This is so wrong. The council claims to have offered everyone somewhere to go, but often they want to place people hours away from everyone they know, or split families up with the father in one shelter 45 minutes by car away.

With few trains and a ridiculous non-linear bus route system that takes “efficient” wandering routes, this 45 minutes is easily an hour and a half or more.

We live near a major bus interchange and our daughters are going to uni in the city. It is 20 minutes by car, and 56 minutes by bus. It would take 3-4 hours of the day for this family to visit wherever they have been placed. While trying to get their life together?

Criminalising homelessness is yet another step on the road to becoming more like America. I should know - I grew up there and this whole situation makes my blood run cold, because it’s what I left 10 years ago.

This article is feeling kind of clickbaitish, as the sources are … odd.

However, restricting blood flow to the brain can also have serious health implications.

While not all pressure on the neck will be fatal, research shows even relatively low pressure can cause death by strangulation.

The first source is a medical journal describing the physiology of the arteries in the neck, and does not seem to include anything about restricting blood flow (never mind temporarily) having serious health consequences.

The second source is a book from 1991 about autoerotic asphyxiation with the quote:

autoerotic asphyxia denotes death resulting from failure of a release mechanism of the device, apparatus or prop designed to attain cerebral hypoxia for heightened arousal.

Which is … not the same as doing this with someone, and doesn’t address the risks of a partner who releases pressure immediately after a loss of consciousness.

The issues around consent are troubling indeed, consent should always be paramount.

I also found it amusing that the beginning of the article said

Although rare, strangulation is the leading cause of death in consensual BDSM play.

Which links to a study that found a total of 16 cases that included strangulation between 1982 and 2020. Rare indeed.

My husband and I dabble in breath play, so I was curious and read a few studies myself. It seems that every case study I could find included atypical circumstances. Things like accidental hanging, or asphyxiation due to bags etc being over the head.

This paper includes a 50 year review of cases for anyone interested. https://benthamopen.com/contents/pdf/TOFORSJ/TOFORSJ-1-1.pdf

It is also worth noting that loss of consciousness due to cutting off blood flow to the brain (cerebral hypoxia) is not dissimilar to the hypoxia experienced by pilots, who even train with repeated exposure to hypoxia in hyperbaric chambers.

I would be curious to know if there were any studies of the long term effects of this on pilots. (My dive into the rabbit hole is done for the day, lol.)

I know all the words, and yet they make no sense. Are you being snarky? I am new here and trying to learn, and happened to have an experience relevant to the conversation this morning.

I just set up a brand new Lenovo laptop today, that came with Win11. I quickly decided Win11 was hot garbage, and installed Win10, removing all partitions and wiping all drives. I never signed into a Microsoft acct on the machine, created only a local acct in Win11 and again in Win10.

When I installed 10, it never asked me for a product key, which had me scratching my head, until I googled and found that it had already activated Win10 home and how I could activate pro.

Long story short, it does appear that newer laptops have the key in their hardware somehow.

Anyway, the writing is on the wall - I can’t keep going with Windows. Which led me to lurking here.

Agree wholeheartedly.

Hah I love it. <3

Maybe they had him in the front seat because it reclines?

I have had three moles removed from my face by a regular gp here in Australia. Not a plastic surgeon, just a good gp I trust.

They have all healed beautifully, with invisible scarring.

I tend to keloid on my arms and trunk, so I was very careful with healing. As soon as the stitches came out I put silicone tape over it and kept it taped over a few months.

If it started to feel itchy (a sign of keiloid forming) I would apply a steroid cream.

During the day when I was out and about I used skin coloured silicone scar tape cut to fit, these tapes are very expensive though.

When I was at home or sleeping I used “Fixomul Sensitive” which uses a silicone adhesive and is very inexpensive for a whole roll.

Once they had healed enough that they were flat and white (not the pink or red of a healing scar) I stopped with the tape and was very careful to apply good sunscreen for the rest of a year.

You cannot tell I had anything done, at all.

Be careful with healing and you will be fine! <3

Holy shit… If people can buy influence, then the political nutbags that already influence social media through bot accounts will now be able to directly use their money to further push their agendas unfettered… I am so glad I jumped ship when I did.

Good. It should be raised. By a lot.

A full time fast food worker in Australia over the age of 21 makes $24.60 aud ($16.37 usd) an hr. This wage being full time includes holidays, sick leave, paid taxes, and we have universal healthcare. A closer comparison would be the casual rate, which does not include holidays or sick leave, and you have to pay your own taxes. (You still get universal healthcare though) That rate is $30.91 aud (20.58 usd) an hour.

Prices of common things compared to a similarly sized city in the States:

3l of full cream store brand milk is $4.50 aud ($3.00 usd) 1gal of whole store brand milk is $3.09 usd

Loaf of store brand wholemeal bread is $2.70 aud ($1.80 usd) Loaf of store brand honey wheat bread is $1.74 usd

12 cheapest free range eggs $5.20 aud ($3.46 usd) 12 cheapest pasture raised eggs $5.92 usd

1 gallon is 3.7 litres.

1 gallon of the cheapest gasoline in the American city we are looking at is $4.21 usd 1 litre of petrol is $1.88 aud 1.88 x 3.7 = 6.95 1 gallon of petrol is $6.95 aud ($4.63 usd)

1 br 1 ba unit in the middle of the cbd is $500 aud a week. ($332 usd or $1328 a month) 1 br 1 ba apartment in the middle of the cbd is $1550 usd a month

Basic utilities (Electricity, Heating, Cooling, Water, Garbage) for 85m2 Apartment $321.75 usd Basic utilities (Electricity, Heating, Cooling, Water, Garbage) for 85m2 Apartment $330.40 aud ($219.93 usd)

Store brand pre-paid mobile plan 35GB data, unlimited texts and calls $30 aud a month ($19.97 usd) Store brand pre-paid mobile plan 40GB data, unlimited texts and calls $39.88 usd a month

Also factor in the cost of health insurance in the States, which you do not need here.

I moved to Australia from the States around 8 years ago, and the difference in quality of life compared to the relatively similar cost of living was… a huge adjustment.

We talked about moving to the States someday, but now wouldn’t consider it.

Agree, he’s really cute!