HN user
Software engineer @ Arcadia Power
Entering pedantic mode:
"But," in Paul's usage, isn't a preposition. And starting sentences with prepositions isn't considered "incorrect" by most grammarians[0]. Or even bad style.
If it's good enough for the Bible[1], it's probably good enough for you.
[0]https://wordcounter.net/blog/2016/10/26/102560_can-you-start...
There are so many complications when it comes to REALLY understanding the health effects of weed. The science is really tough, and underdeveloped.
One problem is that there are so many varietals, and so many different vehicles for administration (smoking, vaping, eating, tinctures, lotions, etc) — that make it hard to announce, globally, that "marijuana does X to your brain."
Really, the most we can say after a given experience is something like "Strain Y, when inhaled as a combustible, appears to show effect X."
Another problem is the weed that's available for experiments in the US. There is one — and only one — weed crop that the FDA will approve for clinical studies. From a farm at the University of Mississippi. (https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pot-monopoly-20140529-s...)
And according to a weed researcher I spoke to (Sue Sisley - https://medicalcannabis.com/about/faculty/suzanne-sisley/), that Mississippi weed is very low quality — aged, with a lot of stems, seeds, and adulterants.
None of this is to say that weed can't be beneficial.
But I'd argue that anyone making any global claims about weed's health benefits are, at the very least, overgeneralizing.
My bad, about the Epstein thing. Ungenerous assumption on my part. Sorry!
Lived in China for a while. Us (admittedly, extremely white) American ex-pats had a very fratty attitude toward "the baij."
Maybe it's because we could only afford the cheap stuff — but any baijiu we got our hands on was really, really nasty. Only palatable with a 1:25 Sprite solution.
One advantage of paper maps, for me, is that they're much better at installing a 'model' for a city in your head.
With digital maps, I can navigate from place to place to place pretty easily. But then I retain virtually no information. I end up with no 'nose' for how to find my own way home.
But if I study a map on paper, laboriously plan my route in advance, and then follow it IRL — it's like magic. That route is installed there forever.
Do that enough times, and navigating even really crazy big cities starts to become instinctual. No GPS required.
Oh, people on such plans incur massive bills all the time.
Suppose you're in a bicycling accident, you're knocked unconscious, and an ambulance takes you to a hospital that isn't in your insurance network.
Boom. Out-of-network charges.
If your bicycling accident was so bad that you need surgery, a five figure bill is a certainty. A six figure one is rarer -- but absolutely possible.
What's really messed up is that, even if you end up at an in-network HOSPITAL, you might get care from an out-of-network provider.
In this bicycle surgery hypothetical, for instance, your hospital and your surgeon might be in your network - but the anesthesiologist isn't.
Boom. Another out-of-network charge.
(Thats called Surprise Billing, btw)
At median income levels, there's no amount of HSA savings money that can insulate you from costs like that.
The current US insurance system asks consumers to walk an insane tightrope of cost controls.
It's no wonder a lot of us fall.
Jazz is so cool.
"Look. Look where your hands are. Now."
Very good point! Envy has layers! Hard to keep that in mind in the throes of it — but certainly a smart approach.
Really resonated with me. "Seeing the kid more often" is the hardest hitting observation.
"Its just a fucking job" indeed!
Wow. Lived there for years, studied Chinese, and never noticed these little variations of thickness / weight / line height.
What a cool peek into the obscure subculture of sign-crafting!
For me, what's missing from the 'smartphone' // 'religion' analogy is — passion.
The emotional tenor of my relationship with my phone looks — and, I'm sure — very different from the way people relate to their faiths.
Facebook, YouTube, etc don't feel like 'movements' to me, like the article's author said. At least, I don't have the passion that a 'movement' seems to imply.
For me, smartphoning is an emotional gray zone. Most of the time I feel close to nothing. I use it to blot out my worries and deal with the mundanity of my life.
Which makes it more like actual opium, IMO.
Wish more people talked about / knew this!
How a big part of the reason the US healthcare system sucks is just a weird fluke of history!
I don't think the issue is so much that cities are too lenient on these people. It's more that the resources available to them are both inappropriate and inadequate.
My wife works at in-patient psych unit in my town.
Granted, we experience nothing near the scale of problems in cities like Seattle. But even here, our city can't cope with the sheer number of folks with these mental health / substance abuse problems.
Many of my wife's patients are dangerous to themselves or to other people. They can only stay on an in-patient unit for so long. After that, the stopwatch starts ticking. How long until the next violent offense?
If there were more institutions for these people, somewhere between Hospital and Jail, at least the stopwatch would STOP more often.
Someone should do an anthropological study.
"Final Fantasy? The Enduring Influence of JRPGs on Web Development Practices."
Dubious evidence in medical studies is a big problem.
But I'd argue that it's only the core of the issue. The second layer out — and I think the more influential layer — is the JOURNALISM surrounding these medical studies.
Even if the underlying science is sound, a lot of outlets and reporters routinely (and sometimes willfully) get the facts wrong.
I attended a talk with Retraction Watch's Ivan Oransky, where he spelled out how easy it is for well-intentioned journalists to exaggerate, over-generalize, or misunderstand what a study says. It was eye-opening. And a little frightening.
Ha, your parenthetical definitely anticipated me.
If I could RELIABLY score a solid 8 hours every single night, I would call $600/mo steep — but worth it.