Cory Lee has visited 40 countries on seven continents, and yet the Georgia native has never explored Cloudland Canyon State Park, about 20 minutes from his home. His wheelchair was tough enough for the trip to Antarctica but not for the rugged terrain in his backyard.
Lee’s circumstances changed Friday, when Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources and the Aimee Copeland Foundation unveiled a fleet of all-terrain power wheelchairs for rent at 11 state parks and outdoorsy destinations, including Cloudland Canyon. The Action Trackchair models are equipped with tank-like tracks capable of traversing rocks, roots, streams and sand; clearing fallen trees; plowing through tall grass and tackling uphill climbs.
“I’ll finally be able to go on these trails for the first time in my life,” said the 32-year-old travel blogger, who shares his adventures on Curb Free with Cory Lee. “The trails are off-limits in my regular wheelchair.”
Georgia is one of the latest states to provide the Land Rover of wheelchairs to outdoor enthusiasts with mobility issues.
In 2017, Colorado Parks and Wildlife launched its Staunton State Park Track-Chair Program, which provides free adaptive equipment, though guests must pay the $10 entrance fee. Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources has placed off-road track chairs in nearly a dozen parks, including Muskegon State Park. In 2018, Lee reserved a chair at the park that boasts three miles of shoreline on Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake. “It allowed me to have so much independence on the sand,” he said.
#I kept wavering on reblogging this because it feels like tempting fate #but the fact is: #that one post with the thing #(I found out yesterday that a month ago I spent two hours in a room with a maskless COVID-positive person) #(and emerged unharmed) #(God bless P100s) #(best sixty-two dollars I ever spent) #*knocks on wood* #illness tw #covid19 #transhumanism #proud citizen of The Future #body horror?
the pandemic is at an awkward point right now but we’ve finally hit the sweet spot for an important opportunity, which is that it’s the best possible moment to mask in public using like a darth vader or daft punk or immortan joe kinda mask. you could set it up to also be filtered if you want it to actually work as a mask, but the important thing is the fashion statement
see earlier this wouldn’t have worked bc people wouldn’t have trusted that it was compliant, you had to wait for masking rules to be relaxed to the point where a lot of people weren’t wearing them. and later it won’t work because it relies on the shared knowledge that people do still wear masks a lot for health reasons; the soul of the bit is that people know it’s covid-related rather than just cosplay
so, get out there is what I’m saying. clock is ticking
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#yesterday I had an exchange with a customer: #Him: ”What’s the respirator for?” #Me: ”I have immune problems.” #Him: ”Oh‚ so it has nothing to do with– okay.” #and now I’m so curious what he was planning to finish that sentence with #I feel like it might have been related #(I *know* I’ve had at least one customer who was under the impression that I’d chosen a respirator over a surgical mask for the Aesthetic) #(it’s quite possible that a *lot* of them are under that impression‚ and it just mostly doesn’t come up) #I really don’t know what’s going to happen to the abovementioned shared knowledge #apparently SARS-1 made a lasting impact on the masking cultures of the places it hit #and yet people in the Roaring Twenties forgot the lessons of the Spanish flu quite rapidly #I suspect there’s going to be a lot of geographical variation #for one thing‚ some people live in places where they see me around town‚ which is certainly a reminder #(I saw people’s reaction to seeing me when they walked into the restaurant in the spring and summer of 2020) #(the way I was a living public-health notice) #tag rambles #covid19 #clothing #transhumanism #illness tw #discourse cw? #amnesia cw?
Actually, a computer’s soul is located in its hard drive (or equivalent storage unit). This can be demonstrated by removing the hard drive from a computer and placing it in the hard-drive-less shell of a second, compatible computer: the shell then *is* the first computer.
Of course, this becomes somewhat more complicated in the case of computers with multipartite souls, such as SSD/HDD dual-drive laptops and smartphones with microSD slots.
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#I always keep my smartphone thoroughly anesthetised when I have to remove its microSD card for direct laptop-to-microSD data updates #I don’t want the poor thing to suffer through missing part of its soul :( #also there were a couple months there as kids where my brother and I each had a hard drive and were time-sharing a single vessel #reply via reblog #transhumanism #(sort of) #this probably deserves some warning tag but I am not sure what #[epistemic status: semi-serious] #[it’s pretentious and/or exaggerated and/or something to call a computer’s essence-of-individual-identity a ”soul”] #[but it’s not *that* far a stretch of the term] #[and many computers clearly do possess a meaningful amount of essence-of-individual-identity]
Right. Elastomeric half-facepiece respirators as an alternative to disposable filtering facemasks. I highly recommend getting one.
Mug for scale, in both cases.
Basic pitch: since I got this I have been much less anxious wandering out and about in the world and I have not worried nearly as much about infection as I have while wearing practically any other mask, because you can fit-check yourself every time you put it on and be practically assured that everything you breathe is going through your filters. This is also cheaper and produces less waste than disposables in the long run, and are more comfortable for long-term wear. Downsides are that it’s pretty big and bulky, and some models are particularly hard to talk through, it requires some basic maintenance, and you might not be able to get the one you want if you have very particular needs or if you absolutely must have filtered exhalation as stock.
Longer pitch: What’s different about these masks, pros, then cons, in more detail, plus what to look for when buying, and finally less-effective semi-reusable alternatives that are less eye-catching.
#have you heard the Good News of our Lord and Saviour #no but seriously they’re right and they should say it and also I learned some new things from this post #love the concept of a normie-passing/office-dress-code-compliant mask hiding a silicone seal on the inside‚ might have to look into that #I’d vaguely heard of the HF-800 already but I might have to look *more* into that‚ God knows my speech clarity needs all the help it can get #(even though it *would* suck to have to give up my beloved 7502) #(I hate changing models on my prosthetics) #(the glasses I’m wearing right now were discontinued in 2012 and I was like ”what do you *mean* you *discontinued* my *body part*”) #(I have backup glasses that are as similar as I could find) #(and nobody *else* can tell when I’m wearing them versus my primaries) #(but *I* can tell and it’s Terrible) #I *want* box filters but they’re literally twice as much as discs and I don’t think I can stomach the extra $12/pair #given that I’ve managed *this* long on carrying an umbrella and a plastic bag everywhere and being careful when dishwashing #(*knocks on wood*) #tag rambles #illness tw #proud citizen of The Future #disappointed permanent resident of The Future #transhumanism #the more you know
Walgreens says they’ll add multiple vaccinations into a single shot! They show a big list of vaccinations! I didn’t know some of these existed yesterday! Gotta admit, I’m a slightly tempted to just get everything even if there’s no practical value to it. Is there any reason why I would not want to do that? I know older people with little impact craters on their arms where they got the smallpox shot back in the day, so a least some vaccines aren’t as simple and painless as the covid19 one is… would they leave it off this list if it was a potentially serious one, like if getting vaccine for yellow fever could harm somebody then maybe they wouldn’t let me just get it all willy nilly when I’m not actually at risk of tropical diseases. I don’t actually know!
COVID-19
Pneumonia (Pneumococcal)
Shingles (Herpes Zoster)
Tdap (Whooping Cough)
Chickenpox (Varicella)
Cholera (Vaxchora)
HPV (Human Papillomavirus)
Hepatitis A (Hep A)
Hepatitis A/Hepatitis B (combination)
Hepatitis B (Hep B)
Japanese Encephalitis
MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella)
Meningitis (Meningococcal)
Polio
Rabies
Td (Tetanus, Diphtheria)
Typhoid
Yellow Fever
I know I got whatever was considered standard childhood vaccinations when I was a kid, and I know that included MMR, but I honestly don’t remember if that included anything else on the list. Whooping cough is one of those diseases that kids don’t get anymore, presumably I’ve got that one maybe? Better check on that.
Walgreens apparently will not let me get a booster with a different brand name, those bastards. They say “CDC recommends getting the same brand” and then link to the CDC page that does in fact say getting mix-n-match boosters is okay. Apparently CVS is cool with it? I think I’ll just sign up for the covid19 and flu combo for now.
Pro-vaccine advice: don’t get all of these vaccines
You really shouldn’t get the cholera vaccine, unless you’re seriously likely to need the cholera vaccine. It lasts about 3 months, and for the first 2 weeks you have to be super careful about washing your hands because you can transmit cholera to other people (because live attenuated).
TD isn’t needed if you’re getting TDaP (same TD there, plus pertussis).
Rabies only lasts about a year, I think, and it sucks to get unless you really need it. A better rabies vaccine would be great but we really don’t have it. I think there’s something similar with Typhoid; the immunity just doesn’t last.
There are 2 pneumonia vaccines, and you only really need one if you’re over 65 or have serious immune or respiratory issues (ask your doctor). Ditto for shingles; you don’t really need it if you are younger than that and/or had chickenpox after the age of 2 or 3.
The one non-standard one you could seriously consider getting is Yellow Fever, and they generally don’t recommend it unless you’re going to need it. It has a low complication rate, of something like 1/50 to 100M, but does have the possibility of giving you the virus. It’s still one of those we could consider expanding, but we really did wipe it out in the US.
I added mine to my Word doc where I have all the meds I’m currently taking, plus doses, and the contact info for my past doctors.
The nurses are always super grateful when I just hand them a piece of paper when they ask “what are you taking”, and I don’t have to write it down every time.
I don’t think my situation has gotten *quite* complicated enough yet to need a standard ref sheet, but I’ll bear that in mind as I get older.
I do write down the details every time I have a new concern, and hand them that when they ask about the purpose of the visit. They seem a little weirded out by it, but they’re willing to go along with it, and I think they’ve been adding the sheets to their file on me.
(In related news, it’s amazing how much more seriously people take you when you have things in writing: nothing says Responsible Adult like a clipboard, apparently. This mostly holds even if you’re using it as assistive tech for your shitty autistic speaking ability and/or your shitty immune system (leading to the use of a high-grade-but-pretty-muffling prosthetic immune system) [link]. It’s a good trick to have in my arsenal, given that I look about 13 and often have trouble getting people to take me seriously in meatspace.)
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#medical cw #vaccines #transhumanism #reply via reblog #illness tw
is there like. Theory. about the definition of the self through the objects we surround ourselves with? i feel so much more like Myself ever since i got my shirt again and i am curious what the philosophy side of tumblr has to say about it
While I do get the part-of-me feeling most strongly with computers, I occasionally get it with other stuff too. I’m not sure how much of it is just an autism not-liking-change thing, but there definitely does seem to also be an aspect of “affirming my identity as the sort of person who would have X”.
(I’m sure that’s the holy grail of marketing, but I think it very much *can* be both natural and healthy. I absolutely endorse my desire to be the sort of person who would have a utility belt.)
Clothing can have additional aspects: I think the feeling I get from wearing my Girl Guide jacket primarily operates through some of the same mechanisms as weighted blankets, feeling more comfortable and confident when well-covered.
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#philosophy #reply via reblog #is the blue I see the same as the blue you see #clothing #transhumanism #autism
The average person has about one or two hours/night of REM sleep, and is awake for about 16 hours/day. So of all your experience, about 90% is awake, and 10% is in dreams.
But dreams tend to involve much stronger emotions than waking. In a typical waking day, you’ll go to the office, maybe hang out with friends, do a lot of boring stuff you’ve done before. In a typical dream, you’ll find true love, or get attacked by zombies, or discover a new continent. So much more than 10% of your interesting emotions, happiness, and unhappiness happens in dreams. Let’s kind of arbitrarily say it’s 50%.
You spend so much work trying to improve the quality of your waking life, and it’s so hard. But you put almost no work into improving the quality of your dreams. And improving the quality of dreams is much easier! A cooler room, a softer blanket, or a cup of tea before bed could all do it. That’s before you even get to all the complicated herbs and meditation techniques people have invented for the purpose. If, as a utilitarian, your goal is to maximize your positive and minimize your negative experiences – then if you’re concentrating on waking life, you’re barking up the wrong tree.
This suggests probably the most important and neglected effective altruist cause is giving people better dreams. It probably costs hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to Amnesty International to prevent one person from being tortured when awake, but far more people are tortured in nightmares, and those probably can be prevented for a few dollars each. The same is true of positive utilitarianism. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to create new lives. But there are dozens of medications and supplements that can give people much more vivid dreams, and if we give those the the people whose dreams are most likely on net to be pleasant, we’re creating vast amounts of extra pleasurable experience.
If your dreams are generally good, take galantamine and melatonin to get more of them. If your dreams are generally bad, take scopolamine and clonidine to get less of them. This is by far the most effective life improvement advice you will ever get.
I think this is related to the distinction between the “experiencing self” and the “remembering self”? Most people remember their dreams pretty weakly (I generally don’t remember mine at all.) We generally seem to treat the “remembering self” as more real than the “experiencing self”. (Consider the use of “conscious sedation” in medicine.)
That just kicks the can down the road to “making dreams more *memorable* is one of the most important things we could possibly do”.
And before anyone is like “but most waking experiences are also not memorable”: maybe your *brain* doesn’t remember, but if you care to arrange it you can get an exoself that *does* [link]. As technology advances (data storage, wearable recorders, automated transcription, etc), this gets more practical every year.
Whereas…okay, I haven’t yet had a chance to post the draft I’m thinking of here, but for now: the scariest part of lucid dreaming is the acute awareness that you’re operating with a malfunctioning memory compiler with *nothing* you can do to compensate for that. Everything around you–every bit of scrap paper, or keyboard, or microphone, or friend–is an illusion even more fragile than your current consciousness.
A sedated me is, if she can *possibly* manage it, wearing a microphone around her neck [link]. A dreaming me gets nothing: maybe an after-the-fact journal entry if she’s *lucky*.
idk i think if people were dying for the second time that might imply some good news
If my dad dies of this, it will be his second death. He died the first time of a heart attack in 1994. Heart attacks are among the easier kinds of death to undo: even with our all-too-limited medical tech, we can sometimes manage it. In his case, they could.
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#reply via reblog #death tw #transhumanism #covid19 #medical cw #trump cw #(the following category tag was added retroactively:) #proud citizen of The Future
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