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Cake day: June 17th, 2023

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  • I hate to be “that guy” but be very careful throwing sticks for dogs. I know several vets and throat damage from sticks is a depressingly common injury for dogs.

    The dog races after the stick, and it bounces weirdly. Rather than grabbing it in the middle, the tip goes into their mouth. Their own momentum then impales them on it. It’s a major surgery to remove it and repair the damage (assuming the dog survives).

    Balls are a lot safer, and go a LOT further, particularly with a ball thrower.






  • That’s fair. However, a lot of it is already in place and is quite automated. E.g. on busses they have a contactless card reader. Many have already moved to a fixed ride fee too. Basically you just tap as you walk past the driver, who already has to be there.

    The London underground has intermittent enforcement. A lot of the time the honour system is all there is. You just swipe your oyster card or bank card at the read point next to the entrance. They do random checks just to keep people honest.

    Even if you expand things, the cost of the tech is low enough to almost be a rounding error.

    The goal is to limit completely frivolous usage saturating capacity or otherwise forcing the target riders off completely.


  • cynar@lemmy.worldtoADHD@lemmy.worldIt's a struggle
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    3 days ago

    As far as I’m aware, it’s down to our homeostatic systems. They try and keep our bodies (and minds) in proper balance. When someone takes a drug, it pushes things out of “balance”. The homeostatic systems respond by adjusting other hormones etc to compensate. Eventually, you need more to get high, or some to feel normal. Not taking it, and the homeostatic systems overcompensate, leading to withdrawal symptoms.

    With ADHD. The brain chemistry is out of balance already. The homeostatic systems try and respond, but can’t get far enough. We experience it as a need/craving for anything that produces dopamine.

    When we take medication, it kicks out whole brain, with a focus on the executive functions. This takes the pressure off the homeostatic responses and let’s up operate in a calm state. The homeostatic systems also counter the various “side effects”. These are more minor than the main effect, and so have FAR less noticeable withdrawal symptoms. E.g. for me my appetite overshoots when I forget my meds. It’s technically withdrawal, but not really noticeable most of the time.


  • cynar@lemmy.worldtoADHD@lemmy.worldIt's a struggle
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    3 days ago

    I’m guessing you’ve stumbled in here from /all. ADHD fucks with particular mental processes and patterns. Making a monthly detour for our medication is a hard pattern to lock in. When it fails, it can throw everything else into a spin.

    Could we do it, yes. It would be in trade for something else, mental energy wise. Most of us are pissed at having to spend our most valuable resource, mental energy (executive focus particularly) on a task that could be made almost free.


  • Ducks which force themselves on a female duck are more likely to be undesirable to begin with. The ability to filter out the weaker genes, and choose a “better” mate would lead to better offspring survival. Particularly if the female is already eaten limited by egg production rates.

    The opposite has occurred in a particular Beatle (who’s name I have forgotten). They have a perfectly functioning reproductive system. However, the male ignores it and stabs them through the side.

    It turns out, in related beatles, when a female is mortally wounded, they dump out eggs as fast as they can, before dying. This causes a selection pressure which wiped out normal reproduction.





  • Free would definitely be better, but requires solving other problems in lockstep. E.g. homeless people using the busses as a place to exist/stay warm. It disrupts the bus as a function.

    A small (deliberately) token fee gets the best compromise. It’s akin to charging 10p for a plastic bag. For most people 10p isn’t enough to be problematic, in the grand scheme of things. It does massively reduce frivolous usage.

    I would prefer pushing it down to £1 return, or even lower, but £2/trip is still better than the current option.

    Oh, and just to clarify I also definitely believe we should be using taxes to give homeless etc somewhere better to exist. The busses/trains/underground are not the place for that to happen.


  • The modern world has made it so that teenagers have nowhere to “exist” without paying. Even hanging out on the road gets the police called on them.

    Many have moved to online communities. At that point the line between social media and game are quite blurry. Is a Minecraft server a game, or a way of having fun with your friends?

    As someone who “found my tribe” online, long before I found them in real life, I understand where the woods are coming from. Even for adults, the modern world has become VERY socially isolating.

    It’s also not just bad households. A lot of families now have 2 working parents. This leaves very little time for arranging playdates, or giving lifts to friends. Kids supplement their lost social time with online time. Some end up in toxic communities, but most flow through it with years of experience at this point.

    I watched a talk on internet safety for children (as a parent/guardian). One of the biggest bits of advice was to stay involved. Play the games they love, even if they bore you. Let them talk about their online friendship groups. You can then help guide them towards good choices, rather than deal with the fallout from bad ones compounding.


  • They are technically slightly different terms. Someone can be homeless by choice. They could also be homeless, but have somewhere to stay (e.g. a shelter). Rough sleeping refers to people who have to sleep outside, without it being a choice on their part.

    The term has had a lot of creep. It’s akin to how the word retarded changed from a medical description to an insult.



  • 2 reasons, remembered from a lawyers lecture on the subject at uni, years ago, in the UK.

    1. Some people produce small amounts of alcohol in their gut. It’s generally not much (more becomes auto brewery syndrome) but not zero. This can blip the test up slightly, even when they haven’t drunk.

    2. The awkward fact that a small amount of alcohol actually improves driving. It’s somewhere between 1/4 and 3/4 pint of beer. It’s also the reason alcohol is considered a performance enhancing drug in some olympic sports.

    The limit is set high enough that there is no arguing these points in a court. It also covers the residual alcohol in people’s systems the morning after. It’s well into the point where all but the heaviest alcoholic will definitely be impaired. That lets them use blood alcohol as a proxy for impaired driving due to alcohol.

    On a side note. I know someone who blew red on the breathalyser. He knew something was wrong, since he has been teetotal for 20 years. He got arrested, only for the blood test to show 0.0. The police were quite confused, but let him go. It turned out, he had (unthinkingly) eaten a liqueur chocolate before being pulled over. It was enough to mess up the breathalyser.


  • Our mind is dependent on the exact wiring and firing potentials of the neurons. This is what stores everything (skills, memories, autonomic functions etc).

    When the neurons die, this information is rapidly lost. Connections break, and triggering potentials collapse.

    Reversing brain death involves reversing that process. It would almost be easier to digitise the brain and simulate it at that point.

    What might be possible is localised repairs. Strokes can take out small, but critical areas of the brain. Rebuilding a speech center is a lot easier. The brain can distribute a lot of functions, if required. Putting new material in and letting it both learn to use it, and teach it to function is within the realms of medicine. It’s the difference however between a skin graft and rebuilding a limb that’s been through a wood chipper from the bucket of parts.


  • Yourself, along with some martial arts training.

    You won’t be doing any Bruce Lee moves with basic training, but even basic training can make a big difference.

    One of the first things you learnt in most martial arts is how to balance and move. This, combined with some basic blocks, is often enough to disengage and retreat quickly. It also helps train your brain to drop into defence/combat mode when required. This stops you freezing up for a critical few seconds.

    Any weapon is mostly useless without the training to use it in the heat of an encounter. If you’re going to train with something, it might as well be a weapon you will always have available.

    My preference is Tae Kwon Do, but any general martial art will be hugely beneficial.

    Oh, and as a side effect, martial arts often help train a mindset change. You know you can defend yourself, and so subconsciously project confidence. It makes you less of a target to begin with.