689 lines
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689 lines
70 KiB
HTML
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<title>04 July, 2022</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Restrictions on Contraception Could Set Women Back Generations</strong> - The right to access contraception radically expanded women’s economic prospects. By overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has laid a road map for reconsidering that right. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/restrictions-on-contraception-could-set-women-back-generations">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Can Do on a Radical-Right Court</strong> - Can the liberal Justices hold the conservatives back—by appealing to shame or the Constitution—as the consequences of the majority’s recklessness become even more dangerous for American democracy? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-justice-ketanji-brown-jackson-can-do-on-a-radical-right-court">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is Biden Handling Putin Better Than He’s Handling Trump?</strong> - Facing down the threats that the two men pose to democracy has become the defining challenge of Biden’s Presidency. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/is-biden-handling-putin-better-than-hes-handling-trump">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rachel Kushner Reads “A King Alone”</strong> - The author reads her story from the July 11 & 18, 2022, issue of the magazine. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-writers-voice/rachel-kushner-reads-a-king-alone">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bryan Washington Reads “Arrivals”</strong> - The author reads his story from the July 11 & 18, 2022, issue of the magazine. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-writers-voice/bryan-washington-reads-arrivals">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Otters are thriving in … Iowa?</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EE7RK6rY-Q1uAHpEqlZROHNhbIQ=/167x0:1502x1001/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71045155/sn_2.0.jpeg"/>
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<figcaption>
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A river otter near the campground at George Wyth State Park in Black Hawk County, Iowa, in October 2021. | Steven Niewoehner
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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My home state seemed far from a natural paradise. Then I found an otter.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H9xoWC">
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A few years ago, a friend said he had spotted river otters just outside of Fairfield, a small town in southeast Iowa where I grew up.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aHsJi5">
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This was big news to me.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hwAIsu">
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For most of my life, I thought Iowa was boring. It’s the land of cornfields and hog farms. One of the state’s only claims to fame is that it’s home to the <a href="https://iowa80truckstop.com/">world’s largest truck stop</a> (with 900 truck parking spots, 24 private showers, and an onsite chiropractor and dentist).
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GGGFTV">
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And while my hometown is something of a spiritual paradise — it’s a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYMUhDJrzLw">hub</a> for disciples of the late Indian guru <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maharishi-Mahesh-Yogi">Maharishi Mahesh Yogi</a> — Iowa is far from a natural paradise. Over the last two centuries, the state has lost more than <a href="https://www.inhf.org/blog/blog/remnant-prairie-a-closer-look-at-iowas-rarest-landscape/#:~:text=Historically%2C%20prairie%20once%20covered%2075,small%20pockets%20across%20the%20state.">99 percent</a> of its tall-grass prairie and <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/ia/newsroom/factsheets/nrcs142p2_008530/">90 percent</a> of its wetlands.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JcKmpg">
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Yet there were apparently otters. Smart, mischievous, <a href="http://s3-wp-lyleprintingandp.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/25122922/2-25_barb_mudrak_web-e1614274223629.jpg">painfully cute</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno">hand-holding</a> otters.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FGy8EZ">
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I had to see one.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zaHczt">
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As a kid, I’d catch snakes and frogs but only dreamed of glimpsing something as exciting as a river otter. I thought of them as exotic animals you’d see in zoos or on TV.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yrEEOpfp-QCtRCLoQSYIIvvUaYU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23661898/28061261_10156399644509750_166918990808557801_oe.jpg"/> <cite>Steven Niewoehner</cite>
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<figcaption>
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River otters at Fisher Lake in George Wyth State Park in Black Hawk County, Iowa, in February 2018.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8uktvg">
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But my search for otters was about more than fulfilling a childhood dream. I wanted to understand how they were surviving in Iowa, one of the most ecologically transformed places in the country. If otters can live here, maybe there’s hope for wildlife in the nation’s countless other damaged landscapes.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9VVmSH">
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So in late May, when I traveled to Fairfield for a wedding, I tacked on some extra time to look for one. It paid off.
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</p>
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<h3 id="SUmzEa">
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How Iowa got its otters back
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8z4RwL">
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A few miles from Fairfield’s town square, meandering creeks crisscross vast fields of corn and soybeans. That’s where my friend said he had spotted otters and where my journey began.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZZ5u1e">
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It’s remarkable that there are otters in Iowa at all.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nKWEgV">
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By the late 1800s, North American river otters — one of 13 species of otters worldwide — were extinct throughout most of state, following decades of fur trapping and severe habitat loss. But in the 1980s, Iowa wildlife officials saw an opportunity to bring them back.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PkeP8d">
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At the time, state officials in Kentucky were looking to stock up on wild turkeys, which Iowa had plenty of to trade. In return, Kentucky officials turned to an otter supplier in Louisiana named Lee Roy Sevin, who was selling the mammals for a few hundred dollars each. The two state struck up a deal: Kentucky would buy otters from Sevin and then give them to Iowa in exchange for wild turkeys.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/E4y9UTRncW0uVnGSqNnou4WnfWI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23661771/river_otter_restoration.jpeg"/> <cite>Iowa Department of Natural Resources</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Wildlife officials release otters at Lake Red Rock in Iowa in 1985.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gstY3d">
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It was a good deal for Iowa, said Ron Andrews, a former Iowa state biologist. “It was easier to turn those turkeys into cash,” he said, than to pay for the otters with state funds. “We gave them two turkeys for every otter.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xxyoIg">
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(Leroy Sevin was quite a character. He had been trapping otters since 1957 and keeping hundreds at his home along a canal in the Mississippi Delta. “He was <em>the </em>otter man,” Pat Schlarbaum, another former state biologist, told me. Sevin was among the only people in the country who knew how to keep and breed otters, which he’d sell to zoos and state wildlife agencies.)
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ekeUyy">
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The deal went through, and in 1985, a truck full of river otters arrived in Iowa. State wildlife officials released them at a large lake not far from Des Moines, kicking off what would become a 20-year reintroduction campaign. (The state later bought otters outright, partly with donations from fur trappers.) Ultimately, more than 300 of Sevin’s otters were released in streams and wetlands across the state, including a lake about 30 minutes from Fairfield.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KRvSQc">
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It didn’t take long for them to spread. While otters were likely still rare around Fairfield when I was growing up, there were roughly 4,000 of them in Iowa by the turn of the last century. By 2006, there were as many as 12,000, and the state opened up a trapping season (the very activity that drove them toward extinction in the first place).
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NDYqDY">
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Now there are likely even more. “All indications are that the otters are doing very well in Iowa,” said Vince Evelsizer, a state biologist who oversees the management of otters, beavers, and other fur-bearing animals
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tZm1Cp7ficpz3smTDSjAcKjQJm8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23661872/9U3A7910.jpeg"/> <cite>Benji Jones</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Vince Evelsizer, a state biologist in Iowa, looks for otter tracks in the mud.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YkCaEc">
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They’re so abundant, in fact, that the state wildlife agency receives several calls a year from farmers who complain that otters have emptied their ponds of fish. “Ponds are like cereal bowls for otters,” Andrews said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bn70Dk">
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But to me this meant one thing: I shouldn’t have a problem finding one.
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</p>
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<h3 id="F26gcq">
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Otters are sneaky
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mWUuAK">
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River otters are most active around sunrise and sunset — the technical term for this is “crepuscular.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lKbMJh">
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I call it inconvenient.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WwIQXC">
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Over several warm days in late May, I walked the streams and wetlands near Fairfield at dawn and dusk. Wearing cheap rain boots and a heavy coat of bug spray, I’d wade through fields of tall grass and murky water. There were snakes everywhere.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7u3KJT">
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Each night I’d come home with lots of ticks and no otter spottings.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IFy5RD">
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Then I got a promising lead. While grabbing coffee at a cafe in town, I bumped into an old friend who’d heard there were otters at a pair of small lakes on the outskirts of Fairfield. We drove there that evening and hopped in a couple of borrowed kayaks. More snakes; no otters.
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qZHmuqecNnocS2ISUbxqTCnOaic=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23660369/9U3A7890.jpeg"/> <cite>Benji Jones</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Bridie Nixon, a doctoral researcher at Iowa State University, looks through binoculars near Lake Rathbun.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eIbjYk">
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I needed to bring in an expert.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oshdPO">
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One evening in early June, I met up with Bridie Nixon, a doctoral student at Iowa State University who’s studying river otters, at a big lake about an hour and half west of Fairfield. Nixon had previously tracked the animals here as part of her research into how otters move across the landscape.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OzlaUH">
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We spent the evening walking down windy streams and creeping around the lake’s edge, looking for otter tracks and mud ramps that they use to slide into the water. Otters are famously playful creatures. “If you want to learn how to have fun, just follow the practice of a river otter,” Andrews later told me. “They’re nature’s clowns.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F9SWX1">
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As another otterless night wore on, I wondered aloud: If otters have recovered in such large numbers, why are they so hard to find?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HZe7c1">
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“They’re curious about human activity but are definitely smart enough to avoid us most of the time,” Nixon said. It doesn’t help that otters can also hold their breath underwater for up to <a href="https://www.doi.gov/blog/12-facts-about-otters-sea-otter-awareness-week">eight minutes</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7Aei19">
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The following night, I went out with another professional: Evelsizer, the state biologist. I met him at a big park near Waterloo when there was still plenty of light in the sky. We sat by a large beaver dam as the sun began to set, listening to the chorus of frogs and insects. It seemed as loud as any jungle (I included a short recording below).
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</p>
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<div id="9JPetm">
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SZfSlf">
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When it was nearly dark, Evelsizer sat up and fixed his binoculars at something moving through the water. A young beaver.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d1fgX5">
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There was so much to see on these excursions: that adorable beaver, a water snake snatching a fish, deer — so many deer — grazing in the distance.
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</p>
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<div class="c-image-grid">
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<div class="c-image-grid__item">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2AkEpfZRYcx2-Ed5Vn4U60D23y0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23661830/9U3A7513.jpeg"/> <cite>Benji Jones</cite>
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<figcaption>
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A common water snake tries to swallow a fish in a stream near Fairfield, Iowa.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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<div class="c-image-grid__item">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4qagK1qgOJfM_d96VhCvczutf0Y=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23661833/9U3A7408.jpeg"/> <cite>Benji Jones</cite>
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<figcaption>
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An American bullfrog hiding among duckweed in a wetland in Fairfield, Iowa.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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<div class="c-image-grid__item">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Wz6-tXLbxH41AwR-ZnZHHVCSII8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23661832/9U3A7301.jpeg"/> <cite>Benji Jones</cite>
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<figcaption>
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A female red-winged blackbird perches on a cattail in a wetland in Fairfield, Iowa.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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<div class="c-image-grid__item">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QwKf_9W_e89R8N4p0nSyKiLhSTo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23661831/9U3A8313.jpeg"/> <cite>Benji Jones</cite>
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<figcaption>
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A muskrat cleans itself at Lake Sugema in southeast Iowa.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0k66Ce">
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By sitting still and paying attention, you can peer into the daily lives of wild animals and start to understand the complex ecosystems they inhabit.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pcbWCW">
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The best part? You can do that pretty much anywhere, even in a state that has lost most of its natural land. You don’t have to travel to some distant place to see nature come alive.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nQAQZK">
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But to be clear, I still wanted to see an otter.
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</p>
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<h3 id="40hPWv">
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Caught on camera
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yrMLXM">
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When Evelsizer and I finally ended our search, it was dark and I was exhausted. I decided to spend the night at a cheap hotel and come back, alone, at sunrise. I set my alarm for 4:30 am.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kNsrRp">
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When I arrived, the park was quiet and cold, and a thin layer of mist blanketed the lake. A large family of geese swam by in single file in almost complete silence.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PC9ScJ">
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I sat and waited, fixing my gaze on the water’s surface. Half an hour passed.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6HGN3f">
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Then there was a splash and a small otter popped its head out of the water. I held my breath. The otter was long and sleek and slightly larger than a house cat, and it was ripping apart some kind of animal — maybe a fish or a crawdad.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KRW1Jr">
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When it climbed onto a dead tree jutting out into the water, I snapped the shot below.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1MEDIWbsMLq7bHTQlf63Nt8a7YM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23661811/benji_otter.jpg"/> <cite>Benji Jones</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
After days of searching, I finally spotted this otter at George Wyth State Park in Waterloo, Iowa.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4zfpio">
|
||
For 20 minutes I sat there, stuck in a trance. I watched the otter go through what I suspect was its morning routine. Dive. Catch something. Eat it. Repeat. Each time it dipped below the surface I thought I had lost it, but then it would reappear, often with a cap of algae.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NvHwpR">
|
||
My search was done. I had finally found an otter.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="GbC9o5">
|
||
Where there are otters, there is hope
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HvMCVB">
|
||
If you spot an otter, there’s a good chance it’ll be eating. These animals are voracious carnivores and need a steady supply of fish, frogs, and other critters to sustain their muscly bodies. So in a way, to see an otter is to see a much broader ecosystem at work.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hz2J0C">
|
||
Are Iowa’s ecosystems working?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OzDtp9">
|
||
In the last few decades, Iowa has restored thousands of acres of wetlands and grasslands through initiatives like the <a href="https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/conservation-programs/conservation-reserve-program/">Conservation Reserve Program</a>, which essentially pays farmers to leave some of their land out of production. Water quality in the state <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2020/12/01/iowa-dnr-impaired-water-quality-pollution-report-2020/6476709002/">may be improving</a>, too.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uht9cM">
|
||
But Iowa is still, by and large, a degraded landscape. Much of my time searching for otters was spent driving down roads that bisected barren fields. From an airplane — the only way some people see the state — Iowa is a neat, human-made patchwork of monochrome greens and browns with only the occasional messy clump of trees.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6JbqEm">
|
||
The same is true for much of the country. By the 1980s, the US had already lost more than half of its wetlands, and much of its grasslands and forests. Yet even in these transformed environments, many animals have found a way to survive, including river otters. They’ve now returned to at least 90 percent of their historic range in the country.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cxxCkr">
|
||
So perhaps seeing an otter says less about the quality of ecosystems and more about the resiliency of wildlife. If you just give animals a place to live and don’t hunt them all down, they’ll often do just fine.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rg3bJM">
|
||
“You always think of river otters being in pristine, clear, cool mountain streams,” Andrews, the former state biologist, said. “Fortunately, they adapt.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hEU6p6">
|
||
I went out one more time before leaving Iowa to a lake about 30 minutes from Fairfield where otters had been released. Surprise, surprise, I didn’t see any there. But it was far from boring. Frogs launched from the mud like missiles as I crept along the shore. A muskrat surfaced and started cleaning its fur. Iowa still might be known for its corn, for its utterly transformed agricultural landscape. But you can find delightful surprises if you take the time to look and to listen.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>How to date when it feels like everyone forgot how to date</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="A cartoon image of two men leaning in for a kiss." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hpSSAo_LKchxCS3F3avmhgYcBGE=/427x0:2678x1688/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71045083/STORY_10.0.jpeg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Shanée Benjamin for Vox
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The pandemic ruined romance. It doesn’t have to be this way.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iilHpa">
|
||
Nothing makes me want to date less than listening to my friends talk about how dating is going.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f2FJzD">
|
||
There’s my friend who has gone on four dates with someone who still can’t pronounce his name. Or there’s my dear pal who was on a blind date with someone who didn’t know they were on a blind date. There’s also the buddy who went on a date with a man who “has never eaten soup.” This was so mordantly intriguing that I had to follow up and ask whether it was a dislike of the concept of a watery meal or if the man had never encountered soup — I was told it was more aversion than lack of access.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NZEn15">
|
||
This all raises the question: Why is seemingly everyone so off their game? To figure it out, I spoke with relationship experts and social psychologists. They point to — what else? — the pandemic as a major culprit.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DHlIKq">
|
||
By way of stunting social interactions and limiting experiences, the pandemic has made dating even more awkward and unpleasant for people. That’s a problem. As <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/02/young-adults-teens-loneliness-mental-health-coronavirus-covid-pandemic/">studies point out</a>, the pandemic has <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2022/05/covid-19-increase-loneliness">increased loneliness</a> all around the world. Loneliness and bad dates, in turn, become a cursed loop.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="edXcoD">
|
||
The experts I spoke to unfortunately could not give me a foolproof plan to ensure the best dates. They did, however, have good advice about how to be a better person on the dating scene — methods that we can all employ. And if we’re all better people to go on dates with, maybe eventually some of those dates will get better too.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="EbtaxU">
|
||
Check in with yourself
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0h8gaJ">
|
||
The very first step in being a dateable person in the world begins even before filling out a profile.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jGyeie">
|
||
Before you do anything else, you should check in with yourself and determine what you’re ready for. You need to ask yourself some pretty basic questions: Am I ready to date? Do I know what I want? Am I looking for something long-term or casual?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OzXLCv">
|
||
You might find that the answer to the first two questions is a pretty all-encompassing “no,” and that’s completely okay. Experts I spoke to said that given what we’ve all been through in the past two years, not feeling up to going on dates is a valid response. If you’re not sure of what you want, it’s a good thing to take some time and figure that out. It’s really important to be clear with ourselves about our own objectives.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="omrWOY">
|
||
If you are ready to date, the answers to these types of questions can help avoid future negative experiences. They can help set expectations. They can also help guide what kind of dates we’re going on, and make sure the person we’re going on dates with has similar intentions.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="8ZdZzQ">
|
||
<q>“What tends to differentiate … emotional types of outcomes is what the person’s aim was going in”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZmKMnQ">
|
||
Bad experiences, as Nicole McNichols explained to me, usually happen when we’re confused about what we want. McNichols works in the psychology department at the University of Washington, where she teaches a course called “Diversity of Human Sexuality.” She says the lack of clarity can send us barking up the wrong trees.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I8JP6N">
|
||
A date between someone looking for a relationship and someone looking to hook up isn’t ideal. In that scenario, if one person sees sex as the pathway to a relationship and the other does not, that can lead to a lot of not-great feelings.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xASj3N">
|
||
“We know from the research, for example, that hookups can lead to some very positive experiences, people can feel happy and satisfy a sense of sexual adventure, but they can often lead to a lot of misery and anger and feelings of shame and humiliation,” McNichols tells me. McNichols reiterates that there’s absolutely nothing wrong or shameful with anyone wanting casual sexual relationships.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tip73Q">
|
||
“What tends to differentiate those two emotional types of outcomes is what the person’s aim was going in,” she adds, explaining that it’s when those wires are crossed that relationships turn sour. Of course, interpersonal romantic relationships aren’t a solo endeavor (more on this in a bit), but working out the emotions on our own end and being honest with ourselves is something we can and have the power to do.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="js7VWf">
|
||
Be communicative about what you want
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h69K8w">
|
||
Being clear and honest with the people you would like to date is fundamental to being a good dater. Humans tend to hurt each other when they aren’t clear.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cPIC99">
|
||
And unfortunately, we’re not always cognizant of what and how we’re communicating.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cdTwJr">
|
||
“Something that I’ve been working on or talking about for many years is the low accountability dating climate,” says Alexandra Solomon, a psychologist who teaches at Northwestern and specializes in relationships.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cos8Ut">
|
||
What she means when she refers to the “low accountability dating climate” is when people treat dating as more of a transaction than a genuine attempt at human connection. And when people see other people as “transactions” that cease to provide a benefit anymore, they’re more likely to abandon them and move on. This mindset means minimal effort and minimal responsibility, especially when it comes to communication.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0ll5Oo">
|
||
Solomon and other experts I spoke to explain that the lack of care in how we talk to one another is, in large part, due to the many ways we stay in touch today. The idea of waiting for a phone call is now a relic of ancient times. It has been replaced by waiting to see if someone texts or DMs, whether they viewed your Instagram story, and whether that person has posted (on social media) since you last spoke.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="RBr6vs">
|
||
<q>“It hurts in the moment, but people would rather be rejected. Ghosting can hurt more.”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uh9VLl">
|
||
Essentially, there are more ways than ever to check in with someone. But those ways can be as mindless and checked out as watching Stories on Instagram while not paying attention to a TV show. We’ve leaned on low-effort social media even more during a pandemic that cut off many of our in-person, face-to-face interactions in the first year. <strong> </strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KyVAje">
|
||
Being a better communicator to the people you’re dating means personally acknowledging how difficult it is to communicate in culture today — recognizing, for instance, that not responding to someone’s DMs can make them feel rejected. Knowing those pitfalls and then working to not be unresponsive or ambiguous over text, DM, apps, or maybe even a phone call (god forbid), is integral to being a better human who dates.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PFDiL0">
|
||
Clarity also means just being honest about what you want out of your connections. That could mean letting someone know very clearly that you’re looking for a relationship or getting in touch to say that the date you went on didn’t work out. Those kinds of talks can feel uncomfortably intimate or maybe too earnest, but they help avoid the hurt and shame that result from miscommunication.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9H8pBV">
|
||
Granted, telling someone that you no longer want to see them can feel especially bad given the circumstances that we’re living in. Ghosting, maybe more than ever, seems like the tempting option.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mXBi8a">
|
||
But as Logan Ury, a behavior scientist-turned-dating coach and the director of relationship science at the dating app Hinge, explains, skirting outright rejections isn’t actually sparing anyone’s feelings.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wTwGRi">
|
||
“If you don’t tell me what’s going on, then I might be holding out hope for you,” says Ury. In Ury’s dating taxonomy, ghosting happens when two people go on at least one date and there’s unanswered follow-up. Ury concedes that everyone’s definition of ghosting is different, but the general idea is that one person is investing emotions into another who has already moved on. She doesn’t consider it ghosting when someone you’ve never met goes quiet on the apps, or if there’s a date and no follow-up from either party.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Nz88x">
|
||
“We’ve done research on this. It hurts in the moment, but people would rather be rejected. Ghosting can hurt more because it makes people feel like they’re swimming in ambiguity,” she says.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RGjuRP">
|
||
“I think we have to start normalizing just being clear with ourselves and upfront about what it is that we want, because I don’t think people are intentionally misleading each other,” McNichols says.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="YyJvW0">
|
||
<q>“I think we have to start normalizing just being clear with ourselves and upfront about what it is that we want”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cVT9F3">
|
||
This, obviously, is a problem that predates the pandemic and likely will be perpetrated until the end of time. But since the pandemic has, for many of us, made us worse communicators, there’s no better time to be better.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="eowbym">
|
||
Remember that we’re still re-learning how to be social
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iM3h6G">
|
||
The pandemic completely changed our social lives. The interactions we had at work or school or even the gym or our grocery stores were all affected by Covid-19. Some of those social interactions are maybe just now getting back to pre-pandemic rhythms, or maybe they’re not close at all.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PqtsOb">
|
||
Multiple experts mentioned that young people, especially those who graduated from high school or college over the last two years, didn’t have the same kind of social experiences that adults before them had. The pandemic changed how these people made friends, how they kept up with existing friendships, and may even have altered how they bonded with new coworkers at their first jobs.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LEV4KR">
|
||
“Young adults especially have maybe missed out on a couple of really developmentally important years in terms of learning to navigate courtship and romantic relationships and sex,” McNichols tells Vox, and explains that those experiences are integral to how we interact.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i5b9El">
|
||
She also says that, to some degree, it’s reasonable for any adult living through the past two years to feel like some of their in-person communication skills might be a little clunky — dating included.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yOpPGO">
|
||
“Even though we’re slowly entering back into a more normal world than we’ve been living in for the last two years, I think everyone’s just a little out of practice,” McNichols says. “Everyone kind of became less comfortable and less used to speaking with other people live and, you know, actually being out and meeting new people.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="biF2YG">
|
||
The takeaway here is not to be hard on yourself for being nervous or awkward or not saying the right things. Keep in mind that the person or people you’re going on dates with probably have the same feelings; extending yourself the grace you give other people is really crucial.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="W2mRlK">
|
||
Treat people with grace and compassion
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i1ipKF">
|
||
Perhaps the best thing daters can do is remember that the people they want to date are human beings.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NiVDOS">
|
||
“I want people who are dating to lead with tenderness and compassion. And expect the same in return,” Solomon, the psychologist based at Northwestern, tells me.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i5tPk5">
|
||
Solomon explains that dating, for the last decade or so, has shifted toward being something like a consumer mindset. That’s in large part due to apps that have framed dating as more like a game in which “matching” feels like a win or maybe even a dopamine rush. The more matches you have, the more desirable you might feel. The more someone ticks off certain boxes, the more appealing they seem. The people who don’t stack up, then, are perceived as disposable.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4tPVlt">
|
||
Seeing and treating people as means to an end rather than actual humans with human emotions isn’t good (even if that end is a relationship). Negative feelings will occur. But coupled with the circumstances of the pandemic, i.e., long stretches of isolation, and the gamification of online dating, our tendency to forget that others are as real as we are gets even worse.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4J3KO7">
|
||
So what does treating someone with compassion and kindness mean?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Dh1EL9">
|
||
“It means keeping in mind, from the very first swipe, that there’s a human being on the other end of the app,” Solomon says, explaining that it means being clear about intentions, honest about your feelings, and treating everyone with kindness, regardless of whether you’d like to see them again.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZjaIgM">
|
||
“You’re interacting with a human being — a human being who’s possibly been through some heavy stuff over the last two years.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fbkgJ2">
|
||
The “stuff,” as Solomon points out, can be just the daily emotional toll of living through Covid-19, or even something more serious like the death of a loved one or PTSD from working the front lines. People were already <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7405905/">lonely before the pandemic</a>, and the isolation it caused for singles couldn’t have helped.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ynLry8">
|
||
There’s that saying about how we don’t know what personal battles people are going through. Treating someone with grace and dignity — especially as they look for a romantic connection — is crucial in this moment. You also deserve to be treated with kindness — and it’s best if you treat yourself with kindness too.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="9uOYVr">
|
||
<q>“I think perhaps the pandemic has created a sense of urgency about life being fragile”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kmbisp">
|
||
To be clear, compassion and kindness are not interchangeable with being a doormat or putting up with someone awful. If someone is belligerent or offensive, being compassionate does not mean sitting through or toughing out a date.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9Qm964">
|
||
It’s also worth noting that you could feel like you’re ready to date, get there, and realize pretty quickly that it doesn’t feel right. That’s perfectly normal too. There are no deadlines on how we should feel and how soon.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QxNn8X">
|
||
“I think perhaps the pandemic has created a sense of urgency about life being fragile. I think that can make people feel like, ‘I have to go out there. I have to try to find somebody right now,’” Solomon, the psychologist at Northwestern, says.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HwAman">
|
||
That kind of pressure isn’t helpful. It may only lead to more anxiety and undercut the connections someone makes. As real as that urgency can feel, the key here is to trust ourselves and what feels right for us in this moment and time.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6yufz4">
|
||
“We also should keep in mind that people have really different on-ramps when it comes to getting there,” Solomon says. “We don’t need to be pressuring ourselves on top of all the rebuilding that we’re already doing in our lives.”
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>A pregnancy turns deadly in an anti-abortion state. What happens next?</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="The reflection in the mirror above the sink in an examination room shows two women performing an ultrasound on a third." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/S4VRx4cOT_qNwxEcq9f6IfpNYd4=/0x0:4864x3648/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71045021/1241513603.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Inside an abortion clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on June 23, the day before the Supreme Court overturned <em>Roe v. Wade</em>. | Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Why medical emergency exceptions for abortions aren’t enough.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fqRy4M">
|
||
Even before the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/24/23181720/supreme-court-dobbs-jackson-womens-health-samuel-alito-roe-wade-abortion-marriage-contraception">overturned <em>Roe v. Wade</em></a> on June 24, stripping Americans of their right to an abortion, the United States had an <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/1/30/21113782/pregnancy-deaths-us-maternal-mortality-rate">abysmally high maternal mortality rate</a>, ranking last in a survey of 10 similarly wealthy countries. For doctors in states implementing restrictive abortion bans, the ruling is a crisis of care: In many cases, the only way to treat life-threatening conditions such as <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/9/11/20859034/ectopic-pregnancy-abortion-federalist-intrauterine-ohio-surgery">ectopic pregnancies</a> is with medical or surgical termination. The fear among many physicians is that the ruling in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf"><em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization</em></a><em> </em>will make mortality rates creep even higher.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cym5U8">
|
||
States that are enacting the most stringent abortion bans — like Missouri, where <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/06/24/abortion-is-now-illegal-in-missouri-in-wake-of-u-s-supreme-court-ruling/">a “trigger law” went into effect the day of the ruling</a> — do make exceptions for medical emergencies. But huge questions remain: How might someone in a medical emergency get a lifesaving abortion in a state with no, or few, providers? And who gets to decide what counts as a “lifesaving” emergency?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3nICkQ">
|
||
Nobody seems to know for sure. But one thing is clear: The ruling raises far more questions than it answers. And while the answers are deliberated, patients around the country stand to suffer unnecessary, debilitating pain or death.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="utMfza">
|
||
“We’re venturing into unknown territory,” said <a href="https://bixbycenter.ucsf.edu/lori-freedman-phd">Lori Freedman</a>, a sociologist and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California San Francisco.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9slvks">
|
||
There are a few big categories of unknowns here: how doctors will act if they fear prosecution for providing care, how hospital lawyers will interpret state laws, and who will provide abortions in cases when they are legally allowed to save the life of the pregnant person.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Eutcol">
|
||
Maternal health care in America is at an inflection point. And with every unknown there is danger.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="tYwSGC">
|
||
Fear of prosecution could alter medical decision-making
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kvqsAe">
|
||
A pregnancy can be dangerous even in the best of circumstances. “Carrying a pregnancy is more dangerous than not carrying a pregnancy. Birth is riskier than an abortion,” said Jody Steinauer, a physician and director of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at UC San Francisco. Pregnancy causes a panoply of physiological changes to a person’s body, and problems can arise throughout the process.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9cNjOz">
|
||
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists <a href="https://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/Fulltext/2019/05000/ACOG_Practice_Bulletin_No__212__Pregnancy_and.40.aspx/">recommends</a> early abortions for patients with some heart conditions, while patients with diabetes whose fetuses will develop severe anomalies can spend time focusing on controlling their diabetes before trying to get pregnant again. Some complications are apparent far before they begin to affect the vital signs of a pregnant person, Steinauer said. Patients with poorly controlled diabetes are at a higher risk of having fetal anomalies, for example, and patients with mental health issues or cardiac disease can be in serious danger if they carry a pregnancy to term.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cV7xYM">
|
||
The <em>Dobbs </em>ruling will make responding to those problems more difficult. One major source of uncertainty lies in how physicians will respond to the threat of prosecution for performing abortions, even in cases where their patient’s life is in danger. That fear of criminalization could lead doctors to put off care for longer than they would otherwise.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R1Au2o">
|
||
For doctors, a big component of that fear is that determining what’s “lifesaving” isn’t perfectly cut and dried.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0hWSKb">
|
||
“At what point do we say that danger has been triggered?” asked <a href="https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/about/bio/shachar-carmel">Carmel Shachar</a>, executive director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Policy Law, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. “That’s really unclear, and it’s very hard for providers because they want to provide timely medical care.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zdgk91">
|
||
What constitutes danger, and when, varies patient by patient. If a patient has a missed miscarriage, for example, where the fetus has stopped developing but the pregnant person hasn’t experienced any symptoms such as bleeding, they can develop sepsis, which is when their body starts damaging itself as an <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/sepsis/what-is-sepsis.html">extreme response</a> to an infection. The treatment for a missed miscarriage is removing the fetal tissue — in other words, an abortion — and is best done as early as possible.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hjMIse">
|
||
But without the protections of <em>Roe</em>, doctors may be forced to wait to take action until their patient’s condition deteriorates. “Do you need to wait for the patient to become septic before you can act?” Shachar asked.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XvheNq">
|
||
As Anna North <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/9/11/20859034/ectopic-pregnancy-abortion-federalist-intrauterine-ohio-surgery">wrote for Vox in 2019</a>, some abortion opponents argue that complications like missed miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies should be left to “resolve on their own.” Doctors in states with abortion bans may feel they have no choice but to stand back and wait.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XBWuoD">
|
||
“What’s really important and sad is that you really can’t keep the patient’s best interest in mind,” said Freedman. “Her suffering is not accounted for at all. Even if they can keep her from having long-term harm, she’s still going to have worse care. She’s still going to be stalled and scared for longer.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="UC6Hl9">
|
||
Do doctors get to make the call, or do lawyers?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="10BnLz">
|
||
Even before the <em>Dobbs</em> ruling, deciding whether to perform an abortion, especially in states with restrictive abortion laws, would often become a discussion that went beyond the physician and patient to include <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32459421/">a hospital’s legal team</a> and sometimes even a department chair or board of administrators. But those discussions happened with the knowledge that, fundamentally, <em>Roe v. Wade </em>guaranteed that patients had a right to an abortion and doctors faced minimal risk of prosecution for performing them in response to a medical emergency. Now hospitals will be left on their own to interpret the laws of their states, which could lead to even more confusion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fZHg5z">
|
||
Physicians and hospital lawyers have a difficult job ahead in figuring out how to comply with the law, partly because the language used in the abortion debate and the laws that come out of it have little basis in medical science, said Louise Perkins King, a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and director of reproductive bioethics at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M9KbXF">
|
||
When lawmakers talk about heartbeats and fetal viability, for example, they do so in a way that is totally different from how physicians use those words. Texas law, for example, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/05/10/1097734167/in-texas-abortion-laws-inhibit-care-for-miscarriages">mentions</a> the “dead, unborn child,” but “that’s a word that means nothing to me as an obstetrician, because I deal in the words of ‘embryo,’ ‘fetus,’ and perhaps ‘neonate,’” King said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pY5EIw">
|
||
That disconnect between medical science and policy means that without clarification from state attorneys general, hospital lawyers will have to make case-by-case decisions on whether their physicians can provide abortions — and they’ll probably err on the side of extreme caution, delaying or denying patients the care they need. Many of these debates may simply come down to a matter of personality: If a hospital has a director who strongly supports abortion rights, for example, they could be more permissive. This is, of course, ludicrous — a patient’s right to care should not depend on the whims of hospital management.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tylxxz">
|
||
Even if there is legal clarity, there may not be ethical clarity. “It may be that in your state, what is legal is in direct conflict with providing the best health outcomes for your patients,” said Shachar. “I think it’s going to be really complicated and really hard for providers to work through what happens when they know what the standard of care is, but they’re legally not able to provide it.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="r5xXye">
|
||
Where will abortions even occur?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qAty3D">
|
||
Before the <em>Dobbs</em> ruling, doctors at hospitals with restrictive abortion policies had the option to send their patients to other facilities, like abortion clinics or different hospitals, that could perform emergency abortions instead. That’s what would happen at Catholic hospitals, said Freedman, who has extensively studied abortion policies in Catholic hospital systems. “But that was a very different context,” she said. Before June 24, those doctors were protected by <em>Roe</em>; even if they ran the risk of losing their jobs, they were never at risk of being criminally prosecuted for doing their jobs.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VdRN5C">
|
||
That has changed.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="782n2o">
|
||
Some doctors have already indicated they’re willing to provide abortions to their patients, even if it means they risk being prosecuted, said King. But that could present even more problems: If a doctor is charged with a crime, their license will be suspended, which means their patients — even those who might not need abortions — won’t get the care they need.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="raGgsb">
|
||
Steinauer is also concerned about what will happen if and when freestanding abortion clinics are forced to close. “Many communities have these great independent abortion clinics that are providing wonderful care for our patients, and the local hospital does not necessarily need to be involved, especially in earlier abortion care,” Steinauer said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fobv1T">
|
||
In the past, those clinics would often handle abortion care in the first trimester of pregnancy, including cases where patients had to get abortions for conditions like cardiac disease, while hospitals and academic institutions would usually take patients in their second or third trimesters. Without those clinics providing support, hospitals might become overloaded with patients they aren’t used to seeing. Care for those patients could then be delayed or even denied, based on the decisions a hospital’s legal team comes to.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u8b8Fe">
|
||
The <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22968993/abortion-pills-mail-medication-fda-texas">Food and Drug Administration has approved</a> drugs that can be used to induce an abortion, and it may be possible to continue receiving them via telehealth across state lines even if states pass sweeping bans on surgical abortions (an <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/29/23186564/medication-abortion-genbiopro-roe-dobbs-pills">ongoing federal lawsuit</a> may provide more clarity on this soon). US Attorney General Merrick Garland has <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-statement-supreme-court-ruling-dobbs-v-jackson-women-s">promised</a> to protect Americans’ access to these medications, which means it could remain a good option for many patients and may help reduce the burden of those clinics closing, but it’s still not a perfect solution.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VTWXCr">
|
||
Abortion pills can cause complications in rare circumstances, and King worries patients may choose to delay care or be afraid to tell their doctors about what medicines they took. That’s going to disproportionately affect people of color, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/2/21277987/coronavirus-in-black-people-covid-19-testing-treatment-medical-racism">who already face medical bias</a>. “My biggest fear is that somebody’s going to take those meds at home because they don’t have any other choice and then have a hemorrhage and be too scared to come in,” said King.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5VdksJ">
|
||
It’s likely many of these questions will only be answered once they make their way back to the Supreme Court, which Shachar says is an inevitability. But that will take months, if not years.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="szPmRx">
|
||
It’s hard to predict what kind of damage will be done in the meantime. “It’s hard to imagine Americans will tolerate women dying,” said Freedman. “I feel like doctors will get loud if it’s truly causing deaths. But there’s so much we don’t know. We never thought we would see this day.”
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Eng vs Ind, 5th Test, Day 4 | India extends lead to 361 after Rishabh Pant's fifty</strong> - Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammad Shami were in the middle at the lunch break with India reaching 229 for seven in 73 overs</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Finally, openers fire as all-round India seal ODI series against Sri Lanka with 10-wicket drubbing</strong> - Opening pair of Smriti Mandhana nd Shefali Verma chases down 174 in 25.4 overs</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Eng vs Ind, 5th Test | Verbal exchange with Virat Kohli part and parcel of game: Bairstow</strong> - After the altercation, Bairstow started chancing his arms and played a crucial knock of 106 off 140 balls for the hosts</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>West Indies beat Bangladesh by 35 runs in 2nd T20</strong> - West Indies' 193/5 proved too much for Bangladesh</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Wimbledon | Federer gets rousing reception at Centre Court, says he hopes to play there ‘one more time’</strong> - At a ceremony felicitating past Wimbledon champions to mark 100 years of the Centre Court, the crowd reserved their loudest cheers for Roger Federer, who said he hopes to play there one more time before retiring from tennis</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
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||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kerala chosen as top performer in States’ Start-up Ranking</strong> - Achievement for third consecutive time</p></li>
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||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Union minister RCP Singh has not joined party, says BJP</strong> - There was speculation about Mr. Singh's next course of action after JD(U) top brass denied him Rajya Sabha ticket despite being the Minister from the party's quota.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sanchaya scam: report flays staff negligence, software</strong> - Call for comprehensive inquiry under an expert panel</p></li>
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||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andhra Pradesh: CPI(M) to launch agitation seeking Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh</strong> - BJP won’t win a single seat if it fails to announce it, says leader</p></li>
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||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andhra Pradesh: CM to distribute Jagananna Vidya Kanuka kits in Adoni on July 5</strong> - 1,000 police personnel deployed for bandobust</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Copenhagen shooting: Gunman charged in court with murder</strong> - The suspect had mental health issues and there is no indication of a terror motive, police say.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Copenhagen shooting: Panic as people flee gunfire inside shopping centre</strong> - Three people have been killed in a shooting at a shopping centre in the Danish capital, police say.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine confirms Russia captured eastern city Lysychansk</strong> - Ukraine says it pulled its troops out and Russia claims to control all of Luhansk region.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Wimbledon: Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas both fined over conduct</strong> - Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas are fined for their conduct during their fiery third-round match at Wimbledon.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Video captures moment glacier collapses in Italian alps</strong> - Five people were killed in an avalanche sparked by the glacier collapse on the Marmolada mountain.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Physics meets paleontology: The hotly debated mechanics of pterosaur flight</strong> - How do we go from a fossil to an understanding of flight capabilities? - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1860199">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How the Yurok Tribe is bringing back the California Condor</strong> - Birds’ reintroduction offered insight into importance of parenting in species. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1863799">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How do painkillers kill pain? It’s about meeting the pain where it’s at</strong> - A breakdown of how different types of medicine help soothe our aching parts - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1864044">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The weekend’s best deals: Apple TV 4K, OLED TVs, MacBook Pros, and more</strong> - Dealmaster also includes Google’s Chromecast, PS5 games, and Sonos speakers. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1863916">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How to go from eating mosquitos in Siberia to leading a NASA mission</strong> - An autobiography covers a career in science that even its author admits is “curvy.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1861534">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>Why are murders in Kentucky so hard to solve?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Because there are no dental records and all the DNA matches.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/B-L-O-C-K-S"> /u/B-L-O-C-K-S </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vqws8l/why_are_murders_in_kentucky_so_hard_to_solve/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vqws8l/why_are_murders_in_kentucky_so_hard_to_solve/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>An Englishman and an Irishman go to a bakery. The Englishman steals three buns and puts them into his pockets and leaves. He says to the Irishman: “That took great skill and guile to steal those buns. The owner didn’t even see me.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“That’s just simple thievery,” the Irishman replied. “I’ll show you how to do it the honest way and get the same results.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The Irishman then proceeded to call out the owner of the bakery and says: “Sir, I want to show you a magic trick.” The owner was intrigued so he came over to see the magic trick.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The Irishman asked him for a bun and then he proceeded to eat it. He asked two more times and after eating them again the owner says: “Okay my friend, where’s the magic trick?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The Irishman then said: “Look in the Englishman’s pockets.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/B-L-O-C-K-S"> /u/B-L-O-C-K-S </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vqwsul/an_englishman_and_an_irishman_go_to_a_bakery_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vqwsul/an_englishman_and_an_irishman_go_to_a_bakery_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>Kim Jong-un walks into a school in North Korea.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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He asks a student "Who is your father?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The student replies “The Supreme Leader, infinite in wisdom and kindness, provider and protector of the Koreans, he is our only father.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Kim Jong beams. “Excellent. Now tell me who is your mother?”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The student doesn’t hesitate. "The Land of True Korea,
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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outstanding in her beauty, international superpower, and
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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redeemer of all civilisations, she is our only mother."
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Kim Jong applauds. “What a diligent student you are. What do you want to be when you’re older?”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The student replies “An orphan.”
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</p>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ExtraSure"> /u/ExtraSure </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vqrng8/kim_jongun_walks_into_a_school_in_north_korea/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vqrng8/kim_jongun_walks_into_a_school_in_north_korea/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>Duck joke</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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||
<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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So, you’re in a bar and want to have a bit of fun and impress someone.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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While you’re leading up to this, you should take a bar napkin and rip it in into little 1" squares. Make a fist, and stick the squares in the middle of it.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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So then you say to the person you’re going to impress, “How do you know if someone has been having oral sex with a duck?”
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</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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When they answer, you just hold your hand up to your mouth and cough strongly through it so the “feathers” fly out everywhere.
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</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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I’ve never failed to get a laugh from this one…. :)
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||
</p>
|
||
</div>
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||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/nikan69"> /u/nikan69 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vqw0nm/duck_joke/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vqw0nm/duck_joke/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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<li><strong>Once there was a farmer that was very protective of his three daughters. When they told him that they were going to go out on dates one night, the farmer decided to wait outside with a shotgun.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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||
<div class="md">
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
The first boy arrived for the first daughter, and he said, “Hi, my name is Freddy. I’m here for Betty. We’re going for spaghetti. Is she ready?” The farmer decided he was decent enough, and let them go. The second boy arrived for the second daughter, and said, “Hi, my name is Joe. I’m here for Flo. We’re going to a show. Is she good to go?” Again, the farmer decided he was decent enough and let them go. Finally, the last boy came, and he said, “Hi, my name is Chuck…” and the farmer shot him.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Prudent_Ratio1827"> /u/Prudent_Ratio1827 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vqjm7k/once_there_was_a_farmer_that_was_very_protective/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vqjm7k/once_there_was_a_farmer_that_was_very_protective/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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