Stanley O'Shea

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Author name: Stanley O'Shea

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Book review – Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman et al.

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Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman My rating: 4 of 5 stars I read Noise chapter by chapter, section by section, on and before train rides over the course of a year. I was getting rounds of treatment for chronic dry eye syndrome, and reading a paperback in short sessions was how I assessed my progress during the recovery. The book’s density demanded that pace anyway. Given their verbal style, I felt like going through grad school again. By the way, I used a pair of scissors to cut it into three parts— what I typically do for thick books (another example was Atlas Shrugged). By the time I finished, I noticed my thinking had shifted slowly. I consciously refrain from taking any single expert’s opinion at face value — not out of distrust, but because the book makes the noisy nature of human judgment impossible to ignore, particularly in healthcare, a field most relevant to me personally, among other fields discussed in this book. Also, think about it: a second opinion, even a second opinion from a diagonal position, may not be sufficient.. I have learned a lot of things that aren’t taught in my field by training, cognitive psychology, such as distinguishing the concept of rules from the concept of standards. Psychology programs are specialized in terms of domain knowledge, and that’s why I care to fill up the blind spots as I age. Books like this are precious, though I wish it could be written in a more digestible way for the general public. I believe the paperback was the best format for me, if you see all the underlines and notes I have around the illustrations. The book is marketed as a NYT bestseller yet the reading experience is quite different. It’s not the kind of self-help bestseller. Readers without a quantitative background may struggle, while those with formal training in statistics will find the lack of mathematical language a bit frustrating (but that’s the common struggle of psychology as a less-than-hard scientific field: you can’t satisfy both sides). The authors also use “algorithm” loosely, in a way that is inconsistent with its direct meaning in CS. As I first read through the book, I couldn’t help but ask myself whether the authors might be talking about regression models. But not quite. As I later understood, they were talking about calculating methods or something close to that. Anyway, a trained model, rather than the process of training the model. This brings me to further realization of the unresolved tension here: Dr. Kahneman argues that statistical or AI models should replace noisy human judgment, but those models (including, say, regression models) are trained on human-generated data. You cannot eliminate noise by automating it. It might be harsh to call it cyclic, but it’s like using people to train AI models and then using AI to replace human labor. In my opinion, you constantly need new human data to update the model. Despite this, Noise is worth reading slowly, with realistic expectations. If you don’t have the time, you can simply jump to the sections you are willing to dig into, but then you may not get much out of it. For readers who have a background in psychology and human science, this book may quietly change how you evaluate judgment. Not dramatically. Those who need I/O psychology in their practice, this book reminds you to hire professionals to do your noise audit. I acknowledge their contributions to this field. View all my reviews This review was originally posted on Goodreads.com

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Adventures with the Medical Ninjas Episode 08 Gary Woo – the IT Director pt.3

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Part 3 I said to the cat fused with me, “We’ve already drained all the groundwater within a few kilometers. But just spraying bubbles — no matter what kind of bubbles — probably won’t work on him anymore. There’s no way to escape now. The moment he touches us, we’ll both be vaporized. This guy has already gone insane. He refuses to face reality and has chosen to use his own cells as fuel. For his so-called fusion of science and art, he’s basically as crazy as Deidara.” The cat said, “If we stop spraying water, the temperature in this hallway will rise even higher. He’ll burn through the hospital walls.” Fig. 15 Director Woo put his glasses back on. His body really had started to self-ignite, but there were no open flames, only flame tongues like sunspots. And yet his tank top was not getting scorched. Strange. Strange. Very strange. Once ninjutsu reaches a certain level, it can no longer be explained by ordinary laws of physics. A web-like structure shot out from his mouth and his heart at the same time, spreading like a pair of wings. Every node was dazzlingly bright, but the overall temperature was not as high as I had expected. That was the most frightening part. He said, “Watch carefully. This is my secret jutsu: Fire Neural Network.” I said, “Oh. At first glance I thought it was graph theory. I thought you were plotting something again.” I understood now. His Computing Power Knife had actually been burned into ashes by the heat. The other blade, the Data Knife, could still hold its shape for now because it was made of plasma, but sooner or later it would disappear too. He said, “Doesn’t look that hot, right? That’s because all the energy is sealed inside each node. The pathways between the nodes are all bidirectional. The weights of these connections are all dynamic. Once I trap you in this network, you won’t just be burned to ashes. You’ll never be able to escape from it.” I said, “My god. This is just as evil as Brandon Superior’s fascia web.” He said, “Heh. Because the substrate is the fascia web itself. He had several of them, and he gave me a smaller one, because I told him it would help with my jutsu research. The hyaluronic acid inside it helps me control the energy, so it doesn’t leak out like it did in those earlier, more traditional fire-style jutsu.” I said, “So you’re a mad scientist too. Any sympathy I had for you is gone now. The fascia web is refined from the corpses of living people. You really are an accomplice.” He said, “Is there ever one hundred percent good or evil in human nature? My attitude toward Brandon was never one hundred percent love or hate either.” I started discussing it with the cat: how exactly were we supposed to deal with this move of his? I did not want to get trapped in a net again like last time. He was using his own cells as an energy source, so the total energy had to be finite. But a neural network could store and release energy very efficiently. This guy really had been calculating all along. And up to now, all I had done was keep adjusting the parameters of my water-style jutsu to match the parameters of his fire-style jutsu. That was too passive. Shall we drag out the fight? Is this the only option for us? The cat said, “No. Since he dared to use this method, the energy is probably not going to disappear quickly. But once you get trapped in his net, he can kill you in one strike. The energy efficiency of this secret jutsu is too high. This ain’t fire-style jutsu in a traditional sense.” I said, “Then we can’t die here. Should we attack his network with snowflake-shaped shuriken? Or use ice spikes against his nodes? But cooling things down also takes a huge amount of energy. My spiritual power is definitely insufficient now, and I don’t have ice chakra either. Who am I supposed to borrow it from?” The cat said, “Let’s summon the Water God.” I said, “Which Water God are you talking about? I don’t remember ever making a contract with any aquatic animal. I’ve only known ninjutsu for this short a time. The only thing I know how to summon is orthotic inserts.” The cat said, “When you traveled in Kyoto that year, didn’t one of your Airbnb Experience guides take you to a temple? The dragon on the ceiling of the main hall was the Water God.” I said, “Right. That guide did say back then that in Japanese mythology, that water dragon was in charge of rainfall.” The cat said, “I said hello to him at the time, and we exchanged contact info. An encrypted address.” I said, “A public key or a private key?” The cat said, “You don’t need to know that much.The animal world has communication methods that you humans can’t understand.” I said, “Hurry up. That vice professor is coming to kill us. After the Water God gets summoned over, what are the two of us supposed to do?” The cat said, “I forgot to mention, this kind of contract is not the same as the summoning jutsu you saw in Naruto. This is a three-way human-cat-dragon fusion. This kind of contract is meant to stop summoned animals from being used as shields. You should know that when Sasuke Uchiha used Manda as a shield in the past, that violated the contract. Later, the Giant Animal Alliance issued a new rule: if you want to use summoning, there has to be an equivalent exchange. This time, the gas fee for the exchange is my… Oh, the other side has responded. Get ready. Time to transform.” Fig. 16 Within a few seconds, my body fused with the water dragon. Aside from the fish scales on

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Adventures with the Medical Ninjas Episode 08 Gary Woo – the IT Director pt.2

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Part 2 Fig. 08 My body entered the second stage of the cat-human fusion. My two arms merged with my two front legs, which saved more energy that way. The stream of water coming out of my mouth became much stronger. The flow rate increased, and so did the pressure. By now, the hallway floor was already covered in water, and the air was full of vapor. The matrix made of his 0s and 1s was almost blown apart by my water stream, but it still held together with surprising toughness. His suit was already soaked through. He took off his suit and tie, then pulled off his shirt too, facing me directly in just a tank top. He said, “Not many people can push me to the point where I have to strip down this much to fight. Last time was with my old man. You cat-clan folks really are a pain.” Fig. 09 Then he released a new fire-style move: Fire Chain. He said, “The temperature of my Fire Chain is high enough to burn straight through the walls of this hospital. Once it wraps around you, I’m afraid your soul won’t be able to escape from your body.” I said, “Wow. What you’re showing me is the chain of side effects. A drug prescribed by the doctors in Department A causes side effects managed by Department B. Then to treat that side effect, you have to take medicine from Department B, which creates another side effect managed by Department C. And on and on it goes, with no end.” He said, “That’s how it is in the 4th-tier city. In the 1st-tier city, that kind of thing doesn’t happen. You just haven’t seen enough.” I said, “Oh really? Then why don’t you go to the 1st-tier city for every problem, whether big or small? Do you think the subway there has enough room for you to sit on the floor and play with your phone?” He said, “Who was playing with a phone? We were reading documents sent down by our training supervisors. Every second counted.” I said, “What I don’t get is this. Sure, Brandon Superior was an internet celebrity. But what made you think he could cure your autoimmune disease?” He said, “Brandon was already a genius student back when we were in school. He knew I was always missing classes because of pain, and that I often couldn’t even take PE. On exam days I still had to take medication. Back then he told me he would definitely develop a method to cure my problem at the root. And last year, he told me that method was already close to success. But then you killed him.” I said, “What method? Brainwashing? Suppressing local pain through the central nervous system?” He said, “Cut the crap. It was chakra thread embedding. He told me that this original method had already worked successfully on you. Once he built up a few more cases, he’d dare to use it on me. But you got him killed, and now the hope in my life is gone again.” I said, “What? At the time, he told me that method was already very mature. That’s why I dared to do it. So he was using me as a lab rat? And honestly, it wasn’t that miraculous anyway. It only lasted a month or two. Then the pain came back. At first I thought he could fix the root of the problem, but later I realized he had never even found the root cause. He was just trying out these self-invented methods at vulnerable targets. At the time he even pulled a shadow-clone-style move. It was like two of him were holding me down together.” He said, “Stop talking nonsense. He told me that method would definitely work. Just because it didn’t work on you doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work on me. Enough talk. Let me show you a stronger jutsu.” Fig. 10 Then the flames coming out of his mouth began to change shape and expand, turning into a tree structure. He said, “See that? This is Fire Tree. Once a tree starts expanding, it can reach more space. There’s nowhere to hide.” I said, “Fire Tree? So is this a decision tree or an evolutionary tree?” He said, “Of course it’s a decision tree.” I said, “Oh, I get it. Kind of like AI diagnosis. You ask the patient one question after another, rank the questions by how much variance they can explain, and in the end AI replaces all the internal medicine doctors in your hospital.” He said, “In your dreams. This is just clinical support. Doctors aren’t that easy to replace. Seeing patients is not just about filling out a questionnaire.” I said, “Or maybe it’s like those pyramid schemes in the wellness industry. Senior members recruit junior members, and the business keeps getting bigger and bigger.” He said, “Don’t lump our legitimate hospital together with those pyramid-scheme people, OK?” I said, “Don’t forget, back then Brandon Superior was running training sessions at your hospital at night, preaching to female medical staff. That was also a structure where old members pulled in new members, right?” He said, “I won’t let you talk about Brandon like that! The things he taught were way beyond the understanding of someone like you!” I said, “Right, so you definitely knew about all that too. You weren’t his accomplice, were you?” He said, “No. Don’t talk nonsense. That was his business. It wasn’t my place to interfere.” I said, “Oh, so you were covering for him, just so he could cure your illness? In that case, I’d better upgrade my water-style jutsu too, so I can deal with your tree structure.” Fig. 11 The stream of water coming out of my mouth gradually turned into bubbles. They spread in the form of transverse waves, some big, some small, with different wavelengths, different amplitudes, and different frequencies. When the bubbles hit his high-temperature

Woo releases Fire Matrix, made of 0s and 1s.
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Adventures with the Medical Ninjas Episode 08 Gary Woo – the IT Director pt.1

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Fig. 01 Two weeks had passed since Mrs. Kokoro Superior and her dogs took Dr. Superior’s body back home. I came back to this ninja-run hospital for another test, to see if I could find the root cause of the weird chronic problems in my body. Some young specialists in the 4th-tier city and the 1st-tier city had told me to give up. But because of the expectation treadmill, I kept feeling I was getting closer and closer to a breakthrough. So I still came back, following online recommendations, just to try my luck again. This test only took five minutes. The sample had to be sent to another place for analysis, and the report would take a few days. So I got ready to leave. But in the hospital hallway, I suddenly ran into a young man. His hairstyle had changed, but I recognized him right away. He was the one who had used the Sharingan on me in the subway in that second-tier city. He said, “Uh, it’s you? You’ve got some nerve coming back to our hospital.” I said, “Aren’t you the guy who was sitting on the subway floor playing with his phone? I thought you were a college student. What, are you here to see a doctor too?” He said, “I’m Gary. I work here. People call me Director Woo. Some people also call me Vice Professor Woo. Back then, those people in the subway were all under me.” I said, “So you people were doing training in that second-tier city? You don’t dress like a doctor. You don’t look like security either. Don’t tell me you work in administration. If someone who uses genjutsu works in admin, and uses it to mentally control medical staff, that would at least make sense.” He said, “I’m not with those people. I’m in charge of IT at this hospital.” I said, “Then did I ever do anything to you?” He said, “You still have the nerve to ask? You killed Dr. Superior. Blood has to be paid with blood. I saw the whole scene of your fight with him on the surveillance system.” I said, “No. That was self-defense. Other staff in your hospital said Dr. Superior got what he deserved. They said I was getting rid of a public menace. Even his wife, Mrs. Kokoro Superior, didn’t blame me.” He said, “Mrs. Kokoro Superior had already become a stranger to him long ago. What I had with him is not something outsiders like you can understand.” I took a sharp breath. I thought to myself: wow, Dr. Superior’s true love has finally shown up. Looks like I won’t be getting back to work that easily today. I said, “So Dr. Superior didn’t just go after those female medical workers. He also had a boy toy in this hospital? Does Mrs. Kokoro Superior’s family know about this?” He said, “Don’t talk nonsense. We were roommates in college. You killed my old roommate. I’m not letting you go that easily today.” I said, “I already told you, that was self-defense. Otherwise he would have turned me into a specimen. You work in this hospital, and you can see the surveillance footage. There’s no way you don’t know that. So why are you standing with an evil man?” He said, “Cut the crap. I don’t care about any of that. I’m going to avenge my brother. You don’t get to decide what’s justice and what’s evil.” Fig 02 Then he launched his first move: Fire Style: Fire Fall, trying to block my way out. It was the first time I had seen a fire-style attack in real life instead of in anime. Honestly, it did not look that different from a stage act. That was when it suddenly clicked for me: right, you’re a descendant of the Uchiha clan. Of course you can use fire-style jutsu. So when Dr. Superior was trying to kill me back then, you were the one who set the fire, weren’t you? That day Mrs. Kokoro Superior told me that sooner or later, you and I were going to meet. So this was what she meant. But if you were helping him, then why did you save me? He said, “I wasn’t helping him hurt people. I was stopping him in secret, so he wouldn’t make an even bigger mess inside the hospital again. Every time he killed an innocent person, the hospital director, Dr. Divine, and I had to spend a lot of effort cleaning up after him.The president had to wine and dine the people who came to investigate, and I had a ton of IT work to deal with. There’s no point explaining any of this to you. You wouldn’t understand. I’m not wasting more words on you. You’re not leaving here alive today. Let me show you a new fire-style move.” Fig. 03 Then he launched Fire Style: Fire Tornado. It was several times more powerful than the last move. I could already feel the temperature in the hospital hallway rising fast. At the same time, his phone turned into a light saber. I said, “Is your light saber made of plasma? What happens if someone gets hit by it?” He said, “What, scared now? Once it hits you, it’ll cut off your chakra pathways. Then you won’t be a threat to me anymore. I know that once you lose control, you’re capable of stabbing Dr. Superior to death. And I heard you can also use summoning jutsu. If you dare summon those two stinky shoe insoles again, I’ll slice them apart with this light saber.” I said, “Do you smoke? Cigarettes? Cigars? Or hookah? Your smoke rings are pretty good.” I thought to myself: this guy has the Sharingan. I can’t let him control me again. It’s already this late, but looks like I still have no choice but to fight. Fig. 04 At that moment, the cat on my shirt jumped out and fused with me. We

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Autumn 2025 update

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The temperature dropped sharply earlier last month. Through a bad episode of calf muscle stiffness due to my historic lumbar disc issue, I learned to wear thicker sweatpants even indoors, to help maintain good circulation in my calves. What I realized during this process: I have been wearing one more layer on my arms than on my legs. Our legs need more warmth as we grow older, and prolonged sitting does worsen the circulation. At the same time, a sudden episode of rhinitis, which led to a one-day-long headache, helped me realize that I had let my face be exposed to cold air during my night walk, despite protecting every other place on my body (except the hands). All these things make sense. There’s a cause behind it. The trigger was usually ignored because we were overconfident or because we were negligent. Now I have developed the habit of taking a look at the outdoor temperature on my phone before I go out. I recommend installing a mini thermometer inside your vehicle if you drive one. Additionally, you can carry one with you in your backpack, wherever you go. The cheap ones may not be sensitive and accurate enough. This year, I have been reading (or say, deciphering) a psychology nonfiction book called Noise by Professor Daniel Kahneman et al. He mentioned this type of retrospective analysis for what’s going on in our lives. It’s different from statistical analyses for large datasets collected from a group of people. I think both are important skills to understand this world around us. However, before you go academic, you have to learn to protect yourself as an individual, and nobody else can substitute that role. In the past few months, I have learned a little bit about running social media ads. Through this trial-and-error process, after watching a couple of YouTubers’ insightful videos, I kind of saw through the business model behind these tech giants. No details to offer here for my conjecture, as I don’t want to sound cynical without much quantitative evidence to provide. My book ad has reached a lot of people from several countries, mostly in the US, and my website got more traffic as a result. Running social media does not lead to sales directly, as I have read about other people’s experiences. Marketing requires a huge investment of mental work, no less than the cost and effort of production and publishing. That being said, I don’t regret this learning process. I once had a landlord who said this to me, “The best way to learn something is to put your hands on it.” I put my hands on my mouse and keyboard after watching tutorials. That’s how I learned the new skill, which college and graduate school cannot teach. With so many other tasks to finish each month, I chose to practice advertising advertising stage by stage ( as opposed to letting it run constantly as some Youtube guru advised us to), and use AI to help me automate a lot of tasks. One cannot outsource all the mental work, not for marketing. The playlist of audiobook excerpts is still expanding. Link. Unlike my true video content, this playlist is only on YouTube, which I deem the most serious platform for the general public. Now, take a look at my creative work published recently on my blog and social media channels. I am talking about the Medical Ninjas series. This series really has transformed into a better shape, episode by episode, despite the limits of AI generation and the constraints of different apps provided by the same platform. I finished a fork (learned this concept from blockchain) of the storyline: N1, N2, N3. It’s based on my experience of seeking healthcare in a city with better healthcare resources. Episode N1 [ Dr. Cold and his white guns ] N2 [ Getting a chakragraphy and encountering the soul reapers ] Episode N3 [ Dr. Warm: the Quincy defendant who activates the Cosmo ] Part 1 Part 2 In contrast, Episode 07 [ Kokoro Superior and her puppies ] has a higher percentage of fiction, based on previous episodes. part 1 part 2 part 3 I call this genre “medical fantasy”, analogous to “science fiction”. Medicine is about practice, so it’s more than rigorous science. I get to incorporate alternative medicine and personal philosophy into it.  Besides, my understanding of human psychology is manifested in the dynamics of human interactions. My story takes form in both writing and manga (or graphic novel). Why don’t I create something in a fancier form? That requires a huge investment and a big team and may not be intrinsically rewarding for me. My brain generates new content faster than my hands can produce. Below is the list of the posts. Yes, I’m using a new format, like those graphic books. Bloopers are only available on my YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok channels (universal handle @stanthefeline ). Yes, I am posting the videos on TikTok again — The younger generations are into anime, like we once were. That being said, the adult-oriented part is always in the writing. I didn’t create this series just for fun. It is my life experience in fantasy form. Because of how this series was developed, there was no text form (or written story) for the first few episodes. I’m not sure whether or not I will have time to write them down. The best way to know the beginning of the plot is to go to my YouTube playlist. Finally, I just want to announce to the world that I have completely got rid of orthotic inserts. I’ve been getting shockwave therapy for the plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendinitis caused by this erroneous prescription. Long process, and real incremental progress. I can wear winter sandals from now on. What a bless. It’s a big life lesson for me: these things that are pleasing you can hurt you somehow. These inserts didn’t address the cause of my condition, and

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Adventures with the Medical Ninjas Episode 07 Kokoro Superior and her puppies pt.3

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7.12 Neither side would yield. They kept using physical agents to attack each other instead of direct melee combat. I thought to myself: Such high-status people—fighting with high-tech theatrics. They’re standing right next to each other; a simple bite or claw swipe would do. But no, they have to look dignified. I shouted: Can you two hurry it up? It’s been half an hour and still no ultimate move. You’re both yelling with mouths wide open—at least spit out a projectile for me to see! Water Dragon Bullet, Fireball, Rasengan, Gaia Energy Cannon—anything! She: I can’t. If I use my full power, the hospital will be destroyed—and there are still patients inside. He: Young man, you don’t understand. If we unleash our ultimate moves, the outside world will notice. I don’t want to deal with reporters. They roared even louder. The Black Dragon flapped his wings; the White Wolf’s fur stood on end. Then the puppies finally woke from Dr. Divine’s genjutsu. Realizing they’d taken the wrong side, they scrambled back to their mistress. She: Excellent, you’re awake! Now I can use our clan’s specialty attack. He: Nani?! You really plan to bite me? Don’t force me to spray venom—I won’t leave a single survivor. The four puppies panicked, unsure which side to choose. The corridor shook; cracks spidered across the ceiling. I couldn’t help thinking: All this over a corpse? It’s not sacred monk meat or the Imperial Seal. Suddenly, amid the chaos, a strange ringtone broke the tension. Everyone froze. 7.13 “Pika, Pika, Pikachu! Pika, Pika…” Everyone quickly realized it was coming from Dr. Divine’s phone. Why he’d use that ringtone—no one knew. On the Black Dragon’s torso, a pouch like a kangaroo’s held the phone. He clumsily reached in with his claws, but couldn’t answer the answer—it required fingers. Dr. Divine: Damn, just when the battle’s reaching its climax—my daughter-in-law is calling. Do I answer or not? 7.14 Mrs. Kokoro Superior: Go on, answer it. Settle your family affairs first. Dr. Divine reluctantly returned to human form and picked up. He: What happened? I’m busy—I was just meeting a government official.What? Ten-ten got into a fight at school? Then why call me instead of going there yourself?What?! He bit his classmate? Drew blood? And left a curse mark? How are you raising this kid? You know our family has a bloodline limit—our saliva’s toxic! Resorting to violence in case of personal conflict … clearly he learned that from someone at home. Kokoro signaled to the Four Dog Guardians to quietly revert to human form. Exhausted of chakra, two managed first, covering their mouths as they snickered. I could barely hold my laughter myself. The White Wolf still wore a look of concern, feigning composure. I thought to myself: This woman has serious self-control. 7.15 Dr. Divine kept frowning and pacing with the phone pressed to his ear. He: What? The classmate’s in the ICU? You want to transfer him here? Why? You can’t just poach patients from a top-tier hospital! Ours is small—we can’t handle that! As he ranted, the White Wolf slowly turned back into human form, covering her mouth as she giggled. He: Oh dear, our venom really is potent—three steps and you’re down.What? You’re worried outsiders might collect the venom for research? If you transfer the patient here, everyone will know our family secret! Yes, yes, I get it—labs like mine are hard to find, but that’s exactly why we can’t let outsiders in. Tell you what: I’ll call the ICU at that hospital and send them some serum. 7.16 While he was distracted, Mrs. Kokoro Superior motioned for The Muscular Four to carry the casket out. She stepped into the elevator first, beaming as if on her way home from a festival. The Muscular Four smiled too, strength returning—as though they’d just taken a full set of supplements. Dr. Divine, still facing away, kept arguing on the phone. He: What? The parents want to sue? Then we definitely can’t let this hospital get dragged in! I just want to retire in peace—I can’t take this stress.What? They fought because the other boy stole Ten-ten’s girlfriend? They’re in junior high! Nothing at that age even counts!What? The parents demanded access to our hyperbaric oxygen chamber for recovery? How the hell did they even know about that? We never advertised that machine! Hearing “hyperbaric oxygen chamber” instantly piqued my interest—I’d never seen one in person. I wanted a closer look. 7.17 Suddenly I noticed—the elevator doors were closing. I didn’t want to be left behind to deal with the director alone. I sprinted toward the elevator, deciding to join Mrs. Kokoro Superior and her entourage—seeing Dr. Superior off on his final journey. What they planned to do with the body later wasn’t my concern. Dr. Divine had completely abandoned the battle; domestic affairs had consumed him. A leader’s life is full of choices, after all. End of Part C (7.12–7.17) End of episode 07 This is a creative project inspired by the traditions of Eastern shonen manga and Western comics and cinematic storytelling.All characters, abilities, and world elements are original creations.Any similarities to existing works are coincidental or intended as respectful homage, without any claim of ownership or affiliation.

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Adventures with the Medical Ninjas EP07 Kokoro Superior and her puppies pt.2

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7.7 She: Summoning jutsu? Don’t tell me you’re planning to summon the Fascia Web too. I: Heh. Turns out your husband’s Fascia Web was useless. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been overpowered by me. Enough talk. This is my first time using a new weapon—I can’t afford distractions. I knelt and placed both hands on the floor, channeling energy into the ground. I shouted: [Summoning Technique—Orthotic Inserts! First pair!] My first pair of worn-out orthotic inserts shot up from the summoning array on the floor. I shouted again: [Summoning Technique—Orthotic Inserts! Second pair!] Another pair burst out and hovered mid-air. She: Good grief, you really learned summoning jutsu. But what’s the use of calling out old orthotic inserts? You have fallen arches or a leg-length discrepancy? I: Misdiagnosed with structural leg-length difference—so I wore these things for years. Spent a fortune, solved nothing, and gained new chronic problems instead. She: I see why you kept them. But are they even useful as weapons? I: Heh. You’ve clearly never worn them. You don’t know how annoying these things are. Besides, each insert is charged with my chakra—infused straight through the Yongquan acupressure point on the sole. She: Four inserts total—one for each dog, right? Go ahead, throw them. But my dogs are well-trained. Their reflexes are razor sharp. I: Firing! 7.8 The inserts soared through the air. Among the four muscular figures, one man and one woman exclaimed, “What the hell is that? So weird!” The other two barked instinctively: “Woof! Woof! Woof!” Those two were clearly the actual dogs. The four orthotic inserts danced in the air like cherry blossom petals, swirling unpredictably. The Muscular Four froze, unsure how to respond. 7.9 I shouted: Hit! All four were struck. “Ouch!”“WTF is this!”“Woof-woof!”“Waa—!” The woman hit in the stomach gasped, “These inserts are so hard! I thought they were just silicone.” I: Heh. They get harder over time. And this brand isn’t even the stiffest. Many patients quit after a week. I, on the other hand, kept wearing them for years—fooled by the idea that they’d fix my leg length. Couldn’t live like a normal person. A man hit in the ribs groaned, “No, it’s more than hard… I feel my energy draining. So cold… so cold…” I: Exactly. The inserts’ core contains a fused compound that absorbs chakra and spiritual energy. In winter, they make your feet colder. In summer, they release heat and burn you alive. 7.10 Gradually, the Four Dog Guardians’ chakras drained away. They collapsed, panting on the floor, reverting to their canine forms—helpless and trembling. I recalled the orthotic inserts, letting them stand upright before the defeated four. Seeing they had no fight left, Mrs. Kokoro Superior ran over. She: That’s enough. You’ve already absorbed their chakra—spare them. I’ll discipline them later. They still need strength to carry the casket home. I: Make sure their genjutsu is lifted first. She: Whether it is or not, they’ve already submitted before your inserts. If they disobey again, I’ll just whip them with a pair. I’ve got plenty at home anyway. I thought to myself: This Japanese woman really is domineering. No wonder her dogs were so easily swayed by Dr. Divine. I: All right, I’ll leave the rest to you and Dr. Divine. You two settle this one-on-one. I’m still technically a patient here—better not get too involved. 7.11 The battle between Mrs. Kokoro Superior and Dr. Divine began. I expected some spectacular jutsu, but instead, they just roared at each other—competing over who could shout louder. A spiral airflow formed in the hallway. Lights along the corridor shattered one after another at the resonance points. Because the corridor was sealed at one end, resonance points appeared along its length—what physicists call standing waves. She: Old man, aren’t you afraid your throat will dry out? He: What’s wrong? Scared already? Are your eardrums failing, or just worried about your dogs—your eyes, your voice, your claws, and your heart? She: I’m worried your hospital building might collapse. If it does, you all will blame me for being domineering. He: Not afraid. Even if it collapses, I can fly. Orochimaru’s generation could only crawl or swim—amphibians at best. Through gene engineering and generations of effort, we’ve evolved wings. I’m a creature of land, water, and air. She: Believe it or not, I can bite those wings off in one snap. Their voices thundered through the corridor. The Four Dog Guardians, terrified, flattened themselves on the floor, covering their ears with trembling paws. End of part 2. This is a creative project inspired by the traditions of Eastern shonen manga and Western comics and cinematic storytelling.All characters, abilities, and world elements are original creations.Any similarities to existing works are coincidental or intended as respectful homage, without any claim of ownership or affiliation.

media, mind

Adventures with the Medical Ninjas EP07 Kokoro Superior and her puppies pt.1

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7.0 Years ago, I ran into a Japanese woman in a hospital elevator. She had a bunch of little dogs with her—maybe visiting a relative; I couldn’t tell. All I knew was that seeing that many dogs made me uneasy. Good thing I was wearing long pants. 7.1 To collect some case materials, I returned to that hospital—the one secretly run by descendants of ninjas. On my way home, I met that same Japanese woman again in the elevator. She’d brought a few more dogs this time. Coming to a hospital in a kimono—no matter how you look at it, that’s strange. She: I recognize you. You’re the young man who killed my husband. I: Your husband? I rarely deal with Japanese people. She: You should know him. He was the hospital’s celebrity doctor—Dr. Superior. I: Damn, that was self-defense! He wanted to use me as a test subject and wouldn’t let me leave. She: I believe you. When I heard the news, I cried for five minutes. Then I told myself, “Move on. Life is about growing up on your own.” I: So you’re here to cause trouble today? I heard from Dr. Divine that he’s terrified of you. She: Trouble? I only came with my household staff to take my husband’s body home. 7.2 I: “Household staff”? She: You all, transform quickly—we’re almost on the 13th floor. In an instant, several muscular men and women appeared around me, all with grim expressions. The dogs had vanished. I drew a sharp breath; I was surrounded. I: You must be a ninja descendant too. She: That’s right. My maiden name was Inuzuka（犬冢）. After marrying Dr. Superior, I took his surname. We’re on the 13th floor now. Why don’t you come with us and take a look? I: Uh… I only came for a follow-up appointment. Didn’t plan to get involved in your family business. She: It’s fine. We’ve met twice in this elevator—it must be fate. You should understand a few things. I’ve seen the hospital’s internal footage—you already carry multiple types of chakras in your body. You’re half ninja already. It’s destiny; you’re tied to our world now. I thought to myself: Not just chakra. My body’s also been infused with spiritual power from Quincies and constantly tossed between Eastern and Western medicine… Staying sane is already a miracle. She: You four, go fetch the casket. I’ve already transmitted the location into your minds—move fast before some meddler gets in the way. The Four Dog Guardians: Roger that. 7.3 Two minutes later, the Four Dog Guardians were back. In that brief time, Mrs. Kokoro Superior and I chatted. I: Someone at the hospital told me Dr. Superior was a phoenix man—a social climber. If that’s true, his death might not have cost you much. She: Of course. I come from an old noble family; he was just an immigrant from the rural area. My parents died early but warned me never to marry someone with incompatible chakra attributes. But before our marriage, he texted me every day with lame jokes. I gave in. I: So what did you like about him? His reputation here wasn’t great. She: People change. He was hardworking and ambitious when young, but once he got citizenship here, he changed completely. I: More than that—he seduced half the staff and bent their minds. I’ve experienced his ambition firsthand in another aspect. She: That’s why I’m not holding it against you. In a way, I’m free now. I: Wow… Dr. Divine said exactly the same thing that day. You and Dr. Superior were married for over a decade with no children, right? He was always at the hospital. She: No. Our marriage was loveless—practically a formality. He used my family’s status to gain residency, and then we lived separate lives. Fortunately, I know ninjutsu, and my chakra clashes with his; otherwise he would’ve seized control of all my assets. Still, I was never lonely. My clan has a pact with canines—between the family dogs and the household staff, my home is full of life. I: Those four—are they originally dogs or humans? She: Two are dogs, two are servants. But thanks to ninjutsu, they can switch forms. Outsiders can’t tell the difference, though their speech gives them away. I: I see. I once had a pact with feline spirits myself. The clothes I wear are imbued with the souls of a thousand cats—each day, one manifests briefly. I’ve tried wearing other clothes, but the cat souls just follow and slip into the new ones. She: So that’s your fate. You sound like a jinchūriki. I: Hopefully not as tragic. She: The casket’s here—we need to move. Wait… I can sense the old man’s chakra. 7.4 Dr. Divine: Kokoro, I knew you’d bring your mutts here to make a scene. Mrs. Kokoro Superior: “Mutts”? Don’t you dare insult my children. He: You sure move fast. How did you find Dr. Superior’s casket? Did someone leak it to you? She: Don’t forget, my family’s sense of smell is unmatched. He: You can’t take his body. We can offer you compensation for his death at work; you also have life insurance, don’t you? She: What? My husband dies on hospital grounds and I can’t even take his body home for cremation? Old man, don’t push your luck. He: This case is too sensitive. We can’t let the hospital’s secrets leak. If he must be cremated, we’ll handle it. Besides, he signed an agreement to donate his body for medical research. She: A “body donor”? Ha! My husband wasn’t that noble. You know his character better than I do. You just want his corpse for your lab—because you’ve been obsessed with studying the chakra of other species. 7.5 He: You’re being unreasonable. Do you want me to show you the agreement? I think you just want to keep the body to feed your dogs, maybe to replenish their nutrients. After all, there’s still residual chakra in him. She: Watch

health, media, philosophy

Medical ninjas EP N3 Dr Warm : the Quincy descendent who activates the Cosmo pt.2

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Part 2 Dr. Warm: Hahahaha. Lift your shirt a little more; I must make sure the Cosmo doesn’t spread to your myocardium.I: Are you saying you can’t fix my fragile little heart with your therapeutic guns? fig 5 Dr. Warm: Currently there’s no clinical trial data showing spiritual power is safe for the myocardium. There’s sufficient evidence for blood vessels, nerves, skeletal and smooth muscle, though.I: Why hasn’t anyone researched the heart muscle?Dr. Warm: Because people with heart problems don’t come to our department. To repair that tissue directly they’d rather go to surgery. We won’t mess with it without data.I: In Bleach’s worldview, once the heart dies, even spiritual power and many supernatural forces can hardly save it.Dr. Warm: That’s true. Our department has its limits. We’re not in the business of making money off people’s desperation.I: But why were your two guns aimed right at that woman’s belly?Dr. Warm: She had back pain, and she’s been here many times. The gun mode and bullet type used on her are different from what we’ll use on you. Bullets are personalized via our machine settings — we first forge them with individualized parameters, then load them into the guns.I: Never mind — I won’t ask for details. According to your theory, a lot of energy is probably wasted in that kind of shooting.Dr. Warm: Not at all. My bullets have a trace-back property to living tissue; they don’t get wasted in empty space. Besides, they’re particles — not energy.I: Oh — I thought you fired positive and negative energy simultaneously.Dr. Warm: Energy is always positive. What’s a “negative energy”? That’s not a scientific term, but a liberal-arts invention. I choose to ignore it.I: It’s about controlling the “narrative” — to manufacture a prosper-looking public by labeling all whistleblowers as “negative energy spreaders”.Dr. Warm: History always moves forward while looping back.I: Yes — a spiral curve can be described by polar parametric equations.Dr. Warm: Hahahaha. Some are worse: whatever helps them is “positive energy”; whatever harms their interests is “negative energy.” Interests are relative. What benefits the Democrats likely harms the Republicans. If someone gets murdered, opponents call it a victory — “positive energy” — while his supporters call it tragedy — “negative energy.” Fig CK I: You really are an expert. Your theories can be complete and even branch out. Last time an “expert” from Smoke City lectured me about primary and secondary contradictions; I was convinced — but the side effects of her treatment plan were huge and I needed 2 practitioners and 6 courses of traditional herbal medicine to recover. Heh.Dr. Warm: I won’t comment on others. My specialty project, I’ve studied thoroughly. Many other hospitals come to me for training on this. Heh.I: What exactly is my body’s current status? If I put my hand in, will it disappear?Dr. Warm: You can try. I: Whoa! Hahaha!Dr. Warm: That segment of your hand right now has been assimilated by your core Cosmo.I: Then I shouldn’t be shaking hands with people for a while.Dr. Warm: Right. If you shake hands the Cosmo’s reparative capacity for you is weakened — the Cosmo’s spiritual power goes to others.I: I’ll avoid touching people then.Dr. Warm: Yes — put your shirt back on and wear gloves if possible. That’s it for today. Once your Cosmo is fully absorbed, next time we’ll proceed deeper.I: You mean you can treat foot pain directly next time?Dr. Warm: Well… we’ll re-evaluate when you come back.I: Heh heh heh heh. After leaving the treatment room I bumped into that big fish again — oh wait, that’s the woman who had back pain. I: Hey — your belly has a Cosmo too.Inoue: Right. After each therapy session the Cosmo expands and then shrinks.I: It really resembles the cycles of the universe.Inoue: According to Dr. Warm, the Cosmo is really a projection of the greater universe’s power into the unit circle, which, in this case, is the human body.I: Dr. Warm said you have back pain. Is it from sitting at an office a long time or carrying a baby for too long?Inoue: Neither. I’m an athlete — lumbar muscle strain is normal for my profession.I: To be honest, you don’t look like an athlete.Inoue: I do synchronized swimming, also known as artistic swimming.I: Many people tell me swimming is safe and gentle on joints. But being easy on joints doesn’t mean it won’t strain muscles.Inoue: Right — athletes can even have herniated discs.I: What’s your family name? Maybe I’ve seen you on TV.Inoue: Inoue.I: So is your ancestor Orihime Inoue or Kazuhiko Inoue?Inoue: Haha, the former, apparently.I: So you must know those Soul Reapers and Quincies very well.Inoue: Dr. Warm and I met in our university.I: So you probably get preferential access here because you’re an acquaintance?Inoue: Who said that? I paid in full. This type of treatment isn’t covered by insurance yet. I came to him because he’s a friend and I trust he won’t do me harm.I thought to myself: Not doing you harm is certain — but whether he’ll gouge you, I don’t know. Familiarity is a double-edged sword. From what I observed, he treated you differently from how he treated me; even I as an outsider could tell.I: But isn’t it awkward with a friend treating you?Inoue: Of course. That’s why I turned into a fish. Their department used to have a female doctor who went away this month to study.I: I came because of their expensive machine.Inoue: Right — you come to a top-tier hospital to save worry. If you’d gone to an average hospital, maybe you’d only get fifty to sixty percent better and still have to come here.I: According to Bleach’s character attributes, you should naturally have medical superpowers.Inoue: I do, but without specialized training you won’t reach professional levels. It needs both genes and training. Several in my family work in medical or fitness fields. But I don’t want my fate decided only by genes — I wanted to pick