Bwahahaha! I mean, I assume it's from a researcher, but it sure does look like they interviewed an ant :D

I loooove The Leopard King and that whole series is fab :) I'm intrigued by the Sirantha Jax series, which I haven't read yet!

There's little as satisfying as having a survey pop up for something that infuriates you. I have twice gotten a survey for US healthcare websites that are horrid. "Would I like to take a survey? How much space did you allow me in the boxes, hon?" (Both called me later...)

Oh, now that's confusing. Do we have to be in a legally declared war for war crimes or is that just a phrase for crimes that involve killing people with military means?

What about crimes against humanity? (I don't know if that's even a technical term.)

They're so cute and the whole show kinda broke my heart but I love those characters!

::blinks:: What? Like...what?

I'd really like to have a snappy comeback, but I'm honestly staring at my phone saying "what?" repeatedly. Because...what?

I might send this to my kids, so they can be confused along with me.

I would love to return the insomnia. Also the anxiety. If I could return even half the anxiety, that would be awesome. It's taking up way too much space in my brain.

I am baffled by this. Are they arguing that men don't yearn and so if we hear from them there's less yearning in the book? Or...no, I can't even come up with another explanation.

But I really hope that's not what they're saying because men have emotions other than anger, I swear.

It was nice when you could at least assume the grammar checker wasn't *totally* off base. Sure, it wasn't an editor, but it wasn't running around introducing new and exciting errors into every paragraph.

Right? I developed second-hand embarrassment just after reading the first half and I had to stop.

I used to consider Word's grammar and spelling check to be mildly useful. Sure, it had a few weird habits, but it definitely caught a few of my editing blind spots and some typos I might have missed.

Then the LLMs attacked...

(The kid swallowing a penny is a true story, BTW. In one of the early COVID trials in little kids, it was reported as one of the very few adverse events. Not *caused* by the shot, but faithfully reported as something that happened after vaccination. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, etc.)

All of which is to say that the current administration's claims that flu and COVID shots are killing kids are complete and total bullshit. Fight to keep those shots available in your area, because the flu and COVID *will* kill children, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. We know this.

When scientists find evidence of rare side effects to vaccines (from VAERS or other surveillance), vaccines often get pulled. (E.g., the first rotavirus vaccine, the early J&J COVID vaccine...)

But a report in VAERS means zip without investigation. It could be Aunt Maude reporting demons.

What's useful about VAERS is that it's big. Parents and caregivers and doctors and ERs and whatnot file reports and scientists can sift through that to find hints of rare problems. Then they can follow up to be sure that what they're seeing is actually there and not coincidence or other factors.

You could submit a VAERS report. I *have* submitted a VAERS report, just in case the kiddo's possible reaction to a vaccine turned out to be something.

If you get in a car accident just after getting vaccinated, you could report that. If your child swallowed a penny after, you could report that.

VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, is perfectly fine for post-consumer surveillance and to give scientists an idea of what rare events might be occurring. But it is a STARTING POINT, never an end.

Because anyone can report to VAERS, even Aunt Maude, who thinks vaccines are demonic.