Em/M

How Chronic Disappointment Rewires the Brain Chronic disappointment can train the brain to expect pain instead of reward. Restoring hope means reawakening dopamine through small actions, enriched environments, and new desire.

“Why are traumatized people so MISERABLE?”

“Too much disappointment teaches the system that ‘wanting leads to pain,’ and so it stops responding to potential rewards. … Biologically, it’s an adaptive silencing of the very circuits that make us feel alive.” www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/an-i...

" . . . I am sick of roses, and I am horny for revenge." –Dulcinea Septimus, 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘩

Map: Governors Public Health Alliance * Guam is also a member of the alliance Updated October 15, 2025 Map: @luckytran • Created with Datawrapper

15 US states and territories have formed a new Public Health Alliance, which will counter the absence of federal leadership by tracking outbreaks, issuing guidance, buying vaccines and more.

Members of the new alliance include CA, CO, CT, DE, GU, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, OR, RI, WA.

Today is the release day for Queen Demon! I’ll be here at Politics and Prose in Washington DC tonight!

I adore this book. @clclark.bsky.social is so good.

How do I handle the chaos? 🥺 I create my own tiny, ordered worlds. 🖤 a 4-day journey is my sanctuary: selecting papers, soft soldering the glass frames, intricate hand-stamping and painting, and a final resin seal. Art is protest. #softsoldering #handmadejewelry #zette #sacredvandalism

reminder that love is also a verb. it’s not just a feeling, but something that requires effort and demonstration. and you show love with your actions far more than with what you say.

D, no contest.

Extremely biased for obvious reasons, but D by a landslide.

More reasons to be anti-AI

Defending free speech on Palestine | Good Law Project We’re fighting for people speaking up about the genocide in Gaza

They are also funding for free speech on Palestine: goodlawproject.org/campaign/def...

Fuck RFK Jr. and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Get this dangerous fucking maniac out of HHS yesterday.

Between S and M, and I'd choose galaxy!

There's an ENTIRE WEEKEND of masked, COVID cautious events coming up Aug 30-31 in Oregon. Within driving distance? (N. Ca to Seattle) join us! Arcade, laser tag, nature walks, tabletop gaming, goat farm visit, dance party and more. Please help spread the word. www.covidinfopdx.com/the-pnw-covi...

Covid is rising. New vaccines may not be ready until mid-September. Updated coronavirus vaccines may not be available until mid-September, and people who are not considered high risk may not be able to access them.

COVID-19 is on the rise and @sabrinamalhi.bsky.social discusses the seasonal bump with experts, including WastewaterSCAN’s Marlene Wolfe, who shares the latest #wastewater data.

@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Just gave to this. Please consider kicking in if you can. Hend is a trusted internet friend and when she calls for help, it is time to help.

fantastic fiction page for Martha Wells. The text reads: Platform Decay (the eighth book in the Murderbot Diaries series). Coming 2026. Cover to be revealed

MORE MURDERBOT MORE MURDERBOT📣📣📣📣

#booksky

Requiring disability benefits to survive is like being in a job you could be fired from at any time…

But also that job being the only one in the world, so if you lost it you’d have no other option.

Because if we can’t work and we lose money, there’s nothing we can do.

✨Disability pride is year-round. ✨

Post that reads: All bodies are miracles. Every day I get down on my knees and I pray to God and say Dear God, thank you for this meat sculpture you have imprisoned my immortal soul in. I will find a witch to undo your curse and when I am released we'll see who smites who now you son of a bitch.

If you're quiet about your disabilities, you get accused of being a fake. If you're outspoken, you get accused of being attention seeking.

Disabled people deserve to be believed and supported without hate. We deserve to be able to thrive.

Thank you for the support everyone!! We are 1/3 to the goal! For these to be made for sure! That's 33% of the way to the goal! We need to get to 100% or close to it so these can be made. We have until August 14th!! Please keep sharing!! These could help someone out!

“The COVID pandemic began with a myth – that children are spared its ill effects. In contrast, many children were sick with COVID, and we now have a new chronic illness emerging,” Kleinman said

www.rutgers.edu/news/study-s...
#ChildHealth #LongCovidKids #LongCovid #PaediatricLongCovid

“International media must be allowed into Gaza,” says our Juliette Touma to @news.sky.com. “They’ve been banned for over 650 days — unable to report the realities and the facts on the ground.”

The ban must be lifted to allow international media into #Gaza to report independently.

a rainbow colored shooting star with the words " do you know " in the background Alt: a rainbow colored shooting star with the words " the more you know "

Offline at a bug conference, learning about tarantula anesthesia and that stag beetles really like JuicyFruit Candy.

MOOD

Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy - Reactor Perihelion and its crew embark on a dangerous new mission at a corporate-controlled station in the throes of a hostile takeover… Novelette | 7,540 words They were still three hours out when Perihelion...

The new Murderbot short story is up at Reactor Magazine: reactormag.com/rapport-mart... Edited by Lee Harris, art by Jaime Jones.

“We need diapers, we need basic hygiene supplies. Our children deserve better than this. They were born into a nightmare they didn’t choose,” says Aya, holding her son Issa.

Meanwhile UNRWA stands ready to deliver essential supplies into #Gaza.

The siege must be lifted.