Science, ???, Stuff

Clara Keezer (Passamaquoddy)

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Executive dysfunction comes from a lack of available dopamine. Common advice is wrong. You need to provide your own dopamine before you can start. Otherwise you're trying to run your car on empty.

"But what if I still don't do it" well you already weren't getting it done anyway. Now you have a little treat. Try again later.

You deserve kindness and care even when you aren't being productive.

I usually suggest this technique as a "Reverse Pomodoro." In the original Pomodoro, you work for 25 minutes and then take a break for 5 minutes (the times vary, but that's the essential ratio). People with executive dysfunction often find this insurmountable, and they get even more frustrated, and then the task seems even more difficult. So instead, flip those times.

FIRST, spend 25 minutes doing something energizing and engaging that you like to do. Not scrolling social media passively, not watching tv, not napping. Try something like colouring, doing yoga, running/walking around the block, talking about your favourite tv show with someone in real time, playing with the dog or cat, making and eating a lovely sandwich, hula hooping, something active. Having a little treat absolutely falls in this category!

(on the subject of little treats: refusing yourself food until you do work is for fucking Puritans and you can be kinder to yourself)

Then, after 25 minutes (or however long it takes to eat the sandwich or finish the yoga routine, it doesn't have to be exact), spend 5 minutes writing (or doing whatever you're struggling to start). Most people can coax themselves into doing something they find difficult for five minutes, if they have already filled up the joy/energy/engagement bucket. You can put a timer on for the 5 minutes if you want, or if you find that annoying, just work for as long as you like.

The other key is: don't push yourself to keep going when you're frustrated or tired—that will just reinforce the negative belief that you already have, which tells you that this task is painful to do, and needs to be avoided. If you've commonly had to force yourself to do this kind of task, that's likely part of why you think of it as painful and have trouble starting it now. Also, you should just, at a basic level, try not to put yourself in pain for the sake of productivity. So just do it till the good feelings run out. Then start hula hooping or colouring again for another 25 minutes. When the tank's refilled, try another 5 minutes of work, if you can. Adjust times to taste.

Yes, yes, tolerating frustration is an important skill, we all know that one. But I have exams to pass, a household to attend to, a life to live, and not training myself to hate things I will spend hours on each week happens to make that easier. I really recommend that.

1. The court holds Google responsible for statements made by its AI, considering them Google's statements (search engines have limited liability for results in their engine as they're the words of other sites/companies/people), meaning when their AI lies/hallucinates they're liable for the defamation/harm resulting from those statements.

2. Google's defense that customers are generally aware of the lack of reliability and are responsible for fact checking was dismissed. As the court pointed out, that would "significantly diminish" AI Search's stated purpose and it can't be distinguished from Google's business practices/statements as a search tool.

3. Studies have found about 91% of Google's everyday AI responses are accurate, leaving millions of searches per HOUR with potential liability for falsehoods. 56% of correct responses weren't supported by the sources the AI listed. Both of which mean Google is now liable for a LOT more AI "errors."

4. Google was held liable for 80% of court costs in this case and this precedent is expected to reverberate around the world. This is a massive shift from the 3rd-party search provider role Google has previously played and it comes right as they've tied ALL searches to their AI search.

cost of education acting as class barrier

exploitation of graduate workers

colonialist past and present

ties to military industrial complex

danger of power structure entrenching and justifying orthodox views on social issues

criticisms of academia that get made:

An open-air museum this month! The oldest one in Germany, according to themselves, which I am not sure how reliable that claim is; I haven't fact-checked.

Three 17th century buildings, all taken from their original places and re-built in the Heinrich-Heine-Park in Rudolstadt, Thüringen. Obviously not enough for a real museum village, but a lovely little 3-sided farm complex with 2 houses and a barn.

All 3 beautiful timber frame houses

It's tiny, but I was very surprised by how well-curated the whole thing was. Often, with things like this, the buildings are overstuffed, there's just lots of vaguely historical-looking objects thrown in, yk? Here, the rooms really looked like someone might love there; not bare, but also not messy.

Time-wise, objects were kind of all over the place, but I feel that is authentic for this kind of historical farm.

Old farm furniture is often richly painted; you can find historical closets like this at antique shops sometimes, often they will have the names or initials of the owners, and the year they were made.

Closet bed!

The best tiled stove I have ever seen in my life, I want this in my house so had.

A wedding chest. The brides trousseau would be packed in here. Also often used to show off a family's wealth.

I just love how detailed everything was. Aesthetics are one of the fundamental things that make us human. Throughout history, it was never enough for things to be just functional, they must be beautiful as well.

The highlight of the whole thing was this recreation of an apothecary. I just love old shop furniture like this, the dozens of tiny drawers, all neatly labeled, the counter, the scales. I also learned something about traveling pharmacists! Which apparently were a thing that existed, and they were respected too, they had certificates and everything. Idk why I never considered that this was an occupation, but it makes sense. This area used to be very rural and isolated; of course there'd be all sorts of traveling craftsmen and merchants.

Of course there also was a spinning/weaving room, but unfortunately, I could only look in through the door. Would have loved a closer look at that loom.

Look at this yarn winder with a built-in measuring function! It's so clever, and I want something like this so bad.

Cake! It looked very nice, but unfortunately was mediocre at best.

Some more impressions:

it's not a hot take to say that the mass amnesia about fiberwork is linked to the belittlement of women's work in geneal, but i do think there's a special kind of illusion that is cast by "cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children." you hear that and think "well i cook and clean and take care of children (or i know someone who does) and i have a sense of how much work that is" and you know of course that cooking and cleaning were more laborious before modern technology, but still, you have a ballpark estimate you think, when in fact you are drastically underestimating the work load.

A simple dress or robe that covers an adult from shoulders to mid-calf will usually take about two yards of fabric.

for the longest time my goals have been so blurry that they track into each other, their undefined edges slipping quietly back into the soft night. today i want to be a writer; tomorrow i will want to be a doctor, later i will wish i took that law school free ride. how the fuck do people just know what they want to do with their life?

where do you want to be in five years? i want to be alive; which is a huge step for me. ten years ago i would have said i want to be asleep and meant i hope that i'm dead by then.

but i want a yellow kitchen and a stand mixer. i want a garden and a fruit tree (cherry, if i can make that happen) and a big yard for my dogs to play in. i want to come home and read poetry out loud to someone and have them close their eyes to listen. i want a summer watergun fight. i want to make snowmen. i want to be the house to go to for halloween. i want my life to settle around me in a softness, for it to lay down gently. if i am very, very, very lucky, i want to travel; finally go someplace overseas.

of course i don't know what i want to be doing professionally. what i actually want to be doing is curling up beside my dog, settling in to read. i want to be making myself a cup of good coffee.

i can't answer the other questions. whenever people asked me what do you want to be when you grow up, i used to say i hope i'm happy.

i hope i'm still kind, five years from now. i hope i never get jaded and mean. i hope i have stayed in therapy. what do you picture yourself doing? when will you actually be an adult about this? why are you so afraid of being ambitious?

First off: THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. One of my besties is an ICU nurse and holy shit the things you people do to keep the rest of us alive...

Anyway, you're a working person in an important field. That's very different from applying to undergrad as an untested lil high school student. Which means you have lots more options for funding!

I'll link to our guide to paying for higher ed below, but one of the things you might look into is if your current hospital employer has any programs for funding employees' "continuing education." They might have grants or partial tuition reimbursement available. And if that's the case, you should look carefully at the requirements: they might require you to work for them for a specific number of years after receiving your new degree, or to maintain a specific GPA.

How To Pay for College Without Selling Your Soul to the Devil 

What We Talk About When We Talk About Student Loans 

I went to graduate school for a PhD in engineering in 2020 (defended last summer) and paid maybe $800/year to the school (just some weird activity fee, idk). I had full tuition remission AND health insurance AND a stipend to live on (initially $34k, ended at $37.5k). I did an interdisciplinary program and was involved slightly in our unionization effort, so I knew people in our biology PhD programs, and they also got full tuition remission and a comparable stipend.

The advice I got when I was considering applying for grad school and talking to grad students I knew was, "don't ever pay for a PhD, don't go to a place that you need to self-fund," and it wasn't difficult to take that advice.

Acetaminophen/paracetamol has a hard stop upper dose limit, above which it becomes extremely toxic.

That limit is 4g (8 “extra strength” (500mg) tablets) in 24 hours (about 2 tablets every 6 hours).

A single dose of 22 extra strength tablets can kill you.

Taking 12 or more tablets per day for more than a week can also kill you (this is about 3 tablets every 6 hours).

Symptoms of overdose take up to 24 hours to manifest, and are fairly difficult to distinguish from other problems. They include abdominal pain (especially right upper quadrant), nausea, malaise, and confusion.

The antidote (n-acetylcystine) must be given within 8hours of ingestion in order to be useful.

After 10 hours the only thing that will work is a liver transplant.

You might think “why would I ever accidentally take so much?”

Well, acetaminophen is in almost everything in the cold/flu/pain aisle. Migraine combos like Excedrin, cold and flu combos like NyQuil, basically anything that says “non-aspirin pain relief”, and anything that’s branded as a fever reducer. It’s all probably acetaminophen/paracetamol.