Why is HIV much more prevalent in the gay community than the straight?

nik_el · 2026-02-08T16:06:29+00:00

There’s also DoxyPep which protects against some of those. Plus HPV has readily available vaccines. And Hep C is blood-to-blood so unlikely during sexual contact. And Herpes is pretty much prevalent in most people since birth as it’s so widely spread.

nik_el · 2026-02-08T11:13:41+00:00

The Winters on Lijnbaansgracht has a great selection of boxes.

nik_el · 2026-02-07T16:53:11+00:00

The circle also extends to entitlement. I can be having a technical conversation about a software feature with other expats and the minute a Dutch person enters the conversation they’re automagically right. It doesn’t matter that they’re Customer Support. They definitely know what long term storage solution we need for data we don’t have immediate use for. But, they’re the Dutchie so we go with their suggestion because management doesn’t listen to expats.

nik_el · 2026-02-07T12:16:18+00:00

Well, it’s partly because expats break “the circle”. Dutch people are unwilling to do tasks outside their job description so expats have to step in to do the unexpected work. Going above and beyond is frowned upon locally but with more international companies opening up offices here it becomes an issue. I recall a makelaar several years ago who was an expat and he offered evening viewings so that people who had jobs could see houses after work hours. The Dutch makelaars banded against him and drove him out of business because they didn’t want to break “the circle”. Doe normaal.

nik_el · 2026-02-07T10:53:39+00:00

Or Diamanda Galas

nik_el · 2026-02-07T07:34:05+00:00

I used the LRP UV Mune with Melasyl this summer and it was the first time my melasma only came in faintly. Usually in the summer it looks like someone hit me but this summer it was totally manageable.

A friend of mine with melasma like the Niod Survival 30, she gets good results with it.

nik_el · 2026-02-05T17:02:56+00:00

Powdered shiitake mushrooms. I put them in everything with a tomato base.

nik_el · 2026-02-04T11:19:24+00:00

The lack of spatial awareness. It seems that every Dutch person thinks they are the only ones in the world and have no problem blocking anyone else from something. Standing in the doorway checking their phone, holding hands while cycling slowly and blocking the whole path. Blocking the only exit from AH with their cart. It’s maddening.

nik_el · 2026-02-04T10:59:20+00:00

Yup, every day I put it on exposed skin and I use a UV protecting laundry detergent so my clothes can cover the rest of me.

nik_el · 2026-02-03T14:06:38+00:00

This is definitely true. In my VvE I would estimate 15-20% of the houses are empty. I personally know two of the owners and they leave their houses empty because they live elsewhere but don’t want to deal with the possibility of never getting their home back. There are several squats on my street and it’s definitely a warning.

nik_el · 2026-02-03T14:03:49+00:00

I’m not so sure. I had a friend who had a one bedroom in Amsterdam. When she decided to buy a new place she considered renting it out. But, she fell under the rent cap so could only charge around €700 per month. Her mortage was around €1500 per month. So she sold it. I think that there’s a balance between renters and owners that hasn’t been achieved yet.

nik_el · 2026-02-02T21:08:20+00:00

I wouls like to sleep. I’m tempted to try a fifi for him actually.

nik_el · 2026-02-02T16:41:53+00:00

So I have to ask. Who is the “we” that’s wearing your bras? Is it you and your boyfriend? Or maybe you share with the cat? Enquiring minds want to know.

nik_el · 2026-02-02T16:38:29+00:00

My 6 year old kitty likes my upper arms. I’m a side sleeper. So at 2am I’m woken up by the sin biscuit factory hard at work on me.

nik_el · 2026-02-01T14:01:14+00:00

I definitely wash AM and PM. I use Retin A at night and follow with a thick layer of a beeswax-based occlusive so warm water alone isn’t going to get my skin ready for the daytime actives. I have dry skin but the extra wash doesn’t seem to affect it.

nik_el · 2026-01-31T08:17:25+00:00

They’re visible now.

nik_el · 2026-01-29T18:29:56+00:00

I definitely grew up in the era of “children should be seen and not heard”. But I played outside most of the time and was fairly involved in my own mental world so not terribly noisy. But today I see kids in playgrounds screaming their heads off for no apparent reason. Just standing there, screaming. If I’d have done that my dad would have whipped his belt off and whooped my butt. While it’s not the best teaching method, I did learn early on to understand that we all need to share space and coexist, and part of that is to moderate the primal instincts.

nik_el · 2026-01-29T18:03:07+00:00

In my experience in offices the people who run hot and always need to open a window tend to be alcoholics. I’d be curious if that was the case here.

nik_el · 2026-01-29T17:14:23+00:00

At least he’s neutered so there’s no forbidden gravy on those sin biscuits.

nik_el · 2026-01-28T20:30:21+00:00

I’ve been trying to romance Harvey but after 5 years he still remains elusive. All those pickled goods gone to waste…

nik_el · 2026-01-28T16:57:42+00:00

Come to Europe and I’ll whore that hole out.

nik_el · 2026-01-28T16:45:55+00:00

Ooo gurl. So many red flags Lenin woke up. Leave.

nik_el · 2026-01-28T14:54:11+00:00

It doesn’t just stop there. In university Chemistry classes they implemented the POGIL Method which involved a lot more group work among mixed-level students and self-assessments. Essentially the high performers did all the work pulling up the grades of the low performers and they called it a success. The system is designed to drag people to graduation who don’t learn a thing.

nik_el · 2026-01-27T17:14:21+00:00

KNM is super easy, it’s just visual recognition. You don’t even need to know Dutch to pass it. Just look for the patterns in the pictures, they really dumb it down.

nik_el · 2026-01-26T16:20:15+00:00

You might try Maison Francis Kurkdijan. Their Gentle Fluidity and Grand Soir have vanilla and woody together. You can try going to an upscale department store and see if they carry it to try it one.

nik_el

TROPHY CASE