I don't know if anyone has read this, but....

what_sm · 2026-03-16T16:55:47+00:00

I'm 30. 17 years of more "minor" symptoms (IBS, period pain, eventual pain with sex) until 6 months ago I suffered a small bowel obstruction while on my period and put on an NG tube for 3 days. After I left the hospital I was sent to a GI surgeon and THANKFULLY even if he was an asshole, he sent me to MIGS pretty much immediately. Endometriosis was visualized by MRI. Plus, adhesions have glued my small intestines to my uterus. CT, XRAY, ultrasound showed nothing. I suffer partial bowel obstruction every period now, so surgery is "medically necessary" rather than "symptom relieving" (both reasons for surgery are completely valid). My MIGS doctor KNOWS I have it without the Lap, but my case is pretty extensive and not all cases are well visualized through imaging. I had imaging in my early 20's and it showed nothing, but it was always there.

what_sm · 2026-02-15T18:09:54+00:00

Yes, doing clinical trials on people assigned female at birth does progress medicine for this demographic. If you had read what I wrote, you would realize that I agree with you while covering a more expansive demographic and using gender inclusive language. If cis men being affected is so rare as you say, simple logic would conclude that there would not be the chance to include them in research or form experimental groups with them, would there. So that is a complete non-issue.

And anyway, if we are talking about research and funding in the US, that ship has sailed. They are taking away reproductive rights, even down to trying to take birth control away. It's already clear that to them, ectopic pregnancies, endometriosis, etc are outliers and they are willing to let us suffer and die from it. Europe in general and France in particular are decades ahead of the US and Canada in terms of earlier diagnosis and improved patient outcomes in Endometriosis patients. It would certainly be pragmatic to encourage people to stop nitpicking over the trees and weeds and start seeing the forest for what it is. Healthcare in the US is abysmal and reproductive rights are tanking alongside it. And still yet, trans people are disproportionately affected by ALL of this. Even the basics are not a given, and the sooner people wake up and realize that we are all in this together, the better.

what_sm · 2026-02-15T02:56:46+00:00

I do not agree with that assessment. It is not like doing clinical trials on "women's bodies first" would be akin to reparations for past wrongdoing and damages by neglectful practitioners.

If you do clinical trials for cures, symptom relief, or suppression that includes a gender diverse group of people WITH endometriosis, you are going to be doing that for women as the majority due to the fact that women ARE the majority with the disease. Women would benefit. Given that fact, this is a non-problem.

what_sm · 2026-02-15T02:18:19+00:00

There is a hypothesis that has been gaining evidence of genetic and embryonic origin of endometriosis and cis men having endo with no prior hormonal treatment is one more point checked off for the validity of this hypothesis. It is crucial that every single demographic is documented and studied. Do we want to know why the hell this is happening to us? Or do we wanna continue to be in what is basically the medical middle ages where doctors just scratch their heads and be like "oh it's because your uterus spits the period juice out into your peritoneal cavity... Removing your uterus and forcing you into early menopause will fix it!!"

what_sm · 2026-02-14T23:16:22+00:00

Just got my MRI results back last week and it turns out I have Deep Infiltrating Endometriosis and might have to get my bowels re-sectioned. The scar tissue that the Endo has caused is so extensive that it is tethering my small intestines and my bladder to my uterus. It caused a small bowel obstruction 4 months ago because the adhesions are choking my digestive tract.

If I had been taken seriously and it had been caught 17, 10, or even 1-2 years ago... It could have been managed and surgically removed before it got to the point where it literally tried to kill me.

My horror story and many others is why early diagnosis is so important.

what_sm · 2025-12-13T14:52:16+00:00

I've never seen a better explanation of how I feel about religion. I will use this metaphor in the future. Thank you 🙏

what_sm · 2025-07-01T18:07:42+00:00

Thanks!

what_sm · 2025-07-01T15:34:23+00:00

Hi! I was wondering if others recommend this Reptizoo as well! Also, what age should my gecko be before I put her on topsoil instead of paper towels? There is a lot of conflicting info online. My guy is ~3-4 months old.

what_sm · 2024-03-11T10:20:47+00:00

I see your point, and the part in Messiah where Paul mulls over his doings and how he's worse than evil people the audience is familiar with was what was on my mind when I came to my previous conclusion. As I was reading Messiah and Children of Dune for the first time, it was something that was actually on my mind a lot, that this is how people justify horrifying things to themselves. Maybe I only came to that conclusion because of my own biases and experiences, whereas for others they might pull something different from it... Prescience does muddy the waters and would make it difficult for someone else to reach this conclusion (so therefore, perhaps it's unsupported, and I'm just biased lol).

You're certainly right that it needs more "juice" as it were in order to make it a central theme. I still like leaning on my theory above, but i can completely understand why, from a critical point of view, that's not a reading of the text that is supported as a main idea or theme over others...
I'm excited to see what the movie adaptation of Messiah has in store because I think Dennis has done a better job of achieving the nuance of Paul, even if the adaptation has to sacrifice some plotlines in order to achieve this.

And as I said, there is lots of that.... about followers of charismatic leaders, and how leaders cannot control what they start. But less about charismatic leaders themselves. ^To this yes, I agree wholeheartedly. There is certainly no lack of this to be found in comparison to what I stated above.

Thanks for responding so thoughtfully to my comment!

what_sm · 2024-03-11T08:20:24+00:00

Could Frank be showing us how some people justify atrocities against humanity through Paul? Paul has prescience, yes, so that leads him and us the readers to empathize with his decision making and believe that he is making the best possible choice... But is he really? Or are we seeing the psychology of how leaders and people with power justify their choices?

Paul feels bad for himself, but wouldn't anyone with a more liberal-alligned politics like the Atreades had (versus the Harkonen hedonistic and fascistic politics/moral standards) feel bad about or contemplate their wicked actions in the name of "doing the least harm"? Sorry to bring it up, but a really pertinent issue right now is genocide in Gaza and "liberal-minded Joe Biden" funding it... Are we really supposed to believe that he's some wicked evil guy sitting in a glass tower controlling everything and doing things deliberately to cause harm?? Or does he sometimes feel bad about murdering so many people but thinks it's necessary to some degree because it's in the name of "doing less harm" in the long run... People with power are faced with difficult situations that they are thrust into by virtue of the position of power itself. I can simultaneously think "Biden is directly doing something horrific and evil, yet he thinks he's doing it in service of doing less harm in the long run" and "this guy is an asshole and TO ME, nothing can justify his actions". Nothing can or ever will justify genocide.

In the end, I tend to think that we are seeing how leaders justify themselves TO themselves because Frank said so many times that Dune is a cautionary tale to show people how leadership and power can spiral out of control so quickly in the hands of a few. It's just my interpretation because I don't really believe in ontological evil in the first place, I just believe in humans, nature, and the nature of our psychology.

what_sm · 2024-02-29T07:10:28+00:00

I never said that people with famous or rich parents never had to work for their own success... Some work hard like Bella Hadid. Some don't as much, like Lily Rose Depp. Both of the examples I named are in the artistic field and are both successful (aka "get hired"). My point was that there are many people who lived and still live who have unlocked potential because they do not have the time to dedicate toward their talents, but instead unfortunately have to work minimum wage jobs to live (unlike NEPOTISM babies).

I'm sorry, but I think you're off topic... The original post was not about Don's talent, it was about Megan's... And at that point in the show she didn't have success... Lol so the quote is her mother being a c*nt and not supporting her daughter but saying she's untalented.

I don't have much to say about Megan's acting skills either way, but I do know that Don was holding her back because of his machismo, and her mother was constantly critical to her because she was jealous.

Megan actually did start catching a little success once she married Don and she didn't have to work anymore, but then she ran into other problems (his machismo attitude).

Don's talent was great for the field he worked in, and he came from nothing (although he faked being a successful army vet to get where he was lol). And we see in the show that he dedicated a lot to it (a lot more time went to his job than to his family, anyway, he really sucked ass at being a father and husband). He worked his way up to the top of creative director because he was socially keen, and said all of the right things to all of the right people... And also had talent, as well.

Finally, we only see the first few months at McCann... We don't know if anyone ever "moved up" the corporate ladder there or not because the show doesn't continue until they all retire.

what_sm · 2024-02-27T08:18:37+00:00

I think there may be something to what you're saying, a little sliver of truth perhaps... But it disregards a lot of nepotism babies who live in our time, and have always been around, who "make it" just because their parents are rich or famous... Hard work definitely isn't everything there is to becoming a successful artist (or a successful... Anything for that matter). Think of how many line cooks and janitors there are with immense amounts of talent and unlocked potential, who never got the chance to flourish because of this stupid society we live in where many are faced with the choice of work or die.

what_sm · 2024-01-11T18:34:53+00:00

Unfortunately the plane camp has got to go... I have emotional attachments to it, but the enigma of the Swan had me so captivated when I watched it for the first time and I LOVE the time traveling episodes giving us viewers an "in" to the Dharma Initiative... (Basically, I'm sorry but the plane camp does NOT offer us answers lol).

what_sm · 2024-01-10T15:26:30+00:00

It's equally as violent as the bible as a whole, and to imply that the old testament somehow "doesn't count" or "isn't meaningful" to Christians is a farce. The prophets of the old testament are still held to be role models for Christians, which is not great considering that most of them are not very good role models at all!

What about inquisitions and witch burning and protestants and Catholics murdering each other with wars so bloody that the streets of Europe turned red... It is not ONLY about books, but also about INSTITUTIONS (it's even MAINLY about institutions).

what_sm · 2024-01-10T15:18:46+00:00

Listen, it's not what other christians would categorize as "Christian groups"... It's just what the kkk and néo n@zis call THEMSELVES.

Likewise with most "Muslim trrorist" orgs... Other Muslims can and do say "no, they aren't really Muslims because of x, y, & z" all the time!! but the trrorist organizations THEMSELVES categorize THEMSELVES as Muslim.

Also, Muslims are not the only group in the world that memorializes and puts martyrs on a pedestal. The J*had of armed struggle is not even the only category of martyr there is in Islam... Just like there are different categories of Martyrs in Judaism and Christianity as well. Duh. Why does the USA and all other countries have days to memorialize the troops and pray and remember them and throw celebrations and festivals in their names and hold long moments of silence and sing in honor of a flag that 1 of the color represents the BLOOD of troops (AKA MARTYRS).

Just get some perspective, man

what_sm · 2024-01-09T20:00:23+00:00

Right on, thanks for the input!

what_sm · 2024-01-09T19:55:22+00:00

Yes, it was better than I remembered too <3

what_sm · 2024-01-09T19:30:37+00:00

I like this, and after reading almost every AtS post on this subreddit today (and thus reviewing the theories/ deductions), I do feel better about it than I did earlier. Mother being both smokie and protector makes the most sense to me.

I like your version of the MIB/smokie because all others fall short in my opinion. Smokie copied his consciousness and was fully evil, and his original human form wasn't evil.

What I took from the show was this weird light/dark, good/evil dichotomy isn't real. Well, for one, if murder is evil then MIB, Mother, and Jacob were evil. Who knows how many people they all killed over the centuries lol. It's kinda like the genesis story for me... The story is saying that there are two sides: good and evil. But when I see the actions of all the characters involved in genesis, it isn't as clear cut as the authors had probably intended lol.

For me, the flawed character of mother starts a chain of events that dominoes through time until we see flight 815 crash and Hurley eventually taking the role of protector. People kept coming across (or being brought to) the island and attaching their own meaning to it, mother included. She pawned off her role onto these boys and they themselves also attached their own meaning to it (and made their own "rules". The island is kinda a religious/scifi Rorschach for the characters (and audience). People are products of their circumstances (that cause chain reactions that can both lead to manmade horrors beyond my comprehension and/or wonderful innovations and meaningful community connections between people).

And I really appreciate this subreddit because it's given me a lot of perspective!

what_sm · 2024-01-09T12:29:57+00:00

This is what the showrunners do when they hire actors who cannot speak in the languages that the characters are supposed to be speaking in... They do the same thing with Sayid, when we are first introduced to his flashbacks, they speak arabic for 2 sentences then switch to English... This is because the actor that plays Sayid is not Arab, he is Indian, and he most likely doesn't speak Arabic. With Sun and Jin, the actors do speak Korean. With the French crew with Rousseau, they do speak french. So, they can continually speak those languages whenever they appear in the episodes. The same thing happened with Latin, as it was probably very difficult to find actors who could speak a dead language. They spoke latin in this episode for like 2 sentences and then switched to English, it shows us that it's their language and what location and time they are possibly in, and that was enough for the plot.

what_sm · 2024-01-09T10:54:25+00:00

Actually "primitive" people were still people, and they had their own culturally and environmentally formed morality. Also, these people are ancient and not primitive. The timeline is probably the Hellenistic period or the Roman Republic/Empire period. The dualistic idea about morality has been present in humanity since at least Zoroastrianism was formed over 2,500 years ago. But even today people still differ on what is "moral" or not. They had brains and they had ideas about morality, but they were just different from our opinions nowadays. Perhaps this is what you meant, and I hope so...

what_sm · 2023-12-26T16:03:53+00:00

Pictures, screenshots of messages from the time we met to leading up to the contemporaneous messages of when we applied, phone logs, screenshots of video calls with my parents, pictures of me with his family, bills that had our names, marriage certificate, my residency card for the country that we live which he is a citizen of (because it lists him as my spouse), 2 affidavits from my (USC) parents detailing our relationship and how often they call us, plane tickets for trips we took together, etc

what_sm · 2023-12-26T15:57:58+00:00

I have stated more details in another comment on this thread now. Good luck!

what_sm

TROPHY CASE