I tried typing this in to make sure I hadn’t before. It’s not in my history, so I think I’m in the clear. No point in searching it now. I just need to focus on figuring out why Ask Jeeves looks so different today. And what the hell happened to my Yahoo toolbar?

Use a script on another device to constantly type a space and then a backspace into the text input box at every moment of every day except for when you are actually composing a message.

When I was a young teen and getting into creative writing, I was trying to come up with new fantasy novel ideas. I asked my dad if he wrote a fantasy book what it would be about, and he described a pleasant tropical island vacation with well appointed accommodations and complimentary frozen drinks. Which, to be fair, I don’t see a lot of in speculative fiction.

Wouldn’t recommend this. I mean, it was publishable, sure. But there were tons of spelling errors.

Yeah, 2 tines and 4 handle is a pretty good fork, I’ll admit. I just worry about the concave shape of the top side of the handle causing the edges to dig into my fingers with long-term use.

Let’s see… we’ve replaced our forests with gas stations, burnt down the rainforests in favor of monoculture farms, acidified the oceans to kill all the diatoms… I think we’ve put Earth’s oxygen production systems into as much peril as possible.

Billionaires: hold my deep sea mining rig.

Those prongs are fine. The handle, though, it’s like having a huge counterweight on the back of the utensil. I can imagine liking it if it’s always been that way or if you have big hands. Otherwise, handle number 5 is the clear improvement - no sharp edges, properly balanced, not shaped like a wedge. Could hold that fork for days.

The will of the people

It is clear to me that the only explanation for your preference is nostalgia.

Yeah, I want to feel that bone in my mouth. Put that bone inside me, chicken. Let me suck the meat from your bone.

This comment brought to you by manly men who are straight and also not gay.

Selfawarewolves

She should swallow a hydrogen cyanide capsule that only dissolves if triggered by the detection of radioactive decay.

Who knows what will happen to the cat?

Well, it gets confusing when your mom is a famous stock photo hand model.

Free popcorn and squeezy cheese for everyone. Free them! Narf!

Just mild nearsightnedness, not the kind of impairment you would expect to lead to non-24. I think every case is a bit different, and I’m probably not the best person to ask what with my lack of professional diagnosis.

But for me, I think it could have some relation to ADHD. In particular, I tend to “sleep procrastinate”. I can lie in bed for hours and hours without feeling tired, because my brain is telling me, “You’re not done with your day yet.”

Typically this means doing a collection of self-serving things (video games, movies, etc) for the purposes of de-stressing, and hopefully also the life maintenance things I should be doing, including work. And after all of this, I tend to feel like my day is just starting - now that I’ve gotten all of those things out of the way, I can finally think about the passion projects that might allow me to escape the rat race altogether, and maybe even change the system for the better. For me, it comes down to this doubt as to whether there will be a place for me in the world, come 5 or 10 years from now. The more I feel like I’m “escaping” the system, the less stress I feel in my day, the more complete I feel when it’s time to sleep. But it’s a work in progress.

So, if I had to guess based on personal experience, I would think there could be some near-constant stressor that has simply always been part of your mom’s life, and if that thing were to be addressed (or maybe therapy to figure out what the root even is), the symptoms could lesson. But of course, this is highly specific to my own personal experience (which I am still struggling to understand), and your mom’s ailment could be from an entirely different cause. What I have heard from internet research is that it’s a lot rarer in sighted people but still definitely does happen. And may have another ailment as the root cause (such as how ADHD can disrupt circadian rhythm in general).

And thanks for the tip on seeking the more rural urgent care facilities. Without being too specific about region, in my area, that would definitely be applicable. Right now, I have no aches or pains, and since prostate stones can be caused by temporary bacteria infections, it’s entirely possible it just went away. An ultrasound would definitely be the right move for me though. I’m just hoping that I continue to feel fine until I have good insurance again, just because that seems easiest. I’m lucky to have decent social services where I am should anything truly urgent occur. But it’s definitely a good reminder to make health a priority over work when I am employed.

And while a smidge embarrassing, I appreciate being on a small-scale social media network like this where I can randomly discuss my health issues on a meme thread. Have to remind myself that I haven’t really discussed my health with anyone as an adult, and it’s probably something that men in general could stand to get more used to doing.

Short answer is I’ve been to urgent care twice, once in my early twenties for pneumonia and once a couple years ago for a fungal ear infection that a nurse practitioner was able to flush out. Other than that, just dental visits and eye exams.

It’s not necessarily an aversion (though I’m wary of pharmaceutical kickbacks leading to over-medication). It’s mostly the way all these regular responsibilities stack up (oil changes, DMV, dishes, laundry, etc), doctor’s appointments are the thing where I don’t see immediate consequences for not doing. But I recognize that I’ve finally encountered a medical issue that requires deeper examination and treatment than I can do on my own. And I’m just getting to that age where I need to do more preventative checks. Mostly right now I’m trying to see if there’s anything I can do to keep any potential issue from getting worse between now and the time I have insurance again.

But I agree. It will be nice to have a GP even if just so I don’t have to feel so alone in my healthcare.

Ye, good shout

This is good info, too, thank you. Shamefully, my life has been plagued by non-24 sleep disorder that has made it hard to hold a job for more than 18 months at a time. I eventually become exhausted and sleep deprived and have to quit, and while I should see doctors in that time, I never really have, I just work and try to save money for the between times.

I don’t want to paint my situation as doom and gloom though, please no pity for the above. I’m finally in possession of technology and time to complete the project I’ve always wanted to complete, which is now close to completion and should serve as the kind of portfolio that will get me exactly the job I want, if not making passive income on its own. One way or another, I’ll be stable and seeing a doctor soon. But having lived the life I’ve lived, it now makes me passionate and focused on creating a new system that circumvent the parts of capitalism that have made me feel so tread-upon.

As a side note, there actually is decent healthcare in my state that I could probably take advantage of in the short term at not terrible cost if I just applied. But I get stuck in this cycle where I feel I won’t be stable until I have a job that’s good for me, I don’t feel confident getting that job until my project is complete enough to show off, and any time I devote to advancing my own health takes away from time spent on completing the project. I can’t pretend it’s healthy or sustainable. I just feel like I’m so close now so I’m trying to get there before anything serious breaks. And the closer I get to finishing this thing, the easier I sleep at night. Which makes me think maybe the root of these sleep problems might be stress from living in such a system where my physical health is conditional. I have no answers and there’s a lot I’m not doing right, but please don’t worry about me. So many others in greater need of our worries. I’ll report back on the prostate though. For science.

Same, that’s what I had heard that’s leading me to try some gentle exploration. If people safely do it for pleasure anyway, maybe if the pieces are still somewhat separate and just need to be shook around a bit (I’m thinking like when you go a bit too long without using a sugar cereal so it becomes one big brick and maybe you just need to flick it a bit to break it back up), I can go back to clearing my own system. I have a feeling diet and exercise are big players here too. But like everyone keeps saying, I’ll be careful and get in touch with a doctor before too awfully long.

Not sure if this is the right place go ask, or whether this counts as going dirty on main. I’ve never really been about the butt stuff, but nothing against it either, it’s just not my thing. But a few years ago, I started getting prostate stones, little crystals of mostly protein I’m told that come out with ejaculate. I had a couple years of that and then it stopped. I worry that it’s still building up and calcifying back there and it’s going to lead to me having a calcified prostate with all those stereotypical middle aged man problems. So, I wonder if hitting the prostate from the backside can break things up enough to start cleaning things out again. I’ve tried using a finger a couple times, but found it not super comfortable and it didn’t really seem to make a difference. Is this inflatable sort of thing going to be my best bet in applying enough pressure to push things out without inflaming anything? Or is there a better tool for the job, so to speak? I appreciate your time and expertise in this, um, sensitive matter.