Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evolving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
Rules For the rest of the Site also accessible on the sidebar.
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This is really, really important if you have EVER been vaccinated. The last time I was vaccinated (over 30 years ago) my hair fell out. It never grew back. Probably coincidence but who knows? I also developed IBS.
The theory in brief: all human vaccines contain contaminants in the form of metal fragments. These act as antennas that make you susceptible to high-frequency Electromagnetic Radiation (from routers, computer WiFi, LED lighting, CB radio, Amateur radio, cellphones, etc.) u/#q1010
Vaccines: The Primary Cause https://unbekoming.substack.com/p/the-primary-cause
Explain It To A 6 Year Old
Grown-ups feel bad a lot. Not the kind of sick where you stay in bed for a few days and then feel better. The kind that lasts and lasts. Sore joints. Sad tummies. A tired heart. Feeling wobbly all the time. Sixty grown-ups out of every hundred have at least one of these.
Some people wanted to know why.
They looked for grown-ups who had never had any of the shots doctors give when you’re a baby. Not a single shot. They found lots and lots of them, all over the country. Then they asked those grown-ups: “How many of you have the kind of sick that lasts and lasts?”
Fewer than three out of every hundred said yes.
Sixty on one side. Three on the other. That is a really big difference.
Then some other people used a very strong microscope to look inside the little bottles the shots come from. They found tiny bits of metal in there. Lead, and other kinds of metal too. No one had told anyone the metal was in there.
Once metal goes into your arm, your body cannot get it back out. It stays. Sometimes it goes to other places in your body. It stays there too. The body tries and tries to clean it up. It can’t. So the trying keeps happening. For a long, long time. Sometimes forever.
That is what makes people feel the kind of bad that lasts and lasts.
There is a shot for cats. Someone checked it too. The cat shot is clean. There is no metal in it.
The shots for children are not clean.
That’s what the essay is about.
"High medical debt" is like high taxes -- not something we should have to deal with in the first place. The medical "system" has become a financial horror story.
Mr. and Mrs. Spiegel are doing something better with (some of) their money than just remodeling their already (I'm sure) very nice home. Good for them.
Hundreds of thousands of Californians are about to get an unexpected financial lifeline after Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel and his wife, supermodel Miranda Kerr, helped erase a staggering $550 million in medical debt.
The couple made a multimillion-dollar donation to Undue Medical Debt, a nonprofit that purchases unpaid medical bills in bulk from hospitals, physician groups and collection agencies at a steep discount before canceling the debt for qualifying patients.
Beginning in mid-July, more than 261,000 Californians whose balances were eliminated will reportedly receive letters notifying them that their medical debt has been forgiven.
The nonprofit and the couple did not reveal the size of the donation, but Undue Medical Debt says every $10 donated typically eliminates about $1,000 in medical debt because it buys bundled debt portfolios for pennies on the dollar.
People cannot apply for the program because the organization acquires large batches of debt at once.
Those whose balances are forgiven either earn at or below 400% of the federal poverty level or have medical debt exceeding 5% of their annual income, according to the nonprofit.
The relief comes as many Americans continue to grapple with rising healthcare bills and the high cost of living.
California remains one of the nation’s most expensive states, with soaring housing and energy costs fueling broader debates over wealth inequality and the role of billionaires in addressing financial hardship.
“It’s a growing crisis undermining healthcare access, economic wellbeing and mental health and we’re so grateful that Evan Spiegel and Miranda Kerr share our belief that no one should go bankrupt because of a cancer diagnosis and no family should have to choose between insulin and groceries,” Sesso said.
The largest share of the debt relief went to San Diego County, where roughly $99 million in medical debt was wiped away for 40,369 people. Los Angeles County residents saw another $26.7 million erased, benefiting 17,466 people.
The latest donation adds to a growing list of philanthropic efforts by Spiegel and Kerr. In 2022, the pair paid off the student loans for the graduating class at Otis College of Art and Design.
Following the devastating January 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires, Spiegel, who grew up in Pacific Palisades and lost his childhood home in the disaster, joined Snap and Snapchat co-founder Bobby Murphy in donating $5 million in immediate relief.
Later that year, Spiegel also joined business leaders and philanthropists to launch the Department of Angels, an initiative supporting the region’s wildfire recovery. The California Community Foundation, Snap, Spiegel and Murphy committed $10 million to help launch the effort.
About 200,000 people lost their homes in the January 2025 fires.
“California has given so much to my family and me, and I care deeply about the wellbeing of our communities,” Spiegel said in a statement. “At a time when many families are already facing rising costs across nearly every aspect of daily life, an unexpected medical bill can create financial stress that lasts for years.”
Undue Medical Debt said it has now eliminated more than $40 billion in medical debt across all 50 states.
