pro tip: if you’re ever drawing your ocs in drag, you need to use the Queen metric to make sure you’re getting it right. optimal success happens when two of your characters are obviously doing it for a joke, one is clearly in drag but still looks amazing, and one is indistinguishable from the average beautiful woman/man

it needs to look like this.

“biological sex is a social construct” doesn’t mean “chromosomes, anatomy, hormones, and genitalia don’t exist”. it means “these exist, but assigning roles, labels, and expectations to certain combinations of these characteristics is a social construct, and an unnecessary and pointless (actually harmful) one at that”.

Let me be very clear. The mere concept of the Government stepping in to curtail the wildly abusive fees of the banking industry has already lead to multiple banks trying to "get ahead of" it to cut their feed from $35 to $10 (Bank of America) or get rid of them entirely (Capital One) for active users of their account.

This regulation is already having the effect of saving US citizens billions of dollars every year before its even passed, even as Republicans want to fight it tooth-and-nail.

Every year there are $8bn in overdraft charges that explicitly and directly hit the poorest Americans by definition. Even just adopting this rule would save Americans 7.315 billion dollars every year.

And with banking institutions now moving to get rid of them entirely it can save even more.

Let this be, case-in-point, proof positive and a case study of several things.

petition

we need to bring back anon kink memes in a big way. no one is horny enough anymore. the other night i found a fic on an old kink meme from 2009 that was so well-written and also so raunchy and foul (affectionate) it could have stripped paint off my car. there is something about truly unapologetic filth that can be transcendent and tender and marrow deep and maybe if we all leaned into being anonymous depraved little weirdos again we'd learn how to have more fun.

my favorite trope is when someone believes they’re hard to love and someone who loves them like it’s breathing.

Saw a post about helping people that used the analogy of "if you see someone fall off a cruiseship and theres a life preserver ring on the wall next to you do you walk away or do you throw them the life preserver? Of course you throw them the life preserver." And i dont want to add to or tag the post with any sort of correction because its literally not the point at all but i am desperate to say that the first thing they teach you when you work on a cruise ship is that if someone falls overboard you Do Not Look Away

If theres a life preserver nearby but you have to turn your back to get it, tough luck. If theres someone nearby who can't hear you but you could run and get them, absolutely not. You see someone go overboard you point at them and never ever let them out of your sight because looking away even once could mean losing them forever, so you just have to trust that someone will hear you scream for help but you cant for any reason look away

And maybe that adds to the life preserver metaphor somehow but mostly i just need you to know if you spot someone in the water you point at them and you watch them close and you scream for help

Things I've learned from getting covid for the first time in 2023

I wear an N95 in public spaces and I've managed to dodge it for a long time, but I finally got covid for the first time (to my knowledge) in mid-late November 2023. It was a weird experience especially because I feel like it used to be something everyone was talking about and sharing info on, so getting it for the first time now (when people generally seem averse to talking about covid) I found I needed to seek out a lot of info because I wasn't sure what to do. I put so much effort into prevention, I knew less about what to do when you have it. I'm experiencing a rebound right now so I'm currently isolating. So, I'm making a post in the hopes that if you get covid (it's pretty goddamn hard to avoid right now) this info will be helpful for you. It's a couple things I already knew and several things I learned. One part of it is based on my experience in Minnesota but some other states may have similar programs.

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The World Health Organization states you should isolate for 10 days from first having symptoms plus 3 days after the end of symptoms.

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At the time of my writing this post, in Minnesota, we have a test to treat program where you can call, report the result of your rapid test (no photo necessary) and be prescribed paxlovid over the phone to pick up from your pharmacy or have delivered to you. It is free and you do not need to have insurance. I found it by googling "Minnesota Test to Treat Covid"

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Paxlovid decreases the risk of hospitalization and death, but it's also been shown to decrease the risk of Long Covid. Long Covid can occur even from mild or asymptomatic infections.

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Covid rebound commonly occurs 2-8 days after apparent recovery. While many people associate Paxlovid with covid rebound, researchers say there is no strong evidence that Paxlovid causes covid rebound, and rebounds occur in infections that were not treated with Paxlovid as well. I knew rebounds could happen but did not know it could take 8 days. I had mine on day 7 and was completely surprised by it.

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If you start experiencing new symptoms or test positive again, the CDC states that you should start your isolation period again at day zero. Covid rebound is still contagious. Personally I'd suggest wearing a high quality respirator around folks for an additional 8-9 days after you start to test negative in case of a rebound.

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Positive results on a rapid test can be very faint, but even a very faint line is positive result. Make sure to look at your rapid test result under strong lighting. Also, false negatives are not uncommon. If you have symptoms but test negative taking multiple tests and trying different brands if you have them are not bad ideas. My ihealth tests picked up my covid, my binax now tests did not.

EDIT: Just remembered another helpful resource for I used and should add, The People's CDC had a link to this directory for the National Alliance on Mental Health Warmline - it's like a confidential hotline for emotional support, so you can call if you're in emotional/mental distress. Can vouch that the person I talked to on the MN warmline was lovely. Can be particularly helpful if you're in isolation and need support.

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I know that there is so much we can't control as individuals right now, and that's frightening. All we can do is try our best to reduce harm and to care for each other. I hope this info will be able to help folks.

if a post makes you feel guilty/frenzied/furious and provides no actionable steps, don’t reblog it.

people getting big mad about this because they read this as a call for censorship, or belittling their ‘activism’ (posting), or because they love guilt-tripping: get good, lmao.

this is going to sound like such a little sibling ass take but i genuinely believe that being a little bit annoying is actually a greater sign of maturity and self awareness than being universally likeable and on good terms with everyone

if some people find me annoying and can't stand me because of how i think and act then that means i'm a fully realized human being with my own personality and opinions and free will and not just a reflective surface for other people's desires, which is in fact a good thing despite what people who want you to just be a reflection of their own opinions and desires will tell you, and why being considered "cringe" or whatever doesn't bother me at all

also it's really funny when you're confident enough in yourself to know that people not liking you isn't always a sign that you're the problem. like there's something undeniably hilarious about being aware your mere existence has the power to piss someone off and ruin their day and i recommend embracing it.

So I'm reading Maskerade to my kids (they love Pterry) and there's a bit where a swan (just before it dies) sings a line from a made-up opera (called Lohenshaak). The song is called the Pedlar's Song and it's in whatever the Discworld equivalent of German is: Schneide meinen eigenen Hals... So one of my sons, just for funsies, decides to find out what the German actually means.

It means Cut My Own Throat. Because it's the PEDLAR'S SONG.

Terry Pratchett put a CMOT Dibbler reference into a song for a throwaway scene for a swan, in German. And I never knew because I don't speak German.

Did you know?? Anyway, gnu Terry Pratchett and the joy of jokes for their own sake even if only a small fraction of the readers ever notice.

...the opera name is a pun when said out loud - loanshark. I just this minute realised that and I am groaning.

This is what they mean when a man's name will be remembered - with groaning and waving of fists.

Source

Source

Also good to note that that's actually half a course: the only reason "rebounds" exist is because paxlovid is an antiviral in the same way Sulfalidimides were antibiotics. Paxlovid deactivates covid (putting it in sleep and survive mode) and allows your immune system to seek it out and destroy it. 10 days was the original course for paxlovid until shortages struck and half-doses were shown to be better than nothing. A course of 10 days sees far fewer "rebound" infections because the covid stays inactivated long enough for your body to deal with it. Pair this info with the fact that their internal marketing memos from early 2023 wanted elected officials to push vaccine only covid policy, removing test/trace infrastructure and downplaying masks specifically so they could make more covid cases and therefore sell more Paxlovid. This was described multiple times in memos and marketing meetings as "an opportunity to increase profitability."

Tl;dr: Pfizer convinced the government to downplay covid so people would keep getting sick and they could make record-breaking profits by upcharging you by 10,000%+ for half a course of lifesaving medicine.

if u feel the first cramp and think "i dont need a painkiller yet, itll pass" ? that the devil speaking, take that painkiller immediately

It's a lot easier to prevent cramps from getting bad than to stop them once they already are. Take the medicine sooner and use the heating pad sooner rather than later.

This is true of pain medication for ANY condition. My mom drilled this into me back when she worked as an O.R. nurse: Do not wait until the pain is bad. If you know it’s going to be, get ahead of it. First cramp? Medicate now. Twinges of a headache? Medicate now. Pulled your back and you know you’ll feel it later? Medicate NOW.

I fell victim to one of the classic blunders (drawing a load of fan art when I should have been working)

Friendly reminder as we head into tax season (for US Americans), that the major tax preparation companies are fully prepared to lie and mislead you into paying for their tax preparation software when you might qualify for free software through the IRS.

Don’t fall for their bullshit. Visit IRS Free File and see what services are available to you. The requirements vary depending on your household status and income, but if you make less than $79,000/year (which is nearly everyone I know), you probably qualify for something.

The IRS also has a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program for people who are disabled, have income below $64,000 a year, or who have limited English.

As an artist, I can draw whatever I want

Lazy meme redraw for this weeks Wilford Wednesday because its finals season and i'm tired and i thought it was funny

Og image under the cut