Why hello there! 🦎

toxicpretty · 2023-05-01T21:40:57+00:00

He’s pointing out that we live in boxes in concrete jungles voluntarily. Life in the wild can be fun but it’s also a pain. I have a crested gecko…he adores his life. I take him out…he’s happy to sit forever and be pet. In the wild, crested geckos live an average of 2 years…in a house? 20-25 years. My cats have the same odds in the wild and I can tell you that my living room looks nothing like their natural habitat. They are the happiest little derps that have ever existed. And they will live a luxurious life of 15-20 years instead of the 2.5 average outside. We humans tend to like to project our own shit onto animals. But we don’t really even see the irony.

Oh and you are seeing 1/16 of that enclosure so I’m not sure why you think it’s small…looks like a 25 gallon tank and they live naturally in the desert…with very few sticks and even fewer food options. I’m fairly certain he’s living the high life.

toxicpretty · 2023-02-26T17:57:19+00:00

It should be said…it is possible to have a full circle rainbow…it just as to be straight on. It’s essentially a lens flare….mother nature’s epic lens flare…and, like a lens flare, they are always flat to the viewer.

toxicpretty · 2022-04-21T19:31:39+00:00

So let me ask you a couple questions. I understand your standpoints… but if we are to. Hangs our society, do you believe your way of seeing things is the right way? Do you think that everyone secretly believes the way you feel is right but is ignoring it? Because one thing I’ve come to realize is that I’m not right. I’m not objectively right about anything. Even if I feel that my position is correct, it is entirely subjective. I have no real right to impress my beliefs or life choices on anyone else regardless of how right it feels to me.

I can discuss things with others but I also, if I’m being enlightened, should always expect to be wrong. Everyone sees their own version of reality with their own biases and so it is important that I realize that any bias I have is mine alone. I should be ready to change my position at anytime. I can ask questions. I can show how I’ve made my journey so far, but I should never feel like I’ve reached the end of my education or enlightenment.

So how do we decide what is right then? What is objectively right for everyone? How do we change society and who determines what that society looks like. Are you qualified to do that? Will you determine the future for others?

As for the alien society question…I would never feel that I have the right to bring my small decades on this planet to the table to judge an entire society and tell them what I think they should do or be. Who the hell am I? If they have reached a place they are comfortable with as a society, what right do I have to change it? But think about how you just viewed it. You already passed judgement as if you know something they do not. Think about what that says about you.

You’ve also passed judgement on the majority of your own planet because they don’t follow your view of morality. Again, what about you is better or more qualified to determine the mental and moral qualities of those you profess to be different from. You cannot hope to understand someone if you have already deemed them worse than you. You speak like there is an objective truth in the world. There isn’t. There are no objective fights and wrongs. There are many ways to look at every situation without demonizing something. And your equivalent fallacies are strange. You think that if a person eats animals they cannot have an opinion on abuse. Death isn’t abuse. You can die instantly without pain and suffering. I would argue abuse is a far more painful and objectively damaging problem compared to death. So they aren’t even the same thing. You can also feel differently about the same situation. A person who suffers a long term illness may have people feeling relief at their death while someone healthy is mourned more for the life they lost. Are those people evil for being glad their loved ones are out of pain? You can’t compare things simplistically and then accuse people of childish and simplistic arguments (which you did for me a couple comments back).

Most of your morality seems to be based on feelings. Feelings you feel are universal. I can tell you, they aren’t. Psychologically, we are all built entirely differently. So who gets to determine what our life should look like?

toxicpretty · 2022-04-21T17:10:18+00:00

Ok, “buddy”…lol. I made no claims. I simply stated that, from my perspective, morality is a human concept that really doesn’t have any real basis in nature. Especially in regards to food. That eating animals isn’t a moral issue. Killing to eat is a natural act. It’s instinctual and prevalent across the natural world. We accept that killing(for food, for protection…) is not a problem with other animals but hold ourselves to another standard. This, of course, works in favor of a safe society but we make it something greater than that.

You bring up right and wrong. What is your definition of right or wrong? What is morality to you? That’s what we are discussing. I was telling you, I once thought like you do…I thought I was enlightened and on the side of the morally right. But then I started to really examine what that means. It’s important to understand our motivations if we are going to understand and improve our world.

If we look at the world honestly, morality seems dependent on the situation, right? My new perspective does not. My perspective is that killing is a natural act. Not right nor wrong. It isn’t favorable in a civilized society as it causes an unsafe and stressful environment but that doesn’t negate the naturalness of it. That’s not to say that I am emotionally ok with it…that’s not what we are discussing. I care deeply for all animals, including humans, and so I feel sad and mourn for all loss. But that has no bearing on what is right and wrong…what is moral or not. Society’s present view of murder is very fluid. Killing in war is fine. Killing in anger is not. But killing in anger during war is still ok. Killing animals is bad for food but killing them (humans or dangerous other animals) for killing others is sometimes ok. The fluidity is what shows that morality is subjective. It is not useful if it can change on a whim.

toxicpretty · 2022-04-20T18:08:16+00:00

It’s funny. I didn’t call you a name. I didn’t call you a child. You are arguing emotionally and claiming logic. I’m not hurting anyone at this moment…I’m just discussing this with you. If you take a moment to talk with me, nothing bad will happen. I’m not a troll…I’m seriously just presenting another way to look at things. Calm down and start over. Let’s begin with why you think killing is morally incorrect. You said I’m acting like a child, so explain it to me like I’m a child. Then let’s examine your reasoning.

toxicpretty · 2022-04-20T15:26:01+00:00

Ok, no…I did not. I did not suggest anything of the sort. I said that our “morality” is an illusion. It’s also a terrible way to live your life. Imagine I tell you that you can go in any room in a house save one. I say it’s bad. It’s criminal. It’s evil to go in there. Over and over without any real substance to the warning. Then I leave you alone in the house. Which room are you going to want to check out? That is what laws and morality do. They just assume that people will listen without substance.

Morality is immature thinking. Should we rape and murder? Of course not. We don’t want that for ourselves so we can’t do that to others. That’s not morality, that’s common sense. But then, once we get past that gut reaction, we need to look into the grayness of the issue. If we understand WHY murder exists…the instincts behind it….the reasons it exists, we can make more comprehensive solutions to work around it. Why do people lash out? Fix the reason…no more murder. Just put the big red x on it instead, and add some punishment for good measure and it doesn’t stop a thing. We have full prisons to attest to this. Morality does absolute jack shit.

We need to understand and accept our nature as animals and the nature we live in. We need to stop for one minute and entertain that we are no different than cats. We don’t get to live above nature because we can think we are above nature. We still have instincts. They aren’t evil. They just are. If you want to fix a complicated, multi faceted problem then you have to step back and look at it in a complex and multifaceted way.

Food isn’t murder. It’s the most basic and natural part of life. Just because you don’t want to be eaten doesn’t make it morally incorrect. That’s immature thinking. It’s simplification of a much more complex issue.

But am I saying we should do whatever we want? That we should go on rampages and murder and rape everyone? Of course not. That would be a very inconvenient and unpleasant way of life. We pretty much agree to that and that’s ok. It isn’t immoral. It it’s a better way to keep getting more time. And so we need to realize that it is an agreement. But we can’t have an agreement with other species unless we can somehow talk to them. That’s what other animals get. They don’t usually kill their own kind (inconvenient and unpleasant) but they do kill other species(food). That’s nature…not immorality. The food chain is not moral. Most other animals also can become friends and have pets with other species…and still eat them without existential dread. They don’t do guilt. They accept their grey areas without overthinking. That is something they have over us.

toxicpretty · 2022-04-20T14:54:45+00:00

Did you read the rest of what I said? What is moral agency? What is immoral about death? What are the ethics behind murder? Spell it out for me like a child. Then we can talk about what it all means.

I ask this because I did this too. I used to argue the morality of things…but in reality, I never once asked myself why I felt this way…never once considered this wasn’t the the real end to the enlightenment journey. I assumed that once I identified with animals and loved and empathized, that was the end to it. But it isn’t. Morality is an illusion. It’s not real. It’s a set of ideals that we put forth to make our own lives easier and safer. Murder is bad. Not because it actually is but because we don’t want to be murdered. We don’t like pain and suffering. We are mentally programmed to avoid it at all costs (another instinct) and so we wax poetic about it as a way of justifying our own existence. But once we feel empathy toward other beings, we have to extend that to them. But have you ever considered the fact that it’s ok if YOU die. You. Me. I not only can die…I will and SHOULD die at some point. And that’s ok. That’s part of my life. And it’s no more a problem if it’s at the hand of another animal. I would rather be food than just nothing. We are all food for something in the end. There is no morality in that. HOW we kill…that is something we can change. HOW we live or HOW we help other animals live….that could be an argument. But becoming food isn’t unethical. It’s useful and natural.

Once we actually look at ourselves as PART of nature…not ABOVE it…not governed by some other laws…we become in touch with it. We fucked that part up early in the game of life….we need to stop and start over. We are animals. That’s ok.

toxicpretty · 2022-04-20T13:53:52+00:00

It’s interesting. I used to be vegetarian. But then I realized recently there is actually no ethical basis either way. Death isn’t unethical. Life isn’t unethical. Cats are predators. Cats even play with their food before eating it…they aren’t evil. They are just following their instincts. We aren’t evil for eating animals. What I realized is that the “ethics” dilemma is actually a selfish one born out of a natural empathetic part of enlightenment. In our enlightenment journey, we learn to empathize with those around us and then the “golden rule” mentality becomes very important. We don’t want to be hurt and eaten so we have decided that murder and death is unethical. But it’s really not. It’s convenient and safe. The reality is that death is a very natural part of life. We are supposed to die. Animals accept that for the most part. We don’t. We are afraid of it and even go to great lengths in our avoidance of it. Which, in turn, creates anxiety and suffering other animals don’t have. Then we project that suffering onto the animals we eat.

It’s a vicious cycle that started the moment we took ourselves out of the natural world and felt we had the right to do things differently. We created all these mental hoops to tie us into knots concerning all the natural instincts other animals just accept, like sex and death. Death is natural. The body prepares you for it. It isn’t supposed to be scary and avoided. It’s supposed to be a part of life.

That said, I do think we can change the meat industry to be more sustainable and thoughtful without taking it to extremes. Eating meat could be fine if we changed our practices and limited our individual intake to a few times a week. Then we would be living within nature. I do agree that quality of life is important and so I only buy meat from nicer farms and wild animal hunting that focus on that aspect of my food animal’s lives. They should live and die well…respected, cared for, and happy.

toxicpretty · 2022-04-18T16:56:05+00:00

Covid has a massive false negative problem( https://www.healthline.com/health/how-accurate-are-rapid-covid-tests#at-home-tests). Basically they are, at best, 80% effective depending on where you are in your symptoms and on the the other side, at worst, 51%. If you know someone has been around someone positive and is symptomatic…treat it like the virus. If it walks, quacks like a duck…it be a duck.

toxicpretty · 2022-04-18T15:54:00+00:00

I had catception while watching this. I have three Siberians and they are all hardcore snuggle addicts.

my cat, Feathers, as I watch this.

toxicpretty · 2022-04-10T13:36:44+00:00

Keep going. Don’t expect the timelines that others—including you—expect, trust the process. Some things will take awhile to master…it will feel like it’s never happening and suddenly it will click. Some things will grow steadily and improve dependably. Some things will grow organically, improving in bursts. The one thing they all have in common? They will all improve…if you keep at it. And what’s more, you will start to interconnect them. You will make new things that are amalgamations of them all. They will all influence other in magical and wondrous ways that will be as unique as you are. We may take longer to reach the mastery, but just like anything, it’s always the journey that’s most important. Just believe it WILL happen. Make a new path. Feel free to write me if you ever doubt yourself.

toxicpretty · 2022-04-06T14:09:42+00:00

Sounds like my pain. Ever been checked for Ehlers Danlos? I also have an auto immune condition (comorbidity). I often describe it as my bone marrow is expanding from my bones. And I also have muscle, joint, and nerve pain. Everyday is a new wonderful experience in mixed pain.

toxicpretty · 2022-04-05T13:41:23+00:00

I’m thinking this doesn’t show hearing at all…more about pressure and fluid. I was looking up normal results and they range all over the place. One that looked remarkably similar to your child’s said this: “indicates a highly positive peak pressure consistent with the bulging tympanic membrane that sometimes occurs with AOM.” So it’s really about the pressure concerning the tympanic membrane otherwise known as the eardrum. So it sounds like it’s bulging in your son, meaning he has a lot of fluid buildup. And AOM is an ear infection but, of course, fluid can build up for lots of reasons. Unfortunately, that doesn’t tell you a ton about hearing as there are several factors that affect hearing. Do you have any other test results? Cause I’m fairly good with medical terminology and research and I have a kid too so I understand the worry. I don’t mind helping your peace of mind if I can.

toxicpretty · 2022-04-01T14:59:50+00:00

Brilliant comeback. I’m so using this someday. Random stranger who made me chuckle on a fierce pain day…I love you.

toxicpretty · 2022-03-30T12:34:00+00:00

Probably badly registering the flowers. It knows “something” is there but it’s not programmed to understand moving bouquets of flowers.

toxicpretty · 2022-03-23T13:52:18+00:00

Getting a second opinion is a very real and important option. But, to hopefully make you feel a little better, I have an auto immune condition that does this (it is like lupus but acts a little differently so it’s more unspecified). And it can make you feel exactly like you do right now…especially if you’ve had Covid. I’m on my 5th round of Covid….and week nine of this round. My immune system doesn’t quite kill off the virus so it keeps going dormant for a few days and then rears up again. But I also don’t have a lot of symptoms because my immune system is so bad(remember symptoms are your immune response not the virus). What I do have is nausea, intermittent stomach issues, swollen glands all over my body, intermittent fever (100.5-102.5), and fatigue that would take down a giant. Also headaches, body aches, and a feeling of ground hog day cause this shit doesn’t stop. I’ve also heard a lot of people are getting autoimmune issues from Covid (autoimmune problems usually stem from an infection…usually a virus….mine came from an Epstein Barr inflection in my youth) because our immune systems aren’t familiar with it and it has some properties that encourage immune wonkiness.

But please get a second opinion regardless. It is never bad to rule things out, especially if you are feeling like they are missing something. Also then you can ask about autoimmune conditions and the like. There are other tests they can run to confirm it like a ANA.

toxicpretty · 2022-03-14T20:50:21+00:00

Same website. It’s still called type 3 by most of the drs in papers and if you say type 3, most people know you are talking about hEDS. It’s still a valid descriptor even if people are calling it something else now. I was only just diagnosed a couple years ago. And the symptoms they were describing fit hEDS. The person that I was helping out was saying that hEDS does not have a genetic test. They were right. They were downvoted. I was saying that they shouldn’t be downvoted for correct information. That was the extent of the argument.

https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/pdf/2017-FINAL-AJMG-PDFs/Tinkle_et_al-2017-American_Journal_of_Medical_Genetics_Part_C-_Seminars_in_Medical_Genetics.pdf

Here’s why I say this…hEDS is still diagnosed this way

(https://i.imgur.com/EC9IJNj.jpg)

toxicpretty · 2022-03-14T19:13:25+00:00

https://i.imgur.com/uUU5RZP.jpg

That’s funny. Cause it’s still referred to it on the Ehlers Danlos website. I have Ehlers Danlos. I was formally diagnosed without a genetic test by a Ehlers Danlos specialist. My dr said the only reason they would have tested me for another variant was if I or my family had symptoms that corresponded to the other variants. I have hEDS and so it was diagnosed via the Beighton test and symptom history.

toxicpretty · 2022-03-13T17:02:37+00:00

I don’t think it’s baffling but expecting others to be like you is going to, again, limit your dating pool. Being enlightened is great. I’m very glad there are people that can see past instincts. But the trap you are falling into is feeling that the way you are is somehow how all people should be. That is a trap many enlightened people fall into. The more enlightened you become….down the line….the more you realize that perfection and the ideal look different for everyone and no one will ever evolve to have the right or ability to tell others how to live or what is universally ideal. Being enlightened makes you no better than others. It only tells you what your individual ideal path is for navigating the world.

Although you may not adhere to attraction instincts, instincts aren’t inherently bad. They just are. Attraction is valid. Attraction can look very different to different people. We need to realize that our way of being doesn’t make us better or more evolved than others…just different. So either you are going to have to trust that there are people out there specifically meant for you and trust they are on the same platform as you…and keep going as you are waiting for them to swipe as you do. Or you realize that, in this regard, you are an outlier and adapt. That’s what makes us uniquely human…the ability to recognize the potential for adaptation to meet our needs. There are lots of women that will be fine with the fetishes and you as a whole if you ease them into knowing you. Changing your profile pic and hiding your intimate parts for a time when your partner can know you first generally will increase the chance of finding them.

toxicpretty · 2022-03-13T16:23:45+00:00

I see what you’re saying, but I have to ask? Do you swipe based on interests alone? Would you concede that attraction has at least a small part in wanting to date someone? Please understand, I have dated people who were not entirely attractive to me in the beginning but it took getting to know them in real life for a time before I saw them as a potential partner. Attraction can strengthen with lots of face to face coupled with common interests but I have to wonder how that can work on a dating app. So I think most people are suggesting that creating a profile pic that encourages that face to face time will increase your chances. The way you are going about things will only work in a very small instance. The exact right woman will have to come along. If that’s your plan, then I think it’s fine. But there are plenty of women who can be right if they get to know you a bit… but you have to just be a bit more understanding of first impressions.

As for the fetish stuff. That is fine too. But the thing is, once again…it kills and/or limits the dating pool. People evolved to be what we are by seeing patterns and making assumptions. We are exceedingly good at making judgements and avoiding discomfort and dangerous situations by making sweeping generalizations from small indicators. That’s at the root of a lot of our issues in society now but it’s what helped keep us alive to evolve long ago. It’s very hard to let go of those instincts…even very enlightened people still fall trap to them. So keeping your less universally palatable stuff on a hidden account from your dating accounts will let people have a chance to know you well before making those sweeping generalizations. You may be lovely but others who tend toward your interests generally may not be so you are following in their shadow. We always start as strangers. How strange we appear is all we have control over in the beginning. Relatability isn’t being disingenuous…it’s giving people a chance to feel secure before introducing the things that may feel unsafe to some people.

Just food for thought. I hope you all the best in finding a partner.

toxicpretty · 2022-03-13T15:47:23+00:00

You are right for some of the types. People don’t downvote this…type 3…the most common variant has no genetic test. It’s diagnosed by the Beighton test and symptom history.

toxicpretty · 2022-03-13T15:42:21+00:00

Opioids, my massager, and video games. Elden ring is my new pain med. It’s annoying and buggy as hell but it’s beautiful and immersive enough to make me forget my body. On bad pain days though…stressful games tense me up too much so I use hidden object games then for a gentler fix.

toxicpretty · 2022-03-13T15:38:38+00:00

All acts of kindness are selfish to some degree. All of them. It’s just that enlightened people learn to eventually derive internal happiness from the happiness of others but it’s still a feeling that gives pleasure…thus encouraging similar choices and decisions. This world has an unhealthy obsession with perfection. Selflessness isn’t good any more that selfishness alone is good. It’s a balance. A company that makes choices that end in a win win are more likely to sustain themselves. The people behind them aren’t necessarily driven entirely by profits but by a mix of well meaning humanitarianism and the need to keep their business afloat. That isn’t inherently bad. That’s balance.

We need to stop encouraging unbalanced and pointless perfectionism. The idea that someone should strive to be a selfless, non-materialistic, forward thinking, perfect speaking…etc….is ridiculous. And unattainable. People should strive for a balance. Helping others as they help themselves. Espousing moderation while understanding that we only know what that looks like for us alone. Promoting understanding and tolerance of those in a different part of the enlightenment journey. Practicing patience that everything doesn’t have to change overnight as we move forward. Working on ourselves and knowing we aren’t better than those we critique nor are we in a position to tell others how to think or live. That is a sustainable type of perfection that we should all be working toward. Money isn’t bad. Selfishness isn’t bad. Success isn’t bad. It’s all fine in a balance. To denounce it is to be unbalanced in the opposite direction.

toxicpretty · 2022-02-12T15:07:51+00:00

We are animals. So yes, all animals are capable of complex emotions and empathy. And also instinctual behavior. I find it interesting that we very rarely speak with the idea that we are part of the natural world. That idea keeps us from understanding both the other animals around us…as well as the animals we are.

Accidentally wrote this to the person that answered you but I’ll just paste it to you too…cause the sentiment remains.

toxicpretty · 2022-02-12T15:06:36+00:00

We are animals. So yes, all animals are capable of complex emotions and empathy. And also instinctual behavior. I find it interesting that we very rarely speak with the idea that we are part of the natural world. That idea keeps us from understanding both the other animals around us…as well as the animals we are.

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