#longpost

ilajue:

ilajue:

saiient:

ilajue:

ilajue:

tiktok sea shanty (cant find it on YouTube but it’s one of my favorite videos it’s a tumblr post)

do you not feel filled with love?

these are some of the videos I found nd loved

hope they make you smile!

trinket-the-bear:

wild-west-wind:

wild-west-wind:

You know what fantasy writing needs? Working class wizards.

• A crew of enchanters maintaining the perpetual flames that run the turbines that generate electricity, covered in ash and grime and stinking of hot chilies and rare mushrooms used for the enchantments
• A wizard specializing in construction, casting feather fall on every worker, and enchanting every hammer to drive nails in straight, animating the living clay that makes up the core of the crane
• An elderly wizard and her apprentice who transmute fragile broken objects. From furniture, to rotten wood beams, to delicate jewelry
• A battle magician, trained with only a few rudimentary spells to solve a shortage of trained wizards on the front who uses his healing spells to help folks around town
• Wizarding shops where cheery little mages enchant wooden blocks to be hammered into the sides of homes. Hammer this into the attic and it will scare off termites, toss this in the fire and clean your chimney, throw this in the air and all dust in the room gets sucked up
• Wizard loggers who transmute cut trees into solid, square beams, reducing waste, and casting spells to speed up regrowth. The forest, they know, will not be too harsh on them if the lost tree’s children may grow in its place
• Wizard farmers who grow their crops in arcane sigils to increase yield, or produce healthier fruit
• Factory wizards who control a dozen little constructs that keep machines cleaned and operational, who cast armor to protect the hands of workers, and who, when the factory strikes for better wages, freeze the machines in place to ensure their bosses can’t bring anyone new in.

Anyway, think about it.

• Construction wizards to turn back time to root out wood worm and strengthen old buildings.
• A wizard tailors who transmutes cloth into fully made clothes without seems and leaving behind no scraps
• A wizard who works in public transit, timing out teleports with detailed schedules, time magic, and enchanted communications, sending dozens of people to far away cities for a day or work or leisure
• A team of wizard gardeners tend to trees grown far outside their native range, and ideal climate, encircled with runes and fed potions to grow none the less
• A wizard sits in their office in the aqueduct, re-casting the spells that allow its precious water to flow to the city uphill
• A wizard fisher casts water repelling spells on the sailors and the stairs, keeps the hoist on the anchor from rusting, casts balls of heat that keep everyone warm below decks. Their real job is to herd fish together so they can be caught in single huge nets, and keep them cold as the boat returns to land.

There are so many possibilities outside of “stodgy academic who wears ugly robes” and “Very good holy man who helps everyone and the fact they’ve never had a job is never brought up” and “evil wizard toiling away on great evils in his evil tower in the evil country.”

• Wizards who come out and ward your home for you, like the magical equivalent of a home security system.
  

humanmessofaperson:

The Captain from Ghosts ~ Requested by Anon

Boolognese

swan2swan:

smute:

ralfmaximus:

white-throated-packrat:

brokenmachine3553:

commiemartyrshighschool:

annoyingalchemist:

guerrillatech:

Ok so can someone explain to me how cryptocurrency pollutes? Like what crazy calculations are they running that they need enough brainpower to significantly effect things? Like I’m assuming what’s causing the pollution is increased electricity consumption but… how does sending lil pretend money tokens back and forth or whatever cause so much pollution?

Also, what the fuck is “mining”? How d'you mine… like bitcoin is not a naturally occurring resource, and I assume that you can’t just make it, cause that would make it instantly worthless… help?

So you get “coins” as a reward for performing the cryptographic calculations necessary to update the public ledger which is the blockchain. This is, by design, an increasingly complex and resource intensive process to slow down the collection of (intentionally finite) coins.

So every transaction with bitcoins requires the ledger to be updated with the current ownership of every already existing bitcoin, which also requires encrypting and decrypting a bunch of information and sharing it across the public ledger. So every transaction made with bitcoins increases the energy requirements of updating the ledger making it harder and harder to complete the latest version and get the coin which is a reward for doing that work.

There’s a lot I don’t fully understand myself but the long and short of it is that the actual value of any crypto currency is pretty much just what people agree on, except instead of a fiat currency where a government says it’s worth something and a mint that makes physical currency, there’s a bunch of nerds who agree that solving certain math problems is worth rewarding.

Feeling like adding on for a bit of context, I know it’s kind of hard to understand how mining for really any kind of crypto is hard to imagine, but seeing what a bitcoin mining facility looks like for the first time really helped me realize just how energy intensive it is.

See all these warehouses? They’re quite literally filled to the brim with specialized computers that do nothing but mine, each one filled with thousands of these computers, just row after row of this:

So all the power consumption winds up adding up like crazy.

Yep, that’s why cryptocurrency and NFTs are considered major contributors to pollution – because the energy needs of all those computers doing the calculation are equivalent to a medium sized country. Currently, crypto consumes more energy than Argentina.

Guess what’s inside a lot of mining rigs? Gowan, guess.

Graphics cards! 

Lots and lots of these puppies side by side, spinning their little fans as fast as they can go because as it turns out: GPUs are perfect for doing the calculations required for mining cryptocurrency.

Which means amateur miners buy a lot of these things.

So many, in fact, that there is now (May 2021) a world-wide shortage of NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards and building a new gaming rig is damn near impossible because of the shortage. 

OR you can pay a ridiculously inflated price by GPU scalpers on eBay.

Seriously. Places that sell GPUs impose quantity limits because if they don’t… some crypto asshole will buy out their entire stock in one go.

But the “good” news is that the professional miners (like the Bitmain site up there, in the photos) use dedicated ASIC mining rigs which don’t use consumer GPUs. But (bad news) they DO use the same sort of chips that NVIDIA & AMD rely on to make their products, which just starves the supply pipeline at a different point.

Bottom line: not only does cryptocurrency mining consume terawatts of electricity, it also consumes megatons of computer hardware. Which is expensive to produce (in resource terms, like rare metals, petroleum, water, electricity, paper) and will, someday, require even MORE resources to recycle. Or else it ends up in a landfill.

Note that current dedicated mining rigs are so highly specialized they are useless for anything other than mining. They cannot be easily repurposed to  (say) sequence DNA or fold proteins for miracle cures.

What a waste.

was anyone gonna tell me that some nerds peepee poopoo “currency” is the reason why graphics cards are sold out everywhere or was i supposed to find that out from comments under a screenshot from twitter user whoreganic cop puncher explaining how bitcoin is just an artificially complicated math problem

Hypothetically what happens if an EMP goes off between those warehouses

“See here. In the world, there are morons, idiots, fools, and lunatics.”

“Is anyone left out?”

“Yes, such as the two of us. Or at least, to be polite, me. But, really, anyone belongs to one of these groups. Each of us is, once in a while, a moron, an idiot, a fool, or a lunatic. Let’s say the ideal person is the one who mixes in a reasonable proportion these components. […] Don’t take my theory for spun gold. I’m not setting the universe in place; I’m just saying what is a lunatic to a publishing house. […] The moron can’t talk or move at all; he lacks coordination. He enters a revolving door the wrong way.”

“How?”

“He can; that’s what makes him a moron. We don’t care about him; you can recognize him immediately, and he does not come to us to publish a book. Let’s pass over.”

“Let’s.”

“Idiocy is more complex. It’s social behavior. The idiot speaks outside the glass.” […] He pointed at the table outside his glass. “He would speak of what’s inside the glass, but as it is he speaks outside of it. In common terms, if you will, he does faux pas, the one who asks how’s your wife doing to the guy whose wife just left him. […] He makes everyone awkward, but gives them something to talk about. At his best, he’s a diplomat, he draws attention from someone else’s faux pas. But we don’t care, he’s not creative, he’s derivative, so he doesn’t submit manuscripts to publishers. The idiot doesn’t say that cats bark, he talks about cats when others are talking about dogs. He gets conversation wrong, and when he does it properly, it’s sublime. […] The idiot is Joachim Murat, who reviews his officers, and sees one, covered in medals, from Martinique. ‘Vous êtes nègre?’ [You’re a black man, aren’t you?] he asks. And that one: ‘Oui mon général! [Yes, my general!] And Murat: ‘Bravò, bravò, continuez!’ [Good, good, keep it up!] And so on. Do you follow? Excuse me if I drink another one, I’m celebrating a momentous decision: I’ve stopped drinking. Say nothing, you’ll make me feel guilty.”

“What about fools?”

“Ah. The fool is not wrong in behavior, but in reasoning. He’s one to say that all dogs are pets, and all dogs bark, but cats are pets as well, and therefore bark. Or that all Athenians are mortal, all people from Piraeus are mortal, therefore all people from Piraeus are Athenians.”

“Which is true.”

“Yes, but by chance. A fool may say the right thing, but for the wrong reason.”

“We can say wrong things, but at least let the reason be right.”

“By God, yes. Otherwise, why bother being rational animals? […] The fool is subtle. You can recognize at once an idiot (let alone a moron), but the fool reasons almost as you do, except for a minuscule deviation. He’s a master of paradox. Many books by fools are published, because they are convincing at first sight. A publisher can’t be expected to recognize fools. Scientific academies don’t, why should publishers?”

“Philosophy doesn’t. Saint Anselm’s ontological argument is foolish. God must exist because I can think of him as the being with all perfections, including existence. He confuses existence in thought with existence in reality.”

“Sure, but the refutation by Gaunilo is foolish as well: I can think of an island in the sea even if it’s not there. He confuses thought of contingence with thought of necessity.”

“A duel of fools.”

“Of course, and God laughs himself silly. He made himself unthinkable just to prove that Anselm and Gaunilo were fools. What a sublime purpose for creation!” […]

“How deep. It’s two AM, the bar’s about to close, and we’re still missing lunatics.”

“Here they are. You can recognize the lunatic: he’s a fool with no craft. The fool tries to prove his point, his logic is twisted but it’s there. The lunatic doesn’t bother to have a logic, he proceeds by short-circuits. To him, everything proves everything else. The lunatic has an obsession, and to confirm it everything goes. You can recognize the lunatic from the freedom he takes from the duty to find evidence, from his penchant for enlightenment. And this may seem strange to you, but sooner or later the lunatic mentions the Knights Templar.”

– Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum (1988), chapter 10

ms-demeanor:

nqqn:

doomhamster:

ms-demeanor:

My literal actual medical doctor just told me that there are essential amino acids and there are essential fats but there are no essential carbs and that is why this man is the specific reason that I’m studying nutrition.

“There are no essential carbs.”

MY DUDE.

MY DAMN DIDDLY DOCTOR DUDE.

Putting aside the whole issue of fucking *fiber* YES CARBOHYDRATES ARE ESSENTIAL TO YOUR DIET.

…I was going to ask if he’s aware that the brain REQUIRES carbs to function, but on closer thought that may in fact be his problem.

He’s right.

There are no essential *dietary* carbohydrates.

Your body will produce glucose from protein if you do not get carbohydrates through your diet. This also happens if you eat too much protein, the excess is converted into glucose. Glucose is only required as an intermediary for energy transfer.

Also, the brain doesn’t require glucose to function. It can run on ketones alone!

Although we did not limit ourselves to one particular type or function of carbohydrates, we did primarily focus on glucose utilisation as that function was used to determine the recommended daily allowance. In the general population, the human body is able to endogenously synthesise carbohydrates, and does not show signs of deficiency in the absence of dietary carbohydrates. However, in certain genetic defects, such as glycogen storage disease type I, absence of dietary carbohydrates causes abnormalities that are resolved with dietary supplementation of carbohydrates. Therefore, dietary carbohydrates may be defined as conditionally essential nutrients because they are nutrients that are not required in the diet for the general population but are required for specific subpopulations. Ketosis may be considered a physiological normal state due to its occurrence in infants in addition to at very low carbohydrate intakes. Although sources of dietary carbohydrates can provide beneficial micronutrients, no signs of micronutrient deficiencies have been reported in clinical trials of low-carbohydrate ketogenic diets. Nonetheless, more research is needed on how micronutrient requirements can change depending on the dietary and metabolic context. More research is also needed on the role of dietary fibre during a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet as the beneficial effects of dietary fibre were determined on a standard diet and several studies have shown beneficial effects of decreasing non-digestible carbohydrates.

In patients with diabetes, changes in glycemic control may be small. Moreover, although VLCDs result in greater TG-lowering, diets with less severe CHO-restriction may induce significant reductions in TGs and be easier to adhere to in the long term. Importantly, patients should be informed that VLCDs/KDs may worsen LDL-C levels and cardiovascular health in the long-term. Those with atherosclerosis should be counseled to avoid VLCDs that liberalize SFA intake and to undergo regular lipid testing (a Class–IIa recommendation by the NLA, Level of Evidence – B-R), and be considered for referral to a registered dietitian nutritionist, who can provide guidance on healthier strategies for patients who choose to significantly lower dietary CHO intake.3 Those who have atherosclerosis, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, kidney or liver disease, or who take anti-hypertensive medications or warfarin, should be informed of the need for greater supervision and possible medication adjustments while following a VLCD.3 Patients with strict contraindications to VLCD/KDs include those with a history of hypertriglyceridemic pancreatitis, severe hypertriglyceridemia, or familial hypercholesterolemia, as well as those on SGLT2 inhibitors, which may promote ketoacidosis.

Because keto diets include concentrated fats, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and cheese, they have been associated with increased diabetes risk. These foods often are high in saturated fat, cholesterol, chemical contaminants, and other potentially inflammatory compounds. When the researchers looked at adults with type 1 diabetes, they found studies suggesting both favorable and unfavorable outcomes. One small study suggested the keto diet could improve blood glucose control in patients with type 1 diabetes, but it triggered more frequent and extreme hypoglycemic episodes.

The investigators concluded that the only well-supported use for keto diets is to reduce seizure frequency in some individuals with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Harold A. Franch, MD, professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, said the new study findings are not surprising given the well-known problems with excess protein and high net acid load in the diet. “Studies in 1998 showed Atkins diets, the predecessor of keto diets, worsened kidney stones by increasing urinary calcium and lowering protective citrate. The effect of dietary protein on raising single nephron [glomerular filtration rate], worsening proteinuria, and driving renal progression is ancient history for nephrologists,” Dr Franch said.

During prolonged fasting, some tissues, such as muscle, can directly metabolize free fatty acids released from adipose stores. However, much of this fatty acid is converted into ketones in the liver, which can fuel otherwise-obligate glucose consumers like neurons, minimizing mobilization of body protein for gluconeogenesis. However, to induce the liver to make ketones in the fed state, carbohydrate intake must be minimized and fat intake increased. Protein utilization is also altered on a ketogenic diet; the body shunts as much protein as possible to gluconeogenesis, while the minimum necessary amount is used for tissue repair.
[…]

The most restrictive ketogenic diets used for epilepsy can cause fatigue, headache, nausea, constipation, hypoglycemia, and acidosis, especially within the first few days to weeks of following the diet (2). Dehydration, hepatitis, pancreatitis, hypertriglyceridemia, hyperuricemia, hypercholesterolemia, hypomagnesemia, and hyponatremia can also occur (82,118).

[…]

Longer-term effects can include decreased bone mineral density, nephrolithiasis, cardiomyopathy, anemia, and neuropathy of the optic nerve (82,121). Ketogenic diets have low long-term tolerability, and are not sustainable for many individuals

Ketogenic diets reduce seizure frequency in some individuals with drug-resistant epilepsy. These diets can also reduce body weight, although not more effectively than other dietary approaches over the long term or when matched for energy intake. Ketogenic diets can also lower blood glucose, although their efficacy typically wanes within the first few months.

Very-low-carbohydrate diets are associated with marked risks. LDL-C can rise, sometimes dramatically. Pregnant women on such diets are more likely to have a child with a neural tube defect, even when supplementing folic acid. And these diets may increase chronic disease risk: Foods and dietary components that typically increase on ketogenic diets (eg, red meat, processed meat, saturated fat) are linked to an increased risk of CKD, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease, whereas intake of protective foods (eg, vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains) typically decreases. Current evidence suggests that for most individuals, the risks of such diets outweigh the benefits.

If you do not have other metabolic complications, if you do not have hereditary hyperlipidemia, if you do not have liver or kidney disease, if you do not have diabetes, you may have the metabolic profile that will allow you to *only* become constipated, lose endurance, increase your risk of kidney stones, bone fractures, heart disease, alzheimer’s, cancer, and diabetes by trying to subsist long-term on a <50g carbs/day diet.

If those are the outcomes of long-term use of a very low carbohydrate diet (per my doctor this morning: “it’s not really a diet, it’s a lifestyle” - indicating something more than short-term) it kind of seems like maybe carbs are doing more for us than just providing bioavailable glucose.

It feels nuts to even be debating this. Part of the reason this feels nuts is because, from a nutrition studies standpoint, the first sentence of my textbook’s chapter on carbohydrates is “Carbohydrates are an essential nutrient.” Carbohydrates are one of the six basic nutrients (sometimes called the six essential nutrients).

Saying “actually you can put your body into ketosis and survive off of neoglucogenesis and ketone bodies so carbs aren’t essential :)” is like saying “actually you can time your consumption of alcohol to maintain your fluid balance so water isn’t essential :)” it is????? Technically true????????????????? In the short term?????????? For some people??????????? But it is also technically possible to “survive” on 20-minute naps because if you do it long enough your body starts to drop you into REM immediately instead of going through a whole sleep cycle.

like, that last study I linked is very critical of keto and it was responded to by a doctor who thought the researchers were being unfair to a useful tool for weight loss her statement (as someone who supports the use of keto) was:

“Ketogenic diets are not ‘diets,’ they’re treatments for certain conditions. We would never recommend that anybody be on a ketogenic diet chronically for the rest of their life.”

It is somewhat controversial in nutrition studies to say that carbohydrates are an essential nutrient in the sense that your body cansynthesize glucose. The issue in question is whether your body can synthesize enough glucose to survive without additional carbohydrates (not well, in the long term, from what the current research indicates). It is not at all controversial to say that eating carbohydrates is essential for your long-term good health.

So while technically correct may be the best kind of correct, it doesn’t do a hell of a lot when you are a doctor who is technically correct while giving the specific patient in front of you bad medical advice for their medical history and when your technically correct advice comes with an asterisk that says “for up to six months” that you are ignoring.