by autocrats like Bibi choosing to keep expanding their gains.
What Needs to happen?

1. First and foremost Israelis need to keep up the momentum against Bibi and friends based not only on their stints with corruption and aspiring dictatorial rule but also their security failures. I don't really care that Israelis are Zionists or whatever and I am not expecting them to chant "from the river to the sea", in fact I think that would be a hindrance. At a minimum push for some degree of humility amongst Israelis that lets them self-reflect upon their choices and policies on Palestinians thus far. While the press is not free for Palestinians under Israeli rule it's quite free for Israelis themselves to push this forward. Perhaps under a new government don't pull your ambassadors from countries who choose to recognize a Palestinian state and don't have your representatives at the UN pull childish stunts comparing awarding Palestine with just more privileges, not full-fledged membership, with "rewarding modern-day Nazis". We can start there. Hamas is not being rewarded with anything but an existential war they're losing with tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths in the Gaza Strip. Not only is the Israeli right detrimental to Palestinians but these right-wing parties, particularly the religious parties, are unironically and openly striving to turn Israel into a halachic and authoritarian state with the Israelis getting the short end of the stick as well. If I was an Israeli I wouldn't even vote for them, I know I talk a lot about Israel's pseudo-democracy in reference to their treatment of Palestinians, but these people are genuinely trying to undermine whatever democracy is left for Jews as well, they are aspiring dictators who regularly and openly talking about how they would use the judicial reform to target certain political opponents. And by Israelis here I mean Arab Israelis as well. It is well known that a large number of Arab Israelis simply boycotted the last elections, In 2022 only 53.2% of arab-israelis took part in the elections. This is simply stupid, use your privilege not only to improve your situation in Israel and help elect non-right-wing parties (since your communities are plagued with issues like organized crime last I heard,. and you are getting stepped over every other day for social media posts.) but also be a voice for the Palestinians.
2. In concert with the movements above, Palestinians need to abandon virtually all forms of irredentism, if putting pressure on Abbas to hold elections doesn't work and if he somehow doesn't die soon, exerting overwhelming pressure on his clique and subsequently deposing him after formulating a rational party and re-amplifying voices of reasonable people like Salam Fayyad is a good move, I don't like pretending to be an armchair general or trying to "plan" or really propose coup d'etats but him and his clique are essentially parasites on Palestinians so any thought that goes into ending their rule is good. I am not happy about your grandparents' sufferings as a result of the Nakba, nor am I asking you to love Israel. What I am asking is for people to acknowledge that your best interests lie in a two state solution. A ton of Palestinians and pro-Palestinians celebrated the recent recognition of Palestine as a state by some countries, want more of this, with all that it entails more permanently? Salvaging what's left of Palestine is the best option. Everybody and their mother already knows the cost of Hamas' carelessness. While yes, Palestinian oppression didn't start on October 7th, this war certainly did.
3. People in the West, I suppose just use your voting power to vote for candidates who can advance your country, not that of foreign nations' wars over its own via necessarily shilling tax dollars on them, as well as people who believe in maintaining a peaceful resolution over expansionism.

Hello everyone! ✌️ This is my first time posting here & figured you all would be the best people to ask these questions! I have to do a massive roadtrip from Maryland to St. Louis and back. I've never done a long roadtrip or anything like this, so please pardon my ignorance and stupidity 😂 My cousin informed me I can park & sleep in my SUV at Cracker Barrel locations & had no idea!!! This could definitely save me some money and hassle trying to find and deal with hotels. So far all the Cracker Barrel locations I've looked at on RV Parky & Google Maps DO have signs saying "RV and Bus Parking".
I'm in an SUV (Ford Explorer) & was wondering if thats an issue? I ordered some cool blackout window covers to go in each window & will definitely not make any noise or leave my vechicle. Just parking and sleeping. Then will definitely get some breakfast in the morning while I'm there! Here's some basic questions/concerns I've had, sorry if they seem stupid, its my first time doing any roadtrip so just want to be informed 🥲
-Does my SUV(Ford Explorer) count as 'RV or Bus'? Can I still sleep here without a hassle or do they just want clear Camping style vehicles only?
-I've seen people mention they will have "4 designated spots for RV and Bus's".....Again does my SUV count as a RV or BUS and should I use these designated parking spots? Will other people get mad at me if I take these spots with my SUV or should I just park/sleep at a standard parking spot in the back of the lot.
-Let me know if you have any other good advice or tips 🙂I recently just found RV Parky and iOverlander so that has been sssuper useful! Pretty excited and nervous for this adventure. Thank you! 😊✌️

Hi all. Considering moving to Maryland from NJ, have about 10 more years before retirement (can work remote from anywhere). I started picking at searches on apartments.com and https://riskfactor.com/city/rockville-md/2467675_fsid/flood/maps#community-risk but I would appreciate pointers from people-who-know about the neighborhoods and what subareas are better than others.
Thanks!

DAY: MAY 29 2024
5-29-2024

NOT A GYM RAT? HERE’S HOW TO GET STARTED ON AN OUTDOOR EXERCISE ROUTINE

Between the sweat smell, fluorescent lights and omnipresent television screens, April Herring has never connected with going to the gym. Instead, she runs, bikes, hikes, plays tennis, pickleball and football—anything to get her exercise outside as often as possible. “Fresh air, sunshine, the variety of the trees as the seasons change,” said Herring, an administrator at Carroll Community College in North Maryland. “There’s something about the energetic healing
5-29-2024

TOO MUCH EXERCISE COULD ACTUALLY TRIGGER A HOT FLASH

Hot flashes affect roughly 80% of women during the years around menopause. Despite how common they are and how much research has been conducted relative to what causes them, much remains unknown. A new study suggests that acute changes in physical activity, temperature, and humidity may play a role in the hot flash experience. Results of the survey are published online today in the journal Menopause. As one of the most frequently experienced menopause symptoms, hot flashes are sudden heat dissipation events that often involve an increase in heat transfer
5-29-2024

ADEQUATE SLEEP IMPORTANT FOR YOUR HEART HEALTH, SAYS PHYSICIAN

Does how much you sleep affect your heart? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults who sleep fewer than seven hours each night are more likely to experience health problems. Dr. Juan Cardenas Rosales, an internal medicine physician at Mayo Clinic, stresses that adequate sleep is crucial for your overall well-being, including your heart health. Getting a good night’s sleep can give you the energy to jump-start your day and your health. “Sleeping is very important to try to prevent other chronic
5-29-2024

STUDY SHOWS DISRUPTED SLEEP INCREASES RISK FOR SUICIDE AND HOMICIDE

An analysis by researchers in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine—Tucson showed that risks for death by suicide and homicide peak at night, with nocturnal wakefulness, age, alcohol use and relationship conflicts being especially prevalent as contributing factors. Nearly 19% of suicides and 36% of homicides occur at night. Suicide and homicide share little in common, but their highly concordant overnight risk patterns suggest a common feature: nocturnal wakefulness. “Disrupted sleep may acutely impair rational thought, which can drive impulsive behaviors in vulnerable individuals,”
5-29-2024

RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY THE INITIAL STEPS IN COLORECTAL CANCER FORMATION

Research provides new evidence that most colorectal cancers begin with the loss of intestinal stem cells, even before cancer-causing genetic alterations appear. The results, published on May 29 in Developmental Cell, overturn the prevailing theory for colorectal
5-29-2024

CAN PSYCHEDELICS HELP STUTTERERS?

Synesthesia, hallucinations, euphoria. The documented effects of classic psychedelic substances such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms) or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) are vast. With their usage common and their effects profound, a team of speech and psychology researchers explored the impact of psychedelics on people who stutter, finding evidence that users see some benefits. “Given the positive effects of psychedelics on conditions like anxiety and PTSD, which share symptoms with stuttering, we think that investigating the potential impact of psychedelics on stuttering can be a fruitful area of research,” says lead
5-29-2024

SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND DOOMSCROLLING? THE PROBLEM MIGHT BE FOMO

For as long as we have used the internet to communicate and connect with each other, it has influenced how we think, feel and behave. During the COVID pandemic, many of us were “cut off” from our social worlds through restrictions, lockdowns and mandates. Understandably, many of us tried to find ways to connect online. Now, as pandemic restrictions have lifted, some of the ways we use the internet have become concerning. Part of what drives problematic internet use may be something most of us
5-29-2024

TIPS FOR PROTECTING BABIES FROM HARMFUL UV RAYS

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the U.S., and it only takes one blistering sunburn during childhood or adolescence to nearly double a person’s chance of developing melanoma later in life, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association. Since babies are much more prone to sunburn than older kids, it’s especially important to protect them from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. May is Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month.
5-29-2024

AUTHORITIES URGE PROPER COOKING OF WILD GAME AFTER 6 RELATIVES FALL ILL FROM PARASITE IN BEAR MEAT

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reaffirmed the importance of properly cooking wild game after six people became sick from a parasite traced to undercooked bear meat that was served at a family reunion in South Dakota. The six—one in South Dakota, four in Minnesota and one in Arizona—became infected when bear meat that was served rare turned out to be contaminated with roundworms that cause trichinellosis, also known as trichinosis. Two of the people ate only the vegetables that were grilled with
5-29-2024

FIGHT AGAINST OBESITY GOES FAR BEYOND INDIVIDUAL STRUGGLE TO CHANGE LIFESTYLE, SCIENTISTS SAY

Overweight and obesity rates are rising worldwide, with several Latin American countries in the forefront. Estimates for 2020 pointed to a global obesity rate of 14%, and experts predicted 24% by 2035, including both adults and children. “Nutritional and pharmacological strategies are important to mitigate the problem, but is this enough? We know socioeconomic and environmental factors influence the occurrence
5-29-2024

POTENTIAL THERAPY FOR ADDICTION, DEPRESSION AND OCD

A model image of the targeted deep brain zone, the striatum, a key player in reward and reinforcement mechanisms. Neurological disorders, such as addiction, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), affect millions of people worldwide and are often characterized by complex pathologies involving multiple brain regions and circuits. These conditions are notoriously difficult to treat due to the intricate and poorly understood nature of brain functions and the challenge of delivering therapies to deep brain structures without invasive procedures. In the rapidly evolving field of neuroscience, non-invasive brain stimulation
5-29-2024

STUDY FINDS HEART HEALTHY BEHAVIORS MAY HELP REVERSE RAPID CELL AGING

The benefit of better heart health may be associated with the positive impact of heart healthy lifestyle factors on biological aging (the age of the body and its cells), according to research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. “Our study findings tell us that no matter what your actual age is, better heart-healthy behaviors and managing heart disease risk factors were associated with a younger biological age and a lower risk of heart disease and stroke, death from heart disease and stroke and death from any cause,”
5-29-2024

COMBO THERAPY BOOSTS SURVIVAL FOR ADVANCED COLON CANCER

People battling advanced colon cancers might have a new treatment option that could extend their survival, a new trial finds. The findings were present the at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, and should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. A combination of two experimental immunotherapy drugs plus standard chemotherapy led to a median 19.7 month survival for patients, compared to the median 9.5 months observed among folks who only got a targeted therapy called regorafenib. “These results pave the way
5-29-2024

TICKS AND THE DISEASES THEY CARRY

In many regions of the U.S. and the world, enjoying the great outdoors comes with a hidden risk: ticks and the diseases they carry. Ticks can carry pathogens like Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia mayonii, which can cause Lyme disease in humans. Lyme disease is the most common tickborne illness, but there are also dozens of other diseases that ticks can transmit to humans. Dr. Bobbi Pritt, director of the Clinical Parasitology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic, says reported cases of tickborne infections are on the rise, and she offers practical tips
5-29-2024

HIGH PRICE OF POPULAR DIABETES DRUGS DEPRIVES LOW-INCOME PEOPLE OF EFFECTIVE TREATMENT

For the past year and a half, Tandra Cooper Harris and her husband, Marcus, who both have diabetes, have struggled to fill their prescriptions for the medications they need to control their blood sugar. Without Ozempic or a similar drug, Cooper Harris suffers blackouts, becomes too tired to watch her grandchildren, and struggles to earn extra money braiding hair. Marcus Harris, who works as a Waffle House cook, needs Trulicity to keep his legs and feet from swelling and bruising. The couple’s doctor has tried prescribing similar drugs, which mimic
5-29-2024

BREAST CANCER SURGEON RUNS A FARM WHERE THE ONLY CROP IS WELLNESS

Monique Gary, a breast cancer surgeon, is a self-described “Philly girl” who was born in Jefferson Einstein hospital and graduated from Philadelphia High School for Girls. Four years ago, she left city life and bought a 40-acre farm in Upper Bucks County, where she runs free, daylong retreats for cancer patients and offers nature walks, aromatherapy, juicing and cooking demonstrations, gardening, and yoga by her fish pond. The farm’s only crop is wellness. “I’m a busy surgeon and when I moved here, I didn’t have any crops, but I knew
5-29-2024

SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY KEY PROTEIN THAT PRESERVES MOTOR ABILITY DURING AGING

scientists show that age-related decline in motor ability can be countered in fruit flies by enhancing the expression of the protein Trio, suggesting potential treatments for age-related movement decline. As we age, we suffer a noticeable decline in motor ability, which affects our quality of life and independence. This can be traced to changes occurring at neuromuscular junctions, the critical points where nerve cells communicate with muscles. The deterioration of motor ability is closely linked to the degeneration of
5-29-2024

LOCAL DISPARITIES MAY PREVENT NATIONAL VACCINATION EFFORTS FOR RUBELLA

When public health officials make policies about when and how vaccination programs are implemented, they must weigh the benefits and risks of how infectious diseases spread throughout the country. However, these analyses are often based on national-level data and, in some countries, may overlook nuances at the local level. A new analysis by an international team, including Penn State researchers, revealed that the resulting recommendations may keep some countries from realizing the benefits of vaccination and globally eradicating diseases, such as rubella—a contagious viral infection that causes mild symptoms in
5-29-2024

INTERMITTENT FASTING SHOWS PROMISE IN IMPROVING GUT HEALTH, WEIGHT MANAGEMENT

The human gut contains trillions of bacterial and other microbes collectively known as the gut microbiome. New research explores how these diverse microorganisms help manage weight. ASU researchers explore the effects of an intermittent fasting diet combined with protein pacing on body weight and overall health. Credit: The Biodesign institute at Arizona State University A new study by researchers from Arizona State University and their colleagues highlights a dietary strategy for significant health improvement and weight management. Participants following an intermittent fasting and protein-pacing regimen, which involves evenly spaced protein
5-29-2024

A NEW PATH FOR CANCER THERAPY

Tumor cells often hijack normal physiological processes to support their growth, exploiting proteins that are in charge of essential cell functions. It is therefore important to block the activity of these proteins only in cancer cells without affecting their crucial roles in healthy tissues. For this reason, classical approaches using small molecules that induce systemic inhibition across all cells in the body can lead to severe side effects. An example of essential proteins hijacked by cancer cells are the cathepsins, a family of
5-29-2024

DO EPILEPSY MEDICATIONS TAKEN DURING PREGNANCY AFFECT A CHILD’S CREATIVITY?

While older drugs for epilepsy, taken while pregnant, have been shown in previous research to affect the creative thinking of children, a new study finds no effects on creativity for children born to those taking newer epilepsy drugs. This study is published in Neurology. Overall, the study found no effects on the children’s creative abilities or their executive function, which is a person’s ability to plan, focus, and manage multiple tasks. However, when researchers looked only at children with higher concentrations of these medications in the mother’s blood during the
5-29-2024

WHY USING DATING APPS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH MESSAGING IS AN ETHICAL DILEMMA

Dating apps are not just about finding love or hooking up. They’re becoming increasingly important in the communication of public health messaging, particularly sexual health. In 2023, Harvard Public Health magazine suggested that dating apps could “become a key component in [sexually infectious diseases] prevention.” And their prediction seems to be spot on. Grindr, a dating app popular among men who have sex with men, for example, has recently partnered with MPOWER in Ireland and The Love Tank in London to allow users to order HIV test kits through the
5-29-2024

HOW EXTREME HEAT CAN AFFECT MENTAL ILLNESSES

During heat waves, hospital admissions for mental health spike. The past 10 years were the hottest on record, and as we prepare for another scorcher of a summer, it’s time to take steps to increase our preparedness for extreme heat. The potential for heat stress, heat exhaustion and heat stroke are well known hazards of extreme heat. Yet, physical health is not the only factor to consider under extreme heat; mental health can also suffer. Many people can relate to the sleepless nights during hot summer months, as well as
5-29-2024

FROM HEALTH TO SPORTS—EARS CAN SAY A LOT ABOUT YOU

An ear is like an iceberg—much of it is out of sight. The only visible part is the auricle—the seashell shaped structure made of bendy cartilage, covered in skin. Its main role is to act as a trumpet, filtering and funneling sound waves down into the middle, then the inner ear, where they are converted into our sense of hearing. A medical ear examination usually involves an inspection of the canal, using an instrument called an otoscope. This is usually to investigate more common ear conditions—an infection, or a clog
5-29-2024

HOW TO KNOW WHEN IT’S TIME TO QUIT THERAPY

Therapy is great. It gives you the space, time and resources to handle the most difficult challenges of life. Therapy can be especially helpful in the often-confusing life period of your 20s and 30s, when so much is changing and many of your peers have wildly different lifestyles. The aim is to help you discover the thoughts, emotions and behavior that are negatively affecting you, determine where these come from, and develop strategies to change them. But then, how do you know when it is the right time to quit
5-29-2024

STUDY FINDS THAT MEMORY COMPLAINTS CAN PREDICT BIOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE BRAIN

A new study adds further evidence that when a patient or family member notices signs of persistent memory loss, it’s important to speak with a doctor. While there are many reasons why someone’s memory may change, researchers from Mass General Brigham who are studying patients prior to diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease found changes in the brain when patients and their study partners—those who could answer questions about their daily cognitive function—reported a decline in cognition. Using imaging, the researchers found reports of cognitive decline were associated with accumulation of tau
5-29-2024

BLOOD FLOW MAKES WAVES ACROSS THE SURFACE OF THE MOUSE BRAIN

Researchers have, for the first time, visualized the full network of blood vessels across the cortex of awake mice, finding that blood vessels rhythmically expand and contract, leading to “waves” washing across the surface of the brain. These findings improve the understanding of how the brain receives blood, though the function of the waves remains a mystery. The work is published in the journal Neuron. A network of elastic and actively pumping vessels carrying oxygenated blood span the surface of the brain before entering the
5-29-2024

RESEARCH REVEALS WHAT WE SEE ONLINE AFFECTS US MORE THAN LENGTH OF EXPOSURE

It is what we are looking at, rather than how much time we are spending our time online that influences our health and well-being, according to a major new report. The study, published in the journal World Psychiatry, is a comprehensive examination of the latest scientific evidence on screen time and mental health, carried out by an international research team. The authors emphasize the importance of taking an individualized and multi-dimensional approach to how the Internet affects mental health, cognition and social functioning. Content that may be relatively harmless to
5-29-2024

LIFELONG COGNITIVE RESERVE HELPS MAINTAIN LATE-LIFE COGNITIVE HEALTH, 15-YEAR FOLLOW-UP STUDY SUGGESTS

The brain’s flexibility and ability to cope with loss of neurons or other lesions in the brain is called cognitive reserve. In a 15-year follow-up study, researchers at the division of Aging Research Center (ARC), Karolinska Institutet, suggest that lifelong cognitive reserve helps maintain late-life cognitive health by delaying cognitive transition in the preclinical stages of dementia. The results of their findings were recently published in Alzheimers & Dementia. “We found evidence that lifelong greater cognitive reserve was linked with reduced risks of late-life transitions from normal cognition to mild
5-29-2024

YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIVE WITH PELVIC PAIN

Pelvic health is crucial to a woman’s overall well-being but is often misunderstood or overlooked. When symptoms such as urinary incontinence, pain or discomfort, or pain during intercourse occur, they are dismissed as a byproduct of pregnancy and childbirth or just something that comes with age like arthritis. But those symptoms can have a profound effect on a woman’s physical, emotional and social well-being and can lead to more serious complications if untreated. One of the most common conditions is pelvic organ prolapse. This condition occurs when the muscles, ligaments
5-29-2024

RESEARCHERS DEVELOP MICRONEEDLE PATCH THAT CAN DETECT SKIN CANCER EARLY

Researchers have developed a new method for detecting malignant melanoma. A new type of patch equipped with microneedles can identify the biomarker tyrosinase directly in the skin, according to a study published in Advanced Materials. The patch is equipped with microneedles that can detect tyrosinase, an enzyme that is an important biomarker for malignant melanoma. By measuring the enzyme’s
5-29-2024

MORE OUT-OF-STATE PATIENTS SEEK ABORTIONS IN WASHINGTON STATE

Changes in Weekly Number of Abortions and Out-of-State Patients Before and After the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization Decision, January 1, 2017, to July 31, 2023. Vertical orange line indicates the Supreme Court Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision (June 24, 2022). The blue line indicates deseasonalized trends, the black line indicates estimated seasonality, the dotted line indicates the counterfactual, and the dots indicate the outcome (eg, weekly number of abortions).
5-29-2024

GAPS BY RACE, ETHNICITY EXIST IN HEALTH CARE QUALITY UNDER TRADITIONAL MEDICARE, MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLANS

Medicare Advantage (MA) is an increasingly popular source of Medicare coverage for all recipients, including individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups. Certain managed care strategies used in MA—such as prior authorization, gatekeeping for access to certain services or specialists, and narrow provider networks—may pose challenges in accessing care. This means the quality of MA-funded care for minority groups has critical health equity implications. A new study published in Health Affairs and led by Professor Jeah Jung found that MA plans do not equally improve the quality of care across
5-29-2024

STUDY SHOWS MORE THAN JUST SOCIAL MEDIA USE MAY BE CAUSING DEPRESSION IN YOUNG ADULTS

Over the past few decades, there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of depression in adolescents and young adults—and a simultaneous uptick in the inclusion of technology and social media in everyday life. However, it is unclear how exactly social media use and depression are associated and relate to other behaviors, such as physical activity, green space exposure, cannabis use and eveningness (the tendency to stay up late). In a study published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, a team of researchers, led by experts
5-29-2024

MATTERING MUST BE CENTRAL IN YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION, SAYS STUDY

Youth suicide is a growing concern in Canada, the U.S., and around the world, with some research suggesting this might be linked with excessive social media use in vulnerable teens. With Mental Health Awareness Month closing out this week, York University Psychology Professor Gordon Flett says he was motivated by a growing sense of alarm and frustration when undertaking a review of studies on mattering and youth suicide for his latest research, which appears in Child Protection and Practice. Mattering is feeling significant in the eyes of other people, which
5-29-2024

HEARING STUDY REVEALS PREVALENCE OF TINNITUS

About 78% of participants in the Apple Hearing Study, conducted by the University of Michigan, have experienced tinnitus—the perception of sound that others do not hear. That is just one of the findings that U-M researchers and Apple shared today from the Apple Hearing Study, one of the largest surveys on tinnitus to understand the effects of
5-29-2024

RESEARCHER CALLS FOR MORE RESOURCES TO BRING REGULAR MAMMOGRAMS TO RURAL TEXANS

women who live in rural Texas, particularly those of a minority background, were less likely to get routine mammograms when compared to their urban counter parts. The findings are published in the journal Geriatric Nursing. Using Texas Medicare data, the
5-29-2024

TO SOLVE THE NURSING SHORTAGE, RESEARCHER PROPOSES GOVERNMENT FUNDING FIX

Health economist Olga Yakusheva, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, believes that current government reimbursement models incentivize hospitals to cut nursing jobs to save money. Yakusheva, an expert on the economic value of nursing, and Robert Longyear, co-founder and CEO of Avenue Health, present a new hospital funding model they believe could help solve the nurse staffing problem and improve patient care. Yakusheva discusses their research, which appears in an article in the journal Health Affairs. Since COVID, we’ve seen a lot of media coverage about
5-29-2024

IMPROVING CELL THERAPY BY CREATING T-CELL ‘SUPER SOLDIERS’

A new proof-of-concept study by researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) shows that changing only a single letter in the DNA code of selected genes in T cells may lead to improved cell therapy. The researchers, led by Benjamin Izar, a member of the HICCC, used novel CRISPR-dependent base editing to “supercharge” cell therapies, making them potentially more effective for more patients. Cell therapies work by re-engineering a
5-29-2024

ULTRASOUND LOCALIZATION MICROSCOPY: BUBBLES REVEAL TINY VESSELS

To the trained eyes of a doctor, the gray-white shapes and textures of an ultrasound image reveal more than to the layperson. But the tiniest vascular structures have remained elusive—until now. The team from the Department of Medical Engineering at Ruhr University Bochum headed by Professor Georg Schmitz is perfecting ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM). By deploying a commercially available contrast agent with microbubbles and performing a number of calculation steps, it’s now possible, for example, to image the vascular structure of a mouse kidney in minute detail, as well as
5-29-2024

NOVEL DEVICE COULD ALLOW EARLY DETECTION OF DEADLY CONDITION

Each year, at least 1.7 million adults in the United States and millions more worldwide develop sepsis, a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body’s immune system has an extreme response to an infection. The condition, which can be difficult to detect and treat, rapidly damages tissues and vital organs and is one of the leading causes of death in hospitals. To help doctors spot when the condition may be developing, one medical technology company, Opticyte, has developed a novel, noninvasive device that can send out alerts when
5-29-2024

INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS REACH CONSENSUS ON THE LABELING OF SPATIAL NEGLECT

A consensus has been achieved by an international team of rehabilitation researchers and clinicians on the standardized labeling of spatial neglect, a common disorder following neurological injury, which is characterized by a lack of awareness or response to objects or stimuli on the side opposite a brain lesion. The panel reached a 75% consensus to adopt “spatial neglect” as the standard term for the disorder. The consensus paper, titled “An International and Multidisciplinary Consensus on the Labeling of Spatial Neglect Using a Modified Delphi Method,” was published open access on
5-29-2024

RESEARCHERS USE AI, SOCIAL MEDIA TO IDENTIFY HEALTH CONCERNS OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV AND AIDS

Machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and social media are providing researchers with the opportunity to analyze valuable information about social issues in relation to health and mental health, particularly in relation to topics people may be reluctant to discuss in other settings, according to Richard Lomotey, associate professor of information technology at Penn State Beaver. Lomotey, along with researchers from Penn State, the University of Saskatchewan

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Bought a refurbished aw3423dwf for 640 euros, it's perfect and has no burn in.. .. But having issues with the hdr peak 1000 mode dimming the panel too much, even lower than hdr 400 true black mode (no testing tools, only my eyes) , i have the latest firmware installed (ends with 07). Deleted icc profiles, tried calibrating with the windows app, changed image presets (which actually don't matter if you enable hdr) and tried source tone mapping on (which improves things quite a bit) What are you fellow aw3423dwf enjoyers using when playing in hdr? The picture quality could be perfect if only the screen AND the highlight didn't dim so much, i know ABL must be aggressive in hdr peak 1000 but i think it's way too much... Some people don't even notice abl while using the peak 1000 mode and i'm really struggling to comprehend how that is possible.

American World Republic Thesis 2023__page 1.
(1) Turkish, Turkic States of America* (i) Anglo peoples are Iraq. (ii) Russian peoples are here. (iii) Puerto Rico replaces Alaska. (iv) Virginia peninsula & D.C. are part of Maryland. (v) Delaware is part of New Jersey & modern State of Jefferson replaces Delaware. (vi) Rhode Island becomes new capital district & KURIL islands replaces R.I. (vi) Northern Baja California annexed by California. (vii) San Luis Rio Colorado annexed by Yuma, AZ. (viii) Virginia is renamed Dagestan. (2) Brazil-Uruguay is Bantu, Javanese. (i) Portuguese peoples are there! (ii) Japanese peoples are there! (3) Canada is Cossack. (i) Uyghars are there. (4) Alaska is Rusyn. (5) Greenland is Norwegian. (5-A) Norway is Armenian. (5-B) Svalbard is also part of greater Norway. (6) Iceland is Icelander. (7) Novaya Zemlya is Lakota. (8) Cape Verde-Monaco-France is Frank. (9) United Kingdom is English. (10) Ireland is Danish. (11) Latvia-Estonia-Lithuania are Estonian, called Latvia. (12) Belarus is Bulgarian-Afrikaaner, called Prussia. (13) Ukraine is Yugoslav, called Lithuania. (i) Moldova, Crimea belong to Ukraine. (14) Poland is Polish.* (i) Kaliningrad to Poland. (15) Corsica-Italy-Yugoslavia is Romanian, Italian. (i) state is called Byzantium. (16) Switzerland is Dutch. (17) Antarctica is Olmec--extinct Giants!
(18) Mexico-Belize-Peten is Persian. (19) Central America [6 states] is Pashtun. (20) Cuba is Kurdish. (20-A) Jamaica is Houthi. (20-B) Hispaniola is Tajik. (21) Columbia is Hausa. (22) Venezuela is Berber. (22-A) Trinidad & Tobago is Pygmy. (23) SUR-GUI-GUY are Kanuri. (24) Ecuador is Nubian. (25) Peru is Sudanese. (26) Bolivia is Songhai. (27) Chile is Somalian. (28) Argentina is Ethiopian. (29) Paraguay is Kenyan. (30) Falklands is KhoiSan. (31-35) Central Asia [5 civilized tribes] are Aztec, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole. (36) Afghanistan is Assyrian. (37) Pakistan is Bengali. (38) India is Dravidian. (i) Sri Lanka belongs to India and modern Assamese live there.
American World Republic Thesis 2023__page 2.
(39) West Bengal-Assam-Sikkim-Bangladesh is Manchu. (i) state is named Assam. (40) Portugal remains (Proto-Celt) Portuguese. (41) Papua New Guinea is Malagasy. (42) New Zealand is Polynesian. (i) named Taiwan, Zealandia was the continental shelf. (43) China is Chhetri, Kuomintang. (i) Formosa part of China. (ii) there are 39 African States plus Equtorial Guinea. (44) ONE KOREA. (45) Australia is Cantonese. (46) Sakhalin is Inuit. (i) this is the 5th main island of Japan. (47) Sunda islands remain Sundanese. (48) Arunachal Praedesh is now Bhutan Praedesh. (49) Northern Forrest of Democratic Republic of Congo divided for farmland, called Zaire, is Swiss/a French duchy. (50) Mountains of South Africa & Eswantini is Chakmasook, Romani. (51) Nepal is Aboriginal, Andean. (i) Madagascar is Kashmiri (Kho central island). (52) Zimbabwe is Mande. (i) BRICS gold supply is in Zimbabwe. (ii) Silver reserve in Kentucky supports petrodollar. (53) Vietnam is Vietnamese. (54) Cambodia is Khmer. (55) Laos is Laotian. (56) Thailand is Zhuang. (57) Myanmar is Burmese. (58) Malaysia is Malaysian. (59) Philippines is Filipino.
(60) Jordan, Sinai, Israel, Syria, Lebanon are called Greater Syria (al-Shem). (i) there are 10 United Gulf States total, this is one. (ii) Buy US debt from Japan NOT China. (iii) Iranian oil must be sold to Brazil. (iv) Iraq invests in Philippines for state differences. (v) Water retrieval from Antarctica! (61) Saudi Arabia is always Muslim. (62) Iraq and Kuwait are one Arab state. (i) Bahrain island now called British Kuwait. (ii) British Kuwait attached to the state of Syria in al-Shem, equivalent to "Palestine," 1948 British Zionist drawn Israel, Jordan, & Lebanon.
American World Republic Thesis 2023__ page 3.
(63-67) Turkey, and Oman, and UAE, and Iran, and New Bahrain are independent nation states also within "United Arab Gulf State" region. (i) New Bahrain is Qatar-Eastern desert of Saudi. (ii) al-Hasaka in today's Syria belongs to Turkiye. (68) Yemen is the Adamanese Confederation of Island Nations, primary population Adamanese, & official state remains Arabian. (69) Morocco owns Western Sahara until the Tropic of Cancer and is now Kru. (70) Gorgol, Guidi-Maka, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau are Bhojpuri. (71) Sierra Leone, Liberia are Sindhi, Kalash. (72) Ghana, Togo are Garwali. (73) Nigeria, Benin are Benue-Congo. (74) Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania are one Marathi. (75) Caprivi, Botswana are Adamawa Ubangian. (76) South Africa lowland & Lesotho are non-ethnic Malagasy people. (77) Ethiopia, Djibouti are Punjabi. (78) Eritrea is Sinhalese. (79) Tunisia is Siddi, Tharu. (80) Niger is Marwari. (81) Democratic Congo is Mathil. (82) Central African Republic is Halba, Odia. (83) Republic of Congo is Kwa. (84) Angola is Warli, Bhil. (85) Gabon is Khas. (86) Libya is Gur. (87) Somalia is Senufo. (88) Algeria is Sadan, Nagpuri. (89) Zambia is Magahi. (90) Malawi is Konkani. (91) Namibia is Saurashtra, Jaunsari. (92) Kenya is Deccanis. (93) Uganda is Haryanvi. (94) Mozambique is Adwadhi. (95) Sudan is African-American, Kordofan. (96) Cameroon is Dogra. (97) Chad is Shina. (98) Cote d'Ivoire is Saraiki. (99) Burkina Faso is Bishnupria. (100) Mali is Thori, Rajasthani. (101) South Sudan is Brokpa, Kohistani. (102) Egypt is Gujarati, Kutchi.
(103) Romania is Georgian. (104) Bulgaria-Greece is Greek. (105) Spain is Scotch-Irish. (106) Russia-Severny-Cyprus is Hispanic.* (i) "Vatican City" concept was Singapore. (ii) Germanic peoples are there. (107-A) Germany-Denmark is Vandal. (i) Denmark renamed Jutland. (107-B) Chechia remains Czech. (8-C) Austria remains Ostragoth. (107-D) Netherlands, Belgium are Flemish. (108) Sweden remains Swedish. (109) Hungary remains Hungarian. (110) Slovakia remains Slav. (111) Finland remains Finnish. (112) Georgia is Catalan. (113) Azerbaijan, Armenia is Maya.
American World Republic Thesis 2023__page 4.

PANGEA is the collective new world order, no further action or response is necessary. No changes will ever take place until The Mahdi announces it, this is my standard "turban." I'm not a god, I'm not a christ, I'm not a Prophet, & I'm not the Mahdi. FOLLOW THE PROPHETS!!! Based on transition. Torah is the law, Qur'an is the judgement, Democracy to collect jizya/taxes, and Sunnah is your freedom! American nukes were for India--Russian nukes were for China--impossible to use. (Nukes would complete a genocide and it is impossible to complete a genocide.) Nuclear bombs are for use at sea in a navy battle. Jewish people were Assyrian/Sumerian all along, no lineage to the identity. Germans were actually Turk-Persian-Siberian (Turkish). Beaker people were equivocal to modern Danish! Nok peoples were followers of Enoch which created the Bantu languages--same family tree (Niger-Congo). Looking for 114 countries from the 114 Surahs of the Qur'an. Christianity is a false reality. Judaism does not exist. Pagans are destroyed (Hindi is Christian). Idols are burned--you don't like superman more than your dad. Every soul submits to Islam, a word for Love.

It's general creativity, I used population ratio, population, population density, history, history of confrontation, genetics, social references, culture, sub-culture, politics, science, various forms of art when imagining a map, 9+ years of encyclopedia/Wikipedia study, KJB 13+ times cover to cover, Qur'an 35+ times, I contacted people who had status from history, 700+ changes to strategy when configuring order, I dedicated over 15 years to this project answering geopolitical changes caused by BRICS bank. I contacted the CIA, emailed governments, raised concerns locally, TRUTHFULLY lied to ALLIES when encountering possible conflicts, & no diploma to raise concern about ethics. Always free, never paid for. La illahu il Allah, Muhammad rasool Allah.
American World Republic Thesis__page 5: epilogue
(114) The idea in total is for a Inca Mongolia or to remain with the same operational changes* (i) American Republic--Wolf (ii) Opposition Party--Crocodile (iii) Conservative Party--Bigfoot (iv) Judicial Party--Buffalo (v) Military Party--Eagle__(women, men, Married, Single, leader.) Pentagon was the prison system. CIA was the news agencies. Dalai Llama basically negated every Pope in Rome. English War in Iraq was the literal Armageddon, impossible to revive false teachings! NATO failure, churches took the funds, absent from state, tried to send young people to Russian war with no preparation or understanding (Rurikid Dynasty). Sejuke Anatolia exists in transition today. Islam is dominant forevermore! Story telling; Encyclopedia is the same as The Bible--not a religion of its own. WAR is by WORK considerable good deeds. History note: KKK was only about remembering the Philippine war.
My point is; Israel is the only country in the dunya, full of states all around the world, basically the United States of America. Muslim land has no borders, everyone is already following the law, the law begins with marriage. Judaic-Christianity lets problems transpire, bad planning, carrying on regarding relationships, & teaches there is an existential question to solve about the meaning and purpose of life (Islam) and then fights the losing battle for their ideology--which the inevitable result being humiliation/misunderstanding. There are 10 Greater Israeli Gulf States instead of 12 because 2 tribes were already settled in the Torah--because Esau giving up his inheritance is the same theory. Three state trade between Poland, USA, & Russia is so the Christianity doesn't destroy itself at the cost of everyone else. *For instance, Scandinavians will not go extinct for an already clear victory of [democracy over communism]. Keep the prayer, keep your deen.

Hello
Honestly speaking while I like talking about politics, they also stress me out so I at least try to become less political and stop worrying about all the things that's happening in the world
But now it's actually pretty hard to do! I don't even know what to do with this! Hopefully you'll help me find any strategies because the current situation is insane and unfair.
The thing is that there's a lot of young people who are pro Palestine and anti Israel. Like I meet some people, we become friends and then I see their Instagram stories posts about the Palestinians.
And actually I wouldn't have any issues if they just were to show solidarity with the Palestinians. That's not the issue.
The issue is the cultish behavior. Not showing any solidarity with Israelis, not even a little bit. Saying that you support civilians of both sides makes you a genocide supporter apparently. On top of that, they have no issues with maps showing all of Israel becoming Palestine and saying that all Israelis are colonizers and should go back to Europe. Saying that the Pogrom of October 7 doesn't matter and that Hamas is a resistance movement.
There's simply a lack of empathy towards any Israelis or even Jews experiencing terrible things.
And seeing these Instagram stories, or the posters, is simply making me very stressed out and anxious. Especially of how common it is.
It's impossible nowadays to simply meet new people, whether to college, in sports teams or at work, these opinions would be pretty common and not denounced at all.
A lot of these people repost posts from specific groups, or even participate in protests.
And the issue is that a lot of the groups also invite speakers who said specifically antisemitic rhetoric too, and no, this isn't shocking either. For example the leader if the far left group in France that claimed that a far right Jewish leader is far right because he's repeating the typical Jewish closed mindness. It's just one example but there's many examples of these groups saying pretty antisemitic and xenophobic stuff.
The worst part is that these opinions aren't even fringe anymore. They're present pretty much everywhere amongst the youth. It's pretty disappointing.
Like it's not a good thing that I can't participate in any activity linked to punks, hippies, neuro divergent or gender bending, because I'll very often face completely crazy opinions about Israelis.
And even those that aren't a part of that seem to tolerate this behavior. The ideology of diversity and inclusion seems to be this way, saying that Israelis are colonizers and should go back home is OK, we need to respect their opinion, but having any pride of being Israeli and Jewish isn't. I mean, "they're the victims, yeah you people say you're oppressed but the children in Gaza have it worse, and honestly, knowing how you behave maybe it's understandable that they react this way". So I a nutshell, there's no backlash whatsoever about any antisemitic rhetoric or behavior, even people who don't directly outright participate in these groups will still not show any compassion towards me or other Jewish people, nor clearly stand up against antisemitic rhetoric.
Some people say to me that it's a sensitive issue and I shouldn't give my opinion at all. And I would've agreed if this was applied equally. As it turns out all these people have no problem sharing their unhinged opinions, even tho they have literally zero ties to the conflict. And in this situation I should simply shut up?
The wide disbalance is really unfair too, with so much people supporting the Palestinians but very few having any compassion towards the Israelis, or even the French Jews who get attacked and are forced to hide their identities.
Because of the stress I experience, wanting to fight against injustice and also the fact that I have ADHD, I end up sometimes actions that are really foolish and stupid too. For example responding to people's stories and asking them whether they're terrorist sympathisers. Or tearing up the posters that show all of the Holy Land under the Palestinian flag. I get that these actions aren't good. First of all, it's really unsafe to do this, you never know how violent other people will get. Secondly, it's bad optics anyway, people without a strong opinion will think that I'm aggressive and xenophobic. Plus, if I actually want to fight against antisemitism, these actions and rhetoric wouldn't actually help. I should probably try to become calmer and be objectively for peace to get people on my side, kinda like Rudy Rochman.
Because I frankly am not a fan of the current Israeli government, like at all. I totally support the opinions of the UN and the ICC and I have no issue calling them war criminals. I don't want to support any side because both aides are terrible but these people with their "if you're not with us you're against us" aren't making this easy. So unfortunately I automatically have this kind of reaction specifically because I feel like this side that's pretty common has literally no empathy towards Israelis whatsoever.
It's also understandable why I do this! Because I feel like there's literally nobody now to protect Israelis and Jewish people! To the indifference of everyone! Plus, a lot of people have no issue with posters of hostages being teared apart! How does that work exactly? Hypocrisy!
Some people also say that I shouldn't ever mention that I have Jewish and Israeli roots and I should just suck it up and shut up. But why should I? I would understand this if I went to travel to some Arab country, it's understandable that for safety reasons I should that. But here in France? A country that has the third largest Jewish population and one that's supposed to be a modern and diverse European nation? And yet I have to hide as if I'm in 19th century Russian empire? That doesn't sound right.
I wouldn't be so stressed out if I had more people that would support or at least understand me. Even many psychologists said to me that it's useless that I complain about antisemitism cuz it's ultimately the fault of Israelis. Another one said that Jews are staying too much amongst themselves and unwilling to assimilate into modern French society. What help should I get from them?
The bright side is that this made me more motivated to learn about Jewish history and culture but still. Would've been better if this didn't happen.
I guess the next step is to try to befriend Jewish people and try tu become a part of a Jewish community. But I'm not a Jew, I just have Jewish roots. I've already kinda started to but it's still kinda limited, and some people said to me that if I want to participate in social activities with many Jewish people of my age I should convert. Which isn't easy mind you.
So the question is what would you suggest me to do in this situation to it stress and end up calmer? Cuz it is an unfair situation!...

New Arms Race map started roughly 36 hours ago. 50p American map, 2x speed, random country selection, I get Pennsylvania. No big threats in the general area, I move on Maryland first for the AI capital to get the morale boost, then NY...
Maine reached out to me within the first hour or two of the map saying he and I "should team up later in the game". Since I don't really do much with coalitions for at least the first 5/6 days of any map I just reply "it's possible" (not a no, not a yes). He then tells me "don't attack Virginia ok, he's my cousin"... Didn't reply at all to that.
By map day 4 Maine has been basically swallowed up by North Quebec, he has a few non core provinces north of the Great Lakes (Toronto, Ottawa, etc) but is essentially dead. He left a few planes in NY, that I had to attack in order to capture the cities, so now he and I are at war but no big deal, I didn't really have any intention of teaming up with him anyway...
I get to the point with NY where he has one city with a weak stack in it that I'll just chip away at with artillery and get ready to move on VA. Start patrolling VA to find where the armies are, except there are none. VA is completely empty...
Dual account resource farm? But why would you leave your farm completely undefended? He's not at war with anyone in the vicinity, he's at war by sea with North Quebec and Newfoundland, so it's not like he attacked North Carolina or any other bordering state.

OC art done by laghar_tish. Maps done by me.
Name: Sylvester Constantine Gender: Male Sexuality: Pansexual (Slightly Polygamous) Age: 22 Height: 6’0 Occupation: Mechanic (Occasionally Night Guard) Notes: Sweet and understanding, but very bold and daring. Sometimes stubborn. Fluent in both English and Zulu. His right leg is a prosthetic. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Was adopted. B-Day is June 26. Drives a 1984 F-250 6.9IDI Diesel.
States: 1. Maine (Capital-Augusta) 2. New Hampshire (Capital-Concord) 3. Vermont (Capital-Montpelier) 4. Massachusetts (Capital-Boston) 5. New York (Capital-Albany) 6. Connecticut (Capital-Hartford) 7. Rhode Island (Capital-Provaidence) 8. Pennsylvania (Capital-Harrisburg) 9. New Jersey (Capital-Trenton) 10. Maryland (Capital-Annapolis) 11. Delaware (Capital-Dover) 12. Virginia (Capital-Richmond) 13. West Virginia (Capital-Charleston) 14. Ohio (Capital-Columbus) 15. Indiana (Capital-Indianapolis) 16. Illinois (Capital-Springfield) 17. Michigan (Capital-Lansing) 18. Wisconsin (Capital-Madison) 19. Texas (Capital-Austin) 20. New Mexico (Capital-Santa Fe) 21. Oklahoma (Capital-Oklahoma City) 22. Arkansas (Capital-Little Rock) 23. Missouri (Capital-Jefferson City) 24. Iowa (Capital-Des Moines) 25. Minnesota (Capital-St. Paul) 26. Kansas (Capital-Topeka) 27. Nebraska (Capital-Lincoln) 28. South Dakota (Capital-Pierre) 29. North Dakota (Capital-Bismarck) 30. Colorado (Capital-Denver) 31. Wyoming (Capital-Cheyenne) 32. Montana (Capital-Helena) 33. Arizona (Capital-Phoenix) 34. Utah (Capital-Salt Lake City) 35. Idaho (Capital-Boise) 36. Nevada (Capital-Carson City) 37. California (Capital-Sacramento) 38. Oregon (Capital-Salem) 39. Washington (Capital-Olympia) 40. North Carolina (Capital-Raleigh) 41. South Carolina (Capital-Columbia) 42. Tennessee (Capital-Nashville) 43. Kentucky (Capital-Frankfort) 44. Georgia (Capital-Atlanta) 45. Alabama (Capital-Montgomery) 46. Mississippi (Capital-Jackson) 47. Louisiana (Capital-Baton Rouge) 48. Florida (Capital-Tallahassee) 49. Hawaii (Capital-Honolulu) 50. Alaska (Capital-Juneau) 51. Puerto Rico (Capital-San Juan) Territories: 1. Guantanamo Bay 2. Panama Canal 3. Johnston Atoll 4. Navassa Island 5. St. Pierre and Miquelon
Notes: * Name: United States of America (USA) * Government: Constitutional Federated Presidential Republic (Multi-Party System) * Foundation: July 4, 1776 * Official Language: N/A (English being the most common) * Official Religion: N/A (Christianity being the most common) * Capital: Washington D.C. * National Motto: E Pluribus Unum * Country Age: 247 * Population: 341.41 Million * Total GDP: 28.89 Trillion * Total States: 51 * Total Square Miles: 3,802,763 * Total Square Kilometers: 9,849,139 * Largest State (Size): Alaska * Largest State (Population): California * Smallest State (Size): Rhode Island * Smallest State (Population): Wyoming * Oldest State: Delaware (1787) * Youngest State: Puerto Rico (1998) * States with highest GDP: * California * Texas * New York * Florida * Michigan * States admitted in order: 1. Delaware 2. Pennsylvania 3. New Jersey 4. Georgia 5. Connecticut 6. Massachusetts 7. Maryland 8. South Carolina 9. New Hampshire 10. Virginia 11. New York 12. North Carolina 13. Rhode Island 14. Vermont 15. Kentucky 16. Tennessee 17. Ohio 18. Louisiana 19. Indiana 20. Mississippi 21. Illinois 22. Alabama 23. Maine 24. Missouri 25. Arkansas 26. Michigan 27. Florida 28. Texas 29. Iowa 30. Wisconsin 31. California 32. Minnesota 33. Oregon 34. Kansas 35. West Virginia 36. Nevada 37. Nebraska 38. Colorado 39. North Dakota 40. South Dakota 41. Montana 42. Washington 43. Idaho 44. Wyoming 45. Utah 46. Oklahoma 47. New Mexico 48. Arizona 49. Alaska 50. Hawaii 51. Puerto Rico * Top 25 Cities: 1. New York City 2. Los Angeles 3. Chicago 4. Houston 5. Phoenix 6. Philadelphia 7. San Antonio 8. San Diego 9. Dallas 10. Detroit 11. Jacksonville 12. Austin 13. Forth Worth 14. San Jose 15. Columbus 16. Charlotte 17. Indianapolis 18. San Francisco 19. Seattle 20. Denver 21. Oklahoma City 22. Nashville 23. El Paso 24. Washington D.C. 25. Las Vegas * Total Life Expectancy: 80.01 Years * Happiness Rank: 6th * Education Rank: 5th * Crime Index: 26.4 * Homeless: 5 per 10,000 people * Poverty: 6.5% * Unemployment: 3.1% * Obesity Rate: 9% of the population * Inflation: 1.7% * Brith Rate/Population Growth: Slow * IMR: 5.1 per 1,000 live births * Economy Type: Mixed Economy * HDI: 0.936 (Very High) * Gini: 26.4 * Democratic Index: 8.21 * Internal Stability: 96% * War Support: 21% * National Debt: 600 Billion * Currency: US Dollar * Measurement Systems: Imperial and Metric * Major Sources of Power: Hydro, Nuclear, Solar, Wind, Coal, Natural Gas, Geothermal, Oil * National Anthem: Star-Spangled Banner (Official), America the Beautiful (Unofficial) * National Bird: Bald Eagle * National Flower: Rose * Major Parties: Democratic, Republican, Independent * Minor Parties: Dozens of them * Voting System: 10 candidates from each major party run for President. Every candidate from each party go through election rounds and debates until 1 candidate from every party makes it to Election Night. Whoever gets the majority of votes wins. Senators, Representatives, and Justices work the same in our timeline. * Presidential Term: 2 Terms (4 years) * SenatoRepresentative Term: 5 Terms (2 years) * Justice Term: 20 years * Total number of Presidents: 46 * President Age: 35 min/75 max * SenatoRepresentative Age: 25 min/65 max * Justice Age: 30 min/80 max * List of Presidents: 1. George Washington 2. John Adams 3. Thomas Jefferson 4. James Madison 5. James Monroe 6. John Quincy Adams 7. Andrew Jackson 8. Martin Van Buren 9. William Henry Harrison 10. John Tyler 11. James K. Polk 12. Zachary Taylor 13. Millard Fillmore 14. Franklin Pierce 15. James Buchanan 16. Abraham Lincoln 17. Andrew Johnson 18. Ulysses S. Grant 19. Rutherford B. Hayes 20. James Garfield 21. Chester Arthur 22. Grover Cleveland 23. Benjamin Harrison 24. Grover Cleveland 25. William McKinley 26. Teddy Roosevelt 27. William Howard Taft 28. Woodrow Wilson 29. Warren G. Harding 30. Calvin Coolidge 31. Herbert Hoover 32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt 33. Harry S. Truman 34. Dwight D. Eisenhower 35. John Kennedy 36. Lyndon B. Johnson 37. Richard Nixon 38. Gerald R. Ford 39. Jimmy Carter 40. Ronald Reagan 41. George H.W. Bush 42. William Clinton 43. Al Gore 44. John McCain 45. Barack Obama 46. Luisa Ramirez * The Flag: The symbolism of the US flag is the same as in our timeline. The design of the flag has 51 stars, with 3 lines of 9 stars and 3 lines of 8 stars. The blue and red are very slighty a lighter shade. * Military Size: The USA, as of current standing, has over 1,170,000 well-trained, active servicemen and women, with over 730,000 in reserves. * Military Branches: Army, Marines, Air Force, Navy, National Guard, Coast Guard, Space Force. * Current Status: Hyperpower.

I have just finished an 1828 run with John Quincy Adams, and the election map says I won the following states: Maine, New Hampsire, Vermont, Massachussetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Maryland, Delaware, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana. If you look up how much these are worth, you'd notice it adds up to 138 EV, which should be enough to win, but the screen claims that the result is 132-129 for Jackson, and that I lost the election.
Anyone know what causes this?

I'm from Southern Maryland, where there are lots of popular locations for fossil hunting from the Miocene (Calvert Cliffs, etc). I am also a geology/paleontology student at UMD and was interested in getting more into fossil hunting, especially for shark teeth and other underwater organisms (since Southern Maryland was once covered by ocean, shark/ray teeth and whale bones are plentiful). How can I get more serious about fossil hunting? I'm looking at my state geologic maps and getting a bit overwhelmed. I see all the formations, but where exactly should I be looking? I've seen a couple people online get some great finds in rivers/streams/creeks, since we have loads of those draining into the Chesapeake, but I have no idea where to begin to find my own "spot."

Microplastics, heat waves, terrorism, bird flu, and another big iceberg breaking off Antarctica.
Last Week in Collapse: May 19-25, 2024
This is Last Week in Collapse, a weekly newsletter compiling some of the most important, timely, useful, soul-crushing, ironic, stunning, exhausting, or otherwise must-see/can’t-look-away moments in Collapse.
This is the 126th newsletter. You can find the May 12-18 edition here if you missed it last week. You can also receive these posts (with images) every Sunday in your email inbox with Substack.
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Climatologists predict many more heat waves across southern Asia over the coming decades. Hundreds of people were treated for heatstroke in Pakistan after a 49 °C (120 °F) heat wave rolled through. Temperatures are expected to reach 55 °C (131 °F) by the end of May. In Mexico, 80+ monkeys dropped dead of heat stroke, with many others requiring medical attention. It’s gonna be a bad hurricane season.
We are experiencing another negative side effect from microplastics: they are reducing the rate of carbon sinking in the oceans. This is because clumps of carbon, which would ordinarily sink to the seafloor, are also taking in microplastics, which are more buoyant. Increased concentrations of micro/nanoplastics also interfere with phytoplankton’s ability to capture carbon. But some good news: two teenage inventors have created an object that filters out microplastics using ultrasonic sound waves.
Mismanagement of grazing lands worldwide is resulting in their breakdown, and the release of larger quantities of carbon. One researcher said that “almost 35—even 50 percent—of rangelands are already degraded,” a significant amount of land, considering over half the earth’s land is classified as such.
A 4.4 tremor near an Italian supervolcano, followed by dozens of mini-quakes, forced the evacuation of at-risk residents. Scientists continue warning about ocean water undercutting the Doomsday Glacier causing “vigorous melting.” A new calving has split a large iceberg off Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf, weeks after a new crack had appeared.
A study00110-1) looking into endangered species claims researchers have a bias towards land animals, neglecting fungi, plants, and marine animals. They say this narrow focus is leading to “silent extinction” among understudied organism species necessary to maintain stable biodiversity.
Migratory fish stocks have Collapsed by over 80% since 1970, scientists say. Drought has destroyed 70% of lemons in Karnataka state (pop: 64M), India, while strawberry harvests were hit in northern India. Martinique declared its first Drought ever.
Southern Vietnam hit an all-time high temperature at night. And a number of Caribbean records were broken last week as well. Sydney, Australia, continues breaking new climate/weather records. 66 more people died in flooding in Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia is warning of incredible temperatures at this year’s Hajj. And let’s not forget new sea-surface temperatures in the north Atlantic.
About a third of the mighty Amazon rainforest is suffering from Drought, based on a paywalled study in PNAS. “If we are already seeing a tipping point getting closer at this macro forest level, then it must be getting worse at a micro level,” said the study’s lead author. Brazil’s savannah is reportedly experiencing its worst Drought in 700+ years. Meanwhile, Brazil’s southern region is still flooded, 500,000+ people displaced, rice fields obliterated, people fallen sick, and much of the infrastructure beyond repair.
Drought in Adelaide (pop: 1.4M), Australia. A record-breaking heat index in Miami for this time of year. Mexico says 12 people died from heat stroke during a 10-day period in May.
A study published a few days ago lays out the risk to Arctic watersheds from melting permafrost—bringing iron and other dangerous metals downstream, rusting the rivers and endangering these fragile ecosystems.
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Scientists looking into malaria predict a massive increase in the number of people living in malaria-endemic regions by the end of this century. Rivers and floodplains are especially dangerous zones for the mostly tropical disease. The full study, published in Science, indicates a longer transmission season in a much more populous Africa.
A study published last month in Environmental Science & Technology examined how microplastics enter our bodies across 109 different countries. The regions of the world which ingest and inhale microplastics are, by far, east and southeast Asia. Fish is also the top microplastic-containing food—and it’s not even close. However, the data relied upon in this study ended in 2018, so there’s a large gap in recent nano/microplastics development.

“Indonesia tops the global per capita MP dietary intake at 15 g monthly. In Asian, African, and American countries, including China and the United States, airborne and dietary MP uptake increased over 6-fold from 1990 to 2018….57% of plastic particles in foods are mainly from aquatic sources….Removing 99% of aquatic plastic debris by water management for surface water quality control in freshwater watersheds, wetlands, and lakes, as well as ocean cleanups or effective solid waste management, can decrease human MP exposure by 55%....MP removal from a single type of water system cannot hamper their transport among other systems and still leads to exposure and long-term impacts on the entire freshwater environment and food web….

Another study on microplastics claims that most microplastics in the seas have escaped detection altogether, for now. Estimates of microplastics off the coast of Venezuela are believed to be higher than previously thought. A sampling of microplastics off the eastern coast of the United States found a greater number of plastic particles farther south, where they were also smaller. The largest size microplastics in the region were identified off the coast of North Carolina. According to their global survey, “detected MPs less than 53 micrometers at a rate of six orders of magnitude higher than all of the combined reports.” And concentrations of microplastics in men’s balls are also higher than estimated.
A study published last week in Communications Earth & Environment predicts that southern California will experience 3x greater coastal erosion by 2050—driving a 5x cost increase in “coastal living”. The current “shoreline retreat rate” in those beaches is 1.45m per year, a figure expected to jump to 2.12m by 2050 and 3.18m by 2100. Similar beach erosion rates are estimated for many African, Australian, Arabian, and other beachfronts. “The environmental and ecological impacts of the needed artificial beach nourishment have yet to be fully assessed.”
Today about 55% of people worldwide lack clean water at least once a month. By 2100, the figure is expected to reach 66%. A gust of wind toppled a stadium at a political event in Mexico, killing nine people. An explosion in a sugar factory in Tanzania killed eleven.
Australia has reported its first human case of bird flu, in a child who returned from India recently; a second farm has contracted a strain of avian flu in Australia as well. Meanwhile, another American dairy worker tested positive, this one in Michigan. “It is worrisome that the virus is spreading widely in cows because this can lead to changes in the virus that could potentially increase human susceptibility,” one medical expert said. Avian flu/HPAI/bird flu/H5N1 has now infected 48 mammal species, in addition to 24 bird species, and has been found on all 7 continents and held responsible for tens of millions of animal deaths so far.
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The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants to several Hamas leaders, as well as two top Israeli officials, for war crimes & crimes against humanity in Israel & Palestine. A few European states declared their recognition of Palestine as a State. Hostilities and shortages are impeding UN humanitarian aid and the U.S. alleges that none of the aid unloaded at their new pier has gone to the broader Palestinian population—although well over 500 metric tonnes have been unloaded. Exchanges continue between Israel and Hezbollah. The ICJ—the UN’s top court—ordered a stop to Israel’s Rafah offensive, though its rulings require the Security Council’s approval for any binding effect.
Iran’s ultraconservative President died in a helicopter crash last Sunday. The UN claims 140,000+ Somalians have been displaced in the last 4 months from flooding & conflict. Italy’s conservatives are pushing for military conscription, as are the British conservatives.
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh sent security forces implicated in murder & torture to work as UN peacekeepers… 12 people were confirmed dead, and dozens others reported killed, after a raid in Nigeria’s north. A number of insurgents and soldiers were killed at a battle in Niger. Colombia’s insurgents launched two attacks on Monday, killing two in total and injuring a handful of others.
Dozens of people were arrested, and several killed, in an attempted coup in Kinshasa (pop: 17M), the capital of the DRC—according to reports, anyway. The attackers launched simultaneous attacks at the residence of the President and the Parliamentary Speaker-to-be, though both were unsuccessful. Initial reports claimed that the coup was plotted by a political rival living in the U.S.
A 37-page doomy governmental report on future threats to Canada paints a picture of a nation vulnerable to an overload of 35 specific risks. The most likely two are a Collapse of truth and the looming loss of biodiversity.

“More powerful generative AI tools, declining trust in traditional knowledge sources, and algorithms designed for emotional engagement rather than factual reporting could increase distrust and social fragmentation….Ecosystem collapse and the loss of biodiversity could have cascading impacts on all living things, putting basic human needs such as clean air, water, and food in jeopardy….Emergency responses may be unable to keep pace….Extreme weather events could also result in regular shocks to trade, volatile price of goods, and increased travel restrictions. Meanwhile, an already fragile healthcare system may crumble under surging demand….billionaires could gain warfare capabilities and control over natural resources and strategic assets. Some might co-opt national foreign policy or take unilateral diplomatic or military action….”
“Social cohesion may erode as a flood of undetectable AI-generated content manipulates and divides populations, fueling values-based clashes….As an energy and water-intensive technology, AI could also put pressure on supplies of vital resources….population growth, climate change, extreme weather events, and conflict outbreaks may further limit resource availability….as the extremely wealthy continue to accumulate a larger share of the wealth, resentment may deepen until calls for greater wealth redistribution reach a critical point…..antimicrobial resistance (AMR), biological threats, and augmented humans could further push the {healthcare} system beyond the brink….Boys and men face unprecedented levels of educational dropout, unemployment, and loneliness….Diminishing trust, the assertion of values, acts of interference, the battle for technological superiority, and the fight over natural resources and supply chains {could} propel great powers into a world war…” -selections from the report.

A large majority of Americans (Democrats & Republicans alike) are worried about political violence following the upcoming November 5 election; yet about half believe there will be violence. A less-than-oblique reference by Donald Trump that President Biden was ready to employ “deadly force” during the 2022 documents raid on Mar-a-Lago hasn’t lowered the political temperature either. And North Korea is supposedly planning some kind of military action to disrupt the US election season.
The German climate activist/protest group Letzte Generation (Last Generation) has been determined to be a criminal organization by authorities after repeated disruptions to oil refineries and art galleries. It is reportedly the first time a non-violent protest group in Germany has been labeled as such.
Chinese military drills escalated last week over the inauguration of a new Taiwanese President. Towns in Texas are reaching a breaking point in their worsening Water War with Mexico. Difficulties remain between old water negotiations between India & Bangladesh. Haiti’s healthcare system continues collapsing. 11 migrants, likely expelled from Algeria into Niger, died of thirst or heat stroke.
Over 3,000 Ukrainian convicts have applied to join the military in exchange for reduced sentences. President Zelenskyy’s first five-year term has elapsed, though new elections will probably not be held until after the conclusion of the War. A missile attack in Kharkiv slew seven and injured many others. A few days later another missile struck a hardware store in Kharkiv, killing twelve and dozens more. Some 14,000 have fled from around Kharkiv since Russia’s recent offensive began there.
Russia is increasing reliance on “glide bombs,”, which are old Soviet bombs outfitted with new unfolding wings & navigation controls. The large number of these bombs means it is too expensive to intercept them once dropped. Russia also redrew its maritime waters in the Baltic Sea last week (effective next January, they say), part of a hybrid “shadow war” to disable the West. Nuclear drills near Ukraine’s border aren’t exactly reassuring, either.
Young Burmese fighters are self-activating against the junta’s military forces. The desperate former bystanders are hardening for battle; though their matériel is in short supply, they continue to make small victories. In Sudan, tens of thousands more flee El-Fasher, where ethnic cleansing and terrorism has killed at least 85 people.
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Select comments/threads from the subreddit last week suggest:
-After severe storms & tornadoes took out electricity for some 360,000 Texans, one redditor in preppers made a comprehensive situation report for how people were getting by in the aftermath of an urban infrastructure Collapse. It’s worth a read if you think it could happen where you live.
-The education system in America has fallen apart, based on this weekly observation from New Jersey. Are schools are merely a thin cover for the depression, rot, and brokenness of society? Also, this observer claims that the state of addiction to drugs & alcohol is at crisis levels.
Got any feedback, questions, comments, complaints, upvotes, hate mail, free COVID tests, doomy geocaches, drought-resistant seeds, etc.? Check out the Last Week in Collapse SubStack if you don’t want to check collapse every Sunday, you can receive this newsletter sent to your (or someone else’s) email inbox every weekend. What did I forget this week?

Along with the US & Canada, they're one of three debutants of this edition of T20I World Cup. But unlike those two, it's Uganda's maiden ICC tournament ever. In 2022 they started off with a somewhat surprise victory over Uganda before enduring comprehensive losses against PNG & Netherlands to crash out of the group stage of the qualifiers. But this time they've managed to pull off an incredible feat by beating Zimbabwe (which was their first ever encounter with a full member) and making sure they don't fumble a game anywhere else.
T20I Performance since the last tournament: 49 Matches, 41 Wins, 6 Losses, 2 No Results
Squad:
Uganda announced their 15 man squad on May 6th. Having played 49 matches since the end of 2022 T20I WC, their players certainly have some experience, albeit none against the sorts of teams they'll be playing in the T20I WC. Following is the recent form of their squad members (stats of the players in their last 20 T20Is).

Player	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	Wickets	Average	Economy
Riazat Ali Shah	411	34.25	145.74	16	17.43	6.34
F Achelam	54	7.71	78.26	-	-	-
J Miyagi	111	12.33	100.00	33	10.75	5.72
R Mukasa	528	31.05	117.85	-	-	-
F Nsubuga	79	9.87	108.21	24	13.08	4.76
R Obuya*	266	20.46	127.27	-	-	-
R Patel	426	25.05	101.42	-	-	-
H Ssenyondo	1	0.50	20.00	32	12.00	5.41
S Ssesazi	524	32.75	126.87	-	-	-
D Nakrani	338	33.80	130.50	16	19.43	5.02
A Ramjani	237	21.54	129.50	37	8.29	4.36
K Waiswa	179	17.90	117.76	10	20.40	6.18
B Masaba	101	14.42	127.84	12	11.75	5.28
B Hassan	66	16.50	153.48	27	13.66	5.88
C Kyewuta	62	12.40	108.77	25	16.72	6.14

* - R Obuya has played just 17 T20Is
All of their bowling stats look incredible with 6.34 being the most expensive one. But do keep in mind that almost all of the pitches they played on were quite tricky, which is reflected by the mid to low strike rate of most of the batters. But most of their stats do look good and that's a good start.
Strengths
The players have played together quite a lot, so the team should gel together well. They have only one player who has played less than 20 T20Is and even he has played 17 of them. They've playing a lot recently and they've been playing well. Their bowlers/all-rounders' have terrific numbers too and if they might just put up a surprisingly good shift with the ball in the T20I WC.
Weaknesses
Despite playing a lot together, the two strongest sides they've ever played against are Zimbabwe & Namibia, both of whom aren't in their group (Zimbabwe didn't even qualify as we all know). They have zero experience against big teams which means that they'll probably be blown away by them.
Their batters also lack power-hitting, something they'll really need during the death overs.
World Cup Chances
Their group consists of New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan & Papua New Guinea. They have a low chance to win against any of them but they're primed to give PNG a run for their money. A campaign with 2 points will boost their credentials further but even 0 points won't push down on their credentials by one bit.
Final Thoughts
Playing in an ICC tournament itself is a win for Uganda. Their run to this year's T20I WC means that they've marked their presence in the cricketing map. Both PNG & Uganda will be gunning for their maiden victory in an ICC tournament but it's hard to see their other 3 games not being a cake-walk for their oppositions. But the Ugandan players & fans will certainly enjoy their maiden T20I WC, regardless of the on-field results.