Flocculencio's recent activity

  1. Comment on Compensating compassion | Too few people donate their organs, dead or alive. How can we make it easier to donate, but avoid the abuses that some fear from cash payments? in ~health

    Flocculencio
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    In Singapore we have two acts covering this. One is an opt out system for all citizens above 21 covering liver, kidneys, heart and corneas solely for purposes of transplant and therapy (not...

    In Singapore we have two acts covering this.

    One is an opt out system for all citizens above 21 covering liver, kidneys, heart and corneas solely for purposes of transplant and therapy (not reaearch). The second is an opt in system covering all organs for research as well as transplant/therapy.

    6 votes
  2. Comment on Teach me about biryani in ~food

    Flocculencio
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    Ethnically Malayalee Syrian Christian here. It's a difficult question to answer. All biryanis are based on the concept of spiced rice but from there the permutations of spices and cooking methods...

    Ethnically Malayalee Syrian Christian here. It's a difficult question to answer. All biryanis are based on the concept of spiced rice but from there the permutations of spices and cooking methods are near infinite. We do prawn biryanis as well as sometimes beef or pork biryanis which, understandably, aren't seen in many other Indian ethnic groups foodways.

    One thing I do tend to notice about the types of biryani that I like the most (Bangladeshi biryani and Malabar Muslim biryani) is that they tend to use shortgrain rice varieties. This allows the oils of the meat to coat each grain more effectively, resulting in a much richer taste.

    6 votes
  3. Comment on I need an alternative to the traditional typewriter in ~creative

    Flocculencio
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    The Lamy and the Pilot both use proprietary cartridges IIRC. I personally love the Kaweco Sport which is nicely sized and takes standard short cartridges. IMO it also looks great (but admittedly...

    The Lamy and the Pilot both use proprietary cartridges IIRC. I personally love the Kaweco Sport which is nicely sized and takes standard short cartridges. IMO it also looks great (but admittedly I'm a sucker for interwar designs).

    2 votes
  4. Comment on Apple cuts off Beeper Mini’s access after launch of service that brought iMessage to Android in ~tech

    Flocculencio
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    I mean like the rest of the planet Americans could just start using platform agnostic messaging services like WhatsApp, Line, Signal, Telegram but I'll just file this iMessage/SMS obsession under...

    I mean like the rest of the planet Americans could just start using platform agnostic messaging services like WhatsApp, Line, Signal, Telegram but I'll just file this iMessage/SMS obsession under American Exceptionalism.

    I'm surprised Meta doesn't try to push WhatsApp harder to their American users tbh.

    26 votes
  5. Comment on Contact lenses to USA without a current prescription? in ~health

    Flocculencio
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    Quick question- in the US do you have to go to an actual doctor to get a prescription for lenses? In most countries I've been to, you walk into an optical shop and the optometrist tests your...

    Quick question- in the US do you have to go to an actual doctor to get a prescription for lenses?

    In most countries I've been to, you walk into an optical shop and the optometrist tests your vision on site. The test itself is free if you then purchase a new pair of glasses/contact lenses but IIRC in my friendly neighborhood opticians it's somewhat under 50 USD (equivalent in Singapore dollars) to just do the test.

    Is this another aspect of the byzantine American health provision system? Having a concept like vision coverage through insurance is bizarre.

    3 votes
  6. Comment on Semaglutide for weight loss in ~health

    Flocculencio
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    Thanks for sharing your experience. Yes I intend to use semaglutide alongside other interventions such as a planned exercise and calorie counting programme.

    Thanks for sharing your experience.

    Yes I intend to use semaglutide alongside other interventions such as a planned exercise and calorie counting programme.

  7. Keeping a commonplace book

    I have tried and tried to write a daily journal/diary and always gave up after a while. My longest stretch was over the course of five years. It always devolves into a litany of banality, though,...

    I have tried and tried to write a daily journal/diary and always gave up after a while. My longest stretch was over the course of five years. It always devolves into a litany of banality, though, and when I look back at it, invariably appears a bit cringy.

    So I have decided to start keeping a commonplace book- a place to write down interesting thoughts, quotes, ideas I come across and so forth. Without the chronological format of a journal I feel less compelled to list down stuff for the sake of it and am actually listing down ideas I'd like to remember.

    Do any of you do something similar?

    17 votes
  8. Comment on Semaglutide for weight loss in ~health

  9. Comment on Semaglutide for weight loss in ~health

    Flocculencio
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    Thanks for your perspective. I definitely agree. I'm on meds for anxiety myself so I get what you mean about involuntary responses.

    Thanks for your perspective. I definitely agree. I'm on meds for anxiety myself so I get what you mean about involuntary responses.

    2 votes
  10. Comment on Semaglutide for weight loss in ~health

    Flocculencio
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    Thanks for sharing. I don't even see it as a shortcut. I can try to calorie count and so forth but all that goes out of the window when I'm stressed. If semaglutide can help curb the impulse to...

    Thanks for sharing. I don't even see it as a shortcut. I can try to calorie count and so forth but all that goes out of the window when I'm stressed. If semaglutide can help curb the impulse to eat in response to stress/boredom/almost anything it will help me maintain my calorie intake at healthy levels.

    And if it stops me keeling over of a heart attack at 60 then by all means give me the short cut.

    3 votes
  11. Comment on Semaglutide for weight loss in ~health

    Flocculencio
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    Once again I thank the powers that be that I'm not subject to the vagaries of the American healthcare industry. Thank you for sharing your experience!

    Once again I thank the powers that be that I'm not subject to the vagaries of the American healthcare industry.

    Thank you for sharing your experience!

    3 votes
  12. Comment on Semaglutide for weight loss in ~health

    Flocculencio
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    Yeah the not-being-pre/diabetic thing might disqualify me but hopefully being on the cusp of morbidly obese will allow Socialised Healthcare to subsidise it.

    Yeah the not-being-pre/diabetic thing might disqualify me but hopefully being on the cusp of morbidly obese will allow Socialised Healthcare to subsidise it.

  13. Comment on Semaglutide for weight loss in ~health

    Flocculencio
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    Luckily here if I paid out of pocket it would be around 1k per month which is doable though painful. If I can qualify for it under public healthcare it gets heavily subsidised.

    Luckily here if I paid out of pocket it would be around 1k per month which is doable though painful. If I can qualify for it under public healthcare it gets heavily subsidised.

  14. Comment on Semaglutide for weight loss in ~health

    Flocculencio
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    I'm in Singapore and access to grey market pharmaceuticals is a lot more controlled than in many countries. However if I do qualify to get it through the public system it becomes heavily, heavily...

    I'm in Singapore and access to grey market pharmaceuticals is a lot more controlled than in many countries.

    However if I do qualify to get it through the public system it becomes heavily, heavily subsidised and will be prescribed along with an accompanying holistic weight loss support plan.

  15. Comment on Semaglutide for weight loss in ~health

    Flocculencio
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    Thanks! Hearing about the side effects is really valuable.

    Thanks! Hearing about the side effects is really valuable.

    2 votes
  16. Comment on Semaglutide for weight loss in ~health

    Flocculencio
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    I think you may have got the wrong idea from my post. I'm not looking for a miracle that will help me beat the laws of thermodynamics. but put it this way. I've been exercising and calorie...

    I think you may have got the wrong idea from my post. I'm not looking for a miracle that will help me beat the laws of thermodynamics. but put it this way. I've been exercising and calorie counting for years and every time I fall off the wagon I just eat everything back on. Before Covid I got down to 102kg from 115kg over the course of 18 months with calorie counting and exercise. Fell off the wagon and am now back at 115

    But the cravings for food are always there and it appears that GLP-1 affecting drugs really help with those.

    I just want something to make the food cravings stop at this point so all the other interventions can work. I've been overweight since my teens, obese since my thirties, I'm 42 now and I'd really like to not keel over from a coronary at 60 like my dad.

    10 votes
  17. Semaglutide for weight loss

    Has anyone tried it out? There's currently a preventative healthcare initiative going on in my country where they start screening people over 40 for chronic or potentially chronic conditions. I...

    Has anyone tried it out? There's currently a preventative healthcare initiative going on in my country where they start screening people over 40 for chronic or potentially chronic conditions.

    I went for my initial checkup with the doc today and, being juuuuust below morbid obesity with a BMI of 34, asked her about semaglutide as an adjunct to exercise controlling calorie intake. She's referring me to a weight loss clinic at my local public hospital where I can be assessed for suitability (If I'm not mistaken the clinic has hepatologists and endocrinologists on staff along with allied healthcare workers such as physios and nutritionists). This is great because it costs a bomb if I have to go private. The only wrinkle is that I'm oddly enough not diabetic or pre-diabetic so whether or not I'll qualify for socialised semaglutide is unclear but we live in hope.

    I was wondering if any of you had tried any of the variants of semaglutide for obesity and what your experiences have been like.

    18 votes
  18. Comment on Why everyone hates this concrete building, and why brutalism dominates US college campuses in ~design

  19. Comment on Why everyone hates this concrete building, and why brutalism dominates US college campuses in ~design

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    I always felt Brutalism works better in the tropics. Our public housing estates in Singapore draw a lot from Le Corbusier, especially the ones built in the 70s though the newer ones look more elegant.

    I always felt Brutalism works better in the tropics. Our public housing estates in Singapore draw a lot from Le Corbusier, especially the ones built in the 70s though the newer ones look more elegant.

    4 votes
  20. Comment on If you use ChatGPT or other LLM, how do you use it? in ~tech

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    I use it to draft routine letters which I then edit for detail.

    I use it to draft routine letters which I then edit for detail.

    2 votes