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Folks, friends, y’all…. esk*mo is a slur. I understand a lot of people don’t know that, I don’t want to be a dick about it, but I’ve been seeing it in fics. Wanna write “esk*mo kisses”? Just say “nuzzled noses” or something.

I’m not here to call anybody out, it’s been in multiple fics, I’m not vague posting. This is just a psa. 👍🏻

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10-20MM pieces of tumble polished Opalite - a synthetic, man made glass.

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Over a year ago, National Public Data (NPD), a search site for people, earned a place in privacy infamy for a security breach that revealed the personal data of 3 billion individuals (that's billion with a "b"). Now, after disappearing, NPD is back. As ZDNET sister publication PCMag reported, NPD is open for snooping again under a new owner, the rather mysterious-sounding Perfect Privacy LLC.

Oh boy. Better head over to nationalpublicdata.com and see if your profile is there. Then follow the handy instructions in the ZDNET article to have yourself removed:

How to remove your information from NPD

Search your name on nationalpublicdata.com.

When you find your profile, click "View Full Profile."

Copy its URL.

Go to nationalpublicdata.com/optout.html.

Drop the URL into the "Your Profile Link" field and click "Request Removal."

Enter an email address, and the site will send you an email requesting that you click to confirm deletion. 

You'll need a separate email address for each profile you want to delete. 

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do you own anything that's older than you?

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eat drink sleep play

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at some point in your life you will be boiling fruit, water, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot to make a syrup or jam. the instructions will tell you to simmer for a certain amt of time. your timer will go off and you will look at the pot and go, "hm, this doesn't look thick enough. maybe i'll let it go for another 10 minutes." this is the devil speaking. it's only so liquid right now because it is at boiling point. it will thicken when it cools down. learn from the follies of my youth and do not let this happen to you

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remember to eat all of the delicious summertime fruits you can before theyre no longer in season. my final message. goodbye

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My dear lgbt+ kids, 

Let’s talk about a vaginal health topic that is fairly common but not talked about enough: vaginal dryness. 

It sounds pretty straightforward. Obviously, vaginal dryness means that it’s too dry down there. But it can be surprisingly tricky to know that this is what causes your symptoms! 

It can cause: 

pain in your vagina (inside) or vulva (outside) 

itchiness or a burning sensation in your vagina or vulva 

pain during sex 

struggling to feel aroused („wet“) 

the feeling of needing to pee more often than usual 

frequent urinary tract infections 

spotting (blood droplets) outside of your period 

When you experience itching, you may automatically think about yeast infection. When you bleed outside of your period, your brain may jump to cancer. And indeed, all of the listed things can also be caused by other conditions (some of them potentially serious or severe). That’s why it’s important to see a doctor when you notice such symptoms (ideally a gynecologist because they’re the experts but you can also talk to your general practitioner first if you feel more comfortable that way. They’ll send you on to a specialist if needed). Only a doctor can rule out more serious causes. 

But with that being said: vaginal dryness is a common cause. Around 20% or 1 in 5 people will experience it at some point. The percentage increases as you get older. In postmenopausal patients, it may be as high as 60%. 

Trans men often experience this as a side effect of hormone therapy (testosterone) - but it can affect cis women, trans men and nonbinary people with a vagina for a multitude of reasons. For example: 

menopause or perimenopause (the time right before menopause) 

pregnancy 

side effect of hormonal contraceptives (like the pill) 

side effect of some antidepressants 

after a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) or oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries) 

side effects of cancer treatment (like chemotherapy) 

diabetes 

sjörgens syndrome (a immune condition that also causes dry eyes and a dry mouth)

excessive hygiene, especially douching or the use of scented products 

certain mental health issues or trauma 

The symptoms can be very distressing to some people, especially if you already struggle with body dysphoria or complicated feelings about your body and sexuality. They can also be quite stubborn. Sometimes it takes a lot of trial and error until you find something that helps relieve them. I don’t mention this to scare you - the good thing is that there are multiple options to treat it! I just think it’s important to talk about how stressful it can be. Health issues related to the vagina or vulva are often downplayed and automatically assumed to just be some mild annoyance, which is of course rooted in misogyny. 

And because of this misogyny it needs to be said: you’re not „hysterical“ or „overdramatic“ if these symptoms negatively impact your quality of life. You deserve to be heard and you deserve to be helped. 

What are the treatment options? 

First line of defense is usually vaginal moisturizers. There are different kinds available (depending on what you feel comfortable using and also on wether your vagina, vulva or both are affected)

creams you put on your vulva 

creams you put inside your vagina (with a syringe) 

pills you put inside your vagina (they’ll dissolve inside you) 

lubricants you use during sex 

If vaginal moisturizers alone do not help, there are more options. But these may be prescription-only or need more discussion with a doctor to determine if they’re safe and effective for you. For example:

low-dose estrogen (as a ring, pill or cream) 

Prasterone or Ospemifene (acts like estrogen but only locally, not systemic) 

hyaluronic acid vaginal gels (as a non-hormonal alternative to estrogen) 

Laser therapy (evidence is mixed) 

local use of testosterone cream (sometimes prescribed off-label, evidence is mixed but promising) 

Some steps you can take at home in addition to that are: 

switch to unscented products (body wash, laundry detergent etc.) 

only wash your vulva with warm water, no soap 

don’t douche (your vagina is self-cleaning! You only need to wash on the outside) 

use Vaseline as a protective barrier before potentially irritating activities (like exercise or taking a walk). Note that Vaseline should only be used outside (not in the vagina) and can cause condoms to break. 

if you have sex with a partner, you can try out more foreplay before penetration (both in the sense of longer and in the sense of trying out different techniques) or switch to non-penetrative sex acts (such as oral sex)

if comfortable, you can try out more regular sexual stimulation without a partner too, either by hand or simply by imagination (erotic stories, videos etc. or just your own fantasies). This can help regardless of relationship status! 

you can try to eat more prebiotic or probiotic foods (yoghurt, kefir, kimchi etc). This is not 100% scientifically proven and is more an anecdotal remedy but healthy eating can’t hurt 

With all my love, 

Your Tumblr Dad 

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Like many bug species, the white beach tiger beetle is easy to overlook for most people. They’re remarkably fast and can dart across the sand so swiftly you’ll lose them in the blink of an eye. As you can imagine they’re very difficult to photograph (and even harder to film- I’ll post evidence of my attempts later) so I’m quite pleased I finally got some good photos of this species.

These beetles are even easier to overlook when they start life in their larval state, tiny and worm-like. Despite their unremarkable appearance, beach tiger beetle larvae do something that almost no other animals do. Like lots of incredible phenomena in the world of science it was discovered entirely by accident!

A graduate student was taking some time off from her studies with a trip to the beach on Cumberland island in Georgia, USA. After she returned from her vacation she was excitedly telling her advisor the neat things she’d seen at the beach, including the Tiger Beetle larvae rolling down the beach. Her advisor was confused… beetle larvae “rolling”? These larvae were known to hide in tiny tunnels along the beach but their behavior was considered to be almost entirely sedentary; the advisor was baffled by his student’s descriptions of what she’d seen. There was only one thing to do- they went back to the beach.

Intensive study of tiger beetle larvae on that beach confirmed what the student had seen. In order to escape predators, a tiger beetle larva could be observed leaping upwards into the wind, curling into a circle, and catching a draft to literally roll like a hula hoop down the beach at high speed. This movement (where the animal rolls forward along a central axis) is called wheel locomotion and true examples of it are amazingly rare in the animal kingdom.

Here’s a Video that discusses this discovery and includes footage of the leaping larvae in action.

Whenever I see tiger beetles on the beach I think of this story and am reminded to embrace my curiosity in every way I can! Noticing the things that other people overlook can become a superpower if you let it.

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It’s finally happened.

After almost a decade on this site, I found another Tumblr user in the wild. I stopped to tie my shoe with rainbow laces this morning outside the silversmith at Colonial Williamsburg, and I heard it.

“I like your shoelaces.”

Oh. Oh no.

I responded the only way I could. “Thanks.” And then I reluctantly added, “I stole them from the president…and if that makes sense to you, I’m very sorry.”

The poor man, in full Colonial dress, stared at me for a long moment. And then burst into laughter. And said, “I haven’t thought about that in YEARS and this has never happened to me before.”

Yeah. Me neither. Not until today.

Tumblr rite of passage. Achievement unlocked.

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"why did you stop writing your story!!! never stop writing!!!!!!!!!!!" well you see the character had to drive one mile to a new location and the sentence "she got into the car" was quite simply my undoing

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I went on an adventure today to return a pillow to IKEA with my coworker Astrid.

We were having a nice day and got stuck in traffic coming home. On the way her phone rang and she was driving so she declined the call with a sigh. “I feel so bad for him,” she said.

“You know that number?”

She did. It turns out her phone number had previously belonged to a woman named Serena. The man calling was her dad. He had Alzheimer’s and didn’t remember his daughter was dead, so he just called the number he knew was hers.

I was stricken to hear this. “Do you talk to him?”

“Yeah. Sometimes he thinks I’m her and we talk. I have a notebook with facts I’ve learned about her so I can connect with him better. Sometimes he knows I’m not her and I say I’m her friend.”

I struggled with the beauty and humanity of this for a moment. “What’s his name?”

“I don’t know; I just call him Dad.”

We sat in silence and I was overwhelmed with feelings. That she was so kind and thoughtful about this random connection. A man who called and spoke to her with love for the daughter he missed.

"One time," she added, "he called me just after I had a difficult day with my mom. I knew Serena and her mom had a rocky relationship so I talked to him about my frustrations with my own mother and he gave the following advice: ‘Everyone fails sometimes, even parents; what's important is to communicate with our loved ones, even when it's difficult.’

“I have never forgotten that advice and it healed a portion of my heart."

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