Sugoi & Yokunai

Sad. Japanese research is no longer world class.  How far Japan has fallen. Why did this happen? The authors of the article cite decreased research spending and that researchers are burdened with more outside obligations, such as teaching and clinical duties. But it's hard to miss that China and India are producing the bulk of the world's research papers. This is especially true in artificial intelligence and data science. C'mon, Japan, you're losing it.

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Interesting article on colonoscopies. Is it true that European gastroenterologist don't perform it much on Europeans, and rely more on fecal blood tests? I have no basis for contention, and was under the assumption that this matter was settled. It would be helpful to get the viewpoint of a European gastroenterologist, because American physicians aren't likely to be fully objective on this topic. Do Americans just have more adenomas and need to have them removed more often because of obesity?  Are the stool-based molecular tests adequate then? (Although insurance may not cover them.)

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OpenAI added PDF chat now, so you can query your PDF documents with a Chat interface. Could be cool, and will check it out.

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Daylight Confusion Time. The lack of coordination of DST around the world is insanity.  We should get rid of DST.  It doesn't make sense anymore.

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Cool. Scientists say they have successfully simulated a method of backward time travel that allowed them to change an event after the fact one out of four times. Amazing, if really true. Oh, it's just a simulation. Sigh.

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Watch what doctors name you click on. Google is making note and keeping track. Yup, a judge made it legal.

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Sugar on the butthole?  You mean there's a medical reason to do this?  Who knew?

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Well, they're only human after all.  Oncologists more likely to provide low-value care after receiving pharma money, study finds. It's probably not the pharma money, but in the teaching and encouragement that a treatment is not of low value, but actually does some good. Doctors are not likely to get the sales job without a dinner or something else. It might be just the same if they attended a lecture where an authority figure recommended a treatment. But wait!  The study looked at the prescribing of denosumab for prostate cancer, which they considered low value, and compares this to giving Abraxane, which is for a different condition and indication. And the amount of money we're taking here is about $63, so about the cost of a dinner and wine, and not like bribery or illegal activity.  This is a nothing study, after all.

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Lead in Portland’s drinking water called ‘worse than Flint’.  And this is not something that's new. It's been around for some time.

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Cool. University of Exeter in the UK is offering a major in witchcraft, ritual (not stage) magic and and occult science. 

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Every trick Microsoft pulled to make you browse Edge instead of Chrome. After a while, it stops being helpful, and becomes an annoyance to use.

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No thanks. Elon Musk wants X/Twitter to be everyone's financial platform, starting in 2024.

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Why is this coming out only now? Governments discover that using Meta/Facebook is addictive to kids. Wow, what took you guys so long? Meta is powerful now. It's not just dangerous to kids. Adults, too. Ehh, they'll just buy out key officials and this lawsuit will likely go nowhere.

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Japanese Scientists Develop Groundbreaking Drug That Grows New Teeth.  No more implants! 

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Some deaf children in China can hear after gene treatment. This is truly amazing. It's only for those with otoferlin defects, however, not for other causes of deafness. But it's a start, for sure.

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Many chocolate brands have significantly high lead and cadmium levels. Good thing I like Lindt chocolates. There are many to avoid, though.

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Seriously? The Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence at Case Western Reserve University will award Dr. Anthony Fauci with its Inamori Ethics Prize.

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65 hospitals nationwide have or will close. This includes PeaceHealth hospital in Eugene, the city's only hospital and emergency department. Just another sign of the Biden era. Seattle Kaiser hospital workers are expected to strike, too. Maybe they'll have to close, who knows?

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Strike Nation! As Portland Public school teachers get ready for a strike, they are asking parents not to pick up Chromebooks for their kids, otherwise they might be able to get education during the strike period, and this would subvert strike efforts.  Yeah, sure, Teach.

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Seattle apartment owners could see their property tank by 30%. If you haven't sold your rental property in Seattle, yet, it's probably too late.

Eternal story. "Nearly half" of healthcare workers are getting burnout. Funny, it's like Biden's approval rating – no matter how bad things are, the percentage stays the same. But I'm seeing signs of the lack of doctors. 

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Burst wave lithotripsy looks like a game-changer for those with kidney stones.

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Just in time for the 2024 election, I'll bet. Chinese scientists discover EIGHT never-before-seen viruses... and now they plan to experiment with them.

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Parents like private school vouchers so much that demand is exceeding budgets in some states. Guess more parents are taking matters into their own hands. They want their kids to have real education, not to serve as the gratification object of their pedophile teachers.  But Washington state is ready to sue META/Facebook, because the state thinks that's the cause of kids' mental health crisis.

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PMS is real!  Scientists Show Structural, Brain-Wide Changes During Menstruation. I knew it!

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A cure for baldness on the horizon?  Well, Jean-Luc Picard was still bald, so it's unlikely that treatment for baldness existed in the 24 century. Just sayin'.

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This can't be good. Russia withdraws from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). We are heading towards dark times.

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We hope so. Yann LeCun says that AI will never threaten humans, says top Meta scientist. Tell that to Geoffrey Hinton.

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Common Fungus Might Fuel Alzheimer’s Onset. C. albicans produces enzymes breaking down the blood-brain barrier, allowing it to access the brain and produce toxic amyloid beta-like peptides, typically associated with Alzheimer’s. This could be related to the claim that Alzheimer's disease was transmitted by transplanting gut microbiota. Could it be that a virulent form of C. albicans was transmitted?

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Password guru regrets past advice.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  I like my system better, and no, I'm not telling you what it is.

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Depression, anxiety common among college students.  This is concerning because chronic depression and anxiety scars you. It changes one's brain. Episodic and brief anxiety is not so bad, but years of anxiety and depression can affect the rest of your adult life. Young adults need to be taught resilience and given skills to deal with this.

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Maybe this will come to Portland. Canada Will Legalize Medically Assisted Dying For Eligible People Addicted to Drugs. This is an admission that society has failed.

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Google Decides To Pull Up The Ladder On The Open Internet, Pushes For Unconstitutional Regulatory Proposals.  Google no longer wants an open free Internet. It's to protect teens and children, you understand. Google is campaigning for age verification on the Internet, essentially "asking Congress to basically make it impossible for any site other than the largest, richest companies to be able to allow teens on social media".

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Can the A.I. boom rescue San Francisco?

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How to run 50% faster without external energy. Just get these pogo stick shoes. I'll wait for the next iteration. At least.

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Here we go. US Travel To Europe Will Require Prior Approval, Biometric Scanning. It's always the same sequence. You have something nice that people enjoy. Then you let in scuzz who have no intention of respecting the original culture. Then you have destruction and crime, which requires heavy-handed law enforcement and surveillance. Then you have a dystopian society. Because not all of the world can have nice things. Now, it's an increasingly smaller segment of the world that can enjoy peace and civility.
Peter Schiff is having his moment again, as the world economy is crumbling. Subprime loans are being explored again. Business are failing. People can't afford things. Car payment delinquencies are at record highs. Government is spending money foolishly. Oil reserves are low.

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Beautiful.  A Dutch artist imagines what Tenochtitlan probably looked like in the distant past. Very impressive.

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While China is prioritizing AI-based warfare, America's Navy is prioritizing gender and sexuality studies.

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Why are lithium batteries going to landfills, and not being recycled? Why are we even discussing the damaging effects of mining at Thacker Pass, when we weren't even recovering the low-hanging fruit of lithium recycling?

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Can you detect diabetes mellitus from speaking into a mobile phone app?  One company thinks so. Apparently diabetes mellitus changes your voice in subtle ways.

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A stressed and burnt-out doctor's mental health is potentially your problem, too. Why don't doctors get help? Because they can easily get doxxed for it, that's why. And hospitals and medical boards ask for it. So to admit that you need help already can put you in a different category. The system is already punishing and unforgiving. Being a doctor in today's world isn't what young dreamy medical student's envision. And if a physician's pay plummets, expect even worsening shortages.

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Washington state hospitals are pushing back against laws that require them to offer charity care to ANYONE, even out of state patients with no insurance and no realistic possibility of paying for their care.

...the new interpretation would require the state’s hospitals to provide “scarce, costly and complex medical care” to patients who “will likely come from around the world” as well as more common procedures to those in nearby states.

Without reimbursement, the requirement would harm Washington hospitals financially and “result in the exact opposite of the legislature’s intent” by decreasing access and increasing costs for state residents, the group wrote in its complaint.

Isn't it funny how the Left's political views change when the money runs out?

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The ban on physician-owned hospitals may be lifted. That could be a win for physicians, as they could finally run medicine as they thought they could do when they were a naïve medical students. Instead of working in systems where MBAs, private equity, pharmacists, nurses and attorneys tell you what to do.

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Still reeling after August wildfires ravaged his hometown of Lahaina, he doesn’t want to serve tourists, pouring brut Champagne or topping their mai tais with honey-liliko’i foam.

“I’ve seen people dead on the street,” Kiakona said. “My grandma’s house is gone. My whole town died.”

Yeah, that kinda kills the spirit, doesn't it? Especially when the government has forgotten about you, in favor of Ukraine and the Middle East. Today, both Israel and Gaza are getting more aid than you. (And Hawaii will still vote Democrat.)

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Can Portland police confiscate drugs?  Question asked and answered. The tweakers know the trick. Just put the drugs in your pocket. Police aren't allowed to search there.

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Portland regional population decline is the new normal. We know why it started in 2016. When Trump got elected, Antifa took over and people started to leave. It's just gotten worse.

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Do you have a murder bag? Here's the checklist for it.

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What to do when you are involved in a "gun incident". Personal Defense Tip: Don’t Just Ask For An Attorney In the Aftermath of a Defensive Gun Use. Hopefully, information you won't have to use.

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Scientists transfer Alzheimer's disease to healthy animals by inoculating them with unhealthy gut microbiota. This is wild. Strong evidence to support the gut-brain axis. Could lead to more effective treatments.

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