Commie-Unity Acupuncture

"Make no mistake; you will be paid well not to feel, not to scrutinize the function of your..."

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:01:23 -0700

“Make no mistake; you will be paid well not to feel, not to scrutinize the function of your...

"Participants rated their sexual orientation on a 10-point scale, ranging from gay to straight. Then..."

Thu, 02 May 2013 14:42:37 -0700

“Participants rated their sexual orientation on a 10-point scale, ranging from gay to...

I really like that last one. There’s always hope....

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:01:16 -0700

I really like that last one. There’s always hope.

deviantart:

We love Naolito’s clever design work!

palmofmyhands: James Cudjoe (GHANA) James Cudjoe, was born on...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:01:05 -0700

palmofmyhands:

James Cudjoe (GHANA)

James Cudjoe, was born on September 7th 1971 in Takoradi, a bustling port city in Ghana. Since his graduation from Ghana`s private art college Ghanatta in 1996, James has participated in seven highly successful national group and solo exhibitions, and his work sells fast off gallery walls. (x)

How to Live a Simpler, More Contented Life

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:01:24 -0700

How to Live a Simpler, More Contented Life: onlinecounsellingcollege: 1. Ask yourself “What’s...

"Medical research has found there is a direct link between good health and living with a sense of..."

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:01:28 -0700

“Medical research has found there is a direct link between good health and living with a sense...

"If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can..."

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 08:01:07 -0700

““If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before...

When major traumatic events happen with this much news and...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:01:26 -0700

When major traumatic events happen with this much news and social media coverage, PLEASE take care of yourselves by actively ignoring all sources of news updates periodically and frequently. We’re overloaded with information so choose wisely what we let in. Garbage in, garbage out.

thepoliticalfreakshow:

How Social Media After The Boston Marathon Terror Bombings Can Be A Recipe For PTSD

Monday’s horrific events at the Boston Marathon produced horrific images which in the age of social media news means an inescapable constant, unsolicited bombardment of the gruesome aftermath of a gruesome event. While Twitter offered the fastest, most up-to-date, and accurate information, it also served as an unfiltered chronicle of the most distressing imagery, which can have lasting mental and physical effects.

“It’s hard to know what might be the news value in any of this,” Roxane Cohen Silver, a UC Irvine professor, told The Atlantic Wire. “I personally can’t see any value in watching these things over and over again.” Last fall, she completed a study on the lasting mental and physical effects of exposure to graphic images following 9/11 and the start of the Iraq War. The study found that people who watched more than four hours of TV coverage a day in the weeks immediately after both events went on to report PTSD symptoms and, after 9/11, more physical ailments than those that didn’t. ”I think it’s important for people to be aware that there is no psychological benefit to repeated exposure to graphic images of horror,” she said at the time of the study.

In those events, though, cable news was the main way we witnessed tragedy. Now, as we scroll through streams for updates sometimes clicking links which may have no warning that they lead to a photo of a man without legs. And it’s not just images. Twitter’s new product Vine is literally a loop of images, often replaying the explosions in a single click. As Whitney Erin Boesel eloquently explained over at The Society Pages:

Gone are the days when one had to watch an hour of TV news to see the same tragic explosion replay six times; gone, too, are the more recent days when seeing the same tragic explosion six times meant clicking “replay” five times on YouTube. Seeing this explosion six times takes only a single link click, and less than a minute of one’s time; in an hour, one could watch this explosion happen not just six times, but 600 times.

New media and platforms have changed the way we experience these events. “It’s the speed and ubiquity of these images that make one despair,” wrote Philip Kennicot in his Pulitzer prize winning Washington Post essay “What are we losing in the Web’s images of suffering and schadenfreude?“ But just how bad is that despair?

The term some use is media-induced PTSD. Christian Burgess director of Disaster Distress Helpline told the Wire that while there has been an uptick in calls to the hotline, about half of them are coming from people outside of the Massachusetts area. Those who have experience similar events, like the Virginia Tech shooting, which happened one year ago today, are particularly susceptible to feel anxiety, Burgess added. He has long blamed television’s coverage for triggering a slew of mental health problems. “Not only does it risk worsening anxiety, depression, and substance abuse, but it can create new mental health concerns, particularly among people who may not have a support system in place, or who may be vulnerable to distress,” he told the Wire.

Does social media, however, make it worse? Burgess says it certainly contributes to the overall distress, but he thinks it might be better than watching television. “I think there is a higher risk in more traditional forms of media beause its constant. It’s sort of this static and continuous overview and replaying of the bombing,” he said. “Because of the fleeting nature of social media, I think a lot of those images went under the radar or people intentionally didn’t open them, which is good,” he said. He also notes that people find other value in social media, such as community and communication.

But then when I told him I often clicked links of images that were more gruesome than I expected, he conceded that people have to be hyper aware on Twitter. “That’s a good point. As a protective coping strategy, people who are feeling distressed should try and avoid that.”

Silver, however, reiterated that repeated images—no matter where they come from—cause distress. I certainly saw the same disturbing photos over and over on Twitter. She was particularly disturbed by the idea of Vine. “That would be something I would be very concerned about,” she said. “I don’t know how you get people to stop posting that,” which brings up the most concerning part of social media. News organizations can follow recommendations and guidelines, such as the ones posted by Poynter this morning, for how to responsibly inform the public without too much distress. But that won’t stop these images from getting passed around. News organizations can help by not posting them in the first place—or at least putting up a warning like the Atlantic In Focus gallery. But, in this age of the viral video, Vine, and Instagram photo, there’s not much the big media outlets can do to stop the spread of imagery, which could have long and short term damaging effects on our mental health. Click responsibly.

Chinese herb company seeks Wisconsin ginseng

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 08:01:22 -0700

Chinese herb company seeks Wisconsin ginseng: It’s great that a U.S. company is growing a...

shivainlondon: “One child is holding something that’s been...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 16:01:13 -0700

shivainlondon:

“One child is holding something that’s been banned in America to protect them. Guess which one?”

"We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants. And it’s a policy unfit for today’s..."

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 08:01:11 -0700

“We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants. And it’s a policy unfit for...

"All but four of the [105] children who died were old enough to be vaccinated, but 90 percent of them..."

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 08:01:20 -0700

“All but four of the [105] children who died were old enough to be vaccinated, but 90 percent...

"They contend that the institutional church’s understanding of gays and lesbians is based on absolute..."

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 20:48:13 -0700

“They contend that the institutional church’s understanding of gays and lesbians is based on...

Portugal's unemployed heading to Mozambique 'paradise'

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 16:01:30 -0700

Portugal's unemployed heading to Mozambique 'paradise': This just doesn’t sound right....

"When women scream you wonder what’s wrong with them. When men yell you get afraid about what they’re..."

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:01:06 -0700

“When women scream you wonder what’s wrong with them. When men yell you get afraid about what...

"The anus [is] this amazing thing that nobody appreciates. Here’s this ring of muscle with nerves..."

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 08:01:07 -0700

“The anus [is] this amazing thing that nobody appreciates. Here’s this ring of muscle with...

I made 2 giant jars of dit dat jow years ago. Great...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:01:18 -0700

紅藤 (hóng téng) - Sargentadoxa Vine

紅花 (hónghuā) - Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius)

三七 (sānqī) - Panax pseudoginseng

Wu Ling Zhi | 五靈脂 | Trogopterori Faeces

乳香 (rǔxiāng) - Frankincense

I made 2 giant jars of dit dat jow years ago. Great stuff!

gongfudub:

跌打酒

just made my first dit da jow containing an assortment of resins and barks and flying squirrel poo.

palmofmyhands: Julien Sinzogan was born in 1957 in Porto-Novo,...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:01:09 -0700

palmofmyhands:

Julien Sinzogan was born in 1957 in Porto-Novo, Republic of Benin. He studied architecture in Paris at the École Spéciale des Travaux Public, and lives and works in France.

Sinzogan’s work expresses the way of life informed and inspired by the Yoruba divinatory and religious system known as Ifa. The Yoruba people of Nigeria and Benin in West Africa see life as taking a cyclical trajectory through which individuals experience the tangible world (aye), depart to the spirit world (orun) and are reborn. Sinzogan’s works explore the journeys between these different but closely related worlds. The voyages between such realms lie at the heart of religious practice across much of the Atlantic world, a world forever shaped by another voyage: the middle passage of the Atlantic slave trade.

beenthinking: Shortest PSA: What to do with a drunk girl passed...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:01:05 -0700

beenthinking:

Shortest PSA: What to do with a drunk girl passed out on your couch

To the tumblogs I follow: I’m silent because I’m learning. I don’t speak up...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 21:37:43 -0700

To the tumblogs I follow: I’m silent because I’m learning. I don’t speak up...