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    1. Has anyone administered fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) to help with their dog's gastrointestinal issues?

      I have a cavalier king charles spaniel that has had some unfortunate health issues for the past few years. The most pressing one that I haven't been able to nail down and fix is her GI issues....

      I have a cavalier king charles spaniel that has had some unfortunate health issues for the past few years. The most pressing one that I haven't been able to nail down and fix is her GI issues. Every now and then, she has an all night bout of diarrhea even though the only food she has eaten is her hydrolyzed protein dog food. I remember reading about FMT years ago for people who had GI issues and I'm wondering what the results have been for dogs (and other animals). It seems counter intuitive to fight shit with more shit, but at this point I am willing to try most non-invasive treatments. While taking her to the dog park and asking other dog owners if my dog can eat their dog's poo would be the cheapest option, instead I found a site that purportedly has capsules available.

      https://doggybiome.com/dog-products-for-diarrhea/

      However, because it is difficult to find more information about this company and because I don't want imagine how this type of business (if it worked) could scale up as an industrial factory farm, I am skeptical.

      Any thoughts on treating IBD in dogs for an allergy prone, and sensitive dog? She is already getting fiber and she sometimes gets probiotic with her food.

      8 votes
    2. Futurama Season 8 Episode 1 discussion

      The first episode of the new season is out! What do you think of it? I thought it was pretty okay. It was too self - referential for me. It kept making too many "we're back" jokes but they kind of...

      The first episode of the new season is out! What do you think of it?

      I thought it was pretty okay. It was too self - referential for me. It kept making too many "we're back" jokes but they kind of did that the last time they were cancelled and brought back. They eased off those kind of jokes eventually the last time it happened.

      I was worried about how they would handle references to more modern things as "Attack of the killer App" was really painful to watch. But it seems like they handled it pretty decently.

      I'm slow, but it took me a while to realise that Scary Mirror as a replacement for Scary Door was a jab at Black Mirror.

      I didn't think the episode was very funny, but it wasn't bad either. What was good about it shows promise, so I'm hopeful.

      39 votes
    3. Where are people finding good comedians and stand up specials

      Even before the pandemic I've been struggling to keep up with stand-up comedy. Feels like there was a real sweet spot in the 2010s where you'd constantly find new and interesting acts on YouTube,...

      Even before the pandemic I've been struggling to keep up with stand-up comedy. Feels like there was a real sweet spot in the 2010s where you'd constantly find new and interesting acts on YouTube, comedy central, late shows and even a few American panel shows. But it's only gotten harder as most shows and streaming services only really push big or topical names.

      It feels like in the States, the mainstream comedy is getting very one-note with the tone of rich people problems and call backs to older material; while the more up and coming stuff is needlessly provocative and vulgar. And there's a underlying obsession with the idea of cancel culture, almost like they're trying to bait themselves into the press.

      I love British stuff too but big names are focusing on other projects. At least there's panel shows where they can showcase new material and comics.

      And the global comedy space is interesting but a lot is lost in language and cultural translation.

      Maybe theres a vibrant underground scene of weird, surrealist comedy and I'm just held back by the big streaming platforms? Or I've just become picky old man now?

      So suggestions for interesting or new comedy that's worth a watch?

      28 votes
    4. Which board games have you been playing? (to 24th July)

      What have you all been playing this week? My Saturday night games got cancelled by an impromptu family gathering, so I didn't play anything other than a couple of Unlock games with my daughter. We...

      What have you all been playing this week?

      My Saturday night games got cancelled by an impromptu family gathering, so I didn't play anything other than a couple of Unlock games with my daughter. We played the first two of Escape Adventures called The Formula and Squeek & Sausage. Definitely preferred S&S out of these two and a couple of the puzzles fitted the comic book styling very well.

      Share your gaming sessions!

      14 votes
    5. Is there a glass ceiling for ethnic minorities to enter leadership positions? Evidence from an Australian field experiment with over 12,000 job applications.

      https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984322000583 Abstract We submitted over 12,000 job applications, to over 4,000 job advertisements, to investigate hiring discrimination...

      https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984322000583

      Abstract

      We submitted over 12,000 job applications, to over 4,000 job advertisements, to investigate hiring discrimination against six ethnic groups for leadership positions.

      For leadership positions, applicants with English names received 26.8% of positive responses for their job applications, while applicants with non-English names received 11.3% of positive responses. This means ethnic minorities received 57.4% fewer positive responses than applicants with English names for leadership positions despite identical resumes.

      For non-leadership positions, applicants with English names received 21.2% of positive responses for their job applications, while applicants with non-English names received 11.6% of positive responses. This means ethnic minorities received 45.3% fewer positive responses for non-leadership positions despite identical resumes.

      Ethnic discrimination for leadership positions was even more pronounced when the advertised job required customer contact.

      25 votes
    6. Open-sourcing some Tildes-related code

      Hello! Some of you may know that I have been developing an iOS client for Tildes. I’ve seen other devs like @wababa and @talklittle also working on awesome apps, and have seen some discussion...

      Hello!

      Some of you may know that I have been developing an iOS client for Tildes.

      I’ve seen other devs like @wababa and @talklittle also working on awesome apps, and have seen some discussion there around collaborating on some of the core parts (scraping the website, etc.).

      I’ve also been in touch with @efraimbart, who is working on the awesome Everything protocol project.

      I’m sure there are other devs out there that I haven’t seen, and this post is a call-out for all of you.

      Until an API is available, any similar project will face the same initial blocker: needing to scrape the website for data.

      Is there any interest from the community on collaborating on that part? For example, developing a public library that encapsulates all of the interactions with Tildes and any client can talk to with a consistent API. Or, even better, collaborating on an official API for Tildes (which is, of course, itself an open-source project).

      To that end, I’ve released some of the code I use to accomplish this in Surfboard. Maybe it can help someone build an iOS client, or inspire some of us to build a more generic solution :D. It’s far from perfect or complete, and isn’t even an actual package you can just import and use at this time, but at the very least it documents many of the endpoints and interactions.

      Have a great weekend :)

      88 votes
    7. Review - White Tears by Hari Kunzru - especially recommended for music lovers

      I originally decided to review this book for Tildes because I know that there are music lovers here. I made this choice before I finished the book. This is a music focused novel. People who love...

      I originally decided to review this book for Tildes because I know that there are music lovers here. I made this choice before I finished the book. This is a music focused novel. People who love music will likely get a lot out of it. But the music content provides a context for a great novel.

      The first half of the story focuses on two music obsessed young men who become friends. One has a strong interest in sound technology. (I'm sure that there is a more precise way to describe it but I'm not a musician. Bear with me here.) The other is a collector, focused on old Blues recordings.

      Without giving away too much the plot, a new character is introduced part way in, an older Blues collector and there is a journey into the deep South to find Blues recordings and buy them from individuals who have family connections to the Blues musicians.

      About two thirds of the way through reading the book, I started to wonder about recommending it without caveats. It is extremely well written and tells a compelling story. I'm glad I read it. However, there are aspects that will probably make it difficult for some people to enjoy it. Other people will, I suspect love it, for the exact same content.

      Here are some aspects of the book that might need trigger/content warnings.

      Violence: There is a particularly brutal police encounter among other episodes.

      Revenge: Race and racism is one of several themes of the book and African American rage over mistreatment and abuse is bluntly expressed and enacted at a few points.

      Narrator (and reader) lacking real time contemporaneous understanding of what is happening:
      Part of the book contains content representing what might be a fever dream or a psychotic episode or a drug induced experience. Late in the book a possible supernatural/uncanny explaination is offered, but the question of why the episode is surreal is not definitively resolved.

      Strong contrast and vivid descriptions of wealth vs middle class vs poverty:

      Death:

      As I said, I think the book is exceptionally well written and the author quite skilled. I found it compelling, interesting, entertaining, but certain parts more fascinating than enjoyable. If someone reads it, I would love to know what you think.

      7 votes
    8. Go listen to the recognized songs in your app of choice!

      Hey people :) Friendly reminder to look again at your songs in your Soundhund, Shazam, etc! I don't even seem to have half of them in my favorites playlist but that's definitely not intended. I'm...

      Hey people :)

      Friendly reminder to look again at your songs in your Soundhund, Shazam, etc! I don't even seem to have half of them in my favorites playlist but that's definitely not intended.

      I'm listening to my recognized songs in random order right now and it's just song after song and whoa after whoa. Well, that's no surprise, these songs are "curated" by me precisely because they grabbed my attention when I was out and about enough that I felt the need to try and recognize them !!

      I hope you also find a couple golden tracks as I've done today :)

      13 votes
    9. Looking for sources related to "The Repetitive Nature of Human Tribulations"

      Hello everyone :) I write as a hobby and have had an article in my drafts for a long, long time. In essence, I'd like to discuss the "repetitive nature of human tribulations/suffering/life", that...

      Hello everyone :)

      I write as a hobby and have had an article in my drafts for a long, long time. In essence, I'd like to discuss the "repetitive nature of human tribulations/suffering/life", that is, the fact that regardless of superficial characteristics we all are confronted with extremely similar circumstances throughout our lives.

      Whether it's 10 years into our lives or 40, there's joy, heartbreak, loss, a need to belong, some desire for freedom, a need for a purpose, lack of direction, obsession with a newly found direction, etc.

      I'd love to come across poets, philosophers, psychologists, etc who have touched upon this subject: we are not defined by our circumstances, as they are, in very broad strokes, largely the same, but by how we are able to adapt and reinvent ourselves amidst those same circumstances.

      Looking forward for your answers :)

      Thanks!

      7 votes
    10. Dust management?

      Any advice on how to clean & control dust in the home? I live in an apartment with no central HVAC, and i suppose certain life choices contribute to excess dust build up.. like Air drying...

      Any advice on how to clean & control dust in the home?

      I live in an apartment with no central HVAC, and i suppose certain life choices contribute to excess dust build up.. like

      1. Air drying clothes-- All the fibers & dust don't get trapped in the dryer, they kind of stay on clothes until they dry and fall off in my apartment
      2. windows are left open (depending on weather)
      3. working on sewing projects

      Not willing to change any of the above, so i might just have to deal with dusting all the time.

      But dusting itself is difficult... Dusters that move dust off surfaces seem perpetually inefficient and can't capture 100%.
      Wiping down surfaces is better but even microfiber cloths don't pick up everything either. Clumps up weirdly. And don't want to use a wet rag for dusting off books e.g.

      Any suggestions are appreciated!

      26 votes
    11. What are your experiences with condo ownership?

      I'm deciding between home/condo ownership. A good condo/house cost roughly the same in my area. But I'm single and don't need a lot of space, so a condo makes sense. However, noise from neighbors...

      I'm deciding between home/condo ownership. A good condo/house cost roughly the same in my area. But I'm single and don't need a lot of space, so a condo makes sense. However, noise from neighbors is puts me off (a lot). Constantly hearing noise (parties, stomping, pets, etc.) would have a serious negative impact on what's supposed to be a home where you can relax and not deal with the world.

      What are/were your experiences? Did the HOA do their diligence when things break or need maintenance? Are their costs reasonable considering how much is needed (time+money) to maintain a house? Was the heated parking garage worth the costs?

      38 votes
    12. Can we get an ~ai?

      To me, AI is kind of its own thing. It's too creative to fall under ~tech, but it's not quite ~creative either. It's something brand new, and can't be stuffed into any of the already established...

      To me, AI is kind of its own thing. It's too creative to fall under ~tech, but it's not quite ~creative either. It's something brand new, and can't be stuffed into any of the already established categories.

      28 votes