LB: I want everyone to know - and please tell everyone! - that it is better to use the public defibrillator in *every* situation.

If you get the defib, and the patient's condition isn't suitable, either the machine itself or the emergency call handler will tell you.

But if you're ever unsure about whether you should use the public defib or not, the answer is YES. Every. Single. Time.

And if you're unsure about whether you're capable of using one: YES. You are. They're made so that anyone can use them.

It is not possible to make the situation worse. You can't do anything wrong. Every thing you try to do for a person having a cardiac arrest is better than not doing it.

My favourite phase of cake decoration: disposing of the leftovers. Yum!

There's a poll going round the Fedi at the moment about whether you would be able to use an AED/defibrillator on a woman having a heart attack and a lot of people are commenting they'd let the trained person who brought it use it. In the UK at least you don't need to wait for ambulance staff to bring it, they're in lots of public locations like stations, shopping centres and churches. In an emergency if you're on the phone to the ambulance service they will tell you where the nearest one is, but if you want to familiarise yourself with the locations of nearby ones just to be prepared you can see them here: https://www.defibfinder.uk/

Hello fine people of Mastodon!

I'm Frank: a soil ecologist, popular-science author, nature macrophotographer, university lecturer and science communicator (and exhausterwhelmed new father). Through my research and outreach, I'm determined to raise awareness of the tiny organisms that keep our soils (and our world) working!

Make sure you've tapped the follow button if you want to learn more about:

🪱 Life in soil
📸 Nature macrophotography
🎙️ Science communication
📚 My debut (award-winning) scientific nonfiction book 'The World Beneath our Feet'

Still reading this? You're my kind of person!

#Introduction #AboutMe #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet #Nature #SoilBiodiversity #Entomology

This goes out to all of the yoga people. I am looking for either a book or a website with thorough text descriptions of the various poses. I do not want pictures, or audio, or video. I am deafblind, and these things are not accessible to me, and I do not have the bandwidth to run them through a transcription bot such as Aiko. I am not interested in face-to-face instruction and finding someone who knows American Sign Language who can teach me yoga face-to-face is a tall order. There are also other physical issues and I would be more comfortable doing this on my own. I do have the written instructions for the eyes free chair yoga program, but I would like to learn more poses and change things up and do more standing poses. So a nice written description either in a book or on a website would be phenomenal if anyone can point me in that direction. Much appreciated! 🧘‍♀️

Questions for people who currently work in healthcare, especially in fascist western countries like the US :boost_requested:

I've seen a lot of dismissals of some ideas I'm writing about by people who don't to my knowledge work in the industry, so I'd like some feedback from those who do. Replies encouraged, and I'd love to do some interviews if possible.

To all healthcare workers: if your needs were met, would you continue your job without being paid money for it?

I'm tired of being tired!

Layer up long covid, busy weekend, lack of sleep, flu jab, and fuck me I'm tired.

Here's a new artwork from me: "Canopy."

It shows video views from the forest floor, changing occasionally. They can only be viewed by looking upwards from underneath.

I’ve been thinking about the interactions of infrastructure and the natural world. So, this is a sort of streetlight, but for trees.

It's part of "Bioreactor," my solo show at Hood College in Frederick, MD, which is open 9am-7pm every day through October 15.

#MastoArt

Hey folks, @Aseelsehwel has received an offer from University College Birmingham and is trying to find someone from the admissions team or an academic member of staff who could advise her on her situation, particularly regarding the UK government’s requirements for evacuating students from Gaza and whether the university could offer any flexibility with the financial deadlines she’s been given.

Any of you know anyone there who can help?

#UK #UniversityCollegeBirmingham #Birmingham #Gaza #Palestine #university

This week has been the first Stoke Book Festival. I've been to four of the many events and thoroughly enjoyed them.

We made herbal tea and listened to a story teller - a wonderful way to experience both and very autumnal.

We took part in an online world record attempt for number of people reading in 12 hours.

We wrote letters to our future selves, which will be posted to us in a year.

We went to a networking and publishing panel event, where there was lots of validation for how @rpbook does things, lots of food for thought for @authorhelp and lots of lovely authors, including a blind lady who is writing a book about access to nature.

I'm kind of tired now, but also enthused. We should definitely get involved next year and we have already pitched an idea to one of the librarians involved in organising it.

#authornetworking #selfpubtips
#stokebookfestival

We went to an event this afternoon as part of #StokeBookFestival. A local bookseller made a very interesting point: he finds it hard to sell books that have #AI generated covers.

He said that many people see an AI generated cover, assume the rest is AI, and look elsewhere.

#IndieAuthor #SelfPublishing

I approve of this method of proving humanity. Much better than asking me to tick all the boxes containing buses or whatever.

(Seen at a UK National Archives survey)

Do you know what really grinds my gears? When somebody responds to a perfectly valid accessibility issue with, “Do you have any family member or friend that can help you?”
Why is that any of your business? And for the record, no, I don’t have someone here, so actually help me with a solution.
In this case I’ve tried to educate rather than just get angry, but honestly, it’s exhausting.

Please tell Sadiq Khan not to fuel transphobia by allowing JK Rowling Xmas lights in London. What a killer of seasonal joy that would be! https://action.goodlawproject.org/sadiq-khan-pull-the-plug-on-transphobia

"By using AI, tasks like essays that used to take hours can be completed in minutes!"

Sure, like how if I arrive at the gym and immediately go for a shower, my workout is done in record time. And if I throw my sandwiches straight in the bin, I can finish my lunch in under 10 seconds.

Okay, seriously, I have to crash.

But.

For my morning, well *my* morning, everyone else on the east coast's afternoon, perusal:

What is the best film adaptation of a novel of all time?

I'll reply in thread with my own answer in the morning. Errrr, afternoon. Errr, when I wake up.

Boost for reach.

There is a new cat in the neighbourhood. She's been around for several weeks now and I've stopped to talk to her a few times. She's very affectionate and when I call to her, she comes over to walk back and forth on the wall and headbutt me. Today, she saw me coming and didn't wait to be called ❤️

#NotMyCat

RE: https://lgbtqia.space/@aceofcosmicspace/117388322996515225

PLEASE BOOST. Okay, as a trans *man* I experience dysphoria sometimes, but I've never experienced dysphoria as a woman before, as I've never been a woman before(long story but the fact I am plural accounts for much of that). For additional context, I've recently discovered I'm bigender(trans man, and woman). In many ways this feels more closely aligned with trans women's experience than cis women's experience...so, my trans women fedi friends, what do *you* do when you feel dysphoric to feel better please? Tips, tricks etc greatly appreciated. (Femme language towards me in comments please, and my femme/girl name here online is Acey💖)

#trans #transwomen #transgrnder #dysphoria #bigender #bisexual #plural #transgirlstuff

I miss mid nineties cinema: practical effects. Not. Cutting. To. Another. Shot. Every. Two. Seconds. A movie that is well under < 2 hours long. Made on a modest budget. Original stories.

After The Truman Show the other night, we went from the sublime to the ridiculous in the form of Team America: World Police.

It knows what it is and it goes all-in. In every way, it goes above and beyond to take the piss out of the arrogance, ignorance and interference of America on the world stage.

Being so long since the Gulf wars, WMD, and regular "peacekeeping" missions of the 90s, I wasn't sure if teenager would get it. But it's still recognisable as the worst traits of the US as a country, as well as the all-American action movie.

We should probably have a chat about how the UK is, in its own ever so polite way, just as bad. Lots of parallels to be drawn.

This morning, we find out what teen thinks of German cinema in the form of Run Lola Run.