bluenoo42

[bluenoo42]

There’s always a strange sense of camaraderie when I’m in a group of hearing people and there’s one other deaf/HoH person and I can just tell when they’re pretending to understand the conversation and they can probably tell that I can’t understand the conversation either.

[bluenoo42]

Also move your bank account to an ethical bank. Most banks are using your money to fund the fossil fuel industry and other super sketchy stuff (the arms industry, political donations etc.) This actually has a huge impact on your personal carbon footprint.

it's literally too hot to function

okay so real talk — is it just me or is the sun beefing with us this summer?? like, i went outside and instantly turned into a sweat puddle. fans are useless, a/c is EXPENSIVE, and honestly i’d rather chill in a walk-in freezer than deal with this heat.

but here's the thing: this isn’t just "ugh summer is gross" — this is climate change, and spoiler alert: we're kinda all part of it.

see, the planet’s heating up because of greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide and methane) we’ve been pumping into the atmosphere for decades. and yeah, cars and factories are big players, but here’s the kicker: it’s the whole economy that’s behind it.

our economy runs on this idea that we always need more — more products, more money, more growth. and that means companies are constantly burning fossil fuels, chopping down forests, and mass-producing stuff that ends up in landfills. fast fashion? runs on sweatshops and oil. those 2-day shipping sprees? burn tons of fuel. even our food system — full of processed snacks and factory-farmed meat — is a massive contributor to emissions.

we’re so used to this “buy more, toss more” lifestyle that we don’t even think about it. but the stuff we see as normal — weekly hauls, upgrading our phones every year, cheap $5 shirts — all of that feeds into a system that’s literally cooking the planet.

and the wild part? the people paying the price aren’t the CEOs in corner offices — it’s everyday folks, especially in lower-income areas and countries that are already dealing with floods, droughts, wildfires, and power outages. all because rich corporations won’t stop chasing profits.

but here's the hopeful part: we’re not powerless.

you can’t fix the whole system on your own (and you shouldn’t have to), but small changes still matter:

thrift your clothes instead of buying fast fashion

support local or sustainable businesses when you can

eat less meat (even one veggie meal a week helps)

vote for leaders who actually get climate policy

call out greenwashing when you see it

talk about it — awareness spreads change

basically: the more we question the "normal" stuff that’s actually harming the planet, the more pressure we can put on the people who can change the system.

so yeah, it’s hot. but it’s not just the weather — it’s the economy running wild. and we deserve better.

stay cool (literally and figuratively), SOURCES:

Attenborough, David, and Christine Lagarde. “Nature, Climate Change and the Global Economy.” Finance & Development, International Monetary Fund, Dec. 2019, https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2019/12/nature-climate-and-the-global-economy-lagarde-attenborough.

“Economics of Climate Change.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 5 Aug. 2024, https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/economics-climate-change.

Kaplan, Sarah, et al. “June Is the New July: Why Intense Summer Heat Is Arriving Earlier.” The Washington Post, 25 June 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/06/25/global-heatwave-climate-change.

Reyes, Marisa. “Millions of U.S. Kids Attend Schools in 'Urban Heat Zones.'” Axios, 30 June 2025, https://www.axios.com/2025/06/30/students-schools-urban-heat-islands.

“Reuters Explains: What Is a ‘Heat Dome’ and How Does It Power Heatwaves?” Reuters, 30 June 2025, https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/what-is-heat-dome-how-does-it-power-heatwaves-2025-06-30.

Woody, Christopher. “We’re Looking for Climate Solutions in the Wrong Places.” Time, 25 June 2025, https://time.com/7294746/capitalism-climate-activism-local-solutions.

[bluenoo42]

Okay, I’m pretty sure I have POTS, but I’m scared to go to the doctor because I’m worried that I’ll be dismissed as just a hysterical woman or something. I went a few years ago about it, but I was told that it’s just anxiety. I’ve been having symptoms for at least 10 years and nothing has improved.

I’m thinking that if I keep a symptom diary and do a NASA lean test every day for a couple of weeks and record the results then they’ll probably take me seriously. At the moment I’m measuring my heart rate with a phone app, but I’m planning on buying a pulse oximeter (an approved one) to make sure the results are as accurate as possible. I’ll make a note of which results are done with an app and which are done with the pulse oximeter. I don’t have a blood pressure monitor so I’m doing it based on heart rate only.

Anyway, today (first day of testing) my resting heart rate while lying down over 10 minutes (averaged out) was 71. And in the 10 minutes after standing my heart rate averaged out at 138, but the highest was 162. Does this sound like POTS and does my strategy for telling my doctor seem reasonable?

I mean, I do have anxiety, but I’m on medication for that now. I don’t think anxiety explains why my heart rate jumps up massively when I stand up and why my vision completely blacks out every time I stand up quickly. Or why I need to drink 5l of water per day to feel normal and why I pass out if I don’t eat salt for a while and it’s a bit hot out.

Any advice is appreciated. If you think this doesn’t sound like POTS and think I’m wrong then let me know. If you think my technique of recording symptoms doesn’t make sense, let me know as well. For background, I am also hyper mobile and have had that confirmed with a physiotherapist and I also have other symptoms that would be consistent with EDS like easy bruising and digestive problems. I also have migraines with aura. I’m also deaf and have a balance disorder associated with that, but I don’t think it’s relevant.

[bluenoo42]

I actually have permanently poor eyesight even with glasses as an adult because my mum didn’t believe in glasses when I was a child. She thought wearing glasses would make my eyes weak or something. I now have bilateral amblyopia and am barely legal to drive.

DONT use glasses, youll become dependent on them to see!!!! #WARONDRUGS #OVERPRESCRIPTION #CORRECTIVELENSADDICTION

[bluenoo42]

Compliment someone on one of their personality traits 

Write a handwritten card to someone to say thanks

Text a friend to share your gratitude for something they did for you

Leave a positive review online of a restaurant you like

Tell a friend what you love about their children

Compliment a photo someone posts on social media

Let someone cut in front of you in line

Introduce two people who you think would get along

Pick up trash on the ground and put it in the garbage

Compliment someone on their clothing or hair

Use old grocery bags to pick up dog poop you see on your neighbor's lawn

Shovel snow off the sidewalk in your neighborhood

Offer to mow the lawn for an elderly neighbor

Give up your seat on the plane to let a couple sit together

Talk to someone at a party that doesn’t seem to know anyone

Invite someone new in your town to a social event and introduce them to everyone

Invite a friend that you haven’t seen in a while out to lunch

Offer to pick up a friend at the airport

Reach out to an old friend to let them know of an experience you had with them that you value

Spend time with the elderly at a local retirement home

Offer to bring someone else's grocery cart back to the store

Keep an extra pen in your purse to give people when they need one

Put a positive note in a library book

Attend events that support your friends’ passions (like an art show, musical performance, etc…)

Donate unused items to charity

Bring snacks to the local fire station

Keep packs of toothpaste or packs of socks in your bag to give to homeless people

Post an uplifting photo on a friend’s social media

Compliment someone on something they’ve done or accomplished

Tell a parent that they’re doing a great job raising their kids

Bring or send your mother flowers

Bring a friend a small gift next time you see them

Buy a warm meal to give to a homeless person

Share an article, event, or other information with someone who might be interested

Help to connect a friend seeking a job to someone who has a job to offer

Help a neighbor bring in their groceries

Make dinner for your friend group

Compliment a neighbor on how nice their yard looks

Bring in the trash bins for your neighbor after trash has been picked up

Send an email to a former teacher to let them know how they impacted your life

Leave a thank you note in your mailbox for your mail carrier

Give a flower to a stranger

Buy a gift card to give to a stranger

Ofter to be there for a friend when they are struggling with something

Give bottles of water to people working outside on a hot day

Buy a sandwich for the next person in the lunch line

Leave a sticky note with a positive note somewhere public, like at a bus stop

Bring brownies to your next neighborhood association meeting

Scrape the ice off the car windshield of the car next to yours

Leave a positive comment on someone else's social media post, #ProsocialPost

Put coins in someone’s parking meter that is about to run out

Slow down to let someone merge in front of you in traffic

Be on time (don’t waste others’ time)

Hold the door open for the person walking behind you

Make a double batch of dinner so that you can give a meal to someone in need

Give directions to someone who is lost

Give an extra big tip when eating out

Practice compassion when someone else is struggling

Be self-compassionate when you’re struggling with something

Share veggies you grow in your garden with friends, neighbors, and family

Become an organ donor

Volunteer at the local animal shelter

Bring dinner to a friend who's just had a baby

Build a “little free library” box in your yard with books for everyone to read

[bluenoo42]

decentralize and clean up your life!!!

use overdrive, libby, hoopla, cloudlibrary, and kanopy instead of amazon and audible.

use firefox or librewolf (open-source fork of firefox) instead of chrome or opera (both are made with chromium, which blocks functionality for ad-blockers. firefox isn't based on chromium).

use mega instead of google drive

get rid of bloatware

use libreoffice instead of microsoft office suite

get free stuff with the help of r/FREEMEDIAHECKYEAH, r/piracy and r/roms

use trakt (for shows and movies), letterboxd (just movies), or TMB instead of IMDB (owned by amazon).

use storygraph instead of goodreads (owned by amazon).

use darkpatterns to find mobile game with no ads or microtransactions

use mediahuman or cobalt to download music, or support your favorite artists directly through bandcamp

make youtube bearable by using mtube, newpipe, or the unhook extension on chrome, firefox, or microsoft edge

use search for a cause, ecosia, or ocean hero to support the environment instead of google

use thriftbooks to buy new or used books (they also have manga, textbooks, home goods, CDs, DVDs, and blurays)

use flashpoint to play archived online flash games

find books, movies, games, etc. on the internet archive! for starters, here's a bunch of David Attenborough documentaries and all of the Animorphs books

burn your music onto cds

use pdf24 (available online or as a desktop app) instead of adobe

use thunderbird, mailfence, countermail, edison mail, or tuta instead of gmail

remove bloatware on windows PC, macOS, and iOS X

remove bloatware on samsung X

use pixelfed instead of instagram or meta

use project gutenberg for free public domain books, and librivox for public domain books and audiobooks

use the seal app (android only) to download video and audio

use ellipsus instead of microsoft word or google docs

use mastodon instead of twitter

use peertube to create a network of small video hosting providers (disclaimer: not a 1:1 alternative to youtube)

use threema and signal for encrypted communication, on mobile and desktop

use qwant and startpage for secure internet browsers

use syncthing to securely transfer files between devices

learn how to jailbreak your kindle/ereader if you have one (wiki and video walkthrough)

use riseup’s email and VPN for secure communication (aimed towards activists)

use cryptpad and collabora instead of the microsoft office suite

use google takeout to export the data on your google account

use library extension to look for books on online stores and find them at your library

remove paywalls with removepaywalls

install the open-source adblocker ublock origin

install sponsorblock to skip sponsored segments on youtube videos

use bookfinder to look for the cheapest available listings of books, including textbooks

learn a language through mango (duolingo laid off some of its employees and now relies on AI translations) for free with a library card or through your school

edit photos with photopea

edit pdfs with foxit and sumatrapdf

download music with doubledouble

take notes offline and collaborate securely with obsidian

for android tv, use smarttube and cloudstream (ad-free, open-source)

change your OS to linux

changelog:

removed ground news (uses AI to summarize articles)

removed unroll.me (sells your data)

removed proton mail and drive (AI assistant feature, claims of CEO Andy Yen supporting Trump, please DM if you have proof I can add here)

removed NCH suite (only has very basic free features, puts watermark on anything saved)

notes:

this post blew up while I wasn’t looking (the end of my semester was hellish, and i recently came back from a 3-week family vacation). thanks so much for all the suggestions! <3

i included Ecosia because of their financial transparency. It’s physically impossible that they plant a tree for every search, but their profits still go towards projects including reforestation and solar energy. i view their actions as a net-positive

feel free to add more alternatives, resources or advice in the reblogs or replies, and i'll add them to the main post <3

last updated: june 14th 2025

[bluenoo42]

I just came up with a really inconvenient, possibly unplayable four-player game: The Evil Advisor

All you need is a completely normal chess board and a deck of cards that you can somehow divide into an even amount of cards that mean "yes" or "no". Out of the four players, only two need to know how to play chess - those play the role of advisor. The other two play as rulers. At the start of the game, both advisors pull a random card from the deck, which dictates whether their goal is to win the game, or lose it. They keep their respective card, showing it to nobody else.

The rulers, who ultimately choose where to move the pieces, always aim to win the chess game, and also know that the advisor may or may not be on their side, and don't know whether to trust the advisor or not.

If the ruler wins the chess game, they win the whole game. An advisor only wins if they reach their own goal - if an advisor's goal was to lose, but the ruler wins, the advisor loses, and vice versa.

[bluenoo42]

shinzo abe day was incredible. still not over seeing all the rumours about what happened, joining everyone in wondering how the fuck a shotgun assassination could have happened in japan, and then seeing the first photo of the doohickey

[bluenoo42]

went to throw dog poop away in a rando trash can and

[bluenoo42]

Today I found out something wild.

So there’s this band I like who make kind of stone/bronze/Iron Age themed music (the band is called Heilung for anyone interested), they are known for using human bones as instruments in their music.

Of course this naturally sparked the question of where/how one legally procures human bones. Some questionable incognito browsing later I discovered you can just BUY THEM ONLINE (plain: buy them online)! Some of them are under like £100! The website even has a page where you can sell them bones.

Here is an excerpt from the ‘sell your bones’ page from a website: “Sell Us Your Bones. Well, not yours specifically. Whether you’re an avid bone collector or you’ve just stumbled upon a family heirloom and are looking to give it a new home, please reach out to us. JonsBones is committed to responsibly sourcing and protecting human osteology.”

So that then prompted the question, whose bones are these? According to my research, many of them are decades or centuries old sometimes from grave robberies or war casualties (someone was saying their skeleton was a woman from the Vietnam War). Some of them are modern and are (speculated to be) people in developing countries who couldn’t afford a funeral, Political prisoners from China, ‘retired’ anatomical specimens etc.

Basically, this is wild and completely legal and reasonably popular in the UK (and many other countries) and I had no idea until today.

In case you’re wondering my views on this, I think that if a person gave permission for their bones to be used like this while they were alive, then it’s fine. If not, then it’s super unethical.

Did any of you guys know about this?

[bluenoo42]

And we won’t speak to anyone else on your behalf because of data protection!

Shoutout to my audiologists who are only contactable by phone.

Call now to recieve help with the inability to make phone calls!

Fill out this forum to receive assistance with your difficulty filling out forms

Come on down to our center thats two hours away so we can give assistance with your inability to walk or drive

There's help out there! You're just not trying hard enough!

[bluenoo42]

If you would like to donate to an established charity to support people in Palestine or the Middle East in general. Here is a link to a list of charities recommended by humanrightscareers.com: https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/charities-helping-civilians-in-palestine/

Share below how you like to support important causes:

[bluenoo42]

I personally am on team Scelidosaurus, but alas the crowds seem to have decided to let the long but sparse spines of the Kentrosaurus prevail over the more numerous spikes of the majestic Scelidosaurus.

Art by me

[bluenoo42]

This is me.

Day 4 of Auctober!

Music is such a big part of my self regulation! It has a way of tickling my brain in just the right way!

My favourite genre is probably power metal, with my favourite band being Sabaton!

The song Honeydew is singing is one of my favourite Sabaton songs, Night Witches!

[bluenoo42]

Terrible tattoo idea: a picture of a Scelidosaurus with the text Rib of Beef Lizard.

[bluenoo42]

I love this trope too!

One of my favourite hyperspecific art tropes is birds interacting with dinosaur remains. Like that right there is PEAK SYMBOLISM!! Every time I see a depiction of the world after the asteroid impact, showing the mass destruction, death everywhere, dust clouds hiding the sun and snow covering the ground, and then you zoom in to one of those skeletons and in the hollowed-out skull there's a tiny bird taking shelter from the cold!! I want to scream. The great tyrants that ruled the world may be gone, but in their death they will support those who remain, so that their legacy may carry on.

That right there is ART.

[bluenoo42]

So far it’s pretty much a 50/50 split.

Vote now so we can achieve an official scientific consensus on which is the spikiest dinosaur./j

Also nobody has suggested any alternate nominees. Does that mean we are in agreement that it is between these two? If you know any more impressively spiky dinosaurs that deserve to be in the running please nominate them in the comments, bear in mind, we’re looking for SPIKY not armoured./gen

(For my fellow autistics, the joke is that this is not an official scientific consensus).

Art by me