If you live in the U.S. and you’re 12+, you’re eligible for the updated bivalent anti-omicron booster shot, and it should be available in your  local pharmacy. 

Please reblog this post, as there’s been very little news coverage and shockingly little propagation of information about the availability of updated boosters.

Reblog to have something lgbt happen to you this summer

I always see the dog choking info on here, so here’s what to do if a kitty is choking

Save your kitties, we all know they eat everything anyway. 

http://www.wikihow.com/Save-a-Choking-Cat

http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-CPR-on-a-Cat

Q

important

REBLOG TO SAVE THE KITTIES!

IMPORTANT FOR KITTY OWNERS

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!! MY CAR WAS CHOKING ON SOME RIBBON THAT GOT LEFT ON THE GROUND AND THESE TIPS SAVED ONE OF MY PRECIOUS FUR BABIES’ LIVES.

Me, now knowing how to save my cats life

If you ask someone to get tested before yall engage in sexual activities and they give you a rough time… fucking run. They can keep whatever they have to themselves.

this post is SOOOO ugly. the only thing i’m running away from is ur HIV stigma honestly

good stay away

Wanting to avoid a disease that will ruin all future chances of having a healthy, physical relationship with someone or producing healthy children is stigma?

hi! i know this post is a bit old, but i have good news! people with HIV can absolutely have happy, healthy lives including sexual relationships with HIV-negative people.

people with HIV who are receiving successful treatment can keep their immune systems strong, and reduce the level of the virus in their blood so low it’s undetectable, which means they can’t transmit the virus! also, PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a medicine HIV-negative people can take to protect themselves from HIV, kind of like the birth control pill.

this way, it’s possible for someone with HIV to conceive a child through sex without transmitting HIV to either partner or baby! and we’ve known how to prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child through treatment for decades. in many places, like new york, it is now actually rare for babies to be born with HIV.

but all of these good things are harder to achieve when we let stigma and lack of information get in the way of prevention, testing, and treatment.

now you know!

The stigma of STDs must be challenged!

- Fae

Okay, here’s the thing, and I think y’all missed it:

Let me use myself as an example.

I have herpes simplex 2. That’s the one that gives you cold sores, and up to 80% of the global population has it. But, even though it’s not genital herpes, if you go down on somebody during an outbreak, they can get herpes 2 in their junk. And it’s nasty. The usual problem is “just” a cold sore, but during severe outbreaks–which can occur if, for example, you’re on antibiotics during an outbreak–you can develop sores on your lips, inside of your mouth, even in your throat. They break, they bleed, they ooze, it sucks. During my last major outbreak (so far my only major outbreak, thankfully) I ate nothing but lukewarm soup for a week.

So now let’s say I have a new partner, and I’m in what I think might be the starting stages of an outbreak. Because I am an honest person, and feel they have the right to informed consent, I’m going to ask if they get cold sores (if the answer is yes, they’re fine, because you can’t get herpes twice). If the answer is no, I’m going to tell them I have herpes 2, explain what that is, and suggest we cool it with the kissing and/or sexytimes until I’m not virus-shedding. And nobody has given me shit for this, ever. I’ve had a couple of people thank me for my honesty. That’s it.

But now let’s say I’m a total shitstain. I know I’m in an outbreak. And I do not tell my partner, and I go down on her. I have decided, for her, that for the rest of her life she should deal with occasional bouts of weeping sores, raw skin, and thick mucous crusts on/in/around her genitals and possibly on and in her mouth.

I’ve given her a lifelong disease. She had no chance to consent or even say “I am willing to take this risk.” Isn’t that basically a form of rape?

So if you ask someone for an STD test and they refuse, they are hiding something and you should run. If you ask for an STD test and they say okay, or just straight-up say “I can get tested to check my viral load but you should know I have HIV,” that person is a keeper. They will be honest with you about their health and yours. They probably have information on how to reduce your transmission risk even further, and will inform you and use that information. (Which doesn’t take the onus off you to do your own research, by the way, it just means you have a starting point.) And as noted above, if their viral load is undetectable, they can’t transmit! I wouldn’t start having regular condomless sex without guidance from a sexual health expert, but you really have very little to fear.

Don’t be afraid of the STD, or the honest person who has it. Be afraid of the person who refuses to disclose.

Exactly.

Ending stigma around STDs/STIs does not include not disclosing that you have one to your potential sexual/physical partners. Informed consent requires having all the information necessary to make risk assessments and make choices based on that, and withholding information like that is tantamount to rape because it violates the ability for other people to make informed choices and truly consent.

The intent of the original post doesn’t seem to be to tell people to avoid people with STDs/STIs, but instead to avoid people who refuse to let you make informed decisions about your sex life, regardless of their STD/STI status.

I’m all for removing the stigma of STD/STIs, however people still have a right to know what they are potentially exposing themselves to so they can decide if it fits their personal comfort threshold. 

It’s important to remember that “treatable” does not mean “no impact.”  Lots of cancers are treatable, but going through chemo or radiation still sucks. Not everyone is going to be comfortable with the possibility of those side-effects.  Some folks have other conditions that would make even a curable STD a REALLY BAD IDEA. 

As an American, who lives in a land with shitty expensive health care, I can’t afford another life-long condition that I’m going to need to take expensive medication for and have expensive tests run on routinely. 

By: @/KyraSheaMedleys on Twitter 

General Orders, No. 3.

The people are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property, between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and hired labor. The Freedmen are advised to remain at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

Wanted to share this thread I saw on Twitter on here. It’s devastating how we weren’t taught this in our American History classes. 

Reminder that it really doesn’t matter what ways you’re marginalized, if you’re not black you’re just as capable of anti blackness as white cishet people. No amount of “but I’m gay!”, “but I’m trans!”, or “but I’m not white!” changes that.

And being neurodiverse/disabled isn’t an excuse for anti blackness either.

Don’t like this post if you’re not gonna also reblog it.

Boost my voice, don’t just like it for woke points.

I’d fucking love it if white people didn’t use this post to pat themselves on the back. I guarantee that no amount of “don’t people know this already?” or “isn’t this obvious?” will actually make you a good ally to black people.

The only things that will make you a good ally to us is listening to us, boosting our voices, defending us when we need it, calling out your fellow whites when they display overt and/or covert racist behavior, and checking yourself consistently.

Please share!

[A photo of a cat. The caption is: "If anyone knows me they know how much I love Mr. kitty. He has been apart of my life since December 2014. I’ve noticed Mr. Kitty rapidly losing weight and not eating much throughout the day. I decided to bring him to the vet for a check up. It turns out he has a high risk urinary tract infection which has spread to the kidneys. He needs immediate medical attention so I have to bring him to WAVES emergency vet hospital for a minimum of 3 nights so he can be monitored 24/7 , be given fluids and antibiotics. The goal is for his kidneys to kick back into a normal function range after the urinary tract infection is cleared. The estimate cost for 3 nights of 24:7 care is 3000$. This doesn’t include any further diagnostic exams which can total to 1400$. Any monetary help to cover the costs of the emergency vet visit I would forever be grateful."]

As a Vet Tech I want to confirm for everyone that this is indeed very serious and that the bill will likely exceed 3000 dollars by the time Mr. Kitty is discharged, as estimates often have only the bare minimum and are produced with the intent of the owner making a deposit of that amount up front. Please donate to help him if you can! We're rooting for you, Mr. Kitty!

This

This

THEY ARE THE RESEARCH

WHEN YOU DO RESEARCH YOU FIND THE MOST CREDIBLE SOURCE AND THAT IS YOUR SOURCE IT IS THEM THEY ARE THE FUCKIN SOURCE

"A breathing Dunning-Kruger graph" is the best insult I've heard all month

For my little sister to get a new service dog that can actually accommodate her needs, it's going to cost $10,500.

American "Healthcare" is a fucking crime against humanity.

I'm having to watch my little sister decide what parts of her life aren't that important so she can take care of her current service dog until she (the dog) passes, and then get another service dog.

That means possibly months of being unable to do everyday human things like walk from her bed to the bathroom, make herself food, play with her niece and nephew.

Every one of those activities is legitimately dangerous for my sister to perform without active heart rate monitoring and assistance. And her service dog is sick enough that an alert was missed and my sister passed out yesterday for the first time since she got Ellie the service dog. Four years without serious incident. Gone.

I don't know how to make shit like this real for other people. If your activism ignores disability, if your world view doesn't include people with chronic illnesses, you can get right the fuck away from me.

I'm playing zero fucking games about this shit anymore. I will be openly hostile in future to anyone trying to defend the healthcare system as it currently stands. I'm not coming for Doctors on principle, but anyone supporting the current system as the continuing future can get fucked up the ass by a rust covered cactus. This is in-fucking-human.

Hey OP.

This is a real and valid point and something a lot of folks don’t realize about service dogs.

But your sister, specifically....do you think perhaps we could crowdfund the money for her new service animal? That’s no way to live. If all of my followers donated $2 each she’d have her new animal with some left over.

This isn’t the way healthcare should be. But maybe for at least one person we can help RIGHT NOW.

She set up a GoFundMe.

Well then!

Okay, guys, you know the drill. I’ll throw mine in on payday. In the meantime, let’s do everything we can to get this girl a dog! Her life literally depends on it. REBLOG (likes do nothing), donate a few bucks if you can, spread it far and wide.

Don’t let them drain your account

For those who have Nelnet as a servicer, here’s the message that shows when I just logged in:

So it looks like (for Nelnet in particular, at least) under some circumstances (i.e. if your account is overdue) they’ll automatically apply it, but otherwise you might have to request it. This link has more details re: forbearance, capitalization, and the temporary 0% interest rate. 

Hey everyone. I’m trying to prove to my boyfriend that the internet is heartless. He asked me to put off ending my life, and told him that for every note this gets, I’ll postpone it by a week. Basically no original post I make gets notes, so here we are. Prove me wrong. Let me see just how much the internet cares for my worthless life.

Programmers are the greatest browsing community (SO mostly)…We can singlehandedly save the planet.

I use Ecosia and let me tell you, Google has nothing on this search engine.

It’s true!

Boosting because this looks really cool! It doesn’t have the wildcard capabilities I need for my job, so I probably can’t use it that much, but maybe others can!