So, I’ve opened commissions before, and I have at least one commission that I am working on at the moment. However, I am letting it be known that they are still open, and are going to be open for a long time. Hopefully the Read More will work…Please do read!

Read More

( I’d like to ask that anyone who reads this to PLEASE reblog this so there isn’t a widespread panic and violent protests. Tumblr needs to stop posting partial information. It is counterproductive and we need to know the truth so we don’t give up and think the fight is over. )

There wasn’t a vote. It was a signing and the voting isn’t going to happen for a while.

“The committee will most likely hold its vote on the ratification of the treaty in April or May, with a full parliament vote expected in June.” - Source

“The countries signed the treaty, which aims to harmonise copyright enforcement across much of the world, in Tokyo on Thursday. However, the signatures of the EU member states and the EU itself will count for nothing unless the European Parliament gives its approval to ACTA in June, and digital activists have urged citizens to lobby their MEPs against voting yes.”

“”The signature ceremony in Tokyo was just another step in the procedure that allows ACTA to now be taken to the European Parliament for a free, open and vigorous debate that we fully support,” he said.” - Source

“The European Parliament will be debating ACTA and activists are urging people to contact their MEPs putting forward arguments opposing ACTA. The European Parliament and each of the member states must approve ACTA before it goes into effect in the EU.” - Source

“But the political atmosphere in the EU remains very much in flux. The key to the future is that, unlike the US, the EU has admitted that ACTA is a binding international agreement and therefore requires parliamentary approval. But Parliamentary approval in the EU is in doubt.” - Source

Please read this. It has a list of countries that have signed, the countries that have not, and links and information on what you  can do to help out:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/26/eu-signs-up-to-acta

Once again, please reblog this wherever you can so the word gets around.

And its true. Please actually read this article, though, and don’t just single out “omg we are gonna die” or “lol zombie apocalypse.” I’m sort of tired it, but you guys should start thinking about donating some money to India, or like my friend Ronron said, Doctors without borders. In America or more developed countries, we are going to be fine, without a doubt.

But the people over there? They are the ones that will suffer.

We need to actually do something. Read the article and get proactive. Don’t just blog about it.

The reason this disease has happened is because PEOPLE CAN’T GET THE CARE THEY NEED. Diseases are being treated poorly, so they are evolving to become immune.

(and please don’t just TL;DR. This is important)

TB That Resists All Drugs Is Found In India

by Richard Knox

Tuberculosis specialists in India have diagnosed infections in a dozen patients in Mumbai that are unfazed by the three first-choice TB drugs and all nine second-line drugs.

The doctors are calling them “totally drug-resistant TB,” and the infections are essentially incurable with all available medicines.

It’s a sobering development. Infectious disease specialists say there will surely be more such cases in India and other countries where cases of TB that resist some but not all drugs are being inadequately treated.

Poor care is fueling the development of the superbugs. “The vast majority of these unfortunate patients seek care from private physicians in a desperate attempt to find a cure for their tuberculosis,” the Indian specialists write in Clinical Infectious Diseases. “The majority of these prescriptions were inappropriate and would only have served to further amplify resistance.”

 

The team did a study that showed only five of 106 private practitioners “wrote the correct prescription for treating TB,” Dr. Zarir F Udwadia, one of the study authors, told Daily News and Analysis, an Indian publication.

“The other TB challenge is diagnosis, especially of resistant strains, and here again the news is not good,” writes infectious disease blogger Maryn McKenna. “The World Health Organization said last spring that only two-thirds of countries with resistant TB epidemics have the lab capacity to detect the resistant strains.”

Johns Hopkins TB researcher Dr. Richard Chaisson tells Shots that “total resistance is a new phenomenon that is entirely predictable.”

It’s predictable, he says, because hundreds of thousands of people in India have what’s called multidrug-resistant TB, or MDR-TB. And a growing number have “extensively resistant TB,” or XDR-TB. And very, very few of them are getting the expensive, hard-to-take drugs that might cure their infections.

“If you don’t provide supervised second-line drugs, this is what you’re going to see,” agrees Dr. Carol Dukes Hamilton of Duke University. “People go to practitioners who aren’t TB experts. They don’t give the right doses or make sure people take them.”

Still, the development of these cases of totally resistant TB doesn’t necessarily mean epidemics will sweep through India, or anywhere else, right away. For one thing, there’s no evidence so far that patients with these defiant TB strains are transmitting them to others.

Most likely, Hamilton says, these patients didn’t catch the maximally resistant TB strain from someone else. Rather each patient probably incubated his or her own totally resistant strain after being inadequately treated. That allows the TB bacterium to develop resistance to one drug after another.

Technically, the Indian cases might not really be totally resistant. The Mumbai specialists didn’t try some so-called third-line experimental drugs that U.S. doctors might use in such cases. At least one of the Mumbai patients did have surgery to remove diseased lung tissue, but she died anyway.

But practically speaking, such treatments aren’t usually available in India or many other places where totally drug-resistant cases may arise.

The problem of evolving TB drug resistance has been brewing for years. In the early 1990s, multidrug-resistant TB began spreading in New York City, abetted by homelessness, prison outbreaks and HIV. Aggressive identification and treatment of these cases, including the direct observation of patients taking their pills, snuffed out that epidemic.

In 2005, extensively drug-resistant TB — strains untreatable with the three first-line drugs and several second-choice medications — cropped up in the South African province of Kwazulu-Natal, again abetted by HIV, which devastates immune defenses.

Chaisson says South Africa has since mounted an effective program of treatment with the few drugs that work against XDR-TB. “But they have more patients than they have treatment slots,” he says.

Two Italian women with HIV were the first recognized cases of “totally drug-resistant TB” back in 2003. Another 15 patients with totally resistant infections were discovered in 2009 in Iran.

So nobody expects the new Mumbai cases will be the end of this troubling new phenomenon.

“I have a sense it’s inevitable this will occur,” Chaisson says. “I don’t have a sense that it will become a big problem. It will grow. The question is at what pace it will grow.”

(Source: )

I need help with a name.

What is the most hipster thing you can think of?

Why is it that play-dough always goes “Fun to play with, not to eat” at the end of every commercial.

Yet every single product they come out with for their play-dough is food-related?

From french fries to ice cream to McFlurries.

What is going on here, play-dough??

Alright, I’d like to list some of my favorite blogs/people here. If I forget you, I’m sorry! I actually love all the blogs I follow, but these are just a few people that come to mind first.

Also I just woke up so shut up.

But seriously, please, PLEASE consider following these people. They are so nice and fun. <3 This is not me doing a favor for them, but trying to let you know how cool they are.

omggumball - This is an amazing place with gifs from one of my favorite shows: The Amazing World Of Gumball. They seem like a super nice person too!

andyorton

 - Pretty much my sister. Go give some love to Andy! <333 She helped me be a little less skittish around spiders[oh god I almost wrote skitty] and her family is my family. <3 She likes Spiders, Straightedge, Wrestling, being silly and posting probably offensive things and it is wonderful. Also ponies sometimes? I miss her and want to see her again soon. Her girlfriend is super awesome and you should follow her too: Followingdemons ]

Lanekana - My other sister! I pretty much  live at her house and her dad is a bawss. She helped me when I got kicked out of my home and helped me with my cosplay, too. We RP together a lot as well. <3 She likes Homestuck, Clamp, cosplaying and a ton of other things. She is a sweetheart and is pretty much everybody’s mother. She will take care of you if you ever feel bad.

Zairedwinters - My Moirail [ oh god i am a moirail slut though. but he is the original and moirailiest] and game/animu bro. We watch a ton of things together and he is super nice. He likes a shitton of video games[no really, A LOT. A LOOOOT.], Music, sometimes wrestling, Adventure Time/Regular Show, and also Homestuck. He posts seriously funny things and sometimes at the most random times. I love going on tumblr crawls through his stuff. Despite how hard things can get for him, he still keeps persevering and I think people could also learn a little from him. Even if he’s sad, he picks himself right back up. <3

Crystalanthemums - Mandy, who is my RPing buddy to the max. She is pretty much my Eridan bb and I love playing with her. Even if I get frustrated a little, I promise I’m not mad at you ever, honey! <3 She posts hilarious Homestuck stuff and really cool art. She is amazingly talented at drawing and I love to see what she comes up with! I hope her computer stops being a butt soon because I miss talking to her all the time. She always finds a way to make me laugh.

Inappropriatelylickingspazzu - …Yep. The url says it all. Terezi is my millionth mommy figure and takes care of me when I’m really upset. She is funny, witty, clever and super amazing. She posts super cool stuff, whether it be homestuck or otherwise. Also, just look at that fucking url! GLORIOUS. Go follow her right now.

Ranyakumo - My tumblrsprit! ;O; Ran is so fun to talk to and also nice and al;mkasdg I DON’T TALK TO THEM AS MUCH AS I WANT TO CUZ I’M A SPACE CADET BUT SERIOUSLY. Ran is a babby and just so awesome. GO NOW. Homestuck bloggu, but also lots of other things!

Suqua - Oh God. STRIFE. ABSCOND. FAYGO. My friend IRL and super nice, we hang out a lot during meets and need to hang out more outside of meets. SUQUA IS MY BUDDY AAAAA. GO FOLLOW NOW.

Kichik - My boyfriend and the sweetest person in the world. He is sweet, loving, dedicated and always there for me. He is funny and knows how to have a good time. That wasn’t a dirty joke/joke about partying. He honestly is fun when it comes to video games and pranking. He is a cute John cosplayer and super adorable when he is asleep. <3 I love him and you should go follow him and this ISN’T A BIASED RECOMMENDATION. He enjoys vidya games and Homestuck.

Rappinpicard - I love his hart. I love the things he posts. He is such a sweet person and always times his links to me when I’m feeling down. I swear he’s psychic and just knows this shit, wtf. His daily drawings are super cute and his art, period, is adorable. He is talented and deserves more love. >:O Homestuck, star trek and many more things live there!

Spinolsen - BECCA OH MAN BECCA she is such a sweetheart and I swear to god, is so nice to everyone. I CAN’T EVEN. She always makes me smile when I’m sad and fusses when I am down on myself. I have never seen someone more adorable and nice. Go follow her and show her some love. I don’t know how I can ever thank her for how wonderful she has been to me, so I hope this is a start to show how much I appreciate what she’s done. Thank you so much!

Noahaha - Pretty much one of the best wrestling artists out there. His style is unique and incomparable to others, and he draws homestuck stuff, too. This makes it perfect, seriously. Wrestling and homestuck? What more do you need. I miss talking to him ,though. NOAH, NOAH, WHERE ART THOU NOAH. COME BACK TO MEEE.

omlyaudreyiscol - …My soul sister. Fuckin’ Audrey. Go follow this awesome babby. She is funny, witty and SASSY AS FUCK. HOMESTUCK, AWESOME SHIT, ALL OVER THE PLACE. FUCK YEAH, AUDREY, SOUL SISTAHS. MY HAIR IS ON THE MIC AND I CAN FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL YOUUUU. Also she is such a sweetie and runs a blog called “Iloveyouspazzu” on tumblr. Seriously. ilu audrey.

terminallyfapricious - Max pretty much introduced me to Skype, was one of the first people I roleplayed with on Zingled and gave me the confidence to keep playing Nepeta. Without him I probably would’ve never gotten active on tumblr again or kept with the Homestuck fandom itself. I made so many friends because of him and actually met so many amazing people. I actually am more thankful to Max than anyone will ever know. I have had such a fun time it almost hurts to think about what would I would have been without meeting him. He is responsible for everything. Thank you so much Max. <3

okay now i’m too lazy. If I missed you I am so sorry. But everyone I follow is worth following, I swear. They are all spectacular people who make wonderful posts and I love each and every one of them. When they are sad, I worry and hope they feel better even if I don’t say something. When they are happy, I can’t help but smile and want to dance with them. When they are mad, I want to stand up and defend them against whatever made them so furious.

I love you guys.