50501

Specifically looking for nerdy knickknacks like magnetic viewing film that a fellow autist would appreciate

For so many years, I've struggled with a myriad of symptoms that have (at times) severely affected my quality of life: dizziness/fainting, fatigue (both physical and mental), shortness of breath, tension headaches, and lack of motivation. I have seen many doctors about these symptoms for many years, and I have been given a myriad of suggestions:

1. It’s just obstructive sleep apnea
2. Use a regular sleep schedule
3. Reduce caffeine intake
4. Exercise regularly
5. Maybe you’re depressed
6. It’s all in your head

I have dealt with each of those suggestions (for that last one, I fired that doctor immediately; problem solved!), and I still have problems to varying degrees. To be fair, some of those have gotten better, but have not completely gone away. So I resigned myself to just living with it.

I recently made an appointment to have a colonocopy, and I was reading through my clinical summary, when I fell upon my blood pressure (120/86). The doc wrote "Your blood pressure reading was elevated at your visit today. It is suggested that you visit your primary care for further evaluation." He never actually mentioned this to me. Not even the nurse who took my blood pressure, nor the PA. So I got curious, and I looked up what my blood pressure should be for my age (120/80 and below for the curious).

I found this neat little chart that tells about blood pressures, and what is considered elevated, and stage 1/2 hypertension. According to that chart, my blood pressure is not elevated (because my bottom number is not less than 80). My blood pressure is stage 1 hypertension! Never once had any doctor I had ever seen ever muttered the words "stage", "one", or "hypertension" in the same sentence. Ever.

Anyway, I am just a lowly pleb who knows nothing (i.e., "I am not a medical professional"). But, because I feel that my doctors failed at doing their jobs at the most basic level, I felt compelled to tell you all my story so that you all can check your vitals and decide whether or not you should have a conversation with your medical professionals. Be safe!

State and federal authorities are closely tracking online criticism and demonstrations against the immigration crackdown in New Orleans, monitoring message boards around the clock for suspected threats to agents while compiling regular updates on public “sentiment” surrounding the arrests, according to law enforcement records reviewed by the Associated Press.

The intelligence gathering comes even as officials have released few details about the first arrests made last week as part of an operation dubbed Catahoula Crunch, prompting calls for greater transparency from local officials who say they’ve been kept in the dark about virtually every aspect of the mission.

“Online opinions still remain mixed, with some supporting the operations while others are against them,” said a briefing circulated early Sunday to law enforcement. Earlier bulletins noted “a combination of groups urging the public to record ICE and Border Patrol” as well as “additional locations where agents can find immigrants.”

Immigration authorities have insisted the sweeps are targeted at “criminal illegal aliens.” But the law enforcement records detail criminal histories for less than a third of the 38 people arrested in the first two days of the operation.

Local leaders told the AP those numbers — which law enforcement officials were admonished not to distribute to the media — undermined the stated aim of the roundup. They also expressed concern that the online surveillance could chill free speech as authorities threaten to charge anyone interfering with immigration enforcement.

DHS and Republican leaders have framed the crackdown as targeting the most violent offenders. But the records reviewed by the AP identify only nine of the 38 people arrested in the first days as having criminal histories that rose beyond traffic violations — information the intelligence bulletins warn “should not be distributed to the media.”

New Orleans City Council President J.P. Morrell said the stated goals of the operation to arrest violent offenders did not align with the reality of what is taking place.

Monitoring Reddit chats The records also shed new light on cooperation among state and federal authorities in an operation welcomed by Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. Both the FBI and Customs and Border Protection have stationed agents at the Louisiana State Analytical and Fusion Exchange, an intelligence and data sharing center that is closely following discussions on the online forum Reddit that residents have used to exchange information about the immigration raids.

One briefing noted that some “have gone so far as to accuse agents of racially profiling Hispanic areas specifically.” Another flagged social media posts suggesting that agents “are not keeping with the mission of targeting criminal immigrants only.” And a third pointed out that critics of the raids “bring up past hurricanes and the work done by immigrants” in their aftermath.

“The chatter is slower during the night, mainly just commenting on posts from earlier in the day,” one of the briefings states. “Once daylight arrives and agencies are back out, the chatter and new posts will pick back up.”

The briefings have identified no threats to law enforcement, but the fusion center has sought to debunk what it called false reports that a pedestrian was fatally struck by law enforcement. “It has been confirmed that this actually did not occur,” the center told law enforcement Saturday.

One briefing described an incident involving “suspicious persons/protesters” who showed up early Saturday at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in St. Charles Parish, where records show the detainees were expected to be processed.

Some local officials said they had been unaware of the state’s role in the online monitoring. Louisiana State Police pledged “operational support” to immigration authorities and warned the public that troopers will arrest anyone who assaults a federal agent or causes criminal damage to property.

“The Louisiana State Police remains vigilant in monitoring social media activity related to protests, activism and other forms of public response,” Trooper Danny Berrincha, a state police spokesperson, wrote in an email to the AP. “Through the LSP Fusion Center, we actively track developments and facilitate the sharing of information and communication among our partner agencies.”

The fusion center also has tracked the tools used by protesters to foil federal immigration enforcement, highlighting social media links to whistle handouts, trainings on filming federal agents and the emergence of a hotline for reporting arrests. The surveillance extended to activist discussions about immigration authorities’ presence near an elementary school and recapped demonstrations inside the New Orleans City Council chambers and elsewhere.

“They can monitor me all they want,” said Rachel Taber, an organizer with the New Orleans-based grassroots advocacy group Union Migrante, which shares crowdsourced reports and videos of the federal immigration enforcement operations. “We are not doing anything illegal.”

Beth Davis, a spokesperson for Indivisible NOLA, which has organized some of the trainings described in the law enforcement briefings, said it was sad authorities seemed preoccupied with law-abiding citizens. “That they feel threatened by a bunch of community organizers that have nothing other than phones and whistles blows my mind.”

Since we're re-taking the shit, I figured we should have a more efficient way to communicate. However, my brain is as smooth as a fresh burrito excretion and I gave up after 5 minutes. Maybe you all wouldn't mind dumping some more ideas?

Arsehole
Butthole
Crapper
~~Dung-shute~~ Dookie
Exit-tube
~~Fart-speaker~~ Flatulence
Gloryhole (or Gash?)
Halo
I
J
K
Loaf
Mangina
N
O-ring
Poop
Quebec
Rusty-trumpet
Sphincter
Turd
Uranus
Vaganus
Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory
X
Y
Z

When it can be assumed that you are being surveilled while expressing negative opinion about the federal government, it’s probably best to go ahead and make the assumption, particularly during the punitive heights of the second Donald Trump administration. New reporting from the Associated Press this weekend detailed some aspects of not only United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) latest anti-immigrant and deportation campaign in New Orleans, but also some interesting insights into how both the federal and state law enforcement agencies involved have been engaged in online surveillance campaigns to track public sentiment toward that crackdown. The story paints a chilling profile of a United States in which dissent against the regime’s campaign of immigrant-targeted cruelty is being carefully compiled, filed away for the potential of future use against American citizens. Not that any of this should be a surprise for any of us.

We have, after all, been warned over and over that organizations like ICE have been wanting to vastly expand their online operations, using the same vastly expanded budget that recently saw them purchase a new $7.3 million fleet of (Canadian made) armored vehicles. The online expansion of ICE, meanwhile, is not just in the name of locating more groups of undocumented immigrants to target, but also to compile sprawling digital enemies lists, creating databases of those who have expressed anti-ICE sentiment. Earlier this year, The Intercept wrote about surveillance contractors sought by ICE, who would be expected to perform algorithm- and AI-aided deep dives into social media users’ post histories, searching for, among other things, “proclivity for violence,” which could include “empathy with a group which has violent tendencies,” among other things. Hope you haven’t expressed “empathy” at any point for any group with “violent tendencies,” right? How does it feel to know that you’d be at the mercy of a freelance surveillance contractor’s mastery of “social and behavioral sciences” and “psychological profiles,” according to ICE’s statement of objectives?

How much of these draconian operations have already been implemented isn’t entirely clear thanks to the shroud of secrecy surrounding the DHS and ICE, but fresh reporting in October noted that ICE was in the process of seeking an additional 30 full-time surveillance contractors to staff two of its “targeting centers”–and yes, that is apparently the official, deeply dystopian term for these facilities. These facilities, in Williston, VT and Santa Ana, CA, would run 24/7 shifts as surveillance analysts “receive tips and incoming cases, research individuals online, and package the results into dossiers that could be used by field offices to plan arrests.” The obvious question: How long until the same resources are being used to target those critical of ICE, or those organizing to impede ICE crackdown efforts, under the guise of “interference with law enforcement operations”? It should also be noted that even if ICE isn’t directly targeting those individuals yet, the unspoken threat of this kind of online surveillance could be intended to have a chilling effect on anti-ICE criticism.

This is the first time that researchers have compared what would happen to Europe's summer precipitation under different climate scenarios if the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) were to collapse.

The AMOC is a major ocean current system in the Atlantic Ocean that brings heat from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere and helps regulate the climate globally. Scientists have previously warned that human-linked climate change is weakening the massive current system and could be pushing it to a tipping point.

A US pardon is worthless outside the US

Today's game is Mario Kart Retro Rewind. It took me a bit to get the control setup but after that it worked perfectly. I had a friend send me a mod he wanted me to try of Funky Kong on foot, so i installed it to go along with it. I was expecting him to just run like that Waluigi on foot mod from a few years ago.

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But nope, he just fucking sprints on all fours. I honestly kind of like it better though, it makes it a bit more charming. And helps me separate him from the Donkey Kong that i hate.

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I did a race on Cheeseland for the Wii U to start things off. Nothing like Cheese Land to really end your day.

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I of course, followed that, with Cheeseland for the GBA. If you're noticing a reoccurring theme here, it's that i like Cheeseland. It's one of my favorite Modern (technically classic but i'd hardly call the Wii U version the same track).

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I followed this up with Wario Stadium on the N64. I'm... not a fan of this remake of it. I think it keeps the same shape, but i don't know. It's not the same Wario Stadium i know. I think the lack of solid dirt walls is what bothers me. Besides that though it was fine. Surprisingly i didn't get fucked over by a shell on the jump.

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I also did DK Pass, which, this course is entirely carried for me by it's Theme. I think if i didn't like it's theme as much as i do, it would be far more forgettable for me. Just another Snow Stage like that Rosalina one.

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And of course i had to end off with N64 Rainbow Road. I don't like that this one was shortened too 2 laps, the freakish length is what makes it charming too me, i'd say it's a faithful port though all things considered. I prefer the dark starry void of the original, but that's more personal taste.

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I think at some point i'd like to get friends to join me for this after seeing that it has multiplayer. I think it'd be a good time, and honestly with me losing my copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (and not being in any sort of a hurry to cough up more money to Nintendo), it might be my go to way to play with friends if they're down.

Here's the archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20251209025928/https://bsky.app/profile/ottoenglish.bsky.social/post/3m7gmnl2ntk2i

Note that the original post as seen in the screenshot is there but you may need to close archive.org's donation banner first to see it.

My feed has been filled with rpg geeks shitting on him. I do not know why. I assume he said something nasty, or did something worse than his usual disgusting foot fetish.

Why do I see Tarantino drama constantly? What triggered it?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1263240/Skate_Story/

Exclusive: Congress urged to act against energy-hungry facilities blamed for increasing bills and worsening climate crisis

https://archive.is/wV0Ue

To the irritation of some other European capitals, France has withheld any details on the institutions holding the Russian state funds and how any interest accrued is used, claiming it is an issue of client confidentiality.