Anonymous

Anonymous asked: Are quatenary ammonium compounds proven to destroy SARS-COV-2? I remember recommendations to use alcohol-based handwash in preference to BAC but that was back in the spring so maybe they’d just not got around to testing BAC.

~ Brin ~ 1 Comment

{{previous post in sequence}}

So, a couple things there.

1. Since coronaviruses, being dependent on an envelope, are generally one of the easier viruses to destroy, my baseline initial assumption was that standard disinfectants work. I know there *are* some bottles of ammonium-chloride-based disinfectant sprays at the grocery store now advertising themselves as “approved for use against COVID-19”, though I haven’t looked into the details of such approvals myself.

(Also, if you replace store-bought quat wipes with homemade quat wipes, any change in effectiveness will not be because of problems common to all quat-based cleaners.)

2. I gather that SARS-CoV-2 fomites aren’t a big deal, except maybe under extreme circumstances like caring for COVID patients: it’s the airborne stuff you gotta worry about.

This is mostly a general zeitgeist thing and I don’t have many links on hand, but off the top of my head there’s the argument-from-salad-bars [link].

The main reason to disinfect stuff is to prevent COVID *scares*. All else equal, catching a cold during a pandemic is worse than catching a cold under normal circumstances, because now you have to worry about whether it’s actually the plague. Plus if you catch a *really* bad flu and end up hospitalised, that’s one step closer to overwhelming the hospital (and god help you if they’re *already* overwhelmed).

—

I personally haven’t been disinfecting my respirator (I wash my hands after touching it if it’s been out in the last 3 – 4 days; if possible, I also wash *before* touching it), but OTOH I have 15+ years’ experience with tracking potential-fomite statuses in my head and exercising caution in what I touch accordingly. For people who haven’t trained on that until it becomes second nature (perhaps because they didn’t have the threat of horrific colds to motivate them [link]), disinfection often makes sense.

(Plus ULine was out of stock when I bought my filters, so I have the pink-circle ones. There’s only so much disinfection I’d be able to do.)

I *do* disinfect my smartphone after every outing, but I was already in the habit of doing that before COVID-19. (Note that I have a screen protector and a case, though you *might* still be able to get away with it without those.)

—

P.S. Since apparently we’re talking about quaternary ammonium in more than just an aside now, while we’re at it: *don’t* use ordinary cotton for your homemade disinfectant wipes! [a source]

P.P.S. Oh, also, I just noticed the term “handwash” in your ask. That might have something to do with it, since you’re not supposed to use quaternary ammonium as hand sanitiser: it’s a mild skin irritant. (To be completely honest I occasionally end up doing it anyway at work, but that is part of why I use shitloads of moisturiser.)

Tags:

#covid19 #tales from the askbox #illness tw #the more you know

Anonymous asked: I will never be able to ethically be vaccinated (because by the time it’s my turn in the queue, variants will mean everyone has to be vaccinated again, whee), so I’m kind of resigning myself to never seeing anyone I care about ever again. And I can deal with that *except* for people like you constantly reminding me that even feeling bad about being alone for the next 3-5-10 years means I’m morally evil.

~ Brin ~ 2 Comments

{{previous post in sequence}}

Okay, let me try this one more time:

Here is a link to a respirator base unit: https://www.amazon.com/3M-Facepiece-Respirator-Respiratory-Protection/dp/B008MCUT86

Here is a link to a reputable dealer in larger packs (6 pairs) of P100 filters: https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-20007/Reusable-Respirators/3M-7093-Hard-Shell-Particulate-Filter-P100

Here are semi-reputable links to dealers in smaller packs (3 pairs, 1 pair) of P100 filters: https://www.amazon.com/3M-2091-Particulate-Filter-Pairs/dp/B00KYX8JBU, https://www.amazon.com/3M-50051131070009-Particulate-Filter-2091/dp/B07571LKP4  Counterfeits occasionally slip into the Amazon warehouses: try the filters on when you get them, and if you can still smell anything while wearing them, demand a replacement.

(I gave American links because statistically those are probably the most useful: if you’d like help finding links for other countries, let me know and I will help you look.)

A P100 respirator offers slightly *more* protection to the wearer than the vaccines do. Since people who don’t *have* COVID-19 can’t *spread* COVID-19, this also prevents you from infecting others; for even greater protection of others, tape a layer of cloth over the valve on the bottom of the respirator.

If a filter falls off, it means it wasn’t screwed on tightly enough: I had the same problem my first time, but now that I’ve screwed them on tighter they stay put. A single set of filters can last for months as long as it doesn’t get wet: the way a filter wears out is that it gets clogged with fumes from the construction work you’re (presumably) *not* doing, so as long as you can still breathe through it and it hasn’t gotten wet beyond the occasional raindrop, you’re good. (Note: the ULine link is to water-resistant filters, which are hard to find on Amazon.)

Yes, you won’t be able to eat and drink indoors with your friends, and ideally you should take a break every hour or so to go outside and drink something because filtered air is quite dry, but you can have physical presence.

—

(Edit, re: tags: you know what, I *am* going to write a broader public-service-announcement version of this. If you were thinking of reblogging this post for the info, please wait and I will update you with a better-for-reblogging version when I have finished writing it.)

(Edit 2: here)

Tags:

#covid19 #illness tw #vaccines #the more you know #I disagree with your narrative but I don’t think I can talk you out of it #instead let’s try granting it and talking about how you can *still* make things work #@everyone: feel free to treat this as a respirator PSA #if there is interest I can write a broader respirator PSA with less negativity involved #I said I would never write another Tumblr-hosted OP but for something this important I can probably make an exception #anon hate cw? #tales from the askbox

{{next post in sequence}}

Anonymous asked: i didn’t ship you with nonternary, i’m curious about how you can be ace and have a hypnosis fetish?

~ Brin ~ 3 Comments

{{previous post in sequence}}

Ah, I’m guessing you read a reblog-chain involving this.

Okay, let me see if I can explain this without being either oversimplified or too dense with ace community jargon.

Often when people first encounter the word “asexual”, they think it means “lacking in sexuality”. It’s an easy mistake to make: it kind of looks like it ought to mean that.

Thing is, “asexual”, in the sense used in the modern day in this culture, actually has a meaning analogous to words like “heterosexual”, “homosexual”, “bisexual”. It denotes the types of people that the person in question can generally experience sexual attraction towards: in this case, no types.

Sexual attraction is just one aspect of sexuality. There are others: libido, various fetishes, capacity for orgasm, just to name a few. A person can have these aspects in any combination, or none of them.

Basically nothing is hard-and-fast when it comes to identity labels, but as a general rule, “asexuality” refers only to the absence of sexual attraction. An asexual may have any or all other aspects while still being asexual. (They can also have none, of course.)

Note: many kinky asexuals, if asked how they can be both, would respond that their kinks aren’t sexual: they’re non-sexual fascinations that bear enough resemblance to “kinks” in the sexual sense to make it useful for them to call themselves “kinky”. I am not one of those people: I do consider it a sexual thing, though it tends to look very different from “normal” sexuality due to the particular set of aspects and experiences and (especially) other quirks of brain wiring that went into shaping it, and someone else in a similar situation might have a different view on whether their kink is sexual. Still, I thought I should mention that this is by no means a universal or even necessarily the most common view among asexuals with kinks and/or fetishes.

Wait, I probably shouldn’t leave that ’looks very different from “normal” sexuality due to the particular set of aspects and experiences and (especially) other quirks of brain wiring that went into shaping it‘ bit buried in the middle of a sentence. See, just because, for example, asexuals can have libidoes, it doesn’t mean that their experiences of libido will be the same as those of non-aces. A given aspect of sexuality tends to manifest differently depending on what other aspects are around for it to interact with, as well as what the rest of the person’s mind is like. (Really, given that I tend to dislike overwhelming emotion in general (even the supposedly positive emotions), it makes a certain amount of sense that to me, the most satisfying form of pleasure would not be orgasmic ecstasy but rather calm contentment.) “Hypno-fetishist” is close enough to the truth to be useful, but I often find I approach things differently than other hypno-fetishists do.

I hope this helped. While I do have significant quantities of contact with the asexual community, I’m not an activist and don’t have much practice at explaining the intricacies of asexuality. Feel free to ask for clarification or more information.

Tags:

#tales from the askbox #sexuality and lack thereof #(that actually used to be my asexuality tag) #(in the early days of my blog) #(but these days it’s settled into being a kink tag instead) #asexuality #Anonymous

{{next post in sequence}}