explanation, since this one might be more confusing than most:
Traffic congestion does indeed waste gas. However, any place worth driving to is going to have congestion–driving without congestion is easy, fast, and comfortable, so people generally won’t take other options until roads become congested. Thus, congestion actually reduces gas usage overall, because it is only once areas become congested that people stop driving places.
Trying to avoid congestion, on the other hand, usually involves expanding roads, something which increases driving, and makes other forms of transportation less useful/comfortable, thus increasing gas usage overall.
HRT is short for Hormone Replacement Therapy, a treatment many transgender people use to feel more aligned with their gender identity. It’s been proven to increase mental health, and has a low regret rate. However, it is correlated with higher mortality because trans people overall have a higher mortality rate and HRT is primarily used by trans people.
A more extreme example of the same thing would be “People on chemotherapy have a higher chance of dying from cancer than people not on chemotherapy.” It’s true, but only because people without cancer don’t tend to enter chemotherapy.
Im on lemmy.blahaj.zone and I’ve enjoyed the same thing. So, too, does mastodon feel this way - by default, you can’t see how many likes, boosts, or replies something has. So you end up with people actually talking to each other, rather than clicking a button that makes someone else look bad. In general on the fediverse there’s a prioritization of positivity over negativity, and healthy engagement over petty fights. It’s nice. Makes things easier on the moderators, too, I’m sure.
Also, IKEA ran an advertisement in support of gay marriage, using the shark. I forget, though, if that came before or after it becoming a trans symbol.
Its soft and cuddly and, to some extent, the same colors as the trans flag. It’s a much bigger thing among transfems than transmascs, and I’ve heard that part of its popularity is that it lets transfems feel soft and cuddly, when previously they’ve spent their whole lives under male social expectations where that’s less encouraged. It being a meme is a fun way to celebrate the expressing of a buried part of yourself.