It perpetuates the myth of recycling and puts the onus on the consumer and state to recycle instead of the corporations to stop using containers that pollute the environment, will be in the environment for decades without breaking down, and is likely causing yet unknown harm in our bodies since plastic is inside all of us now.

The first of the “3 R’s” is reduce but instead of that being the focus because it hurts their bottom line, they prop up recycling and sell the lie that we can keep living as is if we just recycle more and get better at recycling.

Fun fact: there are plenty of stainless steel sex toys of all shapes and sizes, and a rubber is another name for a condom, so the joke works!

Yep, this is exactly it. Practice safe sex, get on PrEP for HIV prevention, talk about testing and status with any potential sexual partners in or out of the polycule, and get tested every 3-6 months.

There are a lot of different types of poly relationship structures and different names for them. The base unit of relationship is a standard couple where 2 people are together. Add another person in and they can either be in a relationship with only one of those people and form a “hinge” aka “V” or be in a relationship with both of those people and form a “triad” aka “throuple”. As many people as those involved consent to can be added this way.

Most of the time it’s one person who is in a relationship with multiple people who are each in relationships with multiple people. This forms a “polycule”. Where you have the people you’re in relationships with aka your “paramours” and they have the people they’re in relationships with aka your “metamours”. This group of relationships can take many forms and can be drawn out into a cool diagram like a molecule, hence the name polycule.

The people you’re in a relationship with can break up with you like in any other relationship and vice versa. It’s more complicated when you add in housing situations if you’re all living together, multiple people are all dating each other, or if two people are married.

Using one of my breakups as an example:
I’ve been in a triad where one person broke up with the other. I was then put in the middle of their breakup drama. I set a boundary of not wanting to deal with their drama/shit talking of the other. One of them kept breaking that boundary, so I broke up with that person while still being in a relationship with the other. Luckily I was living with the person I stayed with or that would’ve been way more complicated.

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This article is a good breakdown.
https://www.wcpo.com/transgender-mice-fact-check-trump-2025

The transgenic mice thing is for one of the several studies listed which I think we’re justified in highlighting and poking fun of their lack of QA and reading comprehension in these releases since they’re supposed to be representing the US and acting like drunken college students doing their homework the night before it’s due.

The other studies are on the affects of HRT or “gender-affirming therapy” which is used by cis people all the time. Ever heard of a cis man going to get testosterone because he’s concerned about his low T? That’s gender affirming therapy. Most cis people don’t realize how much “trans healthcare” affects them too. Some of this research is specifically on “cross sex” hormones and is probably more directly applicable to the trans community, but it also likely has broader implications on the science of hormones and side effects for everyone regardless of if they’re cis or trans. This is one of several reasons why we say trans rights are human rights.

Yeah, last time I checked anyway. I think it’s been about a year since I last used it for that though.

There is so much voter suppression in the US. I didn’t realize some of the more subtle ways it was suppressed until I moved to a state that has way less of it.

The US needs to end voter suppression. There are several ways of doing this but the top items: Mandate all election days (even those just at the state level) be paid holidays, automatically register all citizens to vote as soon as they turn 18, and make voting compulsory (not with punitive measures)

In Texas, the following is routine suppression other than the common nationwide suppression:
-People are often purged from voter registration even if they’re an active voter and voted in the last election. If you don’t check your registration months before the election, you’ll think you’re fine because you just voted but may show up and be told you’re no longer registered.
-Voting registration is cut off 30 days before the election. This is on the high end of the cutoff and further increases chances you get purged, don’t realize it in time, and then can’t re-register.
-Voting registration is mail in only. You have to physically print off the form and mail it in. This takes substantially more time when the post office is no longer a common trip for most people. It could easily be an online form like it is in many states.
-Rotating polling locations and hours for early voting. If you try to vote early on a day off for instance, you may get to the polling location and realize it’s only open on certain days of the week while other locations are open the full week or it has arbitrarily reduced hours on certain days. Other locations may then be much farther from that location.
-Polling locations far way from you. You may have to drive 30 minutes to 1 hour away to vote even in a city or if you don’t have a car, public transit may take prohibitively long (2+ hours one way) to get to the polling location.
-Attacking mail in ballots as fraudulent and often throwing them out. Based on 2022 data, 6-20% are thrown out depending on the county.

There are so many more little things which all add up to the purpose of preventing people from voting. No wonder people don’t vote or attempt to vote, can’t, get discouraged or don’t have more time off to vote, and give up.

Edit: Formatting

Volume changes based on temperature and pressure. So when we reference volume measurements like for flow rates, we typically do the math to adjust those to standard temperature and pressure. Standard pressure is 1 atm but standard temperature varies based on who you’re talking to because of competing standards. It’s usually 25 C or 20 C.

When we want to reference the non temperature and pressure corrected volume, we append actual to it so that people know what the measurement is. Some people don’t do that and that causes confusion for others using their work if the reading is standard or actual.

AMAB is Assigned Male at Birth meaning typically born with genitalia interpreted as a penis but is sometimes due to parents/doctor choosing if the baby’s genitalia is not a penis or vagina.

Likewise, AFAB is Assigned Female at Birth meaning typically born with genitalia interpreted as a vagina but is sometimes due to parents/doctor choosing if the baby’s genigalia is not a penis or vagina.

You seem like a good and reasonable person, and I’m glad you’re aware of your feelings and not reacting super negatively towards the existence of trans people over them. I’d recommend thinking through this a bit more sometime.

Sure, most people are only into men or women, but most people don’t start off getting to know someone before sex is on the table with a “by the way, what genitals do you have?” That feels reductive and is a major red flag to most trans people. It’s similar to how chasers who pursue trans women with a penis as a fetish. We’re so much more than our genitals.

In case you ever end up in sex talks with someone who either at that moment comes out as trans or mentions what genitals they have, handle that conversation delicately. Many of us and don’t want the genitals we have but surgery is too expensive, but we also don’t want to have sex with someone agonizing over our genitals or don’t want that part interacted with at all if we do. This is also why many trans people date within the trans community to alleviate these kinds of issues.

Lucky for you, some trans people who are AMAB get surgery to change that penis into a vagina or something else. There are also plenty of gender fluid or nonbinary trans people who are AFAB and don’t have or want a penis.

However, maybe get to know someone first and decide if you are attracted to them as a person before reducing them to their genitals. There are a lot of ways to have sex with trans people, and if you’re into them, they’re into you and they happen to have a penis, I’m sure you two can figure something out.

And Battle Royale totally ripped off Hunger Games