nolite te bastardes carborundorum

christina, too old to still be here, dyke, melbourne

[guooey]

[imaginarylands4000]

[christinamirabilis]

There's this kid at my sons' daycare, I don't know who they are although I believe they aren't in either of my boys' rooms, I think they're maybe a year younger than my eldest son, who is turning five at the end of July. None of us know who the kid is, because confidentiality.

Anyway, we found out recently that this kid has been diagnosed with Batten disease, which is the common name for a group of disorders called Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses (NCLs). It's a rare childhood-onset neurodegenerative condition that is always fatal. Basically, it's dementia for kids.

Based on this kid's age, I'm guessing they have the Late Infantile NCL (LINCL) form. Which means they will decline in health until they eventually die between the ages of 8 and 12.

It's so severely fucked up. I can't imagine how the family must be feeling. Even worse is that it is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder, which means that, if this kid has any siblings, they have a 1 in 4 chance of also having the disease.

Shit like this just makes me feel like there can't possibly be a God. I'm sceptical agnostic, because I am a scientist at heart and I cannot completely rule out the possibility of a God or Gods, though it seems unlikely. But what kind of sadistic, evil piece of shit God would create a world in which an illness like this exists?

Being a parent has fucked me up in many unexpected ways that I wasn't prepared for. I had no idea that it would be so painful to love my kids, but it is – because the idea of them ever being the slightest bit hurt makes me unable to breathe, but at the same time there is very little I can do to protect them from anything. I can't read or watch or hear about bad things happening to children, whether real or fictional, because my mind always substitutes those children with my children and I just can't bear it. I finally got around to watching His Dark Materials and I just watched the episode where Billy Costa is found without his dæmon and then subsequently dies (side note: I'm sure it wasn't Billy in the book? I'm sure it was some random other kid and Billy ended up being fine? Although Roger most assuredly does not end up being fine (don't come at me re: spoilers, the book came out over 30 years ago and the first season aired in 2019)). I sobbed so hard watching Billy's mum singing to him and telling him he was allowed to go (i.e. die) that I gave myself a huge headache.

I just hate how raw and vulnerable and fragile it feels to love my children. I love them with all my heart and I don't regret having them, but fuck man, it is so very fucking painful.

[actualized-animal]

tbh it’s a red flag that the inventor of chiropractic got the idea from a ghost. bones are like the #1 thing ghosts don’t have

[christinamirabilis]

Not me crying over a Tinkerbell movie that my 4yo is watching.

[mandatoryrollercoaster]

Future Imperfect

[geniusbee]

these are getting weird

[important-animal-images]

[creatingblackcharacters]

FIRST PERSON TO BE FUNCTIONALLY CURED’ OF SICKLE CELL VIA GENE THERAPY!!!

Black man named Daniel Cressy!! (23) in Louisiana has been the first person cured!! (Happy Black News!!!)

🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

[queenofthearos]

Manning Family Children’s makes history as Louisiana’s first Sickle Cell Disease gene therapy patient rings the bell

23-year-old Daniel Cressy celebrated this remarkable milestone surrounded by Governor Jeff Landry, Congressman Troy Carter, Mayor Helena Mor

[maryfitzroy]

Have you seen Gracie? Officials in Texas search for missing giraffe

Gracie the giraffe is described as having rounded ears. She went missing from a ranch in Real County.

im crying dude

[fandomsandfeminism]

Yeehaw yall. Gracie is on the run.

[fandomsandfeminism]

To answer some common questions in the tags:

1. How do you lose a Giraffe? She apparently scaled a cliff that served as part of the enclosure (which the other giraffes in the herd had shown no interest in climbing.)

2. Well it should be easier to find her, she's a whole ass giraffe? Yeah, you'd think, but Texas ranches are fuckin huge. The man has apparently hired a helicopter and several drones to aide the search, but no luck yet. She's been seen on some game cameras on the nearby ranches though. But she's sneaky.

3. Why does a random guy in Texas have a herd of giraffes? Because it's Texas and we have basically no exotic animal regulations. No really. If you have enough land out in the hill country, you can just own stuff. It's fuckin nuts.

[nochd]

What's sending me is the "described as having rounded ears", as if to distinguish her from other stray giraffes that concerned neighbours might encounter.

[captaindibbzy]

I mean given Texas apparently has no exotic animal regulation the fact you might encounter another stray giraffe is low, but not zero.

[cyberglittter]

tokyo pride 2026

[transcephalopod]

there's something so alienating and painful about seeing things described as "queer" and knowing that, by the intention of the person saying it, it includes you because you're gay or trans or whatever. but you reject the word "queer" for yourself so thoroughly that the community/event/book/whatever doesn't register as including you even though you know it's supposed to. it's like seeing someone wearing your skin. and it's completely and totally inescapable if you want any hope of connecting with other LGBT people.

[transcephalopod]

in the best possible case, if you ask nicely, people don't call you a queer to your face, but you're still forced to implicitly accept the label and you have to see and hear the word constantly. in the worst possible case, you get someone going "all our words are slurs, you assimilationist! queer as in fuck you!" as if you're one of the straight homophobes that "term "queer as in fuck you" was originally used to confront and not an LGBT person who finds an anti-LGBT slur hurtful. nightmare world. can you imagine this happening to any other minority group.

[bonivers]

going on a guilt trip do yall want anything

[hozierswift]

clicking 'stay signed in'-buttons used to mean that u would stay signed in

[dormitionanddominion]

[motherfucker-somewhat-limited]

tiktoks with vine energy pt. 19

[setulose]

Trace amounts of Monica in my life

[setulose]

A statistically insignificant level of Monica in my life

[setulose]

My life manufactured in a facility that also processes Monica