They made it so much worse. Essentially any person you encounter (the language says "occupant" of a public or private space iirc) can legally require you to remove your mask.

The single best thing you can do to ensure you're protecting yourself is to do a home fit test. Surgical masks, KN95s, N95s have generally the same kind of filtration layer; the essential difference is the fit. Is it sealing on your face with <10% leakage, even when worn for long periods and while you speak and make facial expressions? You can't really know this for sure unless you do a fit test.

It is pretty cheap and easy to do a DIY fit test.

Here's a video that explains how to do it with a trash bag, some Splenda, and a $7 nebulizer.

Here is a written guide.

It also just isn't true that humans are the only creature that shows empathy. We've observed altruistic and empathetic behaviors in lots of animals, and I think anyone with a pet would argue they can love

I feel the same way, but I think for most of these people it's actually about the social rewards/ego strengthening effects and not the material boons. Like, imagine if the constant drumbeat of capitalist society that tells you "you're disposable, you're subhuman, you're nothing" was actually whispering the opposite in your ear. "You've won. You're better than all those wretched people. You are justified, you are sanctified, you made it, you're gonna live forever." Like that kind of external motivation and validation is not a recipe for true happiness, but I have to imagine it feels damn good to have all of society's messaging and all the people you know pretend that you are some elevated class that actually matters.

Ugh, this gets right to a massive pet peeve of mine regarding mainstream climate change coverage. This relentless fucking fixation on having hope, the absolute strident necessity that we all feel the "correct way" about what approaches us. It's toxic positivity. It's emotional policing.

All of these people are terrified of death and they have no idea what hope even is! Yelling at some teenager grieving the destruction of the biosphere, "Be more optimistic! Look at the cool tech!" - it's not just ineffective, it's the literal opposite of helpful.

Hope isn't optimism! Hope isn't believing that we will win. Hope is when you've gone fully into despair and then find yourself, somehow, still alive there. This facade of positivity they call hope will break at the first sign of stress; that's why they push it so hard, insisting we all perform optimism as well, propping up their fragile feelings for them. I just want to shout it in their faces: You can't have hope without death! You can't have peace without grieving! Fuck you, start weeping!

There is a major oversight here that precludes proper representation. Chocolate is not a type of milk, it's a characteristic of milk.

Sincerely, a chocolate almond and chocolate soy milk enjoyer.

She adds that “fad diets are very unlikely to take off in societies where there are food shortages or food insecurity.”

lil bit of foreshadowing for the coming decade

I used to fast regularly and it made me feel great. Turns out I had celiac and my body was just relieved I was taking a break from poisoning it

I'm really sorry for what your internal mental/emotional landscape must feel like. That is a brutal amount of shame/grief to be carrying around. I mean this genuinely, I hope it improves for you.

As a teen my acne would clear up immediately for weeks after getting a bit sunburnt on my face. Very much regret not sunscreening sufficiently now because of the increased skin cancer risk I took on. But I was told this happened because the sunlight killed off the bacteria on my face. I figured out recently that homemade hypochlorous acid does the same thing and is completely safe, and indeed, it is extremely effective at controlling my adult acne. .

I haven't been able to play video games for a while now (severe long covid) but I just started a new solo TTRPG and I'm really enjoying it! It's called Apawthecaria and it's about being an adorable little woodland creature who travels about, harvesting herbs and mixing remedies for the animals you meet along the way.

My character ended up being a pine marten traveling with her fuzzy bat friend, both of them taking to the road as a way of running away from something - for my protagonist, I know it's a near death experience she never really processed, but I have no clue what my bat buddy's deal is yet. When I last left off I was foraging for herbs to help an injured otter at a small lakeside settlement.

List I found of hotlines and warmlines that don't call police

Why can't anyone make a decent monster collecting/battling game

Ooblets is a fantastic indie game with the exact opposite vibes of this one