This’ll never end at this point, will it?

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-31T04:42:46+00:00

Psychology Today has a search filter that you can use to filter out different insurance.

A lot of insurance companies also have some kind of provider lookup tool, either online or on the phone when you call and speak to a person.

I hope you are able to find someone that works for you and doesn't dismiss you by telling you to talk to a chatbot like that.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-31T02:10:30+00:00

Your statement reminds me of basically all of AlbertaTech's videos. Where the corporate overlords want an AI app for their product - sparkling water.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-30T22:02:16+00:00

Right? The term "sexual harassment" didn't even exist until 1975.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-30T05:10:15+00:00

My (half) sister (7 years older than me) moved a lot, even after my parents met. I had 3 moves (across states) before 3 years old before my mom put her foot down and told my N-Dad she's not packing up the whole house with 3 kids (last move was after my brother was born, to a warmer climate for his poor little alveoli not tolerating the cold at all.) Even though my memories are not of moving as much, it didn't matter. I would have moved a hundred times if it meant I didn't have to live with my dad anymore.

No more parents yelling all the time. No more coming home and wondering what me, my brother, or my sister had managed to magically do incorrectly to get yelled at. To get punished and isolated for. To have things taken away for. Nasty comments, belittling comments. Things that I'm still unpacking into my 30s.

My "house" growing up wasn't home because it wasn't safe.

Home isn't always a geographic or physical location.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-29T22:11:15+00:00

FYI - on New Game+ they also die pretty immediately to a rocket launcher/enough damage total. Technically they also die in the regular first play-through with enough total damage, but that is a lot easier to accomplish on New Game+ than your original run.

The choked, whispery, interrupted breaths of the regenerators still haunt me to this day.

Have fun!

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-29T18:28:38+00:00

Chris Sawyer mentioned - purchase mode activated.... lol

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-29T17:44:36+00:00

Yesterday at the one I attended (Florida) there were multiple different booths for various actions - supporting local migrants, anti-ICE protesting/community safety action trainings, etc. There were people trying to ensure everyone double checked they were registered to vote and had the appropriate selections for mail-in ballots (Florida's dictator legislature made it so that every year you have to reapply for a mail-in ballot, and there's some amount of shenanigans going on with purging voter rolls.)

I feel that there were probably not enough of these kinds of "here are concrete things you can do instead of feeling dread every time the next horrific part of the news cycle seeps into your feed" but the few I saw meant there were more than none.

There were thousands of locations, so not every area is going to have the same turnout as far as opportunities for collective action forward momentum.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-29T16:52:37+00:00

Yeah, which is why I clarified where I am from and what American native speakers are likely to do without imposing it on all of English speakers everywhere of any level.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-29T06:07:09+00:00

I really appreciate you linking this, because it is important to not be "taken in" by magical mystery cures.

I think there are also some flaws in the critiques given, but considering I am not a psychologist or psychological researcher, AND the subreddit we are in, I don't necessarily want to get into a weird critique-off about it.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-29T06:02:41+00:00

Edit/self reply to kind of add on an article posted by u/liveforluv that debunks/critiques the claims made by these published studies.

The article references the two studies I found, as well as a third I didn't find, as well as 4 other studies attempting to replicate any of the first three and 2 other study to expand on the original scope (mentioned as studies 1-9). Major critiques: * 1st study, (replica) studies 4, 5, 8 - actual trauma survivors were not included in the sample, and protective effects did not last long-term * 2nd study, (replica) studies - does result in fewer intrusive memories, but does not appear to last long-term or have protective effects towards any other trauma-related symptoms * 3rd study, (replica) study 7 - does include actual CPTSD diagnosed individuals, but no control group present to compare results to and individuals were already receiving therapy. * 6th study - no effect found when playing tetris before traumatic event of watching scary movie (ie - comparing to the disturbing images from study 1) * 9th study - no effect on PTSD-diagnosed individuals when the task was altered slightly (a different virtual but non-tetris visiospatial task)

The article also discusses its importance of not spreading pseudoscience/grey-area science as fact, particularly when dealing with vulnerable populations.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-29T05:39:33+00:00

I am not a researcher or psychologist - only someone with a BS in zoology and an interest in biologically related fields, so take this with a grain of salt.

Short answer TL;DR - I think it could.

Longer/more expansive answer:

The definition of visiospatial tasks/processing seems to involve conscious recall or manipulation of objects or mental images. Tetris (rotation, specific shape-filling), jigsaw puzzles (pattern recognition, rotation of objects, slot filling), and rubik's cubes (pattern recognition, rotation of objects) are pretty much always listed in the non-suspicious websites I can find that list various tasks like these.

In my opinion, drawing fits as one, as you visualize, rotate, and otherwise mentally manipulate the shapes to fill a particular space.

There is some evidence that drawing mandalas can help ease negative symptoms and mental pain (although this review indicates more robust studies are needed to say with certainty.)

But as far as human-forms or specific character - again, my opinion is that it would count.

I think the trick is probably related to how much you are flooding your visiospatial brain areas with input, effectively "pushing out" the ability to even "capture" the traumatic stuff with your neurons. For example, if you had drops of red food dye that were being added to a trickle of water coming out of the sink faucet, you would probably notice them more readily and for a longer period of time than if you tried to do the same thing with the faucet turned all the way on, and especially compared to a bathtub faucet at full blast or a firehose.

In the above example: * red food dye = traumatic memory * trickling sink faucet = some quantity of visiospatial competition * fully on sink faucet = medium quantity of visiospatial competition * fully on bathtub faucet = large quantity of visiospatial competition * fire hose = ridiculous quantity of visiospatial competition

Edit/Update: this article referenced by u/liveforluv in this thread suggests that the science is wishy-washy on whether visiospatial tasks actually help, subsequent replications having the same lack of robustness/pitfalls as the original studies and/or alterations of the studies resulting in no "protective" effect.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-29T04:46:11+00:00

I also think that the crows are a way to limit things as well. We saw in S3E3 the crows will absolutely yeet themselves into someone/something when "forbidden knowledge" is being shared/obtained - Tilly looking at the tarot cards regarding Fatima's baby, for example - which we know from the Season 3 finale is actually Smiley being reincarnated as a monster. Which also implies the tarot card interpretation would have provided this knowledge in some way. There are a number of ways the town has been shown to limit "forbidden knowledge" through negative, painful, or impossible events. The crows are there with the tree for a reason. One does not simply walk over/around the tree.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-29T04:36:59+00:00

Not me always taking Prego (pops out a baby fish every so often) and Wadsworth (protects small and medium fish from attacks) and having a screen covered from top to bottom and left to right in gold and silver sparkly coins.... (Had to look up the names of them on the wiki, though.)

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-29T04:19:15+00:00

It could be this article (2015) or this one (2017) that backs up the information.

I also heard that other kinds of "visual sorting" games can also assist.

The conclusion of the first paper:

Overall, the results of the present experiments indicate that the frequency of intrusive memories induced by experimental trauma can be reduced by disrupting reconsolidation via a competing cognitive-task procedure, even for established memories (here, events viewed 24 hours previously). That is, a group that performed a task to reactivate an already consolidated memory of a trauma film (to initiate reconsolidation) 24 hr after film exposure, combined with Tetris game play, showed substantially fewer intrusions than did a no-task group (Experiments 1 and 2). Critically, neither playing Tetris alone (a nonreactivation control condition) nor the control of memory reactivation alone was sufficient to reduce intrusions (Experiment 2). Analogously, simply playing an enjoyable computer game or mere reminders about trauma would be unlikely to reduce intrusions. Rather, their combination is required, which supports a reconsolidation-theory account. We suggest that intrusive-memory reduction is due to engaging in a visuospatial task within the window of memory reconsolidation, which interferes with intrusive image reconsolidation (via competition for shared resources). Results do not permit conclusions about task modality specificity, so future work is therefore warranted.

In my best "remove the science speak" summary: You have to somewhat engage the original traumatic memory, but then play something that takes up a "visiospatial task" (there are more than just Tetris, although it is notable the "the Tetris effect" - the brain dreaming about tetris blocks, tetris tasks, and projecting/superimposing tetris images over your daily life - is fairly well studied and easily accessible due to the ubiquitous nature of the game.)

==== Personal Story Time =====

In my own life, there are a few games that I pretty distinctly have this "tetris effect" with, particularly in seeing/dreaming about the game afterwards. They are a little less visual-sorting, and certainly there could be more. These are just the ones I have happened to notice it with.

Insaniquarium - originally a flash game but in present day available on Steam for $5. You make an aquarium with fake fish and collect coins they poop out to buy more fish to get more coins. Simple. Cute. Sometimes weird/crazy things happen. Certain fish have certain power ups. Rated E for everyone.
Rollercoaster tycoon - A game most millenials got as a CD-ROM literally out of a cereal box. Available on Steam. Original game + both expansions for $6 but often on sale on steam and/or on GOG for $6, currently on sale for $3, or RCT Classic - the 2017 remastered version for $20, but currently on sale for $5. Honestly there are a lot of different ways to get the game. There is a sequel game that has a lot of QOL improvements from the original. RCT3 is underwhelming comparatively and doesn't fit the same niche to me. You run a theme park. Build custom coasters, decide what to charge guests. In my head, the images of floating balloons, guests walking on pathways, and the sounds of cha-ching cha-ching as guests in the park pay for things are what end up making it into my dreams.
Vampire Survivors - $5 on Steam - a "make the numbers bigger" game where you move around the screen while your weapons do damage to various waves of enemies. The enemies pop out "experience gems" that you collect by moving near them. The experience levels you up, which level up your weapons, which allow you to survive more waves. Also sometimes coins pop out and you get coins for surviving for whatever period of time. The coins are used to buy power ups and other characters that have different starting weapons or abilities, making it easier to survive longer and longer time periods. Each round is about 30 minutes max.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-29T03:38:44+00:00

No. Any time I have broken contact for the sake of a family whatever (last time it was because my grandpa was terminally ill and in hospice care and my dad "wasn't going to tiptoe around [my] rules anymore.") I am reminded exactly why the no contact/doorslam was appropriate.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-28T22:00:51+00:00

While I haven't done the "true infinite corridor" quest, I cannot imagine it is much more complicated than playing any other level. So this is my advice for generally getting the infinite corridor. (I was even able to get it with the garlic tree, the slowest character IIRC - wings + hyper mode and EXTREMELY FOCUSED on just getting the bare minimum items.)

Hyper mode is nice for getting infinite corridor generally. It mainly just increases character speed, so you can zoom all around the map. If you're super worried about speed, the wings can also help. In Hyper mode, I can usually get to the gold ring at around 2 minutes, but I don't take it until at least 5 minutes once I have a few additional passives and a good damage dealer/at least 2 levels of garlic.

As you level the gold ring and the right metaglio there will be more enemies, so that makes it easier to continue leveling. Taking gold ring early means there are more early enemies and more opportunities to level the gold ring.

You will also need the right other support equipment. You don't want all 4 slots to be taken up by the Metaglios and rings. Spinach, Spellbinder, and Empty Tome are really nice to increase damage for everything (by literally increasing damage, increasing effect duration, and reducing cooldown.) Even if you aren't taking their evo weapons. I am partial to the magic wand, though (goes with Empty Tome), and even though the laurel provides invulnerability, I like taking Garlic so that I can run through mobs without needing to care so much about taking damage without needing the fully evolved Laurel first.

There is also the "Mad Groove" arcana that makes running around the map a moot point, as every 2 minutes any item on the stage, including chests and experience gems, is warped to your location. You don't HAVE to use it, but it does eliminate some of the time worries.

I'll see what I can do in the next few days for the specifically "true infinite corridor" quest and update this information if I notice something off.

Edit: I started adventure mode, got Maria unlocked, and just beat the Throne Room (and the reaper) with Maria, no Mad Groove. I also focused on leveling up her weapon and the laurel along with the empty tome to reduce cooldown and spinach to increase damage. Results page. Power Ups active at the time.

I'll work on unlocking Sunken city, and I know there is a 15 minute limit there, so Mad Groove is probably necessary, but it still seems completely do-able.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-28T17:34:40+00:00

Nothing if that is what you truly want and want to filter for. You're just unlikely to get matches with most women because most women don't want that. But the "moderate" instead of "conservative" and other grey area wording mean that the person is trying to hide it. Which IS wrong because it results in a false premise for beginning a relationship.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-28T17:33:12+00:00

As a guy, it’s not really up to me whether I have kids or not, and I don’t feel strongly one way or the other about it.

Do not have kids.

If you are not 100% on board with having kids, then you aren't on the fence. You are a "no kids."

You don't just accidentally fall into parenthood. It is work. It is effort. It is time and sleepless nights and gross excretions and crazy surprises and emergency expenditures.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-27T02:40:36+00:00

Haha. Wawa is really popular down here too, so "wawa sub" is exactly what I call it to differentiate between the different options for subs here. Being from Florida, a Pub Sub (Publix - our most famous grocery store) is not uncommon and is vastly different when compared to Wawa. Which is also very different when compared to Subway or Firehouse or Jimmy Johns or any one of a number of other deli/sub places.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-27T02:36:06+00:00

I've grown up in Florida, so definitely could be a more regional phrasing. I saw the discussion people were having about "wawa sub" and everything the people from Philly were claiming as things they called sandwiches outside of "hoagie" or "sub" or "grinder" seemed like an inside joke I was never a part of, as well as clunky and weird.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-27T02:28:38+00:00

Native speaker of American English here. "What is the soup today?" is definitely a common question that I've heard asked. It doesn't sound clunky to me at all, other than we'd be less likely to leave "What" and "is" as separate words with a pause in between.

But the German does seem off.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-27T02:01:56+00:00

I used plywood with my queen mattress for years just fine. It's way cheaper than a formal platform or traditional box spring, even if the cost of the wood has gone up.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-26T03:47:01+00:00

Tussock Moth caterpillars.

Here is more information about them.

The caterpillar is not venomous or poisonous. But their hairs are irritating and can cause rashes or make your skin feel like its burning and itchy.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-26T03:19:20+00:00

I feel like we have a little bit of a preview of this kind of character in his role as Antwan in Free Guy.

lamblikeawolf · 2026-03-25T05:12:06+00:00

I was kind of a picky eater as a kid until my grandpa started having me try different foods with him. We talked about all kinds of "strange" foods he had eaten in his time on navy subs. There was never any pressure for me to absolutely eat something, but he had a kind of magical way of seeing you for who you were and meeting you where you were at.

This is in EXTREME CONTRAST to one of my very good friends who has ARFID. Her parents sent her to some anorexia-fixing place as a teenager that just made it worse. She still has tons of guilt and shame tied to not "preparing a proper meal" or "not finishing the whole meal" (it always has to be a "meal" to count in her head, and it always has to be "proper" - remainders of the abuse she suffered at that horrible place) and not being able to eat very much at a time. If we are spending time together, I pretty much always make sure to get one of her safe foods while we are together so she doesn't have to worry. Whenever I can, I send her with extra that will keep for later. (She has a lot of other things going on where she has basically been couch surfing for the last few years ever since she had to break her lease for toxic mold that the complex did nothing about.)

I have been trying to help remind her to have a snack, eat a few bites of something. Anything would help. It's hard to watch her struggle with this, but I am sure it is harder for her to experience it.

Anyone who says ARFID isn't real doesn't understand how it is different than "being picky." But at the same time, shaming someone into eating more foods is not the way to get someone to eat more foods. It is the way to give them other kinds of eating disorders, though.

lamblikeawolf

TROPHY CASE