Going to come back to this to reflect in more detail to your original post and to this comment, but wanted to quickly float the idea that perhaps these people view you as particularly sound, so when they lay things on you or are just more emotional or intense in front of you, and you seem unphased - neither rushing to condemn them nor scrambling to reassure - they interpret that as disapproval from someone whom they find sound. And that because they value your judgement & integrity, they get sheepish and awkward in the absence of a strong outward reaction, which in turn you interpret as them thinking ill of you.

Only suggesting this because have seen quite a bit of this between people, and experienced mild versions of both ends of that dynamic.

Not that it helps, if it even resonates, or provides guidance.

Have you considered putting letters written on paper in the post?

Seems unwise to give your child’s early life story to any of these companies, especially when mapped to a network of her relatives and likely including photographs which people may not be as diligent to keep private as you.

Your daughter cannot consent to this, and it is your duty as parents to protect her privacy until she is old enough to decide for herself what to share and where.

Entirely different groups of people, and they’re profoundly opposed to each other.

At the core of this massive protest/strike are groups which have been against the bombardment of Gaza from the outset, and protesting Israel’s war against Palestinians for years.

Yer a pterodactyl, Mox. A pterodactyl.

Am so glad you spoke with the vet and that you’ve escaped that part of things.

Much love to you!

Sweetheart,

Choked up just thinking of how you are feeling. Losing a pet, and so suddenly is the worst.

Please be gentle with yourself. Hesitant to suggest much, as you sound so vulnerable just now.

What kind of things do you think might be distracting or soothing when you notice your mind has drifted into the self-blame stuff? Are there any friends who live nearby that you could visit?

Glad you’re feeling better.

GAA hurling can be a fun sport to distract oneself with, if you’re similarly stuck another time.

Stunning.

Hope the mystery signed brick will go in along with your own plaque to future humans.

Suspect your daughter may be downplaying things a bit here…

She got the top result possible. Students who achieve First with honours (sometimes written as 1:1) have to be even better than excellent across their entire degree.

Some years nobody on a particular course will do this well, because it is reserved for the exceptional.

BEES.

But Beehaws would work too.

Beezers?

Very cool & giving me some inspiration for… stuff.

Momentarily thought they were mailing out hard copies, as they seek a mailing address to check out a book. I get this is likely to comply with copyright obligations, or just because the charity lacks the resources to supply the entire world, but it is a vulnerability should the library be attacked. Suggest users furnish addresses they do not live at - ideally non-residential addresses - addresses of campaign offices of local homophobic & transphobic representatives would work, but so would govt departmental buildings or commercial premises which are used by a lot of people (best to not put some randomer at risk).

If they’re incidental to some other thing you are filming, probably ok but consider blurring their faces prior to publication.

If filming as evidence, consider not uploading or sharing unless you have exhausted other avenues of getting that evidence to the relevant people.

True, though curiously if you appear with a big camera people respond far better than to a phone camera, despite the familiarity of the latter.

You could try NextDNS. It won’t let you designate access per app, but you can create custom blocklists. Short-term logging makes it easy to see at a glance which domains are being requested, and it doesn’t take long to get it all set up so that your apps only contact stuff which is strictly necessary in your view. Also comes with many blocklists to choose from, as well as other useful settings.

YES & YES.

So in ordinary moronland, just back from voting on a metre-long ballot comprising 6 Fascists (mercifully unpopular), 3 NazBols (could fool some), 3 Tankies (quite popular) & 11 assorted others.

Now slinging Jagermeïster & have already mistaken some supposed local hotshot from the arts for a locum parish priest. He’s ever so slightly regretting having asked why I thought he looked familiar.

Gonna regale us with tales from the front?

STOP MAKING ME LIKE YOU SO MUCH ALREADY!!

Which symphony?

Wildly impressed at the homegrown cures.

Anyhow, assume this week’s Witching Hour has struck, as my notifications tell me I missed a reply before it was deleted.

Come rail at us if you need to. Am a reasonably ordinary moron if that helps!!

Something about this feels like the makings of a short story, or collection of them even. Could be a way to divert yourself from rampaging round social media?

If mostly due to hormonal fluctuations, maybe your doctor can tweak them a little to give you a smoother ride?

Beautiful.

Some archaeologist is going to find this one day. Be fun to include a plaque with a message for them (and for anyone who uses it after you).

There’s been… stuff.

Otherwise, reasonable inroads on neglected household cleaning & even a tiny bit of admin.