Blog

  • Okay google

    So, on my OnePlus One, “OK Google” is a bit flakey. It seems to work best if I sound slightly exasperated (which may relate to how I sounded by the time I’d trained it), and is waaay more reliable if the phone is unlocked. “OK OnePlus” which is meant to unlock it is hilariously useless, incidentally. I’ve never, ever, ever got it to work and it took so many goes to ‘train’ it that I’ve basically given up. I keep hoping it’ll get fixed, but since they delayed shipping the OS for *ages* for a feature which essentially doesn’t work at all, I’m not overly optimistic.

    However. Okay Google works with enough effectiveness that I do use it – more through enjoyment of the fact I can do it, and wilful determination to make use of the feature. It’s handy for setting timers when I’m cooking or finding out if it’ll rain as I’m heading out.

    But I really struggle with not saying please.

    You watch all these videos, and people are talking to Echo or Siri or Google and they don’t say please. I rarely say please to it, because I’ve usually taken several goes to persuade it to work and don’t want to throw out the request with giving it extra speech to recognise, but each time I don’t I feel atrociously rude.

    I wonder if that’s just me though.

  • tenderfacemeat:

    autisticmerrill:

    besttblrbits:

    how much is car insurance

    sugarcubesaresexy:

    carryonmy-assbutt:

    dietcrush:

    did you know soap doesn’t really clean your hands it just makes the water molecules smaller so the water can go into smaller crevices in your skin isn’t that the weirdest shit you’ve read today

    my whole life has been a lie

    this post makes me so angry because i see 5 times a day and that’s not how anything works soap bonds to the damn oil and dirt molecules and then the water rinses it away how the hell would it make water molecules smaller that’s not how anything works

    why is there a car insurance link on this post

    car insurance makes your car molecules smaller so you can drive in smaller gaps in traffic without crashing

  • Trans woman murdered: São Paulo police officers arrested

    Trans woman murdered: São Paulo police officers arrested

    blackqueercommie:

    Trigger warning: transmisogyny, blood, misgendering and a video of the murder

    Her name was Laura Vermont, may she rest in peace.

  • Neti Pots, sunlight, and irritating training times

    shadesofmauve:

    pyoorkate:

    I imagine whoever came up with the 1030am – 1245 training concept works somewhere not-ER based. I say this because the chances of me ‘just nipping out’ for 2 hours of training on a work day are so laughably minimal that they don’t even bear considering. So instead I scheduled my mandatory training for a day off. Which is how I spent today, or at least, lunch time today.

    Of course to achieve this I had to cycle for 35 minutes in to town, and another 35 back out, almost at the hottest part of the day in a heatwave. Which has kinda meant that the rest of the day is not-so-useful. But I was a bit concerned because I did think that cycling through the sun, and more especially the vicious evil pollen might present a problem for me – and this is the real purpose of this meander. See, I have recently bought a neti pot. This, for those not in the know, is a thing which you fill with sterile saline solution and then use to irrigate your nose.

    Having checked various articles and entertaining videos on the matter, with phrases like “generally well tolerated” I gave in and got one. And I have to say – and bear in mind this is entirely subjective it does seem to work. It’s hard to give a really accurate assessment because the weather is dramatically different today to how it was a four days ago. But over the last few days I’ve been using the neti pot and my allergies are much, much better.

    IMG_20150703_125540

    I’m still lugging around tissues with me, and being able to lay down to sleep is variable, but it does seem to be helping.

    That said there are a few things I’ve learned:
    – Cold saline is no where near as effective, nor as pleasant as warm
    – Overly salty saline is also phenomenally unpleasant

    The experience as a whole I’d liken to the hideous feeling you get when you accidentally get water up your nose whilst swimming. I can’t say I enjoy it in any way. Sometimes I get a good flush where it’s not uncomfortable, but sometimes it really is unpleasant. But for me, with such spectacularly lousy allergies (as in barely able to breathe, constantly blocked nose, getting nose-bleeds from blowing my nose so much) – it’s worth it.

    Hence the (rare) selfie. I cycled home and yes, my eyes were itchy, but I don’t think I sneezed once whilst I was cycling, and even now I’m a bit snotty, but no-where near where I was a week ago. So yay.

    Neti Pots, sunlight, and irritating training times was originally published on Mostly lemon based

    I use the squirt-bottle version, which lets you use a bit of pressure and not tip your head back. I’d say it certainly helps in a palliative way – no idea if it helps further, or at least, no idea if it helps more than ‘being able to breathe enough to sleep’.

    ALSO! I JUST found out there are prescription allergy eye drops, and they really do seem to work!! o/ It’s Pataday, here – not sure what the generic name is ‘cause I threw away the box, but the optometrist gave me the sample bottle and now my eyes only itch a little bit, and not until evening. Whoohoo!

    (That was a funny eye doc appointment, btw – he gave me allergy stuff but no new contact prescription, and told me the visit was “To be continued!” in a TV voice. Apparently ‘better’ for my severely irritated eyes still looked pretty damn irritated to him.).

    I’ve got some OTC* eyedrops (normally I get sodium cromoglicate, but this month I’ve got some other random one that stings like crazy when I put it in, but works really well afterwards, ‘cos they were out of my normal super-cheap stuff). Problem is, they sting like crazy when I put them in… which means I’m loathe to put them in unless my eyes are actually bothering me.

    And yes, I know, as a nurse I should be better at this shit ;-)

    *Over the counter. Is that a semi-universal term for non prescription meds?

  • solarbird:

    notaboyscout:

    plasticroyal:

    British people in summer.

    this is actually me though

    This is Seattle. Right now.

    Yes. And me. We have angered Ra. I bought an air conditioner and am in hiding.

  • theperilsofpenelopepitstop:

    zaewen:

    theperilsofpenelopepitstop:

    I see all of y’all hopping on the Bernie Sanders train and that’s cool, because he has some awesome ideas. But, if he gets elected, please remember that he’ll more than likely be fighting a Republican controlled Congress and the President’s powers are limited.

    Please don’t get this guy elected because you want things to change and then abandon him when that change can’t happen immediately.

    That’s a really good point and also why we should encourage people to vote in the congressional elections in 2016 and 2018 so he can get a congress that will actually work with him.

    Vote in all elections! From city to congress to presidential

    Very true! Midterm elections are suuuuper important and you should vote in them!

  • fandomsandfeminism:

    raindropcollector:

    misandry-mermaid:

    trianglesexual:

    misandry-mermaid:

    This is why I need feminism.

    I need feminism because women don’t make as many groundbreaking discoveries or do as many earthshattering things as men do. That sounds like less of an ‘us’ problem and more of a ‘you’ problem. When females do great things they get recognition for it, in fact, the one name that pops into my head one I think of Nobel Prize is that one girl Malala Yousafzai. Just remember, great things happen not with quotas and requirements but passion and devotion.

    Oh my fucking god did you just use Malala being a Nobel peace prize winner as evidence of why feminism isn’t necessary and everything is equal WHEN SHE WAS LITERALLY SHOT IN THE FACE FOR BEING A WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST? ! !?! ?!?!?!

    Always remember that women’s absence in things like this is man-made. Irena Sendler, the woman who saved thousands in the Holocaust, lost the NPP to a man. No, you punk ass misogynist, women do not get recognition.

    “Women don’t make as many groundbreaking discoveries as men do” Wanna talk about these ladies who discovered shit and had credit stolen from them by men? LOL okay here!

    http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/rosalind-franklin-and-dna-how-wronged-was-she/ 

    http://feministing.com/2014/05/01/five-times-cosmos-neil-degrasse-tyson-stole-my-feminist-heart/

    https://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/meitner.html

    http://time.com/3632635/the-true-story-behind-big-eyes/

    http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/l/catharine-littlefield-greene.html

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/scientists/jocelyn_bell_burnell

    http://skepchick.org/2013/11/woman-rock-at-history-men-steal-credit/

    And these are just a few of the ones we know about.

    How’s the saying go? “The absence of women in history is man made”

  • A round of Mille borne, PJ Harvey on the deck… We know how to live :) on Flickr.

    A round of Mille borne, PJ Harvey on the deck… We know how to live :)

  • Neti Pots, sunlight, and irritating training times

    I imagine whoever came up with the 1030am – 1245 training concept works somewhere not-ER based. I say this because the chances of me ‘just nipping out’ for 2 hours of training on a work day are so laughably minimal that they don’t even bear considering. So instead I scheduled my mandatory training for a day off. Which is how I spent today, or at least, lunch time today.

    Of course to achieve this I had to cycle for 35 minutes in to town, and another 35 back out, almost at the hottest part of the day in a heatwave. Which has kinda meant that the rest of the day is not-so-useful. But I was a bit concerned because I did think that cycling through the sun, and more especially the vicious evil pollen might present a problem for me – and this is the real purpose of this meander. See, I have recently bought a neti pot. This, for those not in the know, is a thing which you fill with sterile saline solution and then use to irrigate your nose.

    Having checked various articles and entertaining videos on the matter, with phrases like “generally well tolerated” I gave in and got one. And I have to say – and bear in mind this is entirely subjective it does seem to work. It’s hard to give a really accurate assessment because the weather is dramatically different today to how it was a four days ago. But over the last few days I’ve been using the neti pot and my allergies are much, much better.

    IMG_20150703_125540

    I’m still lugging around tissues with me, and being able to lay down to sleep is variable, but it does seem to be helping.

    That said there are a few things I’ve learned:
    – Cold saline is no where near as effective, nor as pleasant as warm
    – Overly salty saline is also phenomenally unpleasant

    The experience as a whole I’d liken to the hideous feeling you get when you accidentally get water up your nose whilst swimming. I can’t say I enjoy it in any way. Sometimes I get a good flush where it’s not uncomfortable, but sometimes it really is unpleasant. But for me, with such spectacularly lousy allergies (as in barely able to breathe, constantly blocked nose, getting nose-bleeds from blowing my nose so much) – it’s worth it.

    Hence the (rare) selfie. I cycled home and yes, my eyes were itchy, but I don’t think I sneezed once whilst I was cycling, and even now I’m a bit snotty, but no-where near where I was a week ago. So yay.

  • mygayisshowing:

    hannahorvath:

    for a long time, I’ve been saying that I just want a cheesy predictable Katherine Heigl-style rom-com about two women in love that ends with them happily married

    and here we are!

    Katherine Heigl and all!

    oh my god

    Yay!