u/Scawwotish_owl88

Devices aren't the problem. These kids have had chromebooks since 2nd grade and some of them are surprisingly fast with two fingers. The problem is nobody ever explicitly taught them how to type, so they developed their own system and now it's completely locked in. Telling them to use home row is like telling someone to switch their dominant hand. They try for 30 seconds and then revert the moment they stop thinking about it.

The kids who got any kind of structured typing instruction somewhere along the way type circles around the others, not just in speed but in accuracy and posture. It's immediately obvious which students had a proper keyboarding curriculum at some point and which ones were just handed a device and left to figure it out.

Looking for approaches that have actually worked for breaking this habit at the middle school level, especially with students who feel like they already know how to type because they can produce words quickly. That confidence is actually part of what makes it hard.

I want to share this because I don't see it discussed enough and it made a real difference in my experience.

I'm a Black woman in my mid thirties and I was identified as gifted in elementary school, pushed to perform academically, and developed very early the ability to read what was expected of me and produce it, and the masking I do isn't just the autistic kind, it's also the kind that BIPOC people learn to do in predominantly white spaces to be read as competent and nonthreatening, and by my early twenties those two kinds of masking had become completely interwoven and distinguishing them is genuinely complicated

I'd had two prior evaluations with practitioners who I don't think had much experience with this intersection, and the questions felt designed for a particular kind of person and I could feel myself translating my experience into a frame they were more likely to understand, which meant I was masking during the evaluation itself in exactly the way I'd described to them as a concern

The Sachs Center specifically mentions BIPOC inclusive practice and neurodiversity affirming approach and the difference was real, the questions were different, the psychologist wasn't surprised by the ways my experience diverged from the standard presentation, and the report reflected the complexity rather than trying to fit it into a simpler template.

I have two dogs and a cat. The dogs need flea and tick prevention year round because they go outside daily. The cat is indoor only but she snuggles with the dogs so she needs protection too.

The vet preventatives for all three animals run me about $100/month! I’m not cutting the bet products because they work, but I’m looking for supplementary treatments for the house and their bedding that might let me stretch the vet products further or at least reduce the flea and tick pressure in the environment.

What natural or plant based treatments do you use for the home environment alongside vet prescribed pet treatments?

Where can I read The Punisher comics digitally in 2006, both the current Punisher 2026 ongoing by Benjamin Percy and Jose Luis Soares Pinto? Plus the classic runs (Garth Ennis Punisher MAX, Marvel Knights Punisher 2000). Catalog is split across platforms because if the MAX imprint situation, what’s your go to website?

Five specific places the hermes install breaks and they're almost always the same ones:

1. Node.js version check skipped. Hermes needs version 22 or higher and most computers have something older sitting around from a previous project. Run "node --version" before anything else. A surprising amount of debugging time goes here.

2. Docker underestimated. Hermes runs inside a Docker container to keep it isolated and consistent. If you haven't used Docker before, getting it installed and working is its own project, separate from hermes entirely.

3. SSL configuration. For Telegram to reach your hermes agent over the internet, you need HTTPS. This means a reverse proxy and a certificate tool, and it fails in ways that aren't easy to diagnose the first time.

4. No persistent uptime plan. Even a working hermes setup stops when the machine restarts or loses its connection. You need somewhere with actual continuous uptime, not a home laptop.

5. API key in plaintext. Your Anthropic or OpenAI key needs genuine secure storage, not an environment file sitting on a server that anything with machine access can read.

For anyone who read that and would rather not deal with any of it: running the hermes AI agent through claud means the infrastructure, SSL, uptime, and hardware-encrypted key storage are sorted before you start.

Gay comics worth reading during pride month across a bunch of formats, I tried to cover the genre well for people who arent deep in any one publisher's continuity. Five categories: literary indie graphic novels, accessible single volume picks, mainstream superhero runs with queer leads, BL/GL manga, and where to actually read all of it

Literary indie graphic novels for pride month

Fun home by alison bechdel is the canonical literary pick, memoir that won multiple awards including the eisner and got adapted into a tony winning broadway musical. Sets the bar for autobiographical lgbt graphic novels. Stuck rubber baby by howard cruse is the foundational gay graphic novel that proved the genre could carry literary weight a full decade before fun home. Blue is the warmest color by julie maroh is the canonical translated french entry, beautiful art and emotionally devastating

Accessible single volume gay graphic novels

The prince and the dressmaker by jen wang is the gentlest entry point for casual readers, self contained with gorgeous art, no prior knowledge needed. Bingo love by tee franklin follows two black women reconnecting decades after being separated as teens, really sweet and moving. Heartstopper by alice oseman is probably the one most casual readers already know from the netflix adaptation, five volumes covering the full webcomic run

Mainstream superhero runs with queer leads

Iceman solo run by sina grace at marvel, two volumes following bobby drake after coming out, self contained without needing deep x-men continuity. Young avengers 2013 by kieron gillen and jamie mckelvie is the 15 issue wiccan and hulkling run most people mean when they recommend the title for queer focus. Midnighter and apollo at dc is the canonical openly gay superhero couple, the 2016 steve orlando run is the accessible entry point

BL and GL manga for pride month

Given by natsuki kizu is the most recommended BL entry point, nine volumes that cover grief and queer adolescence with way more depth than the genre's reputation suggests. Twittering birds never fly by kou yoneda is the heavier yakuza BL pick. 10 dance by inouesatoh is the ballroom dancing BL, eight volumes. For GL/yuri the canonical recent pick is bloom into you by nakatani nio, eight volumes

Where to read all of this

GlobalComix is the best one right now bc their catalog is huge. They have a dedicated lgbtq+ tag with hundreds of titles (romance, BL, GL, etc). And they also cover indie graphic novels, western comics, and manga. They have a lot on their free tier and if you want the sub it's only like 7 bucks.

Webtoon is similar like that, solid second best, has a massive audience and lgbtq+ stories, they have free stuff with optional paid early access, its good for romance and slice of life stuff tho they do censor some explicit content.

Tapas is similar vibes but a bit more indie and it also has a lot of lgbtq+ focused stories in my experience, good mix of free and paid series on there

SuBLime is fine if you want the official licensed BL translations specifically, given and twittering birds are both on there, you buy per volume tho so costs add up if you read a lot.

Okay so I've been on a bit of a journey through the alternative lending space, partly out of necessity and partly because I find the whole industry weirdly fascinating, and I've dealt with enough of these companies that I figured I'd start writing them up because most of the "reviews" online are either 5 stars from people who clearly work there or 1 star from someone who didn't read their contract.

Total merchant resources was one of the ones I used and genuinely liked, which already puts them in a shorter list than you'd think. They're a direct lender meaning they fund with their own money and make decisions in house, which sounds obvious until you realize how many companies in this space are just middlemen collecting a fee to hand your application to someone else.

The process was straightforward in a way that felt almost suspicious at first. One page application, four months of bank statements, that's it. No tax returns, no business plan, nobody asking for your firstborn lol. I kept waiting for the catch and it didn't really come. Got approved, had money in my account in two days, and the rep they assigned actually knew things about my industry which I was not expecting.

The consultation thing is real too. I was going to borrow more than I needed and they talked me out of it. In a space where most companies are essentially trying to see how much they can get you to take, that was genuinely notable.

Things I liked: one rep handles the whole thing start to finish, no getting bounced around. They'll tell you if the amount doesn't make sense for your situation. Repayment options are flexible, you can do fixed or tie it to daily card volume depending on your business. No collateral, no personal guarantee, business risk stays in the business. BBB accredited, over $1B funded, closed a deal on shark tank with kevin o'leary.

Things worth asking any direct lender before you commit: do you use your own capital or are you brokering this out. What are the repayment options and is there flexibility if revenue dips. Is there a prepayment discount if I pay early. Who's my point of contact and will that change throughout the process.

Not the cheapest capital you'll ever access, that's not what this is. But for what it is, they're one of the more honest operators I've come across in this space.

Trying to put together a list of who's actually going to be on the floor before I get there. Less interested in the booth crawl and more in finding the teams working on the GTM ops and signal intelligence side of things to have actual conversations with. Anyone know who's attending or already have a list of exhibitors worth paying attention to?

Asking because the iPLEDGE situation genuinely changed the access picture for a lot of people and I wanted a thread that goes beyond "have you tried spiro."

For context: the 2021 iPLEDGE platform changes created real barriers for patients who needed isotretinoin, enough that researchers started formally revisiting alternatives that had been largely shelved since the 1980s. One of them published a literature review in 2022 looking at oral vitamin A specifically, pre-isotretinoin, which showed acne improvement in 8 out of 9 studies. The doses involved were high and the pregnancy precautions are the same as isotretinoin, so it's not a casual swap, but it exists and it has a research base.

Beyond the prescription options, the other legitimate route is addressing the hormonal root cause rather than just managing symptoms topically. For adult hormonal acne specifically, topicals aren't really reaching what's driving it. The internal approach takes longer but it's the only thing that actually addresses why the acne keeps coming back.

What's working for people here who've moved on from or can't access isotretinoin? Specifically interested in what's made a real difference rather than just managed it slightly.

Ok so I’ve been going back and forth on this for a while. I dont want a full videography package with the cinematic film and the dramatic music over slow motion footage of someone lacing up shoes. What I actually want is someone filming raw behind the scenes content on their phone for our instagram and tiktok, the getting ready chaos, candid moments, stuff that feels real and not produced.

Is that a wedding content creator?? Is that even a thing people book now and if so where do you find one bc googling it mostly gives me articles explaining what they are and not a way to hire one lol

Half the apps in this category say "free plan available" and then lock everything useful behind a paywall. Verified what's actually free before including any of these.

1. Habitica. Fully free and functional. Gamified habit tracker with social challenges and RPG mechanics. Community features included at no cost.
2. Streaks. iOS only, free core features. Minimal daily logging with clean design. No paywalls on the basic habit tracking.
3. WIP app. Free social habit tracking app where daily photo check-ins build a public consistency record for a community of people taking their habits seriously. Full community features included in the free plan.
4. Habitify. Free tier with a limited number of simultaneous habits. Clean interface, streak tracking included. Some features require upgrading.
5. Done. Flexible scheduling on the free plan. Handles habits that don't happen at the same time every day without requiring an upgrade.

The Fair Housing Act protects emotional support animal owners by requiring covered housing providers to make reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities, and ESA accommodation falls under this framework when a licensed mental health professional confirms the animal is therapeutically necessary. Landlords cannot charge pet fees, enforce breed or weight restrictions, or deny the accommodation based on a no pet policy once valid documentation has been provided.

Where landlord authority ends is a question a lot of tenants do not fully understand. Housing providers can verify that the ESA letter is from a licensed provider and that it contains the required legal elements, but they cannot demand medical records, question the diagnosis, require a particular format for the letter, or add conditions beyond what FHA mandates. The accommodation process is supposed to be interactive and cooperative but landlords often treat it as an interrogation designed to discourage the request.

The narrow exceptions to FHA coverage include the Mrs. Murphy exemption which applies to owner occupied buildings with four or fewer units. Senior communities operating under HOPA exemptions still have to comply with disability accommodation requirements because HOPA only exempts familial status protections, it does not reduce or eliminate disability rights under FHA at all. ESA accommodation rights exist completely independently of HOPA.

Putting together the open class action lawsuits with 2026 deadlines that I'm aware of, most of these are things that affect regular consumers and the filing process is simpler than most people assume

Deadline august 11, PHH Mortgage Kickbacks (Munoz v. PHH Corp) - phh allegedly took illegal kickbacks related to private mortgage insurance on loans originated between 2007 and 2009, if you had a phh mortgage during that period with pmi you could get $875 per qualifying loan, fixed payout not dependent on number of claims filed, no proof of purchase needed.

Deadline may 23, Mitsubishi Airbag Control Units ($8.5 million fund) - 2013 to 2017 lancer models and 2013 outlander, airbag control units allegedly defective and could fail during collisions, up to $250 per vehicle.

Deadline may 31, Toyota Camry HVAC (California) - 2014 and 2015 camry XV50 owners in california who paid for HVAC or charcoal filter repairs after may 2024, reimbursement up to $100, narrow eligibility but straightforward to file.

Deadline may 18, Discover Card Merchant Misclassification - for merchants and businesses that accepted discover between 2007 and 2023, some consumer cards were misclassified as commercial cards resulting in higher interchange fees, payout depends on transaction volume.

Verify by august 18, Tinder Age Discrimination ($60.5 million settlement) - tinder charged users over 29 higher prices for tinder plus and tinder gold in california, if you paid for either subscription in california after march 2015 and were over 29 you may be eligible, payout varies based on total amount spent.

Last time I did a similar post there was a lot of question about this, so for anyone who wants to stay on top of class action lawsuits, I use settlemate cause it flags them based on purchase history and I also check topclassactions for browsing the full list jic

Thinking about making the switch and trying to figure out if this is something i can do with my current provider or if it means starting over somewhere new.

Curious how people navigated this practically. Did your provider handle it smoothly or was it a hassle? Did you have to go back to a starting dose or did they let you titrate based on where you were with sema?

Also curious which providers seem to handle this kind of transition better vs ones that made it complicated.

Gas generators make sense until they don't. Noise at 2am, carbon monoxide if you run them inside or too close to a window, fuel runs during a storm when every station has a line. If you're prepping for anything longer than a few hours, the math starts looking different pretty fast.

Here's how I'd rank the main options right now for indoor-viable, no-fume backup.

• Worksport COR, runs on swappable battery packs so when one dies you just pop in another instead of waiting on a recharge cycle. No gas, no fumes, completely silent. For multi-day outages that swap mechanic matters more than most spec numbers.
• EcoFlow DELTA 2, probably the most well-known in this category. Around 1kWh, charges fast with solar if you have panels, and the app integration is genuinely useful. Weak point is that once it's dead you're waiting 80 minutes on AC or hours on solar. Fine for a single overnight, less ideal for a 3-day event.
• Jackery 1000 v2, lighter and honestly pretty solid for its size. Good port selection. Same problem though, fixed internal battery means once it's depleted you're either recharging or you're done. The 1000Wh ceiling also makes running anything power-hungry for extended periods rough.
• Bluetti AC180, hits a sweet spot on capacity and output, handles a fridge no problem, and the build quality feels premium. But again single battery, and the recharge time on solar alone is long enough to be annoying if the sun isn't cooperating.

None of these are whole-home solutions but for keeping the essentials running without fuel logistics or exhaust concerns, they're all worth looking at. COR and DELTA 2 would be my top two depending on whether continuous runtime or fast recharge matters more to you.

I tracked reply rates between platforms around 7 months at decent volume (around 800 cold outreach contacts total). The differences were bigger than I expected and not always in the direction the marketing pages suggest

Not a perfect study ofc but consistent patterns showed up so I wanted the share here if anyone would be interested

Direct email through scraped contact info: highest reply rate (around 18-22% depending on niche). The cold work of finding the email is the cost but the inbox is less crowded than instagram dm.

Upfluence outreach (around 14-17% in our testing): the personalization tokens that pull from creator post history made the messages feel less templated, which probably explains the lift over generic sequences. Creatoriq has comparable infrastructure at a different price tier.

Instagram DM cold outreach: middle of the pack (around 8-12%). Worse for established creators, better for emerging ones still actively checking dms

Modash for outreach: similar reply rates to direct email when you're building targeted lists. The export and email elsewhere flow adds friction but the list quality is high.

Aspire sequenced outreach (around 11-14% in our testing). The CRM layer matters more for follow up than initial reply but the templates are solid.

Outreach ran through upfluence sat around 14-17% across the same period and the personalization tokens that pull from creator post history made the messages feel less templated which probably explains the lift over generic sequences. Creatoriq has comparable infrastructure at a different price tier.

Linkedin dm for creators with b2b alignment: surprisingly high (around 20%) but the audience overlap is narrow.

Generic mass outreach tools without creator specific data: under 5% reply rate consistently, don't even bother

The takeaway most platforms downplay: list quality matters way more than channel. A targeted list of 50 creators sent through any half decent tool will outperform a 500 creator blast through the most sophisticated platform.

Amazon killing comixology still makes me angry bc I had a whole digital library built up over years and now its all rotting in the kindle app where the reading experience is terrible and the organization is nonexistent. I need somewhere else to read comics online that isnt kindle, preferably something where I can actually buy issues to own and not just rent through a subscription. What are you guys using these days?

We used hooked on phonics with my older two kids about six years ago and it was fine. Not amazing but fine. My youngest is 4 and I pulled it out again thinking we'd just do the same thing. Except the app version is completely different from what I remember and honestly it's not working for her. The pacing feels off, the interactive elements are clunky, and she loses interest about five minutes in. The video segments are okay but the practice portions don't hold her attention at all.

I'm looking for a hooked on phonics alternative that follows a similar structure. By that I mean systematic phonics, sequential lessons, builds from letter sounds to blending to words in a logical progression. I don't need bells and whistles, I just need solid instruction in a format a 4 year old will tolerate.

Things that matter to me based on going through this twice already. Parent involvement (she's not ready to do anything solo on a screen). Short lessons (15-20 minutes max). Actual phonics not just letter recognition games pretending to be phonics. And ideally something that's digital because I am so done with physical manipulatives and flashcards at this point in my homeschool career.

Thanks in advance:)