patience_limited's recent activity

  1. Comment on Humble Bundle - John Scalzi collection benefiting World Central Kitchen in ~books

  3. Comment on The world has an anchovy supply problem in ~food

    patience_limited
    Link Parent
    I am sensitive to the argument about taste, and recognize that concentrated animal farming of any kind can become an environmental disaster. However, I'm also sensitive to my own suffering. I have...

    I am sensitive to the argument about taste, and recognize that concentrated animal farming of any kind can become an environmental disaster.

    However, I'm also sensitive to my own suffering. I have not, to date, been able to remain healthy on a diet that contains no animal products whatsoever. YMMV, but I have concrete evidence from lab work that my rheumatoid factors and CRP are consistently lower if I eat fish periodically and supplement with fish oil (but not vegan fish oil substitutes). I'd like to minimize my impact further, but not at the cost of disability.

    15 votes

  4. Comment on The world has an anchovy supply problem in ~food

    patience_limited
    Link Parent
    I don't think El Niño is an extinction-level problem for anchovies (yet?), but it will become a serious food cost and scarcity problem for farmed fish, shellfish, and crustaceans in the coming...

    I don't think El Niño is an extinction-level problem for anchovies (yet?), but it will become a serious food cost and scarcity problem for farmed fish, shellfish, and crustaceans in the coming year.

    Time for me to work harder on veganism, but aquacultured fish and shrimp seemed like a not-too-horrible animal suffering source and an acceptable carbon output dodge...

    13 votes

  5. Comment on The world has an anchovy supply problem in ~food

    patience_limited
    Link
    From the article: The combined impacts of climate change induced ocean warming and the El Niño weather cycle are already extreme this year, and we're just getting started.

    From the article:

    One of the world’s current hottest commodities is in the midst of a huge disruption. It may sound like I’m talking about oil and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, but this is even more severe. The supply shock is far greater — and so is the price response: Global production has plunged as much as 40% from a year ago; prices are up 80% over the same period to an all-time high. The commodity in question? The humble anchovy.

    The tiny fish may sound utterly mundane, but its importance to the global economy is far larger than just foodies’ craving for the umami taste. The anchovy sits at the bottom of a crucial supply chain that sustains the $500-billion-a-year global aquaculture industry. Anchovies are the main ingredient in fishmeal, and without enough of it, global production of salmon, seabass, shrimp, oysters and other seafood will suffer, pushing up supermarket prices.

    The combined impacts of climate change induced ocean warming and the El Niño weather cycle are already extreme this year, and we're just getting started.

    16 votes

  7. Comment on To my fellow Americans: Happy 4th of July, I hope you end the day with the same number of fingers you started with! in ~talk

    patience_limited
    Link
    Like others here, I've got conflicting feelings this year. The history of the U.S. is as loaded with joy and tragedy as any other nation, more exceptional in theory than in practice. I'm...

    Like others here, I've got conflicting feelings this year. The history of the U.S. is as loaded with joy and tragedy as any other nation, more exceptional in theory than in practice.

    I'm comfortably ensconced on unceded Anishinaabe land, I'm here because the U.S. welcomed my ancestors as cheap union-busting labor, I'm missing a chunk of my family tree because the U.S. decided it didn't want those socialist European Jews anymore. Then the U.S. decided Jews were convenient again and Palestinians (and immigrants and refugees in general) weren't worthy of human consideration.

    And yet we have, however unevenly, made some progress. The U.S. did outlaw slavery, it's had relatively progressive legislative periods, it's tried to keep various forms of discrimination in check, it did build one of the most powerful science and knowledge infrastructures in human history, and it has attempted to expand individual freedoms (however much those freedoms are in conflict with each other).

    It's disheartening to watch the Patriot Front make free of the nation's capitol, when a Ku Klux Klan rally in a tiny Kentucky town was regarded as a national embarrassment during the 1976 Bicentennial celebrations.

    At the same time, my little city takes its fireworks displays very seriously, and there will be a glorious show over the bay tonight. So I'll take that win in the spirit it's intended.

    15 votes

  8. Comment on A California farmer is giving away tons of nectarines that he’s not allowed to sell in ~food

    patience_limited
    Link
    I had a serious Grapes of Wrath flashback reading this story. The Fresno Bee version of the story includes Mora's claim that Giumarra only paid him for half of the harvest, saying the rest was...

    I had a serious Grapes of Wrath flashback reading this story. The Fresno Bee version of the story includes Mora's claim that Giumarra only paid him for half of the harvest, saying the rest was culled, while selling the "culled" fruit and not compensating Mora according to the contract.

    It's going to be an ugly "big company vs. small farmer" trial, and I suspect Mora isn't going to win as much as he should since he didn't get that claim in under the statute of limitations, even though it's direct evidence that Giumarra fraudulently breached the contract first.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (July 2026) in ~health.mental

    patience_limited
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I just read this story, "What not to say to someone on crutches" [soft paywall], and thought of you. So I'll say that I hope things get better for you, and not try to second-guess the state you're...

    I just read this story, "What not to say to someone on crutches" [soft paywall], and thought of you.

    So I'll say that I hope things get better for you, and not try to second-guess the state you're in.

    But I'm not able to restrain myself from commenting about chronic pain in a couple of respects...

    1. Don't take your surgeons' thought-terminating "There's nothing we can do" as a final answer. I don't know what country you're in or what health system options and costs you're confronted with. Nonetheless, it's worth getting a second opinion at a research-oriented medical center if you can, where there's better attention to evidence-based current practices and integrated multi-specialty care. Community doctors have a tendency to fall back on word-of-mouth and well-rehearsed but not up to date procedures. They don't bring in other specialties like pain management, oncology (even for non-invasive tumors), neurology, and physiatry as often as they should. It is possible to reach a better quality of life than it sounds like you have right now.

    2. I do know that when you're in chronic pain, it makes every other condition worse, and life itself becomes constricted and burdensome. It can seem impossible to muster the persistence in pursuing self-care that navigating health systems requires. The U.S. has the Patient Advocate Foundation, which provides assistance with connecting to resources in our awful mess. I don't know if there's something similar where you are, but you shouldn't have to take on the work of managing complicated conditions by yourself without any support.

    1 vote

  10. Comment on I need more hilariously awful pick up lines to make my wife roll her eyes at me in ~talk

    patience_limited
    Link Parent
    Spouse is always implying that a well-rounded derriere in motion should have a soundtrack.

    Spouse is always implying that a well-rounded derriere in motion should have a soundtrack.

  11. Comment on I need more hilariously awful pick up lines to make my wife roll her eyes at me in ~talk

    patience_limited
    Link
    Are you a Ukrainian drone? 'Cause you're setting my rushin' facilities on fire. Love, I've got a job for a full stack developer like you. Does your band need anyone? I'd like to bang on your drums...

    Are you a Ukrainian drone? 'Cause you're setting my rushin' facilities on fire.

    Love, I've got a job for a full stack developer like you.

    Does your band need anyone? I'd like to bang on your drums all night and nearly every day.

    Can we boldly go back to your place, so I can split your infinitives 'til you discover strange new worlds?

    I'll just see myself out the door.

    7 votes

  12. Comment on How to make the world's best black shirt in ~life.style

    patience_limited
    Link Parent
    Reading that garment description was like hearing a cozy personalized ASMR recording... Would buy instantly, especially if the waist is a little more tailored. Now if spouse wore black regularly...

    Reading that garment description was like hearing a cozy personalized ASMR recording... Would buy instantly, especially if the waist is a little more tailored.

    Now if spouse wore black regularly (too hot, he says), I'd have the perfect gift for him. He's always complaining about having to donate otherwise wearable t-shirts because the neck has stretched beyond looking good.

    1 vote

  13. Comment on Just be normal about things - On sleepmaxxing, beef-only diets, political hysteria, and the lost art of being reasonable in ~health.mental

    patience_limited
    Link Parent
    I don't think it's a warped perspective, but it might be affected by U.S. and English-language dominance in social media and news. I follow some global news and policy sources, so I see the same...

    I don't think it's a warped perspective, but it might be affected by U.S. and English-language dominance in social media and news. I follow some global news and policy sources, so I see the same kinds of volatile obsessions and deep personal attachments to extreme ideas elsewhere, though with less material consumption.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food

    patience_limited
    Link Parent
    That's a hard journey, and I hope you get things sorted out quickly. Hopefully not an allergy or autoimmune issue, though - at least bacterial and parasitic infections are curable.

    That's a hard journey, and I hope you get things sorted out quickly. Hopefully not an allergy or autoimmune issue, though - at least bacterial and parasitic infections are curable.

    1 vote

  15. Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food

    patience_limited
    Link Parent
    Sorry to hear it - elimination diet?

    Sorry to hear it - elimination diet?

    1 vote

  16. Comment on Just be normal about things - On sleepmaxxing, beef-only diets, political hysteria, and the lost art of being reasonable in ~health.mental

    patience_limited
    Link Parent
    I'll agree that the U.S. has a deeply rooted Puritan drive to give everyone anxiety about damnation unless they devote themselves obsessively to redemptive work. The U.S. has an entire industry...

    I'll agree that the U.S. has a deeply rooted Puritan drive to give everyone anxiety about damnation unless they devote themselves obsessively to redemptive work.

    The U.S. has an entire industry devoted to promoting unattainable standards of living, physical attractiveness, and health.

    And yet, we're not alone in having extremism and hyper-optimization problems. Every culture and country globally has extreme and competitive optimisations. A few examples: Chinese university entrance exams, Korean beauty standards, Ghanaian funerals, Islamic and Jewish legal scholarship, the minute fractionation of Euro parliamentary political party affiliations, and Latin American soccer fandom. I won't even get into performative extreme religiosity.

    It's also true that globalized communications and algorithmic reinforcement help foster overvalued ideas.

    7 votes

  17. Comment on Just be normal about things - On sleepmaxxing, beef-only diets, political hysteria, and the lost art of being reasonable in ~health.mental

    patience_limited
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Depends on which "real world" you're talking about. Even before the current reinforcing social media algorithms, there've always been people with immoderate and sometimes destructive degrees of...

    Depends on which "real world" you're talking about. Even before the current reinforcing social media algorithms, there've always been people with immoderate and sometimes destructive degrees of obsession. [I had a parent with OCD, and have some tendencies in that direction myself. It's monetizable, but still an anxiety-based mental illness, and I find it distressing to see obsession promoted as a desirable lifestyle.]

    Whether it's collectible hobbyists, politics junkies, writers, mathematicians, chefs, bodybuilders, hedge fund managers, big wave riders, scientists, or beauty influencers (who were around long before the Internet), there's always been some social benefit in being the person who's "extra".

    As Westernberg pointed out in her second linked essay, that's the apocrypha behind where Buddhism started - the Gautama realized that both extreme hedonism and extreme asceticism were performative means of avoiding the present necessity for proper living.

    7 votes

  18. Comment on Just be normal about things - On sleepmaxxing, beef-only diets, political hysteria, and the lost art of being reasonable in ~health.mental

    patience_limited
    Link
    From the essay: Continued here.

    From the essay:

    For all we’re obsessed with wellness, we’re not well, are we?

    It’s not that we care too much; caring is good, and conviction is good, and discipline is good etc etc etc. Wanting to improve your life, your body, your work, your politics, your relationships, your finances, your mornings, your sleep, your habits, your dinner, your sense of meaning, all of that is fine.

    I’ll grant it.

    The sickness that concerns me is that everything has become so very totalizing.

    Nothing is allowed to be small anymore. Nothing is allowed to be moderate, partial, ordinary, seasonal, boring, or just good enough. Every preference must become an identity, every habit must become a protocol, every disagreement must become a moral emergency, every meal must become a philosophy, every viral post or breaking news item must become a referendum on civilization, every feeling must become a public performance, every hobby must become a monetized personal brand, and every single decision must be optimized, defended, aestheticized, and turned into something approximating Von Clausewitz’s total war.

    You can’t just go to bed earlier - you have to sleepmaxx.

    You can’t just eat a balanced diet - you have to eliminate seed oils, and track your glucose, fear vegetables and consume nothing but beef, drink raw milk, and talk about “ancestral living” and “blue zones” on your longevity TikTok.

    And of course, you can’t just exercise. You have to train like a tactical athlete, buy recovery wearables, plunge yourself into ice, supplement like a racehorse, and describe walking as “zone two.”

    And of course, you can’t just disagree with someone’s politics. You have to decide they’re either a fascist, a communist, a groomer, a traitor, a neoliberal shill, a terrorist sympathizer, or a brainwashed NPC.

    You can’t just dislike a movie, a celebrity, a book, a brand, a podcast, a tweet, a hairstyle, a product launch, a parenting choice, or someone’s annoying opinion.

    You have to turn it into a statement about the death of culture.

    Everyone is bloody exhausted and bloody exhausting; and somehow, the solution offered everywhere is to become more extreme. More intense. More pure. More optimized. More committed. More certain. More aligned with the right tribe. More hostile to the wrong tribe. More suspicious of ordinary pleasure. More contemptuous of ordinary compromise.
    ...
    Just be normal about things.

    Eat food that makes you feel decent. Sleep enough. Move your body. Read things that challenge your priors. Be kind to people in real life. Don’t outsource your politics to the angriest person on your feed. Don’t make your body a battleground for someone else’s theory. Don’t confuse self-improvement with self-surveillance. Don’t confuse certainty with wisdom. Don’t confuse being a dick with courage.

    Have beliefs. Have standards. Have ambition. Have taste. Have boundaries. Have causes. Have things you refuse to tolerate.

    But don’t give every part of yourself to every fight.

    Most things need attention, not obsession.

    Care, but keep your head.

    Rest, but don’t turn it into a competitive sport.

    Eat, but don’t join a cult.

    Think, but don’t let politics eat your entire personality.

    React, but not to everything, and not at full volume.

    Learn what deserves your whole self and what deserves a normal, proportionate, adult response.

    At the very least - at the bare minimum - it might make us all less annoying on Twitter.

    Continued here.

    9 votes

  20. Comment on We can fix the future, Star Trek shows us how in ~humanities

    patience_limited
    Link Parent
    Spouse is semi-retired and he's so excited about wine that he works in a winery's tasting room, picks up part time coverage at a wine shop, and volunteer teaches about wine. I garden for fun,...

    Spouse is semi-retired and he's so excited about wine that he works in a winery's tasting room, picks up part time coverage at a wine shop, and volunteer teaches about wine. I garden for fun, share some of the wine nerdery, and would definitely volunteer for vineyard tending and harvest tasks (if I didn't have a day job and my joints were up to it). Different people have different interests.

    3 votes