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Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real: Nature.com

Summer sees both a drop off in donations and, at least for our trauma center, a spike in traumas. Trauma centers across the US are in danger of running out of blood for our trauma patients TODAY, which is very scary but, unlike much of the other scary national news coming across our screens these days, is something you can help fix immediately and directly.

Many things that previously made people ineligible have been rolled back. If you previously thought you were ineligible, please consider checking current guidelines!

While O- is the most dire need as it can be safely given to anyone in an emergency, all types are needed! Our emergent release blood is being pulled for patients who have a high chance of death if they don't get blood within the hour. Once they're stabilized, they can have their type confirmed and get blood of a specific, matching type released to them so that O- can go to the patients who need it most.

me: sweet hit me with the good stuff

media: so there's this marginalized underclass of people, right?

me: okay

media: and they're like, stigmatized for something that's mostly an aspect of how they are born, or where they're from, or they're badly misunderstood, right?

me: yup, got it, I'm with ya

media: so these people are rebelling against the current social order, because it's the instrument of their suffering

me: oh good great sure

media: but also they're violent and deranged and need to be stopped

me: ...what

media: yeah they're going too far, they're trying to overthrow the system and assassinate the nice cop trying to help them and also they burned down an orphanage

me: ...why? would they burn down an orphanage??

media: extremism is bad

me: still not seeing what this has to do with their fight though???

media: also now they've shot a dog. oops they shot another dog

me: what?! why? I though their motive was to overthrow oppression??

media: yes but their suffering has also made them evil

me: ...???

media: don't worry though, the good guys will defeat them and restore the status quo

me: the status quo that's been killing people?

media: well it turns out it was only killing the kinds of awful people who burn down orphanages and shoot dogs :)

me: oh. this is actually a pro-authoritarian story, isn't it?

this was in the tags of a very funny screenshot and i didnt want to derail there, so i will make a new post: dishwashers manufactured after 2013 take MUCH less water than washing dishes by hand. it seems counterintuitive but it is provably true and has been tested extensively. if you are washing dishes by hand as a way to lower utility bills you are shooting yourself in the foot. dishwashers also sterilize dishes and in general are much much much much cleaner than hand washing, which becomes extra important if you live with anyone who has immune issues, long covid, cancer, etc. if you tried to hand wash your dishes with the temperature possible inside a dishwasher you would get serious burns. it's not physically possible to hand wash dishes and get them cleaner (as in, the amount of bacteria and other contaminants on the surface) than you can with a dishwasher. its almost like an autoclave in there

also do not use sponges to clean things but thats a different post

oh my god i went looking for the sponge bacteria post and found these tags. everyone on this website needs to pay attention in school when they teach you about germ theory. i personally know four people who became permanently crippled from getting basic bacterial food poisoning once. bacteria does in fact make you drop dead, but more often it just makes you permanently ill for the rest of your life. i know "hygiene hypothesis" (being too clean makes you sicker in the long run) was big for a while in the 2000s but its been mostly debunked

it's obvious and inarguable that having a dishwasher at all is a first world thing, and only the wealthy or lucky members of the first world. it's a luxury. what im trying to say is that if you have access to one of these luxury machines, please use it. i run into so many people who have dishwashers and dont use them and then backpat themselves about water saving and cleanliness, both of which are measurably worse with handwashing. its not virtuous or practical or efficient to wash dishes by hand if you have a functional dishwasher.

Also, you don't need to rinse the dishes off before loading. That just wastes more water. Modern dishwashers use bladed impellers (basically a mini garbage disposer) that chops up organic stuff on its way down the drain. So as long as you're not tossing bones or huge chunks of food in there, it can cope with normal amounts of detritus. If you've got an absolutely filthy load of dishes, you can toss a 2nd detergent pod into the cutlery basket as a pre-washing treat.

@croaksac linked to this excellent Technology Connections video about dishwashers in another reblog chain, here it is

The way I explain it to my patients is that our neurons don’t regenerate. They make connections with each other and that’s it. If you don’t use your brain, they make fewer connections and, if one of them dies, you’re gonna miss it, because that was the only one that knew how to do X. Now, if each one of them has many, many connections, you won’t notice the difference when one of them dies. The others pick up the slack.

As of 2024, 45% of dementia risk factors are modifiable. Relevant to this conversation, 5% for less education and 5% for social isolation.

We absolutely are going to see the reflection of this, but it’s gonna take decades and it’ll be too late. So, for the love of your brain, pretend that it’s a muscle and make it work. People complain about “when am I ever gonna use this maths formula in my life?” You’re not. You’re teaching your brain to think logically. Those sinapses will be there for when you need to figure out your week’s schedule. English classes taught me how to interpret data and how to convey it in this text so it’s clear and you understand what I’m saying, not because I needed to justify why the curtain is blue.

Make your brain know how to do different things. Logic games, puzzles, taking care of a garden even if small, planning a church’s event or birthday, learn a new instrument, learn a few words in another language, look at a calendar every day, do some manual labor if possible. Do not, I repeat, do not let your brain get rid of sinapses by letting AI do everything. Your brain uses 20% of your body’s energy — do you really think it’s going to maintain connexions that aren’t in use?

Most cases of Alzheimer’s are sporadic, meaning no family history. Family history of a first-degree relative with Alzheimer’s starting before they were 80yo increases your risk in 2-3x on average.