I hate to think about the human race becoming obsolete, but it makes sense if you think about it.

Awesome comment, thanks for the detail.

To play a bit of Devil’s Advocate (from a bench-top scientific standpoint I come from immunology/microbiology background—so I know enough theory to be dangerous but don’t have your depth of evolutionary understanding) doesn’t a lot of this rely on cosmic timescales? I’m sure I could easily do a web search on this, but I think there are a lot of galaxy clusters that are much older than the Milky Way. That would give the potential for many multitudes of planets that have been around much longer than Earth, which gives a lot of time for intelligence to evolve and sustain. Now, if an intelligent civilization can ever survive for that long is a different question in and of itself.

I personally have wondered if the natural, sustainable, next step in any intelligent evolution is artificial forms of intelligence. Maybe biological intelligence is just the bootloader for less squishy forms of life? Immortal silicon life sort of renders the biological limits of space travel a lot less problematic. I know that comment exceeds the scientific into the philosophical, but it’s a thought I’ve had a lot lately.

Yep.

Cleaning. Home improvement stuff. Driving. Cardio.

A more niche one—we got a puppy this past summer. Those first few months they need so much attention. Having an audio book in my ear made the process of following him around everywhere/training so much less infuriating.

Yeah, I’m EM. Ended up being more work for me.

Worked in the ER.

Audiobooks. So amazing to be able to “read” while you’re doing other things that are required of you.

Ones I’ve experienced because of healthcare and would’ve otherwise not really known about—

US tech CT Tech Xray Tech Medical Simulation Tech/Actor (this varies, can also be IT. Med sim centers need a ton of IT) ECMO Perfusionist

deleted by creator

deleted by creator

So agree here.

I remember back when I was in high school some really old alumni came back for an award and gave a speech. He went on about how these were “the absolute best years of his life” and how we should enjoy them.

The kid next to me was like “That’s depressing as shit. That guys in his 80s, has a family, and this was the best thing he ever experienced? Sounds like his priorities have never been straight.”

Always stuck with me. Was really profound at the time.

My mom. My parents have moved a few times and each time she throws out more and more. Their lifestyle is extremely Spartan.

When they become unusable due to freezing, bad hardware failures, etc. That has usually been around every 3-4 years.

Yep. Been saying for a while that it feels like old Reddit.

I wonder if it’s a nerd-level thing. Reddit devolved as it turned into another social media outlet instead of a niche internet techie place.

Honestly pretty much all through complex scenes and groupings in the app. I have different scenes for morning, late afternoon, and night. They all vary based on mood and season. That’s pretty much it. Only use automation for outside lights and to mimic presence when traveling.

I said this too—the Hue system is game changing as a mood setter. Helps me relax at night by dimming, etc.

1. 8 Sleep Bed—it’s liquid cooled and heated based on your sleep stage. I know it’s expensive, but the sleep it’s given me has been unrivaled by anything else I’ve ever used to regulate my sleep. I work shifts so good sleep is priceless. You spend a third of your life asleep, so it’s worth an investment.
2. Hue lights for my entire home—privacy issues aside, it’s a game changing investment. We replaced the recessed lighting with recessed hue lighting fixtures as well. It’s insane how having multiple lighting settings and colors for times of the day/moods can change your entire mindset.
3. Home gym—if I were pressed for one component it would be the power cage and Olympic bar, but investing in a fully functional home gym has given me much more in return than what I’ve put into it (whether that be physical work building equipment or money).

I think it definitely will. I’m at a large medical center and it’s always surprising what we’re able to do (that we consider to be basic) compared to rural places. Fingers crossed!

So sorry you’re going through all of this. As an ER provider I feel so terrible for the patients I see with chronic gastrointestinal issues. I always try to do some things to broaden the differential (I’ve had some pretty clutch diagnoses of chronic mesenteric ischemia in cases like yours by doing a CTA instead of just a CT—usually on patients who have had multiple CT’s), but there’s only so much you can do with the resources available to us in the ED. I always place a GI referral, but I feel like most GI’s actually ignore the chronic stuff if scopes are negative. It really sucks knowing a lot of possible answers but not being the person who can test for them.

Hopefully Mayo helps. Almost sounds like you have some sort of GI motility issue—I wonder if your trigemial neuralgia is actually a more nuanced symptom of an underlying CNS/PNS unifying diagnosis.

The frequency and death toll of those in other countries isn’t even comparable. The US had more mass shootings last year than any other leading nation did in the entire 21st century so far. Probably more than all of them combined. It’s honestly not even worth trying to compare.

Other countries aren’t perfect, but mass shootings are astoundingly more common/worse in America. To deny that is simply ignoring the facts.

Epsom salt bath with bath oils and some of that jazz lettuce while watching Star Trek