A few thoughts about the end of life for the survivors who make it to the end of their lives (the elderly, yes, they are the survivors of life).

When I do nursing home visits, very often, people have come to the end of their lives. They have come to the end of what medicine can do for them. Medicine can't fix ageing hearts, or kidneys, or brains. There is no cure for old age (yet, watch this space over next decades).

When it's very clear to us that the medicines don't work anymore, we have a very frank discussion about changing our goals from trying to cure things that can't be cured, to prioritising comfort and dignity above all else. Treating symptoms now matters more than cure.

(We never, ever, give up, or stop, or pull out. We do not use the word futile, nothing is futile because there is always something we can do. Whether it's medicine or surgery, morphine or ice cream, there's always something we can do. We are there to lives completion).

These decisions to switch from trying to cure, to reducing symptoms and prioritising comfort and dignity aren't made in a prescriptive way. They are done over multiple discussions with our patients and families, and their carers and us. No god complexes here.

So, yesterday my dad (74) was bored and I was doing a jigsaw puzzle so I said over my shoulder "make a facetime call". He said "How?" like all boomers do when they want YOU to do it, so I said, "Get your iphone and hit facetime". She bought me in the phone and said "Open it how?"

"With your finger!" I said, incredulous. She bought me the phone and we both stared at it. I realised I'd never taught him to use it. Most phones have whatsapp, I felt like a dope. What kind of apocalypse father doesn't teach a boomer how to use facetime?

So I said, "How do you think this works?" he studied it and applied his finger to the phone icon, sideways. He struggled for a while with a big dramatic sigh said "Will you please just open facetime?" Apocalypse son was overjoyed: a Teaching moment just dropped in my lap!

I said, "The little icon is designed to do one thing: facetime. Study the phone, study the icon, figure out what Steve Jobs was thinking when they tried to solve this problem (the facetime icon is also the phone call icon, but I explained that part wasn't relevant)

I went back to my jugsaw puzzle. He was next to me grunting and groaning trying to get the ting. I should say that spatial orientation, process visualisation and order of operations are not things he... intuits, I knew this would be a challenge. But it was a rainy weekend.

@crazydebbie516 Cancer never wins. An alternative thinking about cancer is based on the premise that all dis-ease is caused by a foreign body usually toxins like TOXIC heavy metals that accumulate in our body through time that then causes inflammation..

The inflammation causes our lymphatic system to respond to eliminate it so it produces mucus and we undergo detox.. but as we’re unaware of these heavy metals and other toxins..

We continue to ingest these very same toxins.. hence it becomes chronic and overworks our organs including our lymphatic system..

With the overworked organs our chemistry is changed, hormonal dysfunction ensues as the organs are overworked, they are stressed out hence we produce more stress hormones..

To the point of chronic alteration even our natural cell growth response gets altered.. hence cancer is one response. I hope you’re seeing the connections..

I write about debt; couldn't resist the Strangelove reference 1/

Now, many people will surely start waving around frightening-looking projections, like those of the CBO 2/

But while I respect CBO's integrity, those long-run debt projections are much more questionable than people probably realize. Realistic projections, I (and many sensible economists) argue, are much less alarming 3/

CBO projects a big rise in spending as % of GDP, and if you don't look under the hood you might well assume that this is driven by fundamentals, especially the aging population 4/

Actually, though, the biggest component is a huge assumed rise in interest costs 5/

So sitting right where you are in this moment, you can choose what timeline to jump onto, and the stronger your belief in it is, the faster it will manifest. How do you strengthen your belief? By exposing yourself to the ideas you’re trying to manifest. That’s why (26)

...vision boards are so helpful. If you want to heal yourself, start reading articles about people healing themselves. If you want to make yourself sicker, read the garbage *they* program your mind with. Btw, newsflash, sickness does not exist in the way you think it does. (27)

You can heal yourself, you just need to believe you can to create a shift to that timeline. You change your beliefs by exposing your brain to new thoughts and concepts and ideas. You can actively work for your own betterment, or you can go with the flow- both of these (28)

...choices are equal, neither is right or wrong, they are both just a choice. The second you realize you choose what you see and experience, and the second you realize *they* know this and are trying to beat you to the punch, your entire world cracks open, the veil falls, (29)

...and life becomes literally infinitely more fun and exciting. To backtrack a little, Joy is where it’s at, no matter what is happening around you. Nobody dies at the end any more than you die in your dreams. Quantum immortality is a thing- research it. We don’t know (30)

You don't have to forgive someone who hurt you. But forgive yourself

A thread

You don’t have to forgive someone who hurt you. You don’t have to pretend like the pain doesn’t exist or the reminders don’t come rushing back in every time you see them.

You don’t have to forgive someone who knew exactly what you feared and deliberately brought those fears to life. You don’t have to forgive someone who chose to make your life harder.

You don’t have to forgive someone who promised to make you happy or put you first but their actions constantly proved otherwise.

You don’t have to forgive someone who took your love or kindness or silence for granted and you don’t have to forgive someone who didn’t value your presence in their life. You don’t have to forgive someone who couldn’t make you trust them.

So a spring must have snapped in the doorknob and I am now fully stuck in my bedroom. It is a weird antique knob. So umm does anyone have ideas? (Small mercy, my kids are on the other side of door and happily fetching me snacks while the grownups brainstorm).

Those suggesting I just disassemble the latch, it is fully inside the door (which is over 100 years old and original to the house). That square hole still turns. It just isn’t connected to whatever opens the latch.

(For those concerned, my husband is home and watching kids.)

Thanks to an amazing friend who saw this tweet, I now have a contractor who specializes in old houses on site. He also cannot open it. But is trying to talk me through disassembling the hinges. I cannot do it. This is now fully humiliating.

They are now trying to rescue me via ladder. Our neighbors are watching. My husband cannot stop laughing.

Helen Webberley live on Facebook at the moment.

She is very clear that the medical team behind GenderGP will continue to prescribe puberty blockers to existing and new patients under 16, because the organisation's consent process is "robust".

Apparently, the Tavistock may have given poor evidence on purpose.

She rightfully pulls the Tavi up on their extremely poor data management and lack of research.

Interestingly, the lack of evidence does not seem to concern Helen Webberley (other than the outcome of this court case).

But she says that the treatment "definitely saves lives".

Again, she is (rightly) pulling the Tavi up on not publishing the evidence from their own study. But immediately going on to say that lives are saved, patients on PBs are happy etc.

Why was Mermaids not involved? Arrogance by the Tavi?

Webberley saying the GIDS website should link to Mermaids.

@Transgendertrd advice is "awful" and "transphobic", but they spoke very eloquently in court 🙄

@johnroderick Ugh. I’m going to struggle with this. Need to contemplate after coffee. Smokey and the Bandit was great. I think if I’m to blame The Dukes, I gotta blame Coy and Vance. Need coffee to be sure.

After some coffee induced thought, I have to agree. What is causing the decline of our nation? I think it comes down to a several things: race relations, corruption in government, and the presumed wisdom/righteousness of rural America. We'll start with the last one first.

The only characters in DoH that were not corrupt, were always shown to be moral and won in the end were the rural Duke family. It's important to note, only one of them had travelled outside of Hazzard County when the show started, Luke. He was a Marine.

Yet despite this lack of worldly ways, the Dukes always came out on top. This set the stage for the mythology of the righteousness of rural America. It's values would always see them through. You see this manifest today in the distrust of city-dwellers and foreigners.

The values of rural America trumps all. (No pun intended.) Now we need to address corruption in government. Hazzard County was rife with corruption and nepotism. The county commissioner was related by marriage to the sheriff. When Enos left for L.A, his replacement was the cousin

A Thread - If my 48 year old self could talk to my 20 year old self I would say:
- No one's born knowing anything - we all learn. Never stop learning.
- You can do anything you set your mind to. Don't limit yourself, set your own goals, don't listen to naysayers.
- Love you /1

-Set your goals, have a plan, focus, focus, focus.
- Life will be there when you achieve your goals
- Trust your gut, especially with people. If you feel funny about a person, trust it.
- Keep your circle small and tight
- Create healthy habits
- Be spiritual - stay centered. /2

- Don't enter into any long term commitments if you have reservations, especially marriage.
- Never compare yourself to others. It is a recipe for unhappiness.
- It is okay to fail, I have learned more from failing than succeeding.
- Be kind.
- Be curious
- Forgive yourself. /3

- Learn to accept criticism, especially from those who truly love you.
- Perfection is a myth - we all make mistakes, try to learn from them
- Choose a life partner whom you are compatible with, have same interests, goals, respect and love
- Don't forget to have fun /4

I think everyone could use a lighthearted/happy story right now so here goes:

At the beginning of the pandemic I went through some painful personal stuff and would often go out at night for long walks because no one was around and I couldn’t sleep anyway. One night I was walking

down my street and noticed that someone had set up a few little objects in a tree planter and upon closer inspection I realized it was a fairy garden with a little note about the 4 year old girl who felt lonely in quarantine and wanted to spread some cheer. The next day I wrote

a little note to her, pretending to be a fairy named Sapphire that had come to live in the tree because she had set it up so nicely and I left it on the tree that night on my walk and said I would gift her with a magical fairy dice (I got really into crafting resin rpg die at

the start of the pandemic) if she did 3 things for me:

I wasn’t sure if she’d respond or even find the note but it was fun just imagining what she’d think. The next night on my walk I found this and immediately burst into tears:

10 things that I wish to had learned earlier in life:

1) You're not going to be rich by selling your workforce. Instead, create value for society through a business and own equity on it. (more @naval)

2) Workout 5 days/week is easier than trying to be fit. Find a hobby that burns calories, don't miss it twice. Enjoy. @atosjiujitsuhq

3) Find a reason to be grateful every day is easier than the search for happiness.

4) Great books give you superpowers.

One of the sad things we know about abusive parenting is that it often propagates over generations.

I’m very glad my grandfather broke that chain and didn’t become his abusive step-father. Because it turns out that supportive parenting *also* propagates over generations.

About the time I was 9 I was pissed at my parents for something or other, as kids are. And I angrily thought, “When I have kids, I won’t do xxx to them.”
And then it occurred to me that I really liked who and how I was, and their rules had helped make me that.

So I decided I probably *should* parent the way they did.

In retrospect, that was probably a bit too much faith in nurture over nature. I was an only child, so I didn’t have a counter example. Having two kids abused me of *that* theory. :)

But I really value my supportive dad.

My father was *so* supportive of my endeavors, even as an adult, that my first wife’s dad asked her if there was something wrong with me that I needed that much support. (He was the dad she had to actively deceive to study math, and to come to the US).

And it wasn’t just big stuff, it was little things. Like when I had a cloth board for my cosmic wimpout game, and the edges were fraying, he surprised me by sewing a border on it. Or the bunk bed he helped me make for college to fit over my desk. And the stereo cabinet we built.

So here's the thing

I block people who have obviously bad intentions

This person came to my post with conspiracies and made the contradictory claim that the vaccines in question were both more reactogenic in black people and also not tested in them (go figure that one out)

after politely linking to a guidance from NASEM on the equitable distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine I was given a conspiracy theory about the CIA's involvement in this and the usual line of us not being able to trust pharmaceutical companies

Conspiracy theories aside, I would agree: pharmaceutical companies have violated our trust in the past and it's a problem. The most obvious example is the opioid crisis.

Here's why that comparison does not apply here:

The motive of profit is fundamentally different. People who have chronic pain can be reliant or addicted to opioids and will do anything to get them. Even if regular boosters are needed, the dosing for a vaccine is just not the same.

Vaccines in general are not the big money makers for pharmaceutical companies. They are public health interventions. This one will also likely be subsidized by the government (at least if expert recommendations are adhered to) which further weakens the argument

[ NLP TRICK FOR HABIT FORMING ]

If you want to form a new habit (like, for example, working out every day, going to sleep at X time, eating in a certain way)

Define what is the OPPOSITE of the habit (Being lazy, letting video games disrupt your sleep, binge eat)

And then...

Associate an uncomfortable feeling to it.

One of the best ones is an upset stomach. Do you remember the last one you had acid reflux? gas? belly cramps? nausea?

Now, once you see the red phone emoji, you're going to 'connect' NOT doing your habit to that feeling.

Ready?

☎️

NOW YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ESCAPE THIS.

For example, upon the mere thought of missing one daily workout, you WILL feel stomach cramps. Even nausea.

The only way to go around it will be to work out. That's it.

Of course, you're not hypnotized or anything...

You have to repeat the association in your mind.

Say, you put an alarm for your workout. And when it goes off, it includes the message:

"Last time you didn't work out, you had nausea for hours"

Even if it isn't true.

Please be aware: Make the 'workout' definition an easy one.

For example, a 'workout' can just be a 15 minute warmup.

So, even if it's a really busy day, you will be able to do your 15 minute routine.

If you can do this for one day, you can do it for two.

If you can do this for one week, you can do it for two.

When your reach 90 days:

Trying to achieve success in life is ruthlessly demanding. It is an agonizing, brutal fight, that takes no prisoners and is completely relentless. All around us, nothing but a massive sea of people. Each one, pushing and shoving, knocking the other down.......

and trampling with no regard, whatsoever. We have lost touch and forgotten what is truly important in life. Feelings of remorse, sensitivity and compassion have been completely suppressed. It’s as if those emotions can only be remembered as a golden pastime - like the classic....

games between the Red Sox and the Yankees. Sadly, we have become desensitized.

When meeting someone for the first time, we have reduced ourselves to the most superficial questions known to man. What is your occupation and what title do you hold?......

What neighborhood do you live in? How big is your house and what kind of car do you drive? It's questions like these that have become the basis of our human-social interaction. One's professional and intimate existence is controlled by one thing. The all-mighty dollar..........

Let's just say, one would have a better chance of escaping Alcatraz back in the day, than being considered successful, without having money. Avoiding this stigmatic meteor is virtually impossible - and attempting to do so, only makes the pressure of succumbing.....