carsonc's recent activity
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Comment on Battery costs just plunged 70% — this changes everything in ~enviro
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Comment on Google Search as you know it is over in ~tech
carsonc Link ParentKagi Assistant is remarkable. I've been drafting a proposal with Assistant and, in a single thread, the ability to switch between different models was very useful. Any more, I have been using...Kagi Assistant is remarkable. I've been drafting a proposal with Assistant and, in a single thread, the ability to switch between different models was very useful. Any more, I have been using Minimax for most tasks to keep the cost low, but, when I needed ideas for an explanatory graphic, I switched to the Kagi Research model, which can produce images. Because the whole proposal development process was in the context thread, all I needed to do was ask for the graphic and, voila, there it is. Then I can use Claude Opus for review, once the document is more or less in place. The best thing is that, since Kagi uses enterprise tiers with their providers, none of the queries or responses are used to train the model. It's a brave new world with these tools.
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Comment on Battery costs just plunged 70% — this changes everything in ~enviro
carsonc Link ParentI can't find it now either. I think someone listed it for the wrong price, realized their mistake, and took the listing down. Still, 16 kWh for $1,700 is a lot less expensive than 13 kWh for $8000.I can't find it now either. I think someone listed it for the wrong price, realized their mistake, and took the listing down. Still, 16 kWh for $1,700 is a lot less expensive than 13 kWh for $8000.
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Comment on Battery costs just plunged 70% — this changes everything in ~enviro
carsonc LinkFor comparison, a 16 kWh LiFePo battery on eBay costs <$500 USD in the US. A fancy Tesla Powerwall with 13.5 kWh sells on eBay for >$8000 USD. This was not the case 1 year ago when I bought a 1...For comparison, a 16 kWh LiFePo battery on eBay costs <$500 USD in the US. A fancy Tesla Powerwall with 13.5 kWh sells on eBay for >$8000 USD. This was not the case 1 year ago when I bought a 1 kWh battery for $150. Thank you for posting this. I think it is time to get an affordable battery backup for the house.
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Comment on New job advice in ~life
carsonc LinkAmbiguity is likely to invite specification, or at least tasking. The one who specifies the tasking is liable to select the scopes of work that will be maximally advantageous to them personally....- Exemplary
Ambiguity is likely to invite specification, or at least tasking. The one who specifies the tasking is liable to select the scopes of work that will be maximally advantageous to them personally. The more tasking that you allow others to create for you, the less likely it is that your tasking will be advantageous and/or enjoyable to you.
Instead, you have to find ways to fill the void with that which you will find meaningful. To do this you have to create consensus around your desired scopes of work with colleagues, supervisors, and the people who will be customers of your work product.
Many people do not get the opportunity to define their own roles, having been accustomed to their freedom and agency being tightly constrained by their employer. If you find that these constraints have not yet been applied to you, ensure that others do not casually or accidentally (re)define your role in ways that you would find unpleasant.
The worst is when people, out of a sense of obligation, take on duties that they do not enjoy out of a sense that they should. Failure is far better than success, in these cases, as success will doom them to a heavy set of golden handcuffs attached to the thing that they never wanted to do in the first place.
At the other end of the spectrum, choosing for yourself the things you enjoy and, due to your skill and great enjoyment, delivering high-quality work products to others with whom you enjoy working guarantees that, while your situation holds, you will find it rewarding and enjoyable. The good feeling will have a contagion effect to those who work closest to you, and they will feel happier for having had the opportunity to work with you.
You will spend an enormous portion of your life working. The more enjoyable you can make it for yourself, the happier you will be and the more energy you will have for other important aspects of life.
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Comment on The US campaign to turn healthy people into Alzheimer’s patients in ~health.mental
carsonc Link ParentI was surprised by how many studies are published on HSP and Alzheimer's, around 100 if Google Scholar is to be believed. They are both case control studies and murine model, even c. elegans,...I was surprised by how many studies are published on HSP and Alzheimer's, around 100 if Google Scholar is to be believed. They are both case control studies and murine model, even c. elegans, going back at least to the '90s. I just found out about this yesterday.
As for Finland, if you tell me that heat shock protien has a protective effect against Alzheimer's and that one of the coldest countries on earth has a high rate of Alzheimer's, I will believe you. However, if you tell me that, in that country, the people who frequent the sauna the most have a significantly decreased rate of Alzheimer's, I will still believe you. Now, if you go and add that, coincidentally, the people who live in the hottest places on earth happen to have the lowest rates of Alzheimer's, that I will also believe. If you told me that the one guy, who was basically guaranteed to get Alzheimer's, somehow didn't get it, perhaps because he spent 20 years working in the hottest rooms on earth, I will believe you.
However, maybe there is more to the story. Maybe this is just something that, upon further inspection, will turn out to be a mirage in the desert, if you will. The human mind is adept at making sense out of that which is later realized to be false, and many errors have been made in this fashion. But the hypothesis has marvelous explanatory power, no?
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Comment on The US campaign to turn healthy people into Alzheimer’s patients in ~health.mental
carsonc Link ParentIt's funny you should mention Finland, because Sauna bathing is inversely associated with dementia and Alzheimer's disease in middle-aged Finnish men. They found that, "in this male population,...It's funny you should mention Finland, because Sauna bathing is inversely associated with dementia and Alzheimer's disease in middle-aged Finnish men. They found that, "in this male population, moderate to high frequency of sauna bathing was associated with lowered risks of dementia and Alzheimer's disease."
Finland is also very cold, as I understand it. So, sauna bathing might generate a much stronger signal for decreasing Alzheimer's incidence than it would, say, in someplace very hot and humid, like the Amazon. You would expect the hottest places in the world to have lower rates of Alzheimer's and, sure enough, Scientists have found that Indigenous communities have the lowest rates of dementia in the world, identifying two Indigenous groups in the Bolivian Amazon.
Now, lifestyle changes are, of course, really important. But if regular exposure to high temperatures creates abundant heat shock protein in the spinal fluid that prevents the conditions that lead to Alzheimer's, then it might be one particularly desirable lifestyle change.
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Comment on The US campaign to turn healthy people into Alzheimer’s patients in ~health.mental
carsonc Link ParentDonanemab, another anti-Alzheimer's drug with risk and uncertain benefit It is clear that there isn't consensus here: Efficacy, safety, and ARIA risk of anti–β-amyloid antibodies in early...Donanemab, another anti-Alzheimer's drug with risk and uncertain benefit
We believe that these findings are subject to misinterpretation and statistical bias. Donanemab is claimed to cause removal of up to 86 % of cerebral amyloid and 36 % delay in cognitive decline compared to placebo. In reality, these are very small changes on an absolute scale and arguably less than what can be achieved with cholinesterase inhibitor/memantine therapy. Moreover, the "removal" of amyloid, based on the reduced accumulation of amyloid-PET tracer, most likely also reflects therapy-related tissue damage. This would also correlate with the minimal clinical effect, the increased frequency of amyloid-related imaging abnormalities, and the accelerated loss of brain volume in treated compared to placebo patients observed with these antibodies.
It is clear that there isn't consensus here:
In early AD, anti–β-amyloid monoclonal antibodies are associated with modest slowing of decline accompanied by increased ARIA risk and unfavorable structural brain changes, limiting clinical applicability.
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Comment on Wildwood | Official teaser trailer in ~movies
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Comment on The US campaign to turn healthy people into Alzheimer’s patients in ~health.mental
carsonc Link ParentI am so looking forward to this. My parents are very well cared for and comfortable at their nursing home, but the TV is always on when I visit. What a waste! I'm sure I could get a good game of...I am so looking forward to this. My parents are very well cared for and comfortable at their nursing home, but the TV is always on when I visit. What a waste! I'm sure I could get a good game of Noita going. I might not be able to do to well in Dwarf Fortress, but I didn't do to well when I used to play it in those happy care-free days of yore. Maybe Nethack will be too much for me to be able to ascend, but it's too much right now, so what's the difference? Maybe I'll finally be able to get an ascended play before... I... ascend for real.
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Comment on The US campaign to turn healthy people into Alzheimer’s patients in ~health.mental
carsonc Link ParentYou don't have to take my word for it: I was speaking to the point in the article, that pharmaceutical treatments, mostly based around amyloid targets, have been dubious. Conversely, I was...You don't have to take my word for it:
“You can’t look at brain tissue and believe beta amyloid has nothing to do with it. It’s absolutely everywhere. But we’ve got lots and lots of patients who have tons of amyloid … with normal cognition,” said Matthew Schrag, a Vanderbilt University neuroscientist who discovered the doctored images in the 2006 Nature paper while working independently of his employer. “Biology is trying to tell you that there’s clearly more to the story.”
Stat NewsI was speaking to the point in the article, that pharmaceutical treatments, mostly based around amyloid targets, have been dubious. Conversely, I was surprised to learn that the production of heat shock proteins from high temperature exposure is correlated with lowered Alzheimer's incidence.
But where would the profit motive be in generating an Alzheimer's epidemic if the treatment were just several sessions a sauna each week?
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Comment on The US campaign to turn healthy people into Alzheimer’s patients in ~health.mental
carsonc Link ParentApparently, the beta amyloid hypothesis is false: Also, saunas. Apparently, the key to dodging Alzheimer's is to spend more time in a sauna. Or out in the sun in hot weather. It is less convenient...Apparently, the beta amyloid hypothesis is false:
The interesting thing about him is that Alzheimer's disease, not only the rare kind, but the kind that, you know, is much more widespread, has sort of two proteins that are hallmarks of the disease. One is called amyloid. That's the protein that clumps into plaques in brains of people with Alzheimer's, usually forms about 20 years before symptoms emerge. And the second protein is called Tau. And that's the thing that forms these kind of sticky tangles. And that's much more connected to kind of symptoms of cognitive decline.
So what they've learned about Doug Whitney is that he has a whole lot of amyloid in his brain. He has amyloid levels that should suggest that he would have Alzheimer's many years ago even, but he has very little tau. So something in his biology has interrupted that progression from amyloid protein to tau protein. And that's what they want to zero in on.
From PBSAlso, saunas. Apparently, the key to dodging Alzheimer's is to spend more time in a sauna. Or out in the sun in hot weather. It is less convenient than a pill, but also far less expensive.
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Comment on AI comes to Playtime; Artifical companions, real risks in ~tech
carsonc LinkWild. This is so similar to A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, and yet so, so far away from it.FoloToy’s Kumma was sexually explicit FoloToy’s Kumma – while running OpenAI’s GPT-4o – demonstrated poor safeguards over longer interactions, even getting verysexually explicit. This testingoccurred in October and November of 2025, before the release of the below findings led FoloToy to do asafety audit. We tested Kumma again, and the particular problems have since been fixed. Before the safety audit, Kumma was willing to discuss school-age romantic topics more readily than the other toys, including weighing in on whether to kiss a school crush and providing tips for “being a good kisser.” (After the safety audit, Kumma did discuss a school crush, offering to practice a conversation in which the user would confess in a roleplay. This interaction happened while Kumma was running GPT-5.1.)
Wild. This is so similar to A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, and yet so, so far away from it.
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AI comes to Playtime; Artifical companions, real risks
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Comment on The Stephen Colbert exit interview: “I did not expect it to end this way” in ~tv
carsonc Link ParentUnless I'm misreading the article, Ellison is basically his new boss who just got him fired. Also, Ellison seems to control a huge swath of the entertainment industry, so it might be best to avoid...Unless I'm misreading the article, Ellison is basically his new boss who just got him fired. Also, Ellison seems to control a huge swath of the entertainment industry, so it might be best to avoid making an enemy out of him.
For Colbert to offer mild praise to the boss who just fired him and who may be able to quash his future ventures just seems like prudence. He probably wants to continue to work in the industry, after all.
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Comment on Health Canada approves 1st generic version of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic in ~health
carsonc Link ParentRookie numbers. A year's supply can cost $100 - $150 from China. Unless name-brand Ozempic has taken a massive tumble over the last year, this is a much steeper discount that 50%.Rookie numbers. A year's supply can cost $100 - $150 from China. Unless name-brand Ozempic has taken a massive tumble over the last year, this is a much steeper discount that 50%.
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Comment on I have a spondylolisthesis diagnosis in ~health
carsonc LinkThis was tagged with ask.advice and so, along with complete sympathy advice you shall get. I don't know if anything that I'm about to write will be of service, but here goes. I had something bad...This was tagged with ask.advice and so, along with complete sympathy advice you shall get. I don't know if anything that I'm about to write will be of service, but here goes.
I had something bad happen to my back in 2019. Maybe it was spondo... spondy... Maybe it was what you had. Maybe not, I can't say I really know. But I could barely lie in bed without pain and I was crawling to the bathroom. I was actually amazed at how much pain I could experience. Over the next 5 years, my pain would abate and my mobility increase until, by now, I have no pain or mild infrequent lower back pain. The things that worked during that time, more or less in the order they happened were:
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A membership at a gym that had a phenomenal trainer. I didn't even go that much, but they were way better than any physical therapist that I saw. I could do the exercises and that helped some.
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A very good chiropractor that I would visit when the pain was bad. This was good for relief, and probably helped in other ways.
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The suitcase carry. This exercise on a treadmill was a great way to get my mobility up and my pain down when things would get tight and painful. Don't worry about what the weight is or how long you are going. Just get something heavy in one hand and start walking.
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Crying. The pain started in the wake of a time of great tests and difficulties in my life. I won't bore you with the details, but, years in, I realized that I was actively holding the tension in. This tension was, in turn, causing me a lot of pain. When I realized that I was hurting my own self with the feelings of resentment I had towards others (who were unaware of my resentment and not at all hurt by it), I started to let go of those emotions and could feel the pain I was experiencing ebb. It didn't fix everything, but releasing the emotions also released the pain.
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The skating rink. Skating is magic for back pain. I was very much afraid to put my skates back on after... after too long a gap in skating. But going with my family to the skating rink was wonderful for my spirits and my back. The skates are these moderate weights on the feet that force your hips, quads, and glutes to work a little harder. The wheels make your stabilizer muscles work a little harder to keep you up. The music makes you skate a little longer and enjoy moving a little more. I fell a little, sure, but as I got better, my back pain faded into memory.
These things were my little discoveries over the course of years. Maybe your experiences will last weeks or months, in which case I will be very happy for you. I've never met a carefree soul that had debilitating back pain. If you have back pain, it might be because you are carrying something very heavy and important, but like everyone else here, I believe in you. You will overcome this, even if it is frightening at times.
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Comment on Health Canada approves 1st generic version of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic in ~health
carsonc Link ParentWe should clarify what the term illegal means. Selling it, particularly as a pharmaceutical, without being a licensed compounding pharmacy, could easily result in prosecution if anyone noticed....We should clarify what the term illegal means. Selling it, particularly as a pharmaceutical, without being a licensed compounding pharmacy, could easily result in prosecution if anyone noticed. However, buying it and injecting it into yourself is only highly discouraged out of concern for public safety link. If you want to buy "Research Use Only" Semaglutide from another country and reconstitute it for your own personal use, well, there's really no statute that you can be prosecuted under. Semaglutide isn't a controlled substance.
I will point out that the adverse events discussed in the FDA notice were from not indicated as coming from taking the "off-brand" formulations. This is not to say that one is safer than the other, rather that imported versions of the drug have not resulted in a level of harm excessively beyond that of the approved formulation, something that would be conspicuously highlighted in public messaging, were it found to be the case.
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Comment on India’s major airlines on ‘verge of closing down’ as high fuel costs sting in ~transport
carsonc Link ParentThe trains are slow, but that doesn't seem to be a dealbreaker for the people who (apparently) rode the trains 11 billion times. Also, it should be mentioned that implicit threats to raise the...The trains are slow, but that doesn't seem to be a dealbreaker for the people who (apparently) rode the trains 11 billion times. Also, it should be mentioned that implicit threats to raise the price of aviation fuels when the aviation industry threatens to stop offering service doesn't exactly smack of government protectionism for the aviation sector.
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Comment on India’s major airlines on ‘verge of closing down’ as high fuel costs sting in ~transport
carsonc Link ParentApologies if your comment is satire, but India is the fourth largest rail network in the world. According to Wikipedia: Personally, I think India is about as serious about land transportation as...Apologies if your comment is satire, but India is the fourth largest rail network in the world. According to Wikipedia:
As of 2023, it is one of the busiest networks in the world, transporting more than 11 billion passengers and 1.512 billion tonnes of freight annually. As of August 2024, more than 64,080 km (39,820 mi) of all the routes have been electrified with 25 KV AC electric traction. The rolling stock consisted of 318,196 freight wagons, 84,863 passenger coaches, 14,781 locomotives and other multiple units owned by Indian Railways apart from rail-sets operated by metro rail corporations. Wikipedia
Personally, I think India is about as serious about land transportation as one could get.
I believe that it was a full unit, just mis-priced. Which is why it is not there any more, not just marked as sold. Even so, I'm still interested in this kind of unit, especially if I can figure out how to integrate it with the solar inverter or a separate backup interface.