Ok so my kid had an ear infection, right? As kids often do.

The doctor scraped out a bit of earwax to have a better look inside.

I was sent a bill for $200 PER EAR for this 5 second procedure which I did not give permission for them to do.

That was key- they did not ASK me if they could do this "procedure". And, as I OWN a medical practice (it's me. The medical practice is me, sitting in my house on video calls) I knew to call them when this bill came in to be like "You did not obtain informed consent for this procedure, and it was not en emergency procedure. You had full ability to gain my consent and didn't. I'm not paying."

And the massive hospital who owned the bill said "yuh-huh you do have to pay."

And I said "I own a practice. I know these laws. I do not owe you money for this."

And they conducted an "internal review" and SURPRISE! Decided I totally owed them money and they had never done anything wrong ever.

And so I called my state's Attorney General office, and explained the situation because, as I mentioned, I know the law. The AG got in touch within a couple days to say they were taking the case and would send the massive hospital conglomerate a knock it off, guys letter.

Lo and Behold, today I have a letter where said hospital graciously has agreed to forfeit the payment.

"How not to get screwed over by companies" should be part of civics class.

Know your rights and know who to call when they're infringed on. This whole process cost me $0 and honestly less effort than I would have expected.

May this knowledge find its way to someone else who can use it.

they used to make smackable technology. you used to be able to hit your tv when it didn't work good.

when I was a kid I had an old tv in my room that would always turn to unwatchable static in the middle of shows but one night my sister and I were watching Naruto & every time Kakashi was on-screen the static cleared so we were like “hahaha the tv looooves Kakashi.”

I had a Kakashi bookmark so we held it up against the screen as a joke but the static actually cleared up. Mystified, we tried different bookmarks and objects with the same plastic material but nothing else worked, only the Kakashi bookmark.

We ended up taping it to the corner of the screen and it stayed there for 11 years until we moved out. When I was older people would be like “can you move the bookmark off the screen” bc it did sort of block a bit of the view but I would demonstrate the static issue and everyone was always just like “huh. what the hell?? well…alright.”

No explanation, but thanks Kakashi.

[Image description: Four gifs from Doctor Who, The Ninth Doctor asks, "Who am I to argue with history?" Rose replies, "Usually the first in line." They grin at each other. End description.]

@dw-described

currently maybe possibly single-handedly crashing whatever servers eton hosts its archived student newspapers on because me and a friend are getting obsessed with a single outspoken prefect from 1883

@queenlua Happily! This is going to be long, so here's some set dressing first:

Eton College, for anyone unfamiliar, is a prestigious boys' school in England that has famously educated MANY MANY politicians, royals, nobility, and other assorted famous people. All you really need to know about it is that's it's incredibly posh and expensive and exclusive

The Eton Society (called “Pop” internally) is a self-selecting body of senior students at Eton that have historically held a decent amount of power at the school. If you’ve ever attended a school with a prefect system/house system etc you probably know a little bit about how obnoxious this kind of group can get. Now imagine they're all called Lord Godfrey Pickerington or something. Are you getting it? Is the set being dressed? Good.

Now that the scene is set, here’s our tale!!

I stumbled into Eton’s archives while doing research for a fanfiction and we’ll just leave that admission where it is!! It was in reading old issues of their student-run paper, The Chronicle, from 1883 that myself and @carebewear started becoming fixated on one guy in particular.

Cecil B. Gedge (from this point on known as Gedge) was a member of the Eton Society in 1883/84. He won a few Science awards during his time there (Biology!!) and seemed to like rowing during school sports events. He went on to become a barrister, which will make sense once you know more about him.

The best part of Gedge, though, is his appearances in the minutes for the Eton Society meetings. At least at Gedge’s time, the Eton Society seemed really fond of staging debates (more like loosely organised discussions) on a wide variety of topics.

Here are some of the riveting questions they discussed!

And my personal favourite: "Are Ghosts Real?"

(They were very divided)

Gedge first came to our attention in debate about the annexation of New Guinea, in which he apparently started an "abusive attack on the British army and missionaries":

Wow! Based Gedge!? He continues to spit period-typical truths about things like how we shouldn't tax bicycles actually because it would disproportionately affect poor people. YIMBY Gedge?? He would've loved light rail.

The final nail in our Gedge obsession was a debate on women's suffrage, in which Gedge vehemently advocates for women's right to vote and then gets no supporters at the end of the meeting. But I appreciate that he said it anyway and kept saying it. He is more persecuted that Christ, to me.

Here are some more, from anti-conscription sentiment to indirectly calling his classmates stupid to weirding everyone out by saying he wants to donate his body to science (his friend dissecting him for fun):

We started getting the feeling people might not have liked Gedge that much, mainly since one of the Society members wrote a poem about all his friends and Gedge isn't in it.

In 1884, there was some extended drama in the Chronicle where someone whom I groundlessly suspect was Gedge under a pseudonym ("A Socialist"), wrote to the editor complaining that the "debates" published by the Eton Society were "bad" (genuine quote) and that they should make a REAL debate society at the school that ALL boys, not just the self-selected seniors, could participate in:

To make a long story short most of the vocal members of the Eton Society threw up their hands at this and refused to do anything, basically boiling down to "Just because we're the prefects of the school doesn't mean we should have to actually DO anything!! Unfair!!" and also this quote which reads exactly like at least a thousand real tweets I've seen in my life

Liberal. Gedge, of course, was there giving practical suggestions, but the discussion was ultimately cut short because their principal died and they had to push a memorial issue of the paper. We have a working theory that the staff might've used that interruption as an opportunity to get the boys to cut it the fuck out.

Anyway it's a little unclear what happens to Gedge after that. He isn't credited as being in the 1884 Eton Society in the larger school register but it's unclear if that's because he wasn't re-elected or if he just graduated. Either way, he went on to become a barrister in London, which makes a lot of sense. Sadly though, he passed away in WW1, which we were really normal about

Thank you Lt. Gedge, for truly embodying the eternal spirit of an outspoken debate-kid, a friend to the lefties, a proto-yimby, a terminal back-talker, and the kid in a biology class that's a little too excited for the dissections. I hope your life, however short, was a rich and bright one. Thanks for the incredibly entertaining afternoon, brother 🫡

the meaning of growing up

[ID: A two page comic with Collei and Lisa. Lisa holds a young Collei's hands gently. She brushes over Collei's wounds as she smiles gently and tells her, "Don't be this impatient with your studies in Sumeru, little Collei." Collei looks at her in a weary surprise. The next page shows images of a slingshot resting against a stack of books and the clothes Amber lent Collei for Ludi Harpastum. Along it are several messily done stitches. Lisa tells her, "There's always a first time for everything." We get a close up of Collei and Lisa's hands. This time, Collei's hand has been bandaged. End ID.]

ep 10: noticing a pattern here

[ID: Skip and Loafer fanart. It shows Mitsumi and Shima dancing, as in the anime opening, with flowers, confetti, and music notes scattered around them. end ID]

SPOILERS FOR NETWORK EFFECT CHAPTER 4

[ID: A digital, three-panel, vertical strip comic of a scene in chapter 4 of Network Effect, page 55. The background is dark blue-grey. Text is an angular font in two shades of orange with faint discoloration around the edges.

The first panel shows the feet of Murderbot as it walks through a doorway and toward the camera; its shins are out-of-frame and it is wearing dark boots and baggy pants. To the left of it (right if the camera), a mangled drone lays in pieces on the floor, debris still falling through the air above it. The drone pieces are camo-patterned and vibrant red light comes from the left, illuminating the debris and Murderbot's leg.

In the black space separating this panel and the next, text is placed that reads "ANGRY,"

The second panel shows Murderbot in a similar pose, but from the knees up to its abdomen. It is wearing a black leather jacket over a hoodie, and a dark shirt. Its hands are by its sides; It's left hand is flexing as it drops drone debris onto the ground. Its right hand is clenched into a tight fist. The same vibrant red light comes from the left and lights up Murderbot's clothes.

The space between panels reads "THEN AFRAID,"

The third panel is extra long, and split in half by a diagonal line.

The top half shows a Target. They are wearing armor and a helmet with the face-plate removed; the armor has the same camo-pattern as the drone did and their skin is grey. They wear dark fabric clothes under their armor, as shown on their upper arm, thighs and the cap covering the top of their head.. They are cowering on the ground, knees pulling up into the frame as they try to brace themself, or scoot away from Murderbot. Their left arm is raised toward their chest as if preparing to take some sort of action. Their expression is somewhere between scared and furious; eyes wide, eyebrows drawn and sharp teeth bared. The red light is cast from the light and leaves harsh shadows.

The bottom half shows Murderbot from the chest up. It is wearing a hoodie and has curly hair, one fist is raised in front of its mouth as it prepares a punch, and the top half of its face is covered in shadow; only it's left eye is visible. The shadow is cast by that angry red light, coming from the left again.

The background is a dark teal, except for muted blue shatter lines behind Murderbot's head.

The line between the two pictures of the third panel says: "THEN DEAD."

The dark space under the third panel asks: "Is that the right order?"/end ID]

king of feminism

[ID: A screenshot of Hoshino Aqua from the anime “Oshi no Ko”. He says, very seriously, “You’re right. Not letting his girlfriend die is a boyfriend’s duty.” End ID.]

When you think about it, all the events of It Lives in the Woods could have been prevented if the kids’ shitty parents had paid more attention and didn’t let their 7-9 year old children go gallivanting around in the woods by themselves.

Doodle from the new Mitski MV lol

✨precious babes✨

[ID: a drawing of Miroku and Sango from InuYasha, shown from the chests up with their backs to each other. Miroku has a slap mark on his cheek and is looking over his shoulder at Sango with a smirk; Sango is laughing to herself. End ID]

This is my life - it’s not fun, it’s not smart, it’s just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will.

[Image description: a gifset from Doctor Who featuring The Ninth Doctor.

Gif one shows The Doctor laughing.

Gif two, The Doctor says, “She’s climbing out of the window, isn’t she?”

Gif three shows the Doctor turning away from the wall as someone off screen says, “You’re looking good for it.” And he replies, “I moisturise.”

Gif four shows The Doctor looking scared, off screen The Dalek Emperor says, “What are you - coward or killer?” And the Doctor replies, “Coward. Any day.”

Gif five, The Doctor looks at Rose in a new dress and says, “You look beautiful. Considering.” Rose asks, “Considering what?” The Doctor says, “That you’re human.”

Gif six, The Doctor holds onto Rose’s hands and says, “I think you need a Doctor.”

Gif seven shows The Doctor looking through a magazine, he says to himself, “That won’t last. He’s gay and she’s an alien.”

Gif eight shows The Doctor standing between Rose and Jack, he takes a breath and says, “Go to your room! I’m really glad that worked, those would have been terrible last words.”

Gif nine, The Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver and says to himself, “What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?”

Gif ten, off screen Rose says, “I can’t do anything right, can I?” The Doctor looks at her and says, “Since you asked, no. So, don’t touch the baby!”

/end image description]

[Caption: This is my life - it’s not fun, it’s not smart, it’s just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will.]

@dw-described

(id in alt)

NOT SHIP // two birds on a lazy afternoon

thank god anything at all useful is being torn down and made illegal so that the computer can just be a box you turn on to watch ads for fake phone games