The clowns running the FDA have proposed restricting access to covid vaccines, to people over 65 or who have certain medical conditions. There's a public docket for comments on the proposal.
Your Local Epidemiologist has a good post about the proposal, including that the people suggesting this know that nobody is going to do the placebo-controlled tests of new boosters they want to require.
Possible talking points include:
Families and caregivers wouldn't be eligible for the vaccine, even if they share a household, unlike the current UK recommendations.
Doctors, dentists, and other medical staff wouldn't be eligible either.
My own comment included that the reason I'd still be eligible for the vaccine is a lung problem caused by covid.
Your Local Epidemiologist has a good post about the proposal, including that the people suggesting this know that nobody is going to do the placebo-controlled tests of new boosters they want to require.
Possible talking points include:
Families and caregivers wouldn't be eligible for the vaccine, even if they share a household, unlike the current UK recommendations.
Doctors, dentists, and other medical staff wouldn't be eligible either.
My own comment included that the reason I'd still be eligible for the vaccine is a lung problem caused by covid.
Plants for Garden in the French Pyrenees
May. 19th, 2025 02:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
donut_donut posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
little_detailsHi! I'm writing a novel that takes place in the French Pyrenees (modern day), and I'm trying to figure out what plants to place in this fictional garden.
More info:
The novel takes place at a villa owned by a middle-aged bohemian lady who moved there from Paris maybe a decade ago. Gardening is her hobby. In the back of the house is a potager (vegetable garden), and I've got that covered. But the front of the house has a flower garden, and I don't know so much about that.
It doesn't need to be plants that are native to the region, but it has to be plausible that they would be available and could thrive there. It's summertime (late July-August), and I would like there to be flowers, because we often see her pruning the old blooms. I assume rose bushes would work, but I would love some other options to work with. I've been picturing something like hydrangeas or rhodedendrons, but I don't know how common they are in this environment.
Some kind of ornamental tree would also be nice, for a character cry under. A flowering tree or large bush would be nice but not necessary.
She has somewhat offbeat tastes, so anything off the beaten track would be great, but it has to make sense for the climate.
Thank you!
More info:
The novel takes place at a villa owned by a middle-aged bohemian lady who moved there from Paris maybe a decade ago. Gardening is her hobby. In the back of the house is a potager (vegetable garden), and I've got that covered. But the front of the house has a flower garden, and I don't know so much about that.
It doesn't need to be plants that are native to the region, but it has to be plausible that they would be available and could thrive there. It's summertime (late July-August), and I would like there to be flowers, because we often see her pruning the old blooms. I assume rose bushes would work, but I would love some other options to work with. I've been picturing something like hydrangeas or rhodedendrons, but I don't know how common they are in this environment.
Some kind of ornamental tree would also be nice, for a character cry under. A flowering tree or large bush would be nice but not necessary.
She has somewhat offbeat tastes, so anything off the beaten track would be great, but it has to make sense for the climate.
Thank you!
I've only seen one here twice before, once in the months after I moved in, and again a few years ago. Unfortunately just as this time, I had been on my way to the grocery, and I assumed I'd have time to take photos when I came home. Which I didn't because it was gone. ( Read more... )
'Holloway' comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'hol weg', and refers to a sunken path that has been grooved into the earth over the centuries by the passage of feet, wheels and weather...
'The Old Ways' Robert Macfarlane
( West Dorset holloways. )
Bruises sustained while kickboxing: pain level, realistic causes, healing time
May. 14th, 2025 01:28 pmneveryourgirl posting in little_detailsHi everyone,
MCU fanfic writer here! I need some advice on bruises and non-serious gym injuries/injuries from sparring or the like. Especially people with medical and/or martial arts backgrounds, please weigh in!
Character context: two non-superpowered hero characters (think Hawkeye or Black Widow), both are women, the injured character is in her early to mid-20s and has trained in different martial arts since she was a preteen
Scene context: It's basically a sex scene. Character A and B are long-distance and haven't seen each other in a while. Character A pulls up the other’s shirt and finds a fading bruise on her stomach. Character A asks about it. Character B replies that it’s a gym injury, because she got distracted during a kickboxing class. (The distraction was that she kept remembering a sex dream from the night before.) The moment is supposed to function as a brief interruption. It's basically 'not a big deal,' because they are both used to worse injuries, but it still makes character A pause, because like, Babe, why do you have a bruise I don't know about?
Injury details I've included: I described the bruise as “fading” and a “yellow-green mark.” It “hurt like a bitch” the first few days, but she can barely feel it now.
Timeframe-wise, I’m thinking the injury happened maybe two weeks ago, but I could change that. It’s not actually mentioned on page.
I have a feeling some of my details might be off? I did look up the different visual stages of bruises healing, but I have zero medical background, and all I know about kickboxing I learned from my google research.
So, my questions now are:
1. Does this injury make sense within the martial arts/kickboxing context? Is the bruising and pain level realistic? Or am I over- or underestimating it?
2. Does the timeframe make sense?
3. Would what I imagine as a kick to the stomach leave a bruise like that without causing more serious damage? Like, would the force necessary to leave a bruise also cause other injuries?
If this combo of injury and cause of injury doesn’t work, I’d also love to hear alternative suggestions if you have any!
Of course, this is Marvel, so there’s some major leeway since we repeatedly see characters without superpowers be kicked or fall from questionable heights and get back up again. But I really like to have my medical facts be as accurate as possible. (And if I feel the need to deviate, I at least want to know the factual realities I’m intentionally deviating from.)
MCU fanfic writer here! I need some advice on bruises and non-serious gym injuries/injuries from sparring or the like. Especially people with medical and/or martial arts backgrounds, please weigh in!
Character context: two non-superpowered hero characters (think Hawkeye or Black Widow), both are women, the injured character is in her early to mid-20s and has trained in different martial arts since she was a preteen
Scene context: It's basically a sex scene. Character A and B are long-distance and haven't seen each other in a while. Character A pulls up the other’s shirt and finds a fading bruise on her stomach. Character A asks about it. Character B replies that it’s a gym injury, because she got distracted during a kickboxing class. (The distraction was that she kept remembering a sex dream from the night before.) The moment is supposed to function as a brief interruption. It's basically 'not a big deal,' because they are both used to worse injuries, but it still makes character A pause, because like, Babe, why do you have a bruise I don't know about?
Injury details I've included: I described the bruise as “fading” and a “yellow-green mark.” It “hurt like a bitch” the first few days, but she can barely feel it now.
Timeframe-wise, I’m thinking the injury happened maybe two weeks ago, but I could change that. It’s not actually mentioned on page.
I have a feeling some of my details might be off? I did look up the different visual stages of bruises healing, but I have zero medical background, and all I know about kickboxing I learned from my google research.
So, my questions now are:
1. Does this injury make sense within the martial arts/kickboxing context? Is the bruising and pain level realistic? Or am I over- or underestimating it?
2. Does the timeframe make sense?
3. Would what I imagine as a kick to the stomach leave a bruise like that without causing more serious damage? Like, would the force necessary to leave a bruise also cause other injuries?
If this combo of injury and cause of injury doesn’t work, I’d also love to hear alternative suggestions if you have any!
Of course, this is Marvel, so there’s some major leeway since we repeatedly see characters without superpowers be kicked or fall from questionable heights and get back up again. But I really like to have my medical facts be as accurate as possible. (And if I feel the need to deviate, I at least want to know the factual realities I’m intentionally deviating from.)
Today's project was filling a set of trough pots and securing them to the benches of the new picnic table. (This is from Tuesday, but it's after midnight so the date reads Wednesday. See some "before" pictures.) There are 6 troughs total, although one already had wild strawberries in it from earlier. Each bench holds 3 troughs. I got these and a bunch of other pots when Big Lots went out of business.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Hello! I'm currently working on a project for a character who is a amateur (but enthusiastic) cartographer. They exist in the world of Outer Wilds, a game with multiple simulated planets(none more than a few kilometers in diameter). The simulated planets each have their own gimmicks (i.e Brittle Hollow, a hollow planet with a black hole in the center. Its crust falls into the black hole during gameplay, and most of what you can explore is under the crust).
How might I go about mapping these places in a way that'd be accurate and believable in the sense that my character could have drawn them up while exploring? What sort of notes should I be taking?
How might I go about mapping these places in a way that'd be accurate and believable in the sense that my character could have drawn them up while exploring? What sort of notes should I be taking?
If (like me and my adult offspring) you owe paperwork to renew your Medicaid, you should get it in right away. And we're going to need to confirm eligibility twice a year rather than every other year.
Specific to Massachusetts/MassHealth, from the Patch:
( Read more... )
I will certainly be writing to my Senator, Elizabeth Warren, to thank her for continuing to protect disabled and poor people.
Specific to Massachusetts/MassHealth, from the Patch:
( Read more... )
I will certainly be writing to my Senator, Elizabeth Warren, to thank her for continuing to protect disabled and poor people.
https://translifeline.org/clarifying-misinformation-about-our-hotline-number/
Post from a friend who writes better than I do-
This is HARMFUL misinformation which is having a real impact, wasting a limited resource intended for a minority community, one that is also PROVIDED by members of that same community. When desperate Americans call, they are inadvertently harming Canadian trans people on both sides of the line.
At best, whoever made this graphic was woefully ignorant, but I suspect this may be strategic propaganda. But you know what? The intent doesn't matter; it's the outcomes that matter. Let this source of bad outcomes stop with you! Do not spread the wrong info, and correct it when you see it!
Corrections rarely get as much traction as the original misinfo, and I don't have much reach, so PLEASE feel free to share my dippy graphic (or make a better one). *They had made a graphic which I have not included*
Also, I know we all have limited mental energy right now, but you have GOT to fact check memes before you share them! I'm so sorry to say this, as good fact checking is difficult, and it's so much easier to just read and share. However, this is the kind of harm we enable every time we don't do our due diligence.
In the words of Shel Silverstein, some kinds of help are the kinds of help we all can do without. One relatively simple way to be Mr. Rogers helpers instead of Shel Silverstein "helpers" is to stand in the way of bad information - make sure it's really real before you pass it on, and if you aren't sure or don't have time to fully confirm the information, just don't post it!!!
Post from a friend who writes better than I do-
This is HARMFUL misinformation which is having a real impact, wasting a limited resource intended for a minority community, one that is also PROVIDED by members of that same community. When desperate Americans call, they are inadvertently harming Canadian trans people on both sides of the line.
At best, whoever made this graphic was woefully ignorant, but I suspect this may be strategic propaganda. But you know what? The intent doesn't matter; it's the outcomes that matter. Let this source of bad outcomes stop with you! Do not spread the wrong info, and correct it when you see it!
Corrections rarely get as much traction as the original misinfo, and I don't have much reach, so PLEASE feel free to share my dippy graphic (or make a better one). *They had made a graphic which I have not included*
Also, I know we all have limited mental energy right now, but you have GOT to fact check memes before you share them! I'm so sorry to say this, as good fact checking is difficult, and it's so much easier to just read and share. However, this is the kind of harm we enable every time we don't do our due diligence.
In the words of Shel Silverstein, some kinds of help are the kinds of help we all can do without. One relatively simple way to be Mr. Rogers helpers instead of Shel Silverstein "helpers" is to stand in the way of bad information - make sure it's really real before you pass it on, and if you aren't sure or don't have time to fully confirm the information, just don't post it!!!