Tbh, his Ketamine use makes me very very happy. He should do it more often.

Why? Ketamine abuse leads to severe damage of the urinary tract system. According to various sources this is already happening - and the damage is irreversible. Patients suffering from them are unable to pee - while having a massive urge to do so (imagine a decade long UTI, with your bladder really filled to the brim but you can't pee physically). And in the end it fucks their kidneys up due to the urine backing up into it. (And no, he can't get a transplant then. As the ureter is the problem and damaged beyond repair there isn't that much that can't be done then)

Furthermore the combination of drugs he admits he takes is a prime setup for a ketamine induced persistent psychosis. Elmo is already showing massive signs of intermittent or persistent psychosis, but things can get worse - far worse for him. Because the combination he takes can sometimes lead to a chronic persistent psychosis with auditory or visual hallucinations, delirium and ongoing psychosis symptoms. In other words: He would get so batshit crazy that a normal person would either be admitted in time and for a long time or kill themselves. In his case it's more likely that his staff would make sure he doesn't kill himself and lock him away. (Kill as in "running over a highway butt naked because the Zombie cows hunt them" or "trying to stop a train by a naruto move")

When I still worked in a psychiatric hospital we gad a similar guy - actually not unintelligent,but fried his brain with a similar mixture. In the end result he needed massive loads of drugs so he wouldn't be in a constant state of panic (mostly because every shadow was a giant spider trying to kill him) but basically made him a zombie. And,as he did a few awful things in this state of terror(setting fire to the psychiatric hospital twice, push a old lady in front of a bus -she was not hurt as the bus was imaginary,too-, stabbing a kindergarten teacher in front of her class) he was with us for years in a locked/high security ward. Aftee that he left us towards a similar ward in a permanent nursing facility.

There is a good chance he won't have a nice retirement life. Which is well deserved.

Yeah. It's more than annoying, especially as it's the same old Vance joke again and again and again. Which isn't even clever.

I am not a Christian by any means but I worked with them quite often. Francis did change a lot of things and while he wasn't in no way perfect - he did have his drawbacks, for a fucking pope he was much better than anyone before him within the last few hundred years. People (especially on the internet)nowadays expect other people, especially political leaders to "check all their boxes" and if one thing is not going as far as they want, they are alienated.

Often I have the impression that as long as someone is not going "all the way" in the right direction they are seen as bad as someone who does not do anything at all or goes in the wrong direction. (Which is ironic because the church itself has evolved past the "saint or sinner" directive)

Francis has been going in the right direction probably 60% of the way and 10% in the wrong direction. Is the Catholic church there yet? No. Is there a big chance it might turn back? Yes. Would he been elected if he was so reformist it was sure he would topple everything and go 100%? Surely not.

But he did much more than any of his predecessors did.

Any much more most commenters do.

Besides: It's okay to feel sorry for an old man dying. That's called fucking compassion. I work in healthcare and have seen a lot of people die. I feel sorry for almost all of them.

In the end a human has died. Period.

Guessing this is a hotel bathroom by the looks of it.

Then it very likely has a mirror with integrated heating. I have one myself and love it.

"nobody asked me questions during my maternity leave"

Yeah. Because it's the fricking law both in Germany as well as Austria. Her boss would be in hot water. 1800€ fine per case (means per question) up to 3600€ for repeat offenders. It does not change a thing if the mother offered it or not.

The Austrians are actually quite lenient with that. German law gives fines up to 30.000€ and in cases that are seen as endangerment of the child up to one year of prison.

We seriously do not fuck around with that here.

(The same goes for vacations)

But the government does not use SQL per ELMO.

I am waiting for this idiot to come up with something like EIQL (Elmo's idiotic query language).

I am banned from an hospital and a country.

No, I was not an unruly patient,but instead called out their bullshit as a healthcare provider working with them. And reported them. Which lead to them banning me. Which funny enough is illegal here as well.

And I am banned from entering Turkey. Turkish airlines nearly killed me during a flight by having some sharp pieces in my food. Had a gastric bleed from it,including a hospital stay in a foreign country. Well. My travel insurance sued them and thinks got ugly. In parallel the political party I then was a somewhat active member of back then (as in "running for state parliament"-levels) was getting in arguments with Erdogan. So one day I received a letter by my foreign department that I specifically should not enter Turkey or I might see a Turkish prison from the inside.

Healthcare professional here - but not your HPC and you cannot confirm that I am who I am so double check what I write:

• Get your titers checked and get revaccinationes asap. If you are not vaccinated or are a non-responder talk to your healthcare provider. Isolate until then.

• Mask up and keep your hands away from mouth, eyes and nose. You will need a properly fitting FFP3/NP95 mask here - measles are far meaner in terms of infectiousness than COVID. Tight fitting means: You have no leaks at the side - if your glasses fog up, if you can feel air going in or out next to your face,etc. it is not working. The usual "duckbill" masks with straps around the ears very very rarely fit properly.

• Wash your hands and desinfect them properly.

• Stay the fuck away from babies. Really. Please.

To give a more serious answer:

• Germans are a bit more privacy focused than most other nations (if you want to know how much read up on the google street view controversy). Germans tend to be much more aware how Meta/Google,etc. abuse their data (and while the average German won't care there are enough of them that you actually note it)

• There is a very strong "antiITestablishment" subculture that is very active since the 80ies. The Chaos Computer Club and its congresses,etc. but also the recent trend toward digital sovereignty has increased the amount of people who see Reddit and (to a much much larger extent) Twitter in a critical light - and due to the close links of Mastodon to Lemmy that helps both.

• German speaking people, especially in the,on Lemmy, overrepresented Tech field tend to understand English fairly well (but underestimate their ability to speak it themselves often). That enables them to consume English speaking content as well, not forcing them into other media formats that do cater more for smaller languages.

• And let's face it: There are a freaking lot of German speaking people. Around 100 Million people speak German in Europe - and while that of course is nothing compared to other India or China it's the largest non-english language block in Europe. That gives one a large enough "crowd" to actually find an audience for a sub - while it's rather hard to get enough people for an Italian speaking niche sub it's far easier to do so if it's German speaking.

• There are also some cultural issues at play - to quote an old German saying that says: "Three Germans meet - they found an association (Verein)". Germans tend to self-organise extremely proactively. Which is often tiresome, believe me. Additionally some Germans tend to find the Americocentrism on Reddit, but also to a lesser degree, on Lemmy, boring and at times nerve wrecking.

• There is a big IT industry that is focused on mid size companies - some with a strong open source mindset.

• Lastly the German main instance, Fediverse.org is operated by a pretty robust foundation who knows what it is doing. Which of course keeps the community more stable and hosts a lot of European (non German) subs as well.

Source: Am German, lived abroad for quite some time.

Yes, I am fully aware this question wasn't totally serious.

No, contrary to common believe we don't have to go to the basement to laugh. Germans go to the basement for sauerkraut and to watch German dungeon porn, Swiss to clean their bunkers and Austrians,well, I'd rather not talk about that.

Und nun iss dein Schnitzel sonst gibt es keinen Nachtisch!

The good news is: This is really really really unlikely and generally only possible for some rare types of cancer.

Unless you are an Tasmanian Tiger devil.

Gosh, how many people here, who are proposing that people leave their phones at home have actually been to a protest in real life?

My strong guess is: None. Neither has the author of the article been to one.

As someone who attended my fair share protests,including ones in fairly oppressive countries: Take a fucking phone with you, but please use a designated burner phone.

Reasons to have a phone:

• Communication is necessary and paramount - from reorganisation (we are blocked here, so we meet there)to warning (the cops are coming from there and block us off here) people communication is the major aspect that has enabled people to protest effectively and not fall into traps. We can only protest effectively if we are united. And that requires information.

• Let's face it: Pictures and videos are important. Not only in a "the cops are beating us to pulp situation" (their use there is limited), but also to mobilise others, show the extend of the mobilisation (the other side will usually downplay the size of the protests), feed social media (which is important), etc. As long as basic precautions are taken (no faces/identifiable information, no crimes, change position after you post it) this actually helps the cause and maintains the narrative (it's mighty hard to brand protests "full of rioters" when social media shows 100k people protesting peacefully). Mainstream and foreign media relies on this as most media outlets to not have actual coverage of critical protests (and if they do, they usually are behind police lines).

• Especially for larger protests you will often work in uncommon areas. Cities you have never been before. You will need reliable map services and geo location (where is the next hospital? Which shops are open? Are there any shopping malls we can slip into if needed? Where can we sleep? Is there a metro station we can use nearby?) This information is not only vital,it can be time critical. A friend of mine is only alive because his peers knew the way to the next hospital - neither of them was from the city, the ambulance stopped responding hours before that,etc.

• Phones are good transmitters - the cops will find any media you have on you if they really want (and they will search very well if they want), don't think you can hide a micro SD card somewhere. Some countries(including the US) have started to x-ray their new inmates to make sure they don't hide media within their bodies. (Official excuse: Drug packaging and "welfare") So often the best bet is to get all evidence, all media the other side doesn't want to see out before they have access to your phone. (Which I wouldn't count on to get back)

• They can also be a liveline to get one out of prison. The fact that relatives and fellow activists "know" that their loved ones are being arrested is essential for getting them out and prevent charges. Even in very democratic states the cops will be overstretched for days after a mass protest and people will be locked up without much identification and records. And none will know if Person A is locked up, in hospital, vanished due to something else (e.g. hiding or being a victim of something completely different - I know a girl who got offered a place to sleep after a protest and was locked in their basement for two days with their desire to make her their sex slave communicated), etc. Additionally,in the more oppressive countries,the other side will often use the "we don't know anything, the person didn't even attend" excuse to prevent people from getting legal help in time.

Now,the article has a bit of bad advice:

• It is a horrible idea to simply wipe your old phone after backup. Storage doesn't work that way. It is a easy task for any forensic expert to restore most if not all information on the phone. And as it was not used with all data privacy considerations before,there is a good chance they will find leads.

• It can be problematic to use VPNs, especially in a situation like this and if people use public VPNs. Remember,people know that VPNs exist and the other side usually has control over the telecommunications infrastructure. In at least two cases I know of, the use of a popular VPN within a certain cell tower range was used to differentiate between protestors and average citizens. People therefore should make an informed decision if they rather use normal "semi encrypted" communication (nothing unusual in using Signal,Bluesky,Twitter or Facebook in most countries) or if they want to use a VPN to tunnel their traffic but also are more susceptible.

Some better advice:

• Get a burner phone - do not get a used phone,do use your old phone - I literally bought a old phone from a radical neo Nazi on eBay once - the restored data showed massive illegal activities. You can get new phone with a reasonable secure OS for around 100 bucks these days.

• If possible get a prepaid card that is not linked to your name. Bonus if you can use a roaming card - a card from a different country. It is far more difficult for a country to access identifying information then. Do not use that card for anything else and do not set it up at home.

• Create designated social media accounts for protesting and do not use them from home (unless proper precautions are used) and only use them for that.

• Never log into any private accounts with the burner.

• Do not store anything incriminating on the phone - in your mind you must always be treat it like a device the other side might have full access to. Because if they want to,they will. (Yeah, I know, some countries still protect that information - but even there I saw cops overstepping their borders and simply force people. And once they are in,they are in)

• Degooglefy/Desamsungfy your phone as much as possible and make sure things like location based tracking,etc. are off.

• Consider using Briar and make it popular amongst your fellow protesters. Briar can be used without any mobile phone coverage, as it works with WiFi or Bluetooth only (via ad hoc connections). A single phone hidden in a public place can be used as a relay and inform thousands. But it requires a certain amount of users to work effectively.

• Once the other side got their hands on it consider it burned. Because that's what it is.

• Keep your phone on, charged as much as possible,, but in full(!) airplane mode (unless you use Briar,then keep BT on) but keep your GPS activated (again: remove location tracking services). Preload the relevant maps onto the device, ideally with satellite picture if available, these can be helpful). Keep relevant documents (e.g. timetables, partner organisations,etc.) in another encrypted file.

• Keep a reasonably encrypted file with a minimum number of contacts - lawyer, some civil rights organisations. If you want to have the number of a loved one find one of the countless online SIP providers(ideally in another country) and forward from there.

• Most phones allow a number of numbers to be accessed without unlocking the phone. Save a lawyer/protest organisation number in there so you can access it without unlocking.

• If you can,use an app that allows verifiable proof picture taking - there are various options that are FOSS available on F-Droid. This can later prevent the opposite side claiming that pictures were manipulated.

• Please confirm everything I wrote from other source. First because there is no proof I am not a bad faith actor (I am not,but you don't know that), second I might have made a mistake.

_Edit to add the last two points. _

I know someone who did that with his own book. Why? The publisher fucked him over in terms of pay. He even corrected a mistake in the original one.

You don't give your friend a thing, you give his poor wife something. A bidet goes so long and pregnancy itself is hard.

Seriously: Offer her to do some chores like shopping, gift them some take-away gift cards,etc. The situation will put a serious strain on their relationship,

A few days ago Margot Friedländer died at 103. Her entire closer family died in the holocaust after the USA, China and Brasil denied then immigration visa. She, as a teenager, was able to hide for quite a while but was finally ratted out by a jewish Gestapo spy and deported to a concentration camp. She met her future husband in the KZ and immigranted to New York later on, living a regular life until her husband died in 1997. She then started to write and moved back to Germany in 2010 (as a 89 year old!) and visites countless schools to talk about her experiences with the students and received countless medals, prices and acclaim. She was pictured on the German Vogue magazine in 2024 and later on continued her speeches until two days before her dead - her last speech was at the celebrations for the end of the WW2 in Germany.

We need more motion pictures about people like her. Not about another billionaire superhero who is unable to work in a team to save the world.

Because she was real. And much more powerful. I had the honour to attend a event she spoke.

Saw a mid size clinic where the server was also the personal desktop of the boss - who also used the domain admin user as his main user account. His reasoning was that he needed to see "everything" his employees did and that none must come "above him" IT wise.

And before I forget it:The machine was in his office where he still was seeing patients and where often patients were left unattended - without him locking the machine.

Und dann heulen, weil man als Tourismus Region nicht mehr so beliebt ist und weder Saisonarbeiter bekommt noch Gäste. Siehe Rügen.

https://www.mdr.de/...

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/...

And in two weeks there will be a special executive order to free his Tech Bro oligarch buddies from these tarrifs so Meta and Elmo are not forced to pay a dollar extra.

Persönlich schönster Moment: Wenn du dann so einen Idioten vorbei lässt und er es beim nächsten vor dir wieder macht.

... und du dann die blauen Lichter angehen siehst.

Ist mir mittlerweile zwei Mal passiert,ein Mal hab ich sogar noch für ne Zeugenaussage angehalten. Das andere war in CH,da war klar, der ist jetzt eh gefickt genug.

Auch schöner Moment. Ich fuhr als Führungskraft im Rettungsdienst früher ein ziviles Einsatzfahrzeug mit Sondersignal. Drängler vom anderen Stern auf einer Einfallstraße. An der nächsten roten Ampel tatsächlich nen Einsatz gekriegt. Neben dem Depp gestanden. Hat mich vorher angemacht, dann schon beim Funken komisch angeschaut und als ich dann mit breitem Grinsen die blaue Leuchte aufs Dach hab ist dem alle Farbe aus der dummen Visage gefallen. Fast Schade das ich weg musste.

Nachdem das genau mein Fachgebiet ist: WIE DUMM KANN MAN SEIN? WIE SEHR KANN MAN SEIN EIGENES VERSAGEN AUF DEM RÜCKEN VON RANDGRUPPEN AUSTRAGEN? AHHHH!

Mal abgesehen davon,dass fast ganz NRW und Essen im Besonderen rein qualitativ einfach unterirdische Leistungen im Rettungsdienst abliefern und gleichzeitig die Tarife tlw. um den Faktor 2 oder 3 höher sind als in anderen Bundesländern. (Man muss ja seine Berufsfeuerwehren schön groß halten, selbige oft auch Quersubventionieren und natürlich den RD mit Beamten besetzen, die dann aber durch die Mischverwendung kaum Routine entwickeln und so sehr notarztlastige Systeme und damit teure Systeme betreiben)

Um mal einen Vergleich zu geben: Essen hat auf 570Tsd. Einwohner 8 Feuerwachen. Und damit 3 Wachen(und da sind die ganzen Rettungswachen noch nicht mitgerechnet) mehr als das größere,aber geografisch schwierigere Stuttgart und nur 2 weniger als das drei Mal so große München. Man betreibt mit 27 RTW extrem viele und durch die überwiegende Besetzung durch Beamte auch extrem teure Fahrzeuge. Zum Vergleich: München betreibt im Regelrettungsdienst knapp über 50 Fahrzeuge, jedoch für Stadt und Landkreis gemeinsam, also für nicht ganz 2 Millionen Einwohner, Stuttgart kommt mit 17 Fahrzeugen aus), in beiden Städten spielen Beamte keine große Rolle im Rettungsdienst. Mit anderen Worten: In Essen leistet man sich wie in vielen Ecken des Ruhrgebiets sehr teure Infrastruktur mit sehr vielen Leuten, deutlich mehr als anderswo. (Was wie gesagt an der Berufsfeuerwehr struktur liegen mag - und böse Zungen würden einen Zusammenhang zwischen der Tatsache sehen,dass Führungskräfte von Berufsfeuerwehren mehr erhalten je mehr Mitarbeitende sie führen)

Die Rechtsgrundlage die man in Essen hierfür anführt ist grob gesagt mehr als windig uns bis jetzt in absolut jedem Verwaltungsgerichtsprozess gefallen.

Gleichzeitig wissen wir von den veheerenden Effekten die sowas hat - Menschen rufen nicht mehr den Rettungsdienst wenn es ihnen schlecht geht, sondern erst wenn es gar nicht mehr anders geht. Mit der Folge,das dann der Aufwand sowohl für den Rettungsdienst als auch für das Gesundheitswesen,das Sozialwesen als auch gesamtvolkswirtschaftlich deutlich größer sind als die so eingenommenen Beträge (und die Studien hierzu stammen aus Ecken der Welt in denen die RD Entgelte deutlich höher sind)

Ebenso sinken die Zahlen für Anrufe durch Passanten (die befürchten belangt zu werden) und selbst die sog. Bystander-CPR Rate (also wie viele Leute mit der Herz-Lungen-Wiederbelebung beginnen) sinkt.

Was wird also passieren? Essen wird kaum etwas einnehmen - die Kosten werden viele Betroffene nicht zahlen können,da sie eh von Sozialleistungen leben, es wird ein riesiger Verwaltungsaufwand entstehen, viele Randfälle werden irgendwie trotzdem zahlen,ja, aber mit gewaltigen Folgen. Das wird das Gesundheit- und Sozialsystem viel Geld kosten und nach viel Gerichts- und Rechtsanwaltkosten wird Essen die Angelegenheit irgendwann höchstgerichtlich verlieren und damit viel Geld wieder zurück zahlen müssen.

Warum jetzt? Es ist seit 5 Jahren bekannt,dass die bisherige Abrechnungspraxis in Essen windig war. Man hat nur gehofft,dass man von der Notfallreform überholt wird. Was sich nun zerschlagen hat. Es ist also schlichtweg vorhersehbar gewesen. Es war IMMER klar,dass die Kassen nur die Kosten für die Transporte und die damit verbundene Leistung übernehmen - wie im kompletten Land auch. Das SGB ist Bundesgeseetz und sie dürfen schlichtweg nicht mehr zahlen. (Und bei dem was die Kassen in NRW zahlen fangen alle RD Leiter in BW,RLP, Hessen, dem Saarland, LSA oder NDS zu weinen an - das wäre...ein Lottogewinn für die)

Ich krieg echt Blutdruck.

First of all: Where in your system was the sample taken? At the well? At a tank? At a faucet?

The answer to this question is important for the next steps.

Be aware that high lead content can also be an issue for plant watering and even showering.

If the sample has been taken at a endpoint (faucet) I would try to get another sample at the well directly. If you are "lucky" the acidity of the water is the reason lead is brought into your system from a section of your transport system. In that case replacing the transport layer (basically: Get new pipes) is the best approach - while it's not cheap it is also not as expensive as filtering (or dealing with the health issues from lead, especially in the US).

If the well shows the same values you are screwed. There are basically two scenarios then: Your well installation itself is the problem - this is in theory "fixable" but expensive, but you might accidentally even poisoning your neighbours then. (The way to find out if it's your installation is either with specialised equipment or, for some confirmation, get a sample from a neighbour who ideally life upstream from you)

If it's not your well installation then it's the well itself...and then you really really need a more extensive analysis: Lead in a ground water deposit is somewhat rare and often a indication something else is problematic - both because geologically lead is often next to other nasties, but also because human caused pollution with lead often goes with the real nasty stuff like arsenic,etc. And you really would want to find these. Then shit sadly becomes really expensive.

I never understood how they could choose Apotheker. He was literally fired from SAP in less than a year and yet HP got him as a CEO.

WebOS had its flaws,but it could have made HP market leader - at that time Apple was far from "enterprise ready", Android even less so, so if they had done it right they would have every CIO in their pocket within 4 years.

But of course that doesn't count for the next quarterly shareholder report. And Apotheker had to go "all in" on Software, because that's what he, the salesman he is, sold them.