tales from the askbox

~ Brin ~ 2 Comments

{{previous post in sequence}}

{{ourladyoflampreys asked:}}

Ooh! Brin!

Is your fiction anywhere we can read it?

Or is it only secret, and private?

The current one is semi-private, but most of my fiction is publicly available at the Glowfic Constellation (a roleplay/collaborative-writing site: some rat-Tumblrites may recognise it as “that format planecrash / Project Lawful was written in”).

Glowfic is an infamously high-context medium and needs a certain amount of tolerance for reading things without having read their prerequisites, but you can get a head start on understanding the background context relevant to my stuff by reading How to Read Glowfic and the glowfic wiki page on medianworlds (people who understood the phrase “the format planecrash was written in” may recognise this as the relationship Keltham’s homeworld has to Eliezer Yudkowsky).

Tags:

#(it was not in fact planecrash that introduced me to glowfic) #(my own introduction to glowfic has been lost to the mists of time but was no later than 2018) #(but planecrash was a breakout hit‚ which makes it a useful reference) #and yeah that post from today’s queue is very much a thing #if you told me in early 2022 that I was going to write over 40k words of fiction in the following calendar year #I would boggle at you #I do think early-2022!me would *endorse* this development‚ though #it’s just not something that I ever particularly expected to be *capable* of #and was making no active attempt to change this

{{next post in sequence}}

arbitrarygreay asked: How did you select your mask model and filter number? And how did you decide to select the “medium” size mask?

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

{{previous post in sequence, sort of}}

Model: It’s the one recommended by The Prepared [link].

(I’ve found The Prepared to be very helpful in general. I’m glad Scott Alexander offhandedly mentioned it in his first coronavirus link roundup.)

—

Filter number: I just grabbed compatible P100s that were in stock at the time. Getting nuisance-vapour filtration was an accident, but a happy one: I already associated level-of-reduction-in-sense-of-smell with level-of-protection-from-airborne-hazards from my pre-existing practice of wearing surgical masks to keep pollen out of my airways, and as such, respirator-specific anosmia is deeply reassuring to my subconscious.

(I even used it at home to keep me from gagging while I cleaned out rotten food [link], though the smell in question might well have also been blockable by a plain P100.)

—

Size: the Amazon Q&A said that most people are a medium (The Prepared also mentions most people being a medium, though in the context of full-face respirators), and I did not have a particular reason to think that I needed an unusually small or large size. The medium has worked out fine, though I wouldn’t be surprised if a small would also work for me.

Tags:

#tales from the askbox #arbitrarygreay #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers #unsanitary mention #illness tw? #covid19

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}}

agapi42 asked: Pass the happy! When you get this, reply with 5 things that make you happy and send this to the last 10 people in your notifications✨

~ Brin ~ 2 Comments

{{previous post in sequence}}

brin-bellway:

*

1. Cuddling my mom.

2. Returning severely underpriced items (the kind where someone left out a digit when putting in the price, stuff like that) on the Flight Rising player marketplace to their sellers, and seeing the seller gush with gratitude.

3. Finding new ways for my household to save money or otherwise run better. (A couple days ago I went looking through some more of those free-birthday-food aggregator websites I was talking about earlier, and I found a frozen-yogurt chain to add to my list of nearby restaurants with outright-free birthday gifts. It was like finding buried treasure, but with more dessert.)

4. Giving little kids stickers at work.

5. Exploring towns (or parts of towns) that I had previously only passed through, looking around inside all the little shops and taking pictures of the waterfalls and mapping the public Wi-Fi.

tumblr_inline_pc73t1fvlx1qmjdbw_540

Tags:

#also I forgot to mention in that earlier post that the Mary Brown’s fried-chicken chain offers a free chicken sandwich for your birthday #I found out too late to do it last year myself but early enough that Mom could do it #and she gave me hers because she’s diabetic and breading + hamburger bun would mess up her blood sugar #it was pretty good #food #adventures in human capitalism #and for that matter #adventures in dragon capitalism #meme #tales from the askbox #Flight Rising

arbitrarilychosen asked: porous

~ Brin ~ 2 Comments

{{previous post in sequence}}

brin-bellway:

*

Like many creatures, I compulsively groom when stressed. Occasionally, this manifests as picking at blackheads (usually when there’s a mirror handy, since it’s hard for me to tell by feel what’s going on with blackheads). Mostly, though, it’s eyebrow trichotillomania.

(I’ve been making a mild effort to do that less and a moderate effort to spread it out more evenly, so the bald patches are growing back now. Still very much looking forward to this class finally being over. Let’s just say the list of prerequisite courses should have been longer than it was.)

Tags:

#I’ve been taking two courses at a time but I finished the other one over a month ago #as it was only a very reasonable difficulty level #adventures in University Land #self harm cw? #ask meme #tales from the askbox #I try not to dwell on school woes much here #but it was what I could come up with

{{next post in sequence}}