so here's a super long post about strokes in general, and mine in particular/what I went through.

The only way to completely eliminate risk (of cyclospora specifically) is by eating only canned or frozen veggies. Cooking kills cyclospora, but there's always a risk of cross-contamination during food prep if the veggie starts out raw.

People love to throw out lists of things to avoid, always implying that if you get sick it's because you're stupid. So here's some actually useful info for if you get sick

1) The food that made you sick was something you ate in the last week. Throw out any leftovers & do some cleaning of cooking surfaces just in case

2) Normal symptoms: watery diarrhea, "loose" stool, abdominal/stomach cramps, maybe a little vomiting, nausea

3) NOT normal symptoms: bloody diarrhea, dark & tarry stool, fever, lots of vomiting. If you have any of these (or start to get these later), it could mean complications due to cyclospora or it could be something else. Go see a doctor asap

4) Most infections are self-limiting (they'll get better with a few days rest). Sometimes symptoms go away and then come back a few days later. That's normal & fine. If you're sick for longer than 2-3 days without any sign of getting better, that's NOT normal & you should see a doctor. The infection can persist for a month if not treated & you happen to be one of the cases that isn't self-limiting

5) if you need to see a doctor, do your very best NOT to poop beforehand. they will want to do a stool culture and it sucks so bad to do that at home

6) there are rapid tests for shiga-toxin that they'll do on your stool sample which will be done in about a day. The other tests for non-cyclospora diseases take ~2 days to complete. The centers that do cyclospora tests are completely overwhelmed right now, so that result might not come back for weeks so...

7) DEMAND A TREATMENT PLAN FROM YOUR DOCTOR. this is critical. At your first visit, get them to make a plan where after the negative tests come back, they will prescribe an antibiotic & do not wait for the cyclospora test

8) The antibiotic for cyclospora should be Bactrim (TMP/SMX), which has a 96% efficacy by 3 days. It might be something different if you have allergies tho. There are lots of options, it isn't hard to kill. You'll probably start to feel better in less than 24 hrs.

9) Take ALL of the pills they give you (2/day for 7 days). Do not stop just because you feel better and the pills make you feel nauseous and it's probably fine right? Wrong. That's how you get antibiotic resistance & that can kill you stone dead

But please, my family have been struggling a lot with the electricity bill for the house, and only two of us are able to work. We had to borrow money this month just to keep the lights on and I'm desperate to try and help my family in any way I can.

The bills are usually around 400-500 so I set the goal to 450 for the month. I do not expect to reach this, but hope is useful these days.

If you'd rather have something in return, rather than just a donation, I do art commissions too!

Please consider lending us a hand.

Thank you for listening.

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Change Parade!

(static version under the cut 🖤)

“there’s a restaurant two miles from my house called—” nope

“today I learned [celeb] went to my high school—” nope nope nope nope nope

these are all real posts I’ve seen on the internet that allowed me to identify a user’s hometown instantly. if it’s a small town, that’s doubly dangerous, because a bad actor could trace you just by a unique first name or selfie you once posted. in an age where doxxing and stalking are some of the worst I’ve ever seen it, you HAVE to think twice about what you’re posting online.

i once saw a 13-year old post an image they noted as being “a few miles from their house.” it had a theater in the shot with a unique enough name to be local. one google maps search, now everyone knew not only what city they lived in, but the possible neighborhoods in that radius too. and they had a HUGE following…who all knew this was a 13-year-old child.

so yeah. not to sound like a 90s internet safety PSA…but I’m gonna be that PSA for a minute.

if you’re posting an image, there is NO need to say that you live there. you could just be traveling. “saw this in Montana” is better than “saw this by my house!”

before you post about a venue, especially a restaurant or small store, check and see if it’s local—CRUCIALLY if it has only one or two locations. people might travel to arenas or convention centers, but they’re far less likely to be traveling to Bartleby’s Fish and Chips. if it’s an anecdote and you still live nearby, you can honestly just leave the name out entirely.

if you’re sharing a news story, it can just be a story you found and wanted to share. you don’t have to clarify “it happened in my town,” because even if you don’t mention your town name, an easily-googled news article will.

if you’re seeing a concert or meeting a celebrity on a tour that’s stopped locally, wait until they’ve hit a few more venues before you post about it, or at the very least wait until you get home. this is honestly a smart move for any event you attend: unless you’re marketing yourself, there’s no need to advertise your location in real time.

check your selfie backgrounds for anything identifying. this includes city names on venues, school names, street signs, and house numbers.

this stuff is flexible if you no longer live in your hometown, or if your city is particularly big, but there’s STILL no reason to tie yourself to your school, your workplace, or your street. you can call it paranoid, but as someone who’s seen my friends get literal death threats over fictional characters before, the last thing I want is someone willing to act on those threats finding out where they live.

[28] Your hero

But the way those two gnaw at my brain. From either being fully blatantly romantic to even just qprs.

Theres something so Interesting bout just Wormman trying to be a good honest capable hero but he really isnt that good. Then EvilX the Guy who was trying to be a villian and evil.

Both starting off on opposite sides to Them being sidekicks, sure EvilX says they're being evil, they aren't really.

The fact that WM merch exsists or EvilX made it all himself.

Joe is one of two people who have been wholly in charge of hermitcraft (Joe's reign as dictator lasted for the duration of time it took to confirm all the decisions for the start of season two, after which he stepped down)

Joe wrote hermitcraft fanfic (as part of a video) long before many hermitcraft fanfic writers got started

Joe led a one man, multiple day protest outside record label Warner Chappell for ruthlessly copyright striking Mumbo and putting his channel in real danger

Joe's channel music is a mix of original songs and parodies created in collaboration with his cool as hell sister Quinn Hills (hi Quinn if you're seeing this). She has a cat called Blair Witch, writes fantastic music, and is a vocally trans artist

Joe has consistently featured guest speakers in his streams or videos over the years, whether that be pathfinder writers, activists, or community members coming in to help offer viewpoints on his builds

Joe has admin permissions on hermitcraft (usually to his own detriment in accidentally clearing his inventory) and is a member of the hermitcraft "secret council" (as Cleo put it), who are the people who regularly turn up to meetings and do some actual admin and decision making

Joe and Cleo first met when they were challenged to fight to death by Vechs. Joe won the fight and then Cleo stabbed him in the back for vengeance. They both made overdramatic videos to prepare for this

Joe thought hermitcraft was a scam when he was invited a few weeks into season one (as a wildcard member)

Joe used to be part of the team who made the webcomic Jaque of All Blades and got his streaming start doing art streams.

Joe is also one of the authors of the Penguins and Pitfalls TTRPG, which he developed as part of Team Snow Day (TSD)

Joe pays all of his staff fairly for their time and classes blazing posts on Tumblr (especially for the mcyt sexyman competition) as marketing so that the IRS can see he's running a real business, not a fraud scheme

Joe's webcam expands on stream in response to tips. It moves from the hot bar into the Jhost (with the mandatory Jacob Marley chains bit) before growing larger and more transparent until he is gone. Once the Jhost is fully expanded, the beetlejhost comes out (with the suit and the webcam expander song). Once we max out beetlejhost, we get Joemez Addams (who wears a different suit)

Joe is one of only two hermits to have played every hermitcraft season (although he missed a lot of season 3 with a newborn baby to look after)

Joe's coup was responsible for getting mumbo added to the server. Shortly after, he suggested in a meeting that no members under the age of 18 should be admitted. Mumbo, 17, kept very quiet