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depsidase

haunted-hideaway

I’m glad that OP:

1) Figured this out.

2) Shared so others can learn from their mistake.

omghotmemes

Senpai says you’re welcome

quintusbenedictus

Reblogging again because I just realized that if I had this advice in high school I would’ve never made a tumblr account.

unpopularly-opinionated

Also works for most of those news sites like WSJ or NYT that only let you read a little bit, or block adblockers. Also some disable the scroll bar but if you go to the right side of the console after hitting F12 and look for the CSS element “overflow” and change it from “hidden” to “visible” then you can continue scrolling for free. Might have to click around on different parts of the page to find it, but it should work.

ralfmaximus

There’s also a Firefox/Chrome extension called Behind The Overlay that does all that with one mouse click. Used it for years; what a time saver.

And if you encounter a true paywall, use Archive.Today to bypass it. Just paste the paywalled url into the blue “search archived snapshots” box near the bottom:

panhaima

there’s always a taller ladder

effinbirds

doctorbeth

Towers the Giraffe

Sometimes I’m a full fledged surgeon, but sometimes I’m just an ophthalmological surgeon who provides a bit of spa relaxation on the side. That was the story for Towers.

His person wrote to me:

My sweet baby Towers suffered an incident. I am a college student, but nonetheless, I love my stuffed animals to death. I woke up this morning to find my 2004 Ty Giraffe Towers missing an eye. Thankfully, I do have the eye (and it is beat up, but if possible, I would like to keep him looking the same). I was hoping to get an estimate to fix the socket and fix it, and maybe since he is aging, give him a few good meals. I have been too scared to wash him for years, so maybe a bath would be nice. I would like him to not change too much. I teethed on his little top nubs that now look like sick dreads, I would like those to stay the same, just maybe sew up the bottoms so the top of his head isn't exposed. I have literally had this stuffed animal since the day I was born, and I care too much about him to lose him so finding your page seems like a true miracle.

As you can see, his eye actually broke off at the post, so he would need a new eye, but it is a fairly common style and I thought we could find a good match. He had also lost some of the posture in his spine, and had had quite a few grimy adventures, so we also agreed on a spa for his visit.

Here he is in his bubble bath:

You can already see his color coming back!

Once he was dry, he got restuffed including his small heart of original stuffing:

Next was the eye. We could keep the healthier eye, and just replace the damaged one, which is what you can see in this photo.

But the difference between a healthy shiny eye and an aged older eye is pretty obvious, so his person opted for two new eyes.

Here he is, getting his chubbiness approved. I always send photos of patients before they are closed up, so we can adjust chubbiness as needed. In this case, he has his new eyes, but his spine is open:

Those bottom two photos are me squishing him to show how dense his new stuffing is.

Towers got approved and flew home to Tennessee. She sent this photo of Towers back safely home:

And she wrote:

He made it home!! He looks so amazing - I am so happy!! Never in my childhood did he ever look this great. Thank you!! You are a true miracle worker!!

Towers wanted me to tell you:

“I had a great time at the hospital, thank you for taking such good care of me. I’ve never been out that far west before and it was a great fun trip! I hope me and my human can go out there soon!! Again thank you for making me feel better!! I’m so happy to be youthful again :)”

Again, eternally grateful for you! Greatful that you posted to NOT superglue eyes back in (because Towers then would have a bigger problem). I appreciate all you did for my boy. Thank you for bringing the joy in my childhood back to life again.

It’s always awesome when the patients themselves add a comment.:-) And yes, I still do say no to superglue on patients! It just doesn’t come off and can seriously damage fabric. :-(

iamwizzzzz

doctorbeth

White Bear's Rejuvenation for a new generation

White Bear's family wrote asking for help for their 40 year old bear last summer. He had visited the hospital over a decade ago, but after years with a new generation, it was time for a new treatment. Here are his diagnosis photos:

He had a bit of wear, but mostly on his front. The original plan was a spa and then transplants for his full front white areas, with a check in before deciding whether to treat his legs and back.

Here he is in his bubble bath:

There were two options for his new fur, longer and shorter:

His person opted for the longer fur. I treated his front side and the back of his head (the areas with the most balding), and sent photos:

His family wrote:

Wow, Beth! He’s so sweet. I agree, we can recover his back and legs like you recommend. I love that the brown (ears, nose, and paws) and eyes are shining through as the original and that’s good for us. Thank you for asking.

Here he is all better!

His family wrote "He's perfect!" So he flew home (not far, still in CA). And then in December, they wrote about another patient coming to the hospital. The last line of the email:

White Bear is holding up well! We appreciate you fixing White Bear earlier this year!

*************

If you enjoyed this post, you may be interested in my substack newsletter, doctorbeth.substack.com. It's free, and you get the stories straight to your inbox. I also do occassional retro posts from the backlog through the newsletter. But don't worry, I'll keep posting everything new here too.

analytically

Astrology is very popular — both Gallup and YouGov report that about 25% of Americans believe that the position of the stars and planets can

Astrology doesn't seem to work.

intimate-mirror

performativezippers

Some highlights:

Astrologers helped design the study

No one did better than random chance, even though they only included people in the study who are experienced with astrology and stated that they expect themselves to do better than random chance

They gave every astrologer a set of 50 things about a person and 5 birth charts to choose from. They weren’t even coming up with the chart themselves!

After taking the test, most thought they nailed it. Zero out of 152 did better than 5 out of 12. None nailed it

Astrologers who rated themselves highly experienced (“world class experts”) did the same or worse as those who said they have limited experience. Both performed the same as random chance

This is hilarious

o-craven-canto

That's got to be the funniest graph ever published in a paper

doctorbeth

Fred Ted's Rejuvenation

I have a very long queue of animal's stories that I may tell someday... almost 400 at last count! So today I decided to go back a ways in the queue and revisit a patient who what here several years ago, but whose story I never got around to writing. I treat hundreds of patients each year, and I don't tell all their stories. If I tried to tell every story a) you'd get bored (you don't need to see every spa!) and b) I'd never have time to treat the patients! But anyway, it is kind of fun to go back in the queue and remember old friends/patients. I hope you enjoy them too!

Without further ado:

I received this email one day:

Please meet Fred Ted. He's a very much loved and treasured teddy bear who is approximately 33 years old. Besides being loved by a girl named M, he was also much loved by her two dogs, Jackson and Belle.

Here were Fred Ted's diagnosis photos:

And here's a dog who loves him:

Fred Ted's family (human and canine) sent him to the hospital for a spa, muzzle reconstruction, a new nose, new eyes (old ones were quite chipped), new mouth, and bald spot treatment.

Here he is in his bubble bath:

And here's his heart being made and installed with a bit of his original stuffing:

I had a near perfect fur color match for his bald spots once he was clean:

And so surgery continued. Without any evidence of his original mouth, I sent a sketch of options for his person to choose from:

Soon, he was feeling his old self and ready to return home:

He looks amazing, thank you! wrote his family.

So Fred Ted flew home to MO. His family wrote:

Fred arrived back home safely today and he looks great! Thanks ever so much!

Hope you and your canine and human family are all doing well Fred Ted!

*************

did-you-know

Before US astronaut Scott Kelly returned from his year-long mission aboard the International Space Station, he shared photos of his very last sunrise in space.

did-you-know

All toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads. While both belong to the order Anura, toads are actually a subset of frogs. They can usually be identified by appearance, but there are some frogs that appear dry and bumpy, and many toads can trick you by looking wet and slimy. When in doubt, just call it a ‘frog,’ and you’ll always be correct.

saxifraga-x-urbium

Force Remove Copilot, Recall and More in Windows 11 - zoicware/RemoveWindowsAI

doctorbeth

Zhuzhu the blue pig

Zhuzhu lives on the other side of the world, in Singapore! Her person first contacted me a few years ago about her deteriorating condition. Here are her first diagnosis photos:

Her person wrote:

I'm writing to get an estimate for a well-loved and threadbare stuffed pig, who is currently more hole than pig. The fabric has been worn so thin that it breaks, and her previous surgeon (my grandmother) said that it would be very difficult to fix because the fabric can't hold a stitch.

Fortunately, Zhu Zhu did have a bit of protection that was keeping her together at the time:

There were a few options for her care. Spa, patching holes, lining, recovering. It took a couple of years to decide (flying solo halfway around the world is scary!) but eventually Zhuzhu's person decided to send her to California for a spa and full recover. It was the best bet for Zhuzhu to survive for future generations to love.

Here is Zhuzhu in her bubble bath:

There were a few choices for her new skin, and her person opted for French terry like she had originally. It was a really close color match. Her original eyes were going on top of the new fabric, but she would get new nostrils, and she was opting for plumper rather than skinnier, so she could take more hugs. Here's Zhuzhu just before she got closed up to fly back around the globe:

Look at that happy smile! and her person agreed. Yes! Perfect they wrote.

************

feefal

Evolution of Steel! Did you know steel is just iron with a dash of carbon mixed into it? It’s literally just iron with 1% carbon, which magically makes it more durable

noseysilverfox

December 2025

doctorbeth

Nutly the Squirrel and National Teddy Bear Day!

I was planning to tell you about Nutly today because he's a squirrel, and when I think of fall (which it's not technically yet, but is coming up fast) I think of squirrels gathering nuts. And then I found out that today is National Teddy Bear Day! So, first, Happy National Teddy Bear Day from me and my teddy bear to you and all of yours (and all the other stuffies too!).

Ok, now on to the preplanned fall story of Nutly, who belongs to one of you kind people... and arrived at the hospital with her own teddy bear!. :-)

Nutly's person wrote back in April. Here is a partial excerpt of her first email, titled "Just putting out feelers".

"..since I'm not sure if I'm ready to do this just yet, or when I will be.

Nutly is a 9" stuffed squirrel who I've had since 1997 and may very well be my soul living outside of my body. Unfortunately, I have loved her to the point where I wanted to ask about your services so I can continue to sleep with her every night without worrying about her long-term prospects. Her neck is really thin and she has had a hair scrunchie around it, like some sort of Elizabethan ruff, to make sure it stays straight and stable. Luckily no flopping yet. The scarf was a jaunty later addition that constantly needs retying (we joke that she likes to remove it for attention).

Plus she badly needs cleaning. Sadly my mom put her through the washing machine a few times when I was younger, but I said 'nope never again' and the upshot is she hasn't been bathed in over 20 years at this point. You could be forgiven for not realizing her muzzle used to be white. I tried to gently remove some of the dark stuff around her muzzle seams, and the fur underneath was yellowed, so I stopped.

I also genuinely don't know what to do about her nose. It used to be pleather. I think it's now mostly superglue.

I'm sure you hear this from everyone who writes you, but I'm getting really emotional even thinking about sending her away. I genuinely don't think I'm ready right now. But I thought talking to you, and coming up with a plan, might help me become ready.

And here are some of Nutly's diagnosis photos, along with some younger similar squirrels for comparison:

So, you can see Nutly was pretty worn in some areas, and had some nose issues, and wanted a spa. It took a bit, but we (Nutly, her person, and I) eventually scheduled her for a summer appointment, and agreed we'd take her treatment step by step. The first step would be a spa and lining. All of her original stuffing would be saved outside of her repaired body, and returned to her person for sentimental purposes. She was quite cozy when she arrived at the hospital (with her own teddy bear!):

Here she is in her bubble bath:

and here's her heart being made and installed with a bit of her original stuffing once she was lined:

Next was redoing her nose and her first chubbiness check:

Here is her buddy, checking up on her progress from home:

And here's her chubbiness adjusted:

With that approved, her person decided it would be ok to go ahead with transplants for bald spots. She selected a furry fleece, and here's Nutly after that treatment:

At this point her person wrote: She looks beautiful. I'm so happy. I wish I could reach out and give her a huge hug.

You'll note her tail was still bald. That would require a much longer ply fur. Here she is, all better!

I like the top down photo because you can really see how fluffy her tail is! Note her white area didn't get any treatment other than the spa, because the balding wasn't structural and we didn't want to change her expression. Her person wrote: SHE IS PERFECT and yes, I absolutely approve! I wasn't expecting this so soon and I'm delighted.

Nutly flew home and in addition to a very nice note from her person, Nutly send this note:

Hi Dr. Beth! I had a really fun time at the hospital. You took such good care of me and it made me feel special. I also feel really fat, like I gathered just enough nuts for winter. Plus my tail is super fluffy and I forgot what that was like. I'm back home and ready to climb on stuff again and sit on the bed with Bailey watching birds on the telephone wire outside the window and dreaming about climbing trees. T cried a little when she held me. I don't know if she wanted me to say that… but it's too late! I love her so much and I'm full of glee and happiness and joy now that I'm home. Say hi to all the other animals for me! Bye!

And here's Nutly at home with her friend Bailey Bunny (who has an appointment to come to the hospital shortly for a spa. :-)

If you enjoyed this post, you may be interested in my substack newsletter, doctorbeth.substack.com. It’s free, and you get the stories straight to your inbox. I also do occassional retro posts from the backlog through the newsletter. But don’t worry, I’ll keep posting everything new here too.

doctorbeth

Binkey the teddy bear's story

Binkey’s is the first of a small series of stories where I’m going to quote a bit more heavily from my patients’ people, because they wrote such interesting/nice letters that I wanted to share those as well as the patients’ transformations.

Binkey is a bear, a brown bear, a traditionally sized and shaped teddy bear. His person initially wrote to the hospital:

I am reaching out because my best friend for the last 35 years deeply needs your help. He is a teddy bear named Binkey, who unfortunately had a terrible run in with a roommate's cat a several years ago. I had always tried to take great care of him, but unfortunately since that time he has seriously deteriorated. He had gone through several at home operations by my mom over the years, and my very inept hands made their own attempts as I got older, however this is completely outside of our abilities, and I fear that at this point any attempts I have made created more damage than help.

I have been really anxious and scared of sending him out as I fear him getting lost or something happening to him.

Some background about Binkey: He is from Czechoslovakia before it became Czech Republic. My father was a Czech dissident, who escaped when the Russians invaded. Right after communism ended my family was finally able to communicate with us and send us letters and gifts for the first time. Binkey is the only gift I received from them as a little girl. We were immediately inseparable. My childhood was a bit complicated, and we moved around often, so Binkey has always been the one stable constant. He is the only thing I have left from my childhood and means the world to me. He even survived being left at a hotel when I was 6, and I freaked out and thankfully the hotel was able to get him back to me. Ever since then I made sure that he was always safe. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, a roommate's cat managed to get into my room when I was not home one day, attacked him and heavily injured him.

I would like to keep him as close to himself and original as possible, while understanding that he has some serious damage. I do not want to change his eyes, nose or anything like that since thankfully that is not necessary.

So here are some of Binkey’s diagnosis photos:

We agreed on a treatment plan for Binkey, which originally consisted of stitching his wounds, minimizing his scars, and fur transplants on the bald areas. An appointment was made with this tentative treatment in mind.

Unfortunately for Binkey, shortly before he was scheduled to come to the hospital, his person wrote:

I wasn't originally planning on it, but I think he might need to have new stuffing. There was an unfortunate incident with a younger relative pulling out some of his stuffing from his holes last week. Not a lot, but it was from his face. I will wait for you to evaluate and determine if it is necessary.

He flew into the hospital wearing a new onesie to protect his skin. He also had a companion to keep him company and a tracker so his person knew exactly where he was. :-)

After an in person examination, we had a new treatment plan:

Stitch wounds and minimize scars

Fur transplants for his larger bald areas, including the entire tan areas of his front and face, but just bald parts on his back and back of head

A new yellow ribbon (because he once had one) and,

possibly a new white shirt.

First, he needed his wounds sewn up, so his skin would be able to take the pressure of new stitches, then his person had to choose which brown fur she wanted for transplants. Here were the options:

After some consideration, she made a selection and surgery proceeded. Here he is with all the brown areas treated and his new yellow bow:

There was still the question of whether to treat his white areas. His person opted not to. They weren’t structural issues and kept him as original as possible. Then there was a decision for his shirt. Did she want one? If so what kind? After a short delay, his person wrote:

For shirts I honestly can't decide. I got used to seeing him in white but also have favorite colors of green, orange, brown.

My mom had a great idea. She said, why don't I just let you pick the style and fabric, and let you have fun with it. I agree with her if you're up for it. My only preference is softer fabrics, so velour as you suggested would work for me (or anything else you're in the mood to use). Since it's also removable, I will be happy with whatever color, fabric, and style you decide to go with.

Well, I had an idea and was very excited to proceed with it. Here’s Binkey in his new hoodie:

His person wrote: Love the hoodie!

So Binkey and his buddy got ready to fly home to Texas:

He made it home safe and sound and his person wrote:

Thank you again!!! :) You truly have no idea how much I appreciate you and how glad I am that I found you. I was worried before that he would fall completely apart, and I would permanently lose him. You do amazing work.

I am forever grateful.

*******************

xxautumnivyxx

The Huntress in the daylight is somehow more unnerving than in the basement in Dead by Daylight

Photos by Fullmetalphotoz

Mask by GrimmFX

Armor by Enric Pujol

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