Because we are the product…

Oh yeah, they can get around it, but not without me knowing about it. If I find out, they lose the devices, simple as that.

You are right that parents who aren’t technical will have a hard time, but it’s not insurmountable. No devices in the bedrooms, ever. No downloading apps without permission ever. Google the app and give a yes or no.

When it came to it, wifi off at night and she got the basic Nokia phone. It’s a constant battle, sure but one we must win.

Also reminded her that no matter what, if she’s on our network, I will know what she’s up to. Instilling a healthy sense of fear is good. Router logs do not lie.

I highly recommend Qustudio. It works on phone and PC, and allows you to customise exactly what is monitored or blocked so you can keep an eye on things in an age appropriate way.

We started monitoring after we found out our 12 year old daughter was catfishing a 19 year old boy. He had no idea and after we explained that she could literally ruin his life, and made her tell him her age he noped out of there. (Wisely.)

At first we had it set to monitor everything, report all searches, all app downloads, block porn, etc.

Yes she was able to get around certain features, like when she was young we had the phone locked past midnight… But it logs when it’s in use, so we then had a talk the next day and took away the phone or PC if needed.

As she got older we removed the block on all websites, and stopped monitoring any messages. We kept the software on to let us know when she was using her devices because she would often be up until 3am on her phone on a school night and we would then have a conversation about it.

We removed it when she was 17 or 18.

I am a disability support worker, and can absolutely attest that depending on the injury level and their age/muscle tone, something as dumb as pushing them sideways a bit can dump them on the floor.

Hell, the young ones do it to each other to be jerks lol. I’ve joined a stadium full of people teasing one of my clients for not wearing his seatbelt because he fell out of his chair with an epic splat after being bumped.

Yeah, it was a jokey way of saying I don’t get out a measuring cup anymore, but add enough vinegar that its around 1:4.

Measuring with your heart the same way you do with garlic, or vanilla. You know? Like you might have measured once but now you have enough experience and know that its forgiving enough to just yeet some in there.

I haven’t tested it on grapes, but have on all sorts of berries. I imagine it would work well on grapes as well actually… I’m totally going to do that when grape season is here!

This! This is one of those old timey things you hear about and think is bs, but actually works. I don’t even remove the berries from the packet because I am lazy.

I fill a tupperware with apple cider vinegar and water, measured with my heart, and dunk the berries in it, container and all and let sit while I unpack groceries. Then I give them a shake to remove as much vinegar water as I can and toss them in the fridge. I don’t rinse them, no they don’t taste like vinegar.

A couple years back strawberries were $1 a punnet here and I tested this - the ones dunked in vinegar lasted a week or more with no soft spots, the ones without lasted just a few days before developing soft spots.

So yeah. Dunk them shits in vinegar. It works!

I’m sorry. ❤️

I unfortunately am a victim of this. My Sense was great. Then a forced update pushed despite never allowing the Fitbit app to update. Now the battery life is horrible and I am of course encouraged to buy a new one and move my Fitbit information to Google.

Wait, this is going to be a Funcom game?? Oh man, Funcom has made some of our favourite games! We adored Anarchy Online, and The Secret World is still one of the mmo’s I would recommend to anyone who wants to try a really unique modern mmo with an amazing story.

Unfortunately when they were developing TSW and Age of Conan, someone made the call to go all in on AOC which was just… not unique in a space saturated with that kind of WoW clone.

TSW ended up not having the cashflow (devs) it needed to release updates and expansions and it fell into disfavour once the player base reached end game. Which is really sad, because even as a “dead” game the story and gameplay are so good.

I really hope they have retained the devs that worked on TSW and have enough cash to push everything into this game. Make it unique like TSW and AO were, push a couple expansions, and there will be players.

For anyone in a state without fluoridated water, you can get fluoride drops to put in your/your children’s water.

Want to see what happens when you do this?

https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/childrens-headline-indicators/contents/indicator-7

Notice the two states with the highest rates of dental decay are Queensland and Northern Territory?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_in_Australia

Yeah, those states didn’t get flouride in their water until around 2012.

Such a coincidence…

It’s also completely silly because many places have naturally fluoridated water!

The media would have you believe that no one is fighting back, this is because if you feel alone you are less likely to fight back.

The title of the article implies that it’s just silly that a traffic officer was confronted at his house by ICE, but what really matters in this article is the people following those ICE agents with megaphones.

They are doing what is right, while taking personal risk, and their bravery should be spread far and wide, so others will be emboldened to act.

There are always good people, there are always those who will fight, you are not alone.

My daughter. <3

I live in Australia where the temperatures get insane and destroy most electronics left in cars.

I have a Viofo A229 PRO 3CH, it has a module that faces forward, and a separate camera that gives a view of the inside of my car as well as some of the outside sides, and a third camera on a long line that is mounted on my rear window that has a view of the rear.

The images are clear, I can read licence plates easily day and night, and after being in two accidents it gives me peace of mind that I am protected in court if someone hits me again.

^ This!

I learned the retinol lesson the hard way. I used to use retin-a daily, and wasn’t careful about getting it near my eyes because I wasn’t sensitive to it.

I now have chronic dry eye, this eventually got so bad I couldn’t see, and had to go get ipl treatments once a month, have the meibomian glands expressed, and have punctal plugs placed every month, then every few months. (don’t google any of that)

After it got “better” I only have to do this stuff every 6 months…

It’s expensive.

Stay safe kids, never put a retinol near your eyes.

It’s common in kink circles, but so is proper cleaning. It is common to use Madacide or similar hospital grade cleaners with toys that will be shared. At home we use a chlorhexidine surgical wash on all our toys.

I wouldn’t trust a random guy during a vanilla encounter to have proper cleaning and storage techniques, but would be fine if he showed me that he did.

Yup. My husband and I were in the Novavax trial here in Australia, and the doctor at the trial said she was surprised more people weren’t interested, since its not an mRNA vaccine…

This is correct, I use this method a lot in my work with the disabled. Often with clients that struggle with mental health, it’s important to redirect negative thoughts and feelings, but you have to do this without jumping to condescending or infantilising language.

The easiest way is to empathize with <negative thought or feeling> acknowledging it as worthy of the space it’s taking up and offering up something related that I might worry about. Then redirect with a similar subject, but framed in a way that gives more power over it. Maybe a news article that pointed out how <related thing> is being solved by someone, or overcome, or even simply made fun of.

If you can laugh at something for being ridiculous it has less power.

You don’t need to change their belief in <negative thought or feeling> you just need to redirect it and reframe it, they will then have a different mental relationship with it later, and over time change.

That is messed up as heck.