Just saw this headline under "positive news": "9-year-old sells lemonade to help pay for dad's kidney surgery"

This is not fucking positive or heartwarming, it's dystopian!

It's utterly horrible that we've decided that allowing people to become billionaires is more important than universal access to lifesaving medical care.

I've lost count of how many studies have shown that the government just doing the obvious thing like paying to give people healthcare, homes, UBI, or whatever is ultimately more cost effective and beneficial to everyone than punishing people for being poor.

But punishing people for being poor is foundational to our society so, you know.

I worked with an academic back in the early ‘00s in the UK who looked into the mental health benefits of playing with LEGO.

Great to see this story about how it helps with childhood trauma and PTSD.

I’ve always loved LEGO - particularly the space variety! The combination of imagination and physical play is very therapeutic.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/how-lego-is-being-used-to-reduce-stress-combat-childhood-trauma-and-manage-ptsd/

How LEGO Is Being Used to Reduce Stress, Combat Childhood Trauma, and Manage PTSD

The root of LEGO's tremendous, and proven, psychiatric benefits lies in the ability to help individuals zone out while playing with them.

^{Andy Corbley (Good News Network)}

i wish PC tech reviewers (and the market at large) gave more of a crap about power efficiency

twice the power consumption for being 10% faster than a competing part is criticised in passing, but ultimately treated like no big deal; a new generation bringing just a 5% performance uplift at 33% lower power is a "missed opportunity"

For those who did not receive the last memo:

THE VOID is for screaming.

THE ABYSS is for staring.

Please do not scream into THE ABYSS. And under no circumstances should you ever stare into THE VOID.

That is all.

We've been hearing an increasing number of reports of trans people's GPs refusing to prescribe their HRT to them - even if they have a letter from an NHS gender clinic requesting that they do. That's why we're created our new My GP is Refusing to Prescribe My HRT resource: https://transactual.org.uk/medical-transition/my-gp-is-refusing-to-prescribe-my-hrt-what-can-i-do/

Has your GP recently refused to prescribe you HRT? Let us know at https://tinyurl.com/TransActualHRT

#Trans #Transgender #Nonbinary #Queer #TransHealth #HRT #Testosterone #Oestrogen #MTF #FTM #MTX #FTX

Sunset my love – @inkrrred on Tumblr

https://www.tumblr.com/inkrrred/758759978956914688/sunset-my-love

#centaur

inkrred

Sunset my love <3

^Tumblr

It's been ages since I've been through my photos and thought it was high time for me to post something new.

Here we have a photo of Capo the maned wolf (https://www.furtrack.com/index/character:capo) taken at a Manc Furs meet last year. While he is striking a 'no nonsense' pose, it's hard to look menacing with those deep eyes and fluffy mane.

#Furry #Fursuit #Fursuiter #Fursuiting #FursuitEveryday #MancFurs

Apparently I have two types of friends right now: Those with covid and those with a bad cold/allergies who won't test for covid.

If you're one of the latter, be responsible and test. I'm sorry if it ruins your weekend plans, but you could literally save someone's life by being responsible.

IDK who else needs to hear this, but some people still do:

- videos are not documentation
- podcasts are not documentation
- discord is not documentation
- a web forum is not documentation

in addition to having a mismatch from an Information Architecture standpoint, *each* of these introduce barriers to entry and accessibility problems

Your video and your podcast are not accessible. Your video, podcast, or discord are not searchable. Discord permabans people for trying to improve their client

Content warning: Transphobia Reveal/hide

Don't. Ever. Publish. Stuff. That. ONLY. Supports. Dark. Mode.
I mean, I know a LOT of people love dark mode, and given the benefits that darkening interfaces provides... I get it.

But there are some people (like me) who may be visually impaired. Astigmatism, for example, can make reading text that is white on dark a real PITA. An effect known as "halation" occurs, where each letter behaves as if it were a flashlight, gaining its own halo of light and making all text read more blurry than normal.

No matter how good your glasses are, astigmatism still causes you to see a little blurry—it's something you get used to. But this damn effect makes all the text read as if you don't have your glasses on, or even worse, leading to much more tired eyes or even pain.

For everyone's sake, if you really care about accessibility, respect user preferences. If you want a dark interface by default, offer a light version if the user specifies it (in web design, this would be prefers-color-scheme: light). The same goes for light interfaces.

Then:

"Grandma, why are you saving those bits of twine and pieces of used foil? You can just go to the store and buy new stuff."

"Grandson, I grew up during the Depression"

Now:
"Dad, why are you collecting all those DVDs and saving files to disk and all that? You can just go to the Internet and find that."

"Kids, I grew up during the Great Ensh*ttification..."

#informationhoarding

Moving is going fine, why do you ask?

(With apologies to Tom Gauld.)

#Musk reckons the main danger from CO2 emissions are that if they get too high, people will get headaches…but:

‘Michael Mann said that if CO2 levels get so high breathing becomes difficult, then the impacts of the climate crisis “will be so devastating as to have already caused societal collapse. It’s actually Elon’s ill-informed and ill-premised statements that are causing headaches and nausea.”

#ClimateBreakdown
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/13/trump-musk-x-climate

‘The dumbest climate conversation of all time’: experts on the Musk-Trump interview

Trump talked about ‘nuclear warming’ while Musk said the only reason to quit fossil fuels is that their supply is finite

^{Oliver Milman (The Guardian)}

Kawia is the name of this werebat, shown on his two forms.
DnD character for Furahi.

Digital. Procreate
You can see the shorten time lapse process video on the first comment of this submission on my Telegram channel: https://t.me/panda_paco
Or you can get the full resolution version, the full time lapse video, early access to some of my drawings and be able to see WIPs, at supporting me, now not only available on Patreon, but also on Ko-Fi:
https://www.patreon.com/pandapaco
https://ko-fi.com/panda_paco

Columbo x Star Trek TOS 😍

source: https://www.tumblr.com/cursedtrekedits/708355283418808320/well-mr-columbo-actually-its-lieutenant

#StarTrek #Columbo

When I was 21 I was told that pregnancy could (and probably would) kill me AND that I was likely infertile.

I asked to have my tubes tied & was told “you’re too young. You may change your mind & want kids.”

🧵 on reproductive health, bodily autonomy & misogyny in medicine.

First off - this was devastating news at such a young age. I had stage 4 endometriosis, a tipped uterus, adenomyosis & other health issues that made pregnancy unlikely AND dangerous.

I was told in the event I became pregnant - they would have to recommend termination.
Abortion would ALSO be risky to my health - though less risky than carrying a pregnancy to term.

Given the threat it seemed perfectly reasonable to request a more fail safe method of birth control (tubal ligation).
I was having laproscopic surgery anyways to try and remove some of the endometriosis - so they were literally already going to be operating. Tying my tubes was a negligible risk compared to the rest of the surgery.
Imagine my shock when I was informed they wouldn’t do it because I might change my mind and want kids.

I asked them whether my “changing my mind” would change my prognosis or their recommendation. Nope. They would still recommend termination.

This was the first time I truly understood how deep misogyny and patriarchal values ran in medicine. My theoretical ability to bear children - whether I wanted them or not and whether it was safe or not - was more important than my health and my life.

It was infuriating. An IUD wasn’t an option for a myriad of reasons so I was stuck on hormonal birth control that I didn’t tolerate well. I was also getting sicker from the endometriosis & adenomyosis… and it quickly became clear a hysterectomy would be best for me.

Given doctors weren’t willing to entertain a tubal ligation - you can only imagine how they felt about a hysterectomy. Same tired arguments about how I could change my mind, I was too young, what if I met a man who wanted kids blah blah blah.

I got these responses from male and female physicians - all of whom were willing to let my health significantly deteriorate rather than “make me barren”. None of whom listened to what I wanted to do with MY body.

I continued to push for surgery because I knew it was what I needed - and was forced to undergo multiple psych evaluations. I heard everything from “don’t you want to be a mother” to “what if you meet the man of your dreams & he leaves you because you can’t have kids?.”

How is it appropriate to ask ANY woman these questions? Let alone a woman who has been told - repeatedly - that pregnancy would put her life in jeopardy? It was as though they thought something was wrong with me because I didn’t want to risk my life for a hypothetical baby. 1/2

#womenshealth #endometriosis #EDS #ehlersdanlossyndrome #pregnancy #gynecology #obgyn #abortion #reproductivehealth #reproductiverights #abortionIShealthcare #patriarchy #misogyny #Disability #Ableism #Denial #PublicHealth #InfectionControl #Eugenics #SafeHealthcare #MaskUp #Spoonie #Discrimination #Dysautonomia #mecfs #pots #mcas #communitycare #wearamask #chronicillness #DisabilityRights #hysterectomy #hystersisters

So cool! A one-pixel-wide font that exploits subpixels.

(Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/slGDHG3oyt)

Asserting dominance #TummyTuesday

📸 - @AeroFox64