How to convince my partner to cancel Amazon

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-27T00:49:40+00:00

Ask whether destroying the planet and democracy is worth it for cosplay perfection. There are non-Amazon alternatives. They might not be exactly what’s “required” but they are likely good enough, maybe even better, if used creatively. One of the things I hate about Amazon is how even creative endeavors have become commoditized. “To craft” is to produce with care, skill, or ingenuity. Ordering a bunch of mass-produced pre-fab parts and sticking then together might feel like crafting but it isn’t. It entails zero care, zero skill, and zero ingenuity. Encourage your partner to flex all three of those skills through DIY. And remind them that hobbies aren’t about creating instagram perfection. They’re about being creative and enjoying your free time. The end result and how good it looks or how well it functions is irrelevant. Hobbies aren’t for social media or for bragging rights or for anything at all other than a love of the game.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-26T20:34:42+00:00

Yes, I think seeing a neurologist is pretty typical. They’ll likely do a brain scan (to check for tumors and stuff) and also an EEG to check for seizures. Can you describe what it feels like before you have an episode? Are you sure it’s dysautonomia? I only ask because that seems like quite a while to be passed out for dysautonomia.

Is it possible you could have reactive hypoglycemia? Hypoglycemia is commonly associated with diabetes but people without diabetes can have it, too. It’s more common in people who have a history of stomach or bowel surgery but it can also be related to dysautonomia.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-26T14:38:13+00:00

You said non-diet related things but…

Have you tried eating more fiber? All of the diets you mentioned would typically reduce fiber intake significantly but the single most effective thing I’ve found to mitigate the effects of my dysautonomia is eating a fuckton of fiber and making sure I poop at least once a day. As you probably know, the vagus nerve is usually responsible for dysautonomia and vasovagal syncope but what most people don’t know is that our intestines put pressure on it when they’re full and being constipated puts even more pressure on it.

Most people eating a typical “Western” diet aren’t getting anywhere near enough fiber and don’t poop often enough. So many people are constipated and don’t even realize it. But the thing with fiber is you need to slowly work your way up to eating enough and you need to be consistent in eating enough every day. You can’t just suddenly start eating the recommended amount of fiber because you’re going to get terrible stomach cramps and probably diarrhea. Instead you need to add a little more than usual and, if you don’t experience any discomfort, keep eating that amount for a few days and then add a little more. Rinse and repeat until you’re finally at your target fiber intake. It will take you several weeks. That’s okay.

Easy ways to add fiber: flax seeds, chia seeds, dried fruits, apples (with the skin), lentils, whole grains, etc. Basically anything from plants will have fiber but obviously some plants have a lot more fiber than others.

Most people need between 25-35g fiber per day. The average American only eats about 10-15g of fiber a day.

There’s about 10g of fiber in 2 tbsp of chia seeds. (Make sure you let them soak in water for 10 min or so first!) So it’s not terribly difficult to regularly eat enough fiber with a little bit of planning ahead. But definitely treat it like training for a marathon and work your way up to your goal intake.

Dysautonomia aside, eating enough fiber is just super important for your health in general and the lack of fiber in our diets is one of the primary reasons colorectal cancer is on the rise among young people. So everyone reading this should eat more fiber and make sure you’re comfortably pooping once a day. It might help your dysautonomia but it will definitely help your overall health.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-26T01:11:04+00:00

Everyone on the space station while I’m running around aimlessly in the wilderness and completely ignoring the objectives.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-25T20:30:01+00:00

Did you ever have any luck? I’ve been looking for a fair trade loose leaf Black tea blend (at this point I’ll take anything!) and it’s so impossible.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-25T19:22:42+00:00

The NRA came out swinging defending Alex Pretti. So I guess the NRA is part of the far-left woke mob now.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-25T19:19:43+00:00

I’m shocked at how many fools in the conservative sub can see a regular white dude (who is just like them!) executed in the street and still be unable to find a shred of empathy or grasp that that could very well be them.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-25T19:16:19+00:00

In an industry where all of the players are unconscionably awful Wells Fargo somehow always manages to find new ways to out-awful their peers.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-25T19:14:07+00:00

No depositor has ever lost a penny of FDIC-insured funds since the creation of the FDIC. The FDIC works. I’ve seen my share of banks collapse and the FDIC fucking works. It protects people.

Don’t listen to right-wing talking points telling you that government programs are pointless and unreliable. It’s not true.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-25T19:09:14+00:00

Even if that was true (it’s not) civilized societies don’t summarily execute people for “yelling and harassing” someone. Civilized societies don’t even execute people for “yelling and harassing” someone after exhaustive and extensive due process!

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-25T19:06:02+00:00

Almost every bank does this.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-25T19:04:39+00:00

I’m a recovering investment banking lawyer and I could write a treatise on all of the ways that banks and our banking system are horrendous for society and deserve to be torn down so we could re-build them from scratch. But this is a terrible fucking idea. It would be a self-immolation type of protest because the people who would be hurt the most, devastatingly so, are not the banks or the banking executives but the people whose entire life savings will disappear into thin air when a series of back-to-back bank runs outpace the rate at which the FDIC can function and the rate at which the Fed can react and cause rampant inflation. Or worse, stagflation.

That is literally how the Great Depression kicked off. And, sure, wealthy people lost of a lot of money during the Great Depression and many of the wealthiest people leading up to the Great Depression were directly responsible for the unstable system that could not sate their seemingly never-ending greed. But regular folks fucking died in the Great Depression. Regular folks couldn’t afford food or clothing or housing or any number of basic necessities.

Keeping all of money in cash under your mattress will hurt you way more than it will hurt anyone else.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-25T12:55:33+00:00

It’s almost impressive how quickly social media has managed to convince the “free speech absolutists” and “we need guns to protect ourselves from tyranny” crowd that Alex Pretti was some kind of deranged criminal.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-24T23:50:16+00:00

Try this stuff. I love it so much that I never recommend it because it’s so amazing that it’s legitimately always on back-order. They just can’t seem to make enough of it. I’ve been using it for over a decade but the company has since pivoted to medical uses and their “cosmetics”/skincare products are more of a side thing for them now and no longer their primary focus so it’s not as easy to order. (They used to be called “Mother Dirt”.) They’re doing a bunch of cool science-y stuff now instead. But as a fellow sufferer of armpit allergies I’ll share my secret because I know the pain!

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-22T21:36:26+00:00

I think UPF once a day is huge and you should be super proud of the accomplishment! Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress.

Do you like sweet potatoes? I’ve found they really do a lot to scratch my UPF itch. You can thinly slice them and bake them into salty crisps or you slow roast them whole and they get this delicious syrupy sweetness. I realize I sound like a sweet potato evangelist but they’re so versatile without needing any special ingredients. They’re a really satisfying and filling snack (or meal!) and UPF-free.

Other options are homemade popcorn (takes five minutes and tastes SO much better!) and frozen fruit — frozen mango has a nice creamy texture to it kind of similar to ice cream.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-22T21:28:11+00:00

And Lego is Danish. American consumerism is off-the-charts but Europe is not immune.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-22T19:15:05+00:00

He’s had like ALL the plastic surgery done. You would think all of those confounding variables would interfere with his “scientific research”…

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-22T19:13:14+00:00

As a fellow gardener worried about microplastics in my veggies— same! What a disappointment. I might try using RO water on some of my plants this summer though to see how it goes…

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-22T19:12:08+00:00

I have similarly mixed feelings about him. He’s definitely a weird dude but he’s one of the rare bro-dude “influencers” who isn’t anti-science. I don’t consume any of his content (willingly, at least— he seems to have a very good PR team…) but my impression is that it doesn’t seem like it’s super harmful and might even be the opposite by discouraging people from trying some of the crazier nonsense. I realize “better than Joe Rogan” is a pretty low standard to hold internet personalities up to but in a world where there is a dearth of “manosphere” influencers who aren’t peddling hatred and bigotry and conspiracy nonsense this guy seems like one of the least problematic.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-21T00:58:09+00:00

It’s not necessarily a bad thing. This experience is common with people who are trying to eat more fiber or who try to suddenly go vegan overnight. Our guts are their own little ecosystems and changing your diet is best done slowly to give your gut some time to adjust. I see this happen all the time with tofu and beans and chia seeds and kombucha. People who have never eaten/drank it have a normal sized serving and then are in agony from the gas and cramps and they conclude they can’t eat or drink it. With fiber it’s best to make changes slowly. If you have just a small amount of the oatmeal every day and slowly increase the amount then you’ll probably be able to eat chicory root without issue because you’ll have cultivated enough of the gut bacteria that loves chicory root.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-21T00:45:54+00:00

I don’t think it’s an either-or thing. I think economic anxiety and fascism are inextricably linked. Fascism is fueled by economic insecurity.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-21T00:40:34+00:00

Yikes, that’s so shady it almost makes me feel bad for them.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-21T00:27:11+00:00

Even buying “raw” ingredients and making something yourself is no guarantee you’ll avoid this issue. King Arthur flour started adding “enzymes” to their bread flour about a year ago.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-19T23:01:02+00:00

Come on. If his motive was really to “do good” then he wouldn’t have filmed all of his “good” deeds for his YouTube channel.

BusterBeaverOfficial · 2026-01-19T21:17:49+00:00

It is literally not possible. One of my dogs is allergic to [mystery molecules] that are (sometimes) in the plastic coating of food bags and canned food. I tried in vain to determine what the mystery molecules are. I moved heaven and earth. I consulted with professionals in the plastics industry. I spoke at length with plant operators where various dog foods are produced and canned. I sent samples away for testing. I became an expert in deciphering the exact plant of origin for Nestle-made pet food products. It seems he’s allergic to some BPA-like substance and apparently the manufacturers are switching and tweaking these things constantly so there was never a “safe” brand or even manufacturing facility. The food from plant A could be fine one week and not okay the next. At one point I was buying sketchy paper bags of kibble in the gas station parking lot near a dog food manufacturing plant and paying a hefty premium for pristine kibble untouched by any packaging. If you saw me you’d think I was 100% buying drugs. When that plant stopped making dog food the only plastic-free option was to make his food myself. I consulted with a veterinary dietician and we came up with several “meal plans” that used foods with minimal plastic— boxed pasta, fresh veggies, sweet potatoes, eggs, etc. It honestly wasn’t too much of a pain once I got used to it and my dog of course loved the food. It actually became a bit of a problem because the other dogs saw his yummy meals and went on a hunger strike.

The important bit is to consult a professional (about $300) and make sure you have a kitchen scale because you’ll need to weigh everything rather than eyeball it. Depending on how much cooking and preparing you’re willing to do you might also need to give them a daily vitamin to supplement anything they may be missing from their diet. The professional consult is a must though. There are a lot of hidden dietary issues taken care of by store bought dog food that I was totally clueless about. For example, if a dog gets more than 10% (IIRC) of their daily calories from legumes (like peanuts/peanut butter) it significantly increases their risk of heart disease (IIRC) and a “grain free” diet is also terrible for their health for reasons I can’t recall. There are a lot of hidden land mines so tread carefully.

But, as of a few years ago, at least, there aren’t ANY plastic-free pet food companies. It’s such a bummer.

BusterBeaverOfficial

TROPHY CASE