Aunty Ravyn

UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurance company in the US, is allegedly using a deeply flawed AI algorithm to override doctors' judgments and wrongfully deny critical health coverage to elderly patients. This has resulted in patients being kicked out of rehabilitation programs and care facilities far too early, forcing them to drain their life savings to obtain needed care that should be covered under their government-funded Medicare Advantage Plan.

It's not just flawed, it's flawed in UnitedHealthcare's favor.

“what the fuck is this”

“i have anemia”

“you disgust me here take these iron supplements”

“where did you even get th—”

“that’s not necessary”

“maybe we should work on a dietary plan with foods rich in iron and other things for you”

ME: Oh my god, first of all stop using text speak, you told me you were 278, second how did you know where I LIVED, third yes I got it.

VAMPIREDUDE: heard onions were good 4 blood, eat lots

ME: So you can have a tasty meal? I guess you’d rather I stay away from garlic, huh.

VAMPIREDUDE: UR being v rude I just got u a present!!!

Sub: I'll do anything you want.

Dom: Anything?

Sub: Anything.

Dom: Drink more water.

Sub: What??

Dom: Go outside, get back on your workout routine.

Sub: Wait -

Dom: Continue pursuing education, achieve acclamations, manifest the best version of yourself.

I’m so glad you asked! Let me list off what I’ve got for you:

Books I personally recommend:

- The New Topping Book and The New Bottoming Book, by Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy

If you’re having kinky sex at all, you need to read at least one of these two books. Point blank. They’ll teach you the very basics of negotiating properly (which is critical!), and help you identify what you are and aren’t into.

- Mindfucking Mindfully, by Sir Ezra Where this book really shines isn’t actually in helping you “mindfuck” people, it’s in taking a close look at how to do so ethically. It’s a great answer to the question “how do I get someone to consent to something and still surprise and shock them with it?”

- Real Service by Raven Kaldera and Joshua Tenpenny This is a slightly niche pick but there simply isn’t a better book on the subject. It’s written from a 24/7 M/s perspective, which is not what I do, but the book itself is an indispensable guide to giving and receiving service. The phrase “if the Master doesn’t want it, it isn’t service” will be burned into my psyche for quite some time. I love this book a lot. Maybe my favorite out of all of these.

- Enough To Make You Blush: Exploring Erotic Humiliation, by Princess Kali This one’s high on my reading list; I’ve heard it recommended by a number of people whose opinions on these things I trust.

- Pretty Much Anything Midori Has Ever Done Midori is a great resource for this stuff - I haven’t personally read much of her work, but she’s a well known sex educator and great at what she does. She’s known for bondage, but has a lot of range beyond that.

- This Negotiations Worksheet from Bex Talks Sex This is what I default to using a lot of the time for negotiations. Forget BDSMtest, you don’t need that, it’s no good. Just look through this worksheet’s wordbank with your partner. Big fan especially of the “how do you want to feel?” section.

Books I can kind of recommend:

- The Ultimate Guide to Kink, edited by Tristan Taormino This book is weird. There’s a lot of good info for experienced players, but some of what’s written here skeeves me out. I think if I had a top that thought the way some of the tops in here think, they would not be topping me for long. But there’s some good techniques and so on to pick up that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I liked the distinction one of the authors makes between being sadistic in the sense of inflicting pain and being sadistic in the sense of doing something your sub doesn’t “enjoy.”

- The Ritual of Dominance and Submission, by David English Man, this book fucking sucks. The writing and editing are garbage, and the fear and protocol play described need way more careful negotiation than he ever lets on, let alone recommends. This is some 50 Shades bullshit. The only time I recommend this book is to tops like me who tend to be very affirming to their partners and need a guide on how to really scare them - when their partner consents and when you negotiate it, which this book sucks at teaching you. Really good content on fear, punishment, and protocol play, really terrible presentation of the topic though. Don’t read this if you don’t already know what you’re doing.

- Paradigms of Power, by Raven Kaldera I love this book. Great book. Very focused on 24/7 M/s play though, and, being an anthology, some chapters are better than others. If you can’t read something and pick out what is and isn’t for you, don’t bother. But some really great inspiration, and generally pretty well written. Big fan of the discussion of leather throughout the book.

There's a slew of information that goes in depth about the topics, the words, and redflags/abuse and what to look out for.

The Supreme Court is debating overturning the Indian Child Welfare Act.

What this act does is give Native American and Alaska Native tribes and nations control over the foster and adoption placement of their children. To overturn it would be to say tribes and nations aren't sovereign, and it would also allow the U.S. government to forcibly assimilate indigenous children into other cultures.

Please:

Spread the word about what is happening.

Read online news articles about this; the more traffic on those articles, the more likely the press is to write more articles.

If there are protests in your area, join them.

If there are indigenous nations or tribes in your area, ask them how you can help.

Donate to indigenous rights organizations like Native American Rights Fund.

Write to your representatives.

“For 60 years, doctors and researchers have known two things that could have improved, or even saved, millions of lives. The first is that diets do not work. Not just paleo or Atkins or Weight Watchers or Goop, but all diets. Since 1959, research has shown that 95 to 98 percent of attempts to lose weight fail and that two-thirds of dieters gain back more than they lost. The reasons are biological and irreversible. As early as 1969, research showed that losing just 3 percent of your body weight resulted in a 17 percent slowdown in your metabolism—a body-wide starvation response that blasts you with hunger hormones and drops your internal temperature until you rise back to your highest weight. Keeping weight off means fighting your body’s energy-regulation system and battling hunger all day, every day, for the rest of your life.

The second big lesson the medical establishment has learned and rejected over and over again is that weight and health are not perfect synonyms. Yes, nearly every population-level study finds that fat people have worse cardiovascular health than thin people. But individuals are not averages: Studies have found that anywhere from one-third to three-quarters of people classified as obese are metabolically healthy. They show no signs of elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance or high cholesterol. Meanwhile, about a quarter of non-overweight people are what epidemiologists call “the lean unhealthy.” A 2016 study that followed participants for an average of 19 years found that unfit skinny people were twice as likely to get diabetes as fit fat people.”

A surprising article to find on the Huffington post. I think, especially towards the end, there’s still a saturation of healthism and diet talk (just of the “clean eating” variety), but the information about weight discrimination is absolutely on point, especially within the medical field ignoring decades of research.

Not only do we know that weight loss isn’t sustainable or possible, we also know that weight discrimination kills, in a myriad of ways. If you actually care about “health” then start unlearning your weight bias NOW and realize that fat people are just people who are a different shape.

And this article doesn’t even touch on “the obesity paradox”(the fact that fat people survive heart attacks and injuries BETTER THAN thin people) or the fact that dieting, especially “yo-yo dieting,” is a better predictor for heart disease than weight, and that many of the fat people who have cardiovascular diseases have a long history of dieting that (understandably) didn’t work.

Every book is a children’s book if the kid can read.

I would like to have a product that was available for three easy payments and one fuckin’ complicated payment. We can’t tell you which payment it is, but one of these payments is gonna be a bitch! The mailman will get shot to death, the envelope will not seal, and the stamp will be in the wrong denomination! Good luck, fucker! That last payment must be made in wampum!

One time, this guy handed me a picture of him, he said “Here’s a picture of me when I was younger.” Every picture is of you when you were younger. “Here’s a picture of me when I’m older.” “You son-of-a-bitch! How’d you pull that off? Lemme see that camera… What’s it look like? ”

An escalator can never break, it can only become stairs. You would never see an “Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order” sign, just “Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.

I play golf. I’m not good at golf, I never got good. I never got a hole-in-one. But I did hit a guy. And that’s way more satisfying. You’re supposed to yell “Fore!” but I was too busying mumbling “There ain’t no way that’s gonna hit him.”

- “Tennis is depressing because no matter how good you get, you will never be as good as a wall”

- “I used to do a lot of drugs. I still do, but I used to, too.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend. But I do know a woman who would be really mad if she heard me say that.”

- “I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I’m gonna stick pins in all the locations that I’ve traveled to. But first I’m gonna have to travel to the top two corners so it doesn’t fall down.”

breaking from my normal posting to bring up something really important to me.

have you heard of powell’s city of books? they’re famously the world’s largest independent bookstore, lauded as a family business, tourist landmark, and progressive icon of portland oregon.

i work there.

currently our union is fighting to have the company pay us a living wage.

it’s embarrassing how little powells pays us- we barely make more than minimum wage right now- and most people don’t know that the famous business they’re supporting treats its workers like dirt.

when asked to consider our wage proposal, our lead hr officer stated: “We have all worked jobs where the pay and our personal needs were not in alignment.” this isn’t about personal needs “being in alignment.” my coworkers can hardly afford rent or afford to even feed themselves with our current wages.

what am i asking for?

if you love books, love or know powell’s, or just want to stand in solidarity with fellow workers, i’m asking for you to let powell’s books know how you feel about their insulting wage proposal: email our union and they will pass on the message to corporate-

[email protected]

it can be as short and sweet as you want to make it. we want to show the company that people are paying attention to the example they set and won’t stand for it.

also literally just sharing this post to let everyone know what we are asking for helps too. share it on booktok, tell your friends, tell your book club, spread the word. powell’s skates by on its reputation and in doing so hides its betrayal of the workers that dedicate their lives to make it the special place it is.

thank you for reading ❤️

links to our original union instagram post: here

and read some examples of community member emails: here + here

[2ND IMG: Photo of yellow cards in someone's hand with a QR code. Transcript:

What Powell's workers need: A fair contract; A living wage; Affordable healthcare What Powell's is proposing: A base wage more than $5 below the living wage for Portland; Wage increases that won't keep pace with inflation (and are a substantial decrease from our previous contract); Healthcare plans that will be unaffordable for most workers under their wage proposal How you can help: Let Powell's leadership know you support a fair contract for Powell's workers, with a living wage and access to affordable healthcare. Send an email to [email protected] and we'll pass your message along to Powell's leadership! Note: This is not a call for a boycott; it's a call for solidarity!

End transcript. END ID.]

[3RD thru 7TH IMGs: Comments from anonymous Powell's booksellers answering the titular prompt, "Tell us how Powell's low wages have impacted your life." Transcript:

"I constantly have to choose between medicine, food, and rent. I can't afford all three. If I miss even a day of work, it means I might not get to eat that week. If I can't get medicine, I die." "Nothing the company has said or done reassures me that I will be able to keep this job and still be able to live. You will lose all your employees if you continue to undervalue our work and treat us as disposable, even though all we want is to be able to work here without financially struggling. I will not vote for a contract that does not give employees a living wage. It is my number one priority, and it should be Powell's priority too." "Powell's low wages are demoralizing. With all we have to juggle during a work day, knowing that many of us are struggling to make rent and feed ourselves is absurd. I go home frustrated, stressed out, and often on the verge of panic attacks thinking about how my labor is used. I'm taken advantage of. We all are. Powell's workers make these stores run properly; our paychecks should reflect that." "I am honestly terrified that I will have no choice but to start living in my car sometime this year. I cannot afford my rent at my current wage, and I can only qualify for an apartment that costs $850/month... which does not exist in Portland... I currently struggle to feed myself while also trying to help feed my coworkers who cannot afford food... Shame on the company for continuing to pay us poverty wages." "I feel trapped because I'm making below a living wage here, but I know that my coworker's won't hate-crime me on the job. I don't do this job for the money, I do it because I love my community and this is the safest job I've ever had. Please pay us more so that I don't have to leave."

IMPORTANT PSA

Please share for UK residents!

The public alert will go off on Sunday 23rd April at 3PM (15:00) BST.

https://www.youtube.com/user/billvicars

and here’s the link to the website he puts in his videos:

Not only is the conversation format immersive and helpful for learning the grammar, but the students make common mistakes which he corrects, mistakes I wouldn’t have otherwise know I was making.

He also emphasizes learning ASL in the way it’s actually used by the Deaf community and not the rigid structure that some ASL teachers impose in their classrooms

His lesson plans include learning about the Deaf community, which is an important aspect of learning ASL. Knowing how to communicate in ASL without the knowledge of the culture behind it leaves out a lot of nuances and explanations for the way ASL is.

Lastly, his lessons are just a lot of fun to watch. He is patient, entertaining, and funny. This good natured enthusiasm is contagious and learning feels like a privilege and not a chore

For example, signing is super helpful for small children who are pre-verbal or newly-verbal. Can’t talk? No problem! Using sign, kiddos can ask for things, or share something they saw out the window, or tell you they are sleepy or hungry or happy. It definitely eases their frustration with adults who can’t understand their speech.

And I will never forget my 9-mos kid signing “milk” while nursing. (For reference, a child’s first word is usually between 12 and 18 mos old. But they can sign much younger.)

When I taught little kids, we learned to fingerspell for a few reasons. One, because then they can always spell a word when they don’t know the sign. Two, it gave them a kinesthetic element to their letters, including learning the alphabet without thinking that “lmnop” was one word instead of individual letters–a common mistake caused by the rhythm of the ABC song (as it’s taught in the United States). And three, it increased their manual dexterity like whoa. (Which is apparently a thing to worry about now! Because kids do more touch screens and less manipulation of objects! Curse you, modernity!)

With my own kid, I think our babysign vocabulary was only about 25 signs, but it covered the basics. “Potty,” in particular, is useful to this day, because then I can check in with a tween who doesn’t want me broadcasting their business across a room, or sign to my spouse at a loud party that I’m hitting the loo.

I never would have guessed sign language would help my spouse, since he’s not really into languages and struggles to learn them, but he has migraines and sometimes he can’t talk because the sound echoes inside his skull. Sometimes he can’t even nod or shake his head when I ask him a question. But he can sign yes or no, can ask for water or a particular food, can tell me it’s too loud or too hot or any number of things I need to know. (It’s also super cute to see a sick family member totally covered in blankets with only one hand sticking out just long enough to sign “yes” when you ask them if they want soup.)

And here’s the thing I never could predict: my moody tweenager wants to talk about their feelings but doesn’t want to actually have to TALK about them. They’ll sign it, though. If I ask how they are doing, I rarely get an answer. If I sign it, though, they might sign back. I think it feels safer than saying it aloud? Less committal? Kind of secret?

And wow, did boring family gatherings get better when we learned the signs for “boring” and “home” – both of those are pretty easy to conceal as normal movements, but my kid can tell me in secret code that they’re bored to tears and want to go home without insulting their grandparents.

I am not fluent in sign language (yet). We mostly learn signs when we discover something we have a frequent need to communicate, so we’re picking up vocabulary kind of piecemeal. I couldn’t have a coherent or long conversation with a native speaker. But there’s still a lot I could communicate, and the process of learning has changed my family for the better.

My daughter was born HOH, and I was really freaked out at first, thinking that was gonna be the big challenge with this kid. (LITTLE DID I KNOW IT WAS ADHD BUT THAT’S ANOTHER STORY)

Novel-length diatribe under the cut, because wow, this got long.

You never know who you'll meet in life, and honestly fluently knowing another language outside of the one spoken since birth is a blessing. The American school systems don't seem to care about our youth knowing anything but American English until high school, and then it's only a 2 year required elective. It's a shame that more Americans aren't fluent in other languages unless they are first generation from another country.

Draco & Harry as Bonnie & Clyde😃

ALSO: I just showed this post to my roommate, who is an MD at a clinic that specializes in care for the LGBT community in the Baltimore area. I asked her  whether hormones were responsible for the difference in the “male/female” symptom arrays. I asked how that would apply to her trans patients (which, she treats a LOT of trans patients). She said, basically, that the longer you’ve taken testosterone the more likely you are to get the intense chest pressure and the arm pain, versus the upper back pressure and shortness of breath.