Apparently my One Fear shirt post rubbed some people the wrong way. Oh well.
Here’s my stance on the meme: I don’t give a shit; that bell’s never getting unrung. People still use that meme format three entire years later, I’m not expecting it to go anywhere anytime soon. Sometimes they credit me and that’s nice but usually they don’t and who fucking cares?
The thing I do hate is when people make money off of it. That objectively sucks. I never see any of that money. I’ve filed so many DMCA notices and it works maybe 20% of the time. Fuck RedBubble in particular. That’s why I put up the shirts on my store: https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/1711278-one-fear?product_id=315
Anyway, long story short: I don’t give a shit about memes because I’m not 14 but I do care deeply about money so everybody has to buy my shirt or I’ll sue you.
Cool there’s been asbestos in Johnson & Johnson baby powder this whole time and they have been aware of it for decades and done nothing
@laeffy yeah you uh. Need to stop doing that immediately and maybe go to the doctor to make sure you don’t have mesothelioma
this is so fucking sick
FYI, this applies to talc & talc-based powders / body products in general— J&J knew about this for decades because talc & asbestos occur together naturally (the minerals literally grow together in nature, have similar compositions, and are / were mined together), and they’re difficult to cleanly filter out from each other.
It’s old knowledge that, unless you’re involved in mining, mineralogy, or occupational health & safety, has been deliberately buried from both the public’s and regulators’ knowledge.
CNBC’s article + their writeup on the Reuters report revealing J&J’s cover-ups go into more detail on their corporate liability and the impact of J&J’s products specifically…
…But I cannot overstate that people’s best option right now is to look for products in general that do not contain talc at all, regardless of the manufacturer, and to be vigilant in seeking appropriate healthcare (and/or legal action if required) if symptoms arise.
This goes for body use (diaper powder, chafing powder— this is where the cases of ovarian cancer are coming from), for any use where powder may be inhaled (hair, face), or will have prolonged exposure to mucus membranes (eye makeup, bath bombs, etc.).
J&J are not the only ones who have covered this data up, and companies that aren’t sued will absolutely continue to do so. Be safe & be vigilant.
The FDA recently did a study on the presence of asbestos in talc-containing cosmetics and they did not find any contamination. Nonetheless, because of inability to compel cosmetic manufacturers to cooperate with the study the research was not as thorough as it ought to have been. Having said this, it is safe to conclude that asbestos contamination in talc-containing cosmetics is an exceptional circumstance.
Now… the question of whether or not Johnson & Johnson deliberately covered up contamination in their own supply chain at various points in time in order to protect themselves from liability is another question.
In any case this highlights the need for increased regulation over cosmetic manufacture which could go a long way in making sure that the things that we put on our bodies are safe for use.
This is why you should also NEVER PUT TALC AROUND YOUR JUNK. My grandma died of cervical cancer that could very well have been tired to talc use, and she wasn’t the only one.
Me, to a cis person: “have you….have you had…the surgery?”
Cis person: “what surgery?”
Me: “the one that removes your head from your ass”
Care for an anecdote? I call this one Cis People Are Crazy, and it’s a lil sumthin sumthin that will come as no surprise whatsoever to any trans person.
So, due to All Of The Most Recent Bullshit, I was at a trans support rally in my city yesterday with my family. Some nice person was handing out these big pretty heart stickers with the trans pride flag colors on them, like this:
We all got one. I put mine on the hoodie I was wearing, which I wear a version of basically every day, right? It’s the Cringeandwince uniform.
So, without giving it much thought, I put that hoodie on again today and go food shopping, and - this is dense as fuck, but it took me a few minutes to figure out why so many people were acting weirder than usual towards me.
I got a lot of looks.
I got mainly curiosity from people who noticed at all. But I also received open hostility from two separate White dudes about my age, over-the-top/smile-too-big kindness from a White woman a little older than me, and total, disaggregating confusion from my White 30s male cashier after he asked me what the sticker meant and I told him. As in, my presence coupled with the very concept of trans people seemed to have this guy on the verge of simply falling apart, joint by joint, atomically, behind his register. It was like he blew a fuckin gasket, ok.
For people who don’t know me well enough to know who I am - I’m a straight, mixed Native cis woman in her 40s. While I don’t think I’ve ever been misgendered, I am about 5′10″ and built like a brick shithouse, and I wear mainly “men’s” clothing (black hoodie, blue jeans, hiking boots); the word “butch” has been thrown my way in the past. I also however have very long hair and wear long earrings.
The gamut of reactions today was pretty interesting because I’m a middle-aged woman - I’m almost roundly ignored in public these days, utterly invisible. But the presence of that trans pride sticker changed that on a dime. I left the store thinking to myself, Jesus Christ, this is the most interested people have been about what’s in between my legs since I was about 25.
So, hey, other cis people? Just a suggestion that a lot of us may be looking like total gormless morons - possibly abject fuckwits, maybe even vacuous clowns??? - when we interact with trans people a lot of the time. Try to be aware of this if you ain’t already because: it’s fucking annoying as hell, kinda scary, really really boring, and weird.
Not sure I’ve ever read a more comprehensive summary of How People Stare at Me ™ before now.
I’ll tell you what’s ferocious. Freddie’s comeback to Sid calling him “Freddie Platinum” when they were recording down the hall from each other at London’s Wessex Studios (Queen for News of the World, Pistols for Bollocks).
Sid Vicious made the mistake one day of bursting into Queen’s control room and antagonizing their frontman. “Have you succeeded in bringing ballet to the masses, then?” he sneered. “Oh, yes, Simon Ferocious,” Mercury replied. “We’re trying our best, dear.”
Then, according to Queen biographer Daniel Nester, Freddie rose from his chair and began to playfully flick the safety pins displayed on the front of Sid’s leather jacket. “Tell me,” he asked, “did you arrange these pins just so?” When Sid stepped forward in an attempt to intimidate Freddie, the singer simply pushed him backwards and inquired, “What are you going to do about it?” Sid immediately backed down. [x]
Freddie Mercury may very well have had the biggest dick energy of anyone who ever lived
“For thousands of years, Judean date palm trees were one of the most recognizable and welcome sights for people living in the Middle East — widely cultivated throughout the region for their sweet fruit, and for the cool shade they offered from the blazing desert sun.
From its founding some 3,000 years ago, to the dawn of the Common Era, the trees became a staple crop in the Kingdom of Judea, even garnering several shout-outs in the Old Testament. Judean palm trees would come to serve as one of the kingdom’s chief symbols of good fortune; King David named his daughter, Tamar, after the plant’s name in Hebrew.
By the time the Roman Empire sought to usurp control of the kingdom in 70 AD, broad forests of these trees flourished as a staple crop to the Judean economy — a fact that made them a prime resource for the invading army to destroy. Sadly, around the year 500 AD, the once plentiful palm had been completely wiped out, driven to extinction for the sake of conquest.
In the centuries that followed, first-hand knowledge of the tree slipped from memory to legend. Up until recently, that is.
During excavations at the site of Herod the Great’s palace in Israel in the early 1960’s, archeologists unearthed a small stockpile of seeds stowed in a clay jar dating back 2,000 years. For the next four decades, the ancient seeds were kept in a drawer at Tel Aviv’s Bar-Ilan University. But then, in 2005, botanical researcher Elaine Solowey decided to plant one and see what, if anything, would sprout.
“I assumed the food in the seed would be no good after all that time. How could it be?“ said Solowey. She was soon proven wrong.
Today, the living archeological treasure continues to grow and thrive; In 2011, it even produced its first flower — a heartening sign that the ancient survivor was eager to reproduce. It has been proposed that the tree be cross-bred with closely related palm types, but it would likely take years for it to begin producing any of its famed fruits. Meanwhile, Solowey is working to revive other age-old trees from their long dormancy.”
Here’s a ten year update. The scientist, Elaine Solowey, has germinated and grown other ancient date palm seeds and there are a couple of female plants that Methuselah could pollinate.
