Here's an interesting ncbi article on rage:

It's odd that 2020 is almost over and I've not seen one person the whole year go viral for using astrology to predict how shit a year it would be this time last year.

Not one post from november or december last year going "the stars say pandemic, lockdown, unemployment, your parents will die." Etc

It's been a whole year. One person would have gone viral for having a post this time last december saying their astrologer predicted basically *any* part of this year

At the same time: remember the sheer joy of thinking he was dying? Billions of people eagerly urging that to materialize? Wishing all the negative energy you could possibly want on one man?

Kinda disproves that whole thing, huh.

2020: the year woo failed, entirely.

Not even preppers got out of it. They were the first people to start proudly coughing in each other's mouths to own the libs upon their fantasized biological disaster finally occurring.

That first $1,200 check was obviously based on gross income from US federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr, for 40 hours a week, for a month: $1,160

What is this $600 amount based on?

The first was "fuck it, give em a month of minimum wage income. No, I don't give a fuck if it's $4 higher in their state."

So: $600. 2 40-hour weeks at $7.25 is $580.

Which is close enough that it *could* be what this number was based on

"Here's 2 weeks of minimum wage income for free, ya fucking plebes" does seem fully believable.

But, it doesn't seem as convincing. Deliberate gesture of cruelty, yes. But they'd try to gussy it up somehow.

You know all those mysterious disappearances youtubers?

If I were a serial killer, it would be an irresistible temptation to get in on that action.

It'd be simple.

Capture a hiker. Immediately freeze their body.

Wait 5 years, 10 years.

Place their body 15km away in an inaccessible location.

Wait 5 years to make a video about it.

"search and rescue parties scoured the area for weeks, with no result. 5 years later, a troop of boy scouts discovered his body over 30 miles away, in a tree. Forensics indicate he'd only been dead less than a week."

Imagine publicly describing, with millions of views, the circumstances of one of your victims and *no one* having a clue.

5.6 million views where you describe exactly where and when that hiker disappeared, and how mysteriously they were found.

"Park rangers say the only way to get there is to climb down a 2,000 foot cliff using climbing equipment. It's not a straight fall. How did he get there?"

An interesting take on zombies would be a virally mediated analgesia.

This kind of zombie plague has already happened before. Leprosy-induced neuropathy has been a thing for all of human history.

You'd just need to improve upon it.

Imagine getting a terrible flu, and after a high fever, discovering you can no longer perceive pain.

Imagine 30% of a population acquiring analgesia.

There's a reason people born with congenital analgesia don't often survive childhood, and why leprosy is so lethal.

Such an analgesia plague would hit poor people the hardest.

Restaurant workers scalding their forearms down to the muscle, warehouse workers not noticing they've crushed toes, etc

Hospitals would fill with people who'd suffered minor injuries of all kinds that'd gotten infected.

Or people who'd let illnesses go ignored until far too late.

I know some people who seem (to me) more concerned with receiving VALIDATION for their mental health issues than solving them.

They seem to care most about other people BELIEVING their problems are real.

I'm curious about this.

Like, it's more important to them that people know how debilitating their anxiety is, than to overcome the anxiety.

Or it's important to them that others believe that they're actually depressed, not "just sad."

Or they want people buy into the narrative that they've been traumatized, and might be something like offended if someone minimizes that.

What do we make of this?

1. One possibility is that if solving the problems seems hopeless or even just really hard, you need external support to be able to cope.

If no one cuts you slack because of your mental health stuff, maybe you're in a really bad place, so you need people to believe you.

#Thread on Tantra

The word ’Tantra’ literally means ‘loom’ in Sanskrit. There are several differing explanations as to what this word means. According to one source, this name is supposed to be a pun, and in order to understand it, one has to first understand the word ‘sutra’.

The key texts of Hinduism are known as sutras, a word which also means ‘formula or thread’. Therefore, if a sutra is a single thread of thought, then Tantra would be the loom that produces these threads of thoughts into a whole system of thoughts.

As a comparison, another source suggests that Tantra is a combination of two words, ‘tattva’ and ‘mantra’, which mean the science of cosmic principles and the science of mystic sound and vibration respectively.

In other words, Tantra may be regarded to be “the application of cosmic sciences with a view to attain spiritual ascendancy.”

In the beginning of Satyuga, Lord Shiva appeared in the form of Swacchandanatha, with his five mukha(mouth), namely Ishana, Tatpurusha, Sadyojata,

Vamadeva & Aghor. These mukhas represent his 5 energies, namely, Consciousness, Bliss, Will, Knowledge & Action. He manifested Tantras through his 5 mukhas (energies), some given by each of his mouth while others recited by him through two or more than two mouths simultaneously.

The #RELAx trial has been published today in @JAMA. It was coordinated by Anna Algera. This thread is to explain the rationale, what we did, the findings and the meaning.
The rationale of #RELAx is based on the following

First, there is NO adequate evidence on the level of PEEP in non-ARDS patients. Most of the studies are old, conducted in post-surgical patients (short-term ventilation), and were not powered to detect differences in patient-centered

Second, despite the absence of evidence, the levels of PEEP used in non-ARDS patients increased over years, from 5 to 7/8 cmH2O, probably as a reflection of studies and practice in ARDS

Third, one IPDM showed that higher levels of PEEP could benefit more severe ARDS patients. However, opposite trends (higher mortality and longer ventilation) were found in mild ARDS with higher PEEP (despite not powered to be statistically

Fourth, most of the weaning protocols include PEEP ≤ 5 cmH2O as a criterion for readiness to wean. Theoretically, a standardized liberal strategy of higher PEEP could delay weaning in some

#OTD 1901, Queen Victoria's funeral took place. Here's a little medical history THREAD (1/9) about one of Britain's longest reigning monarchs. 👇

"Queen Victorian on her death bed" by Emil Fuchs.

(2/9) On 7 April 1853, Queen Victoria became the first monarch to use chloroform to ease the pains of childbirth. Prince Leopold was born within 53 minutes of administration of the drug, which Victoria described as "delightful beyond measure.”

(3/9) The anaesthetic powers of chloroform was first discovered in 1847 by the Scottish physician James Young Simpson. He and his two friends experimented with it on the evening of November 4th. At first, they felt very cheerful and talkative. After a short time, they passed out.

(4/9) Impressed with the drug’s potency, Simpson began using chloroform as an anaesthetic. In December 1847, he delivered the first baby using it. Simpson nicknamed the girl “Saint Anaesthesia.” Her real name was Wilhelmina Carstairs, pictured here.

(5/9) During this time, Queen Victorian was pregnant with her sixth child. She heard of Simpson’s discovery and was keen to benefit from it, but royal doctors cautioned against it, claiming that painful contractions during labour were ordained by God.