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Not today Justin
i don't do bad sauce passes
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Cosimo Galluzzi
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he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
Misplaced Lens Cap
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@katjadenim
šøamazing!šø
30 small neurons join forces against pain
Oxytocin plays a crucial role in modulating the response to pain, but until now the process leading to its release was unknown. An international team1, coordinated by Alexandre Charlet, at the CNRS Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et IntƩgratives in Strasbourg (France) and Valery Grinevich from the DKFZ2 in Germany, has just identified a new pain control center situated in the hypothalamus. It comprises some thirty neurons that are wholly responsible for coordinating the release of oxytocin into the blood and spinal cord, thus reducing painful sensations. These findings, which open new perspectives in the treatment of pathological pain, are detailed in an article published on 3 March 2016 in Neuron.
(Image caption: 30 small neurons in the hypothalamus have an analgesic effect: they trigger the release of ocytocin both in the deep layers of the spinal cord thanks to their long axons and in the bloodstream in order to inhibit the neurons that are sensitive to pain stimuli. These two mechanisms are represented, respectively, by the red dot in the spinal cord and by the drop of blood. Credit: Ā© Thomas Splettstoesser - http://www.scistyle.com/)
That hammer blow on the fingers of the weekend DIY enthusiast must have hurt. But it would have been worse if oxytocin, a peptide synthesized by a region in the brain called the hypothalamus, had not intervened very rapidly in the cerebral processes modulating the pain response. From contractions of the uterus during delivery to the release of breast milk after birth, and not forgetting its involvement in regulating social interactions, anxiety or pain, oxytocin is an essential, but currently somewhat mysterious, messenger. Indeed, the mechanisms which lead to its dissemination had never previously been deciphered.
An international team of scientists coordinated by Alexandre Charlet at the CNRS Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et IntƩgratives (France) and Valery Grinevich at DKFZ (Germany) focused on the process underlying oxytocin release when pain is perceived. It discovered that the control center in the brain that coordinates the release of oxytocin only comprises some thirty neurons in the hypothalamus.
During acute pain or inflammatory sensitization (burns, pinching, cuts, etc.), information is transmitted via the peripheral nerves to neurons in the spinal cord. These interpret the intensity of the message and encode it accordingly. The information is then sent to other neurons, which include the small population of 30 small cells in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus that has been identified by Alexandre Charletās team. These in return activate a family of large, magnocellular neurons in another region of the hypothalamus, which release oxytocin into the bloodstream. The target is the peripheral neurons that continue to send the message responsible for pain to the brain. Oxytocin has āanesthetizedā them and thus reduced the pain.
However, the thirty controlling neurons do not stop there. In parallel, projections from these cells, or axons, which are up to a meter long in humans, reach the deepest of the ten layers of the spinal cord (where the intensity of the sensory message is encoded) and release oxytocin. Thus via two simultaneous pathways, they diminish retransmission of the pain signal to the brain.
Work by the team has thus explained how different populations of oxytocin neurons are coordinated in order to control interpretation of the āpainā message by the nervous system. Discovery of this analgesic control center is promising in the context of treating pathological pain. Targeting this handful of neurons could indeed diminish the adverse effects of potential therapies. At present, the team is continuing to study them, this time in order to discover their involvement in oxytocin release that enables lactation and certain sexual behaviors.
I told my Dr "no pain killers work for me so I don't bother" She said "there's no medical reason for that" Umm AUTISM! Oxytocin doesn't work as normal in autistic individuals... Maybe this is an explanation!
Why is designing my poncho so much more interesting then my masters assignment?
The sound your rooster makes when it is running low on batteries. Ā [YouTube]
How did they know?
Last June I asked a friend to teach me how to knit... That first lesson her mum said "you'll be one of those people who knits without a pattern" 9 months on and I have made 1 project from a pattern, and have 3 projects on the go, none with written patterns... - a swirl gnome hat for my husband in sock weight yarn (awaiting new needles as I broke one) - a giant stitch sampler blanket for our queen sized bed - and a poncho for me, currently being designed using the 'knit and frog' method Ah the joy of knitting...
Talent
The following tags are in response to a dress I made recently, which was my first serious sewing project.
I know these were left as a compliment and I donāt mean to single anyone out, but I want to talk about this for a minute.
What you might be imagining when you see a post like this is that I woke up one day and decided to make this costume, and then I just made it perfectly on the first try, no problem. What you are not seeing is:
me having to look up youtube tutorials for every single thing. āHow to make a ruffleā āhow to sew a zipperāĀ āwhat is bias tapeāĀ āwhy wonāt this fusible interfacing workāĀ āhow to make a bustleā āhow to lace a corsetā
sewing a jacket into a mobius strip that canāt be turned inside-out
spending five hours troubleshooting a sewing machine to discover I inserted the bobbin the wrong way
having to go back to the fabric store a dozen times because I kept buying the wrong fabric/interfacing/tool/tape/lace
sewing machine eating my fabric again and I donāt know why
begging the fabric store ladies to help me interpret instructions on a pattern because I donāt know how to decode it
redoing the corset five times because I couldnāt get it right
a mountain of failed mockups and pattern pieces
renting a car to drive to a friendās house for emergency sewing instruction
wasted material
about 100 hours of work over several months
crying while sewing at 4 am
angst
Chalking up a success to natural talent is a harmful idea and unfair for everyone. It dismisses the hard work that went into an achievement, and it makes you believe that you canāt accomplish that same thing unless you were magically born with some special skill. Guess what: nobody is born knowing how to sew or draw or sing or write give a speech or compose an opera. Natural talent does not exist. There is only hard work, practice, and learning. Slam dunk the concept of talent into a volcano, where it belongs.Ā
This is a great write up. Iāve been told āyou are lucky to be so talentedā so many times, like I was born sculpting. Luck has nothing to do with it. Only hard work and dedication to your craft.
Hear hear!
Tumblr being bad for businesses
One thing Iāve observed over the years of being in this delightful wasteland of memes and anger (TLOMAA) is the neat microcosmic presentation of the effect a financially weak and business-unsavvy civilian population with a huge soundboard has on business, and how people think.
Iāve always known, or had the idea, but still..
If you extract the urge most of its users have to buy almost anything if itās fandom-branded, most people on here, understandably, do not and cannot afford to support small artist, clothing, or luxury (anything not a necessity) businesses.
However, these are the same people who complain about capitalism, yet often in a way that leads me to believe that they donāt know what it is about capitalism they donāt like, and what literally will not and cannot be changed or blamed unless you want to obliterate the concept of money- or at least reset the global trade market and the US economy.
You see, people on tumblr are quick to try and dismantle an upcoming businessā popularity and consumer base if they think the product is too expensive.
A population of young people rightfully scrupulous of spending what they have, yet bearing totally unrealistic expectations is such a bad mix!
I hate watching this Nubian Skin drama. I hope what Iām seeing is disproportionately presented to me through a selection bias- what Iām seeing is inarguably augmented by the fact that I follow thelingerieaddict . However, this is still a trend. Anyway, in regards to the Nubian Skin drama⦠You know how the lingerie industry standard ofĀ ānudeā is just beige? And how while it certainly doesnāt match most light skinned people, it matches little to no dark skinned people? You know how the fashion industry as a whole seemingly ignores the reality that a lot of people have brown skin?
And you know how POC on tumblr are always sayingĀ āwe need to support black businessesā? Iāll get to that one in a second.
Enter Nubian Skin LingerieĀ is a brand made and run by WOC. It is new. It is small. It is non-corporate. Ade Hassan started it up from the ground, and unlike huge brands like Hanes or Victorias Secret, she doesnāt (and canāt) ship her designs to a factory in another country to have her stuff made on the cheap. Nor is she stocked by every Target and Wal-Mart, or even every shopping mall. She doesnāt have that power, yet.
Starting a company is always expensive.Ā Buying materials, getting the time to make your product (I mean you donāt have time for a regular job anymore so you have to invest and then hope it pays off!), finding and paying people to help you, making something high quality enough that people will buy, marketing it so people know it exists, trying to get other stores to carry it.. all of this takes time (which is money) and money.
But let me take a moment to explain the process of undercutting.
UndercuttingĀ is the business practice of under-pricing a product so your competition seems too expensive.Ā This has become a standard business practice. Letās say I make soda out of a small neighborhood factory. My soda is $6 for a 4-pack. This is what I need to charge to still make a profit and cover production costs and rent. Letās say my competitor, who doesnāt like the homegrown popularity of my brand, and who knows someone in beverage distribution, originally sold their soda for almost the same price. So, to wipe me out, they donāt decide to make a new flavor, they donāt focus on buying commercialsā¦they just drop the price of the soda. Initially, theyāll be eating the cost, but they can afford that more than I can. And after their deal goes through, theyāll be supported by a wider distribution range because of their new industry ties. Meanwhile, when people go to the soda aisle, they will see my $6 soda and their $4 soda and make their choice based on cost.Ā
Even though my soda is priced to cover the necessaryĀ production costs and leave me with a little bit of profit, undercuttingĀ has now made me look too expensive.
Undercutting is exclusively only something businesses who favor profit far over quality can do- because if youāre concerned with the quality of your materials, the pay of your employees, and the ethics of your methods, it will cost you too damn much.
This concept applies everywhere in almost every industry. Undercutting is why people look at the $55 bras Nubian Skin makes and goĀ āthatās too expensiveā.Ā A lot of people are used to the prices of horrible companies like H&M that have huuuuge made-in-china factory capability, major distribution, and millions in profit. That, and aaalll of the Chinese resellers you can imagine. Let me digress:
I see this habit that people have here, when someone goesĀ āHey look at this new small brand that came up! This person sells x-useful-or-neat-thing for $x and you can buy it here!ā People inevitably will sayĀ āCool!ā andĀ āTake all my money!ā but eventually people start tagging onto the promo post likeĀ āwhy? this is so expensive! You can buy something like it here and here at Wal-Mart or from this (exclusively stocked via AlieExpress) storeā so now this advertisement for a new startup company has been parasitized by people making it look unreasonably and frivolously expensive.
Iāve said it before, but I need to say it again, you also need to be aware that a lot of popular blogs that turn around and offer links toĀ ācheapā clothing are promoing stores that ship directly from China, often use photos stolen from other companies to present the concept of a quality item (just like x company but way cheaper!), and incentivize these people through affiliate programs. For a website that finds artists being ripped off completely heinous, I donāt see much of a qualm about businesses doing it. Take BlackmilkĀ for instance.
Ā I know Iāve spoken on this in the past, but long story short, the business practices listed above are a problem for this company, especially when not only are people ripping off their product/photos, but Iāve seen people on tumblr actually accusing them of fraud, literally sayingĀ āThey are selling leggings you can get from china at five times the price!ā
Iāve even seen creepyyeha accused of this, even when itās entirely not true, and the fact thatĀ ācheaper versionsā of any of her pieces exist is not because she bought and resold them, but because someone stole her designs and remade them with cheaper materials and labor.
Like.. *facepalm*.
You fell for it.
So what is my point here?Ā Let me summarize. You see people rightfully complain about capitalism, but I donāt think you guys get how it works. Capitalism isnāt when everything is expensive and no one can afford it- that doesnāt even make sense how would anyone make money? No, part of capitalism is big bottom-line-based businesses choking out smaller honest companies. And how do they do that? By being cheaper. On all accounts.Ā Cheaper materials, cheaper production costs, lower pay for employees, etc. So when you guys spit in the face of new, small, honest businesses withĀ āthis is too expensive!ā even though you have NO CLUE what actual start up and production costs are (because your idea of price is defined by what dishonest, unsustainable, huge corporation, big box companies have sold you) you are doing one of the most capitalist things possible. You are undervaluing labor, buying into the cost over quality mentality, and supporting the idea that smaller companies areĀ ātoo expensiveā and should not be supported.
This is not an attack on people who canāt afford otherwise (a populace with restricted income ((to a point)) is super fab for capitalism, in this way), this is an attack on those who attack smaller companies with their ignorance.
You want corporations to stop running everything? Then stop helping them crush their competition.
You want innovation? Companies that fill niches? Then support them. It costs money.
THANK YOU!
I know this may seem irrelevant to this blog, but this also applies to the crafts and handmade communities. Weāve all seen how appropriate pricing for quality handmade goods are constantly bad mouthed by people who compare them to cheap, mass-produced products.
Exactly the reason I gave up on my 'business'
Of puppies and babies
They tell me that I'm practicing 'for the real thing'. "Imagine how much better it'll be" they say. They say he is bring out my "maternal instincts". But they never listen. He is the real thing. He's what I've wanted since I was a little girl. I love him dearly and get worried when he's sick. I wept when I found out he was deaf. But he's not practice for anything. My family is complete now, well until we get another for hubby. He fills a role a child never should. He's helping me heal from my childhood. He's helping me find calm when I'm anxious. Laughter amidst depression. Company in loneliness. He accepts cuddles when I need them. No child should ever have to carry this burden. As a child I had to tell my mum to eat, I had to make sure she had food and water so that she would be safe to drive. What child should do this? As a child I had to counsel my mother in her prolonged grief over the loss of her mother. I lost my childhood to adult worries. How can I risk stealing another's childhood? It'll never replace the one I lost... As a child I coped with my parents depression and trauma. They were unable to meet their own emotional needs and thought children would be a solution to their needs. They didn't stop to think that we would have our own needs and that they would have to provide for them. Now I am an adult I am trying to construct a healthy person from broken pieces. To mend a shattered being. I shall not ask a child to do what was asked of me. I'm not selfish enough to do that. But I can ask my Gilad to be my 'endless joy'. I can ask him to dry my tears and mend my heart with his big brown eyes. To lick away my fears with his wet pink tongue. To calm my soul as I run my fingers through his long silky coat. To make me laugh by going mad or chasing his tail. To fill the puppy sized hole in my heart. He is my baby. I am his mummy. He is the real thing.
Changing directions
I started Katja Denim as a low stress way to earn some money as I get well and do my Masters in Engineering. And I started with the bags that I really enjoyed making. Unfortunately, I've been struggling to find a market for these unique pieces at a price that makes them sustainable. Being Autistic and dealing with PTSD, Chronic Fatigue syndrome and depression doesn't make this easier. So I decided to fold up Katja Denim. But a little monster has entered my life and has inspired me to change directions and relaunch in a completely new direction. This little monster has pushed his way into every part of my heart and is living up to his name, Gilad, or "endless Joy" in Hebrew. He demands tummy rubs and cuddles and bites everything he can reach. My ferocious little monster is the cutest blue cocker spaniel and he seems to be taking care of the other black dog in my life. So I'm going to be making things for other special little monsters! Hardy Bean-Beds, toys and other things to make them as happy as they make us! To all the monsters out there!
How can you be autistic yet not be a visual thinker? I was always taught autism is two parts: Sensory processing disorder and "thinking in pictures" how can you be autistic yet not be a visual thinker? This makes no sense to me. Could you please explain? I am very confused and starting to wonder if my definition of autism is accurate.
I have had 3 people tell me that they donāt think āvisually/in picturesā yet are still autistic? Can someone help me understand this?
From my reading of Neuro-imaging studies there is no such thing as an identifiable 'autistic brain' even though there is such a thing as a 'typical brain'. The word they used to describe the autistic brains they were imaging was 'idiosyncratic' - that is each autistic brain followed its own wiring pattern when it was developing. So each autistic brain is unique. But they did find certain areas of the brain which are more different from typical across the autistic brains. Eg the hippocampus was larger and more dense with neurons than in typical brains. This brain part (from my understanding, I'm an engineer not a medically trained person at all) is responsible for processing emotions and sensory inputs and possibly other stuff too. Which kinda explains why autistic people have different emotional and sensory responses to neurotypicals.
Which is a long way of saying - every autistic brain is wired in a unique way and therefore has a unique experience of the world. So any variation in autistic experience should be expected.
(Ps I've never had anyone tell me that being a visual thinker was a prerequisite to being autistic- it's probably just a common trait, but not a diagnostic criteria in itself)
An argument has been made that ALL people who actually have C.F.S. (Chronic fatigue syndrome/M.E.) are also autistic.
I knew one lady who claimed to have C.F.S. and it so was not c.f.s., she probably had mono, which is really bad but she just felt super tired for 3 monthsā¦6 months is the criteria for C.F.S. Ā and she was definitely not autistic.
the weird thing is me and the two other ppl i know who come to my C.f.S. support meetingsā¦are actually autisticā¦idk seems kinda far-fetched butā¦who knows?
and before i get flooded with messages of āIām kinda tried all the time, do i have C.F.S.ā
Here is what C.F.S. is like:
-when you feel like you have the flu and that you havenāt slept in three days, and you feel like this ALL day EVERY day for 6 months or more this means you my have C.F.S.
-If you feel like you are dying and going crazy at the same time and doctors have no idea whatās wrong with you, every test comes up negative and your doctor(s) blow you off/say you are just depressed, you may have C.F.S.
-If you really utterly exhausted all the time, just walking a crossed a room makes you want to collapse (or you actually do collapse) and yet you can never seem to get a decent nights sleep and you seem to get a little bit of energy the moment you try to sleep. You may have C.F.S.
I am autistic and I have C.F.S. I will take any good vibes, prayers or support I can get.
There is no cure for C.F.S., we do not know the cause of C.F.S. and there are very few treatment options. Most people go āinto remissionā after 8 years of having C.F.S.
It usually takes someone thousands of dollars, dozens of doctor visits, dozens of painful tests and 10 years for someone get be able to get an official diagnosis of C.F.S.
I am autistic and I have CFS! I had my first bout as a teen and my parents weren't supportive for the first year (the dr who diagnosed me told my dad I had CFS and that basically I was making it up). I have found that managing CFS is best done by managing nutrition, stress/emotional state, sleep and (the hardest bit) getting enough exercise. I am currently studying my masters of Engineering (slowly) while running my craft business (Katja Denim) to keep me busy and happy while managing my second bout of CFS. At least this time I understand that I am autistic, so I am understanding my emotional states and reactions to the world way better! Oh and I have the best husband! And now the cutest puppy who needs daily walks, but as he's young we will hopefully get fitter together :-)
The Babies. Photo by Val Saxby
Australian Fungi Photographed by Steve Axford
Reversible Newsboy Cap by Katja Denim
Could it get any more chic?
This is just one of a batch of dark and mid-toned denim caps. Ā All of the current batch can be found on the Katja Denim Etsy store. Ā Unfortunately, the gorgeous model in the pictures is not for sale!
Coming soon to my store! 3 sweet little handbags, as cute as the girls who used to wear the jeans (maybe cuter, Iāll never know š)
They're up in my Etsy store katjadenim.etsy.com
Lookit all these fishies :) They are looking pretty majestic together. These fish (and a couple more) are available in my Etsy. I have more planned (galaxy, royal blue, navy blue, and baby blue) but Iām all burned out of bettas for tonight.