I don’t actually keep snakes because I’ve never had a living situation that I felt was healthy for them until after I no longer felt I could handle them to my standards. But I love the little buggers. The big buggers too lol.

Snakes don’t really have friends. They have friendly associates. They come to trust people, and as long as you respect that they aren’t social creatures, can be quite companionable despite not really having friends. Mutual respect and trust go a long way towards serving the same role as affection.

They can even enjoy human company. It’s just that the same kind of bond you get with social creatures isn’t there. It’s like the difference between a work buddy that you get along great with, but have no interest in outside of work; and someone that you have a deep connection to. Snakes are work buddies.

If a snake is voluntarily climbing around your neck, it ain’t going to choke you unless something weird happens. Usually, if it’s well socialized, you can pick it up and put it there, and nothing will happen. But you do run into snakes that aren’t used to being handled like that, or aren’t familiar with someone getting scared and reacting. But they still aren’t trying to kill you, they’re just reacting to fear. Kinda like if you run up to a stranger and grab them from behind. Most of the time, you’ll just get “hissed” at (which snakes don’t really do in this situation), but every now and then you get slapped.

People talk to them because people like talking to animals. It’s a monkey thing. I talk to my chickens all the time. They maybe understand ten words, but they like being talked to for whatever reason. Snakes aren’t as into being talked to, nor are other reptiles. But they tend to recognize a calm demeanor as non threatening, and may be soothed by a steady voice. But there’s plenty that could care less what we monkeys chatter about.

People that keep them have any number of reasons for doing so. But what I like about snakes is that they’re no bullshit. They’re gonna snake, all day every day. They feel nice to the touch, and sometimes enjoy being touched, and will give you plenty of warning if they aren’t in the mood. They’re also gorgeous.

I still vividly recall my first real exposure to a snake. Some guy went around local schools with exotic, but “safe” animals. And they must have been because nobody ever had any problems with his critters

But he had a massive snake. I can’t recall what kind it was. Boa or python, I’m not even sure of that, much less what kind. But this big ol’ gal was bigger around than my arm now and I used to lift regularly. She was cool to the touch, and curious about us little baby apes. She’d sniff with her tongue, and move her head to look at whatever kid was closest. You had to be super good to be one of the kids holding her while the guy talked about her, but if you were, and you were at the head, she was prone to hiding her head under arms. Which tickled, but was just awesome.

He had smaller snakes too, and those were almost as chill as that big one. I had one crawl up my sleeve once. It worked it’s way across my shoulders and pokes its head out of my collar. The guy was worried, but I was grooving on it, so the snake just stayed there until the end of the thing.

I dunno if schools would allow that kind of thing nowadays though. Which, as an aside, he didn’t just bring snakes, it was all kinds of critters; spiders, turtles (terrapins), scorpions, hissing cockroaches, mantises, all kinds of stuff. not all of that was handled by students obviously. But he always had snakes, and they were all super relaxed around kids.

Like I said, the only reason I don’t have one is that I couldn’t provide a healthy and optimal environment for a snake. I made the mistake years and years ago of trying to take care of an iguana. This house doesn’t have the space needed for a proper enclosure, so I ended up passing the iguana to a guy that was super dedicated to reptiles. Nowadays, I couldn’t do the work involved anyway, even if I had the room. Chickens are hard enough

If you actually live in those temp ranges, you’re fucked either way. Modern technology is what makes those ranges bearable.

That being said, I can bundle up pretty easy compared to mitigating heat.

There’s two ways to look at tattoos for a family member. Well, two common ones.

One is that names are a very direct reminder, and thus make it a very visceral connection.

The other is that, as art, names don’t hold up well, so something symbolic is both prettier and carry meaning beyond what a name can.

Now, I don’t personally think that tattoos need to be art. They’re a very personal thing, and just getting them for other people to see defeats part of what I love about them (despite only having ever gotten two out of my entire plan).

A person’s name in a place like you’re thinking is wonderful. Subtle, personal, close to the heart, so you can’t go wrong.

However, if you wanted something fancier, that’s not too difficult to brainstorm. I’d look at stuff that reminds you of him as the first place to think about. Like, maybe a flower that reminds you of him, or a favorite toy he had/has as a baby out toddler.

But there’s really no limit to options.

This whole image is metal as fuck \m/

Well, I can’t say much about “for life”, but I bought a batch of Rubbermaid trays back in 2008, and they’re all still in use. No cracks, no problems. I added to the original 4 a couple of times, and the most recent two pack is indistinguishable from the older ones in thickness or coloration. So I’m fairly confident that the new ones should last just as well.

I’m also going to chime in about the silicone trays. They work fine, but I’ve had a lot of trouble with them picking up odors, like from being washed with scented soaps. Never had the issue with regular plastic.

However, there are also the old school metal trays that last for bloody ever. Might be worth looking into

It’s actually been a good one overall.

Got new glasses, so I can see again. Had some lovely time with my wife. Had some yummy food. My birds (chickens) have all been highly entertaining. Had a great ttrpg session (though it isn’t actually tt, it’s online).

No drama, no unusual levels of pain. Anxiety has been under control. No PTSD bullshit popping up.

It’s just been a really good week overall.

I’m in agreement with the keep it crowd. Looks good on you. Not that you’d not look good without it, but you picked a style that really accentuates your features very well.

Much appreciated!

Man, I tell you, there is something nice about being a regular and engaging like that.

You do have to make sure the staff are cool with it, but being able to roll in for your transaction and be happy to see the staff, and have them happy to see you because you’re happy to see them and everyone is nice to each other, it fucking rocks.

My corner store of choice, I used to go there for cigarettes almost daily in part because it was such a good time. I could have gone less often and bought more, but it was cool as fuck.

They knew me by name, would ask my dad or wife how I was doing if they went, and they’d send messages back to me.

There were times when things were really busy, and regulars would start bullshitting with staff and each other, and the less familiar customers would be smiling and laughing too because happy is contagious.

How fucking rad is that?

I stopped smoking, but I still find reasons to stop in here and there, and it’s still that same friendly, relaxed vibe. It feels like a community in there. That’s mostly because the staff are all people that make that vibe possible by being willing to do that social dance. Yeah, the people in the area have to play their part too, but you gotta respect and admire the folks putting themselves out there like that.

Back during COVID, the crew at our stop n rob managed to maintain that community feeling, even behind masks and the plastic shields, while wearing gloves. That’s fucking beast mode right there.

You find a store like that, where people can be people instead of machines exchanging goods for cash, that’s the place to be.

Tbh, I don’t use actual Firefox often any more it’s usually forks, and I’m not hyper worried about updating them as soon as a new version rolls out, I’m fine waiting a few weeks.

But I have noticed the sidebar thing on my laptop. Not sure which version it’s on, but it can’t have been much more than two weeks since I updated Firefox on it, since that’s when I did a version update to mint. Maybe three weeks at most.

My cousin is fighting that fight too. He had to scale up to compete. It’s still a “small” herd, just not as small as it used to be. No way to stay in business without going bigger. Luckily, he has so far managed to expand into dairy products successfully rather than only milk. Local made butter, cheese, etc. It sells well enough, and at a decent enough price to give cushion when one of the cows gets sick so that he can just pull them over to his “retired” cows.

I mean, nobody asked if you believed anyone

Dude, if you didn’t want other opinions and input, why the fuck did you post a question?

So, fine, keep doing what you’re doing if you’re happy with it.

Eh, in general, the use case for peroxide instead of anything else on wounds just isn’t there.

Anything that’s meant to kill off small living cells is going to do exactly that, and not give a damn if those cells are bacteria or your body. Now, it is true that not all chemicals will kill off every given microbe equally, and that applies to your skin/muscle cells as well. That still doesn’t mean that any given agent is going to do anything useful for your healing.

If the concern is microbes, germs, quantity of rinsing simply does a better job at cleaning a wound of them. A lot of water is better than a minimal use of peroxide or alcohol, or whatever. For one thing, if you have running water, you don’t have to keep opening new bottles. If you’re out in the woods, you can still have a better chance of a large amount of water being available compared to finding a magic spring that spouts peroxide. So just the reality of availability makes carrying that kind of thing kinda pointless.

It’s easy to look at all the bubbling peroxide does and think it’s really getting in there and pulling things out, but it isn’t true. If anything, the bubbling is reducing contact time with anything it’s supposed to be killing. So you’d have to continue rinsing with it. And then you’re right back to where water alone is better.

You don’t need soap for wounds either. Indeed, you shouldn’t be using it in wounds in the first place. That’s never been a recommendation that I’ve seen. Not surprising that it would irritate a wound bed. You can use soap on the skin around a wound, but even that isn’t necessary, and it’s not useful unless there’s contamination from something that water alone won’t clear away. The only time I can think of where soap would be used directly in the boundaries of a wound would be with some kind of thick, oily substance being in it. Even then, I’m dubious as to how much benefit you’d get compared to just water or saline with gentle wiping of the wound.

Peroxide also isn’t going to do anything positive to reduce bleeding. The opposite, actually, since it’s going to break up platelets trying to form a scab. You might wash away enough blood from a minor cut that it takes longer to be visibly bloody again, but that just means it wasn’t bleeding fast to begin with.

And, once you’ve used peroxide, you still have to rinse because if you don’t, not only are all the particulates still in the wound, so is the peroxide. So you’d have the stuff sitting there killing cells well after you bandage the wound, and that’s not a good thing at all. So why waste money and time when you can just rinse instead?

Even if you have a contaminated water supply, you’d still be better off buying saline in bottles for wound cleaning than peroxide.

You may or may not notice a difference in healing if you had identical wounds at the same time and used different methods to clean them. That’s not the kind of experiment you can get away with clinically. But, if you compare outcomes from enough people over time, it starts showing up that wounds heal at least a tiny bit slower, and often less evenly. I’ve never read anything about scar formation, but I suspect that if you did it with two wound on the same person, you’d end up with a measurable (if miniscule) difference there.

I’m not saying to never ever use it. It’s better than nothing at flushing a wound out. If you aren’t in a situation where anything else is possible, go for it. But I wouldn’t reach for it first.

I dunno, considering that Facebook data has been used to go after people, we’ve got fascists using every method possible to target their current hated group, and police everywhere ignoring or bypassing due process by just buying data, I don’t think it all paranoid to think that privacy concerns are already huge, and could get worse

I haven’t seen a huge shift overall

What I have noticed is more early down votes that later get raised back into the positive.

Not sure why it is, though it did roughly coincide wit the most recent reddit migration. But that isn’t enough to assume causation. It’s a possibility, just not conclusive since it could be any number of things.

I’ve been so happy to see them in our yard this year. Enough so that I’ve stopped clearing brush just in case that’s why they’re here in such numbers. I haven’t seen them like this in a decade or more.

Nothing I can say in public

So, I reckon just throw the biggest party I’ve ever thrown and hire a bouncer that turns everyone away by saying “sorry, you aren’t cool enough” to everyone, including invited guests.

I’m not sure why you’re positing anything when there’s established knowledge about ingrown nails, and professionals that can both diagnose any structural abnormalities, and treat them using already proven modalities.

The answer is to go back to your podiatrist and follow their instructions.

If you’re having chronic ingrown nails, there’s an issue that needs to be corrected, and you aren’t going to improvise a solution, especially with tools that aren’t designed for the job.

Seriously here, you’re making your problem worse with what you’re doing. If your nails are shaped weird or are growing abnormally, you aren’t going to do anything useful just grinding them thin. Best case, you don’t cause more ingrown nails. Worst case you get more of them, and they’re worse because now they’re flexing more severely, and thus dig into the nail bed in worse ways.

Nobody here can diagnose your underlying problem. Could be your footwear, could be a malformation, could be fungal (though unlikely that it wouldn’t have been caught previously, fungal infection s can cause nails to grow in odd ways and lead to chronic ingrown nails), could be even less likely things.

But you aren’t going to dremel your way out of it.

Go see your doctor and find out what’s causing the issue to begin with.

I dunno, I’ve kinda lost track of what is and isn’t gender expected in terms of “mandatory” skills, and when it comes to hobbies, there’s only a few that I’ve ever thought of as being outside of traditional options.

But, yeah, like the example given, I’ve always been able to sew to some degree or another. My hands don’t let me hand sew big projects any more, but still know how to.

I’m also okay with decorative needlework like cross stitching, and embroidery. Cross stitch was absolutely a gender norm for women on my mom’s side of my family, but some boys of my generation picked it up. Embroidery, I picked up in art classes in jr high school and just enjoyed enough to keep at it.

Crochet and knitting were also a women’s craft/hobby on that side, and I tried my hand at both. Didn’t like knitting much, but crochet was a nice thing. Kinda stopped fucking with it after I moved out on my own though. Not much use for it, so it was pure hobby and I had other things I’d prefer spending money on.

On my dad’s side, sewing was about women’s work, but everyone knew enough to patch up a torn shirt or replace a button. My grandmother was a quilter and prone to making her own clothes. I learned a little of both from her.

Both grandmothers were good with a sewing machine, as was my mom. We had a machine when I was growing up, and my mom would make clothes. So I was fairly freely able to experiment with one. Never really got into it, but I can still turn out wearable items, as long as you don’t expect high fashion or expert stitching. Like, my hems are crooked as a politician, but the clothes will fit okay enough.

Truth be told, my mom’s side of the family didn’t really care about gendered interest limits. Us kids were always allowed to at least try things out, and were expected to help with any tasks on demand. My sister can do some basic woodworking. One of my cousins played american football in high school, the only girl in her state at the time. All of the women except my grandmother can/could change tires and oil. And all of the boys can handle normal housework and cooking, and some of us played with dolls and such.

There weren’t any hard lines drawn. Yeah, our grandparents stayed along pretty traditional lines, but they would teach any of us what we were interested in, plus helped make sure we could all handle basic necessities. The only real limitations were that most of the adults had similar interests, so we could only pick things up they knew about. You wanted to learn outdoorsy stuff, you could get a dozen people teaching you. You wanted to learn about repairing electronics, good luck unless it was old electronics (my grandfather did some of that in the Navy before he became an officer, but that way in the sixties lol).

But, yeah, I’m always amazed when guys can’t even sew a button on their shirt. I carry a small sewing kit with me in my day bag, and an even smaller kit in my pocket organizer. Like, it’s a life skill, you need to know this shit, it isn’t just for women.

What’s really funny in that regard is a guy I used to know. He’d crack jokes about my sewing kit, but dude worked with leather. And he’d sew leather as part of that. But he would say, “yeah, but it’s leather. That’s for men. Cloth is for women, dude.”