Just a gentle reminder for tumblr users with anxiety, panic disorders or who get nervous quickly:
– Chain mail, “reblog this or..” posts etc. don’t work. They’re not real. Nothing bad will happen if you don’t forward that mail or reblog that post.
– “If you don’t reblog this, you’re a bad person” is a lie. You’re not a bad person for not clicking a button.
– You are allowed to unfollow blogs that post triggering contents.
– You’re not weak or a crybaby for avoiding things that are triggering. Far from it, you’re taking care of yourself. That’s amazing!
This post have helped me a lot, because I get anxious when I see every single thing from that list. Especially “if you don’t reblog you’re a bad person”, these things make me want to cry
You could probably add a small snail. I’m not sure about shirmp, but I wouldn’t add another fish of any kind. There’s just not enough room in a five gallon to safely cohab other fish with a betta
Very few fish are happy in a 5 gallon, and certainly not sharing it with a betta.
Shrimp are iffy. Bettas will either ignore them or rip them apart, and some shrimp (anything sold as “ghost shrimp” is suspect) will attack betta tails. Same goes for dwarf crayfish- either the betta will attack them or they’ll go after betta fins.
I found this on Twitter, while following a link from Tastefully Offensive, and I not only hate the “you’re a bad person if you have to surrender a pet” mentality with an undying passion, but I hate that this person used someone’s tragedy to try to “prove” that mentality.
This is absolutely a tragic story, and what we SHOULD learn from this is:
1. You should ALWAYS put your animal’s welfare first, even if that means finding them a new home when you are no longer able to care for them, and there is absolutely NO shame in having to surrender an animal, because an animal is ALWAYS better off with someone who is willing and/or able to give them the best possible care. I commend this person for recognizing that, and I’m sorry that it ended in a tragedy for them.
2. If you’ve adopted an animal with the level of pedigree described, you should also ALWAYS RETURN YOUR ANIMAL TO THE BREEDER. If they’re a reputable breeder, THEY WILL TAKE THEM BACK. This is also relevant to a lot of rescue animals, as well, and I, in fact, had to sign a contract when taking Scully home that stated, if I could no longer care for her, that I would return her to the shelter that I got her from. A lot of places make you do this, because they have resources to SAFELY rehome an animal that you don’t. Some of them even have monetary penalties for breaching the contract you signed (including some breeders, I believe).
3. If you’re not going to or can’t take your pet back to where you got it from, for the love of god, DO YOUR RESEARCH, and don’t just trust what friends/family/acquaintances tell you about a place. Most shelters, rescues, etc. have websites, these days (and, honestly, not having one is your first red flag), and most of them will flat-out tell you their save rates and/or kill rates. If they DON’T, they probably have something to hide. Yes, it is sometimes difficult to find a no-kill shelter or rescue that actually has room to take an animal in, especially if you don’t live in a large city, but it’s still up to YOU to find the one that is best for your pet, and to figure out how to get them there, even if that means finding someone to take care of them for a while (if it’s an absolute time-crunch situation) or waiting to give them up until you know there is a place for the them.
THERE IS NO SHAME IN REHOMING A PET. No matter how much you love them, life happens. Scully is the ultimate testament to that. I would not have her if the circumstances of her previous owner hadn’t changed to the point where she absolutely could not keep her. I’m grateful that the son of that owner did the RIGHT thing, and instead of keeping a cat he didn’t want, gave her to an organization dedicated to finding the right home for her, no matter how long it took. She is my first ever rescue cat, and I can’t even imagine what either of our lives would be like right now if we hadn’t met.
Shelters and rescues exist for a very important reason, and eradicating them or shaming people into keeping pets they can’t properly care for isn’t going to save a whole lot of animals, if any, from pain, misery, or death. There are a lot of better ways to save animals from tragedies like this, including donating to or volunteering at a local shelter or rescue, so that they can help save even more animals.
ok but normalise going to coffee shops alone, eating dinner alone, going to the cinema alone. i’m okay & i’m not particularly sad or lonely. i feel bad that you’re feeling bad because i just happened to enjoy the company of myself today.
lol soo many ppl keep asking me this and I’m like ‘I love my independence’
I feel like I should make a post about this because it’s not something that’s very well-known, and that Americans in particular may need to know about given the uncertain state of our healthcare system at the moment. I’ve wanted to write this out for a while, It’s kind of a long post, so sorry about that!
If you have an emergency and have to go to the hospital, you’ll owe the hospital a lot of money. (I got into a car wreck and broke my ankle and my arm. My hospital bill was around $20,000)
You’ll also owe the ambulance provider, if you need one. (My ambulance bill was about $800)
You may get separate bills from the anesthesiologist or surgeon. (My anesthesiologist bill was $1,700)
You may need follow-up appointments. (My orthopedic surgeon billed me for the appointments and his surgery together and it was about $1,000)
You’ve also got to pay for medical equipment you need afterward, like crutches or a walking boot. (Mine cost about $75)
Altogether, I ended up with almost $24,000 in medical debt from one car accident. That’s a really scary number for someone like me who makes $10/hr at a 12 hour a week job.
I got my debt down to $1075 by making some phone calls and submitting some paperwork.
The first thing I did was contact the hospital. They don’t make it easy to find, but many hospitals (perhaps most hospitals?) have financial assistance programs for people who can’t afford medical bills. I don’t make a lot of money, and I have bills to pay, so they were able to help me. I called the billing department and asked if they had any assistance programs for low income people who can’t pay their bills. I had to call multiple times, and I got transferred in circles by people who didn’t know what I was talking about. Finally, I got an appointment with someone in “Eligibility Services” (I don’t know what other hospitals call it, if it’s something different). I had to bring my pay stubs and copies of all of my bills. When I got to the hospital for the appointment, nobody knew what I was talking about so I had to wander a little to find where I needed to go. I spoke with the guy in Eligibility Services, and I waited for a decision on how much of the bill they would forgive. A month later, I got a call telling me it was totally forgiven.
I did the same thing for my ambulance bill and my anesthesiologist, but the process was a LOT easier. I just had to mail some paperwork and it was totally forgiven.
I didn’t bother with the medical equipment suppliers, since the bills came from separate companies and I didn’t feel like going through the process twice for $75. I was assured at the hospital that they had similar programs for debt forgiveness, so I could have probably avoided paying that too.
The only thing I couldn’t get taken care of was the surgeon/follow-up appointment cost, but they were able to put me on a no-interest payment plan.
Medical debt is scary because it’s something that can come from stuff that’s already really scary. I didn’t need the burden of $24,000 in debt on top of trying to get around on a crutch with a broken arm (it’s not easy, believe me!).. but I can’t imagine what it would be like with a bigger debt or a more severe medical emergency. I see lots of people in even worse trouble than I was in, both financially and medically. Please know that there are options for you when that GoFundMe doesn’t do enough. Even if your income is higher than mine, it’s worth a shot even for partial debt forgiveness.
Of course I clicked when this tweet from Glamour came across my timeline.
The article mentions the following four products: washable period underwear, washable pads, menstrual cups, and sea sponges. The first three are great, but menstrual sponges are not.
This is what Glamour said about sponges:
Yup, you can stop your period before it exits the premises by putting a sponge up there. Menstrual sponges like those that Jade & Pearl and Jam Sponge offer actually look a lot like bath sponges, and they work the same way. The only disadvantage is that they may be a bit cumbersome and messy to get out. But they are good for the environment and your wallet, since you only have to change them every six to 12 months.
This is dangerous advice.
Sea sponges aren’t “like” bath sponges they ARE bath sponges. Some people promote them as “natural” alternatives to menstrual tampons, except they are untested and potentially very unsafe. Oh yeah, they are also filled with dirt.
According to the Food and Drug Administration, twelve “menstrual sponges” were tested at the University of Iowa in the 1980s and they and contained sand, grit, bacteria, and “various other materials.” Another batch was tested by the Baltimore district laboratory and in addition to the sand, grit and bacteria they also found yeast and mold. One sample contained Staphylococcus aureus (the bacteria that causes toxic shock syndrome). As the FDA notes there is least one case of toxic shock syndrome associated with the sea sponge and another possible one.
The grossness of a debris and “various other materials” containing vaginal sponge aside there are real potential safety concerns. Bits could break off and become a nidus for bacteria, the sponge itself could have harmful bacteria, sponges may change the vaginal ecosystem promoting the growth of good bacteria, the inability to clean them adequately between uses may reintroduce potentially harmful bacteria that was breeding in the wet sponge sat drying beside the sink, and the sponge may cause abrasions during insertion and/or removal.
Menstrual products, sea sponges included, are regarded by the FDA as “significant risk devices requiring premarket approval under Section 515.” Basically, you have to study any products that is new and prove it is safe.The concerns about sponges were so significant the FDA contacted the manufacturers of menstrual sponges to warn them of the risks and to require they stop marketing and selling the products. Some closed down, others relabeled their products for “cosmetic” use. By they way there weren’t just a few businesses selling sponges, the FDA visited forty-one businesses that packaged sponges as well as 500 retail establishments.
One of the companies suggested as a source of menstrual sponges by Glamour is Jade & Pearl who received a warning letter from the FDA in 2014 about marketing menstrual sponges (if you read the full letter you’ll see that Jade & Pearl actually had a whole list of FDA violations).
This is how Jade & Pearl advertises their sponges right now, but it’s pretty genius marketing to get Glamour to tell everyone that your product is potentially not just for cosmetic uses! See FDA, it’s “just a sponge.”
Sea sponges are potentially very unsafe.
Really, I can’t emphasize that enough. There are lots of very biologically plausible ways they could harm women andGlamour magazine should be ashamed for including them without the most basic of research. It makes you wonder if Google was just not working the day the piece was written or if it was sourced only from press releases.
I’m the expert and I say women should not use sea sponges in their vagina. They are potentially very dangerous. They don’t even have the most basic of safety testing. Glamour should know better and I urge them to print a correction and remove the offending paragraph.
Reblogging because im very sure i reblogged the video of that review and want ppl to know
Just because something is “natural” doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
Have you ever read a book where the main character, or a major character, has the same name as you? (any character, really)
My name isn’t really common, in fact I’ve never met anyone with the same name as me. I remember picking up so many books and seeing a variation of name and being like “why couldn’t it be this version :(”. Finally guess what? I pick a book up where the main character of this story basically has inappropriate fantasies of a character with the same name as me. 🙂 it made me so uncomfortable I put the book down and haven’t read it. Hell, I pick up a collection of the novels from that same author and am so glad that novel wasn’t in the collection.
Better to have no characters with the same name as you than characters who have creepy things happen to them.
I’ve got an Indian name, so nothing in western fiction, though tbh I’m yet to find any Indian fiction with a protagonist with my name either…
I have a really common name.
Lemme tell ya, it is not pleasant when you like crime shows (Criminal Minds, etc) and the victim has your name and hair color.
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