[BK (NTS no politics)]

The fuck is wrong with this site? Error codes for days on end and then warnings that someone maybe attempting my id.

[amphibian]

Nicodimas, on 16 September 2025 - 07:30 PM, said:

So my girlfriends been sick and done a bajillion tests. Mental illness just keeps getting worse for her. I have had crazy weird brain fog this last year... We have been on the whole diet and allergy pathway of all things. We might finally rooted it out and now are like how do we fix this ? They largely think it's her stomach microbiome as her GABA production is super low. I separately got treated for a cortisol disorder and have just lost fifty pounds 210--160 (on purpose mind ya). All my muscle is gone though..sad face.

However good news we found the cause OTA mold toxicity.Good news hah! However now lots more questions.did this come from food ..or the environment.we have 14 pets , we love animals if you didn't get this from me ever. I prolly like animals more than other humans lol. Then We had a plumber out that is a mold specialist around here and they said the house does not need remediation, however getting a second opinion. Me and my girlfriend both volunteer at pets rescues so around lots of animal waste/feed for a good part of life so maybe there. Or food ..and went down the decision pathway to figure out what food and have both been doing food elimination diets. What is making us sickkkkk. We work different places too. Anyone ever run into OTA mold toxicity ? I'm ripping the carpet out this weekend it's going down ...

Health is weird !

Wondering how much exposure would cause this to infiltrate you. Yes yes being treated by a specialist ..but my brain is just running trying to figure out if it's a constant exposure thing etc

Edit: Been living here 3 years ..bought house not rented* looks clean inside ..and tests did not show mold. So confused

Check your HVAC evaporator, house history of flooding, and inside the lower walls. Mold problems are usually "rip things out and remediate", "leave the house permanently", or something you're eating/drinking often. Toxicity means this is really serious.

[Nicodimas]

amphibian, on 17 September 2025 - 04:19 AM, said:

Nicodimas, on 16 September 2025 - 07:30 PM, said:

So my girlfriends been sick and done a bajillion tests. Mental illness just keeps getting worse for her. I have had crazy weird brain fog this last year... We have been on the whole diet and allergy pathway of all things. We might finally rooted it out and now are like how do we fix this ? They largely think it's her stomach microbiome as her GABA production is super low. I separately got treated for a cortisol disorder and have just lost fifty pounds 210--160 (on purpose mind ya). All my muscle is gone though..sad face.

However good news we found the cause OTA mold toxicity.Good news hah! However now lots more questions.did this come from food ..or the environment.we have 14 pets , we love animals if you didn't get this from me ever. I prolly like animals more than other humans lol. Then We had a plumber out that is a mold specialist around here and they said the house does not need remediation, however getting a second opinion. Me and my girlfriend both volunteer at pets rescues so around lots of animal waste/feed for a good part of life so maybe there. Or food ..and went down the decision pathway to figure out what food and have both been doing food elimination diets. What is making us sickkkkk. We work different places too. Anyone ever run into OTA mold toxicity ? I'm ripping the carpet out this weekend it's going down ...

Health is weird !

Wondering how much exposure would cause this to infiltrate you. Yes yes being treated by a specialist ..but my brain is just running trying to figure out if it's a constant exposure thing etc

Edit: Been living here 3 years ..bought house not rented* looks clean inside ..and tests did not show mold. So confused

Check your HVAC evaporator, house history of flooding, and inside the lower walls. Mold problems are usually "rip things out and remediate", "leave the house permanently", or something you're eating/drinking often. Toxicity means this is really serious.

Yes very aware. A couple in my friends group was exposed to black mold for a good time, but moved away when they discovered. Later both passed away within 3-4 months of each other.. due to small cell lung cancer. We always think it was the house.

My GF comes with E.D.S, hyper mobility, but since she doesn't produce collagen her GI lacks a layer is how she explains it is very aware of her allergies. She has a weak intentine blood barrier so always has had a leaky guy syndrome thing going on. And girls already eat better then us guys and she eats even better.(I always feel bad as my worst health?? thing was I was born dyslexic ..hence always editing posts ..)However she choose teas as her choice of drink..which leads us..

She has always been a black tea drinker and her thought if not the house it's that. She also switched away from milk early in this journey. I have been reading the studies that modern milk is like 100 percent of the time has OTA over the standing legal level limit. Now I need to source if the same thing happens with almond milk. The doctor is also pushing her toward that this was ingested this week...I have to logic that out and that's something they can work with. They can't know the environmental factors at play.

We worked and we changed up her protocols for animals, always wear a mask now. We went to a place that stores feed differently and changing vendors too. We will be changing all the carpet out. The second mold specialist is for a pro on air quality and HVAC. Where the first one was more of a plumber and looking for water damage/mold from that lens.Again.. AZ so HVAC is always running. Standing humidity is fine.

This post has been edited by Nicodimas: 18 September 2025 - 02:36 PM

[Nicodimas]

Don't f around with mold. My GF has 9 concurrent infections from the mold exposure. Going to be a long recovery but hope this is it.. This test said the mold came from ingestion too. More than likely based off the culture...fing coffee. Never drinking coffee again. Wow.

[QuickTidal]

Found out that Jay Kristoff (Whose work I enjoy) is doing a tour for his latest release and coming to Toronto. So I looked into it....

HEY REMEMBER WHEN AUTHORS DID READINGS AND SIGNINGS FOR FREE AS LONG AS YOU BOUGHT THE BOOK?!

Yeah....$30 Admission...

$80 for admission AND a book copy (note a copy of the book online is $38CDN all in taxes and shipping....not $50)...or $100 for a VIP ticket where you hang out with him (one free drink ticket....huzzah...?) and get one book and signing ect.

Look man, I like your work...but a mid-tier gothic fantasy author charging more for his event (if you do the book and admission price anyways) than I paid per ticket to the Aqua Nostalgia tour is....crazy work.

Now I don't expect it's him...probably Macmillan or Harper Collins...but like...feck off.

GGK did free tickets for his event just for seating reasons, Britains event for her 8th green rider book is AFAIK free, Sebastien de Castell and Miles Cameron free, C.L. Clark free, Julie E. Czerneda free, EK Johnston free....all in the last like 3 months...

I guess I don't get it.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Nicodimas, on 19 September 2025 - 09:33 PM, said:

Don't f around with mold.

Absolutely. I once worked in an office that had an extensive damp problem with large patches of mould visible on the walls in the part of the building I was in (the solicitors whose offices were near it all got moved, the support staff didn't matter) and I had recurrent sinus infections for about six months. When I finally saw an ENT specialist he laughed himself daft upon hearing the context and that I worked for a solicitors, and at the follow up appointment openly offered to write any medical letter I needed in order to take them to a tribunal, because the situation was so ridiculous. It never came to anything as COVID happened and I left during the lockdown - and miraculously the infections ceased. Who'd have thought?

Anyway, hope your GF is on the road to recovery now.

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 26 September 2025 - 07:10 AM

[Maark Abbott]

So Mazur is a laugh, innit.

[Cause]

My Mother is coming to visit me in 2 weeks. I am excited and this will be the first time she sees how I live in the USA.

I am also dreading it. I have a 1 bedroom apartment, we will be in very close proximity for 10 days. I am also old enough to have a mid-life crisis, I am not looking forward to having my mother as a guest in my home invariably make a comment about how I shouldn't stay up too late or some such.

I Also I am worried about entertaining her for the trip, I want her to have a good time but she doesn't like museums or history. Ill take her shopping, see a play but this isn't ten days of activity. I also know she will complain about the expense of everything, even though I will be paying for almost everything.

I hope she has a good time, I hope I have a good time and I hope the stress levels remain manageable. I am renting a car so we can do day trips and Ill probably take her to NYC for at least a night. Maybe drive around new england and look at the autumn trees.

[QuickTidal]

Cause, on 29 September 2025 - 03:22 PM, said:

My Mother is coming to visit me in 2 weeks. I am excited and this will be the first time she sees how I live in the USA.

I am also dreading it. I have a 1 bedroom apartment, we will be in very close proximity for 10 days. I am also old enough to have a mid-life crisis, I am not looking forward to having my mother as a guest in my home invariably make a comment about how I shouldn't stay up too late or some such.

I Also I am worried about entertaining her for the trip, I want her to have a good time but she doesn't like museums or history. Ill take her shopping, see a play but this isn't ten days of activity. I also know she will complain about the expense of everything, even though I will be paying for almost everything.

I hope she has a good time, I hope I have a good time and I hope the stress levels remain manageable. I am renting a car so we can do day trips and Ill probably take her to NYC for at least a night. Maybe drive around new england and look at the autumn trees.

What does she like to do at home (in SA, right?)...try to find US equivalents to those things...that's what I would try to do.

[Maark Abbott]

Mazur continues to be a right laugh.

For some context, this concerns the legal services act which states that reserved legal activity has to be conducted by a qualified solicitor or a barrister who has cross-qualified as a solicitor. It doesn't include CILEX Fellows unless they have the extra accreditation that puts them on the same level as a full solicitor.

Sounds pretty straightforward. Except for a long old time, most firms in the UK have been using non-solicitor staff to conduct litigation, which Mazur set precedent as stating they cannot do as the LSA states they can't. Where it gets messy is that the Civil Procedure Rules say that staff of solicitors firms are able to sign documents on behalf of their firm and the regulator has therefore allowed non-qualified staff to deal with what has been decided as reserved legal activity.

So work lately has been primarily lots of staff running around trying to set up new processes to manage the ruling and the ramifications of it. I am exhausted on a constant basis. It'll settle down eventually but for now, guh.

[Maark Abbott]

Wife lost her job again.

A bit of stability would be sort of nice.

[amphibian]

Maark Abbott, on 06 October 2025 - 07:36 AM, said:

Wife lost her job again.

A bit of stability would be sort of nice.

It seems like she's able to get these jobs, so that part is working. Do you have insight into what's not working after that?

I'm sorry about the tumult of it all.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Really sorry Maark, I hope she finds something more stable soon.

We've got a crisis meeting at work tomorrow. They seem to have finally accepted that morale in my office in particular is terrible and have spoken to staff individually about what the concerns are (the biggest one being we've got very unprofessional members of senior management causing a lot of misery), now the Chief of Ops is coming up and asking for meetings with everyone (I have no idea what repeating what we've already said to another manager will do, but that's what they've asked for). I'll be very glad when this week is over.

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 07 October 2025 - 08:14 AM

[Tiste Simeon]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 07 October 2025 - 07:32 AM, said:

We've got a crisis meeting at work tomorrow. They seem to have finally accepted that morale in my office in particular is terrible and have spoken to staff individually about what the concerns are (the biggest one being we've got very unprofessional members of senior management causing a lot of misery), now the Chief of Ops is coming up and asking for meetings with everyone (I have no idea what repeating what we've already said to another manager will do, but that's what they've asked for). I'll be very glad when this week is over.

Forgive me for being very cynical but I suspect that what it will do is give the people at the top a tick in the box to say "we listened" without action to back it up.

I hope this grumpy old so and so is wrong though and it results in things becoming better at work!

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Tiste Simeon, on 07 October 2025 - 09:01 AM, said:

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 07 October 2025 - 07:32 AM, said:

We've got a crisis meeting at work tomorrow. They seem to have finally accepted that morale in my office in particular is terrible and have spoken to staff individually about what the concerns are (the biggest one being we've got very unprofessional members of senior management causing a lot of misery), now the Chief of Ops is coming up and asking for meetings with everyone (I have no idea what repeating what we've already said to another manager will do, but that's what they've asked for). I'll be very glad when this week is over.

Forgive me for being very cynical but I suspect that what it will do is give the people at the top a tick in the box to say "we listened" without action to back it up.

I hope this grumpy old so and so is wrong though and it results in things becoming better at work!

Oh I don't disagree with you at all - the fact this has all been said to a member of senior management already makes me feel it's a tick box that Chief of Ops has met with everyone and "listened" so that they can say in future that they did.

I'm leaving when I find another job anyway, and I think even if they acted on concerns it's too late for a handful of other people also. I'd still like things to be better for my colleagues though, hence agreeing to participate on the slim hope it results in change. In reality though, one of the main problems is my direct line manager and because of all the functions that sit with her, they have absolutely no backup plan for if she left/was demoted, so I don't believe for a second they will act on anything to do with her. Most of the other problems are structural and will be the work of months not weeks to solve, hence me feeling it's too late.

[Tsundoku]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 07 October 2025 - 09:49 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 07 October 2025 - 09:01 AM, said:

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 07 October 2025 - 07:32 AM, said:

We've got a crisis meeting at work tomorrow. They seem to have finally accepted that morale in my office in particular is terrible and have spoken to staff individually about what the concerns are (the biggest one being we've got very unprofessional members of senior management causing a lot of misery), now the Chief of Ops is coming up and asking for meetings with everyone (I have no idea what repeating what we've already said to another manager will do, but that's what they've asked for). I'll be very glad when this week is over.

Forgive me for being very cynical but I suspect that what it will do is give the people at the top a tick in the box to say "we listened" without action to back it up.

I hope this grumpy old so and so is wrong though and it results in things becoming better at work!

Oh I don't disagree with you at all - the fact this has all been said to a member of senior management already makes me feel it's a tick box that Chief of Ops has met with everyone and "listened" so that they can say in future that they did.

I'm leaving when I find another job anyway, and I think even if they acted on concerns it's too late for a handful of other people also. I'd still like things to be better for my colleagues though, hence agreeing to participate on the slim hope it results in change. In reality though, one of the main problems is my direct line manager and because of all the functions that sit with her, they have absolutely no backup plan for if she left/was demoted, so I don't believe for a second they will act on anything to do with her. Most of the other problems are structural and will be the work of months not weeks to solve, hence me feeling it's too late.

Oh, they'll listen alright. Then they'll sack anyone who complained. Under the guise of "restructuring" or similar BS.
Be careful what you say.

[Macros]

say enough to get sacked but be clean enough to take them to the cleaners as you go

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

All very good advice - thanks all.

It wasn't what I expected, but I'm happy I said what I needed to in a constructive way and they'd have to work hard to get me for any of it. We shall see what comes of it. Sounds like they heard much the same from everyone they spoke to as well.

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 09 October 2025 - 08:22 AM

[Maark Abbott]

Trying for the life of me to work out why our government seems to be bending over backwards to accommodate a football firm with a track record for public disorder.

[Tiste Simeon]

Maark Abbott, on 21 October 2025 - 06:14 AM, said:

Trying for the life of me to work out why our government seems to be bending over backwards to accommodate a football firm with a track record for public disorder.

Yeah this one has gone way too far in the "trying to appease Israel for some reason" thing. Like the Tel Aviv derby game was cancelled because of violence between the fans. Does that make the Israeli police anti-Semitic too? Obviously not.