*80s’

80’s, female, born in the US and now (thankfully) an AU citizen.

I’m from Australia, that looks like a huntsman.

When I first moved here and saw one I freaked out and begged my husband to catch it. He laughed and said they are good spiders, and very fast so hard to catch anyway.

That spider lived above the window blinds, and I realised I would have to sweep the dead bugs off the windowsill every few days.

He definitely became an honoured guest!

https://svgur.com/

<3

I have traveled to very conservative countries and have never found the sort of puritanical hand wringing that comes from a certain subset of Americans.

I say this as an American expat who has lived everywhere from Hawaii to the bible belt, to New York.

Can you imagine the pain and anxiety you would cause a biological woman who does not look feminine enough for your line of reasoning here?

You see her in the restroom and act like she doesn’t belong there - maybe you say something, maybe you keep your “discomfort in your vulnerable place” to yourself, but your stupid ideas about what a woman is and how one should look in order to be accepted into a bathroom are hurtful.

I was in an art class last month with a lovely young woman who has pcos. She is a Sikh woman, and therefore does not remove her facial hair.

She had a beard that would put a young man to shame, and now it occurs to me that had she been unfortunate enough to be born in America, she would have had to choose between honouring the basic tenets of her religion, or conforming so she is not shunned - or worse, assaulted for using the womens room.

https://www.learnreligions.com/some-sikh-women-have-facial-hair-2993341

If a person presenting as a man enters the womens bathroom and goes to the bathroom and washes their hands and leaves… I would say nothing. Why the fuck do you care?

Hell, I have seen grown men enter the women’s room with their daughters, maybe around 6-7 years old. Old enough that they want to use the big girl toilet, young enough that they need supervision.

You know what happened? Nothing. Nothing happened, because 99% of people don’t actually care if you’re not being a creep.

Clove oil. You can get it in a tiny vial at the chemist. You pick off small bits of cotton, roll them into little balls, and dip into the clove oil. Wring out most of it against the side of the bottle, then place directly on the site of pain and bite.

In your case you might want to make strips of cotton or something.

It tastes absolutely horrible and will make your whole mouth numb, but it is antiseptic and will give you enough relief to sleep.

For gaming, I highly recommend a trackball mouse since it requires so little movement, and depending on the model the buttons don’t require a lot of force to be pressed.

A quick google shows me that these work even on an xbox.

I would suggest a fingertip trackball, and one with the largest ball diameter you can find. The larger the ball the more accurate and less movement needed.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Kensington-FusionTM-Wireless-Trackball-K72363WW/dp/B08D356XB6/

^ This is my daily driver, but it is better suited to someone with small hands.

https://www.amazon.com.au/KENSINGTON-K72359WW-Kensington-Wireless-Trackball/dp/B00009KH63/

^ This is the easiest to use, most comfortable for almost anyone with larger bands, and requires little force to click.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Kensington-Orbit-Trackball-Scroll-K75327WW/dp/B07YVMXLQC/

^ This is another smaller contender that may be easier on his hand, as it is more rounded. Some people need flat, some need round.

Put a washcloth under the left side of whichever one he chooses so he can adjust the tilt so his wrist won’t hurt.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Elgato-Stream-Deck-Pedal-footswitches/dp/B09PRMCTGB/

^ Something like this would be good for the first little while, he can drive with the trackball and use his feet to click. There are lots of these at different price points.

For comfort, things to ease the itch and miserableness of the casts that will come. It keeps you up at night.

https://www.amazon.com.au/CastCooler-Immediate-breathable-orthopaedic-manufacturer/dp/B003XNNCV0/

^ Very cool product I wish was around when I had a cast. Seems well reviewed.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Scratcher-Cleaner-Sanitizer-Cleansing-Included/dp/B092472C4Y/

^ These to scratch itches down the cast. He should put nothing else down the cast, and don’t put it so far down that you lose it. The skin under the cast will become very thin and fragile, anything put down it with a sharp edge could scratch and the warm moist environment could breed infection.

Regarding toilet time, if the bidet you got does not have a dryer function he may need to dry his booty when he’s done. Many homes that have bidets everyone has their own little towel they use. He could move a stool or something in the bathroom and put a specified towel over it to sit on to dry himself.

My condolences to your friend, really glad he has a friend to help him.

Which Lenovo laptop, if you don’t mind me asking? I know there are Lenovo laptops with Linux support, but I am on a Lenovo Legion Slim 5, and I have heard there are quite a few issues that would need to be sorted.

I was talking to my husband who has been traveling for work to an industrial site, and he sent me a picture that included a “permanent magnetic lifter”.

They look like this: https://www.magnet-sdm.com/wp-content/uploads/Permanent-magnetic-lifter.jpg

I had never heard of these and wondered how they worked - how is it possible to “turn off” a magnet without electricity??

I found a video where someone explains how this is possible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMma3OJUHhs

I got one of the smallest of these as a gift for my husband. This tiny thing is strong enough to lift 68kg. It’s strong enough to lift me!

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b4/01/24/b401240f2c83f2ba6d95b91f50432a40.jpg