Ψ*Ψ

https://tacobelllabs.net/@psistarpsiii

autoimmune stealthqueer scientist
✨🌱🐈‍⬛🏳️‍🌈🔬🛰🧗‍♂️🥘🦋⚔️⛓🔓

pronouns: she/they
photons: yes please

Public Key

npub1ftqul0jaucjqvky0394dy74a7semdpqvs32kgds888ewaa66xs9qf4k495

NIP-05 Address

psistarpsiii_at_tacobelllabs.net@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsy4sw0hew7vfqxtz8cj6kj027lgvakssxgg4tyxcrnnuhw7adrgzsprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntqvrqdt

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1ftqul0jaucjqvky0394dy74a7semdpqvs32kgds888ewaa66xs9qf4k495

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Last Notes

2026-05-01 21:27:28 UTC

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usually they are, in fact, wrong, and the mistake has ill effects and their project suffers, and maybe sometimes they learn to listen next time
If it’s on one of MY projects, I fight.

2026-05-01 21:23:37 UTC

Something I’ve learned: it’s usually better to just let men be wrong at work. Especially if they are very insistent and they’re more invested in the outcome than I am.
It’s easier not fighting them.

2026-04-14 16:32:19 UTC

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they don’t give any fucking answers. It’s just another excuse to deny care.
Where the hell is Luigi when we need him

2026-04-14 16:17:34 UTC

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For most people maybe this is fine. For me, it’s a THIRD FUCKING OPPORTUNITY for UHC and Optum to decide they need a new prior auth on everything. This probably means gaps in treatment.
I should just hurry up and die, I guess.

2026-04-14 16:14:50 UTC

I am now going through open enrollment for the third time in six months. My health insurance is getting worse.
I hate it here

2026-02-08 03:26:01 UTC

Hey Fedi, please boost until this finds an answer.
I have a group text with some uncles & cousins and periodically someone gets kicked off inadvertently and their texts only go out individually and they may not even SEE group texts.
When it was just happening to my uncles and dad, I thought it was boomers accidentally technology. But now it’s affecting my cousin as well so I’m wondering.
Any idea why this happens or what to do?

2026-01-11 19:50:12 UTC

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One thing that’s really important to me is to maintain the community I’ve been building while at 80% FTE. Losing community during COVID, not having that support system, is part of why I collapsed.
I think this looks like combining things I have to do (cooking, working out) with social time. Maybe we have friends over to cook dinner or do projects more often. Maybe we grocery shop with friends who have Costco memberships.

2026-01-11 19:40:40 UTC

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It’s challenging because I’m a complex disaster patient with a lot of specialists I see on a regular basis (this is why I’m permanently excused from jury duty). US work culture is not built for people like me.
Regular takeout and processed food - not an option, I get sick.
Being inactive - not an option, I’m in pain all the time.
Super long hours - only doable short term or I fall apart.
I have 6 months to impress the new corporate overlords, and these are my constraints.

2026-01-11 19:36:14 UTC

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What I’ve come up with so far:
- better shared meal planning so my wife can help more with prep in advance (easy weeknight recipes welcome!)
- regularly scheduled gym time and date nights
- 90 day refills and pharmacy delivery when possible
- cleaning service
- I have a disabled friend who’s had a lot of success hiring high schoolers for various life admin stuff, but this isn’t something I’ve tried yet

2026-01-11 19:31:13 UTC

Hey fedi, I could use advice. I’ve been at 80% FTE for the past few years after some serious burnout-associated health issues. I have a different manager now and am looking at going back to full time.
If you’re a technical professional, esp with chronic health issues, what are some systems, habits, etc. you’ve implemented in your life that make work more sustainable?

2025-12-03 15:33:05 UTC

eating a kouign-amann for breakfast to try to manifest some housing luck for my sister and her wife🤞 (and also because kouign-amann is a god tier pastry and I cannot resist it on only 2 hours of sleep)

2025-11-03 10:31:42 UTC

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Do a few ibuprofen take up much less room in a suitcase? Absolutely. Can you take them discreetly without people noticing? Yes.
The TENS is a little larger, but not massive. And mine makes an irritating beep when I adjust the currents. Some of the electrode placements I can’t really apply unless I retreat to a bathroom.
Thankfully, I have lost all my remaining giveafuck and I’m fine with being the weird person with the mystery device if it means no pain.

2025-11-03 10:26:45 UTC

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TENS units are such a game changer. I have the misfortune of not being able to take NSAIDS. First, because of Crohn’s, but when i went into remission for a few years i eased up on that. But now the nephrologist *also* says no and I really want to keep having functional kidneys.

2025-11-03 10:21:07 UTC

Meant to bring my heating pad on the conference trip, but managed to forget it, so in desperation I’m trying the TENS for no-good-goddamn-reason uterine cramps, and it’s…working pretty well so far?
Not sure why no one ever recommended it to me for this purpose. Eternally grateful for my pelvic floor PT recommending one for vagus nerve stimulation and then subsequently encouraging me to try it for joint pain. It’s intimidating at first, but I’ve found some guides and am comfortable experimenting

2025-10-12 03:31:26 UTC

At today’s D&D session, the entire party was out of spells and pretty beat up. We decided the safest place to rest in the dungeon was with the sleeping bronze dragon.
Dragon was not thrilled about the cuddles.

2025-09-23 13:51:29 UTC

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yeah, agree here. Alternatively, you could make one with rye and switch over to feeding with masa?

2025-08-30 13:39:44 UTC

Does anyone know of a good fair/ direct trade spice place with large quantities of ras el hanout? I used to get it from Curio but they no longer sell a sufficiently large container. We go through it somewhat quickly. @npub1kyd…jltj maybe?

2025-08-24 14:31:41 UTC

Hey LGBTQ++ fedi friends and fam, a friend recently reached out looking for a trans-informed employment lawyer. I reached out to a few friends and with our networks we had her a few recommendations within hours.
It has me thinking it would be good to compile some info flood our local community proactively.

2025-07-26 13:09:45 UTC

Yesterday I invited friends to come over and chill or do art or whatever while I worked on a few projects around the house, with the explicit warning that I was going to be breaking my southern good hostess programming. and like 10 people showed up at various points during the evening! While I was painting and sanding and stuff! And I think they had a pretty good time, they were here pretty late.

2025-06-24 02:35:43 UTC

Hilarious, mention of kink in a very nonsexual way
https://media.tacobelllabs.net/media_attachments/files/114/736/006/975/767/512/original/848900446ceea9e4.jpeg

2025-06-13 06:16:15 UTC

A friend of mine is undocumented - they and their family are not leaving the house or opening the door right now because ICE raids have stepped up in our area.
This is one of the warmest, nicest people I know. I’ve never met their mom but she sends food over for our social gatherings (and of course it’s AMAZING). They shouldn’t have to hide. They don’t deserve to live in fear of being kidnapped. No one does.

2025-05-16 00:32:16 UTC

Just bought carabiners at the hardware store and now I really feel like I’m living up to some stereotypes

2025-03-02 03:53:39 UTC

Local trans unity march had probably 3x more people than I was expecting, and a lot of the people on the street were cheering and waving in support as we walked by. 🏳️‍⚧️

2025-02-25 02:20:53 UTC

To whoever it was that mentioned using sourdough starter discard as a roux, thank you, you’re brilliant, my dumpling filling is holding together much better now!

2025-02-18 12:26:07 UTC

“war happens in policy making”
What has me more shaken than anything is the pattern recognition from people who have lived through other collapses.
I’ve been wanting to ask the guy who founded the company I work for what his take on the US is right now. He was born in Yugoslavia.

2025-02-10 02:28:47 UTC

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I feel like @npub1kyd…jltj will have some good suggestions

2025-02-10 01:43:21 UTC

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Ok it’s unanimous so far, I think you’re right - here is the cross section (I can’t take a photo of the peppery taste)
https://media.tacobelllabs.net/media_attachments/files/113/977/050/037/847/224/original/86ac08bd58add32e.png

2025-02-10 01:33:31 UTC

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What’s the vegetable in the photo? (All 3 are growing in this area at this time of year.)

2025-02-10 01:31:29 UTC

Help me play the CSA guessing game: what are these? (Poll in reply)
https://media.tacobelllabs.net/media_attachments/files/113/977/003/650/625/949/original/97a95f5addc25d8b.jpeg

2025-02-03 14:54:36 UTC

I always include some propaganda and educational questions when I write trivia sets. Let’s see if you can get this one:
Treatment of gynecomastia is the most frequently performed gender affirming surgery, and it is most frequently performed in cis men and boys. What body part is affected by gynecomastia?

2025-01-31 20:27:15 UTC

no one ever talks about investing in fake estate

2025-01-21 23:43:37 UTC

Hey sleep disorder friends, I need advice and I’m looking for other folks’ experience. Pls boost? #SpoonieChat #SleepDisorder
I have a REM movement disorder and wake up a lot in the middle of the night. Gabapentin helped a lot, but also made me dumber so I had to discontinue.
Doctor recommended looking into Requip (ropinirole). Looks like it’s a dopamine agonist and often works for a short while and then makes the problem worse?

2025-01-05 18:27:54 UTC

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honestly? The chronic illness community is a gold mine for learning how to deal with the system and get good care (and try to not get fucked over in the process).

2025-01-05 15:27:14 UTC

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A lot of folks with chronic illnesses will straight up keep a binder. This can help. Come with questions. Take notes.
If your doctor isn’t listening, fire them. If you have to navigate the hellscape that is the American health profit extraction industry, you should at least be taken seriously and get some care. (If there’s nothing my primary can do for me - think “this is definitely a virus” - he usually gives me a useful body hack.)

2025-01-05 15:18:45 UTC

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Unprofitable idea #9: your doctor appointments are probably really short (in part because of your insurance bastards!) - get organized to get as much out of them as you can. Make an agenda. Track your symptoms, have the history laid out for them - keep a calendar, note the intensity and duration and how it impacts your everyday life. What does it feel like? Have you found anything that helps? You (and your doctor) may not realize you’re having 10 migraines a month until you track it.

2025-01-03 04:03:14 UTC

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Imagine if a LOT of benefits negotiators got together and collectively pressured UHC to change their practices or face losing thousands of customers.

2025-01-03 03:24:17 UTC

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Unprofitable idea #8 is something I learned today: if you are getting a lot of claim denials, and your plan is through your employer, talk to your company’s benefits administrator! They know the system and may be helpful navigating it, and they probably want to keep good people from leaving, which they can’t do if they don’t know your insurance bastards are making you want to quit your job, get out of the US, and raise goats. And it’s often their job to negotiate plans.

2024-12-31 07:16:11 UTC

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Unprofitable idea #7: take advantage of copay assistance programs. If you need to go on a biologic or other expensive med from a specialty pharmacy, your insurance bastards have probably worked out a deal with the pharma manufacturer. GET ON THAT SHIT! I’m on Cimzia which is $5k/month, but with copay assistance (Cimplicity) I pay $0/month.
If you’re on a pricey medication, it’s worth checking.

2024-12-30 03:21:24 UTC

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Unprofitable idea #6: know your rights. There have been some decent laws passed in recent years, like a ban on “surprise” medical bills (like when you go to an in-network hospital but somehow end up with an OON anesthesiologist). This is bullshit, it’s no longer legal.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/surprise-medical-bill-ban-now-in-effect-what-to-do-if-you-get-one
Pay attention to those consent forms.
https://www.cms.gov/medical-bill-rights/help/plan/insurance-care-out-of-network

2024-12-29 02:06:02 UTC

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Unprofitable idea #5 sort of piggybacks on #4: even if you have a practitioner who doesn’t take insurance or you know is out of network, you still have an out of network out-of-pocket maximum, so ask your doc for a superbill and submit the claim!
(Yes, this is more along the lines of “take advantage of the shit your existing plan does”, because the system is so obtuse that most of us have no idea what we’re doing, so we probably overpay - that’s by design.)

2024-12-28 05:46:55 UTC

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Unprofitable idea #4: somewhat UHC specific. They make it a huge pain in the ass to enter out-of-network claims - it’s a form and it takes forever to enter if you have a bunch of visits. And then they’ll tell you, oh we don’t like that modifier, you’re denied.
It is utter bullshit that they’re wasting your time this way, right?
Don’t enter your own data. Waste THEIR time and money instead. There’s a number you can fax. (DM me and I’ll give you the last one I used.)

2024-12-27 09:19:35 UTC

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Unprofitable idea #3: share! Tell your stories about getting royally fucked over by your healthprofit extraction industry bastards. Some people never have to use the US system and have no idea how bad it is. If you’re an immigrant to the US or a lucky expat, definitely share! Let’s counter the propaganda we’ve been fed.
Also, share information on how to deal with the system, because they make it confusing, and if you can navigate the labyrinth, it’s your civic duty to guide others through.

2024-12-27 09:14:45 UTC

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Unprofitable idea #2: If your insurance bastards are using AI to deny claims en masse, which they are, it is more than fair for you to use AI to fight back. Check out https://www.fighthealthinsurance.com/
- yet another brilliant trans woman doing something nice for us all. I haven’t personally used it just yet, because I haven’t had to appeal anything since I learned about it, but it looks like she’s working on a version for healthcare providers to use as well.

2024-12-27 09:04:55 UTC

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Unprofitable idea #1: Every time the insurance bastards waste your oxygen by making you call them to do their job, put in a complaint to your state insurance commissioner. Let’s get someone to investigate whether their shady bullshit is perhaps illegal, or should be. Waste their time by putting them under all the state scrutiny you can.

2024-12-27 09:00:05 UTC

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Example: while it would be both personally gratifying and hella unprofitable to hack their auto-denial algorithms to just pay everyone’s claims, I’m not calling for anyone to do that because I’m pretty sure it runs afoul of some law or other. Likewise, let’s not coordinate any large scale sketchy activity on the stock exchanges.
Your weapons here are the existing bureaucracy, your social media networks, your inner Karen (NOT to be directed against the poor bastards at the call center).

2024-12-27 08:52:43 UTC

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Let’s make a list of ideas for this together! You can join in on the fun! But let’s set some boundaries.
Rule #1: You gotta pressure this goal in ways that don’t place undue burdens on your doctors.
Rule #2: Don’t be a dick to people who are staging the call centers. They are just trying to survive.
Rule #3: The asshats at the top have a lot of power and will weaponize law enforcement against you. Don’t do anything stupid like make death threats.

2024-12-27 07:39:37 UTC

2025 goal: become as unprofitable as possible for unitedhealthcare

2024-12-20 07:54:45 UTC

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Oh snap. Someone I know from grad school is a drug development lead at a company that makes some of the highest efficacy treatments. I could potentially connect this guy to a trial.
But the cancer isn’t public knowledge and I wasn’t told directly. And unsolicited advice is something I try to avoid esp around health issues.
I want to bring this up because this person deserves at least a few more high quality of life years, but I also want to respect privacy.

2024-12-19 15:13:19 UTC

Just found out someone I know has pancreatic cancer and I’m kind of torn up about it.
It’s supposed to be quite painful and the survival rates are pretty low.
Really sucks because this is a good dude who doesn’t deserve any part of this fate. I wish I could transfer it into the body of a US health profit extraction industry exec.

2024-11-23 01:23:15 UTC

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agree. important for cis folks to contact Congressholes on this one. Be loud. Be annoying. Pretty sure most women don’t want to have to dress like a 50s housewife to be above suspicion in the ladies room.

2024-11-04 06:26:08 UTC

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in case it’s not obvious, I prefer to fight unwanted bugs with more bugs, I just deployed a bunch of parasitic wasps for the scale infestation

2024-11-04 06:24:32 UTC

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I put them up in the passionfruit vines where there are often unwanted insects. It would be cool if this took care of the spider infestation. We have too many atrium spiders, but they’re mostly harmless chill little dudes so I’d rather not kill them, but hey, mantis bro gotta eat

2024-11-04 05:33:22 UTC

I have a little mantis friend in the atrium now! SCORE!

2024-10-20 16:57:51 UTC

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it’s just generational trauma responses all the way down, isn’t it

2024-10-01 10:41:43 UTC

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I also want an insider answer to this. If this source can be believed (FWIW, the other info here tracks with my understanding) it’s single use https://www.scienceshot.com/post/czochralski-process-vs-float-zone-two-growth-techniques-for-mono-crystalline-silicon

2024-09-29 21:21:28 UTC

Can we just, like, repurpose the military toward climate resiliency and disaster recovery? Maybe help eliminate some existential threats instead of creating more?

2024-09-22 23:50:30 UTC

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ok, yeah, everyone hating the Bs hasn’t changed unfortunately

2024-09-22 13:15:09 UTC

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I think historically it’s been a thing, but I’m not so sure how prevalent it is now.

2024-08-14 23:19:45 UTC

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I would love to live in a world with less transphobia and more duels

2024-08-12 19:56:40 UTC

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you know, I should have just looked for Samin’s recipe in the first place

2024-08-12 19:55:45 UTC

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I think this was exactly my problem. I saw the yogurt trick but my wife is allergic to dairy (and we’re out of vegan yogurt).

2024-08-12 03:54:16 UTC

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that’s kind of what I tried, but

2024-08-12 02:39:29 UTC

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Alright @npub1kyd…jltj I’m sure you have some pointers on not fucking up the tahdig

2024-08-12 00:58:38 UTC

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Ok now I understand why all the recipes say Persian rice is tricky
They’re not wrong (I have somewhat fucked up and am now recipe off-roading)

2024-08-11 21:08:11 UTC

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2 cups of rice is kind of A Lot for us but our house is a wreck right now and that’s kind of a barrier to having friends over :/
Worst case if it looks like too much I can drop some off with friends who had a baby recently

2024-08-11 21:00:50 UTC

Gonna try making tahdig for the first time ever…wish me luck?

2023-04-20 03:07:50 UTC

I remember reading about ionizing radiation as a kid and learning, oh alpha particles can be stopped by a sheet of paper, a little plastic can stop beta particles, gamma rays are the most scary ones because you need a big chunk of lead to stop them. (also they’re the most 🤘.)
Thinking about it now, after way too many years of chemistry and physics, it hits a little different.