Yep, this is exactly it. Practice safe sex, get on PrEP for HIV prevention, talk about testing and status with any potential sexual partners in or out of the polycule, and get tested every 3-6 months.

There are a lot of different types of poly relationship structures and different names for them. The base unit of relationship is a standard couple where 2 people are together. Add another person in and they can either be in a relationship with only one of those people and form a “hinge” aka “V” or be in a relationship with both of those people and form a “triad” aka “throuple”. As many people as those involved consent to can be added this way.

Most of the time it’s one person who is in a relationship with multiple people who are each in relationships with multiple people. This forms a “polycule”. Where you have the people you’re in relationships with aka your “paramours” and they have the people they’re in relationships with aka your “metamours”. This group of relationships can take many forms and can be drawn out into a cool diagram like a molecule, hence the name polycule.

The people you’re in a relationship with can break up with you like in any other relationship and vice versa. It’s more complicated when you add in housing situations if you’re all living together, multiple people are all dating each other, or if two people are married.

Using one of my breakups as an example:
I’ve been in a triad where one person broke up with the other. I was then put in the middle of their breakup drama. I set a boundary of not wanting to deal with their drama/shit talking of the other. One of them kept breaking that boundary, so I broke up with that person while still being in a relationship with the other. Luckily I was living with the person I stayed with or that would’ve been way more complicated.

During hostile ignorance:

• I had to leave the state I grew up in to get into a place I could access medical care, get away from an unaccepting family, and get into a place I wasn’t afraid of being attacked while transitioning (being visibly trans till HRT kicked in).
• Trans panic was seen as more of a valid defence back then for killing trans people.
• I think we were seen as more of a curiosity/fetish than people, but that’s debatable since that’s definitely still an issue.
• People were more afraid of being visibly trans and finding community outside of forums was harder.
• I was certain I’d lose my job when I inevitably had to come out and had prepared for it by saving up enough to get me through finding another job. I was amazed when that didn’t happen and most of the company accepted me. I still had to deal with harassment that nowadays would probably get those people fired.

During hostile attention:

• I had to leave my home due to the state no longer ignoring us and focusing on passing laws to make our lives more difficult.
• I know a ton of trans people and have a stronger support network. Finding others is easier now.
• Medical care is easier to get now if you aren’t living in one of the states currently trying to ban HRT.
• Parents seem a little more accepting but it’s still divisive
• I’m less afraid of the average person fucking with me in most areas of the US
• I’m afraid of government attempts to round myself or loved ones up into camps within the next few years.

Generally, I prefer the visibility and broader social acceptance we have now. More people know about us, so more people hate us but way more people accept us. I see it as how being gay was in the aughts. More people were out and it was less of a big deal even though there was still a lot of hate crimes against gay people. Now it’s way more accepted outside of ultra conservative areas. I’m hoping we are more accepted within a decade instead of being rounded up and killed en masse.

You can still experience this. I’ve had this just in the past few weeks in a major city. Trust people again.

Lesser known chess move like en passant. When you get into the ménage à trois board state you’re forced to immediately stop the game and eiffel tower with your opponent and any 3rd party. Whoever cums first loses.

There are definitely some amazing PMs, but I’ve met way more terrible PMs who don’t know shit about fuck and don’t care to learn than good PMs.

He’s said and done a lot of antisemitic things and spread Nazi ideology.

https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/2/17/14613234/pewdiepie-nazi-satire-alt-right

https://www.newsweek.com/pewdie-youtube-nazi-t-series-racist-anti-semitic-youtuber-subscribers-1252695

Much like Mr Beast and other top YouTubers, he only cares about himself and has used controversies of other YouTubers to try to take the spotlight off the fucked up things he’s done.

https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/11/16878068/logan-paul-pewdiepie-youtube

Luckily the 12th amendment prevents that.

But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States

https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-12/

There are dozens of us! Dozens!

Balrog from The Lord of The Rings.

I highly recommend at least watching the movies if not reading the books. They’re incredibly influential on fantasy as a genre and on our culture. You’ll see related memes all over the internet.

Volume changes based on temperature and pressure. So when we reference volume measurements like for flow rates, we typically do the math to adjust those to standard temperature and pressure. Standard pressure is 1 atm but standard temperature varies based on who you’re talking to because of competing standards. It’s usually 25 C or 20 C.

When we want to reference the non temperature and pressure corrected volume, we append actual to it so that people know what the measurement is. Some people don’t do that and that causes confusion for others using their work if the reading is standard or actual.

Yep, we need broad sweeping data privacy laws and audits in every country for all software. Not just fear mongering over other country’s software.

It can be both, and in this case is. They put the foam bricks in place as an April fools joke to raise awareness and plan to leave them, but they don’t think the city will allow the foam bricks to stay.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/granville-island-pedestrian-safety-crosswalk-1.7160751

Great point! So if you have a firework that sparks some dry grass or brush, your home fire extinguisher will likely be fine as long as the fire doesn’t get too big before you can grab it.

However, if you have a hoard of fireworks that catch fire, you’re better off running and calling the fire department than trying to quickly put that out with your home fire extinguisher as it likely won’t work.

Those years of safety training finally paying off:

Do you know what types of fires your fire extinguisher is rated for? There are several different types. Most modern home fire extinguishers are rated for A (wood/paper), B (liquids like oil fires), and C (electrical), but you may have an older fire extinguisher or landlord who cheaped out on one that only works on some of those types.

If you have a fire that’s based on metals (like fireworks) or exothermic chemical reactions, have a different fire extinguisher or call the fire department with special instructions.

Always remember the acronym PASS when using a fire extinguisher:

1. Pull the pin
2. Aim at the base of the fire
3. Squeeze the trigger
4. Sweep the fire extinguisher side to side to cover all of the fire till the fire is extinguished

Thanks for the response! Yeah, it’s a massive undertaking and seems like getting started and rallying groups is half the battle.

Looking forward to a future post(s) on the topic ;)

I’m very curious about this. Did you go into this with some allies or were you able to drum up support by sharing stats and other city/country success stories? Was the council already amenable to the idea? Any resources you could share?

This could be an entire post on its own if you can spare some time to write about it and your experiences.

You just have to look them in the eye and give them a firm handshake when you do it. It’s so simple!

Hobby board games. There are thousands of board games out there and enough variety there’s something for everyone. The games I’m usually into are called Euro style board games since they originated in Europe.

Euro style games are mostly high skill games with little luck similar to chess, but have varied starting positions to make them more interesting. They typically play with up to 4 players or more which adds a good bit of complexity. They’re a good way to sit around, talk, drink, and have a fun time away from computer/phone/TV screens.

I’ve also gotten really into mahjong specifically over the past year. I’ve played over a thousand games and still learning. I mostly have to play that one over an app, but it’s a fun break during the work day. I’m able to play occasionally in person, but there’s a pretty steep learning curve which makes it hard to convince people to play. I’m always trying to get more people into it though.