#service canada website be like

[justtogetthrough]

For the purposes of these terms and conditions:

“ESDC” means His Majesty the King in Right of Canada as represented by the Minister of Employment and Social Development Canada

[august--and-everything-after]

The pure rage I feel anytime I have to deal with the government of Canada's website is indescribable

[bloodyarson]

visit my new tag #ellis's adventures in late capitalism customer service and predatory business practices for highly entertaining accounts of my experiences dealing with any kind of company's or government's wonderful treatment of their obviously very strongly valued customers and their very astronomically high quality offered services

[newsfromstolenland]

Atlantic Canada's largest newspaper chain is now officially owned by Toronto-based Postmedia Network Inc.

On Monday, Postmedia confirmed the closing of its $1-million purchase of SaltWire Network Inc. and the Halifax Herald Ltd. in a short statement on its website. The sale was approved by a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge on Aug. 8.

Andrew MacLeod, Postmedia's president and CEO, said his company is "delighted" to welcome the new media properties, saying the sale "preserves their vital role within the community."

Full article

Let's explore why this is a very bad thing.

Postmedia, the company that just bought a chain of over two dozen Atlantic canada newspapers, is known for many things- none of them good.

This is an incomplete list of harmful things that Postmedia and its executives have done/are known for:

Right-wing politics. "The National Post was founded in 1998 by Conrad Black, who has connections to conservative politics and sat as a Conservative Party member of the United Kingdom's House of Lords. The Post has always been aligned with the right side of the political spectrum. ..."Just in the past couple of years, Postmedia has issued an edict stating that they should move even farther to the right, so they're very reliably conservative," said [Media journalist Marc] Edge. "In fact, [they] endorse Conservative candidates often over the objections of their local editors.""

Union busting. "They employed a mix of cajoling (such as with buyouts and raises), entreaties to preserve the paper’s uniquely collegial newsroom culture, office-wide memos decrying the havoc a union would wreak, and, according to CWA Canada President Martin O’Hanlon, one-on-one meetings between staff and management."

Monopolization of canadian news media. "Postmedia Network’s purchase of Saltwire Network will extend its grip from coast to coast, as it already dominates Western Canada with eight of the nine largest dailies in the three westernmost provinces. This purchase will give Postmedia the largest dailies in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland to go along with the largest in New Brunswick, which it acquired from the Irving Oil family two years ago."

Cuts to pensions and benefits while giving large bonuses to executives. "...several top Postmedia executives had received enormous retention bonuses at a time of aggressive belt-tightening (after which many left regardless), and second, the March 2017 announcement that benefits and pensions would be curtailed significantly."

Already beginning to lay off staff from the Atlantic canada newspapers they now own. "...the long-term future of workers in departments like circulation, advertising, customer service, finance and production remains uncertain. "Staff believe maintaining local jobs in the community is critical to retaining both subscribers and clients," the union said. Last week, the union representing workers at The Telegram confirmed that four of the paper's 13 newsroom positions will be eliminated."

More reading: source 1, source 2

Tagging: @allthecanadianpolitics

[creature-wizard]

"I'm in a bad place and need to get out, what can I do?"

I figured I'd make a post with all the resources/tips I've collected to help people get out of shitty situations so far, since it's easier than linking to a bunch of posts each time.

Seek out appropriate resources. This can include support groups (online or offline), helplines, and the like.

If you're in the US, you can call 211 to help you find resources.

Crisis Text Line offers services to the US, Ireland, Canada, and the UK.

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is a US service offers a lot of information for sexual abuse survivors.

The Trevor Lifeline is a service for queer youth in the US.

If you're a minor, you may wish to read How To Escape Abusive Parents: A Guide For Minors.

If you're an adult, you may wish to read How To Escape Abusive Parents: A Guide For Adults.

You might search on Qwant for like something like "resources for people in abuse" or "abuse resources help" or "domestic violence survivors resources".

Ask people for help in finding resources. If you can't find anything on your own, there are other people who know where to direct you. It might take awhile to find what you're looking for, but keep asking.

A WORD OF CAUTION: there are many predatory spiritual groups and conspiracy theorists out there who prey on abuse survivors and mentally ill people. You will often see these people claiming that channeling or hypnosis can help you remember past life memories or repressed traumatic memories. This is nonsense and quackery.

Relevant posts of mine:

Hypnosis is unreliable for memory recovery, and this is one way we know.

False past life memories among the starseed movement

Here’s the trouble with hypnotic regression…

If you're on a website that claims to support cult survivors and you see any of these names in the citations (and make sure you check the citations!), leave immediately - all of these people are far right conspiracy theorists. (Unfortunately, many people today are unwittingly perpetuating the BS of Fritz Springmeier in particular. See this and this for more info on that.)

Change who and what you surround yourself with. Start associating with different people/groups as much as you can. Get hobbies to fill your time. Unfollow blogs that reinforce the beliefs you're trying to get away from, and follow blogs that provide a healthier alternative.

You might follow blogs like:

A Kind Place

Trauma Survivors Helping Trauma Survivors

Compassionate Reminders

Trauma Survivors Activities

Reasons For Hope

Bluest Fluff

If you're trying to rebuild your worldview without conspiratorial/culty elements, go take a look at my Resources page.

Remember that your first job is looking after yourself. You don't owe the group. You aren't responsible for the group, or for anyone in it. It might feel that way, but it's vitally important to acknowledge when you're unqualified or suffering burnout. You might feel like bad things will happen if you leave, but that's a fear, not a fact.

You also don't have to justify your departure to the group. You can just leave. If you feel that you must give a reason, you can offer something as simple as "I need to take some time to focus on my mental health" or "I'm really busy lately and don't have time to spend here." If they throw a fit over this, that's honestly just more proof that you need to get out.

If any practices the group taught you actually helped, you can keep doing them. If doing affirmations helped you, keep doing affirmations. If listening to so-called healing frequencies actually made you feel better, you don't have to stop listening to them. If you were practicing something like the Law of Assumption, you can carry on with a lot of that under a psychological model rather than Neville Goddard's wacky metaphysical model. (See this video for an example.) If it genuinely helps you and doesn't hurt anyone else, by all means, keep doing it.

You might look at my Manifestation Without Woo posts:

Manifestation Without Woo: Changing Your Brain

Manifestation Without Woo: People React To Your Projections, & Your Projections Affect Your Perceptions

Manifestation Without Woo: Setting Reasonable Goals

Manifestation Without Woo: Make It Fun!

Manifestation Without Woo: What If It's Not Working?

Get some critical thinking skills. In order to keep yourself from falling into another bad group, it's important to develop your critical thinking skills.

Learn to apply the Five W's (who, what, when, where, and why) when encountering any information.

Learn common logical fallacies.

Learn the difference between fact, opinion, belief, and prejudice.

Don't equate emotional reactions with some kind of innate or higher moral guidance.

Ask yourself if you're "thinking for yourself" or being led to believe you're thinking for yourself.

Know what emotional manipulation tactics look like.

Watch out for these behaviors in any new group you join.

Yes, there are ways to confirm the age of an old text without having the original text itself.

Learn how propaganda works.

Watch out for these red flags in spiritual groups.

And watch out for this red flag.

Understand that belief doesn't have to be binary.

So yeah, hopefully this'll give folks some actionable advice. I can't promise it's going to help each and every person out there, but hopefully it'll give a lot of you something that will help.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for lying to reuse my gift card?

one christmas i got a gift card for a big store. its like a department store, but they sell appliances, home goods, office supplies, craft making supplies, electornics as well as clothing and accessories. they operate in the US and Canada

i bought some items from this place, but i didnt receive them, so i asked for a refund. i was able to receive a refund without verifying that i didn't receive the items- it was a simple few clicks on the website. so i also asked for a refund for the items i did receive. and they gave it to me lol.

now i realized i have an infinite money hack on my hands, and i used it accordingly. its been almost 3 years now and ive spent almost $500 at this place. mostly ive gotten treats for myself or gifts for others. now i have to use the customer service chat to get my refunds bc the button doesn't work for me anymore. but i still get them

i think this might be unethical somehow. and im also worried i might get in trouble for this and have to pay back the money im scamming them out of, which would be a serious blow to my finances (which i understand doesnt relate to me being ta, but its what prompted this thought)

What are these acronyms?

[peppermint-cardboard]

hey. hello my friend. i am grabbing you by the shoulders oh so gently. do not become hopeless. that is exactly what they want. blue state governments will give them hell over the next presidential term, and you can rest assured there will absolutely be people in our government fighting for democracy.

the thing we can all do that will have the most direct immediate impact and will lay the groundwork for cultures of help, creativity, and love is to get involved at the local community level.

i’m talking especially to my fellow teens here!!! may not be able to vote but that doesn’t mean we’re not able to help.

for my fellow Angelenos!

Hollywood Food Coalition - free food! you can sign up to volunteer and do meal prep (cooking), meal service (serving food), or help at their food bank. locations are on their website. thanksgiving is coming up and HFC will need volunteers!

My Friend’s Place - free aid for youth homelessness, especially queer youth homelessness. volunteering is for 18 years and older

Los Angeles LGBT Center - exactly what it sounds like. offers a wide range of wonderful services and opportunities for volunteering. also works with school GSAs!

Moonwater Farm - a community farm in Compton with great opportunities for education and sometimes paid fellowships

for people everywhere else! just some general recommendations:

The Trevor Project - queer youth services that have saved my ass a number of times. i don’t know if they call the police as part of their responses or not (offers a single-click-to-leave button in case of emergency)

TrevorSpace - a great queer youth-centered website and a very safe place for queer community and discussion

Debate Me, Bro - a great anarchist newsletter/advice column run by a friend of mine!

The Child And Its Enemies - anarchist child rights-focused podcast also run by that same friend of mine :)

Neocities - make a website! learn some HTML! it’s fun, it’s pretty simple, and it’s a way to get a message out if that’s what you want but it’s also just a great de-stresser

Queer Liberation Library - need i even elaborate on the importance of libraries and access to queer media over the coming few years? (offers a single-click-to-leave button in case of emergency)

American Civil Liberties Union - an activism and aid organization that gave the Republicans absolute hell last time and will continue to do so this time

Blackline (800-604-5841) - a crisis and help hotline prioritizing BI&POC and black queer people. will not call the police!

Trans Lifeline (US: 877-565-8860, Canada: 877-330-6366) - a helpline run by and for trans folks. has a quick escape button and will not call the police!

Wildflower Alliance Peer Support Line (888-407-4515) - a warmline to chat with trained therapists and professionals. will not call the police!

StrongHearts Native Helpline (844-762-8483) - a domestic and sexual violence helpline prioritizing Native Americans and Alaska Natives. has a quick escape button and will not call the police!

Thrive Lifeline (313-662-8209) - a live crisis warmline prioritizing marginalized people. also offers text messaging! will not call the police!

LGBT National Health Center (888-843-4564) - exactly what it sounds like! warmlines for queer people if you need help. has a quick escape button and will not call the police!

Transfeminine Science - a fantastic resource for... transfeminine science. exactly what it says on the tin.

Planned Parenthood - an incredibly prolific and important organization that offers a very wide array of vastly important services. if you live in an at least semi-urban city in the U.S., Planned Parenthood probably has a clinic near you. you should find out if they do!!!

please feel free to add more resources if you know any!!

other recommendations: say hi to a neighbor. bake someone a pie. start a garden. treat homeless people like your neighbors (because they are). propose a community movie night. have a party in your apartment building. call a friend. text a friend. draw something. cook something good. go to a restaurant you like. buy some DVDs. get a new stuffed animal. compliment a stranger’s shirt. ask for a hug. offer someone a hug. listen to music. KEEP LIVING!!!!!!!!!

don't just survive, keep living <3

[ranidspace]

learn to pirate. im sick of like 50k+ notes posts to some zip file hosted on a google drive or on some file sharing platform thqt gets taken down or has malware in it. a good vpn (proton, ivpn, mullvad) costs so much less than a single streaming service let alone 3 or more, plus adobe products plus whatever textbooks you're buying plus music services and whatever.

Torrent sites cannot be taken down because they host .torrent files, and they doesnt contain any pirated content, it just tells a program where to find it. Since the site doesnt host pirated content you're free to talk about it without any risk of shutting it down.

Be careful tho cuz by talking about you can increase the chances of companies finding out their stuff is on theae websites, and they can send cease and desists to the IPs that are downloading/seeding it. This issue is mitigated with a Private Tracker which only allows people who specifically have been invited by other users to download the .torrent files.

Also: Torrents are peer to peer. if someone hosting a torrent's house gets raided and gets taken down (very extreme example, AT MOST they will send a warning or a C&D to ur ISP) anyone else who downloaded the torrent is still also hosting it. as long as theres one person left on the planet that has it, you can still download it (oversimplified)

Also a note about C&Ds and ISP letters. Me and my family have been pirating content for definitely over a decade at LEAST. We mostly use invite only private trackers (google it, lots of info on reddit specifically) WITHOUT a VPN and also live in canada. All of that combined, we recieved a warning from our ISP once in 15 years(i was seeding cyberpunk 2077)

tldr go download qbittorrent and go to reddit and find private trackers for you to torrent shit from, or public trackers if you have a VPN that supports p2p

[elaine19day]

To those who are confused as to where and how to buy OldXian's new artbook and merchandise, let me try to break it down for you.

A few days ago, OldXian announced the pre-sale of their new artbook which comes in two versions.

Variant A (regular) includes: - the new artbook - a poster - 2x postcards

Variant B (deluxe edition) includes: - the new artbook - a poster - 2x postcards - 4x buttons - a shishiki board - a sticker sheet - a 24 page booklet

Furthermore there's two new acrylic standees which can be purchased separately. A tianshan and a zhanyi version.

The cost of these items is as follows: Artbook (version A): 89 Yuan [roughly: 13 USD | 12 Euro | 10 GBP] Artbook (version B): 189 Yuan [roughly: 27 USD | 25 Euro 21 GBP] Acrylic Standee: 49 Yuan (each) [roughly: 7 USD | 7 Euro | 6 GBP]

All of these items are available for purchase in their taobao store now, under this link: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?ft=t&id=786971367604

But if you have trouble creating a taobao account or your country isn't on the (very short) taobao shipping list [China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand] then you have several other options to get your hands on these new items.

1. You could use aliexpress, koonbooks or any other China-based shopping app/website to buy these things from a 3rd party seller.

Now, keep in mind that these sellers obviously want to make a profit, so you will pay more than in the original taobao shop. However, on the plus side, they usually offer free shipping, which is nice considering that items like artbooks are heavy and shipping costs are based on weight, so if you pay over, some of that money also goes towards covering the shipping costs, which is not bad.

The risk of ordering with such a website is obviously that the independent seller could turn out to be a scammer and keep your money and not send you the goods. I have no idea about koonbook's policies, however in the case of aliexpress you are at least protected by such practices and should you not receive what you paid for, you will be refunded and get your money back.

Also keep in mind that the artbook and merch is still in production at this point! But Old Xian said the merch will be shipped out BEFORE May 20th. That's less than 4 weeks from now.

That being said - in some cases the merch will be cheaper on aliexpress after official ship-out, because there will be more people offering it, competing for best prices.

However there's obviously also a risk that the deluxe edition will sell out before that or that these re-sellers only ship the artbook itself with none of the extras.

Here's two links where you can have a look at potential resellers, but carefully think about all the pro's and con's I gave you before you consider to buy. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006893284852.html https://koonbooks.com/products/old-xian-19-days-art-collection-3-chinese?variant=46493038674166 2.

The other option you have is using a taobao shopping agent. If you google that, you'll find dozens of websites offering their services. I myself have used parcelup, 42agent and superbuy before. Here's links to all of them: https://www.superbuy.com/ https://parcelup.com/ https://www.42agent.com/ What all of these agents have in common is that you need to create an account BEFORE you can start searching and shopping. All you need for that is a valid email address. I'll show how it works with superbuy screenshots here. After you signed up, you can copy the taobao-link I gave you earlier and paste it into the search-field.

What will come up is an embedded view of the taobao listing where you can pick which variant you want and then add it to your shopping cart.

Once you have added everything you want, click on the shopping cart and simply follow all further payment instructions.

They will also ask you if you want them to keep the original packaging or if you want them to remove anything unnecessary and repack everything in order to make it weigh less so shipping will be cheaper. It's up to you. You will then be asked to pay for items, domestic shipping (so mosspaca studios can ship the goods to your agent's warehouse) and in some cases a service fee. For example, superbuy has no service fee, however they stopped offering paypal as payment method recently so you'd need a credit card or other online methods to pay for your order and everything. Parcelup, however, still offers paypal, but they also charge service fees. (They are fairly low though, if you ask me.) So after you paid for your goods, they will order the items for you and then you'll have to wait about 4-5 weeks for them to arrive, because keep in mind - like I said earlier - everything is still in production and Old Xian aims to ship everything out before the 20th of May. There's hundreds, if not thousands of parcels arriving to all agent's warehouses every day, so it will take them a few days to sort through things after your order arrives. You need to be patient!! They will get back to you with pictures of your order, trust me. When this happens you need to look at the pics and if everything is okay, you can reply to them to proceed. You will then be presented with shipping quotes. Usually they offer more than one shipping method and some are tracked, others are untracked, some will take only a week or two until they arrive at your doorstep, others will take 6 weeks or up to two months. Choose wisely which method you want and consider what is in your budget. (Obviously fast shipping with tracking is more expensive than slow shipping without it, however personally I'd always recommend a tracked service.) Just to give you an estimate on what to expect when it comes to international shipping - parcels with that amount of merch and weight, will always cost me about 50 USD or more to ship from China to the UK, where I live. (So keep that in mind before you order. International shipping is very expensive!) But once you picked a shipping method, you pay for it (that's your 2nd payment) and once they have processed that - your goodies will be on the way to you within a few days. And that's it. Sit down, eat your food and wait patiently for it to arrive. If you have further questions, just plop them into the comments and I'll try to answer them.

[nateconnolly]

The Second Step of addiction recovery is believing in "a power greater than ourselves". These days, it seems well accepted that the higher power can be whatever you want -- quite a few rehab websites say your higher power could be stuff like mathematics or the sky.

But if you read the 1939 book Alcoholics Anonymous, written by the first members of AA, it's pretty clear that higher power originally meant something much more traditionally divine. There's repeated references to a "living Creator" or a "creative Intelligence".

The modern, more expansive idea of the higher power is more accessible. People can still be atheists and benefit from AA if the organization broadly accepts that their higher power is love, or a family member, and not a supernatural conscious being. So I'm a big fan of this updated, less strict idea of what a higher power could be.

But I'd love to have a better understanding of how and why this transition took place. That's just such a huge shift in the history of spirituality.

A big part was probably AA spreading to places other than the US and Canada. Another part is just that atheism has gained more acceptance in every part of American society (although it's been mostly two steps forward, one step back). I think it's likely that shifts in American culture have a ripple affect on 12 Step groups as a whole because AA World Services Inc. is located in New York, and they publish all the official materials (I'm not sure to what extent they control translation).

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

“Oh, no, this is the revenge tour!” Lol, are these revenge tours going to be like her rebrands? We get one at least once a year but nothing really comes of it.

Ask from July 23rd

Well, judging by the pace of 2024, they're traveling on the same scale as the BRF pre-COVID: one "big" joint trip per quarter with a few solo trips sprinkled throughout the rest of the year.

Except the difference was that the BRF as a whole shared/rotated their travel so most people were only traveling long-haul once a year (excepting Charles, because, well, you know. He's Charles and lives to work). The Sussexes seem determined to do all of that themselves. And you know, maybe it'll work. Maybe they can do all that travel by themselves to compete with the BRF.

But I don't think it's sustainable. Here's their "official" travel so far for 2024:

January 2024: Jamaica for the Bob Marley biopic premiere (both)

February 2024: Canada for the 2025 Vancouver IG kickoff (both)

May 2024: England for the IG 10th anniversary service of thanksgiving (Harry)

May 2024: Nigeria fauxyal tour (both)

August 2024: Colombia fauxyal tour (both)

September 2024: New York City (Harry)

November 2024: ~rumored~ (to compete with Earthshot)

Not only are they not getting anything in return for these trips, but the attention and press coverage they get dwindles with each trip they take because there's less and less interest:

Only Sussex mouthpieces covered the January Jamaica trip.

If it weren't for Harry's last-minute flight to see Charles after his cancer diagnosis and the new Sussex website rollout, the February Canada trip wouldn't have gotten any attention (suggesting that the Sussexes are aware no one gives them any attention unless they make it worth their while, which they did by talking about the BRF again).

The May Nigeria trip got some coverage because it was their first "big" fauxyal tour, but if you notice, hardly no one covered the Colombia trip.

Now Harry's NYC trip will absolutely get coverage, but only because the press can sell a crapton of stories hyping up a potential brotherly reunion or a run-in in the next three weeks (even though I'm pretty sure William won't go).

But since the Sussexes do these trips for attention and to make money, and they're actually losing attention and losing money when they do these trips (because they have to invest more in PR and more in "pregame schemes"), this isn't a sustainable model for them.

But we'll see. Should be fun. Cringe, but fun.

[aetheros]

There's a post going around post-election claiming that crisis lines will call police on you immediately and by default, and this person is responding to correction with hostility from an anti-therapy lens, creating fear and disillusionment.

I am a crisis responder (volunteer), and I'd like to clear things up. I'm in Canada, so I can't definitively speak on US crisis lines, but I can speak on Canadian ones.

Some safe crisis lines to contact are at the bottom of this post. TL;DR: We do not call police on people in crisis. We might call EMS.

1. We do not call police on you. If you say you're feeling suicidal, you are put at the front of the queue and given priority status & high risk status. We risk assess, learn about your situation, and then work together on bringing you down from your crisis to ensure you can keep yourself safe for at least 24 hours. We may contact paramedics/an ambulance if you inform us you have attempted suicide, or plan to within the next 24 hours. Not police. You can decline this at your own expense. If they are called, we stay on the line with you until they arrive.

We are legally required to risk assess everyone, and contact emergency services only if you inform us you've self-harmed more than intended, just attempted to end your life, or plan to within 24 hours. You can't seriously expect someone to sit by and do nothing upon telling them you just attempted -- everyone on earth would try to help you unless they're an inhumane monster.

A crisis line is NOT a wellness check. It's a safe, confidential, anonymous space for you to vent and get help (if you want it). Where I work, the only time police can be contacted (or you can be reported, rather) is if you admit to a crime. Being suicidal is not a crime. (CPS/APS can also be contacted on your behalf if you're being abused and under 19 or over 60, but you can decline this as well.)

2. Our job is to bring you to a calmer, safer state by listening with empathy, brainstorming coping skills (+safety plans) with you, and providing resources/links/websites for you to access after the conversation ends.

3. You can text crisis lines for more than suicidal thoughts, ideation, and attempts. You can talk about anything. You can vent and leave without a safety plan. It's what you're comfortable with.

4. You can end the conversation at any point. You are never forced into anything. You can close the web chat, reply STOP, or hang up at any time, or let us know you'd like to end the conversation and we can end it for you. _____________________________________

KidsHelpPhone Text CONNECT to 686868 Start web-chat [x]

- Free Canadian EN/FR crisis support - ALL ages - Text & web accessible - Professional counsellor chat/call [x] - Resources near you to explore yourself [x] - You can request a specific identity volunteer (BIPOC, queer, experience with [xyz] condition, etc.) - Partnered with 988 (Suicide Hotline)

Good2Talk Text GOOD2TALKON (ON) or GOOD2TALKNS (NS) to 686868 Dial 1-866-925-5454 (ON) or 1-833-292-3698 (NS)

- Free Canadian text support - Post-secondary students (18+) - Text, phone call & web accessible

988 | Suicide Crisis Helpline Text or dial 988

- Free US/Canada suicide/crisis support - ALL ages - Text & phone call accessible - Partnered with KHP

Crisis Text Line Text HOME to 741741

-Free US suicide/crisis support - ALL ages - Text, web & WhatsApp accessible - Partnered with KHP

Furthermore, I have my own mental illness and trauma, chronic illness, and my own bad experiences (including negligence, gaslighting, and bigotry) with therapy and doctors among many others in life. It took me 11 years to find a therapist and form of therapy that works for me. I volunteer as a CR because I don't want other people to suffer alone like I did. Crisis lines exist for you and for your wellbeing. They aren't some secretly evil corporation out to get you. I encourage you to fact-check. I'm telling you what I know as someone who has been on both sides of a crisis line. Take care of yourselves. ♥

[fatphobiabusters]

Scientific articles and official health websites talk about lactose intolerance the same way they talk about fatness.

This is how the National Institutes of Health describes it: "Lactose intolerance is a clinical syndrome that manifests with characteristic signs and symptoms upon consuming food substances containing lactose, a disaccharide." "Lactose intolerance is a common disease; however, it is rare in children younger than 5. It is most often seen in adolescents and young adults."

It's a syndrome. A disease. A medical problem with symptoms and signs.

And then...

"On average, 65% of the world's population is lactose intolerant. The prevalence of lactose intolerance is variable among different ethnicities. It is most common in African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians and least prevalent in people of European descent."

Wait wait wait, hold up. It's in 65% of the world population??? 65% of all humans are lactose intolerant??? 65% of the world is diseased and has such a serious health condition?

Then you start learning more about it outside of these medical articles and organizations. You learn that other animals can't digest lactose past infancy either. Not even cats, even though we all believe they love milk. Animals, including humans, have a special enzyme as infants that allows babies to drink breastmilk. And after a child stops drinking that milk, the enzyme goes away, leaving the child unable to digest milk anymore.

In the 300,000 years that humans have existed, drinking milk past infancy did not start happening until about 10,000 years ago. It wasn't until ancient populations in Europe who were pastoralists, and thus raised cows as livestock, forced their bodies to drink milk and caused it to slowly became a genetic mutation that spread throughout different human populations over thousands of years.

You realize that the ability to drink lactose is not the norm. It's not the default body at all. The ability to digest lactose is a human adaptation that only some humans have, like missing wisdom teeth, blue eyes, and red hair. Lactose intolerance isn't abnormal. It's what human bodies were designed to do in the first place! No wonder it's "rare in children younger than 5." That's when babies still have the ability to drink breastmilk!

And what does such a serious disease as lactose intolerance require?

Not consuming dairy.

That's it.

This "disease" requires avoiding lactose and taking a pill to help you digest it if you need to in a given situation. And if you don't? The awful consequence of this disease is DEATH—oh, wait, that was a typo. I meant diarrhea. Dairy products like butter and some cheese have very low levels of lactose compared to straight up milk and can sometimes even be eaten without any pills for lactose intolerance at all.

So then why do health organizations and scientific articles consider this a "disease" when it's just genetic diversity? Well, you were already given the answer.

The people most able to digest lactose? White people. Europe. America. Canada. Australia. Groups so often considered the default. The quotes I gave are from the American government itself, as described by the organization's website: "Founded in 1887, the National Institutes of Health today is one of the world's foremost medical research centers, and the Federal focal point for medical research in the United States. The NIH, comprising 27 separate Institutes and Centers, is one of eight health agencies of the Public Health Service which, in turn, is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services."

It's also important to recognize that the US government extremely subsidizes dairy. There are underground caves of billions of pounds of cheese surplus that the government has stockpiled. Billions upon billions of dollars have been spent on keeping the dairy industry afloat, no pun intended, to the point that everything from those "Got milk?" advertisements to milk in school-provided lunches to Taco Bell's double steak quesadillas were funded by federal tax dollars put into some cheesy goodness propaganda. Federal tax dollars were even used after the 2010 recession to bail out Domino's and keep the cheese uh-flowing.

So in a country where most people can digest lactose, most of the people who can't do so have bodies that are not viewed as the default already, and the government is extremely invested in getting people to eat dairy products, it becomes clear why that country—that government—believes lactose intolerance to be a disease.

Then when you consider:

how fat people are not viewed as the default body either and face immense oppression

how the facts of fatness being incredibly genetic and intentional weight loss not being sustainable in the slightest are kept under the radar from the public

how weight is not actually equal to health when you take all context into account beyond stereotypes and studies with horrendous methodology

how the BMI was created by a statistician (who was never a doctor in the first place and whose work was later used to support eugenics) during the 1800s in order to figure out which body was the average, not the healthiest, in select populations of white European men in the 19th century (and thus which body was the "default," the "norm," superior)

how the population measuring tool that is the BMI, never meant or designed to be used on an individual scale, was not commonly used as a measurement of "health" until insurance companies wanted a way to fabricate reasons for charging people more money

how the weight loss industry makes hundreds of billions of dollars every year off of pretending fatness is inherently bad and selling a "cure" that doesn't work while blaming consumer error to keep people buying said "cure"

and how creating a weight-based social hierarchy benefits the people on top who have power over the rest

...you start to understand why fatness is medicalized.

It's even a common talking point of people and companies obsessed with dieting that humans have evolved to hold onto fat and refuse to lose it in case of potential starvation. In fact, facing starvation even changes your body to want to hold onto body fat even more than it did previously, which includes when you diet since dieting is just self-inflicted starvation. When you face starvation, your descendants are more likely to have genetics that prefer fatness too. And there's evidence of fatness in human populations going back tens of thousands of years despite diet culture wanting people to believe fatness is a new trend due to people's "lifestyle choices." The Venus of Willendorf, an ancient figurine of a fat woman, is estimated to have been created around 30,000 years ago, and there are numerous other Venus figurines of fat women from that era too.

It's human diversity, but people who aren't fat and who pedal diet culture can make so much money and obtain such powerful positions by pretending fatness is abnormal, inhuman, and wrong. Why give up an easy money-making punching bag or admit that your body is not the only "correct" human body when you have no reason not to and so many incentives for keeping the status quo?

As a side note, one of the best examples of diet culture is how you can find countless news articles about whether milk is "good" or "bad" for you despite humans having consumed milk for the past 10,000 years. I think by year one thousand we would have learned if milk was "bad" for us, but the headline "Milk still okay" doesn't get a news website any clicks.

-Mod Worthy

[rayneisnotwet]

Well that isn’t what we expected is it? Trump winning the white house. In the salient words of Miss Juicy, ”What the hell we gon’ do now?”. Everyone has a different idea. “We need to engage in our communities!” , “I’m moving to Canada!”, “I’m doing c*ke in the bathroom!” some cry out. Others are disengaging from the zeitgeist, and with it, apparently, social media. But when people announce these reactionary ideas of theirs, it feels more like a child yelling that they hate their parents because they got their Xbox taken away than a serious strategy to avoid oppression. I get it though, everyone just wants a change now. The hottest new accessory is going to be a poorly thought out style choice. Short haircuts with clumsy dye jobs and a trashcan full of “I’m with her!” memorabilia is how everyone dealt with this last time. But what is really the answer to this feeling?

Well, you’re all in luck. Because as a Trans drag queen in the midwest with an enhanced ID, I have the insight into all these coping methods. I write this while smoking a skinny cig. sitting on a picnic table in my childhood backyard, on property that’s interest rates doubled so fiercely it convinced both my parents to vote Trump and pushed me farther left than I thought was possible before I just detransitioned into Mao Zedong. I doubt that social media breaks announced via Instagram story or a vote for a failed businessman turned reality star or a jar of Manic Panic Amazon Primed to your door is going to make any of us feel any better, or bring the dollar menu at the drive thru back.

The Canadian immigration website crashed in 2016 after Trump won the first time, and to be fair I can see why. Everytime I visit, a feeling of relaxation washes over me. Not just because it's where my boyfriend lives, but because it's a genuinely very easy place. People stroll instead of scurrying through the streets. Even in Toronto, the largest city. The food is fantastic as well. The cosmopolitan-and just like that, I started ordering them-attitudes lead to a huge mix of cultures that seem to coexist in a much more mixed fashion than the notoriously segregated US. Sure, there’s the french-speaking Quebecois, but every country has annoying people. The friendliness is no joke either (as long as it’s not a service worker), people ask you how you are as a question, rather than a greeting.

Canada isn’t a liberal wonderland though, despite what Justin Trudeau might lead you to believe. During my Toronto visit, I checked out Dundas Square, the canuck equivalent of Times Square (there was no one in knockoff Elmo costumes). As soon as we stepped out of the subway station it was awash with the sounds of protest. A First Nations demonstration played out, with people chanting “LET HIM GO!” while drum beats punctuated the cries. A woman sat on a speaker holding a microphone, telling the heart-wrenching story of her son who had been shot during a wellness check by police in the midst of a mental health crisis. I wanted to support and join in the chanting, but my boyfriend advised not to, warning me the TPS were just as brutal as any American police department, especially to Trans women. Moments later a man, middle aged, bald, and white, started hitting on me aggressively. My boyfriend immediately shielded me from him, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer and made a scene. Another man chimed in, “That's not a ‘She’ bro!”

We got out of there fast.

So while Canada may have a more charismatic leader on the world stage, and policies that protect its vulnerable communities slightly better than the US, it’s not a utopia for Queers. Least of all Trans women or Two Spirit people. The truth is there is no such thing as safe spaces. As long as tribalism is baked into our monkey brains, we will find something to point at and feel superior about over someone else. I’ve actually felt more disrespected in some majority white gay male bars than I have in dives in my hometown of bumfuck Jackson playing the UofM game on their tv. A word of advice to The Dolls, don’t underestimate the cruelty of men. 🚬 or not. That isn’t to say I hadn't found community in a lot of Queer parties.

I had started my post-election-pity-party at Necto in Ann Arbor for the finale of the UofM-student-powered drag competition reality show Runway Rumble. Michigan’s best and brightest new talent (and others) battling it out for the belt. Those of us that had been eliminated were doing a group number with the finalists and accepting awards. The energy was electric, people were excited to see each other and drinks were flowing. I can't speak for coke in the bathroom because I was in an outfit that didn't allow for bathroom visits, and frankly a bank account that didn't allow for coke.

With all the excitement and nerves in the air about who would clinch the win, it felt like our community’s political turmoil was dead and gone. Although, some people were drinking so much I thought they might go the same way.

Spoiler alert, Belladonna won the competition, and for me that was such a relief. To see a Trans woman win a competition like this and receive the recognition she so rightly deserved as a fixture in the Detroit scene was vindicating as a Doll Supremacist. Shoutout to you diva, you did that shit. Big shoutout also to one of the judges, Pineapple Honeydew, for finger-waving my look that night. I hugged Bella and joined in on the rest of the cast and crew who were inundating her with congratulations, and that's when I realized something. In this bar, on this stage, in THIS moment, Trump wasn’t president. He’ll never be president of Necto, or president of drag. This place, these people, were presidentless. This country may have elected him with the popular vote, but that didn’t matter here. His political success couldn’t take away Belladonna’s Drag excellence. Or Portia’s for creating the show. Or mine for leaving my mark on the show as Drama Diva and holder of the Golden Boot. No. Our community, its survival and ability to thrive, was entirely dependent on US, not THEM.

So yes, things will be much more difficult now. This will be a tough time for Trans kids, for immigrants, especially mexicans. A tough time for the elderly on social security, a battle for young mothers and young women trying NOT to become mothers. For blue collar workers in unions, for their families. Entire classes of people, communities, towns, families, they’ll be ripped apart. We’ve already seen how populism injected into right-wing politics can create the perfect siren’s song to attract members of our family, turning them into strangers. But at the end of the day, the days gotta end. Will we all take this lying down? Or with a smile on our faces, a tequila sunrise in one hand and our loved ones hand in the other? Our community, no, we protest and sing and dance and drink and dress up and be gay! Openly! Loudly! Until they realize we really aren’t going anywhere.

[chaotic-neutral-knitter]

btw, now that I've been very into audiobooks for a bit, if you like audiobooks and you've been using Audible or Spotify or what have you... stop.

there is a better option. and it's called libro.fm

this is going to sound like an ad but that's because this thing rocks and I want more people to know it exists.

it's a website/audiobook app where you can do a subscription service ($14.99 a month) to get credits for audiobooks, or just buy them outright if you don't want another subscription to keep track of. you can listen to the books through their app, but you can also just download them as convenient mp3 files to literally any device (or hard drive) and keep them forever. they are drm-free and you own them. if libro.fm disappears you will still own them. you could burn them to a CD if you wanted. because you OWN them. what a concept!

the other great thing about libro.fm is that when you make an account you can pick an independent bookstore to support (I chose my local bookstore) and your bookstore will receive 50% of the profits from each audiobook sold.

so to sum up. you get audiobooks you can download in universal formats and keep forever AND you keep the convenience of an app on your phone/tablet AND you support your local bookstore. hell yeah.

as of right now (Oct 2024), according to wikipedia, it's available in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and Aotearoa.

[battle-of-alberta]

Finally introducing Marion (Sherwood Park) after months and months of teasing! She represents a bedroom community east of Edmonton that "technically" is one of the largest cities in Alberta... or would be, if it was actually a city.

Your first fun fact is that Marion was originally going to be named Campbelltown, but since there were too many Campbelltowns across Canada, Canada Post forced her to change it to avoid confusion. She's much much younger than most of the other munis being founded in 1953.

More fun facts below!

Like Mac, Marion represents a "hamlet" in a very large service area, which means she can reap the benefits of being both rural and urban at the same time while also benefiting from living in Ed's shadow too.

I think generally the relationship between her and Ed is "he's scary! one time, i actually had to go to his house and nearly died!!"

where Ed is like "I don't know what her deal is or why she freaks out whenever I'm around" (meanwhile Edith trying to explode her with her mind)

She's just masc enough that Mac doesn't feel intimidated by her and they're best buddies. Her other close friends are other satellite communities such as Stab St. Albert and Spruce, etc.

The Strathcona County Website boasts their own Raisin Sour Cream Pie Recipe, which is sooo mid-century 'Berta lol. Back in the 50s, Marion had much longer hair, but found the upkeep too difficult and sheared it all off some time in the last few decades.

Refinery Row occasionally makes national meme news, I remember seeing some "THIS CITY IN CANADA LOOKS LIKE THE EYE OF SAURON" type clickbait on blogto or some such thing that I can't find now, and apart from not being a city, we immediately clocked the location from the photo. It just looks like that sometimes. Don't worry about it. :)

Like I say, don't worry about it!

Was doing a lot of newspaper research in the late 80s/early 90s and a plastics plant explosion was front page news for a while, so this was on my mind.