Firebirdie713

joined 1 year ago
[–] Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

When I was about 12 and searching the local paper to learn local rent costs. I was looking with the plan that I would move out at 16 and take my sister with me so we could escape the abuse we were suffering from our mom.

[–] Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

While you are correct that it will likely be expensive, it is important to note that Descovy is an existing PreP pill that Gilead makes. So the cost of the new shot is yet to be determined, but the company has been criticized for the cost of their current PreP medication option.

It is also important to note that anyone with insurance in the United States will pay nothing, as the Affordable Care Act requires insurance to cover all PreP medications at no cost to patients. The pricing will only affect those who have no insurance at all, which makes this criticism all the more important to help this new medication reach those who would be the worst affected if they were to contract HIV.

Oh sorry, I misunderstood! You are right about that. I actually get that a lot as a bi person myself.

[–] Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I know Jack is bi/pan, but him kissing another man would be described by most as being a gay kiss.

The headline did specify that they were talking about the first gay kiss for the character of 'The Doctor', not the show as a whole, so Captain Jack kissing other men in general doesn't make the headline wrong. The Ninth Doctor, who was a man, specifically kissing Jack on the lips is a gay kiss for their character though, and that makes the headline wrong.

[–] Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone 34 points 3 months ago (9 children)

The Ninth Doctor kissed Captain Jack on the lips in his season, so wouldn't this be the second?

[–] Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Two or three years, I think. So far the price has stayed exactly the same, they still have no ads, and they haven't made any changes to the app to try to advertise features or anything like that. It was (and still is) a nice change from Spotify, Apple Music, and even YouTube to be honest.

[–] Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I do have the family plan actually, I forgot about that!

And I do occasionally. Certain live albums and more niche stuff can be hard to find, and one hit wonders can be tricky depending on the genre and time the song is from. The song I'm Blue by Eiffel 65 is only available in a longer club mix and not the radio edit, for example.

I will say that, in my experience, it has a slightly larger selection than Spotify for classic stuff and different versions of the same song (covers, remakes, remixes, etc). For example, my husband was very excited that they had the whole readout of How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Boris Karloff (in two parts, but still) because they used to play it on certain radio stations every year around Christmas. On Spotify I was only ever able to find the same version of the song from several different albums of Christmas mixes.

[–] Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 3 months ago (5 children)

No actually! Napster bought Rhapsody and now runs a music streaming platform.

I get the reaction though lol. That was my reaction too when a friend of mine recommended it. But I tried it and it is actually really nice, and the price hasn't gone up in the years I have had it.

[–] Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (9 children)

I pay about that already (~$14 a month), but for Napster, which afaik gives the biggest cut of any streaming service to artists. They also have really good custom playlist management, I never get intrusive popups or emails, and premium means no ads, even with hours of listening. I switched after the Joe Rogan thing happened with Spotify and never looked back honestly.

[–] Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Yes I did. Mentioning the existence of a cashew product does not prove the claim that vegans are the reason for the increase in demand. Maybe you should read the sections that talk about the largest increases in demand, the largest markets for cashew products, and maybe look at the demographics of the countries that lead in demand.

Edit: Here are the major points for anyone who can't access the pages or is too lazy to read, btw:

From the first source: An increasing number of cashew-infused product manufacturers have attracted young and old consumers with the launch of new and innovative products, such as cashew-butter yogurt in the United States and roasted spice-coated cashew kernels in India. However, the application of cashew kernels in consumers' diets has been steady in South America, with multinational manufacturers penetrating the market with assorted cashew products, suiting the healthier diet regime across the country.

Asia-Pacific is the largest consumer of cashew nuts in the world. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the use of cashew nuts in regular diets and healthy ready-to-eat snacks. The rising number of manufacturers producing innovative cashew-based consumables has taken both young and geriatric consumers by stride. For example, roasted and spice-coated cashew nuts that appeal to the local palate were introduced in India. The demand for cashews in Asia has persistently increased as the imports for shelled cashews increased exponentially by over 700% from 4,321 metric tons in 2017 to 30,688 metric tons in 2021 in China, with Vietnam being the major import partner according to the ITC trade map. China leads the region in cashew import, followed by Japan, Thailand, and India, respectively.

From the second source, which talks specifically about the sales trends of processes cashew products, which are what vegans are being solely blamed for the increase in demand of in the article OP posted:

Based on product type, coated or flavored cashew is expected to be the leading product type in the global processed cashew market. Consumers' preference to eat salted cashew or various flavors is fueling the growth in the segment.

Processed cashew are widely used in the food and beverages industry in various products such as protein bars and powder, cereals and muesli, dairy products, beverages, bakeries & confectionery. Amongst all, bakery & confectionery holds a dominant market share in this segment as processed cashews are widely used in cookies and biscuits.

In other words, while there has been an increase in some products made with cashews that are solely eaten by vegans, the vast majority of demand and the vast majority of the increase in that demand comes from traditional uses and traditional markets, not from vegan dairy alternatives.

[–] Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Except the major increase in demand isn't coming from vegan diets? It is coming from the popularity of the nuts as a snack in the Asia-Pacific region, with India being the largest consumer nation. These countries have been and are still the largest importers and consumers of the nuts, and their demand has been steadily increasing over the last few years. While some demand comes from alternative milks and cheeses, the overwhelming majority is strictly for traditional foods and snacks.

We can call out human rights abuses without demonizing a group that is more likely to buy from reputable sources that don't participate in human rights violations. I see a lot of people quick to blame vegans for any increase in demand for a plant product, even when it is factually untrue or at best heavily biased.

Sources for my claim, btw:

https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/global-cashew-market

https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/processed-cashew-market

[–] Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Interesting. I have not had any issues using their engine even with the issue with Bing's API, but you are correct that they use Bing's index. Given that there are only four indexes to choose from, that isn't too surprising.

I actually switched to them when I saw that DuckDuckGo was about to start providing 'AI assisted results'. I wanted to ensure I was using an engine that actually respected my privacy and didn't harvest my data for slop.

Anecdotally, I can confirm that the results I get from SwissCows are very different and usually better than the ones I got from DDG. So I wonder how much of Bing's API they use.

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