Hello everyone,

I need your help! I have a rash on my face and neck (as seen in the pictures), and I'm not sure how to get rid of them. I'm hoping that they'll go away on their own soon, but it's been three days since I've had them and I haven't seen a significant difference. I'm not 100% what caused the rash, but I'm pretty sure that it's a cream sample that I put on my face (as seen in the pictures).

If I had health insurance, I would have scheduled an appointment with my doctor, but I'm unemployed right now so I have no health insurance so I'm trying to clear this up by myself. I don't mind waiting for it to clear up naturally, but I'm not sure if it will and I'm not sure if delaying will cause me to have any scarring (I'm probably freaking myself out, but I've never had anything like this happen before ...)

The only thing I've done is kept my face clean and applied some aloe vera gel on the rash. Please post possible remedies, advice, links, whatever. Thanks in advance.

( warning: somewhat large pictures behind the cut ... )

a piece from last year by Renita Weems on white womens tears (and the old testament).

xposted.

Browncoats: Redemption Trailer from browncoatsmovie on Vimeo.

Suggest you watch it with the HD off, as the video will run a great deal smoother. Also recommend you share, digg, post, spread, cast, lob, and spill to everyone you know, Browncoat or no Browncoat. And by all means - don't miss the Big Damn Premiere next year at D*C!!!

X-posted to bc_redemption

Hi ho!

Last weekend I cleaned my laundry using vinegar for the very first time, and was pleased with the results. I was curious to know, could you use apple cider vinegar for this purpose too? Or is it just white vinegar?

Does anyone have any experiences using oregano for acne?
I see that it is an ingredient in the anti- blemish gel from Origins, and I was wondering if I could use just oregano on its own; I have the powdered dried leaves used for cooking.

link to the Origins website: http://www.origins.co.uk/templates/products/sp_nonshaded.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CAT3664&PRODUCT_ID=PROD65892
Thank you.

Is anyone here from Austin, Texas?
Or into freeganing?

A few of you may recall my posts two months back, complaining how i couldnt score in Vancouver no matter how hard I tried.

Well, I'm a few weeks from heading back home, so i decided to give it one more try. I hit the same route i had once before, and I hit the jackpot! How wrong I was about Vancouver! Yes, it's tough to dive in Vancouver due to the approaching Olympics, but it's totally possible.

( Read more... )


This is a news program discussing the difference between natural childbirth, characterized by midwives and less doctoral intervention; and what is considered normal in the united states. What do you think? I should note that in another community, I was linked to this: there have been studies on waterbirths that have concluded so far that it doesn't really reduced pain and may put the baby at risk

Sign-ups for serenity_santa are now open!

Are you wishing for more Firefly/Serenity fic, vid or icons? Interested in providing some?

Serenity Santa is an exchange community which operates over the holiday season. Gen, Het and slash works of all ratings are welcome.

The info post is here. Come join us and celebrate Christmas with other Browncoats!

In light of Method's current campaign which trivializes sexual violence, I want to switch to a different brand of hand soap. The problem is that I have yet to find another brand that carries unscented and not anti-bacterial soap. Tom's of Maine apparently makes one, but it doesn't seem to be available yet, Dr. Bronner's appears to all be scented, and Burt's Bees doesn't seem to make hand soap at all.

Help?

Hello,
Last weekend I got into a discussion with my father about what's considered typical female and male behaviour and whether it's determined by biology (that is, being of one gender or the other has natural, inescapable influence over your personality) or by society (that is, our society has established certain traits as male and female and most of us learn how to be that way since early childhood, which is the idea I was supporting). My father is a pretty intelligent and open-minded man, so of course he also thinks that society is a part of it, but he supported the idea that some traits really are biological, such as men being more aggressive. I countered it citing a text I read some time ago by Margareth Mead (forgot the title) in which she compares our society to a few others in which the expected and 'natural' behaviour for males and females is exactly the opposite of ours (for instance, females are more aggressive). I told him I would bring the text for him to read.

So now what I'm looking for are other texts that prove that the characteristics we consider typical male and female are not determined biologically. Alternatively, if I'm actually wrong I would like someone to tell me so before I make a fool of myself, becuase my dad always gets too smug when he wins an argument. Ideally, I'm looking for more serious, academic texts, with solid arguments. He's an intellectual guy, so language is not a problem. Is there anything like that out there? Also I just joined, so I don't know if I'm supposed to tag this. English is not my native language, so forgive any mistakes.

Is polyurethane environmentally sound? Does it contain lead? How long does it take to break down? I have been trying to find information online but I'm not finding what I need to know.

The reason why I am asking is because there is an item I wanted to buy that was made out of polyurethane, and it did not match up with Proposition 65 in California. I'm not from California but obviously Cali created Proposition 65 for a reason, and I support that reason, as the state has banned (? not sure) items that have chemicals that can lead to birth defects and cancer.

If there is more information on polyurethane and other materials banned from Proposition 65 then please let me know. Thanks.

In the winter I forget to drink enough water because I'm cold all the time. I've been trying to drink more herbal tea to make up for it. I know some teas are good for drying things out...what teas are good for keeping things nice and moist? By "things," I mean nose, sinuses, even skin if possible. Dehydration + dry weather means I am turning into a sheet of sand paper. In the winter I add honey to my tea often, but don't want to have tooo much sugar.

***Trigger warning for fat-phobia, racism, ablism and general mind boggling fail**

I've just walked away from this enormous steaming pile of fail at nonwiccanwitch (I have now left the community). I'm sitting here feeling, just, what the hell I don't even. I actually feel quite dirty (and rather upset) for even getting into it. I reported him to the mods, but he's started slinging accusations of me being racist towards him (for people who haven't read the thread, he's white, so am I).

Is there any way, any way at all of engaging meaningfully with people like that? I hate the feeling that I suspect he thinks he's won.

ETA: I should have given a summary for people who don't want to follow the link. It started with an already rather failtastic post about why there is "so much obesity in Pagan circles". I call the OP out for fat-phobia and ablism, and try and explain that it's really not as simple as 'eat less crap, do more exercise'. Captain Ranty, as he will hereforth be known, who was not the OP, responds with 'I'm not fat-phobic, I'm not afraid of fat people! Also, it is totes that simple and they are disgusting.' only not quite as politely (throw in some ad hominem attacks against me and some verbal abuse). I explain calmly, again, why factors like poverty and disability meant that no, it really isn't that simple, and anyway even if it were simple that's no excuse to shame and bully people of size. I tell him he needs to check his privilege, and hand him some links to checklists. "I HAVE NO PRIVILEGE IN BEING WHITE AND MALE HOW DARE YOU STEREOTYPE ME YOU RACIST", quoth he (ok, I'm paraphrasing here, but it's not a lot more coherent), clearly having not looked at said checklists. It devolves into me trying to stay calm and keep on topic, and him basically screaming personal abuse at me, telling me to 'get a spine', 'grow some', routinely assuming I'm male. I report it to the mods, they give him a (rather soft, imho) warning, he starts crying about me bullying him. I walk.

The OP, incidentally, took the point and acknowledged zie had made a lot of unjust assumptions.

(x-posted to my personal journal)

I'm moving in a couple weeks and plan on sending my kitty flying with my dad. The reason she's flying (and not with me) is because I decided that driving her from Alabama to Massachusetts (a 3 day drive) would be more traumatizing than her flying for a couple hours.
She's generally a calm cat but doesn't like people until she can get to know them. I'm all set with the whole carrier thing, but I'm worried that she's going to freak out on the plane. This isn't just her getting anxious about another pet, or going to the vet. I don't want to drug her with something that isn't natural, so I was wondering what you would recommend.
I've looked into things like Rescue Remedy, but to be honest it seems like that would be more effective for vet anxiety, or other things that are a little shorter lived than a plane flight and several hours in an airport.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Photo by Egan Edwards

Velocity Chyaldd brings you
The !BadAss! Burlesque
5th year Anniversary!!!

SATURDAY November 28th!

at Arlene's Grocery
95 Stanton St. between
Orchard & Ludlow NYC, $15

Infamous Miss Astrid
hosts these !BadAss! Show Stoppers:

The World Famous *BOB*
Darlinda just Darlinda
Velocity Chyaldd
Stormy Leather
Melody Sweets
Clams Casino
Reina Terror
Legs Malone
Rose Wood
Jo Boobs
Ferro
Deity

Musical guest: Vulgaras

Madame Courtney delivers
Tarot card realness.

DJ Velocity gives
you rocker "Teaserama"!!

Door opens at 12am,
show starts at 12:30.
21 and over with I.D.
This party rocks
on til 4am!!!

www.BadAssBurlesque.com

A Weekend at Southdown Abbey

Come visit Austin, Texas, December 4th-6th, 2009 as it is transformed
into Southdown Abbey on Persephone from the Firefly and Serenity
‘Verse.

Join us as we celebrate Shepherd Book’s journey before becoming a crew
member on Serenity. We’ll start with an Abbey Fashion Show, showcasing
Asian-inspired designs, while offering Sereniteas’ blended teas, as
well as homemade hors d’oeuvres. We’ll have a costume picnic on the
Abbey grounds and then a dance in the Fellowship Hall with music by
The Bedlam Bards and food made primarily from produce grown at the
Abbey! We’ll end this shiny shindig with Serenity on the Big Screen at
our local Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek.

The best part – all proceeds from this event will go to support The Al
Wooten Jr. Heritage Center of which Ron Glass, our Shepherd Book, is a
Board Member.

Want to spend a weekend at Southdown Abbey? Tickets are $25, get them now. Space is extremely limited for this event, so don’t miss out!

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit
www.lonestarshindig.com

The Charlotte Browncoats, in conjunction with the Greenville, Blue Ridge and Columbia Browncoats, are please to announce that Charlotte, North Carolina has been selected as the site for the 2010 Browncoat Ball. We've hit the ground running on this one and have plans for a fabulous weekend of fun, action, history, culture and hospitality, Southern Style.

Friday afternoon and evening activities will include classes of all sorts, a Wash-o-saurus Luau, Music From The Black and a Midnight Pajama Party. Saturday's big fun kicks off with a Train Job Luncheon, and your choice of three fun-filled activity tracks: the Thrilling Heroics Whitewater rafting Track, Hard Burn NASCAR Track or Tour The Core - Uptown Tour. The evening will culminate in the Ball, complete with dancing to live music and a fabulous shindiggy buffet (there may even be some kinda hot cheese thing.) Night owls can continue on to the after-hours party!

We'll be posting links to our still-in-progress site soon, so mark your calender now - October 22-24, for the 2010 Browncoat Ball. We aim to misbehave!


Liberally cross-posted