#eldritch snark

[eldritchboop]

Student, arguing that brain size increases in early hominins is related to increased sociality and cooperation, not meat consumption specifically.

Me: “So your argument is essentially that it’s not about diet, it’s about the friends we made along the way?”

[eldritchboop]

My phone just autocorrected my colloquialism to Hail Maury…

…and now I want to know what kind of last ditch efforts Apple is up to these days.

[eldritchboop]

I'd like to rant for a minute about some well-worn, dead-horse topics, if you'd indulge me. The American medical system and female-bodied healthcare. Rant below the break if you want to keep scrolling.

Medical advice, while certainly well-intentioned, is not welcome.

My spouse and I are trying to have kids. I went into this knowing I have a diagnosis of PCOS (from when I was a teenager) and that fertility could be challenging. I went to my GP and my OBGYN prepared to take this on headfirst and get advice on what to do to 1) manage the disease without HBCP since those were the only options ever presented to me and 2) maximize the chance of conception.

Yeah, it's been a year and the only test they've run is for genetic disease and I've been given some progesterone to help trigger withdrawal bleeding because I haven't had a normal menstrual cycle in ten months.

I'm sitting here thinking about how I have to "do my own research". I have - I'm on inositol supplementation thanks to my own reading (which no doctor has discussed with me even when I bring it up and cite it on every "what meds are you taking" form). I had to broach the idea of spiro with my GP. I had to do the reading to realize that the high cholesterol I've fought my whole life was probably a side effect of PCOS, and that the mild (now moderate) anxiety that I've had my whole life is also likely related. I'm the one who had to ask whether a hormonal IUD would be a viable substitute for HBCP and discover that the hormone levels decline below the level of HBCP before the IUD is up, and that's why my disease changed slowly when I got one. I've had to do the digging in intermittent fasting and why it's likely not a useful treatment unless you use it like "skip a meal" calorie restriction. I've "done my own research".

Except it's not "doing my own research".

If I was doing my own research, I'd have a laboratory environment, a grant, and an extensive background in reproductive endocrinology and biochemistry. I'd have peers who are specialists in their own right that I could discuss and critique my work with. I'd have adequate sample sizes and the ability to choose a study population to maximize the effectiveness of the intervention.

I am doing a halfassed lit review in a field that I only know enough from gross anatomy to understand, with a background in human evolution and natural selection instead of biochem. Then I have to sit through going through the Financial Counseling, where they literally explained to me that I have this thing called a "deductible" and that I had health insurance. *Before* they'll let me talk to anyone in reproductive medicine about anything beyond my OB's scope. The OB who gave me progesterone (which may decrease conception chance in the cycle after) and told me to take a prenatal vitamin. That's it.

So I'm taking all my background information, which most of my medical providers haven't bothered to discuss with me in any capacity, and performing wild experimentation on a sample population of one. And I'm in a better position than most because at least I have a fucking doctorate in a semirelated field and can parse the medical literature!

I *can't* do my own research. And that is making me SO DAMN ANGRY.

[eldritchboop]

There once was a bird from Nantucket,

Who would bring clams ashore and then chuck it.

The drivers would curse,

As the cost was adverse,

And would fantasize about how to pluck it!

Nantucket Seagull Smashes Car Window With A Clam — Talk About Fowl Play - Jalopnik

Police say the bird likely missed the paved parking lot at the Wicked Island Bakery and accidentally hit the window of general manager Heath

[eldritchboop]

I would like to give today's crew the "Congrats, buddy, that's the worst it's ever been done" award.

There are only 50 feet in this mile-long project I'm worried about. I confirmed before leaving to visit the site that they weren't near it.

I show up on site with the CLIENT to find...

The largest hole they are allowed to dig, in the middle of that 50 feet, already dug, and no one there to supervise it.

*headdesk*

[eldritchboop]

Website: Lovecrafts.com, a source of free crochet patterns for afghans and cute dolls.

My brain: HPLovecrafts.com, a source of unknowable directions for knitted summoning circles and eldritch amigurumi.

[eldritchboop]

Local woman flabbergasted that she must leave the house to run her errands.

[eldritchboop]

One of my New Year's Goals is to start disconecting myself from Corporate Platforms (tm) like Facebook, Youtube, and Amazon. I realized I have a lot of my life stored there that I'd lose if they went under, and TBH that makes me uncomfortable.

First step is to backup my facebook and save all my tagged photos. I've got a new external hard drive coming to use as general media storage, so that will all go there, and my normal external will just be for system backups.

Small step is to start moving all my Goodreads and Libby data over to Notion libraries. Yes, Notion is still a company and it still does Corporate Things, but it's also easier to download all the data as .csvs to keep a copy safe. That's my main concern - I want to be sure I have access to data if the site that's hosting it decides not to any more.

Also, I'm really tired of being treated like a salable commodity instead of a human being, and this is my little push against that.

Later I'll work on my favorite YouTube ASMR audios so I have them locally and don't have to get interrupted regularly by ads when I'm relaxing for bed.

Any other advice of things to cache so I don't end up losing them?