#the insurance thing is also...

[stormyrainyday]

Am mostly on board with this post but I have a bone to pick with the BMI section. The cited BMI article is not a reputable source; it is an opinion piece that does not cite any sources, is titled "Top 10 Reasons Why The BMI Is Bogus" (and includes "it embarrasses the US" as a reason), is from 2009, and was written by a mathematician and not a doctor. Being from NPR doesn't automatically make it correct or reputable. Misinformation and inflammatory comments like "it hangs around because of fatphobia and insurance companies" just enable people to ignore their weight as an important indicator of health. (Note that I said important; not sole. Any medical professional worth their salt knows better than to take weight in a vacuum. However this does not mean that it should be ignored entirely either).

I will start by saying both being too fat and too skinny are bad for you. However since the post specifically pins the longevity of the BMI on fatphobia, I will address that more.

Nobody wants to hear this but being obese is in fact bad for you. Not just in terms of added risk of acquiring other diseases (though you definitely ARE at increased risk for cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and more-- it is even a well known cause of infertility and other reproductive disorders), but obesity itself is a state of chronic inflammation and a disease process in its own right.

Of course, there are still issues with the BMI; as the above poster said, it was not originally intended to be used as a measure of health, and the original study overwhelming featured Caucasian men and no women. Different races have different levels of body fat at the same BMI-- and it's more widely agreed that percent body fat is the important indicator of the diseases listed above, not necessarily your exact weight or BMI. Additionally, it's widely known that women need a higher body fat percentage than men, and that BMI misclassifies people who are pregnant, very athletic, etc because, as we know, BMI measures weight, not fat.

(As an aside, it's commonly cited that a mortality is lowest at an borderline overweight BMI of 25, but the study reporting this notes that smoking and diseases that cause severe weight loss such as cancers had a large effect mortality in lower weight ranges).

So why still use BMI? In short: it's a good starting point.

Height and weight of an individual are exceedingly easy to attain in any doctor's visit. The formula is simple and calculators are easily available, and it is easy to plot changes over time. At the population level, BMI correlates with levels of body fat and obesity related diseases; combined with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of attaining it, that makes it a good initial screening for obesity. Furthermore, there have been race-adjusted BMI cutoffs created to help make screenings for said diseases more accurate. It's also very useful in a research setting, again because of its easy attainability, but do note that research done on a population does not apply to every single individual and therefore it's important for doctors to be educated about such limitations and use their clinical judgement. Treat the patient, not the disease, if you will.

Some articles (including ones I have cited above) do say that because of its limitations it might be better to forgo BMI altogether in favor of more accurate assessments, like waist circumference or body composition measures. These measures have their own respective pros and cons that you can read about here and therefore also require clinical judgement and patient and physician education on how to implement them appropriately.

My personal opinion remains that these should be used alongside BMI, especially the simple ones such as waist to height ratio, and use all as needed to make a complete clinical picture. Both patient and physician education is important when doing any medical testing or screening-- I'd advocate for doctors to be better educated on the strengths and limits of the BMI so they can inform their patients as to why it is being used at all, and to better use it critically when providing care. But I don't believe that it should be discounted entirely.

I can't keep having the same conversations about love languages, mbti, iq, bmi, "brain fully formed at 25" and shit over and over again...

[inkskinned]

"don't make it political!" .... what proportion of death and suffering must occur before politics are involved. if this isn't political, what is even the point of any politics, ever. of democracy. the words are "by the people for the people." if i am going to be left alone by my elected representatives to "figure it out" - to undergo damage, hardship, fear. what the fuck did i elect them for. what was their job. the entire point is that they handle this shit. this is why we were supposed to be electing leaders.

poverty is political. misogyny is political. gun control is political. climate change is political. how much aid a community gets is political. what the fuck are you talking about. it's been political this whole fucking time.

[hawkinsbnbg]

Silver fox Steve meets fox hunter Eddie.

When Steve accepted the teaching position at IU, he didn't expect to stumble upon Eddie Munson–an enigma—who loved metal, who wore leathers with chains and rings, who always stood out with that wild mane, those attractive tattoos and devil-may-care attitude, and who had been trying to get into his pants for months now.

“Is this still a violation to the college’s policies, Professor?” Hot lips planted by his ears, strong hands held him down, stopped him from getting away.

“N– No,” Steve gasped and rolled his eyes back as Eddie hit that spot again. They had been at it for over an hour now, and Steve only had himself to blame for being weak-willed.

He had half a mind to worry about what his colleagues might say tomorrow about having seen him slink away with one of the graduates. But his head was rendered blank when those long calloused fingers wrapped around his neglected cock and started jerking it.

“Am I still too young for you, Professor?”

“Ye– Oh, god–” Steve writhed and slobbered as his sweet spots were battered again.

“Just Eddie is fine,” the younger man nipped the tip of his ear teasingly before setting up a brutal pace.

Steve couldn't even talk, he just fisted the sheet beneath him, overwhelmed and overstimulated. He was kind of appalled and thrilled by it all. Because sex had never felt so good to him before.

“Am I good enough for you, Professor?” Eddie asked, voice husky and gravelly with lust.

Steve dropped his mouth open to maybe form a proper word or breathe, he didn't know. His brain was too fucked out to remember why he had kept turning Eddie away in the first place.

The guy clearly knew how to plow. Fucking Christ.

He nodded blindly, moaning and losing his mind as Eddie hammered into his prostate as if wanting to knock his soul away.

He came with Eddie’s name on his tongue, twitching and clenching around the thick cock that pulsed inside him. He milked it for what it was worth, and lamented inwardly Eddie had filled the condom and not him.

Once the post-coital high finally passed, the clarity of the situation dawned on him. Steve didn't regret it, but he was mildly disappointed this was just a one-time thing.

Because of all people, he knew Eddie’s kind the best. Always curious, always eager to take on challenges. And who else was better to conquer than Professor Harrington who was known for being a rule stickler?

Except, tonight was the first time he let himself be swayed by those charming smiles and big impish eyes. Maybe it was old ages having mellowed him, or maybe it was loneliness wearing his guard down.

Either way, someone brilliant like Eddie would never stick around for a boring old man like Steve. Which was completely understandable. But it didn't hurt less to think he was just another pitstop in Eddie’s life. Easy to forget, easy to leave behind.

“Hope you haven’t gotten tired of me yet, Mr. Harrington,” Eddie returned from the bathroom with a washcloth in hands, looking far too chirpy in only a pair of black boxers and not at all as drained as Steve felt.

God, what a time to be reminded that he was too old for this.

Sitting against the headboard, Steve said nothing and just watched Eddie climb on the bed and kneel over to him. When he intended to take the washcloth, Eddie just grabbed his hand to kiss the back of it instead.

“Allow me to take care of my date,” the younger man said cheekily before proceeding to wipe him down with practiced ease.

“Your date, huh?” Steve snorted, laughing at himself for being so pathetic to perk up at that.

“Yeah, my date,” Eddie smiled softly, tone still light-hearted but eyes intense when they met his own. “We’re kinda doing it backward here but I can fix that.”

Jesus. Steve didn't think he knew what he was getting himself into. And still, he couldn't help but listen to his stupid heart, the one that was telling him to give Eddie a chance.

“How?”

“I know this place has really good tacos,” Eddie rested a hand on his bare thigh and stroked it slowly. “They also serve quite decent drinks and mean buffalo wings.”

“What if I say no?” Steve raised his eyebrow.

“Well, in that case,” Eddie deflated, looking like a kicked puppy as he braved on. “I’ll respect your decision and get out of your hair soon.”

Steve sighed, wishing pretty boys with big eyes weren't his weakness.

“Listen carefully,” he leveled Eddie with a serious look. “If you’re just looking for someone to fool around with, then I’m not the right person for you. But if you want to try for a real relationship, then we can do it together. And I’ll expect you to be fully committed. No polygamy or anything alike.”

Eddie grinned at him, dimpled and bright, before cupping his cheek and kissing the side of his mouth.

“Sweetheart, I’ve been committed to you since the first time we met. Been yours even before you noticed me.”

The fact that Steve could tell it was true made his heart flutter in his chest.

“Well then, Mr. Munson, I have no problem with you fixing our date tonight,” he turned his head slightly to press a chaste kiss on Eddie’s lips.

“So polite,” Eddie chuckled and kissed him again, but it was deeper and more tender this time.

Although Steve still couldn't quite believe Eddie would stick around, he decided to take the leap of faith anyway.

And many years later, when he glanced up from his newspaper to see Eddie showing him another new sweater for their dog, he knew he had made the right choice that night.

[ballad-of-the-lamb]

new art soon i promise i've just been dealing w/ a migraine for the past couple days that's been killing me and preventing me from getting anywhere

[leek-inherent]

Here is a drawing of one of my favourite changes in choreography in the Australian deh production :)

During Good For You, after Alana and Jared have their little solos, Alana comes to the front of the stage and crouches down with her hands over her head, completely still. At the same time, Jared goes upstage and paces back and forth very quickly - every time he has to turn around he makes stilted and frustrated gestures as if he doesn’t know what to do with himself. I was very excited by this, as it is so unlike the broadway version of this scene where they stand symmetrically on opposite sides of the stage. Instead, Alana and Jared’s reaction to their feelings are clearly contrasted against each other. It seemed so natural too; while they move in formation for a lot of gfy, here it was like they had to take a break from the song because of how overwhelmed they were! Which only made it easier to empathise with them. The whole song was spectacular of course but this particular decision I think was very successful. I have always been intrigued by the contrast between Alana and Jared and it was really brought to the forefront in this moment.

[somecunttookmyurl]

insurance makes sense on a conceptual level but in reality insurance companies turn decently huge profits by a) relying on things not happening, which they mostly don't b) ensuring things mostly don't happen by exluding anything that might make "things happening" more likely and stacking it in their favour and then c) finding any excuse and loophole possible to not cover you if anything ever does happen

like. insurance would be good if it wasn't managed by insurance companies

[moonilit]

Do you think Dick is Kory’s primary medical… assistant (??) as in he is the one who gives her her vaccine shots and get blood samples? Because of her Trauma of being test subject she canonically hates anything that reminds her of labs and such but she still need a medical record? She can’t be just immune to everything on earth and even if so there is a whole space out there (i assume she could be allergic to something at least), my point is she still need some kind of medical records with whatever information she is willing to give and what the team could learn from other Tamarians physiology, and I assume its Dick who is being her assigned medical assistant (doing the needle work, doing her X -rays and screening etc at least being in the same room or on the microphone maybe hold her hand in  dental appointments lol) like she probably have PTSD about being experimented on and i assume Dick didn’t just think they can avoid hospitals and medical care forever lol 

Yk, Part of how Dick also helped Kory and it wasn’t just one way thing

[olessan]

Re: TLovM episodes 3x07-3x09

[lenaellsi]

i've mentioned this before and it's a Hot Take maybe but. i don't think it's fair at all to characterize crowley's "you and me, what do you say?" speech from s2 as being equivalent to "fuck the earth run away with me to the stars right now" a la season 1

i guess i can see why it might come off that way, with gabriel and beelzebub having just left and crowley drawing the comparison to them, but a lot of people have sort of extrapolated from that this dichotomy where suddenly aziraphale is the one who cares about saving the world and crowley only cares about himself and aziraphale. and while i think crowley certainly prioritizes their mutual safety and is more likely to get spooked when faced with threats from heaven (i wonder why) crowley also loves earth?? he talks about it all the time.

the last time there was an apocalypse, crowley was the one who proposed saving the world, and he had to talk aziraphale into it. and like...he was planning breakfast at the ritz, wasn't he? he didn't want to leave. obviously "you can't leave this bookshop" meant "you can't leave me," but it also LITTLE bit meant the bookshop, and earth.

the circumstances of s1 were very different than the end of s2. crowley only wanted to run in s1 when 1) the end was about 4 hours away, 2) from his POV he and aziraphale had no idea where the antichrist was, so they wouldn't be able to stop anything even if they did stay to die with the humans, 3) aziraphale was about to Talk To Heaven the same way crowley tried to before the Fall, 4) demons were actively pursuing him for purposes of torture and annihilation. and in the end, he STILL stayed.

idk. if we're going to give aziraphale the benefit of the doubt for the Many Things he said in that convo, then i think we can afford to give crowley the benefit of the doubt that "we need to get away from them" and "go off together" might mean something more along the lines of "please don't go back to heaven, stay with me, it can be the two of us against them all." THAT was what crowley's emotional arc this season was leading to, with the flashbacks and his big revelation in ep 5, the same way aziraphale's was leading to leaving. every single one of the flashbacks had crowley choosing to help someone else at great personal risk--why would that lead to the conclusion that he actually wants to leave without trying to help? (of course, he did want to abandon gabriel. but I don't think that was even a little bit irrational after aziraphale's failed execution. walking away from the heavenly host who has done nothing but hurt both of them is not the same as walking away from earth. it's still a problem--ignoring heaven and hell will not, ultimately, fix anything--but again, it's not the same as abandoning humanity on a whim.)

TL;DR I don't think it's a fair reading to say that crowley's proposed solution to The Heaven And Hell Problem is "fuck humanity, let's give up." i think he was proposing working together against heaven and hell with the option of an exit strategy if everything went wrong, which is what he ALWAYS tries to do. (see: arrangement + holy water.) his need for an escape route and his tendency to prepare for the worst is something that is definitely hindering him in, for example, his relationship with aziraphale, but it also makes sense. because, you know. the last time he tried doing anything about heaven he got his wings lit on fire. so.

[can-of-slorgs]

I'm personally blaming @starbiology and everyone who has reblogged or commented the other piece for this.

Bonus comic featuring my grundo:

[katabay]

lmao sorry to everyone in my inbox, this month has been a mess and I'm just not really around enough for it. someone in my immediate family got a new cancer diagnosis, my not-art job got restructured because management is a joke and it's been.... not great, to be honest! to top it off, my mom's cousin just died because the major hospital didn't have enough beds open for the provincial hospital to transfer him. etc etc etc.

anyway. it's been a lot and I'm Very Tired Of Things Happening 🙃

[givelifetoaworld]

i think i’ve had just so much exposure to mask-off, self-righteous transphobic behavior online the last few days that i genuinely feel just like, this pit of fear in my stomach that we really could have a quick pivot into a persecutive culture. maybe im catastrophizing, because i always am, but its stupid to deny that the internet is now openly displaying a desire to publicly shut us down and condemn us for existing, and they are being fucking LOUD. the winning conservative candidates across the country RAN on hating us, and millions of people took the bait or completely ignored how dire that was, having not even an inkling of empathy to even consider us as humans.

and the overwhelming silence in response! have you fuckers forgot these are the people fighting for anti-drag laws and systemic denial of our existence??? and i’m sorry but every piece of advice of kind words from the liberal “allies” who have spoken about trans people has felt stale and reused, assumes we are going to kill ourselves, there’s conditions to who gets grace extended to them based on identity for fucks sake, or it’s all pure pity instead of desire to help us. there needs to be quick, genuine moves to protect trans people legally. now.

[communistkenobi]

now that I haven’t lived with my parents for almost two years I’m starting to come to terms with myself as a full human being. and like idk I can’t really complain about my parents too much in terms of their overall parenting of me, I feel like I’m lucky in a lot of respects just based on the horrific shit some of my friends/family have gone through, but I feel like one consequence of how much my parents fucking hated each other for my entire life is that I feel like I have no reference point for showing affection or being emotionally considerate/vulnerable, those things tend to make me deeply uncomfortable and disempower me to do nice things for the people I love. I feel like I have to really concentrate and spend time on emotional reciprocity and spontaneous gifts/gestures of love. genuinely just kind of sucks how much my parents despise one another and how their constant fighting and days-long silent treatments over the course of 25 years has made me feel inadequate to the task of showing the people I care about how much I love them

[moeblob]

I am really tired of a situation rn.

[thedisablednaturalist]

spent 3 hours last night panic searching for doctors to help me with my fibromyalgia. They are all either scams, extremely expensive boutique options (but are actually good apparently, if you have the money), extremely expensive scams, or have never heard of fibromyalgia and kick you out after 15 minutes.

[error-elf-206]

here are some old front costumings i forgot to post of my godhood au

idk if i like them all that much but they do show the ideas well. also left nico does haunt me as, just yeah