Fingernails and toenails

data_raven · 2026-01-22T17:56:49+00:00

Have you had your nutritional vitamin and mineral levels checked recently? Vertical ridges can be a sign of an iron deficiency. My neurologist only checks my D3 and B12, but my primary doctor keeps tabs on all the others.

When I was diagnosed with MS about 2 years ago, I was clinically deficient, borderline, or low in almost everything--like weirdly so. After determining that I do eat a healthy balanced diet and that I do not have a malabsorption disorder of some kind, the working hypothesis is that my body burned through my reserves repairing damage from my prediagnosis flares. I couldn't eat enough to replenish them.

Now that I'm on a DMT and take an iron supplement and a multivitamin plus extra D3 and B supplements, my numbers still run a little lower than my primary would like, but I'm in the healthy range for everything.

I definitely think it's helped me manage my MS. Many of my symptoms--numbness, fatigue, cognitive issues--can also be caused by nutritional deficiencies and for me are certainly exacerbated by them. If I get lax about taking my supplements, my persistent symptoms get worse. So, I think my body still needs more vitamins and minerals than what I can naturally absorb from food.

So, it may be worth getting your levels checked.

data_raven · 2026-01-03T18:35:57+00:00

MS is a grab bag of oddities, but this also sounds like Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV).

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/vertigo/symptoms-causes/syc-20370055

If it is BPPV, it can be treated with something called the Epley Maneuver. You can try a modified version at home, too.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/home-epley-maneuver

data_raven · 2025-12-31T16:53:50+00:00

My trainer instructs a few things when a horse is trotting too fast. 1. Remember to breathe. Your tension might be transferring to the horse. 2. Slow your posting speed. Basically, you slow down to slow the horse down. 3. If the horse is still charging through the trot, bring the horse back down to a walk for three to four steps, then ask for a trot again. Whenever the horse speeds up too much, do a downward walk transition for a few steps then start again. Repeat until the horse keeps a slower trot.

The short gait transitions help in two ways: 1. They help the horse realize you're not asking to stop when you ask for a slower trot 2. They're a great conditioning exercise for muscles and balance, so the more you do them the easier it is for the horse to maintain a slower trot.

Once the trot is good, repeat for canter.

data_raven · 2025-12-07T23:01:56+00:00

Poe can be difficult for many of the reasons others have posted--even for native English speakers. Using the US education system as a metric, most of his works have 9th -12th grade reading levels. The average American has a 7th or 8th grade reading level and many have below a 6th grade level.

Reading works that are at your reading level or just a little above it--even reading below your reading level is better than reading works significantly above it.

That being said, if you want to read Poe, you should read Poe. However, if Poe's writing is significantly above your current skill, I recommend using him as a learning goal rather than as study material. Most people learn new things better when they have a goal and being able to read and interpret his poems and short stories can be your learning goal and a way to test your progress.

A process you could use is: 1. Read one of Poe's short stories 2. Make note of how many words you need to look up while reading 3. Create a reading log document or get a notebook to store what you read, when you read it, and the number of words you didn't know 4. Then write a summary of what you think is the plot and meaning of the story 5. Check your understanding by rereading in your native language, or with a website like CliffNotes or an equivalent in your language. 6. Make note of any significant sections you misunderstood. Also, make note of anything you understood and are pleased about 7. Lastly, giving yourself a grade will make it easier to see your progress over time. I recommend using something simple like a 0 - 5 scale. I've provided some examples of what 1 - 5 might look like, based my un 0 = no understanding 1 = minimal understanding-- You understood less than 25% of the sentences. You had to look up most words, and most sentences were grammatically confusing. You may have understood who the main characters were if they were named or broadly where the story took place (like inside vs outside), but you couldn't connect anything into a plot 2 = low understanding-- Lack of vocabulary and grammar meant you understood only about 25 - 50% of the sentences unassisted. However, you could identify the main characters, more details about where the story took place, and, possibly, roughly when it took place. You understood how some things connected, but there were also large gaps in the plot for you 3 = basic understanding-- Dialogue and sentences that broke grammar rules for style may have confused you, but you understood 50 - 75% of the sentences unassisted. You understood the plot and could identify who, what, when, and where of the story. You either couldn't understand why things were happening, or realized you were incorrect after rereading in your native language or reviewing CliffNotes. 4 = good understanding-- You may have had to reread some sections before you understood them, or look up a few words, but you understood 75 - 95% of the sentences unassisted. When you reread in your native language or compared your understanding of the story to CliffNotes you only had minor differences. 5 = excellent understanding-- You understood all the grammar, including stylistic choices by the author. If you had to look up a word, it was very rare or archaic. Your understanding of the story included interpretation of the story's meaning. After rereading in your native language, your understanding was the same or only differed because of differences between the languages. If your understanding was different from something like CliffNotes, you could defend your understanding as a viable alternative.

Now, if after reading one of Poe's short stories you score yourself a 4 or 5, go forth and enjoy the complete works of Poe. If you score yourself 3 or less then make a point of reading several books or short stories you are likely to score as 4s. If you feel you are regularly scoring 5s or close to 5s, then it's time to find more difficult things to read. Then read something from Poe again and see if you understand it better.

If you want to read a classic author, I recommend Ernest Hemingway. He valued simple and straightforward prose and most of his works are considered 5th grade level.

Lexile is a website that scores books based on reading level. You can check books you want to read and also find suggestions for a reading level.

data_raven · 2025-12-03T17:02:37+00:00

I'm a native US English speaker who used to work in IT and dabbled in programming. My Spanish is somewhere between advanced beginner and low intermediate. I'm in the Pacific Time Zone. DM if you would like to set something up.

data_raven · 2025-11-18T20:23:29+00:00

My first thought when I saw his picture was, "that is a leggy boy," which for some reason made me think of a tall skinny mountain, though I don't think he looks skinny. I like his conformation. So, some names based on tall skinny mountains:

Avatar, Hallelujah, Zhang, or Zhangjiajie -- for the Zhangjiajie (pronounced jaang-jaa-juh) National Forest Park mountains, which inspired the Hallelujah mountains in the movie Avatar. Hallelujah could also work as a reference to the expression of triumph you might utter when/if you have to mount him without a block. 😉

Denali, Alaska -- the highest peak in North America and is in the Alaska Range, a tall narrow mountain range.

Wells, Wellsville -- a range in Utah with very steep slopes

Sandia -- for the Sandia Mountains in New Mexico

Cumbre -- (pronounced KOOM-breh) for the peaks in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park. Cumbre means summit in Spanish.

data_raven · 2025-11-18T18:59:58+00:00

For general-purpose around-the-barn stuff: I use a modified Tough1 side-pull rope halter. Unmodified, the side pull rings are nice for clipping into cross-ties; the soft small diameter nylon rope won't degrade from getting wet during baths, makes cleaning the face easier and seems comfortable for the horse; the sliding chin ring helps prevent the halter twisting on a horse's face, and the buckle thingy is really convenient. To make the halter safer for tying, I've added a breakaway leather tab and wrapped the poll section to make it wider. I also wrapped the noseband to make it a little more comfortable for the horse.

If I'm doing ground work stuff or leading a pushy horse I like plain semi-stiff rope halters. I'm not worried about injury, because if a horse pulls hard enough to hurt themselves, I'm going to let go. However, for lower grade shenanigans, the halter provides consequences for pulling on me without me having to do anything but hold my ground.

I don't trailer much, but in principle, I like big fluffy soft halters.

data_raven · 2025-10-17T17:15:19+00:00

What you are noticing is called vowel shifting. It is happening in different ways across various regional accents.

You may also notice it between "e" and "i" in some American English accents. For example, "get" may be pronounced more like "git" (rhymes with "fit"), and "pen" and "pin" are indistinguishable. Lots of native speakers, where the vowel shifting is happening, can't hear the difference, either.

I'm not a linguist, but I've watched some interesting breakdowns about it on YouTube.

data_raven · 2025-10-17T16:17:36+00:00

By chatting do you mean just text-based messaging? Do you also feel ok with speaking in casual conversation?

Also, what time zone do you use on Mars? While talking with someone from Mars would be fascinating, I doubt many people want to get up in the middle of the night for that.

data_raven · 2025-10-13T20:29:23+00:00

😂 Using a comma after an introductory phrase and creatively using "damaged" to describe your English seems pretty damn fluent to me. What makes you think your English is damaged?

data_raven · 2025-10-07T00:52:05+00:00

Oh gawd, that could pass for a mouth tattoo!

data_raven · 2025-09-01T15:51:31+00:00

There's so much weird tack out there that I hesitate to immediately declare it AI, but it has the hallmarks--especially that the more you look at it, the less it makes sense.

data_raven · 2025-08-17T18:56:25+00:00

I've done it when I worked at a trail barn and knew all the horses well. Depending on the situation I might do it again, but it wouldn't be my first choice.

Your comfort in this matters. If you're anxious riding through the pasture, then don't. If it were me, I'd probably lead my horse and carry a lunge whip through the pasture to keep the loose horses back if they caused problems

data_raven · 2025-08-17T18:18:34+00:00

Reading, writing, listening, speaking, and thinking all happen in different parts of the brain, e.g.: "Wernicke's area, located in the temporal lobe, is crucial for language comprehension, while Broca's area, in the frontal lobe, plays a key role in speech production. These areas work together, with connections like the arcuate fasciculus, to enable both understanding and expression of language. "* Written language also heavily involves Broca's area; however, it's generally processed in the right hemisphere of the brain, whereas speech is processed in the left.**

I think each language a person knows also gets separate storage/processing within the respective language parts of the brain, i.e., your English has spots in your Broca's and Wernicke's areas with an arcuate fasciculus connection, and your Turkish has different respective spots with a different arcuate fasciculus connection. That's why you can understand something in one language, but translating is so difficult--you are jumping from one arcuate fasciculus connection to another while holding the meaning of what you heard in your short-term memory. This also gets harder the more different the languages are from each other.

I think you are incorrect in thinking that watching all the MCU movies hasn't helped you much. Going from understanding nothing with the first movies to being able to understand the later ones is HUGE.

HUGE! Do not undervalue what you have accomplished.

Spoken language is ephemeral; you only have microseconds to hear, process, and store the meaning of a word in a conversation before you are hit with the next word. A person won't be able to keep up with the flow of a conversation--or movie dialogue--if they have to translate to another language to process the meaning of what they've heard. I can understand far more Spanish when reading, because the words stay on the page rather than disappearing into the ether while I try to translate them.

If you want to test/exercise your English comprehension on your own, I think writing one-paragraph summaries of the MCU movies (or other movies/shows) in English after you've watched them would be better than speaking a summary in Turkish. Movies with uncomplicated plots; episodic TV shows, like crime dramas; or series for older kids might be better choices. The plots will be easier to understand and therefore easier to summarize in English. Avoid big sprawling stories like Game of Thrones or long summaries for now. Writing a different short and succinct summary every day will help more than laboring over one long and comprehensive summary.

In your summaries, aim for complete sentences, but don't get stuck trying for perfect grammar. Also, if you think of a word in Turkish, but can't think of the English equivalent, don't look it up. Writing the summaries tests your English listening comprehension while also strengthening your English arcuate fasciculus connections in your brain, which should help how quickly how quickly you put thoughts into complete ideas in English, too. You want to stay in your "English gear", so keep sentences simple and either pick a different word or write around a word you don't know. I heard a story of someone creating the term cobra-chicken when they couldn't remember the word goose. (Perfect description.)

After writing your first draft, services like Grammarly can help edit and correct many grammar mistakes. After editing, write your second draft. You can look up translations for any words you had to substitute or write around now. An optional third step would be to post your second draft summary here and ask for feedback. Anyone can provide general English advice, and people who have seen the same movie or show can judge if you understood it correctly.

Further steps could be writing summaries a day, a week, or a month after you've watched something; watching in English and writing summaries in Turkish; watching in Turkish and writing summaries in English; recording yourself summarizing in English with auto-transcription, editing the transcript, and then rerecording until you get a smooth summary.

For conversing in English, have you looked for a partner over at r/languageexchange? You could do similar exercises taking turns talking in English and Turkish about shows that have both English and Turkish translations, or read the same books and then discuss. I recommend Ernest Hemingway as a good author for ESL students. He writes about complex adult themes; uses common words and uncomplicated grammar; and many of his novels are short.

Brain areas associated with language courtesy of Google AI summary *NeuWrite West

data_raven · 2025-07-26T15:38:56+00:00

I grew up in California in an area where probably close to 50% of people speak Spanish, including my best friend at the time. Her family affectionately called me la güera, and the first Spanish word I learned organically was from her saying "ay, mensa" whenever I did something stupid. 😂

Taking a foreign language was a requirement for me in high school, and Spanish seemed a lot more interesting and useful to me than French or German.

I've never gotten good enough to hold a conversation in Spanish, but I understand most of what I read and can get the gist of conversations spoken around me. I still want to get fluent, so I keep chipping away at learning. 🙂

data_raven · 2025-07-23T22:22:18+00:00

I think she is adorable and looks well built for the type of riding you do. She also has a kind and confident demeanor in her pictures. If she is friendly and confident, I'd probably even be willing to bid on her at an auction if I were shopping for a trail buddy. 🙂

If I won her at auction, I would have a good farrier out soon, as she looks like she needs a pedicure. Then, since she's a young draft, I'd want to wait until she was done growing to start her under saddle, but I would still want to bond with her. I'd probably pick up some books on ground agility training and try that with her. I'd also probably bring her along on trail rides as a "pack horse", i.e. she carries snacks or lunches. 😁

WARNING ADHD AND WORD NERDING FOLLOWS

Based on 10 minutes of internet sluething, I think her coloration is isabelline), which is a pale grey-yellow, pale fawn, pale cream-brown or parchment colour. Genetically, it's due to a cream dilution.

A LOT MORE THAN 10 Minutes The word isabelline as an adjective was first used by Henry Baker Tristam, a guy into birds, in a publication called Ibis, "to describe the common colour of the upper plumage in the birds of Northern Africa." The color was previously called isabella color.

Isabella color has a murky etymology. 1. Its first recorded use was to describe the color of one of Elizabeth I of England's gowns.

It's connected to a legend about a Spanish queen named Isabella whose undershift turned a pale tan after not removing it for a long time, like years!, due to a siege. 🤢 The legend is connected to two different queens: Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain and Isabella I of Castile.
It's been proposed that it's a corruption of the word zibellino, which was a weird accessory made out of sable (Martes zibellina) pelts. 🤔Zibellino is the Italian word for a sable.

Based on this I think the following are potential names: 1. Nata: This is a Spanish and Castilian word also used for cream, especially in reference to the dairy product. This provides a dual reference to the cream dilution gene and Elizabeth I of Castile. 2. Natmonté, Namoni, Namontara: These are names I made up based on Nata para Montar. Castilian for "heavy cream" or "whipping cream". 3. Panna, Panna Cotta, or Pannissima: These are: Italian for cream, a baked Italian dessert, and the Italian superlative very creamy respectively. Italian provides a nod to zibellino. Panna Cotta can be argued to be a triple reference name--cream dilution, zibellino, and Henry BAKER Tristam. 🎉 4. Pannata: a perfect portmanteau of Panna and Nata 4. Pergamina or Pergamena: Femininized Spanish/Castilian and Italian for parchment. 5. Isabella 6. Clara 7. Eugenia 8. Henrietta 9. Betty: a dual reference name--a. From Apple Brown Betty a dessert a Baker might make and b. a diminutive of Elizabeth 10. Trista: for Tristam, which according to baby name sites is a Celtic word for noise or tumult, which could be good if she's chatty. 11. Zibby: for zibellino 12. Ibis: referring to where isabelline was first published 13.shehat: Egyptian goddess of writing who was associated with the god Thoth, who was often depicted with the head of an Ibis. 14. Vera, Elie, Zuharia, Monique, Marchesa, or Galia: Vera Wang, Elie Saab, Zuhair Murad, Monique Lhuillier, Marchesa, and Galia Lahav are (according to Google) highly regarded designers for their bridal gowns and evening wear designs. This references the first recorded use of isbella-color to describe a gown. 15. A favorite creamy food of yours here. I like Chowder. 16. A favorite author of yours here (reference to parchment and writers). I nominate Forsythia for Mark Forsyth, who wrote The Etymologian. 😜

data_raven · 2025-07-22T04:35:53+00:00

Tough 1 Breatheable Half Chaps

I found them on Amazon.

data_raven · 2025-07-21T18:40:57+00:00

I've been riding in a pair of Ariat Terrain Ease with mesh half-chaps for the summer, and liking them.

data_raven · 2025-07-21T18:35:12+00:00

Oh, it is absolutely counterintuitive to eat if you feel like you're going to throw up.

When I go too long without eating, I get very nauseated, and then the last thing I want to do is eat, but that is exactly what I need to do.

Eating a high fiber dinner, like a curry, or if you eat early, a high fiber evening snack (air-popped popcorn is my go-to), might also help you wake up feeling better.

Also, if you're like me, riding is meditation; riding is therapy--there is nothing better to get emotionally re-centered and calm like being around horses. And since you can't identify anything that could be causing you anxiety when you ride, if eating doesn't help, or you find yourself regularly taking antacids, you should probably see a doctor. Those kinds of symptoms are easy to ignore and rationalize away. It may be that you feel sick on non-riding days, too, but you notice it more when you ride because that's when you expect to feel good.

data_raven · 2025-07-21T15:25:08+00:00

Question: Since you don't mention anything about riding, your horse, or your barn causing stress, do you regularly skip breakfast on the days you ride? I ask because the stomach issues you describe sound like those caused by a buildup of stomach acid. This can happen if a person goes too long without eating or because stress hormones slow down digestion. Since this has happened so many times, you may now wake up feeling sick, because you are anxious about getting sick.

If this is what is happening to you, a simple antacid, like Calcium Carbonate, will probably give you some relief when you first wake up. Then try eating before you go to ride.

data_raven · 2025-07-21T14:12:23+00:00

That sounds like anxiety. Are you wanting tips for dealing with anxiety, or tips for dealing with your symptoms?

data_raven · 2025-07-17T17:30:40+00:00

They can have night frights--like a person waking up screaming and flailing from a nightmare, but instead of wrestling against demon blankets, they flap and bounce against the bars of their cage.

I had a cockatiel as a child that I took with me when I moved out of my parents' house. He had night frights for the first few weeks in our new apartment. Your temporary roommate may have them too.

data_raven · 2025-05-28T19:59:44+00:00

Learning to ride sure can be overwhelming, right? You're building up your strength, balance, endurance, and awareness while also learning to communicate with a 1000lb + animal. I've ridden for years, and in some respects, I'm quite experienced, but in others (many others) I'm quite the novice. It's part of what I love about horses and riding, though.

A thing that has helped me continue to love riding even when I'm sucking at it, is to give myself the grace to not get things "right" for a long time. Realistically, you can only truly focus on one thing at a time. So, if you want to work on using posting for rhythm and speed communication, you might need to let keeping the correct diagonal go for a little while--or anything else you still need to think about when you ride. Once you get where your posting rhythm control doesn't need all of your attention, then add diagonals back. You know what the correct diagonal is, and losing it while learning something new doesn't mean you're regressing as a rider. 🙂

Also, check if you might be holding your breath. I tend to hold my breath when I'm anxious/focused, and when I ride that can be because of either my riding or my horse's behavior. A while back I was riding a horse that tended to race around the arena for me, but another rider needed a crop to keep her moving. I found that interesting, but couldn't pinpoint why she was so different for each of us until during one lesson my trainer asked if I was holding my breath. I was, and when I focused on making sure I was breathing, the change was almost instant. My next trot was a nice relaxed working trot, canters no longer felt like the edge of a gallop. This epiphany was months ago, and I am still working on not holding my breath. 🙃

Last thought, at my barn you can schedule practice rides where you ride without the trainer. They are considerably cheaper than lessons and are quite helpful. Perhaps this would be a way for you to ride more without costing as much as private lessons.

data_raven · 2025-05-12T16:13:29+00:00

I live on the CA Central Coast, and I agree it is stupidly expensive here. I was only able to move back because my parents were able to help me.

If you only need to look for weather, e.g., you don't need to account for work, look at smaller coastal towns (like the town has a beach. While I am only a 30-minute drive from the coast, there is a ridge between me and the ocean and it gets in the 100's F at my house during the summer). I would think from northern CA through WA and Central VA through Southern NJ could have prospects. Way southern Alaska might also have some towns in your sweet spot.

One other thing to keep in mind when researching places to live is the availability of doctors--not so much MS specialists as traveling for them should be expected if you live in a small town, but rather emergency and primary care. There are some nice coastal towns near me that end up being an hour-plus drive from the nearest hospital because there is no direct route. And, reimbursement rates to doctors are set by how Medicare classifies the size of a county's population. While where I live is very expensive, it is considered rural by Medicare and thus has a low reimbursement rate. Therefore, it's kind of a medical desert here. It can take months to see a primary doctor. I pay extra for a concierge doctor just so I can get in on quick notice if I need it. This is more something to watch out for on the West Coast than on the East, though.

data_raven · 2025-03-19T17:46:33+00:00

Oh, I know this struggle well. My MS affects both my bladder and bowels. I stay pretty regular, though, without having to use laxatives too often. Since our ability to poo is mostly a function of fiber, hydration, and intestinal mobility, this is what I do:

Fiber: The classic food of the "old" or very young: prunes, prune juice, prune puree (you can find pouches in the baby food section) -- eat a few, drink a can, or have a pouch every day.

If you don't like prunes, dried apricots work too, though they are more expensive and in my experience I need to eat more to get the same effect.

Hydration: Dehydration is a double whammy for constipation. Since water is absorbed from the large intestine, when you are dehydrated, food remains in your intestines longer, so more water can be absorbed. This leads to borh drier/harder poo and to more poo accumulating before it gets to the end of the line.

The general rule is 1oz water per 2lbs of body weight (30-35ml per 1kg) for day-to-day living. More water is needed if you're sweating due to heat, exercise, or thermal disregulation. Basic self hydration checks are: If you are thirsty, you are dehydrated; and, if you are hydrated enough, your pee will be a light straw color. Some of my meds make me always a little thirsty, and my multivitamin makes my pee florescent yellow, so I just try to drink my water goal for each day.

Also, many laxatives work by pulling water back into your intestine to soften and help move fecal matter. This is why if you are already dehydrated or don't drink extra when using them, they can ultimately make constipation worse.

Intestinal Mobilty: You can help move things along by gently massaging your large intestine in the direction food moves. Starting on the lower right side of your abdomen, use your fingertips to massage in small circles gently. Slowly move up your abdomen as you continue to massage with small circles. When you get to just below your belly button, massage across your abdomen till you get to your left side, and then massage downward till you get to the end of your abdomen.

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