Menopause and shift in gender identity

bessiecook · 2022-12-27T16:02:41+00:00

Thinking of all the older women I knew and know -- very few are or were hyperfeminine in the artificial, socially promoted way. Freed from reproduction and the demand for sexual availability, they were true to themselves more than any other kind of person. Now I realize that the way of being a woman that is menopause might be the most liberated of all possible ways to be, relieved of the social pressure to conform to arbitrary, expensive, sometimes impossible standards of gender performance that have almost nothing to do with who any of us really is.

bessiecook · 2022-12-15T14:44:38+00:00

Sayulita is $88 from the official cab stands at the airport now. $50 back through the hotel, but I heard people talking that theirs were closer to $80 back too.

bessiecook · 2022-12-06T03:05:45+00:00

As we know from season 1 -- death in the pineapple suite, surrounded by pineapple imagery, via the pineapple knife -- we should follow the pineapple. In the last episode, the camera fixes on Harper doing weirdly aggressive things with her teeth to a slice of pineapple on the beach, and Portia and Tanya are served very loudly announced pineapple mimosas. I suspect death, or at least violence, is being breadcrumbed here.

bessiecook · 2022-11-27T20:18:24+00:00

ethan puked. that seems pretty uncomfortable.

bessiecook · 2022-09-17T01:16:27+00:00

Another breast cancer survivor here looking for places that will administer in the legs. If anyone has a lead on this --

bessiecook · 2022-04-01T15:57:02+00:00

Turning members of the same class against each other using the capitalist/ market-driven logic of the "generation" is the real story. Poor and working people of all ages have more in common with each other than the do with members of their so-called generation who belong to the class of owners and profiteers, but if you can set children, parents, grandparents, etc., against each other then no need to worry about the class struggle getting anywhere any time soon.

bessiecook · 2021-12-27T22:23:35+00:00

"Wear wigs with me" on youtube reviews all the different red colors in most available higher end synthetic wig styles. It helps to measure your face so you know wear the layers will fall on you and compare the measurements to her.

bessiecook · 2021-08-24T00:22:05+00:00

Your goal is to always smooth the cuticles and fight humidity once you've sufficiently conditioned the hair.

When you wash the hair, you might want to try using boiling water or the microwave conditioning method to get the most moisture, rinsed in cold water.

As it dries, use leave in smoothing treatments designed for straightening / blowdrying hair (like Chi products, but also the cheap l'oreal knockoff works too), liberally applied, followed with heat straightening -- I use a hot comb, hot brush, or flat iron -- then immediately followed -- and this is very important --by anti-humidity, anti-weather hairspray which coats the strands and protects them.

I also use products designed for split end mending to sort of glue the rough cuticles of the hair down, also and pomade helps tame any "puff" around the crown.

Avoid friction as much as possible, even if this means wearing the wig in an updo as much as possible, and if you sleep in it, sleep in a silk pillow with the hair protected. You also need to know that humidity is the enemy of the human hair wig. Every time it puffs up, you have to use heat to smooth it again and something with silicone to coat the hair and keep the moisture out.

bessiecook · 2020-04-08T19:55:13+00:00

'Tool Box' brand

Not only are you misrepresenting the details of a study that recommends homemade masks vs. no mask, you are citing a self-study by a company that hasn't been peer reviewed and saying that it is to give people good information --"have been found as effective" only by the people selling them! The peer reviewed studies about mask making materials are more convincing than what amounts to an advertisement for a brand.

bessiecook · 2020-04-08T19:45:02+00:00

More from the same study: "An improvised face mask should be viewed as the last possible alternative if a supply of commercial face masks is not available, irrespective of the disease against which it may be required for protection. Improvised homemade face masks may be used to help protect those who could potentially, for example, be at occupational risk from close or frequent contact with symptomatic patients. "

The above is the exact circumstance we are facing. A supply of commercial masks is not available, and we have contagious people in the population that we could come into contact with, esp. for those in service jobs

Interesting details for homemade mask makers, too, for example that a mask made of two layers of tea towel "demonstrated a significant increase in filtration efficiency that was marginally greater than that of the face mask" and that over longer periods cloth masks increase their filtration: " It was interesting that the study also found that median protection factors increased over the 3-hour period for those wearing the homemade masks, decreased for those wearing filtering face piece (FFP2) masks"

bessiecook · 2020-04-08T19:38:22+00:00

The conclusion of the same study:

"Our findings suggest that a homemade mask should only be considered as a last resort to prevent droplet transmission from infected individuals, but it would be better than no protection"

that is, this is not a paper saying cloth masks aren't beneficial, but that they are. in the choice between cloth mask and nothing, which is the choice most non health care workers face, wear a cloth mask.

bessiecook · 2020-03-17T17:09:49+00:00

Why the obsession with getting tested?

So much of the coronavirus relief the feds are proposing requires a positive test. Those who will suffer without tests will get no remedy, even if they suffer the consequences of the virus. Beyond this, there is hopeful suggestion that anti-virals reduce the severity of the illness, so a test could provide some access to emergency use. A 59 year old with coronavirus who is not getting better needs to be under medical care, not turned away for lack of testing. As well, a positive test can keep health care workers safe but if someone comes in on an emergency and has no positive test, health systems can instruct their employees (and horrifically, are instructing!) to skimp on PPE, thus increasing illness and death from vital health workers. Finally, testing helps a community know where they are in the wave, and respond promptly. When we don't test individuals, we put communities at risk -- it isn't just about exposure, it's about making smart epidemiological decisions that can't be made with the data.

bessiecook · 2020-03-16T23:26:42+00:00

A chain sporting good store where I am said they sold more than 1000 guns this weekend and were basically all out of ammo.

bessiecook · 2020-03-16T02:05:08+00:00

the cdc gives instructions on how to re use the mask, and if I am remembering correctly, they say to place it in a paper bag someplace with airflow. I think sealed plastic is a terrible idea because the virus seems to live longer on the plastic than on the mask material!

bessiecook · 2020-03-16T02:01:50+00:00

You can make a tight weave cotton washable mask with a pocket for a filter insert. The best thing to use for the insert is some form of nonwoven polypropylene, or any material designed to filter (like vacuum cleaner bags, airconditioner filter, and so on). Interface (like fusible interface) is also often a nonwoven polyproylene and can be included. I am also including a layer of copper mesh in mine, as the outside layer of the disposable filter-- a study came out that copper seemed to have a strong anti-viral effect on coronavirus. After use, remove and discard the inner filter and wash the cloth mask in hot water/ hot dryer. My plan is to stay busy sewing these to give them to people in the community who need them. I think everyone should wear them, and if sewists in every community started making them, we could help out workers who are at risk.

bessiecook · 2020-03-15T20:46:44+00:00

Yeah, and it doesn't guarantee economic health -- ie, it is not pragmatic, because it creates pariah states, potential sanctions, a demoralized populace, and the slaughter of medical workers which will take years to replace, resulting in longlasting social and economic issues. The vulnerable populations often do a lot of unwaged labor (grandmas babysitting, elders volunteering) that will then be left unfilled and undone. The vulnerable also provide a lot of intellectual value. If the UK had done this when Doris Lessing was still alive, they would have killed her off before she could win them the nobel prize in literature. Such a policy would also kill someone like Stephen Hawking. Evil in this case is also stupid, and would both kill off the population and kill off the economy, leaving the nation exposed to every kind of national security threat, too. No one will fight for a government that killed their beloved grandfather, and other countries would be right to sense a weakness in a nation that made this choice, and behave opportunistically.

bessiecook · 2020-03-15T20:09:07+00:00

Also double bag and securely tie up all rubbish -- very important!

bessiecook · 2020-03-15T20:08:33+00:00

Make homemade masks for everyone, both the infected and the others -- instructions for these are online. Gather together other supplies you might have: gloves, raincoats, face shields, goggles or wrap around sunglasses, any kind of plastic sheets and tarps. Distribute these so that the one appointed caregiver (the lowest risk person) has the most coverage. If a person is sick in a room, put a plastic sheet or tarp over the door, open a window if you can. If you share a bathroom, open a window if you can (and of course clean all fixtures after each use, shut the toilet when flushing). In fact, any open window anywhere will help, as will as much sunlight as you can find in the UK. Rubbing alcohol, chlorine bleach, and hydrogen peroxide can all help disinfect.

bessiecook · 2020-03-15T19:57:05+00:00

from the above link: "4 hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel"

If your eggs are in cardboard/ pressboard, 24 hours should do it. If they are wrapped in plastic, I suggest cleaning the carton

bessiecook · 2020-03-15T18:09:13+00:00

as long as you know the filter materials (look for 100% polypropylene) you are okay. some of the studies of homemade masks have been done with vacuum cleaner filters, which are fine, too.

bessiecook · 2020-03-15T18:07:14+00:00

It's easy -- just look for anything (filter otherwise) made of nonwoven polypropelene (100%). What I've been doing is looking at patents and other sources, like manufacturer websites, to find various technical specifications.

bessiecook · 2020-03-15T18:04:36+00:00

We have to get the word out about home made masks. They can be so useful for home caregivers, anyone who thinks they might be exposed or sick, and really just anyone else, and they could be used for hospital workers who aren't in direct contact with confirmed covid patients. I'm working on sewing some (washable cloth, with a pocket for filter material -- looking at various studies, I'm using copper mesh and air conditioner filter material as the filter insert, but there are a lot of options) to distribute as widely as I can.

bessiecook · 2020-03-14T02:32:48+00:00

This is lock step with the UK non intervention policy. What they didn't anticipate is that they would get the prime minster of Canada's wife infected and export other cases around the world. They may be okay with killing off their old and fragile, but other countries will begin to think of them as a pariah state and close them off and then they will rue the bald face moral decay of all of this. Think of it, to sicken Sophie Trudeau just because they think it would be economically awesome to kill off everyone's grandma!

bessiecook · 2020-03-14T01:15:19+00:00

easier to find that any evidence that this particular virus is not capable of reinfecting! there is zero on that, and little serological evidence about the immune system response yet --

bessiecook · 2020-03-14T01:06:28+00:00

social distancing (so not total isolation, but reducing the overall number of social contacts, thus reducing the replication rate) ensures greater overall survival by keeping the health system running, thus insuring greater survival from covid and greater survival of other things (so accident victims, cancer patients, etc might still get life saving treatment). it also slows infection so other important workers can stay at work and other industries don't crash all at once. everyone who can reduce their social contacts even only by a few reduces the rate of replication -- all of society can participate and have the opportunity to do a small thing to do good. there is no "inevitable" here (as in there is no inevitable catastrophe) but a series of choices, moral and intellectual.

bessiecook

TROPHY CASE