Pink In Horror (4/?) Black Swan (2010) Trouble Every Day (2001) Pearl (2022)

My answer to this, and I've just figured this out in the past 6 months or so, is being largely apolitical on social media. There's a few reasons for this:

Social media is built on engagement metrics, so the most ragebaity, sensationalist accounts covering current events get the most engagement and therefore end up in your feed the most.

Social media is the least effective method of praxis

Social media also has the most room for misinformation, disinformation, and propoaganda.

Social Media also has a habit of engaging with news, politics, and political discourse in the worst possible bad faith.

What I do instead:

During my morning coffee I listen to my local NPR station.

I have a few select news podcasts from a variety of leans and angles, (The New Yorker, NPR, BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The American Conservative) that I rotate throughout the week, so that I have a bit of background on what all positions of the media are saying about certain issues.

Using Allsides for big issues, find them here. They present articles from across the political spectrum on current events issues, primarily for US politics.

CSPAN is your friend. It is... quite literally just the facts, with opinion lines for both liberals and conservatives, and it's where most of the livestreams of congress and political events are done.

I’ve seen quite a few people this past week ask something along the lines of ‘how to be up-to-date and properly informed about current events and politics and also not get super depressed?’

While most of these were phrased in a joking matter, it actually is a really good question. Being able to balance awareness of the shitty things happening in the world, but not letting that shittiness destroy you is a skill.

Being well informed is vital. However, if you become so informed that it’s starting to effect your life, you’ve gone too far.

The point of being aware of current events, especially bad ones, is so you can do something about it. Read about it, post about it, donate to charity, volunteer, etc. Something you can’t do if your overwhelmed with (rightful) anger and sadness.

So the answer to the original question is that you become informed enough that you want to do something about it, but do not overload yourself to the point where you feel too depressed to take any action.

Burying your head in the sand isn’t good. But neither is doomscrolling into oblivion. Find that middle where you are actively interested in what is happening in the world, but not to the point where it becomes a hinderance to regular life.

Being aware of the world around you is super interesting, but don’t spiral. Misery loves company. Stay informed, stay active, stay hopeful.

The best breeders I know do 5 things:

1. Deworm and get Veterinarian Administered Vaccines for their puppies

2. Health Test all of their dogs both genetically and through programs like PennHip or OFA and have standards from these organizations they expect their breeding stock to meet (Good -> Excellent for OFAs generally)

3. Do tons of early neurological stimulation for their puppies and are working with their puppies daily from the time they are born

4. Include anti-breeding contracts on their produced dogs that are "Pet" quality, and have very strict breeding contracts for their dogs of greater than pet quality (usually enforced via co-ownership) BUT may not specify Spay/Neuter in their contracts. I'm staunchly against early spay neuter as someone who works in rehabilitation and general practice because I see the long term effects of early spay neuter on the daily. They also tend to leave spay neuter in their contracts to the best judgement of the dog's primary DVM.

In the practice where I'm employed, we don't sterilize earlier than 6 months unless there are extenuating circumstances. We were also one of the first clinics in the area to adopt Balance.it fresh food feeding programs and recipes, the first to refuse convenience euthanasia (we still do B.Es), and the first to refuse the declawing of cats.

We've also limited our crop and dock procedures. We've done 10 medically necessary docks in the decade I've worked here all of which were due to injury, mutilation, or disease processes. With 3 ear amputations due to tumors or significant injury. We also refer our cosmetic crops to another doctor for clients who would otherwise get backyard crop jobs.

Your breeder should not be pushing against core vaccines and monthly preventatives. They also absolutely should not be pushing against BOAS surgeries, especially on pet dogs (and a lot of the breeders I know who push against BOAS are the ones whose dogs got them anyway.)

why do breeders push against vaccines and spay/neuter? ive never understood this

The cynical answer, that i think is the truth deep under the anti-vax rhetoric, is that it's a way to save money and excuse the fact that they are selling puppies that have never been vaccinated or dewormed, despite being 8 to 12 weeks old. Exams and age appropriate shots and dewormers eat into their profit margin. Maligning these and building distrust of veterinary staff helps hide their shitty breeding practices, and gives them a somewhat captive consumer population for the homeopathic bullshit and supplements many of them also sell. And quite a few will say that if you get them these vaccines or dewormers that it will make them *more* prone to getting the disease or conditions like epilepsy. This tells me that that have parvo on their property and shitty genetic lines.

Some breeders may truly believe all their bullshit, but the person they learned the bullshit from? Knows it was bullshit and just wanted more money and control.

*EDIT* missed the s/n part, but that goes back in to building distrust of vets to keep control over their customers along with not understanding the studies.

And it's also a great way to excuse shitty hips or elbows if you can blame early spay/neuter.

Useful Notion Templates

Use a beauty and skincare tracker.

Write down a weekly plan date.

Keep track of your life and habit goals.

Use a gratitude journal to boost your positivity.

Start planning your trips in advance.

Create an online wish list.

Stay physically active and work out.

Write an effective resume.

Create a list of books to read.

- Mimi ♡

- Earthy Mama

Как котенку построили дом (1963)

The day he came home vs 2 weeks later is crazy!

He's gained 2 lbs (5.18 lbs to 7.25 lbs)

Outgrew his kitten collar (6"-8" size) and moved to his big boy collar (8"-12" Collar)

Is now sensitive to catnip (He's a total stoner)

His canines are starting to wiggle and grow out to make room for his big boy canines

@lesbiansinthegarden's note on this makes me think about "horse girls," and men's simultaneous outright disdain for them alongside their fetishization of them. You have a 900 to 2000 lbs animal under your control. You have learned to toss bales of hay, haul bags, or bales of bedding. You do tons of manual labor to maintain a hobby, often requiring quite a bit of hidden strength. You have "tamed a beast." I think the root cause of their scorn may be this very issue, the fact that we are doing an activity deemed "feminine" or "girly" or "gay" and yet have turned around and become stronger, more capable, and less dependent upon men for their physical capabilities. It's threatening to them, as their small, limited ego, runs off of the fact that they are able to overpower and dominate women. When they come across a woman who is not prone to feeling threatened by something larger and stronger than her, that in turn, makes men perceive her more as a threat to their own social standing.

Why do males think they are special for opening jars or changing a tire? lol I literally saw some male say “Every woman is a feminist until she has to open a jar” i can do that easily myself and if not there are tricks!

It's not literally about jars and tires. It's simply a code for "I am stronger than you". Men think they are better because they are physically stronger, and see women as inept, clumsy, childlike and unable to do anything by themselves.

Add to that the fact that pretty much every object in the world is produced using men as the standard for ergonomy and usability, which does make day to day life harder for women, and they think it's funny to see us struggle.

I'm at a BBQ/baseball watch party and I gotta piss but this frat bro is taking a shit in the bathroom.

Boy Toy and I are headed to renfaire now okay bye!