Tumblr's Alexandria

[greatpostsofalexandira]

Welcome to The Library

Hello and welcome to The Library, a blog dedicated to becoming the Alexandria of Tumblr.

There are so many posts that go around Tumblr with important information, free software, useful links, or just generally good advice to have and use. But sometimes in recent years, it's felt like there was no real good way of keeping track of all of them. Some would get lost in the history of our blogs or disappear for untold amounts of time before resurfacing.

That’s where The Library comes in! Together, we can create a singular place to house all of these helpful resources that otherwise, could have been lost in the course of blogging. Having this archive will also make it easier to search for new and helpful information. Hopefully, with a lot of dedication and teamwork, we can make this library as grand as the original Alexandria.

[hillbilly---man]

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.

[pyroteknich]

I am about 900% sure there are people who don`the know this. 

[aquadraco20]

PLEASE READ THIS IF YOU LIVE IN AMERICA AND HAVE MEDICAL BILLS

[wintermoth]

I had to do this once as well and I can ABSOLUTELY confirm that this is true.

Get in contact with the hospital. Don’t just…sit there and let the anxiety grow and panic and then ignore it in an effort to find peace.

[lunamugetsu]

Reblogging this because they don’t teach us this in school

[bundibird]

Its come to my attention that a lot of people do not know how to deal with a hot car in summer. A lot of people will get back to their car, after hours of it being parked in the full sun, and will open the door to be blasted in the face with furnace-level temperatures, and you'll just clamber in and shut the doors and leave the windows closed and you'll start driving that thing, and you'll wait for the air-conditioning to battle and overcome the heat.

Thats. Insane to me.

The inside of a car can get up to 40°C/104°F hotter than the outside temperature. Why would anyone get inside that????? It's gonna take your air-conditioning at least half an hour to combat that and bring the temperature down to something even remotely reasonable, and in the meantime you're sitting there risking heatstroke.

Now, I understand that it's currently winter in the northern hemisphere, which is where most of this site lives, but a) I'm in the southern hemisphere and today was Lots Of Degrees, and b) y'all should read this now and commit it to memory or queue it to reblog in summer or whatever, because it boggles my mind that some of you get into a car whose interior is literally oven-hot.

So!!!! Some tips!!!!!

Get a sun visor. One of the big ones that goes inside your windshield. You will not believe how much cooler those things keep your car. Get one, use it. Leave it to bounce around in your back-seat on cooler days, but have it on hand for the stinkers. They range in price but two-dollar stores usually have them for pretty cheap.

Leave the windows of your car cracked open. It doesn't have to be much. Literally just the tiniest amount will mean that the heat building inside your car has a way to escape, meaning the interior temp will naturally be kept lower. The larger the opening, the better, but depending on the neighbourhood you're parking in, maybe it would be better to have them open just a sliver. Even the tiniest crack will help. Ever tried warming up an oven with the door open? It doesn't work well. This is the same concept. If there is a way for the hot air to escape, the inside of your car will stay a lot cooler than it otherwise would have.

If you're fancy enough to have an openable sunroof (that's the dream) then leave that open a bit as well.

Youve just gotten back to your car and opened the door, and its hot as fuck in there. Open another door, ideally on the other side of the car, and let the hot air escape. If you can open all four doors and the boot, then thats even better. A bunch of the hot air will flush out. Not all!!! But a lot. Give it anywhere from a few moments to a few minutes, depending on how much of a hurry you're in.

Get in, start the car, open all the windows. Yes, even if you hate having the windows open.

Put the air-conditioning on full blast, and make sure the recycle is turned OFF. This means it pulls fresh air from outside the car (hot, but less hot than inside) and pumps that into the car, further displacing the heat inside the vehicle.

Start driving, still with the windows down. Once you get up enough speed, the force of the air from outside coming in will blast the rest of the excess heat out of the car.

The temp inside the car will now be roughly equivalent to the temp outside the car. Still hot!!!! But MAJORLY less so, and majority more handle-able by your air-conditioner.

Put all your windows up, and switch the air-con over to recycle. This means it takes the air in the car and cools it, then spits it back into the car, meaning that with each cycle, the air gets progressively cooler a lot faster.

If you do this, your car will be a hell of a lot more comfortable a hell of a lot sooner than it would be if you got into a 60°C/140°F cabin and just.... endured that, until your aircon could overcome it.

This post has been brought to you by an Australian who knows not one but TWO people who get into 60°C cars and wait 15 to 30 minutes for their car to drop back down to a temperature that's even REMOTELY tolerable.

[victusinveritas]

Find out more:

https://womeninstem.org/ and

https://womenrefusingtobeerased.org/

[eirenical]

While that first link is also an amazing resource and one you should check out, it isn't the one referenced in this post. The link from the post is:

U.S. Women in STEM

Check them out, too!

[roboticchibitan]

So yesterday I was thinking about how femme clothes fit my sibling weird sometimes cuz of their lack of tits and then I randomly remembered this nonprofit that knits and crochets prosthetic breasts for cis women that have had mastectomies due to breast cancer (knittedknockers.org lol) and their patterns are free! So I am knitting them some tits which I find very amusing.

For those that want breastforms, the patterns are free. Takes sport or DK yarn. There's a DPN version and a knit flat version and a crocheted version. You can find them on Ravelry under the name Knitted Knockers but make sure you have mature content enabled

[virgo-disaster]

@orig-suckamunch absolutely

Perfectly Reasonable Packer pattern by Janet Dawson

The Dongalong story:

Soft Packer pattern by Marian Fournier

Last December, I was inspired by Bethany’s crochet soft packer Lil’ Bug Soft Packer and the Parts For People Volunteer Group, who make and

Packer pattern by Queer Crochet

Get the pattern for FREE when you comment “packer pls” on my instagram post! https://www.instagram.com/p/DCw_f6jBG_7/?utm_source=ig_we...==

[ithelpstodream]

[myrosecolouredgirl]

Si la migra aparecen en su puerta

no abras la puerta. Estate calmado. Usted tiene derechos.

Si piden entrar, pregunten si tienen una orden firmada por un juez.

Si dicen que lo tienen, piden verlo.

Una orden de administración de ICE (formulario 1-200, 1-205) no les permite entrar a su hogar sin su consentimiento.

Si no tienen una orden firmada por un juez, usted puede negarse a dejarlos entrar

Si se fuerzan, no resistan. Dile a todos en la residencia que permanezcan en silencio.

Si usted es arrestado, permanezca en silencio y no firme nada hasta que hable con un abogado.

[uchanekome]

Reblog to save a life in these dark times.

[proleposting]

[pixelartpeach]

[pixelartpeach]

[ryukiki]

[phantomrose96]

File your taxes for free | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)

Prepare and file your federal income tax return online for free. File at an IRS partner site with the IRS Free File Program or use Free File

[myturtlespeedy]

This is a result of the inhumane decisions that members of this administration want you to be silent about in public for fear of a loss of “civility”.

[liukka]

The kid and her lawyer were about the only humans there. For fucks sake, they’re kids.

[tired-of-capitalism-deactivated]

HERE’S THE LINK TO SUPPORT HER WORK

[norvicensiandoran]

Updated link!

Support Our Work

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

Anybody else remember scoobies I need to know if this was a worldwide phenomenon

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

these mfs

[cia-maria]

Yes!! I'm from Germany and I made so many of them! One time, probably 15 years ago at this point, I took a ballpoint pen apart and encased the inner ink thing (? idk what it's called) in scoobies. I still have it:

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

dude that's sick asf

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

They're officially called scoubidous I think, took me a while to find a picture of them bc of that fuckass spelling- but sorry hold on, gimp???

[fantabulousfelix]

That's what we called it in my schools back in the day, at least! A quick duckduckgo search for "gimp keychains" is also showing results calling them boondoggle keychains?? Which I've never heard them be called before but I can't say doesn't fit in some indescribable way.

[lierdumoa]

We always called them lanyards when I was a kid. If you try to buy the plastic string online, most of the listings describe it as "lanyard string." Here's one I started in high school and never finished:

It actually can't be finished now because the plastic has degraded and become a bit gross and sticky to the touch from years of sitting in a drawer in a room that gets really hot in the summer. I've considered trying to remake it with leather cord instead of plastic, but I don't have as much free time as I did when I was a kid.

[lierdumoa]

What do you call these things?

lanyards

gimps

scoobies

boondoggles

other name

bald/see results

Voting ended onJan 30, 2025

[moniquill]

I grew up calling the material - the plastic lace itself - 'gimp'. Sometimes 'rexlace' but that's a specific brand. I'm from New England (RI) and was involved in this hobby in the 1990's. I still know how to do square and round stitch shown above, and four strand round lace.

[fred-the-dinosaur]

If anyone has resources for how to do the different stitches I would love to see them as I have unfortunately forgotten everything I used to know

[moniquill]

Laneyards

Your guide for making lanyards, from start to finish

[fred-the-dinosaur]

Thank you! This is brilliant

[seeds-of-pomegranate-deactivate]

Due to the situation in America, I've decided to make a discord server with PDFs of the banned books.

Nosferatu's library is divided into categories based on authors, with each book having its own channel and each author having a discussion forum for you to talk about the books and the authors.

There is also a general chat, a channel where I update all the books I intend to add, and a channel to recommend more books to add.

Fuck Trump. Stay strong. Don't let the fascists win.

[egberts]

at the risk of sounding like a bad psa, for those that have never had snow before: put something between the snow and your hands. the snow will start to burn/hurt/bite your hands quicker than you think! gloves are ideal but plastic bags and socks or anything to protect your skin will work. also if you plan to be outside or play in it for several hours then thick socks, bags on your shoes/socks and two pairs of pants is highly recommended

[loveize]

you can get frostbite in less than 15 minutes when it's cold enough. the more skin you have covered the better. it's most common to get frostbite on your fingers, toes, ears, nose, and lips. make sure they are covered.

if you get frostbite or hypothermia:

if it's severe, seek medical attention as soon as you can

move somewhere warm asap

remove clothing and jewelry from the affected area(s)

take off any wet clothing and replace it with soft, dry clothing

wrap affected areas in blankets to warm them and/or submerse them in WARM (NOT hot) water for no more than 30 minutes (you can use a washcloth for the face)

do NOT rub affected areas or warm them by a fire

read more:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/frostbite

Frostbite

Find out how frostbite is treated, including rewarming the affected body parts, which ideally should be carried out under medical supervisio

[eggpla]

realistically no one who has a choice to play in the snow in the south rn is going to get frostbite. Sharing things like this is only going to worry people unnecessarily. Play in the snow! Put on an extra layer and warm up when you get cold.

[egberts]

realistically you have no idea what some people will and won't do. people down here have NEVER seen snow. people are openly admitting to going outside and playing with the snow til their hands are red and numb because they don't know any better. my own girlfriend wouldn't heed my warning on gloves and then came inside ten minutes later regretting it big time. snow can hurt, even if you don't get frost bite from it, you'll still learn a very hard lesson and there is no harm in warning people so that they can freely enjoy playing in the snow without getting hurt.

[pallettown]

genuinely so scary that you can't access the page on the ssc website that guides you through changing your sex designation. so so fucking scary. they are already making our lives harder. they are already taking what little resources we have.

[pallettown]

update on this, if people want to reblog this to spread information to any trans person who is getting their gender marker changed with social security after the executive order:

today i went and was able to change my gender marker along with my name with social security. even though the page that guides you has been taken down you are STILL ABLE to do so. here is a link to the way back machine for the page and here is a link to the form you will need and here is another source that can help you prepare for federal crackdowns

don't be deterred by the removal of the page. there is still time, but possibly not a lot of it. if you can do this fast, do it.

it's worth noting that it's FREE to change your gender marker with social security. when you change your gender marker with social security, what you change it to does NOT have to match your other current IDs.

double check your state policies, and what you will personally need, but the overall message of this post is that there is STILL TIME despite the executive order. don't give up hope.

[izzythedemigod]

I just found the funniest font ever

Like. What is this. Why is this. Who is the target audience of this?

[skrutskie]

The font is called "Redacted Script," it's available for free here, and I just ran to download it because I am, in fact, the target audience for this

[sanshofox]

Did I read that correctly…

PBS was the only news outlet that dared to call it what it is, namely a nazi salute and today PBS got defunded??

[fandom-frenzy]

"Defund PBS" trends after PBS News tweets about Elon Musk's salute being "similar to the 'Sieg Heil' used by Nazis"

PBS News recently came under fire on social media for likening Elon Musk's gesture during President Donald Trump's inauguration to the Nazi

Quick search shows sports magazine and a tech magazine articles on it

Nothing is defunded at the moment that I can tell but we know they don't like PBS or npr and will try to do it as soon as they can.

[bemusedlybespectacled]

Republicans have hated PBS (particularly Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers) for literal decades. Don't forget that you can always donate to them and for a minimum of $6.25/mo you can get PBS Passport (PBS' streaming service).

[odinsblog]

Finally, some good news.

👉🏿 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/16/health/abortion-pills-fda.html

[teacupsandtimelords]

This is so great because if anyone is caught impeding or messing with these deliveries, it’s MAIL, that makes it a FEDERAL crime, whoever fucks with these packages gets charged FEDERALLY, they face up to five years in prison.

[weirdlylyricalnotes]

[ID: A tweet by @ nytimes that reads, "Breaking News: Women can get abortion pills by mail for pregnancies up to 10 weeks without seeing a doctor in person, the FDA ruled. The decision comes as the Supreme Court considers whether to roll back abortion rights or even overturn Roe v. Wade." Attached is a link to the article and a screenshot of the title and subtitle of the article. The article was published Dec 16, 2021. The title reads, "F.D.A. Will Permanently Allow Abortion Pills by Mail" and the subtitle reads, "The decision will broaden access to medication abortion, an increasingly common method, but many conservative states are already mobilizing against it." /end ID]

[to-worlds-more-beautiful]

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/15/1064598531/the-fda-could-permanently-lift-some-restrictions-on-abortion-pills

Adding a link that isn’t blocked by a paywall

FDA relaxes controversial restrictions on access to abortion pill by mail

The agency's decision to ease access to the drug mifepristone comes at a time when abortion rights are being increasingly restricted nationw

[littlecaffeinatedowl]

Resources for anyone that ends up in a restricted state:

Aid Access - they can send you the abortion pill even if you live in a restricted state.

PLUS, you do not have to be pregnant to order them. You can order to have on hand, in case of an emergency.

Aid Access supports women who cannot otherwise access an abortion or miscarriage treatment and protects their human rights.

Repro Legal Helpline (reprolegalhelpline.org) -

Some of the things they can help with above.

Miscarriage + Abortion Hotline (mahotline.org) -

They have a ton of information, and resources in one place.

Also, if you find yourself in a restricted state, you need to be careful of how and with whom you are talking about it. You need to use safe, encrypted messaging and calling.

I also recommend removing any biometric information for unlocking your phone. Use a PIN or password instead of a fingerprint or facial recognition.

[digitaldiscipline]