czedwards - Network

Ah. So, doctor’s appointments don’t have copays anymore, we just go straight to deductible and nothing’s covered before $12K on top of...

Ah. So, doctor’s appointments don’t have copays anymore, we just go straight to deductible and nothing’s covered before $12K on top of the $970,000,368.48x10 ¹⁶ coming out of a paycheck every two weeks?

These are the days when I don’t love ACA (or more precisely, when I don’t love what insurers have done since ACA tried to make them behave a little less like the Torturer’s New Gig).

The “cilantro is soapy or not” argument is well past its sell-by date now, but that nobody’s picked up the “carrots are soapy,...

The “cilantro is soapy or not” argument is well past its sell-by date now, but that nobody’s picked up the “carrots are soapy, change my mind” discourse is a little shocking.

#Caturday (late) #CatsFinally got JingleCat with a blep. She does it all the time, but she also knows what the camera means. She’s helping...

#Caturday (late) #Cats
Finally got JingleCat with a blep. She does it all the time, but she also knows what the camera means.
She’s helping me erase an old Mac.

This isn’t even theoretical — I work in mental health. The past 10 years have been building a bad case of burnout for all (because there...

This isn’t even theoretical — I work in mental health. The past 10 years have been building a bad case of burnout for all (because there aren’t enough of us for the demand for service; access is based on wealth; insurers are evil; costs to be licensed are astronomical) and the last 3 years killed and disabled around 10%.
It’s not a job anyone goes into for wealth; it pays badly. People become therapists to help others. But working conditions now are bad. They will not improve under an anarchy.

Subspeaking from an elsewhere convo:My dude, your anarchism plan to keep everyone in their areas of expertise is interesting, but what keeps...

Subspeaking from an elsewhere convo:

My dude, your anarchism plan to keep everyone in their areas of expertise is interesting, but what keeps us in our areas of expertise is often economic coercion. I may only need a year off, may need five, but under your theory anarchism allows me to quit and do something else without penalty.

So if I need to not be a health and safety officer for a couple years, I don’t have a successor or the ability to train one… are you gonna compel me to stay in my job?

#WritingWonders Day 5: Has your MC ever been involved in a physical altercation? If so, why?Yes. All of them.Everyone who gets to be a...

#WritingWonders Day 5: Has your MC ever been involved in a physical altercation? If so, why?

Yes. All of them.

Everyone who gets to be a protagonist in Galantier has either started or participated in a war.

The Vampire Regency is set right after Waterloo, and Will was an officer.

I set the modern Sense & Sensibility retell in contemporary academia, and on-campus sexual harassment keeps happening.

And Drunk Aunties is about a group of mercs saving a girl they found crying in a bar bathroom.

Hey, #Colorado — Severe Thunderstorm Watch (AGAIN) until 11 pm. Covers most of the Front Range, the Eastern plains and up into Wyoming and...

Hey, #Colorado — Severe Thunderstorm Watch (AGAIN) until 11 pm. Covers most of the Front Range, the Eastern plains and up into Wyoming and Nebraska.
Current Warnings in some areas.
Hit up your local NWS for more: https://www.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=bou&wwa=all

Content warning: the new Serial podcast (The Retrievals) has a ton of body shaming and body harm discussion around women’s bodies,...

Content warning: the new Serial podcast (The Retrievals) has a ton of body shaming and body harm discussion around women’s bodies, infertility, serious pain, and the misogyny of medicine.

It’s a high quality production, but the first episode is a tough listen.

#pain #medical #misogyny #infertility

Probably no new cat pics tomorrow, either, because I have pissed off JingleCat. Fluffy Calico Princess is armed with 10 long knives she...

Probably no new cat pics tomorrow, either, because I have pissed off JingleCat.
Fluffy Calico Princess is armed with 10 long knives she keeps in excellent form by destroying a wool rug.
Brat Princess’ favorite way of getting my attention is to politely tap me with one of those paws. With claws extended just enough to catch epidermis.
I have trimmed six of the ten knives.
She is MAD.
Hissing, biting the nail clippers, cussed me out in at least three cat languages.

No new cat pics today because one has been hanging out in the dark office upstairs with Spouse and the other has colonized the new armchair...

No new cat pics today because one has been hanging out in the dark office upstairs with Spouse and the other has colonized the new armchair and has to be fetched (with increasing levels of indignity) when it’s time for food. (She’s fine, she’s just protesting the fact that humans won’t bring her her Fancy Feast in a cut crystal footed glass.)

Recent pics:

… but is it okay to snark about certain Wind Sore toffs and their utter inability to locate even a little bit of cope?

… but is it okay to snark about certain Wind Sore toffs and their utter inability to locate even a little bit of cope?

#WritingWonders D23: Does your MC sleep well?Harli does not, now — that’s a common side effect of brain injuries and trauma. And...

#WritingWonders D23: Does your MC sleep well?

Harli does not, now — that’s a common side effect of brain injuries and trauma. And impaired rest does further damage/impedes healing and neuro plasticity.

Mai and Vaish do, most of the time.

Lisel sleeps well with people she trusts. It’s a privilege if she allows someone to sleep with and by her.

#WritingWonders Day 21: What does your MC struggle with?Harli had a brain injury ~20 months ago in story time. He’s recovered a lot, but...

#WritingWonders Day 21: What does your MC struggle with?

Harli had a brain injury ~20 months ago in story time. He’s recovered a lot, but he has anosognosia about it — he cannot perceive his injury a lot of the time. Which means he, and the people around him, have a lot of hacks to support him, but hacks fail, and because he spent 25 years without his injury, those pre-injury habits can be devastating when he doesn’t consciously process his actions.

(Same story as Vaish, multiple protagonists)

Housing first, first and forever. Not conditional, not contingent, just housing first....

Housing first, first and forever. Not conditional, not contingent, just housing first.

https://slate.com/technology/2023/02/trauma-aware-care-homelessness-hope.html

#WritingWonders 20: Self-Confident?Vaish is a solid 7. He’s old enough to be comfortable and practiced with his own skills and aptitudes,...

#WritingWonders 20: Self-Confident?

Vaish is a solid 7. He’s old enough to be comfortable and practiced with his own skills and aptitudes, but also old enough that he knows what he doesn’t know will cause the harm.
But he does have blind spots (literally and figuratively) and those are what usually catch him out.

Masto milestone: just blocked someone. Yay.Sigh.

Masto milestone: just blocked someone.
Yay.
Sigh.

Knitting, yarn, fiber craft (nothing bad just tagging for interest)Clara Parkes’ Vanishing Fleece: Adventures in American Wool is an...

Knitting, yarn, fiber craft (nothing bad just tagging for interest)

Clara Parkes’ Vanishing Fleece: Adventures in American Wool is an amusing and thoughtful look into the US textile industry. It’s a couple years old now, a decent primer on some of the holes we’ve got in our communal fabric.

Also: 3 bales of wool.

Domestic abuse, mass violence, SA, violence towards childrenThe single best predictor of mass violence is domestic abuse, and mass violence...

Domestic abuse, mass violence, SA, violence towards children

The single best predictor of mass violence is domestic abuse, and mass violence usually starts with misogyny.

https://www.wtap.com/2023/02/19/three-teenage-girls-gunman-dead-texas-shooting/

And JingleCat:

And JingleCat:

The girls have been uninterested in being photographed, or only want to be photogenic when there’s zero light, in a messy room, and the...

The girls have been uninterested in being photographed, or only want to be photogenic when there’s zero light, in a messy room, and the flash means they’ll look like we summoned them from an outer plane in any pic we take.

But today, they let me have these: