carsonc's recent activity

  1. Comment on Health Canada approves 1st generic version of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic in ~health

    carsonc
    Link Parent
    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%.

    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%.

    2 votes

  2. Comment on I have a spondylolisthesis diagnosis in ~health

    carsonc
    Link
    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...

    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:

    1. 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.

    2. A very good chiropractor that I would visit when the pain was bad. This was good for relief, and probably helped in other ways.

    3. 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.

    4. 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.

    5. 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.

    10 votes

  3. Comment on Health Canada approves 1st generic version of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic in ~health

    carsonc
    Link Parent
    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....

    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.

    19 votes

  4. Comment on India’s major airlines on ‘verge of closing down’ as high fuel costs sting in ~transport

    carsonc
    Link Parent
    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...

    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.

    5 votes

  5. Comment on India’s major airlines on ‘verge of closing down’ as high fuel costs sting in ~transport

    carsonc
    Link Parent
    Apologies 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.

    22 votes

  6. Comment on Single, solo, poor, woman gets $500k pre-tax, how to make the most of it? in ~finance

    carsonc
    Link
    I am going to go out on a limb and put in a plug for Northwestern Mutual, where we have an account. My family is not wealthy and we are not great with money. I do not know anything about...

    I am going to go out on a limb and put in a plug for Northwestern Mutual, where we have an account. My family is not wealthy and we are not great with money. I do not know anything about investing, unless you count losing money to bad decisions in the stock market as a form of knowledge.

    I do not think Northwestern Mutual is perfect and I do not think NM the best thing for your situation. However, they may be best thing that you will easily find for your situation. Here's why.

    NM is very large and has a great rating of AA+ from Fitch, which is higher than any of the banks on this list. They will have a branch or representative near you and, speaking from experience, they will be very good at making you feel good about giving them your money. They will also be adept at schemes to make the best use of the mandated withdrawals.

    They will probably try to get you to buy a life insurance policy. This is just a thing that anyone in that industry is incentivised to do and not particular to NM. The thing to do is simply to remind them that you are very poor and have more immediate concerns than a hypothetical market downturn in your later years. However, if you decide that such an arrangement is best for you, I, of course, support you.

    Ultimately, I feel like telling someone in your position to go find a financial advisor (without recommending a specific one) is like telling someone who needs to learn how to drive that they should buy the car that's right for them. It's not wrong, but it's not very helpful either.

    The other thing is to accept that mistakes will be made. You will learn, at a later time, that, had you made different decisions right now, you would have been better off than you will be, having made the decisions that you did. This is true in all areas of life, but it is often shown in stark relief with money, as makes losses and missed opportunities easily quantifiable, down to the cent.

    I suggest you find someone you believe is competent to handle your money and entrust them to make the decisions that are in your interest.

    Please accept my deepest condolences. I am so sorry for your loss.

    3 votes

  7. Comment on Tildes Survey #1: How old are you? (Results) in ~talk

  8. Comment on Humans are losing the fight against flying fish in ~enviro

    carsonc
    Link
    In other words: Frightened fishermen frantic, frustrated, fearing failure fighting freakishly fast, formidably fecund foreign flying fish found fouling farmland fisheries? Fancy foodies forego...
    • Exemplary

    In other words:

    Frightened fishermen frantic, frustrated, fearing failure fighting freakishly fast, formidably fecund foreign flying fish found fouling farmland fisheries? Fancy foodies forego finacing fishy fillets for forky flesh fears.

    Is that correct?

    21 votes

  9. Comment on Wit, unker, git: The lost medieval pronouns of English intimacy in ~humanities.languages

    carsonc
    Link
    Well, how abaht that? Yinz are gonna leave aht Pittsburgh again just cause we dahnt say "Y'all" or "Youse" n'at.

    In Glasgow and west central Scotland, another version, "youse", is often used as the plural in the local dialect.
    And people today also use spontaneous workarounds to clarify the plural in everyday life, such as "you all" and "you guys".

    Well, how abaht that? Yinz are gonna leave aht Pittsburgh again just cause we dahnt say "Y'all" or "Youse" n'at.

    13 votes

  10. Comment on Donald Trump says it's 'not possible' for the US to pay for Medicaid, Medicare and day care: 'We’re fighting wars' in ~society

    carsonc
    Link Parent
    Its a strange way to put it, but he's not necessarily wrong. A lot of what funds our governments fiscal deficits is foreign money buying dollars to buy oil on the petrodollar. The petrodollar...

    Its a strange way to put it, but he's not necessarily wrong. A lot of what funds our governments fiscal deficits is foreign money buying dollars to buy oil on the petrodollar. The petrodollar couldn't last forever, but the war in Iran isn't extending its lifespan.

    Bad news for our friends in America: when the petrodollar is replaced by the petroyuan, or the bancor, or something else, the deficit spending that funds these wars (sure) but also Medicaid, Medicare, etc. will also end. Also, super-high prices in dollars for energy.

    I don't think that will happen within the next... two years (seems safe), as the most compelling alternative, the petroyuan, is much smaller and also has several other serious problems, but the war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz are certainly incentivizing other nations to develop systems to relieve them from dependency on the dollar and the venerable Bretton-Woods system that has provided the U. S. with the Exorbitant Privilege ever since.

    8 votes

  11. Comment on Suggest media in which the antagonist is an idea or an abstract concept rather than a person or intelligent entity in ~talk

    carsonc
    Link
    I think Blindness by José Saramago fits that definition. Like others have said, there are definitely bad guys, but they aren't really the antagonists. Everyone just starts going blind for no clear...

    I think Blindness by José Saramago fits that definition. Like others have said, there are definitely bad guys, but they aren't really the antagonists. Everyone just starts going blind for no clear reason and hijinks ensue.

    5 votes

  12. Comment on Tildes Book Club schedule 2025 - 2026 in ~books

    carsonc
    Link Parent
    Thank you for posting this. I found the audio took at the library. 14 hours!

    Thank you for posting this. I found the audio took at the library. 14 hours!

    4 votes

  13. Comment on The cognitive dark forest in ~tech

    carsonc
    Link Parent
    I agree. This has been a long standing concern with search engines. Yet here we are, doing Google searches to find out if anyone has ever thought of our latest great idea. I would actually want to...

    I agree. This has been a long standing concern with search engines. Yet here we are, doing Google searches to find out if anyone has ever thought of our latest great idea.

    I would actually want to believe that our new AI overlords will actually "steal" all our ideas because nothing ever happens, but I don't see how this is different from what our old search overlords could have done. If there is a reason this is different, I'm open to reasons why.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on A.T.L.A.S: outperform Claude Sonnet with a 14B local model and RTX 5060 Ti in ~tech

    carsonc
    Link
    I would be interested in trying this. The prices for the cards are not high and I have enjoyed working with Claude Sonnet. Can someone provide a rundown on how this might compare on general...

    I would be interested in trying this. The prices for the cards are not high and I have enjoyed working with Claude Sonnet. Can someone provide a rundown on how this might compare on general knowledge or scientific tasks?

    2 votes

  15. Comment on Interesting material types for fantasy resources/macguffins other than crystals or metals? in ~creative

    carsonc
    Link Parent
    That was the Macguffin in Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Several of those through out the book. My favorite was the one at the beginning: a full Empty. The stuff of miracles in...

    That was the Macguffin in Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Several of those through out the book. My favorite was the one at the beginning: a full Empty.

    The stuff of miracles in that book was, as far as anyone could tell, literal garbage that passing aliens had dumped on our planet on their way through. Being so advanced, though, these objects were strange, powerful, and potentially deadly to us.

    7 votes

  16. Comment on Interesting material types for fantasy resources/macguffins other than crystals or metals? in ~creative

    carsonc
    Link
    Antimatter. Since CERN can now put antiprotons in a truck and drive them around, it might not be completely the province of fantasy, bit it is an amazing material for a Macguffin, as it was in...

    Antimatter. Since CERN can now put antiprotons in a truck and drive them around, it might not be completely the province of fantasy, bit it is an amazing material for a Macguffin, as it was in several embodiments for Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space.

    3 votes

  17. Comment on What’s something you’re putting up with? in ~talk

    carsonc
    Link Parent
    All people, being people, have things to be ashamed of. Bhutan was rather vigorous about ethnic cleansing some 30 years ago. As far as I can tell, none of the ethnic Nepalis was ever repatriated...

    All people, being people, have things to be ashamed of. Bhutan was rather vigorous about ethnic cleansing some 30 years ago. As far as I can tell, none of the ethnic Nepalis was ever repatriated or had their property restored. This isn't to throw shade on the wonderful people of Bhutan, but rather to point out that no place and no people are without faults.

    17 votes

  18. Comment on New ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie From Stephen Colbert and his son in development at Warner Bros in ~movies

    carsonc
    Link Parent
    There is so much written in the Silmarillion and in the works of Christopher Tolkien that could be adapted. I have no particular attachment to the series produced by Amazon, as it resembled...

    There is so much written in the Silmarillion and in the works of Christopher Tolkien that could be adapted. I have no particular attachment to the series produced by Amazon, as it resembled nothing to me so much as a kind of dry, boardroom drama more at home in the world of Dallas than Middle Earth. Even done without much heart or feeling, these were still good stories and there are plenty that haven't been approached yet.

    Even so, I would probably watch it, if the title were something like "Pippin and Merry's Bogus Journey".

    20 votes

  19. Comment on Gemma needs help in ~comp

    carsonc
    Link Parent
    This is going off-topic (sort of) but there is interesting research covered here indicating that resignation behaviors may not be governed by neurons at all. I don't know enough about either...

    This is going off-topic (sort of) but there is interesting research covered here indicating that resignation behaviors may not be governed by neurons at all.

    New experiments reveal how astrocytes tune neuronal activity to modulate our mental and emotional states. The results suggest that neuron-only brain models, such as connectomes, leave out a crucial layer of regulation.

    I don't know enough about either neurobiology or artifical intelligence to be able speculate about whether this research would have applications is AI, but it was interesting that large swaths of behavior might not be governed by neurons, per se, at all.

    6 votes

  20. Comment on Why are we still doing this? in ~tech

    carsonc
    Link Parent
    I didn't realize it when I wrote this, but think that's sort of what I was getting at. If the current arrangement is a honeypot that makes itself integral to my workflow, destined to entrap me and...

    I didn't realize it when I wrote this, but think that's sort of what I was getting at. If the current arrangement is a honeypot that makes itself integral to my workflow, destined to entrap me and slowly boil me like the frog that I am, then the business case is quite good. Tech companies have been taking enormous profits for decades now and, given their experience, it's difficult to fault them for believing that another high-growth market is sitting just over the next hill. If what you are saying is true, then Ed Zitron is wrong: dumping cash into AI is a good idea for investors because we're all going to end up locked into the network and paying $90/month for basic "compute".

    I think it's easy to say that any arrangement is either economically bad for the user or bad for the company/investor, as their economic interests are naturally opposed. It can be bad for everyone from an environmental or ethical perspective, but I would be interested to see an economic argument for how AI can be bad for everyone both in the present and in the future.

    5 votes