I was looking at a very strange Vine item to try to figure out what it was and I noticed there was a review. I can't tell if this Vine reviewer was using text to speech and didn't edit it, if they were having a seizure or just insanely sleep deprived and writing while in a twilight state. Unfortunately the review is just as strange as the item, but they clearly loved it. 😂
I was looking through Vine this morning and saw these cock fighting weights. Cock fighting is illegal everywhere in the US. It's a barbaric, abusive "sport". Am I being a Karen? Maybe. Is this item inherently illegal? No. Is its only use for assisting animal abuse and an illegal act? Yes. This isn't like a "herb grinder" or a dildo (which are apparently against Amazons ToS), or even a "glass pipe". Those might have a legit use, and everyone making use of them are consenting adults. These *need* to be taken down. They're horrific.
I picked out a pair of no name Crocs for my daughter on Vine. She wears a big kid 5, I ordered the 5.5. They arrived and were absolutely enormous. I wear a 7.5 and they were huge on me. I was the first review to go up. I wrote that they were good quality but that they had the size "240" stamped on them, which makes them the Asian equivalent of a size 7.5 US women's shoe, so to be aware that they run at least two sizes large. I looked today and there are a bunch of Vine reviews, all but two show the shoes still in their wrapper and range about them in ways that are clearly AI generated from the ad copy, talking about how great the arch support is for their kids. One had a photo saying they were two sizes larger than they were supposed to be, but she gave them 5* anyway because she could wear them, and the other was for the toddler sizes which apparently also run big, but not egregiously so from their pictures, and they gave them 3* for unreliable descriptions.
If you choose something for resale, at least have the brains to make sure the items you're fake reviewing are even approaching what they say they are. It makes us all look bad... Oh, and the first 5* review had a load of vibe reviews on their profile, all of sealed high value items. I hate people.
I found this blouse from Unique Vintage, but it's 100% polyester and too small for me. I'm trying to find a pattern for a shirt like this, preferably already graded, but I'll learn how to grade if I need to. I've found plenty of "almost" patterns, but I'm specifically looking for one with the fitted waist running as a separate piece (corset like I guess?) and the classic loose top. All the ones I've found have fired fitted waists, but they're not a waistband like this. Help please?
I ordered an item from a seller after questions making sure it was what I needed. They assured me it was, then drop shipped the item from Walmart, it wasn't what they promised and I reached out to them to let them know I was unhappy. They offered a full refund if I returned it with the shipping label they'd send me. They told me the refund would happen upon them receiving it, but not to open a return on eBay. This is setting off all the warning bells. I'm guessing that they're trying to avoid a ding and that I should ignore their request and open a return anyway, so I'm covered if they don't actually refund the money?
Some context. I'm 48, always had anxiety and depression but it was pretty well controlled until January '25 when I fell off a cliff. About five years ago my resting heart rate jumped into the 110 range and my doctors all brushed it off as stress. It stayed at 110 until I ended up inpatient for completely uncontrolled anxiety last summer.
Beta blockers have brought my moderately high blood pressure (which literally came out of nowhere in less than a month was 120/70 mid December 165/95 mid January until medicated) and heart rate closer to normal. Resting is now 75-80 and BP is normal. About three or four years ago I became extremely heat and exertion sensitive. My doctors told me it was hot flashes from perimenopause and give it time (I tried Veozah, it did nothing). I gained about 30lbs over the course of a year where my weight had previously been stable for decades, no change in diet or exercise.
I had a cancer diagnosis summer of '24. Treatment was immunotherapy, four different chemo drugs, surgery and radiation. A year later, that put me into full on menopause, left me with horrible brain fog, triggered the mental breakdown mentioned above, my long term constant tiredness turned into exhaustion. About 12 weeks before the end of my immunotherapy my weekly blood tests revealed low T4 (.7) and low normal TSH (.9). My oncologist told me it was thyroid damage caused by the immunotherapy but it was mild and not to worry about it.
It's been over a year since my last dose of chemo and 10 months since the end of immunotherapy and I still feel awful. I got to see an endocrinologist a few weeks ago and my blood test results are starting to trickle in. My TSH is now 6.6, T4 is 1.07, T3 is 3, am cortisol is 25.5 and ACTH is 47.
As a layman I can see that this is all pretty wonky, but is it enough to be clinically significant? It's been a week since the results are in and my endocrinologist hasn't even reviewed the results yet, so I was hoping someone here could make sense of it. Honestly, if this is all tied together and fixing it fixes at least some of my mental health issues, I'd be in heaven. From what I'm reading, most diagnoses seem to require the highs or lows be significantly off normal, and none of mine are, so am I seeing zebras when it's just horses?