Yes! This was my first thought! Forbidden Razzles!

I like having water… my friends in Texas and California have seen water levels lowering and their bills rising. I’m in Michigan and terrified for the Great Lakes

I’m so glad I got sterilized. Besides the fact that I have a degenerative genetic disorder; housing isn’t affordable (and no roommate or landlord wants messy/loud children in their home), food prices are ridiculous, pregnancy is too risky, there’s dwindling social programs to help mothers, the US doesn’t have maternity leave, the earth’s climate is changing drastically, and war is looming. It’s literally the best time to be sterilized.

If I change my mind, I’ll adopt. The US foster system is overflowing with hundreds of thousands of children, whose parents were forced to birth them, but couldn’t care for them. 11% more children have been filling foster homes because of RvW.

As long as you’re sure it’s Queen Anne’s Lace (hairy stem, flowers with red dot), rip it up and use it. They’re much tougher than normal carrots, but still taste great and make a lovely vegetable stock. My dogs go NUTS for them as treats. There’s a bunch of tutorials online for how to use them.

Note: You won’t be able to get rid of them without weed killer, because their seeds turn into little burrs that cling to animals… but the plant is tasty, so why waste it?

Hermit crabs love them too!

Agreed, we hate it too. Can’t afford to stay home, can’t afford to see a doctor.

When I was living in Canada, my partner needed to go to the ER and get a blood clot removed. We were seen by a doctor within 45 minutes and the bill for a non-citizen on visa was $250. After we moved to the US, it happened again. It took 3 WEEKS, 2 referrals, and over $14k for the same procedure. Capitalism is cruelty.

You guys have benefits to protect you, if you get sick. Americans barely get sick leave, medical bills are ridiculous, and if covid leaves you crippled, SSI (Disability) pays a whopping $11k a YEAR. It’s not enough to survive on, despite paying taxes. Yeah, someone might have worked enough hours to get SSDI, which is a few dollars more an hour, but still not enough to cover rent.

In all fairness, I’m distracted by cool light shows, too.

https://www.wired.com/video/watch/how-the-disco-clam-uses-light-to-fight-super-strong-predators/

They’re complex and awesome creatures. I had one, named Alfredo, who lived for years, because I did the research.

Nearly all hermit crabs have been kidnapped from the beach, and that made me feel so guilty… I didn’t know when I got him from a mall.

They can’t just go in a tiny aquarium, or they’ll get depressed, malnourished, and die.

They need heat rocks to remember basking in the sun; they love snacks (Alfredo adored cheez-its covered in peanut butter); they have gills, so their shells must have water in them, or they’ll stop breathing; they love exercising… you can get the hermit crab version of a hamster wheel and they will play on it all day. They’re also really social. They want friends, places to hide, places to dig, to roam and explore, and if they do, they’ll live a long life.

No no no, the Moa got shafted in the choice of mummified specimen and needs someone to stand up for it. This enormous bird was alive until just 500 years ago, when the Maori people came to New Zealand and learned how tasty (and territorial) the Moa were. This is a well preserved foot that just screams dinosaur and just for a reference to their size… It’s the BIG one

They needed better representation. 😅

On my phone, the bg image dims as you scroll up and down. My ADHD just distracted me into “playing a game of nighttime daytime” with the image…

American married to a Kiwi. I’ve got a Kiwi Terminology Quiz that I’m happy to send over, if you want. Budgie Smugglers, Jandals, Togs… and that’s just the beach section.

Be prepared, Americans talk way too much for most Kiwis. The kiwi accent can be monotone/robotic, so you might be getting a compliment, but not realize it is one. Yeah naw and naw yeah don’t always mean what you think. My family and Kiwi mates don’t like how hyperbolic Americans are… if you say something is awesome, it better be literally awe inspiring. You’ll learn not to exaggerate too much. Don’t boast on your resumes, like we have to do in the States, or you could be looked over.

If you use the ratio of housing expenses to income, Nurses are not paid well in the big cities. My friend was making about that, as a nurse, and until she got married to my husband’s best friend, who’s a farmer; she was in her 30s and still living with parents.

If you use over the counter medications like melatonin, cough drops, vitamins, ibuprofen, bring it yourself. Healthcare might be inexpensive, but the cost of stuff you’d find on the shelves at a CVS are RIDICULOUSLY priced, compared to the USA. Do not bring any cough syrup. Pack ibuprofen… get costco sized ibuprofen to bring with you. Trust me. It’s called Nurofen and it’s so so freaking expensive.

Be prepared to have yourself and your stuff thoroughly searched, inspected, and sprayed. Your cat will be quarantined for a few weeks (on your dime) to make sure it’s safe. NZ takes their environment and ecosystem VERY seriously and you WILL be fined if you don’t declare every single food/seed/dirt/drink/fur/weapon you have. If you get an apple on the plane, dispose of it before you get to customs or you WILL be fined. If you’re bringing any shoes, camping equipment, hiking gear, etc., make sure it’s clean and free of dirt/mud. Your stuff will be secretly sprayed with an insecticide. It’s normal, safe, and happens to everyone.

Be prepared to learn to garden in whatever space you have. Stacking pots that can be indoors or out on a patio, are your friends. The costs of food and produce are an EXTREME culture shock to Americans. A basket full of food at Aldi might reach $150. That same basket in NZ is gonna be about $500. Learn to take kitchen scraps and grow food from it. You can’t have seeds from other countries imported, so you get creative.

It’s a beautiful place, the people are kind, and the weather is pretty mild. It’s home, but the financial aspects are still jarring. Be prepared… the minimum wage is higher, but so is the cost of almost everything else.

Edit: only small farming communities will be upset by LGBTQ people. There’s so many queer people here, and it’s a very accepting country… the first to give women the right to vote.

The deceased person’s body will turn splotchey and cherry red. A lot of people go via nitrous or carbon monoxide. The blood vessels don’t like it.

I have one of these stereoscopes! It came with a bunch of nature scenes, but a few slides had 1800s 3D porn too!

I was wondering why it seemed inverted to me. I saw crevasses instead of mountains, but it didn’t make sense

This is the epitome of why I love science. It’s all about keeping an open mind, because things WILL change as we gather more evidence and study it. I was sharing paleontological facts with my family (who are politically conservative), and because the data is different from the first time they learned about raptors, they refused to believe me. It made so many things make sense. We literally have proof that dinos had feathers, but they didn’t want to believe it.

If someone’s favorite subject in school was science related, I want to be their friend. Everyone here, you’re awesome. Let’s keep learning, growing, and making silly memes about it 😁

I’m a postmortem scientist and one of the scariest things I learned in college, was that only 85% of gun suicide attempts were successful. The other 15% survive and nearly all have brain damage. I only know of 2 painless ways to commit suicide, that don’t destroy the body’s appearance, so they can still have funeral visitation.

I cosplay as Aayla Secura , so I’m a bit biased, but I love Kit Fisto too. He’s just this wise, badass (but peaceful) Jamaican, squid-dude; voices by Phil LaMarr; and has the cheekiest smile when he knocks down the C3P0 Frankenstein Droid. He watches over and provides guidance for Ahsoka and it doesn’t hurt that he’s ripped… and I think the species works better in The Clone Wars… he just seems happy to be a jedi and helping people.

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I’m a bit biased, but this dog has saved my life countless times. He learned how to detect my seizures, on his own, and I haven’t collapsed or injured myself from a seizure since. This is Avalanche. He’s by my side 24/7 and since I’m a cosplayer, he is too!