The “cougar shadow” has returned to the western face of Superstition Mountain Arizona. The best shadows of the Cougar Chasing Prey appear during the third weeks of March and September. It ties to both spring and fall equinoxes These are the two times of the year when day and night are of approximately equal length. This amazing phenomenon is visible across Apache Junction just before sunset. The actual sighting depends upon the weather and viewing location, but along Superstition Blvd is usually a great place to see it.
Suddenly appearing at the lectern after emerging from a hole in the floor, a limbless, slippery Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced at a White House press conference Friday that “becoming an eel is a sign of good health.” “Big Pharma may have brainwashed people to think otherwise, but a healthy human body should be one long, even tube with a fin running down its back,” said the health and human services secretary, who warned that the average American child is now so full of chemicals and preservatives that they no longer secrete enough protective mucus to cover their skin.
realistically I would not describe ChatGPT as offering “expert-level intelligence” in almost any field besides looking up Wikipedia a little faster than I can, like “well-read but exceedingly dim dilettante level intelligence” seems much more apt.
“Enthusiastic research assistant who sometimes shows up for work drunk” is the best description I’ve heard yet.
I had to switch dental practices when I changed jobs/insurance (which I was very sad about because the former practice was wonderful). When I went to schedule an appointment near me, I learned that my current insurance assigns me a dentist based on my home of record?? I was able to get it changed (because of course the default assignment was the lowest ranked practice in the immediate area).
I can obviously google this but I’m NOT GOING TO but I had never heard of such a thing and in the absolute nightmare hellscape that is the US insurance industry that seemed like a fun new indignity??
“Please focus on the working class not just abortions” said Bernie Sanders
Oh God he really thinks Women are Bourgeois.
The prophecy has come to fruition!
I’m sorry, but I think he’s right. Democrats HAVE emphasized social issues so thoroughly that that’s unequivocally become their brand. That brand is wholly unappealing to men, and especially white men, in the working class. Democrats MUST appeal to the white working class on ECONOMIC and MATERIAL issues in the midterms and the 2028 general, or we’ll NEVER coalition effectively. We MUST offer an alternative to fascism to the white male worker, or we’ll nail the coffin of American democracy completely shut. We HAVE TO show solidarity to working class white men and speak to them about their decaying material conditions. Doubling and tripling down on social issues all but guarantees these people are lost to fascism forever.
I think women count as part of the working class and the issue of reproductive freedom cannot be materially separated from economic hardships in the realities of women, who are consistently a demographic that leans Democratic, and ignoring women (and other AFAB people) people to focus on men is only going to alienate the most loyal base.
ABORTION IS A CLASS ISSUE. teenage and early motherhood is associated with lower educational attainment and economic outcomes in life, and for those who live in places where an abortion IS accessible, there are often high economic barriers to actually getting one - transportation, travel costs, lost time at work, not to mention the actual procedure and follow-up for any potential complications. telemedicine abortion increases accessibility, but abortion doctors in blue states should be able to prescribe medication abortions across states to anyone who wants one, without fear of being legally targeted and prosecuted by red state authorities. being able to choose when and if you have children is entirely tied to class - both in regard to the eventual outcome of your own life if forced to give birth, and in your ability to access reproductive care at all!
do you know how much it costs to give birth in a hospital? how about if you’re uninsured? how about if you have any complications?
what about people who will suffer complications from miscarriages and stillbirths because their doctors weren’t allowed to terminate the unviable pregnancy - why should their lives be destroyed by potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, even more if uninsured? how about my high school friend who had to leave a great job in nashville and move back to california and take a big pay cut to get her old job back, just because she got pregnant with twins and already’d had two high-risk pregnancies and it was too dangerous to stay in a state with a ban because if something went wrong she could very well die, and so she and her husband had to uproot their whole lives - fuck her career mobility, right?
why is the assumption that “abortions” is just some niche wedge issue with no material weight and not a political issue that holds severe economic weight for half the population?
A key argument advanced by opponents of gender-affirming care is that its treatments are only supported by “weak” or “low-quality” evidence, as the SEGM–affiliatedreviews and othershavefound.
The thing is, so are a lot of standard—and essential—medical interventions. Cancer drugs have a notoriously low-quality evidence base, including many FDA-approved treatments. Almost all nutritional guidelines are supported by what Guyatt’s system labels poor evidence. About five million youth have asthma in the United States—yet the evidence for medical guidelines for pediatric asthma care is regularlyrated “poor” or “weak,” as are many of the treatments, which have indisputably saved countless lives. … Low-quality, in Guyatt’s GRADE methodology, means there may be a lot more individual variability than is captured in the data, leaving physicians to rely on observational evidence and clinical experience. The gold standard for evidence-based medicine is randomized controlled trials; high-quality evidence generally comes from studies with very large numbers of participants who are blinded, meaning they don’t know whether they’re receiving the treatment—a setup that isn’t always possible or ethical. Many medical practices, as a result, are only supported by smaller studies without the same kinds of control groups: “low-quality” evidence. (GRADE also includes other levels of evidence.)
It’s a fundamental misunderstanding of evidence-based medicine, Guyatt says, to ban care on the basis that supporting studies are “low-quality.” Just this year, Guyatt was involved in a systematic review for treatments of severe bleeding. It also found low-certainty evidence—but nobody is remarking on those treatments, let alone trying to ban them.
I often fight myself reading about the “reasoning” or “justification” of transphobes (or anti-choice idiots) because it offers them grace that they don’t deserve, but this was very interesting and informative and shows how effective these groups can be at promoting selective “science”.
Yesterday we were cutting it really close to get to our 1:10 train from Boston back home. We were picking up luggage from our hotel and a group of people walked in right ahead of us to the concierge desk (with only 1 person working). I leaned over to the woman in line ahead of us and very politely asked if we could step ahead because we were about to miss our train.
I heard her say “Oh I’m just waiting for water” (there was free bottled water at the desk but they hadn’t restocked it yet) and she just stepped ahead of us when the concierge freed up AND THEN proceeded to not pay attention when she asked about many bottles she wanted.
I sort of chuckled, thinking she had just misunderstood my request but it turns out what she said and I misheard was, “Actually I DO mind. I’ve been waiting for water.” And it’s truly for the best that I did not hear her, because I’m certain I would have burst into tears because I mustered up the courage to slightly inconvenience another person and my worst-case scenario - being told lol nah - happened just like I always think it will.
