I have a friend whose cycle is consistently 28 days long, and she can predict it down to a few hour window. I think she’s a witch.

My periods are super irregular, and tracking is how I try to make sense of it. My last three periods were 2 months ago, 8 months ago and 9 months ago. It’s possible that this irregularity is an indicator of poor health, so my doctor advised me to track stuff and come back if it’s more than 6 months.

Many tracking apps also include the option for tracking how heavy the flow is. The copper coil/IUD often causes heavier flow and more period pains, but for some people, this settles down after a few months. Tracking can be a useful tool in evaluating whether you’re happy with a contraception method (excessive side effects may mean needing to try a different method, like the hormonal coil).

Also, it’s not uncommon for there to be some level of bleeding at times when someone isn’t on their period. Nothing much, just light spotting. I don’t think this is super widespread, but it’s also not super rare either. It can be linked to one’s contraception. Periods are annoying enough as it is, but at least they don’t last long. Irregular spotting may happen when you thought you were safe from bleeding, but some tracking can help spot patterns.

In terms of anticipating patterns and planning around stuff, that’s definitely a thing that people do. Sometimes it’s as trivial as not wearing nice underwear when you’re due to be starting your period. Sometimes it might involve scheduling a date or holiday to avoid overlapping with the period due date. I think perhaps some people who take certain varieties of the contraceptive pill can actually delay their period (I think it’s something like taking week 4 of the medication when you’re on week 3, or something like that). I have a friend whose only contraception method with her partner are condoms (due to health issues around all the long term methods like the coil), and she uses period tracking to ease anxiety around unexpected pregnancy.

Speaking of planning around one’s cycle, I am more likely to make ill-advised horny decisions when I’m ovulating (in a 28 day cycle, ovulation typically happens around 2 weeks after the period starts). I have heard that I’m not the only one who experiences this. It’s not a huge effect, but if I’m pondering whether to get off with someone, it can be useful to know if there are background factors affecting that decision.

In short, there are loads of reasons why someone might benefit from this data. These are far from exhaustive examples. Having things on a separate calendar can be useful if apps make it easier to track things like heaviness of flow. It’s also nice to not have this stuff on your regular calendar (which may be shared with other people).

Fun videos; thanks for sharing

I miss brightly coloured cars. A friend has an old, bright yellow car that probably won’t last for much longer, and they are sad that newer cars are much duller.

There’s not a straightforward answer to this because it’s far too context dependent, and even a CEO at a small company won’t have absolute control over the culture of that company; I’ve seen company culture turn from amazing to toxic after losing only a couple key employees (good managers are gold dust).

To draw a comparison: staff pizza parties are so widely scoffed at not because people hate pizza, but because, when set against a backdrop of employees not actually being respected or valued, it makes them feel worse. Good will can’t be bought, whether by pizza, extra days off, or field trips. Some of those things can help, but much more important is the cumulative culture that’s built at the company.

Most decisions like discretionarily giving someone time off to look after family are going to be made at a level lower than CEO. Sometimes great policy ideas arise from a great manager using their discretion to make a sensible call, and then going “maybe we could put [idea] in place for future”.