Name a bigger downgrade than the scooby doo hex girls? pic.twitter.com/xpSAXD7ETC

— meme bastard (@mask_bastard) February 8, 2025

!fellas please confirm

"The Apple hasnt fallen far from the tree."

"They must also be charged with neglecting to maintain his grandfather's house. Their punishment should be to paint and landscape the house."

"Fake News 😡😡 allow those innocent children to go"

"Innocent like Zuumi?"

"Oh my goodness....you need to catch a serious wake up. They would even steal from innocent people like you!!!!!!!"

are a dramatic bunch.

https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2025-01-09-mandelas-grandson-arrested-on-hijacking-charge-at-houghton-home/

====(from businesslive)

The property previously owned by former president Nelson Mandela in Houghton, where his grandson Mbuso was arrested with four hijacking suspects on Wednesday, was in use by Mbuso, the family has confirmed.

Mbuso Mandela's older brother, Ndaba, said his younger brother had lived on the property for years and had neglected it.

Mbuso is expected to appear in the Johannesburg magistrate's court on Friday with four other suspects.

The arrests followed information from a vehicle tracking company on the location of a white Toyota Corolla that was hijacked on Wednesday on Louis Botha Avenue in Oaklands, said Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) spokesperson Xolani Fihla.

Fihla said the police had recovered the vehicle and arrested four men and a woman.

====(end quote)

https://www.iol.co.za/the-star/news/nelson-mandelas-grandson-among-four-arrested-in-hijacking-incident-6e30657f-2394-4fc4-87f0-0fde8e2186b1

https://9gag.com/gag/aYQVABx#comment

Chuds of 9strag weight in

https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/1ivpkha/vatican_says_pope_francis_is_in_critical_condition/

Reminder that this is part of a porphecy

https://rdrama.net/h/dioceseofrdrama/post/321468/the-prophecymarseyfortunetellerof-st-malachy-pope-francis

"All the trillion dollar corporation CEOs are donating money and having one-to-one dinners with him. Hello oligarchy." - /u/erotic_sex_worker

https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1huzpf3/tim_cook_is_latest_tech_exec_to_kiss_the_ring/m5p7lao/?context=8

So just like it's always been: Biden inaugural committee raised $62M with big sums from billionaires, corporations

I love that it's only news now because Trump does it.

It's (D)ifferent ya know

https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1huzpf3/tim_cook_is_latest_tech_exec_to_kiss_the_ring/m5pvl7y/?context=8

God America is corporate wasteland now. They don't even hide buying politicians anymore. But don't worry rich orange Jesus is here to save us, he totally knows the struggles of the working man.

https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1huzpf3/tim_cook_is_latest_tech_exec_to_kiss_the_ring/m5p5mla/?context=8

This is what 78 million Americans voted for.

They wanted corporate welfare, billionaire immunity, and pay for play.

Oh, you thought you'd get cheaper groceries and a one time $600 dollar check? Fricking dolts.

"I don't want consumer protection, workers rights or more financial freedom like never having to worry about healthcare costs again! I want to stop woke and trans and poor people from having freedom."

terrorists don't attack us anymore because they cant achieve our level of destruction with ignorance voting. - /u/herefromyoutube

I'm certain they wanted more corporate welfare and to not own the libs lmao

https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1huzpf3/tim_cook_is_latest_tech_exec_to_kiss_the_ring/m5p7l5x/?context=8

Look, I didn't like Trump and never voted for him. I thought Biden was honestly doing a pretty okay job. But as a lifelong Apple fan, if Tim's on board, then I'm willing to give him a chance. - /u/Ok-Echo-7764 [-50]

https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1huzpf3/tim_cook_is_latest_tech_exec_to_kiss_the_ring/m5pkt84/?context=8

It's even worse when you consider the fact that he's a gay man supporting this admin. Sad.

These people really think the GQP is really going to take away gay rights lmao - /u/OmniAtom91

https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1huzpf3/tim_cook_is_latest_tech_exec_to_kiss_the_ring/m5p9q2j/?context=8

Honestly I don't blame Cook that much for this. With Trump as president, you have to pay to play. Trump would be petty enough to do something to ruin Apple stock if Cook didn't pay.

Didn't hate the player, hate the game. - /u/d-cent [-8]

https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1huzpf3/tim_cook_is_latest_tech_exec_to_kiss_the_ring/m5p7u4k/?context=8

(This is a continuation of my reply to the recent thread about the Civilization series.)

It's got some issues with, for lack of a better term, historical accuracy. There's some weird dodgy stuff in the tech tree. You may try to scoff and say that it's just a game, it's not meant to be accurate. Yeah, of course not, to a certain point. Old Man Redactor once saw me playing Darklands and pointed out that if you just changed the data files you could use the same engine to make a game about running a laundromat. What elevates games over spreadsheets is that there's some kind of story that it's telling you where the numbers mean something. In Civ, that story is history in general, so it had darn well better at least feel like it has to do with history.

I only realized later that actually my father is a Satanist who was trying to drive me away from good Christian games. One day on the solstice he made carry a bunch of 1-gallon milk jugs full of blood (I dunno what kind) from the garage to the trunk of his old Honda. Then he got in and it flew away into the night. That's when I put two and two together.

The way religion is handled I think is pretty butt-backwards. In the original Civ, it's all abstract. You build a temple and that's it, it's assumed that it's a temple for whatever these people believe in. It doesn't really matter what religion it is because, for the purposes of the game of Civilization, people from different religions act pretty much the same for the most part because we're all human.

The other approach you can take is what they do in Europa Universalis. (I dunno if they still have the guts to do this but they did when I played it.) Where you decide which religions are good or bad and give them bonuses and penalties. This obviously has some disadvantages. Like it's really fricking obvious what's going on when the game is made in Sweden and the good religions that get bonuses are in northern Europe. You can't get away with that if you're making a game outside of an extremely ethnocentric culture like Sweden.

Swedes always score themselves as the happiest country on Earth when they make those rankings, yet all the Swedes I know complain about how their husband just drinks all day and won't do anything even though she physically beats the shit out of him. Curious.

Civ IV tried to have their cake and eat it too but you end up with nothing and you're still hungry. The religions use the superficial trappings of ones from the real world but in gameplay terms they're completely generic with nothing differentiating them except which tech activates them. If they're generic why do we need them? Why not just leave it completely abstract like in Civ I? If we're assigning them to real world religions, why don't we give them their own special bonuses like we do with different civilizations?

The approach in Civ IV is kinda stupid both in terms of gameplay and theme. You might as call the religions pokemon because you're best off just collecting them all. Each one in a city adds happiness and gives you the opportunity to build more improvements. Honey, please. This is a stupid gameplay mechanic where you're encouraged to build missionaries to convert all your cities and build the same improvement several times for each religion. I consider this to be what Soren Johnson (designer of Civ IV) himself called a "degenerate strategy" in his seminal piece "Water Finds a Crack". You're doing something that's stupid and not interesting because the game rewards you for it. There's no interesting choices going on here. The other gameplay impact religion has is that basically it makes some of the AI civilizations hate you for no reason. This was obviously intended to stop you from just turtling and being friends with everyone, but it's annoying when you're left with fewer options to pursue in diplomacy.

In terms of history, this is all really stupid. Religious diversity works in America because the Founding Fathers designed our nation around it. In the rest of the world in the rest of history, having many different religions in one city is not a recipe for everyone to love each other. Let's look at the late 1500s, when religion was perhaps the most important in history that it's ever been. You had stuff like Protestant mobs surrounding the convent and yelling lewd suggestions of what the nuns should do. Today in Beirut they've got 15 religious sects and it's not giving them +15 happiness points. It's giving them continuous simmering animosity. Damascus, Aleppo, Baghdad, great cities that have "stood the test of time" like the ones represented in Civilization are not finding that diversity is their strength. By ignoring these real issues, I feel that Civ IV is demeaning both to America, where we actually solved them to some extent, and to the poor bastards living in those shithole countries where they have to deal with sectarian bullshit on a daily basis.

In 1976 the Lebanese decided that their happiness bonus from being multicultural society was so great that they asked the Syrian Army to come and violently put down sectarian violence experience it for themselves.

Also, what do you do with the Jews and Hindus? If you're putting real world religions into the game they're incredibly important so you have to include them, but they're not like the other ones featured in the game. They're not sending missionaries around trying to convert people. So what do you do? Write special rules for them? Who's gonna do that? You'd need to hire some guy from Hebrew University who also loves 4X to do any justice to it.

Now this is a nice campus.

The way that religion affects diplomacy in the game is stupid in the other direction. Countries won't make alliances with the "infidels"? How fricking naive do you have to be? Are like 4 fricking years old? Let's look at the late 1500s again. I don't have the book at hand at the moment, so this is from memory, but there was an alliance against the Hapsburgs that was something like this: Sweden, Denmark, England, the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, various parts of Italy, and the Ottomans. They'd have added the Moros in the Philippines if they had better communications technology. In Lebanon they've gone through every possible combination of different sects allying with each since 1975. Most hilariously the Druze who have been both allied with and fought everyone else at least once since then. The elites running the country or the faction usually don't give a shit about sectarian hatred except as a tool they can use to manipulate the plebs.

Sana'a Mehaidli. Carried out a suicide bombing against the Israeli occupation force in 1985. I guess nobody ever told her that as a Christian she wasn't supposed to be on the same side as Muslims.

Which takes me back to my original point about how Sid Meier did it with generic temples. It's not because he's some atheist who hates religion. (He's actually a Christian of the actually going to church kind btw.) It's because trying to fit too much low-level detail about religion into a 4X game is really tricky and probably won't work in terms of gameplay or theme. I've always had a strong impression that this feature was basically put in because there was a feeling among (mostly atheist) 4X fans that religion was a big thing in history so we need a gameplay mechanic for it. And my feminine masculine intuition is rarely wrong.

After all this time I spent writing this I really feel like... starting up a new game of Civ IV. It's a great game.

Our boi Scot narrating this cuck saga

Please, I'd just like to talk.

!friendsofspiderman

Feel free to invite your enemies here as well. I would like to talk to them.

Kiwi Forums

This is Mavis

This is lime (fruit)

This is Calcium Hydroxide (lime or pickling lime)

These are not the same

0:26 Start of video. Jack is blown away by this thing his brother sent him about Amish egg preservation with lime water

1:00 1L of water, juice from 2 limes, and 24 farm fresh eggs appear in the jar because his gimpy stroke body can't do it.

1:40 Surely this will keep them fresh for 15 years. Jack plans to try them in 1 year

2:00 Jack wonders if the eggs will taste like limes. Talks about the Amish having basements full of lime eggs

2:40 The fake news bird flu is making them jack up the prices of eggs, but they can't get Jack's egg jar

3:00 Jack is going to leave it in the background of all his videos. Place your bets for how long it will take him to realize they're rotting

4:00 Oh yeah, this is part of his Amish month because he apparently fancies himself an expert.

We have offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system.

We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee.

The fee would be relatively low for… pic.twitter.com/HTNwtp35Aq

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) February 4, 2025

They are REALLY proud of their gigaprison

🇬🇧 British farmers protested today!

In addition to tractors, military equipment appeared on the streets of London. Tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.

It is unclear where the farmers got them from.

1/ pic.twitter.com/gvdLo4DEvM

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) February 10, 2025

Those can be bought by any individual

— Gutsa (@gutsa_ma) February 10, 2025

Can't buy pointed knives but you can legally buy a tank from Temu, what a country

White People Love Kanye West

September 12, 2008

Daniel O'Brian

Cracked pictures replaced by carefully chosen gifs to imitate their clever impact

I think I might've gotten Kanye West arrested, and now I feel like such a doofus. Especially given my history, I mean, this isn't the first time I got a hip-hop star in trouble with the law, (devotees will recall that, several months ago, I may or may not have convinced Vanilla Ice to beat his wife). In fairness, if I had known Kanye was going fly off the handle and get so aggravated that he'd smash an expensive camera at an airport, I probably wouldn't have said what I said. I should back up...

Thursday, September 11, 2008 6:00am I stumbled into Rutt's Inn, this amazing pancake place in LA, and Kanye was already there, waiting for me. He stood up and waved me over enthusiastically. "OB," he shouted, "My man, get over here, we got just oodles of shit to discuss." Ugh. He's a lot of things but, above everything else, Kanye West is a morning person. I am not. I sat down across from him, rubbing my eyes, my head throbbing and my throat dry. "Thanks for meeting me, Dan, this is really-" I silenced him with a hand wave. "I'm gonna stop you right there, 'Ye. This conversation isn't moving another inch forward until I get at least two cups of coffee in me. My eyes feel like fricking pinecones." Kanye started laughing. If I had to guess, I'd say it was because he was picturing two pinecones fornicating. That was, of course, not my intention, but Kanye probably couldn't tell that there was no hyphen between "fricking" and "pinecones." Because this was a spoken conversation.

OGs know this gif

I digress. Aside from the giggling, Kanye graciously allowed me several minutes of silence while I wolfed down two cups of black coffee. Kanye was such a fan of mine and I think he's alright, (I guess), so we both agreed it would be a good idea for the two of us to work on a project together. It was really more his idea than mine, but I figured I'd at least hear him out. I was, after all, writing a pilot for an animated children's TV show about a genetically-enhanced mouse that gets elected president; Kanye could easily do the voice for the sassy bird that becomes the vice president.

"Now," I said, after I'd finished my coffee, "what kind of project did you have in mind?" His eyes lit up. "First off, I just wanna say how psyched I am that you're meeting with me. I'm such a fan of the blog and your early mixtapes, from back when you used to rap. I mean, you're the Statutory Rap, man! I am so honored to be in your presence." "Settle down, Kanye." "Right, my bad. Anyway, I was thinkin' we could do an album together. You and me, you know, I bring you outta retirement, and we change the game, you know? You're still tight with Jay-Z, so I'm sure he'd be down to guest on a few tracks. It'd be tight, we'd get Weezy in there, Swizz Beatz. This shit's gonna be hot!" Rapping? That was the last thing I thought this meeting was going to be about. To be honest, I had no interest in the project and I made no attempts to hide my dissatisfaction. Kanye noticed immediately. "What's wrong," he asked. "You can still spit fire, right?" "Don't be a child, Kanye, of course I can. That's not the point." "Well, what is the point?" Now, before I go any further, I want you to know that I didn't think I was saying anything revelatory. I honestly didn't think I was telling any tales out of school, and I didn't mean to surprise or enrage Kanye West in any way. I mean, he says things like "psyched" and "oodles." I figured what I was about to say was common knowledge... "Well, Kanye, I was considering making a comeback, but I'm just not sure it should be with you... I mean, I want to make rap music but, you know. Not for white people." Kanye seemed positively shocked. "I don't understand," he said after some time. "Oh, uh, it's pretty simple. White people love you." I thought he was gonna have a heart attack, but it's true. White people love Kanye West. So much so, in fact, that I find it amazing that the foremost experts on stuff white people like have never mentioned it.

that was a real website in 2008 that white people posted on Facebook

Kanye West, still somewhat in shock, was ready to speak. "You're messing with me. This...this can't be. I'm... I'm from the street, I-" "Everyone knows where you're from, Kanye. And, hey, it's nothing to be ashamed about- you're selling a ton of records, you're a dynamite producer and you've sold out shows all over the globe. And there's nothing wrong with making music white people love, plenty people have done it in the past. James Taylor comes to mind." Kanye West threw up all over the table. "You lyin', DOB, you must be lyin'." Has he seriously never suspected this? "You don't believe me? Alright, as an experiment, go ahead and ask any average, suburban middle class white person if they're into rap. Go ahead. Right now. Pick someone off the street, anyone, and ask if they like rap music, and I'll tell you, (unless they're an actual hip-hop fan), they're gonna say 'Eh, I'm kinda into rap. I think Kanye West is great.' Trust me. Just about every white person who's worried about coming off as either uncool or a racist, which is to say, 'every white person,' will say almost that exact sentence, verbatim."

white hands at the ye show

"Stop it. Stop it! I don't believe you." "Well now you're just being a baby. Kanye, man, do you have any idea just how many high-maintenance white girls have 'Stronger' memorized? Fricking all of them, man. And, I mean, haven't you noticed that the way you dress informs the style of idiot white guys everywhere?" He put his fingers in his ears and started shaking his head violently. "Look, there's just something about you. You're just gangster enough that white people will listen to you and feel cool and edgy, (yet comfortable), but not quite gangster enough that white folks will be afraid of you. Or, you know. That anyone else will actually like you. There's nothing wrong with being liked by white people. Heck, some of my best friends are white. But I'm just saying that if you decided you wanted to feature Regina Spektor on an upcoming single, two things would happen: no one in the hip-hop community would be surprised or impressed, and white kids at colleges across America would absolutely lose their shit.

and it could be on the 500 days of summer sequel soundtrack

" Seriously. U-Mass Amherst might have to shut down while all the students clean up after their simultaneous orgasm. Kanye was, understandably, having a difficult time with this new information. "But...but I'm from Chicago, man, the streets of Chicago." His eyes started to well up. "Oh, right, that's another problem. You reference Chicago a lot, and in your songs, sometimes you call it 'Chi-town,' which is fine, but other times you call it 'The Shire.' Now, uh... I know you think that's a cool nickname but...I don't know if you know this, but the Shire is where the hobbits lived in Lord of the Rings....Do...do you know what type of people love Lord of the Rings, Kanye? I don't think I need to tell you." "Oh my God." "Yeah. It's pretty awful." "I don't mean to rap for white people. I don't want to make white people happy." "Of course you don't, Kanye, nobody wants white people to be happy." "But why do they like me so much?" "Love, Kanye, white people love you. And I guess it's because you're catchy, uncomplicated and generally inoffensive. Let's be honest, all of your hits are pretty mom-friendly. Also you're very clear. White people are crazy about diction." "But still, my lyrics. I rap about life, man, and the streets. Doesn't that count for anything," he pleaded. "B-word please. You rap about working at the Gap, smoking pot and having s*x with drunk chicks. Those are the only things white guys do." "Why are you saying this," Kanye said with tears streaming down his face.

"Because I figured you knew!" Honestly. I assumed everybody knew. White people love Kanye West, Middle Eastern people love Lionel Ritchie, and Chinese people are afraid of Smash Mouth. These are Pop Culture Commandments, I don't presume to understand them, but I acknowledge them all the same. I spend plenty of time around white people, I've even been mistaken for white. But I'll never quite get why white people are so fascinated by Kanye West. Also Michael Phelps. White people are obsessed with Michael Phelps, I just don't get it. "But I sold so many records...." "That's true, you've got some insanely catchy joints, no one's taking that away from you. But, you know...Blink182 had some catchy shit too, but I don't think anyone would argue that they helped out punk music in any way. Do you see what I mean?" He did. And it hurt. He looked practically catatonic, sitting at that table, watching his world crash around him. I tried cheering him up. "Hey, on the bright side, you're bringing rap music to the whole world. You're introducing an entire generation of pasty, soccer-loving white folks to rap. Music History will look back on you fondly but, uh...the same way it looks back on Hammer." If the Rutts Inn had sharper knives, I think Kanye probably would've used one to stab someone at that point. I never was too good at comforting depressed hip-hop stars after a pancake breakfast. I know, that is an oddly specific flaw to have, but it's true. It's my one weakness. "Listen," I said, paying the bill, "I guess this a lot for you to digest, so I'll just leave you alone. I think you have a plane to catch anyway. But, hey, gimme a call if you have any interest in voicing a cartoon vice president named 'Dan Quail.' Do...do you get it?... Okay, I'll leave you alone." An hour and a half later, Kanye got arrested for flipping out at an airport and breaking a paparazzo's camera.

Whoops. *** So, uh...State of California...hopefully this should explain why Mr. West acted out the way he did. Have mercy on him, this is a tough pill for ole' Kanye to swallow. Please, take pity on him and be lenient in your sentencing. It's like Kanye finding out for the first time that there's no Santa Claus. Or, that there is a Santa Claus, and he just loves Kanye's music. Because he's a fat white guy.

https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1ir8idw/comment/md6j97q/?context=8

Canadians, trust me, nobody outside of extremely online people have any idea you are boycotting us lmao

Apparently morbius got a C+

https://old.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/1iptarn/captain_america_brave_new_world_gets_a_b_on/mcuykdc/?context=8

Not to go there but we will look back at the insane cultural bubble that was 2019-2022 and the havoc it's wrought on pop culture with disbelief; it will legit be studied.

The way Disney has CRATERED its most valuable IPs in the service of fake cultural clout from what was always a vanishingly tiny minority and audiences that simply don't (and have never) existed as a way to take story telling shortcuts and up their ESG score. It's like something out of a dystopian novel, it nearly beggars belief.

When Lorraine Kelly shared her experience of menopause on her daytime TV show in 2017, she was her own last resort. Initially, she set out to interview a famous woman about her story, but everyone she approached refused.

"I thought, nobody else will talk about it so I'll do it. It was a breakthrough moment," said Kelly.

Seven years later, it often feels as though we have reached peak menopause. Michelle Obama, Salma Hayek and Gwyneth Paltrow have all been open about their experiences, encouraging women not to feel ashamed about a biological process an estimated 13 million people in the UK are now going through. And yet there's still one part of it that is barely spoken about.

Vaginal dryness.

As with so much in this realm, it took a celebrity – Davina McCall in this case – to shine a light on it. For those of us who'd assumed this symptom was a minor inconvenience, which only affected s*x and was easily remedied with the kinds of lubrication readily available from high street chemists, it was a brutal wake-up call.

"I had severe dryness, so severe that when I tried to wipe myself after going to the loo, it was so sore I was having to kind of dab," McCall said in her 2021 documentary, S*x, Myths and the Menopause. "I didn't know what it was, I had no idea that it was part of being perimenopausal."

Previously known as vulvovaginal atrophy, now rebranded as genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), vaginal dryness will probably affect between 60% and 80% of women, according to various studies. It is caused by the drop in oestrogen levels, which happens as women go through menopause, causing vaginal tissue to become thinner and less elastic. Despite it being so common, one study has found that a third of female sufferers did not report it to their doctor.

This is partly because of embarrassment, says Haitham Hamoda, consultant gynaecologist and clinical lead of the menopause service at King's College Hospital. "Most GPs are well informed and offer a great service, but of course, there are variations of what you can access. Part of it is going to be what is available to you, what is offered to you, and what you feel comfortable talking about."

He continues: "You'd be surprised how many people would come and see you because they're talking about flushes and sweats and brain fog. And when you say, 'Do you have vaginal dryness?' they will say, 'Oh, yes, it's really uncomfortable'. But they never really think about bringing it up, unless you specifically ask."

Hamoda has seen women who are too sore to wear underwear. "You do find people who say clothes are uncomfortable because it's touching against the area … In extreme cases they find it uncomfortable sitting or walking."

GP and menopause expert Dr Renée Hoenderkamp has had cases like this too. "I've seen women who can't go about their daily life because of vaginal dryness. It's absolutely debilitating. They can't go to the gym any more, can't wear jeans, can't go for a bike ride, can't run up the stairs at the station. It's all just too painful."

Clare, 55, says GSM "consumed my whole life". "I used to sit in a shallow, cold bath, sobbing. It was agony, the burning never let up for one second of the day or night. Even walking was painful." It began when she was 47, but she never considered her symptoms could have anything to do with being perimenopausal because her periods were regular, and she was not having hot flushes.

But, as Hoenderkamp points out, every menopause is different: "For some women, vaginal dryness will be their first symptom, very early, even before their periods have changed. Other women won't get it until they've gone through it all. It's really individual."

She also believes that seeing dryness as just a symptom of menopause can be misleading. "Women who breastfeed for more than six months will suppress their oestrogen to a level where they may get vaginal dryness. The pill can cause it. Antidepressants. It's not just restricted to menopausal women."

The implications of vaginal dryness can go far beyond pain, says Hoenderkamp. "Once past menopause, when all of the tissue in and around the vagina and urethra dries and atrophies, women become much more susceptible to urine infections because bacteria are able to attach to the tissue."

Hamoda has also seen women avoiding or missing cervical screening due to GSM. "Sometimes you can't open the speculum because they're so dry and uncomfortable, even though, of course, you're using plenty of lubrication." In some cases, he has told patients to "take vaginal oestrogen for the next two months, then come back and we'll attempt this smear again. Sadly, this is not an uncommon scenario."

Not every doctor is aware of how to help women with GSM. Emily, 44, sought medical advice as soon as her vaginal dryness began four years ago. "It felt like there was a red hot poker inside of me," she says. She also suffered from urinary tract infections. Her GP found it so hard to reach a diagnosis that at one point he told her – on the phone – that she might simply have to prepare herself for a life of chronic pain.

As she was 40 when her symptoms began, her doctor didn't consider perimenopause. She was passed between different NHS services, given courses of antibiotics, a cystoscopy, referrals to urology, gynaecology and physiotherapy. She also paid to see a private vulval pain specialist. As all this was going on, no painkillers could make any difference, and she remained in agony.

"It's been catastrophic," she says. "The pain makes it very difficult to concentrate. I've had to give up four jobs in the space of four years. I've had to sell my house and move away from my friends because I need to have more savings in case I can't carry on working. It's had a massive effect on my mental health."

Out of desperation, Emily began to research her symptoms herself. She found out that one in 20 women go through perimenopause before they're 45, and, presuming this was what was happening to her, Emily wrote a detailed letter to her GP, asking for vaginal oestrogen. He agreed to put her on a low dose. "And within two days the burning stopped."

She is still, however, struggling with her UTI symptoms – which include needing to pee around four times an hour. While it's impossible to know what has caused this, she believes that because her infection was not treated for so long it has got worse. She is now being treated separately for her persistent UTI.

Misdiagnosis is a common thread through this condition. Dr Paula Briggs, a consultant in sexual and reproductive health at Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust, reports, "It depends who the patient presents to, how likely they are to get the right diagnosis. Loads of women will be told they've got thrush."

It's a perfect storm – women reluctant to seek medical help in the first place, then a delay in being diagnosed.

"Whereas other menopausal symptoms resolve – generally they get less severe, then they stop – GSM becomes progressively worse over time and is very difficult to reverse," says Briggs. She now thinks all women should be given vaginal oestrogen at around the age of 45 as a default.

However, as oestrogen pessaries fall under the HRT umbrella, some women remain nervous due to the small increased risk of breast cancer linked to progestogen-containing forms of HRT. Hoenderkamp says that vaginal oestrogen does not carry the same risk. "It is just about as safe as houses, and very easy. I often have women who say I can't have vaginal oestrogen because I've had breast cancer. Well, you can."

Hamoda is more cautious: "Generally speaking, with breast cancer patients you would try other non-hormonal options first. But on an individual basis."

However, it is not a problem that will disappear overnight. "In terms of the oestrogen, women are not going to do it for a year and then it will all be OK. It's probably a lifelong commitment to their vagina," says Hoenderkamp.

Vaginal oestrogen is available from chemists – although it's cheaper on prescription from your GP – and there are also moisturisers and lubricants women can buy over the counter as a possible first port of call.

The message overall is clear, though. If you are uncomfortably dry, you should never suffer in silence – it's not just a part of ageing that happens to everyone, which you have to grin and bear – it's something that can be treated and, in most cases, eased.

"Awareness is key," says Hamoda. So, while there has never been so much talk about menopause as there is now, there's still a lot that needs to be said.

Some names have been changed

UPDATE: Middle School IT tech Mason David Luxenberg aka "MasonL87" has deleted his Reddit account after researchers discovered credible death threats and other extremist commentary on his profile.

Follow @JR_Newswire https://t.co/ILTEwszU7y pic.twitter.com/hDFNl4WznF

— Justice Report (@JR_Newswire) February 7, 2025

!latinx !moidmoment !male feminists !coomers

Neighbor has already been arrested, TMD:

https://www.infobae.com/mexico/2025/02/05/detienen-a-hombre-que-mordio-a-mujer-en-un-gluteo-en-guanajuato/

We'll be unveiling the GBVSR Character Pass 2 trailer at the Evo Awards! 👀

Tune in at 5 p.m., Feb 15 (PT) to join us in celebrating the best of fighting games and be the first to experience the reveal.

🏆️ More about the Evo Awards:https://t.co/0TyMRVf7go#GBVSR #EvoAwards https://t.co/F9QwGADcRZ

— GBVS/Granblue Fantasy Versus (@gbvs_official) February 14, 2025

Not entirely unexpected, they are following Crapcum's steps. I expect most if not all FG devs are going to start doing the same

At least two characters are pretty much confirmed

Ilsa

Siete / Seofon

The other two are wild cards. They could go with a Divine General rep

Six Dragon rep (I want the fricking cat)

And some others but I got lazy halfway in.

Time to Wake Up: Europe Must Unite and Become a Real Superpower

6.3k upmarseys and tons of nonsensical rambling.

Honestly, I think Facebook has an algorithm that does this on purpose... If you scroll back to about one week ago, this was just another lame group posting unfunny normie memes. However, within the last week the Chuds and Soys have been doing battle and all of a sudden it appears in my feed lol.

Link to group:

www.facebook.com/groups/3472699292999947/

First post:

1. "you wouldn't know satire if it held a bolter to your temple" nerd posting intensifies

2. "You call this satire? Not a chance..." "another dribbler that thinks ironic settings can't be satire"

Second post:

1. "yet you wear a mask" "this you, bro?"

2. "wearing a mask in your profile photo... you look like a big P***" "I laughed way too hard at this, he looks like his Mom dressed him in that suit"

Third post:

1. "Chuds are obsessed with gay people" posts George Floyd Trans meme lol

2. "why all the gay shit... I don't get it..." "cry harder" "Say something intelligent. Queer and gay is a bad combination"

Fourth Post:

1. "can someone define woke?" "I'm glad you asked" proceeds to post great wall of text lol

2. "all that matters is the class war!" "I'm being told to tolerate people who hate my race!" "having to read about culture wars in my dorky manbaby FB group..."