u/diettwizzlers

I am a prospective M.Arch student who has become completely engrossed in architecture over the past couple years. My current job involves AI training and I despise it. The community college I've been taking architecture courses at is very pro-AI. Some students even use gemini and chat gpt for their final renderings, which have major inconsistencies with their plans and other drawings. Professors say it's important to know how to use AI and make sure it's accurate, but that's about it. The architecture specific AI softwares and add ons seem more reliable and helpful, but deep down I'm still hesitant to use it knowing how it came to be, among other reasons.

I don't expect for AI to disappear or for every firm to reject it, but I'm just wondering if there are architects out there who don't involve it in their workflow. Am I doomed if I want to avoid AI in my long-term career?

my 2006 CRV officially died on me shortly after getting rear ended on the highway. this will be my first time as a real adult looking for a car. i've looked up the better years of the models i'm looking at (CRV, element, RAV4) and issues to be aware of. planning to pay $10k or less (cash) which i know doesn't go as far as it used to. i don't know any mechanics or car people to bring along with, and i don't really understand how i can just take a car i'm interested in to a mechanic to look at. do i just call up a mechanic nearby and hope they have time to take a look? how long does that take? i have a car i'm borrowing for a couple of days so i can get around to test drive but i'm trying to find something quickly so i don't have to keep ubering to work... is it unrealistic to try and find a car that quickly? tia

My grandma has dementia and lives at a residential care facility. It isn't specifically memory care, but I believe a high percentage of the residents do have dementia. I think it's one of the better places - they have a daily activity or two, they take care of her meds, and her room looks more like a hotel room than a hospital room. But it's also $11,000 a month and she only gets to shower twice a week, they lose her laundry, etc. To me this sounds absurd. I don't think there's any reasonable alternative though, and I obviously don't want her to have to live in a lower quality place. or go through another move. it was very traumatic for her.

She moved here after her husband died. Together they saved up a lot for their kids and grandkids to inherit. My mom and my aunt have been doing the math, and at $11k a month, there's not going to be much left for her or us if she lives another 5-10 years. Depends on how much longer she's getting preventative medical care I guess. Don't get me started on that. Also if she moves to skilled nursing, god forbid, I have no idea how much that would cost.

The nursing home said basically "don't worry, if you run out of money she can still stay here." like wow you're such a saint for not dumping a 90 year old lady on the streets after she gave you hundreds of thousands of $. Also I'm pretty sure that's the law, because wouldn't she be eligible for medicaid, who pays for long term care?

My grandma's health and wellbeing is more important to me than any inheritance, but I still can't help thinking about how it could be bled dry for some greedy company. It might be my only shot at owning a home lol.

Anyway, is this a batshit insane amount of money, or is that how much full time care costs now? Maybe both?

Dearest Gentle Reader,

As you young ladies of the ton approach that most momentous milestone of five and twenty, so too does the looming spectre of the smear grow ever nearer.

Fresh from your quarter life crisis, you ascend the examination couch, assume the lithotomy position and steel yourself for what can only be described as the least festive of birthday offerings.

​Alas, it must be done.

Or… must it?

For this author bears a most titillating Public Cervix Announcement.

Hot off the BMJ press comes a rather thrilling dispatch from China, wherein researchers dared to challenge the supremacy of the speculum.

Instead of continuing to subject women to an invasive and uncomfortable procedure, these intrepid investigators posed the question: 

What if we could simply test menstrual blood instead?

A most promising idea! But how did they put it to the test?

Over three thousand women across China participated, providing three specimens each:

1. Two traditional cervical samples collected in the clinic (for HPV and cytology testing)*
2. A sterile ‘minipad’ of menstrual blood self-collected by participants (for HPV testing)*

(*Women with positive findings on any test received subsequent colposcopy and biopsy)

​The hope was that these ‘minipads’ might prove as capable at detecting CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia - ie, precancerous changes) just as well as a smear.

And what a CIN-derella story it proved to be.💎

In essence, a negative menstrual blood HPV test was just as effective at ruling out high-grade neoplasia as the traditional cervical sample.

But before you cast aside your speculum, a caution:

• The study was cross-sectional, and therefore, long-term follow-up was limited
• The prototype minipad strips are still in very early development
• Although the findings are compelling, further validation across diverse populations is needed

Nevertheless, the implications could be considerable.

Too often are women dissuaded from the smear, be it the discomfort, the stigma around women’s health or cultural reasons. 

A future in which unnecessary pain, embarrassment and discomfort is avoided for women is one this author embraces most fervently. 

So take heart, dear reader.

The season of the speculum may soon be coming to a close.

Yours in both scandal and science,

Lady Whistledown🪶

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