nerdgirlnarrates

[nerdgirlnarrates]

Was talking to a coworker today who explained that her grandfather was like Snow White “but Californian. And an old man.” in that the creatures of the forest would follow him around and presumably duet with him.

“When he died the ravens sat in the trees outside for a week, watching. Taking turns. A horde of raccoons tried to break into the house every night, tearing at the siding. Eventually they gave up, but it was unsettling.”

“Aww. They were checking on him!” I said, like a normal person. Internally, I thought “Maybe you could do the thing you do with dead pets, where you show them to the living pets so the living pet understands they’re gone. But I guess if you did that to a bunch of scavenging species, they’d be like “Well, that’s very sad but he IS food now.” So what you’d need, for human sensibilities, is some sort of transparent corpse barrier. Like a see-through coffin oh that’s what the dwarves were doing! You’ve stopped paying attention to this conversation about the loss of a beloved family member you gotta phase back in.”

[nerdgirlnarrates]

"You could get up early and do it before work" I could also wait for a magic beanstalk to start growing in my living room LMAO. Let's focus on things that happen in the real world

[nerdgirlnarrates]

what you learn from hobbies:

consistent practice opens up whole worlds of skill that you couldn't imagine

making mistakes in the process of learning is not only natural, it is also essential

activities that you enjoy can give you more energy back than you spent on them

wow everything is so expensive

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It’s practically 2014 and you guys still don’t know how to google if an article is real or not before giving it 100,000 notes

[nerdgirlnarrates]

As a society we have benefited so much from successful public health measures that we now have the privilege of declaring that we must not need them anymore

Bitch before enriched flour, neural tube defects like spina bifida were far more common. Even now, spina bifida clinicians and researchers are begging to have salt and maize fortified to reach groups that don’t use as much flour. Before iodized salt, the United States had a fucking GOITER BELT. Eleven years after the introduction of fluoridated water, a city in Michigan found the rate of dental caries among school children dropped a staggering 60%— in an era where tooth decay regularly fucking killed people

I’m literally not even going to start on vaccines, which are among the most successful and robustly studied public health measures in world history

You might say “oh well today we all have access to vitamins and toothpastes and dentists so we don’t need those things in our food supplies” and boy do white people on social media loooove to fucking say that. But here’s the thing: no, people don’t all have easy access to those things. That’s privilege talking yet again

[nerdgirlnarrates]

President Trump's "Big, Blasphemous Bill" cut around $1 trillion from Medicaid and federal aid to rural hospitals. Of the 2,170 rural hospitals in the United States of America, 338 are at financial serious risk.

I made an interactive map of them. If you have endangered hospitals near you, maybe write an email to your representative asking them to protect your local hospitals by name.

https://google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1i-gVypwSL4o7tS7CW3CfvXYUNybQPc4

[nerdgirlnarrates]

hey, if you're a usamerican getting the news, not knowing what to do, this is really really really good time to get acquainted with the national council on independent living, the independent living movement, and your local centers for independent living.

independent living centers provide services and support by disabled people for disabled people and can help with: navigating systems, self-advocacy, and accessing services, among many other things. in their truest form, CILs function not in the model of state agencies, but as a form of structured in-community mutual aid. my local CIL provides services like counseling, advocacy, grants to cover some home needs, and meals on wheels for disabled adults under sixty-five. CILs can't fill all the gaps in services we have in this country, but they do important work to keep people alive. if you need help, your local center for independent living may be able to help. if you can give help, your local center for independent living can definitely use your help!!!!!

please do reblog <3

[nerdgirlnarrates]

Almost all medical schools have free clinics associated with them

St. Vincent de Paul Society also runs low cost pharmacies in a few cities

Seeing as how the Big Beautiful Bill just passed, here's are some websites that offer discounts on medications:

- GoodRx

- SingleCare

- Pharmacy Checker

- WellRx - this one compares prices across different pharmacies

- Cost Plus - thanks to @thedamnqueenofhell for suggesting!

Stay safe, everyone. Things are about to get much, much worse in the US.

EDIT: if you're worried about doctor/therapy appointments, see if there's a sliding scale clinic near you (and ask your therapist if they offer sliding scale prices)

[nerdgirlnarrates]

there's no such thing as a medicaid freeloader. everyone needs healthcare. it does not matter if you don't believe someone has a valid reason to not be working or in school- they are still a human being and human beings need healthcare. even if someone IS this strawman ""just lazy"" unemployed person, they deserve healthcare. sorry but i do not believe that the right to medical treatment without financial ruin is predicated on someone's "usefulness" to society. it's depressing that this is apparently too radical a belief.

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actually as long as we're talking about realistic expectations of ageing, the nature of social media decontextualising people's personal posts has absolutely given some of you guys a false and potentially dangerous view of how your body is expected to change over time. I semi frequently see people sharing or repackaging commentary on experiences with disability as if it's an inevitable part of getting older. and like, yes, as you get older you are likely to develop new conditions, injuries or disabilities, but you need to understand your body's baseline well enough to identify those changes and interrogate them.

e.g. if you are seriously having such bad joint or back pain in your 30s that it hampers your day to day activities, you need to take that seriously. that is not 'just ageing', that's potentially an indicator of an underlying condition, unaddressed injury (which is quite common but will get worse if you don't notice and take care of it) or daily habits (poor posture, poor diet, sedentary lifestyle) causing cumulative damage to your body.

I know plenty of 30+ and 40+ year olds who are not especially athletic but who can still climb up and down stairs with ease, sit on the floor and get up again without discomfort, have floor or shower sex, ride a bike, wrestle a dog or a kid, climb a tree, maybe even do a handstand. there is no shame at all in developing pain or mobility issues which limit the kinds of things you can do comfortably, but it doesn't serve anyone to pretend that those changes are bound up with reaching a certain age. even in your 60s and 70s and beyond you should notice if you start feeling a new kind of pain or physical limitation. don't dismiss this shit just because someone told you "yeah that happens when you pass 30"

[nerdgirlnarrates]

I thought it would be an hour of listening to screaming and looking at pictures of draculas, but it was so much for frightening than fathomed

[nerdgirlnarrates]

Just tried to play an ancient flute and it started filling the room with this awful miasma that wont go away

[nerdgirlnarrates]

I FUCKING LOVE INFORMATION!!! I WANT TO LEARN EVERY THING AND KNOW EVERYTHING!!!!! I WANT TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING ABOUT LIFE, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING!!!!!! I AM UTTERLY CONSUMED BY MY THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nerdgirlnarrates]

yes i am smart. yes i am stupid. it’s called being flexible.