New study explains why ‘doomscrolling’ is bad for your brain - "In a recent study published in the Journal of Computers in Human Behavior Reports, a team of researchers found there was a connection between doomscrolling and feelings of existential anxiety, despair, distrust, and suspicion of others after surveying over 800 university students from the US and Iran. According to Flinders University researcher Reza Shabahang, who is the study’s lead author, constant exposure to negative news can turn into a “source of vicarious trauma”, causing viewers and readers to feel as though they’re experiencing secondhand trauma... Doomscrolling typically occurs when people consume negative or depressing content on social media for excessive periods of time."
When I get jealous of people, I use that envy as a guidepost. Here's how it led me to quit my prestigious Big Law job. - "While I enjoyed my time in Big Law, the working hours could be unpredictable, depending on who you worked with. Chances are you might end up in a weird ecosystem where people think it's strange if you disappear for an hour at 7 p.m. or aren't reachable within half an hour on weekends. Besides strict working hour standards, there were also a lot of strong personalities. I once worked with people who were upset if I didn't respond within eight minutes, and some partners would hold 1 a.m. team conference calls. So, if I worked for them, I had to adhere to that schedule, too. Sometimes, I went to work thinking it would be a normal day, but I'd get a lot of last-minute ad hoc tasks and would have to work late into the night. Working without knowing what the exact hours were was mentally challenging. My brain was working 24/7, constantly checking my phones for fire drills or emergencies. People may wonder why the average Big Law salary is $200,000, even for people with zero experience — it's because they're paying for our availability and ability to be very good administrators and facilitators... I realized in the end that I would never be fulfilled even as an equity partner because once I made it, I would become obsessed with the next goal — there's always the next thing I think I need to do, and I never reached a point where I thought, "I'm so happy; this is my dream." The happiness I felt was so fleeting, and I quickly forgot it and returned to feeling dissatisfied. Sometimes, I wondered why I still felt lonely and even cried every day after getting what I wanted for so long. Then, I realized I wasn't tired of chasing goals — I was just weirded out by how unfulfilling they were."
Travel safety concerns rise as TikToker advises risky destinations - "TikToker "manishs_" posted a video. He stated that if you want to go on vacation, it's best to choose a country where a terrorist attack has just occurred... flight tickets to the country shortly after a terrorist attack would be incredibly cheap, which is always tempting for travellers. Second, because most people avoid such a country, tourists would primarily encounter local residents, which also sounds appealing. Finally, security in the country shortly after a terrorist attack would be at the highest possible level to ensure it does not happen again."
A genius or a horrid idea? Timers in restrooms at Yungang Grottoes trigger tourist backlash - "the Chinese authorities decided to install timers in the restrooms at the Yungang Grottoes at the beginning of May. Digital timers were installed above each stall to measure the time spent in the restroom from the moment the door is closed until the person exits."
Europe's biggest phone manufacturer plans new device for Gen Z teens - "Europe's biggest phone manufacturer is planning a new device for the Gen Z teens embracing digital detox as an alternative to traditional smartphones. Human Mobile Devices (HMD) vows that users wouldn't be able to install social media platforms like Facebook or TikTok on the planned device... The manufacturer says the new phone they want to create would offer parents the ability to control their child's screen time and social media use, with the hope of thereby improving their mental health... The plans come as a new study of 10,000 parents in five European countries, including the UK, has revealed that the majority regrets buying a smartphone for their child. On average, children are 11 years old when they receive their first phone and more than half the parents in the study said that they wish they had waited longer to hand the device to their children. Almost half of parents believe mobile phone use has changed their child's personality, with a third claiming their child has body image issues due to their phones... About 70 per cent of the surveyed parents in the UK, US, India, Germany and Australia claimed that their smartphone-free childhood meant they engaged more with their family. More than half said that their child's phone use is a source of big arguments and a third have cried over their child's phone obsession. According to the findings, three-quarters of parents think their children will see their phones more during the summer break from school, with 64 per cent saying it will negatively impact their sleep. Furthermore, 61 per cent think it will reduce the amount of physical activity they take, and more than half worried that it will reduce the amount of time they spend socialising with friends. But more than half of parents agreed that smartphones can have a positive impact on their children and benefit them educationally during the summer break as well as by enabling them to keep in touch with their friends. Other key points to emerge from the global survey include almost 75 per cent of parents fearing smartphones expose their children to internet dangers, with more than half admitting they don't know what their children get up to when using their phones."
Research reveals ideal number of steps per day - "Researchers analyzed data from tens of thousands of individuals across four continents and determined a more convenient figure: the optimal daily step count is 6000, depending on your age. Walking more than this is beneficial for health but may not significantly impact longevity... In 2021, a specific study involving middle-aged participants revealed that taking 7000 steps a day reduces the risk of premature death by 50-70%. For adults aged 60 and older, the norm is between 6000 and 8000 steps per day, while for younger individuals, 8000 to 10,000 steps daily is considered optimal. The study also showed that physical activity of at least half an hour a day can be just as beneficial as a walk, especially for those with a sedentary lifestyle. Incorporating strength training in old age helps keep the brain sharp and hearts and bones healthy."
Effect of Intermittent Fasting Diet on Glucose and Lipid Metabolism and Insulin Resistance in Patients with Impaired Glucose and Lipid Metabolism: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis - "The question of whether or not intermittent fasting diets improve the clinical indicators of glycolipid metabolism remains unclear. This study systematically reviewed the relevant clinical trials to evaluate the effects of intermittent fasting diet on glucose and lipid metabolism and insulin sensitivity in patients with metabolic syndrome. To evaluate the effect of intermittent fasting diet intervention on patients with disorders of glucose and lipid metabolism, random-effect or fixed-effect meta-analysis models were used to calculate the average difference before and after intermittent fasting diet intervention and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). After intermittent fasting diet intervention, in terms of glucose metabolism, fasting blood glucose reduced by 0.15 mmol/L (95% CI: −0.23; −0.06), glycosylated hemoglobin reduced by 0.08 (95% CIs: −0.25; −0.10), insulin plasma levels reduced by 13.25 uUI (95% CIs: −16.69; −9.82), and HOMA-IR decreased by 0.31 on an average (95% CIs: −0.44; −0.19). In addition, BMI decreased by 0.8 kg/m2 (95% CIs: −1.32; −0.28), body weight reduced by 1.87 kg (95% CIs: −2.67; −1.07), and the waist circumference decreased by 2.08 cm (95% CIs: −3.06; −1.10). Analysis of lipid metabolism showed that intermittent fasting diet intervention effectively reduced the total cholesterol level by 0.32 mmol/L (95% CIs: −0.60; −0.05), low-density lipoprotein level by 0.22 mmol/L (95% CIs: −0.37; −0.07), and triglyceride level by 0.04 mmol/L (95% CIs: −0.15; −0.07). Intermittent fasting diets have certain therapeutic effects on blood glucose and lipids in patients with metabolic syndrome and significantly improve insulin resistance. It may be considered as an auxiliary treatment to prevent the occurrence and development of chronic diseases."
Flat cap - Wikipedia - "A 1571 Act of the English Parliament was enacted to stimulate domestic wool consumption and general trade. It decreed that on Sundays and holidays, all males over 6 years of age, except for the nobility and "persons of degree", were to wear woolen caps or pay a fine of three farthings per day (equivalent to £1.41 in 2023). The Act was not repealed until 1597"
Why are Today's Chickens Bigger? - "In the 1920’s, the average chicken at market weight was 2.5 pounds and the U.S. population to feed was 115 million. Through a number of improvements in breeding, nutrition, veterinary care and bird health, today’s chicken farmers are able to raise bigger and healthier birds faster – an average of about 6 pounds at market weight today, to feed the current U.S. population of approximately 320 million."
Meme - "Im never lonely cuz i got these little guys with me *floaters*"
Meme - Alexander Anrai: "The intel ceo"
Pat Gelsinger: ""Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways" Proverbs 4:@5-26"
Daniel @growing _daniel: "Dawg it's over look at my CEO's tweets after that earnings call"
Schödinger's Blowjob : r/copypasta - "Imagine you're blindfolded and you're getting the best raw pornstar-grade blowjob in the entire universe. The catch is, however, that you'll never figure out who's giving you that god-tier awesome schmösome sloppy toppy unless you take the blindfold off. It could be anybody, Ariana Grande, Ben Shapiro, Harold from the 7-11 near my house, or even your uncle's neighbour's fireman's cat. Now the question is: would you take off the blindfold and find out who the person/thing behind the stupendous jimmy-nibbler is and risk permanently scarring yourself, or would you keep the blindfold on and continue having your knob slobbed till your spirit hits the sky?"
Meme - cousin greg: "Hey, what do mummies do when they catch you? Like, a zombie eats your brain, a vampire drinks your blood, what does a mummy do? Do they just beat you up"
Meme - "If 1/3 of all vaginas on Earth were suddenly filled with cement, and you were tasked with dealing with the subject on a children's show, how would you go about it? I was thinking about how Sesame Street dealt with 9/11 and was wondering how one might do a similar episode, except if the situation were that of vaginas on Earth were suddenly filled with cement." - u/IN_A_WUHAN_LAB
"Suppose your boyfriend fills your vagina with cement in your sleep. How do you get revenge?" - u/IN_A_WUHAN_LAB
"What's a fate worse than one's vagina being filled with cement?" - u/IN_A_WUHAN_LAB
North Ronaldsay sheep - Wikipedia - "The semi-feral flock on North Ronaldsay is the original flock that evolved to subsist almost entirely on seaweed – they are one of few mammals to do this. They are confined to the foreshore by a 1.8 m (6 ft) drystane dyke, which completely encircles the island, forcing the sheep to evolve this unusual characteristic. The wall was built as kelping (the production of soda ash from seaweed) on the shore became uneconomical. Sheep were confined to the shore to protect the fields and crofts inside, and afterwards subsisted largely on seaweed."
Meme - T-shirt back: "BLONDES 17 OR 18! APPROACH ME IF:
YOU'RE 17 WHICH IS THE AGE OF CONSENT IN ILLINOIS AND YOU ALSO LIVE IN ILLINOIS OR 18 IF You LIVE IN A DIFFERENT STATE AND YOU FIND ME PHYSicALLY ATTRACTIVE AND WANT TO HAVE A ONE-NIGHT STAND OR BE FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS. I'M A BIG HANDSOME MAN wHo's 6' 4", BIG-BONED, AND BROAD-SHOULDERED WITH STRAIGHT THICK DARK BROWN HAIR, DEEP-SET ALMOND-SHAPED HAZEL EYES AND ANGLED EYEBROWS. A STRAIGHT LONG AND NARROW UPTURNED NOSE, DOWNTURNED LIPS, AND A TRIANGLE FACE SHAPE. I WAS BORN IN 1998, I'M SHY, I HAVE SOCIAL ANXIETY, AND *SOMETHING* ASPERGER'S, AND I'M MOSTLY ATTRACTED TO BLONDES. AND I WANT MY FIRST TIME TO BE WITH ONE WHO'S THE YOUNGEST LEGAL AGE POSSIBLE WHICH IS 17 IF WE BOTH LIVE IN ILLINOIS OR 18 IF WE LIVE IN DIFFERENT STATES. BECAUSE IT'S ILLEGAL EVEN IF YOU'RE ALSO A MINOR TO TRAVEL INTERSTATE OR INTERNATIONALLY TO HAVE SEX WITH MINORS AND TO TRANSPORT MINORS TO YOUR STATE OR TO PERSUADE, INDUCE, ENTICE, OR CoERcE MINORS TO TRAVEL INTERSTATE REGARDLESS OF THE AGE OF CONSENT IN EACH STATE OR OTHER COUNTRIES"
Meme - "Wherever the cum lands is where we're going on vacation *woman with tattoo of world map like in an old school atlas on back*"
Meme - "When you're watching porn in india and you get confused if the noise is coming from the phone or someone is getting raped outside"
Meme - "Stripper pole for trailer hitch
$1,234
Trade me something *fat woman with no shorts standing on tailgate of pickup truck showing middle finger*"
The North Sea Floods of 1953 – Swords to Ploughshares - "After the immediate rescue and recovery activities had completed there were many gaps in the sea defences to close. Most of these were completed in a relatively short period but some of the larger and more complex gaps would need a great deal of heavy duty construction. Compounding the reconstruction was the twice daily tide and amount of damage. The Allies had previously used surplus D Day Phoenix Mulberry Harbour caissons for a similar task in 1945 and 1946 on the island of Walcheren so the same technique was proposed. After extensive scale modelling eight Phoenix caissons were floated over from the UK although some were lost in heavy seas during the journey."
Who's Your Daddy? (2005 TV series) - Wikipedia - "Who's Your Daddy? is an American reality television special broadcast by the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox). The 90 minute special premiered on January 3, 2005, and starred actress T. J. Myers. The special depicted eight men in competition for a $100,000 reward over who could best convince Myers, a woman who was adopted, that they were her biological father. One of the contestants, however, actually was Myers's biological father. Myers had the opportunity to interview and observe each contestant before making a determination on which man was her biological father. If Myers incorrectly selected a contestant as her biological father, the contestant won the reward. Conversely, if she correctly determined which contestant was her biological father, Myers won the reward."
Actual Fact Bot: Revived | Facebook - "In Finland, city planners are known to visit parks immediately after the first snowfall, when the existing walking paths are not visible. People naturally choose desire paths, clearly marked by their footprints, which can be then used to guide the routing of new purpose-built paved paths."
Meme - "Jeremy Gray is feeling aggravated.: People are fucking assholes man."
Eric Koval: "It's called anal and it's been going on for a long time..."
Meme - "when you lose your son to heroin but you're kinda glad your family no longer has to eat cereal with a fork"
Indian passenger, Guru Sewak Singh, disguises himself as senior citizen to board Air Canada flight - "A 24-year-old Indian man with ties to human trafficking disguised himself as a senior citizen in an attempt to board a Canada-bound flight, but his youthful characteristics didn’t match the older man he claimed to be. Officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport detained Guru Sewak Singh after they noticed multiple discrepancies in his appearance... Singh, who was heading for an Air Canada flight, had dyed his facial hair white as he tried to replicate the passport photo of Rashvindar Singh Sahota, a 67-year-old from Punjab. Along with dyeing his hair, Singh sported a pair of glasses, but his skin texture and youthful-sounding voice were a dead giveaway to airport officials... In 2019, a 32-year-old man dressed himself up like a white-haired, wheelchair-bound senior in his 80s as he tried to board a New York-bound flight at the same Delhi airport. Jayesh Patel wheeled his way into Indira Gandhi International Airport, refusing to be frisked because he claimed to be too frail to stand, according to the CISF."
Kerala: 'Big breasted women' available in Jannat, claims Maulana Qasmi - "Maulana EP Abubakar Qasmi has triggered controversy in Kerala after he recounted the advantages of being a Muslim. In his speech, Maulana revealed what Muslims get in ‘Jannat’ or paradise. According to EP Abubakar Qasmi, who gave Islamic speeches in Malayalam, ‘women with big breasts’ are found in paradise. Protests ensued after the offensive language was used by Maulana Qasmi on women as his speeches are popular with Muslims on social media. Maulana Qasmi further claimed that rivers of wine flow in paradise along with gardens and big bungalows. He went on and said that the women who were in Allah’s paradise neither urinate nor defecate. He also added that Muslims going to Paradise get the privilege of sitting in the lap of the ‘Hoors’ there... Maulana Abubakar said that in Paradise, Muslims do not have to stand in long lines outside liquor shops, because everything in paradise was for free and its quantity is unlimited. Maulana Qasmi then claimed that the ‘hoors’ of heaven do not even have the power to think and understand."
Why McDonald's and Burger King Struggled to Conquer Vietnam 🍔🇻🇳 - "The fast-food chains seem to have underestimated the competition from local street vendors"
This doesn't explain why in other countries with delicious street food, Western fast food succeeds
Robert J. Sawyer » Blog Archive » WordStar for DOS 7.0 Archive - "As you all know, I continue to use WordStar for DOS 7.0 as my word-processing program. It was last updated in December 1992, and the company that made it has been defunct for decades; the program is abandonware. There was no proper archive of WordStar for DOS 7.0 available online, so I decided to create one. I’ve put weeks of work into this. Included are not only full installs of the program (as well as images of the installation disks), but also plug-and-play solutions for running WordStar for DOS 7.0 under Windows, and also complete full-text-searchable PDF versions of all seven manuals that came with WordStar — over a thousand pages of documentation... And it’s true that the WordStar die-hard community is pretty small these days (George R.R. Martin still uses the even-older WordStar 4.0). But the program has been a big part of my career — not only did I write all 25 of my novels and almost all of my short stories with it (a few date back to the typewriter era), I also in my earlier freelance days wrote hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles with WordStar."
Meme - i/o @eyeslasho: "The average IQ of a person with a graduate degree today is about 105 (barely above average). In some of the less rigorous fields (like education) it's likely below 100 (below the population average). In the 1960s, the average IQ of a person with a graduate degree was about 115."
Coddled affluent professional @feelsdesperate: "I predict that in the next 10 years we will start seeing functionally illiterate people obtaining PhDs."
Meme - "why is he calling another dude "babe"?"
"People are gay, Steve"
"thats ok but i thought gay dudes would call each other hotcock or some gay shit not babe .. babe is a straight guy word"
Meme - "Anonymous. Not gay
Ok so I'm not gay but I'm Swedish and have a fantasy where Germany win world war two and Sweden needs to export aryan twink boipussy slaves to high ranking SS officers for pleasure. I imagine I'm a shy little blonde twink with smooth pale skin and being brought into komedant heinrichs bedroom to give him pleasure. He is a tall broad shoulders kraut with a jawline that could cut a diamond and with massive daddy muscles and I'm a pathetic skinny little boipussy twink. He pulls me into his arms force kissing me and pressing my chest against his. He pins me down on the bed tearing my cute /il virgin panties off, he has waited for this for a long time. He teases my boipussy with his massive thicc German cock and then he goes all in. Fucking me with a force I've never felt before. Every thrust makes him moan with pleasure. I love the fact I give him pleasure. He cums deep into my sissy swede guts, breeding my booty hole then he cuddles me with his strong masculine German arms until I fall asleep on his chest. Any other straight guys have similar fantasies?"
Meme - Busty witch carrying 2 chests: "Hup~ Hup~"
Man: "Those look heavy. Shall I help you carry them?"
Busty witch: "My~ Thank you~"
wobble. wobble. wobble
Busty witch on man holding her breasts: "Ara~ This is really so comfortable!"
Richard Hanania on X - "Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno: “It’s time for politicians to stand up and take tough questions. We owe it to our voters.” Reporter: “What do you think about abortion?” Moreno: “I’m not here to talk about that!” 😂"
Thread by @the_megabase on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - " genuinely shocking to me that study after study shows that social scientists are no better than regular people at high-level social science predictions: whether studies will replicate, which "nudge" interventions work, how social attitudes will change a thread of examples: (to be clear, we're not even talking about superforecasters here, just regular joes) social scientists, applied and academic, were no better - if anything, possibly worse - than regular people at predicting which interventions would increase gym visits:
social scientists *were* substantially worse than regular people at predicting which interventions would make people more likely to get a covid vaccine: (see pic, which also includes a rather rosy description of the next study in this thread)
regular people had larger absolute error (as is often the case) when predicting the effect of incentives on performance of a boring task, but their rankings of the interventions were as good as social scientists':
social scientists were no more accurate than regular people at predicting or *retrospectively assessing* the social consequences of the covid-19 pandemic:
in a follow-up paper to the one above, social scientists were usually no better than regular people at predicting how general social attitudes would change over time:
regular people are about as good at social scientists at predicting which studies will replicate:
in estimating gender bias in hiring over time, regular joes' predictions were more extreme than academics' - again, typical - but correlations with real values were very similar, and both made the same mistakes, e.g. thinking there is still bias vs women:
(not grinding a political axe by mentioning the above, that's just what the study says!)
for fairness, here are some papers concluding that social scientists are better than laypeople at various prediction tasks:
1) long-term effects of rct interventions - note studies were mostly in africa (and afghanistan) with predictors in the west:
2) which interventions make people less likely to click "anti-democratic" options in online surveys (...)
3) mask-wearing nudges on democrats and republicans. but - i plotted the results, and it seems most laypeople didn't fully understand the (poorly worded) prediction question and mostly assessed general dem vs rep mask attitudes, not intervention effects..
a recurring result in these is that expertise level (undergrad vs professor) doesn't matter for accuracy, expert field (economics vs marketing) barely matters - training might make you better at publishing papers in a field, but not (clearly) better at giving actionable advice a blunt analogy: if a bunch of people went around getting "metereology" phds, and calling themselves "metereologists", but it turned out they were no better than random people at predicting if it would rain tomorrow, i would be annoyed. this is how i see a lot of social science."
Trust the experts!