This is obviously horrendous on the face of it, but in addition, he doesn’t even consider people who take medication classed as antidepressants for other issues. I am on a tricyclic antidepressant that does help my depression, but I also take it because it significantly reduces migraine attacks and mitigates my IBS symptoms. So even if you do think that depression is ‘all in your head’ (ignoring all modern information and proof to the contrary), you still should be enraged by the mere suggestion of a policy like this.

Out of all of the possible headlines for this study, which the article itself even critiques, why do they choose the single finding that highlights a so-called ‘debate’ that is often used to try to divide the trans community? It’s not like specific targeting of trans women is new or unknown, and the bigger issue trans men usually face is erasure, usually in similar ways to the struggles the article cites as being faced by lesbians. The article could have picked any one of the several other findings from the survey, so why didn’t they use those other findings, many of which are far more important and not as well known?

And where am I ruling that out? I never said that this resistance would always be peaceful. But the sooner you start coordinating with the people around you, the better prepared for that violence we will be, and the better our chances are to prevent a lot of deaths. You can claim otherwise, but sitting alone while my neighbors and friends die is unconscionable to me.

But what am I deluding myself about? I have literally admitted that what we do may not be able to fix things entirely, but we doom ourselves more if we don’t take action. You obviously know that already, given your statement about your footprint, so why are you arguing against another person calling for direct action?

Even if that is true, why take out your frustration like this, by raging against those of us who are willing to do all the good we can?

I am not promising that we will be able to fix everything. Heck, I don’t even know if we can fully fix anything. But until every last living being is dead, there is something here that deserves every chance we can give or get.

You don’t have to participate, but to argue against this kind of work is like denying pain medication to someone who is dying and justifying it by saying ‘meds will not save you’. If we can’t save the life, we can at least save them from as much suffering as we can manage.

It is going to get worse, but that doesn’t mean we have to accept the full worst-case scenario.

Right now, a lot of people are hurt and scared, and the fascists know that. That is why they are making big waves right now, to try to capitalize on that feeling of dread and despair.

But they had to put in a LOT of work to suppress the will of the people. This is not the result of a single election season, this is the result of a coordinated effort spanning decades. The actions they are taking now are designed to make you think that it is hopeless, that nobody cares, and that the battle is lost.

In reality, the battle is never over. This is the moment that needs to push us to actually working together against them, instead of talking about what the right thing to do is. Talk won’t help, but local action will.

Join a mutual aid group and help safeguard your friends and neighbors from the economic hardship they are promising. Start talking your friends and family into attending boycotts, marches, and, above all, your local government and board meetings. Connect to the people around you, put up flyers, coordinate phone campaigns, and get people into these meetings to demand protections and change at the local level where it is most important.

Resistance doesn’t come from nowhere. It has to be grown, it has to be planted as a small seed and then watered and weeded and trellised and brought inside from the cold. You may even have to watch it die and then pick yourself up and start from a seed again.

But if we each dedicate ourselves, full time, to a single plant, then we will do far more good than running around frantically worrying about the forest dying. Because yes, the forest is dying, and it is up to us to determine what grows in its place.

We may not be able to save what we have now. But only we can set the stage, as best we can, for those who will come after us. And the more work we do now, the better they will be able to build off of that work, and the better things will be.

I updated all of the mods I wanted for the PC version of the game while I wait for the Switch update in a few days. Working towards the Community Center now, hoping to complete it in year 1 like I usually do.

Saint Francis of Assisi did this. He renounced his family name, inheritance, and (according to legend) the clothes on his back when his dad took issue with him giving alms. He spent the rest of his life wandering with a small group of other penitents and providing comfort to the sick, especially those with leprosy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi?wprov=sfla1

I am not a woman, but I am a trans man, which he knew as part of my medical history. I have considered if that was a factor, but I am honestly chalking it up to general incompetence given his explanations of criteria and what he would consider an acceptable answer.

For example, me having sensory issues that lead to me sometimes being unable to wear socks didn’t count because I was able to wear different types of socks, and even prefer different types depending on the day. According to him, I would need to have a single, strong preference for a type of sock. According to everyone else I have asked about it, the point of the question is that neurotypical people don’t have days where they can’t wear a certain sock or they will be unable to focus on anything else until they take it off.

I don’t think I am smarter? When I was done, he literally told me that I met the criteria, but that he thought my symptoms were for other reasons he refused to elaborate on. I checked with my therapist, who was the one who referred me, and she confirmed that that isn’t how it works, and that the evaluator didn’t understand how the criteria were supposed to be graded.

Ironically, this is how I found out.

I had four different people with ASD, including one person I met for the first time, tell me that I should get myself checked. One was after I had a several hour long convo with someone who could only normally talk with neurotypical people for about 30 minutes before it became a strain. He was shocked that I wasn’t diagnosed and recommended I get checked.

Now the only reason I don’t have a diagnosis is because the evaluator didn’t understand how the criteria worked. Still debating whether to try again for a diagnosis or not.

I have experience with all of those, and have played with all of them together at one point or another.

Stability is not a huge issue for most Stardew mods. In my experience, I have only had crashes if the mod was for a different game version, or if it was a mod that added in a new machine and it was missing another base mod to function. Anything that expands the world should be fine as long as you have added any mods they require to work.

Any mod that expands the minecarts has the potential to get a bit weird, but Integrated Minecarts is the best of them that I have used, so you should be okay.

Stardew Valley Expanded, while a popular mod, may not be compatible with other mods as there are several mod authors who would prefer to not work with that author or anything they make. Iirc, this is due to them having harassed other mod authors they accused of stealing concepts, as well as a lot of people not liking the fact that the author added in weird dialogue about sexual assault for one of the characters and had no warning of way to avoid it. I personally don’t use it for these reasons, but I don’t personally think there’s anything wrong with using it, just be aware that it will have more compatibility issues than most others.

Removing almost any mod mid game will cause issues of varying degrees, since it will cause the game to try to load assets in a save that won’t exist. Most mods will have a recommendation of whether or not you need a new game in order to start using a mod, and a good rule of thumb is: if it needs a new game to start, it will need a new game to remove it as well.

I highly recommend getting the Mod Updater, which you can find the link to on smapi.io, which is where I get most of my mods. They tell you if a mod is working, broken, or if you can use another mod in place of one that is broken. Also, the Mod Updater lets you make sure you get any fixes to mods, which helps cut down on a lot of issues.

If you do run into any bugs with a mod, I do recommend checking the mod page and seeing if there is a fix. Hobby mod authors are almost always releasing fixes or unofficial updates, so chances are someone may have solved the issue, of found out how you can solve it for yourself.

Finally (sorry this is so long!), I will issue one warning that is based on my personal preference and experience, so please disregard this if you feel differently: while I like the expansion mods from time to time, any mods that add in a new area tend to make me spend much less time in the original areas of the valley. This has often led to me not feeling like I am playing Stardew, and Stardew is a game that I am usually playing because I want to play Stardew, as opposed to playing it to pass the time of passively enjoy. If you play for a similar reason, then I would stick to mods that add new stuff to the existing valley, rather than adding new areas outside of it. There are plenty of both, so you won’t be limited either way. But again, that is my preference, just wanted to share because I have heard similar feelings from other modded players.

Hope this helps!

C.S. Lewis, specifically The Screwtape Letters. I had been raised very conservative Catholic, and this book was my introduction to moral philosophy, as odd as that may sound given the overtly religious nature of it. The idea that morality has nuance, that an action can be wrong and still not damning, or ‘virtuous’ and still evil, was a new idea to me in my early teens.

While it would take me several more years to really start learning more definite philosophical concepts, that book was the first one that actually challenged me to ask myself why I believed the things I did, and made the case that blind, unchallenged faith was not faith at all. I started paying more attention to the things I had previously accepted at face value, and that examination would lead to me leaving the church and Christianity entirely later on. I still have faith of a sort, but it is more a faith in humanity and an undying and unifying spirit of community than a religion.

Now I have read quite a bit more in terms of philosophy, though not as much as I would like. All thanks to one book about demons trying to send a man to hell.

I was in NYC for Pride the other year and got a sample of a cannabis drink made by a new-at-the-time company Cycling Frog. Flavor is good for a seltzer type drink, and the inebriation level is tailored to be about equal to 1-2 alcoholic beverages, which makes it easy to dose. Hubby and I loved it and bought a couple of cans on the spot. They are now available in dispensaries near us, and we still pick up a case every few months.

Fellow former conservative christian here, and I share that pain. I eventually came around thanks to a LOT of patience from friends who understood my background.

I try to pay it forward by putting myself out there and extending a hand to anyone looking to understand and accept others. I have had decent success with anyone who asks in good faith.

Birthday sibling! Happy birthday 🥳

Fair, but people have sensitivity and allergy to different things. Adding it to an existing list of potential deal breakers for those who would rather not risk their health is a case of cost/benefit: it costs nothing and benefits many.

…You are aware of how both allergies and air quality works, right? Also, most shows even in art houses don’t include scent effects of any kind, hence the warning. If it were common, the warning would likely be unnecessary.

But lovely of you to claim I am the oversensitive one, as apparently adding a single word to an already existing warning, one that could literally save someone’s life by preventing a physical ailment, is too much for you to handle reading!

Having a warning for that is incredibly important, mostly in cases where people may be allergic or have sensitivity to certain smells. Incense is not something you would expect at a theater performance, so if I went to a showing without that warning, I wouldn’t know to take my allergy meds and may have walked out of there with a migraine or needing my inhaler, depending on what kind of incense they used.

This is one I am constantly answering for people when they find out I am vegan. I am a trans man, so quite a lot of people ask me whether or not all the soy will slow or stop my hormone therapy changes.

They usually don’t like the answer: that my levels are always fine, leaning towards my T being a bit too high. But that only started AFTER I went vegan. Before I went vegan, I did keto for a year, and I suffered from consistently high E and worse blood work results than any other point in my life.

About 8 years vegan now and I am the healthiest I have been in my adult life, no soy side effects at all.

Full article is as follows:

Toronto police sergeant gets eight-month demotion for her role in violent ‘mistaken identity’ arrest of U of T student

Officers were looking for a different Black man — wanted in a domestic incident — when Sgt. Rachel Saliba spotted Hasani O’Gilvie on his way to class. The “mistaken identity” arrest ended with O’Gilvie being Tasered and the subject of a knee-to-neck restraint.

Sgt. Rachel Saliba, one of two Toronto police officers who pleaded guilty to misconduct charges in the “mistaken identity” arrest and Tasering of Hasani O’Gilvie, a Black university student, was penalized with an eight-month demotion on Monday.

Saliba pleaded guilty earlier this year to an unlawful exercise of authority in making an unnecessary arrest that she initiated — even though O’Gilvie had identified himself — triggering a violent take down of an innocent man.