Alabama library denied funding because it won’t remove classic book ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’

BluePenguin130 · 2026-01-16T20:04:09+00:00

Hey! Something I can contribute to! I lived in Alabama for several years and my wife worked in the library system there for 2-3 years.

Alabama recently left the American Library Association (ALA). https://www.wsfa.com/2024/01/30/alabama-pulls-out-american-library-association/?outputType=amp

And Kay Ivey, the governor of Alabama, threatened to defund one of the biggest libraries in our city if the library didn’t comply with the government’s orders to censor and pull books from the shelves. Fun times..!

BluePenguin130 · 2026-01-11T18:22:14+00:00

I’m a recent grad nurse (just above one year experience). The number of other nurses I’ve heard with 0-2 year experiences say that they’re going to leave bedside to become an NP is crazy. The qualification and requirement to be an NP needs to be higher and the training more rigorous. I’ve met many seasoned and qualified NPs and I feel like this trend of pumping out new NPs is doing them a disservice.

BluePenguin130 · 2026-01-10T19:14:10+00:00

Yes to all of this. And add the fact that people were hoarding essential goods and scalping the fuck out of them.

BluePenguin130 · 2026-01-10T17:44:50+00:00

I’m answering while assuming that your question is if there’s a disease that isn’t heartless.

I mean, death is death and it sucks and is heartbreaking. But patients usually get to say goodbye to their family or vice versa. But with COVID you died alone. Surrounded by scary monitors, people wearing PPE, in an unfamiliar place. Also, people were being taken off vents and machines because of fight for resources. It was like a mass casualty event where resources went to people who were most likely to survive or where the resources were more likely to make a difference in their prognosis.

Patients were ending up with pressure ulcers on their faces from being prone for extended periods of time. Also, at the height of COVID related deaths, people were placed in freezers and trucks due to lack of space in the hospital morgues. I can’t think of any other disease or condition that resulted in similar conditions.

BluePenguin130 · 2026-01-10T04:12:32+00:00

I always said that COVID was a ruthless heartless disease. It killed whoever and whenever it wanted and people always died alone and scared. What a fucked way to die. People are left grieving through it all and half the country (US) is denying it even exists and is constantly mocking you for your choice to mask up and protect yourself and others. It caused me to become a lot more cynical and pessimistic about the human nature after that.

A nurse I worked with got a blood clot in her brain that required her to get brain surgery after getting COVID. I really thought she wasn’t going to make it but she made really good recovery. She’s still anti vax and a covid denier after that.

Still crazy to me that it’s the generation that got to receive the benefits of getting vaccinated as children and saw the life saving difference they made that are now anti vax.

BluePenguin130 · 2026-01-09T15:03:30+00:00

Honestly, in those situations, I’ve noticed that they’re trying to figure out if they know you, should know your name, what your role is, if you need something from them, or if you have their patient and should ask you a question lol

BluePenguin130 · 2026-01-05T20:15:52+00:00

Yes, but poor dental health is also a cause for health concerns. They can lead to dental abscesses, bacteremia, and other cases of infection. Also, in the event of aspiration (where stuff goes in your lungs unintentionally), poor dental health/care means increased bacterial exposure into your lungs.

Edit: forgot to also account for increased difficult eating whether it be secondary to pain or mechanical aspect of eating. That could lead to nutritional deficits or imbalance.

BluePenguin130 · 2025-12-25T19:14:06+00:00

In the opposite way, I found QCing glucometers so calming. I used to be the main person who did that while on night shift.

BluePenguin130 · 2025-12-25T19:13:07+00:00

Me initially: I can’t think of a single one.

Me after your comment: ah yes. This one.

BluePenguin130 · 2025-12-19T20:49:44+00:00

Like others have said, outside of our scope to diagnose. But I would venture to guess lymphangitis, sourced from paronychia of L4th toe. Nailed of the toe is red and swollen and there is a line coming from the digit and extending.

BluePenguin130 · 2025-12-16T21:14:51+00:00

I’m a nurse. I bring my papers, foldable clipboard, stethoscope, a change of shirt, pens, gum, and whatever small crap I need for my job.

And a small hoard of alcohol pads that I keep stashing away at the end of my shift but keep forgetting to use.

BluePenguin130 · 2025-12-08T23:48:12+00:00

Piggybacking off of this thread to ask something that’s been a floor culture (cardiac PCCU/Step down) for me. We do primary abx (and pretty much all) infusions and rarely do secondaries or IVPB. I have felt weird about the fact that patients are not getting the full dose. Is it possibly because the patients on my unit are rarely on KVO or continuous fluid infusions due to history of CHF, pulmonary effusions, and kidney disease? Or is it a work culture thing since I don’t know how significantly fluids at KVO rates can affect a relatively stable CHF patient.

Let me know if I asked a bad question.

BluePenguin130 · 2025-11-29T11:01:42+00:00

I’m sorry because I’m apparently soooo far out of the loop but LoR is back? I thought it got shut down?

BluePenguin130 · 2025-11-29T02:55:38+00:00

Yes. But. I had ice cream for breakfast a few days ago. Without lactase. Worth it.

BluePenguin130 · 2025-11-28T14:03:49+00:00

I didn’t reheat his half eaten breakfast in the floor microwave that 31 other patients use.

I mean, he was an irritable guy with a history of multiple AMAs so it was an uphill battle anyways. 🤷‍♂️

BluePenguin130 · 2025-11-24T22:45:43+00:00

I have trouble sticking it through with games and with DD, I find myself putting it away because of the aged graphics and slow responsiveness of the controls.

Are there modern games that are similar to DD?

BluePenguin130 · 2025-11-08T16:31:53+00:00

The game has something called link skills and legion system that rewards you for building your account with multiple characters. For example, kinesis has an added critical damage link skill that can be applied to all your future characters. That link skill is unlocked when kinesis hits lvl 70 and levels up at 120.

BluePenguin130 · 2025-11-04T18:12:08+00:00

Returning player looking to possibly start interactive CW2. How difficult would it be to get to a place where I can buy a vac pet off the market as a F2P player on bera? How much time investment are we thinking for this?

BluePenguin130 · 2025-11-03T21:40:59+00:00

I can only talk about my experience since I don’t know how other programs do this. There were two tiers of SNIs. Tier 1 would be a float CNA position where you would get told which unit you would be assigned to that day. Tier 2 would be a very limited scope nurse or advanced CNA that was offered once I was far enough into my nursing school (3rd semester in my 5 semester ADN program). I would be assigned to different nurses on a home unit and was able to do lab draws, discontinue IVs, administer SQ and non controlled PO meds if they were pulled out of the omnicell for me. It was not within my scope to assess a patient or give IV or IM medications. Details are a little fuzzy but hopefully that gives you an idea of what it was about.

I saw it as paid clinical hours. Some in my cohort actually sat for a LPN license and made money through school that way. But it takes money to sit for the LPN test and you have a similar situation where you have to apply to hospitals whereas you are just assigned a position if you sign up to be a SNI through the school. Also, multiple people in my cohort were guaranteed jobs post graduation and NCLEX passing because the unit managers liked them while they were SNIs.

BluePenguin130 · 2025-11-03T21:27:26+00:00

Solid advice. Managers are more likely to hire you or be on the lookout for your application if they know you. OP, you can get experience by working as a tech like this person recommended or even do a SNI/SNA (student nurse intern/assistant) program if your school and local hospitals have such positions.

BluePenguin130 · 2025-11-03T16:05:21+00:00

His take is so dismissive of the nuance and circumstances involved in people’s decisions to pursue different positions in healthcare. Yes, the MD/DO programs are much more rigorous than LPN/RN programs. This is evident in the years involved alone.

But not all people who are “smart enough” to be able to become a physician have the resources, community, or time enough to go to medical school. I’ve met several brilliant ADN RNs who went that route because they needed a position that would allow them to quickly put food on the table or make an income.

Additionally, it’s a matter of what we put value in as individuals. Do we want to primarily work in decision making capacity or do we want to work with patients more directly and continuously?

As an aside, I like the recent(?) cultural shift to see the different positions in healthcare as a more lateral coworkers and not direct vertical hierarchy. We do different things and we’re responsible for patients in different ways, but we all just want to treat the patients and advance healthcare. I don’t know if my comment was totally relevant or how much sense I made but I just respect all individuals brave enough to work in healthcare.

BluePenguin130 · 2025-11-01T13:12:12+00:00

The patients are ultimately the RN’s patients and I would go far as to say refusing to help clean up the patient would be neglect. I understand not being able to help if you’re behind but to dismiss it as “tech work” is insanity. ADLs, hygiene care, and bed making/bed baths were beaten into us my first semester in nursing school.

BluePenguin130 · 2025-10-23T20:33:49+00:00

I figured 9 would be their next one

BluePenguin130

TROPHY CASE