The things I saw beggar description. The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick."
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to Gen. George C. Marshall
April 15, 1945
describing visit to a German concentration camp
It works
Immediate brain effects
Short cold-water immersions trigger a surge in key neurotransmitters involved in attention, mood, and stress regulation.[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih]
• Whole‑body cold immersion increases serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, cortisol, and β‑endorphin, which are central to emotion regulation, stress response, and reward processing.[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih]
• After a single cold‑water bath, participants report feeling more active, alert, attentive, proud, and inspired, and less distressed and nervous.[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih]
Cold exposure also changes large‑scale brain network connectivity in ways that may relate to antidepressant effects.[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih]
• fMRI work shows increased coupling between medial prefrontal cortex and anterior insula/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and decreased coupling between medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex after cold immersion, patterns linked to better emotion regulation and reduced depressive rumination.[psychiatrypodcast +1]
• These connectivity shifts track with increased positive affect rather than just reduced negative affect, suggesting enhanced cognitive flexibility and self‑regulation.[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih]
This is cute
Mercedes, Fernand’s wife and Edmond Dantès’ former fiancée, gets caught in the crossfire as Fernand (played by Guy Pearce) fires wildly at the Count (Edmond, played by Jim Caviezel) in a desperate bid for revenge. She is wounded but survives the gunshot, which occurs amid the chaos of their final showdown at the Count’s estate. This moment underscores Fernand’s unraveling desperation after his betrayals are exposed.[moviemistakes]
All my good friends i meet this way
Temperature changes can trigger flashbacks in trauma survivors by acting as sensory cues that mimic the physiological sensations of past high-stress events, such as heat blasts or extreme environments. This connection links to the body’s stress response, where shifts in temperature disrupt emotional regulation and activate PTSD-related symptoms.
The Black Death, often called the plague, is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, not a virus. This Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium infects humans primarily through bites from infected fleas, such as Xenopsylla cheopis, which thrive on rodents like black rats.
Key Characteristics
Yersinia pestis is a facultative anaerobe that survives in flea digestive tracts by forming biofilms, blocking the flea’s gut and prompting regurgitation of infected blood into new hosts. It evades the immune system via proteins like Yop effectors injected through a type III secretion system, leading to rapid bacterial multiplication in lymph nodes. The bacterium spreads via bubonic (lymphatic), septicemic (bloodstream), or pneumonic (lungs) forms, with pneumonic being highly contagious through respiratory droplets.