I really hope people online aren’t getting the wrong impression of unions and that they’re flawless Things that will protect them from any and all mistreatment and that strikes are fun little treats union workers get
Unions are People not Things. Union leaders can fuck up. Unions can definitely operate in a way that gets you low wages and poor benefits if you’re not being represented well.
A union by itself does not guarantee you anything. Unions take work and money to run. You pay dues, you go to meetings, you vote. You protect each other in a union. You don’t join a union and magically have everything taken care of for you.
Strikes are a powerful tool but are scary. They’re not a goal to achieve. Unions don’t aim to go on strike during negotiations.
reading pliny the elder is SO funny because sometimes he takes a break from the natural history to moralize about the weirdest shit. he’ll be like here’s the biology of dolphins, remedies derived from sea urchins, facts about the reproduction of lampreys, an essay on how the consumption of seafood has led to the moral downfall of the roman race, a historical anecdote about a particularly large squid,
Your mom and aunts aren’t on tumblr. Please warn them about this as well.
[Image description: Two smartphone screenshots of a Facebook post by a person named Sheila Toll posted 2 Sep. It is black text on a white background and the post is public. The post reads:
I am a Family Doctor and I want to keep a promise made to a patient.
Julie was a healthy, post-menopausal woman in my care who came in for a periodic health examination. One of my routine questions, in what is called the “Review of Systems”, was to ask if she had experienced any vaginal bleeding.
She said “No” but then laughed and added, “Other than when my period came back for a few months last year”.
All health care professional are taught early on that ‘vaginal bleeding in a post-menopausal woman is Cancer of the Uterus until proven otherwise’. This comment by Julie was, therefore, a red flag (no pun intended) prompting further questions, an examination and an ultrasound of her pelvis.
Julie was surprised to see me so concerned, especially since the symptoms had not recurred over many months.
Sure enough, a pelvic ultrasound and tissue sampling confirmed Cancer of the Uterus.
Julie underwent a hysterectomy and radiation therapy. She is now healthy, cancer-free and is expected to stay that way.
After all this was done, Julie sat ME down for a talk. She told me she’d had no idea a ‘short return’ of her period after menopause was a danger signal. Furthermore, she addressed the topic with friends over coffee and discovered that, out of 20 women, NONE of them knew this symptom was abnormal! She admonished me to “Tell women this! Don’t assume we know it!”
From that day on, I have kept Julie’s advice in mind when talking with post-menopausal patients. But recently my wife suggested that I should take this to a wider audience.
So, Julie, this is for you:
If you are a post-menopausal woman and your period ‘comes back’ or you have even one episode of vaginal bleeding, TELL A HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL and insist on having it investigated!
Wishing you all good health and long lives. End image description.]
“Isn’t it weird that [thing humans commonly eat] is poisonous to literally every domesticated animal” I mean, there’s a pretty good chance that [thing humans commonly eat] is at least mildly poisonous to humans, too. One of our quirks as a species is that we think our food is bland if it doesn’t have enough poison in it.
Humans have a really weird mix of mundane superpowers.
We’re not fast and don’t have a lot of natural weaponry but we’re bizarrely tolerant to a broad range of toxins to the point that one toxin is considered a morning necessity for some to perform at work. Gotta love us.
A system that ensures the majority of people have no security of housing, food, safety, income, healthcare, education, civil rights? That’s what seems radical to me.
Jessica, 26, lesbian, she/her
