Started my period today

[conuly]

Literally nothing has gone right this past week, it seems.

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

The Overlooked Organisms That Keep Challenging Our Assumptions About Life

Football in India: The Mumbai girls defying tradition to follow World Cup dreams

How Geocities Suburbanized the Internet

Why The U.S. Census Starts In Alaska's Most Remote, Rural Villages

I relate too much to this comic....

Genetic Mutations In Our Bodies Might Be Less Random Than We Thought, Scientists Say

A Park Over a Lake? Welcome to the Future of Asia's Public Spaces

How Humans Invented Writing — Four Different Times

10 Endangered Alphabets You Should See Before It's Too Late

Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

Following in the footsteps of African Americans traveling to Denmark in the early 20th century, Ethelene Whitmire experiences a 21st century transatlantic crossing.

The 5 Most Badass Ways People Escaped from Slavery

'The trash never stops': Indonesia battles to clean up rivers

Global Warming Concerns Rise Among Americans in New Poll

Volunteers face prison after leaving food and water in desert where migrants died

Venezuela crisis: Familiar geopolitical sides take shape

I Tried to Block Amazon From My Life. It Was Impossible.

The Second Half of Watergate Was Bigger, Worse, and Forgotten By the Public

Fatal crashes go unchecked during shutdown

How The Pain Of The Shutdown Ripples Throughout A Small Louisiana Town

Out of touch? Trump aides struggle with shutdown empathy

In Rural America, There Are Few People Left to Drive the Ambulances

Trump's war on science: how the US is putting politics above evidence

Jayme Closs to get $25K reward money after saving herself

The High Cost of Hog Waste

The Body Shaming That Haunts Young Boys

Suicides among veterinarians become a growing problem

Hotels See Panic Buttons as a #MeToo Solution for Workers. Guest Bans? Not So Fast.

What group of people is most hostile to #MeToo?

In The #MeToo Conversation, Transgender People Face A Barrier To Belief

Comments

[marahmarie]

We were getting them the same day for at least the last few months (keeping track in my head). I'm two days ahead of you now (oh, and mine have been coming two days early every month for the last 3-4 months so I don't even know what anymore) so am already feeling strangely out of sync.

[conuly]

I've heard women who are friends tend to sync cycles, but this is ridiculous :)

[marahmarie]

I know! 1500 miles away and have never met - go figure. :)

Aaaaaand just 12 hours later guess who arrived? So we're not so out of sync after all (still within roughly 24 hours which is about where it has been for months, woo hoo!).

*sigh*

[conuly]

Hi, auntie!

[marahmarie]

*blergle*

Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

[marahmarie]

The title alone. I'd outlaw hand-shaking if I could (it's just a space-invasive germ carrier). I had some guy shake my outstretched hand (outstretched only because of convention) the other day by just grasping the tips of my fingers, then quick-releasing and in my head I was like, "YAY! Someone who hates this as much as I do!" I should start giving out cookies to people who either refuse to or just lightly catch and release my hand, because they're the best.

Re: Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

[conuly]

Whenever time comes for handshaking, I've inevitably just sneezed into my hand or something equally gross.

Re: Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

[marahmarie]

I'll have to remember that one (I'm always so careful about coughing into my arm to avoid spreading germs, but could train myself to become uncareful at handshake times, I guess).

Re: Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

[conuly]

It's a knack. Often people unexpectedly introduce themselves to me right as I'm eating some messy food like an overstuffed burrito, that does the trick too.

Re: Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

[marahmarie]

*envisions carrying a set of fully made-up tacos in a bag for "they want to shake hands" moments*

*dies*

I'm thinking one could make a TV show like Candid Camera but called Hideous Handshake. Every time someone wants to shake the actor's hands they - seemingly out of nowhere! - whip out ice cream cones, tacos, burritos, nacho chips dripping in cheese, fried chicken, and so on, then all reactions are recorded.

Re: Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

[greghousesgf]

George Washington never shook hands. He bowed instead.

Re: Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

[conuly]

Did he really? Huh.

Re: Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

[ratcreature]

I especially hate it in doctor's offices. They aren't even supposed to, yet the convention is so strong. I once tried the escape route of saying that I had a cold and really shouldn't (only half a lie as I seem to have some sort of mild cold or sniffles more often than not, especially in winter), and the dentist was blithely unconcerned, and went on to initiate a handshake anyway. But often that works, even without having to outright sneeze or cough on your hand in their sight.

Re: Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

[marahmarie]

*nods* I'll keep that one in mind, too - thanks.

Re: Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

[conuly]

You know, I think it's okay in a doctor's office to say "I don't shake hands" and just leave it at that.

Re: Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

[ratcreature]

In theory maybe. In practice not so much. Being weird or rude is not the best first impression, and as that Danish article shows, refusing a handshake can be highly charged too. In Germany it can be considered seriously offensive too, if you refuse a handshake without reason. Frankly, my dislike of shaking hands is not so strong that it would be worth the potential awkwardness, and it is not like my immune system isn suppressed. The "I have a cold" thing makes the refusal socially smoother, and it has the advantage to remind doctors why it isn't supposed to be habitual in doctor's offices and hospitals in the first place.

Re: Want to be Danish? You'd better shake hands

[conuly]

"You're a walking germ machine" is a good reason, as is "Listen, doc, you and I both know you're not supposed to shake hands at the office, so knock it off".

Escaping from slavery

[malada]

"Another life saved due to the heroic power of shenanigans."

Why didn't I learn this in history class? They should teach more of this!

-m

Re: Escaping from slavery

[conuly]

While these events are fascinating and no doubt personally important to the people who lived through them, there isn't much time in the average history class to spend it on the fascinating details of the little people.

Re: Escaping from slavery

[malada]

That's why history class is *boring*. Personally, I love history and hearing the stories of the 'little people' makes it come even more alive for me.

-m

[wpadmirer]

Post-menopause is lovely. You'll like it.

[isis]

Once the hot flashes settle down...

[wpadmirer]

Yeah, well I'm on HRT, so that cured that problem.

[conuly]

I feel the same way about this as I do about post-scarcity - the endgame may be lovely, but all the middle is gonna suck.

[wpadmirer]

I understand that.

[malkingrey]

Good New Yorker article on rural ambulance services. (If by "good" you mean "wow, a major urban magazine actually gave a non-condescending look at a rural problem!", which doesn't happen as often as one would think.)

My husband runs with the rescue service in nearby Errol NH (pop. 291, a bit more than one-tenth the size of our own very small town), which is another of those mostly-one-family traditions -- in this case, mostly female, and in its third generation now. On a good day, you can get the maiden, the mother, and the crone all showing up at your accident scene.

In their pink ambulance.

[conuly]

On a really good day, there's no accident scene at all.

[malkingrey]

True enough.  Most of the EMTs I know don't want anybody to have a really messy and complicated accident . . . but if somebody in their Area of Operation is slated to have a really messy and complicated accident, they definitely want to be there for it.

Andrenaline junkies, the lot of them.

[tozka]

From the "disconnecting from Amazon" story:
“Why don’t you just put them in a drawer?” asks Dhruv.

Incredibly, this hadn’t occurred to me. The Echo has become such a fixture in the household, I hadn’t conceived of just putting it away.

I mean, c'mon.

[conuly]

I was more concerned with how obsessed her baby already was with certain movies.

[unfavorableinstigation]

/sends Healing Vibes and snugs

[conuly]

Thanks.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Aww, sorry to hear, but hey, at least you're not pregnant!

*hugs and Jedi chocolate* Hang in there, hon; I hope things get easier.

[conuly]

If I were pregnant I'd have so many more questions!

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

For sure, and there's the blessing of it: you know for a fact that at least for this month, you are not fated to bear the Second Coming of Christ, the Antichrist, or the offspring of any of the many non-human folk traditionally held responsible for the pregnancies of ladies with no known boyfriends.

[conuly]

Hm. Well, I suppose there's always abortion if things go too far into the weird zone.

[bibliofile]

Or you could perhaps start writing your memoir with an eye towards the future blockbuster movies. So, like, get an agent at least.

[conuly]

And then in the second book we could reveal it was all a dream like in the sequel to Rosemary's Baby!