Unprovoked? Outside of polar bears in the Arctic I’ve only heard of bear attacks when they are habituated to humans feeding them or getting between a mama and cub. Here’s a detailed article. I’ll come back and summarize after school pickup if someone doesn’t beat me to it: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44341-w

Right. Constant fear would be a problem. And I just googled, the uppermost result was a quote from Wikipedia on a 2011 Spanish study of 30 countries that said 2.4% of men and 1.8% of women admitted to rape in the past year. And I didn’t click through to read sources. So you might be right. My line of thinking is that people are sexually assaulted by other people daily. But bear attacks are very rare even where bears are common. I’m aware of places in the Arctic circle where they reportedly have to kill an average of 2 polar bears for attempting to attack humans per year. But bear attacks are much more rare than rape. There might be several logical errors there, but statistically I bet it holds.

No. Most people in the world want to think of themselves as good. Only 10% of people have something approaching a personality disorder, and only about 2% are malevolent. I probably have a more suspicious view because I was raised by a cop and always had a police radio in my house, and because we’ve been foster parents. So I’ve been exposed to more of the bad than most people. So I wouldn’t say that there’s something wrong with how you view the world. But I would say if you haven’t experienced this kind of daily fear, you’ve lead an extremely privileged life. And good for you. I hope in the future everyone can be so privileged.

Wow! And a reasonable price too.

You definitely need a second trip!

My DH has complained I’m a loud sneezer. But if I’m not loud, I keep sneezing. Once it was 14 quiet sneezes before I let loose and sneezed loudly, when I finally could stop. Idk why, it’s just how it is.

Similar: https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sicily-melamine-pasta-bowls-green/?group=1&sku=882080&pkey=ctabletop-bowls

You could try finding the restaurant online, emailing, and asking for the source or if you can buy directly from them.

Idk about the color & design, but I’m pretty sure that wide rim is marketed as a wide rim pasta bowl. Google brings up several immediate (though white & boring) options.

I suspect that statistically, bears are much safer. It might depend on the location of the forest.

The first comment… “People would believe me if I said I was attacked by a bear.”

There’s a TikTok going around asking if a man would rather leave his daughter alone in the woods with a man or a bear. The conversation afterwards about how women feel daily, even with something as mundane as walking to their cars at night, is fascinating. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRwjunUa/

A couple stretches that help me. First, back up to your kitchen sink. Keeping upright, not arching back, lean your upper body over the sink. The goal is stretching the muscles along the front of your spine. It’s a subtle movement, 1 or 2”, and when you find it, repeat. It’s remarkably effective. For the second you need a higher backed upholstered chair or sofa. Back up to the seat, preferably near an arm to grab for balance. While standing, raise one foot behind you so your foot or ankle is up wear your head rests. Lean in, so your knee rests on the seat where it meets the back. Lean forward so your chest is towards the floor. This is a really effective hip flexor stretch for the leg behind you, and a decent glute stretch for the weight bearing leg. The two combined usually give me quick relief.

The manosphere is a section of the internet devoted to the ideas of misogyny. It starts out seeming reasonable, and comforts men who aren't satisfied with their relationships, and goes off the deep end of crazy from there. An incel is an involuntary celibate. They're usually men with zero social skills who, rather than changing, think they are entitled to model-level beautiful women to come up to them and pursue them. They are sick. Several mass murderers have been incels. Andrew Tate is a social media influencer who is part of the manosphere. He's extremely problematic and is facing criminal charges, I think related to human trafficking, rape, and other organized crime in multiple countries. Whatever sort of toxic masculinity, "alpha male," rape culture persona you can imagine, he's probably worse. And he makes a lot of money being horrible. He does have a wikipedia page, if you want to know a little more.

I'm so glad she was able and willing to get out.

If it helps, the idea that expressing negative emotions helps has been \disproved. It's more like wallowing in self-pity leads to depression. One thing that helps is brief, hard exercise. It's also one of the healthiest ways to deal with stress. Think about assigning it, even just 3 minutes of sprinting. Or sprint to that tree, or to that gate, or sprint around the barn, or whatever. If he still feels like complaining when he comes back, have him do it again. He will probably have a genuine physiological response and be happier. The same thing is true for saunas and cold plunges. Anything that makes you gasp for breath.

Low blood pressure runs in my family on my mom’s side. Several people on my moms side had extensive cardiac workups as fainting teens. No one mentioned POTS, but several people were told to drink more water and eat more salt. I don’t think anyone’s stayed problematically low after adult weight gain, but even after gaining a lot from prednisone mine was still frequently in the 110/58 range unless I was in pain. It’s high blood pressure, especially when combined with diabetes that kills kidneys. But there’s definitely a link, even in strict whole food plant based vegans, with blood pressure and salt consumption. At least according to the studies I’ve heard Michael Gregor discuss. The real answer, individually, is probably to track your sodium over time. You want it high enough to avoid bothersome symptoms like vertigo, or even lots of blisters on your feet when you exercise. And low enough to keep it in the ideal range of 120/60 or so. And the answer is probably going to change based on how healthy you’re eating (more greens, beans & fruit= more minerals & higher salt tolerance), the weather, and how much heavy exercise you’re doing.

I’ve occasionally had to get something last minute and had to pay full price there.

Am I the A hole