Science and Medicine

Ozone

I first learned this about molecules in fifth grade: a molecule is the smallest amount of a material that has the properties of that material. The textbook ended a discussion on oxygen telling us, "Oxygen atoms travel in pairs. Two oxygen atoms form an oxygen molecule. The oxygen molecule is the smallest amount that has the properties of oxygen."

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In a recent blog

In a recent blog I posted a picture of a sign that turned up next to the restroom signs proclaiming that restrooms were open to use by gender variant people. Just now, I was delivered a document (electronically) a document that contains their nondiscrimination notice, quoted below.

Nondiscrimination Notice

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New meaning of TG

I've been doing some preparatory work/ study for some surveys I'm doing and also some teaching I'm doing next week. As you probably know I have an interest in freshwater macroinvertebrates (Mayfly larvae etc) and I came across TG being used in a dictionary of entomology - it stood for tracheal gills. There will be more of those than transgender people, so should obviously spring to the ordinary person's mind (or what passes for one). I knew you'd be glad to read that.

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'Tis the season of giving, yada, yada...

And all I have is some pixels ... but it's the shape of the pixels that matters.
--
The lucky among us can send in some coins to keep BC "on the air".

I want to keep everybody here "on the air".

I really want to see all of you listed here in left and center of the home page. Seeing you get moved to "In Memorial" ... that just hurts. And it's really rough on you and your people ...

Or worse, you just go silent, and we never know ...

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(Soon) "How Gender Grows in the Brain" (Sun, Dec. 10, 2023)

Hoping this talk will interest people here. I'll be there in-person,

Talk will be live-streamed on YouTube, and you can type in questions during the talk. Ask early, talks usually run only 45 minutes before Q&A starts.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1085829629094180

Note time is Chicago USA time, (UTC -6)

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Interesting video about Electrical Arcs

The Slow Mo Guys just published an interesting video on YouTube https://youtu.be/HDzVD-cqiWM about filming electrical arcs at 1.750.000 frames per second!

Something that the geeky nerds and/or nerdy geeks might enjoy.

By the way, some of their other experiments are plain weird, while others discover some pretty fascinating insights.

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interesting stuff about the affects of hormones on trans women's brains

Hormone therapy helps strengthen brain connections in transgender women

Without any sex hormones, transgender women have the same symptoms, such as hot flashes, that postmenopausal women have.

“The disconnection between parts of the brain involved in sensory motor processing and the thalamus may be one of the causes of these symptoms,” This study to show the effect of estrogens in the connectivity of this area of the brain in transgender women who have had their testes removed.

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How to set good boundaries for your personal life

On the MedCircle channel on YouTube I found this video 9 Signs of Poor Boundaries | MedCircle x Dr Ramani. If you have trouble with that link, here is the URL as text:

I have found that MedCircle is serious and scientifically based channel with very good insight and suggestions on many different issues of mental health, and relationships as it relates to mental health.

Have a good weekend.
Jessica Nicole

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Trans Kids

There has been some debate about when to allow kids to transition. On the one hand, forcing a trans kid to watch in horror as their bodies go through an unwanted puberty is downright cruel. On the other hand, there seems to be a lot of people who really regret their transition.

Some prescribe puberty blockers. How safe are they?

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Caught Between Time

I'm currently watching/playing an interactive DVD game, a visual novel. The protagonist and a time-patrol agent are currently caught between time, or in a crevice outside of time. They will only spend perhaps a couple minutes caught outside of time before returning to the protagonist's world.

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Interesting Video about gender development.

I came across this on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWu44AqF0iI

The Experiment: Are you sure you don't gender-stereotype children in the toys you choose for them?

Men, (apparently) have better spacial awareness than women. I know my spouse and my mother are useless when it comes to knowing where we are, and directions etc. My mother drives and has got lost a few times. Women are better at emotional related issues and empathy etc.

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Shaved legs hair re-growth slows down in seniors! I thought it was just me

--- seek evaluation from a medical professional---

I'm over 65 and have been periodically shaving my legs for over 40 years. I recently noticed the time between needing to shave has been increasing; every girls dream, right? I wondered why. So I researched it. The answers besides being interesting MAY, perhaps, reveal an undiscovered medical condition. Hair loss of the legs is called anterolateral leg alopecia.

Has anyone else noticed they are shaving less frequently? Check the full article.

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Positive-rapid test Covid

Back in October, I got into another domestically abusive situation & left. I was travelled several hours away & since, this event, I have been in 2 shelters (homeless/women's/coed).

I had not been feeling well the last couple of days. Due to my respiratory issues, I figured it was just pneumonia, sinus infection, bronchitis etc again.

Well I was given a rapid test & I am positive for Covid as of tonight 8:58PM.

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Health concerns

I've been informed that I have aortic stenosis but no one is sure how long I have had it. This does explain the feelings of being tired and having little strength to do anything strenuous (or simply walking for more than a few minutes)
I don't know really why I'm posting this here. Maybe just to get it out of my head. For now, I have to we if i can get an appointment with a cardiologist.

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An Electron as the USS FTL0476

A photon scatters off an electron. Or perhaps an electron scatters off a photon. Or perhaps an electron and photon scatter. Whatever you choose to call it, the electron absorbs the photon and a little later, emits a photon. This is the diagram:
Sane electron-photon scattering.
The horizontal axis is meant to be the time axis, although one may imagine the figure has having two spacial dimensions.

The above is the sane process.

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Herd "Mentality"

Scientists have suggested that herd immunity might not be a feasible goal for the United States. They state the main factor stopping herd immunity is vaccine reluctance.

I have "death reluctance."

What doesn't the government hold a $100,000,000 lottery for all those who have been fully vaccinated as of July 1?

Given a shot at $100M might prompt the damn fools to roll up their sleeves.

Why should those of us who have done the right thing suffer under the distinct peril of this virus mutating, when we have the chance to eradicate it.

Jill

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Be Careful

So the VA Caregiver seems anxious to get me on Psych Drugs again. It is chilling. They talk about Borderline Personality Disorder. They have grown so condemning and intransigent that I use a private provider when I can. My private Psychological Nurse Practitioner seems more up to date and we've developed the idea that whatever personality problems I have come from Childhood abuse. The VA is very concerned that I not own a gun, and that is confusing since I have no history of violence, and was Military Police in the Army. If I had a broken arm, I would take that to the VA.

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Sequences

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, ... -- What's the pattern of this sequence?

2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, ... -- What's the pattern of this sequence?

In a contest, such as "Are You Smarter than a Fifth-Grader?", you might be asked, "What's the next number in this sequence? 2, 3, 5". Can anyone figure out the answer?

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Another way to cause Tgals to exist

“Gender-bending” chemicals mimicking the female hormone oestrogen can disrupt the development of baby boys, suggests the first evidence linking certain chemicals in everyday plastics to effects in humans.

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7440-gender-bending-c...

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7440-gender-bending-c...

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2 years ago

2 years ago, I had a benign tumor removed from my brain. The surgery went well, and the incision site has healed pretty well, although it still hurts at times. The tumor was squeezing my cerebrum on the left side of my head, causing what, for all intents and purposes, were short circuits in my brain. At times, my memory would completely disappear for several minutes. The partial brain seizures were frightening, and when I told people about them, even my doctor, I received the advice, just get your blood sugar under control.

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Thank goodness that didn't last long!

I woke up this morning with a beautiful case of the Martian Death Flu, as I unaffectionately call it.

It's the one where you feel every molecule that hits your body and alternately need a blanket, then feel like throwing your clothes across the room because you're too hot. Also, every muscle in your body feels like it's been overused for the last week and a half.

After some naproxen, I felt much better and could crawl out of bed, which was good. After 18 hours in bed, my back was calling me every name in the book, and some I'd never heard before.

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Morning Sky

Early morning -- before 6am.

Rising before the sun: a bright Venus. The first time I saw it, it was next to the moon. At 7am, the sky was possibly still twilight, but definitely blue. I saw the moon, and Venus in the blue -- not nearly as bright or big, but a distinct white point.

High in the sky in the other direction, almost opposite the sun. A *very* bright pink Mars. The first time I saw it a few days ago, I'd gone outside for something, and spotted that very bright pink dot. Did something go supernova? No, just Mars.

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TV ad for Descovy HIV-1 drug... not for use in people assigned female at birth

I wasn't sure I had heard the television ad correctly so I replayed it AND I went to their web site for clarification. It sounded very odd to my ears.

"Discovy is a once-daily prescription medicine for adults and adolescents at risk of HIV." OK, no problem.

What seemed odd is: "DESCOVY for PrEP is not for everyone: It is not for use in people assigned female at birth who are at risk of getting HIV from vaginal sex, because its effectiveness has not been studied."

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Gravity


Gravity

Note: I mislabeled an earlier blog of mine "Gravity". I will try to rename it whenever I have time.

Water is a pretty heavy substance. With enough volume and enough force, water is almost unstoppable.

To lift water against the force of gravity tales some kind of energy. If you put a dry roll of toilet paper in about ½" of water (that's about 12.7mm if you swing like that)

The water will climb up into the toilet paper roll until the whole roll is soaked.

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Scientific Consensus aka Head Chopped Off

The latest about experts, "experts", and talking heads leads me to risk having my head chopped off again, about scientific consensus.

Specifically, I refer to the consensus of scientists working in the subject matter at hand. Consensus means at least 90% agreement -- not mere majority agreement, and especially not "majority rules". 90% agreement, maybe more. (There are always, for various reasons, holdouts.)

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What You Need to Know About the COVID-19 Virus

COVID 00 splashpage.png

Hi, everyone. Here's a short primer on the COVID-19 virus, which I hope is helpful. Know that all of the information here is backstopped, and is sourced from factual sources. If you have more information to share, please do share in your own post.

 
What is COVID-19

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My first blog post, so bear with me...

A few months ago, my wife told me she thought I was autistic, just out of the blue. Then she pointed to my musical skills, and my love of writing and computers. Also, I don't do well making friends, in crowds, you name it.
So in November, I went through the raads-r test. I could see myself that I was in the autism spectrum, but for officialdom, I sent it off. And waited. And waited. Finally called, and they told me they'd never got my test. So I resent it and waited. And waited.
they didn't receive it again.

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Stress and Anxiety

While I've had my share of moments of being over-stressed and freaking out, I've known too many people who suffer from full-blown anxiety attacks and who's stressors leave them barely able to function when they hit. Randomly I stumbled across the article linked below and felt like sharing. It's by someone who wrote a book about 'Peak Performance' who (much to their surprise) afterwords developed stress/anxiety mental illness. It's a good reminder that such issues can afflict anyone, and for those of us who don't suffer such I hope it'll remind us to be more understanding of those who do.

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Advice or I dunno... it is needed please

Ok so i dunno wtf to do....
I know I need to go and get it done, I have reschedualed 3 times in the past year+, having yet to even make an appointment before reschedualing.
Due to money issues & well anxiety etc.....
I am finding myself putting off my appointment for consultations towards SRS.
I want it done... now! Hell I have wanted it done decades ago, particularily a decade ago.
It is in toronto, the gender identity clinic... I do NOT reside in toronto, but a couple hours away,

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Getting Back on the Path...

Hey everyone. I've decided I want to share some news.

It's time I get back on the path to being me :)

Not that I was ever really off it, but while I had transitioned in my life previously, I de-transitioned when Kim got sick.

I was her primary Power of Attorney, and having to deal with showing my ID to hospitals and Doctors constantly took it's toll, and so I just started dressing "drab" to make life easier, and after she passed, I hit such a depressive hole, that I'm surprised I'm still here :P

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DNA Rant

Whenever I encounter a story involving science fiction transformation gender-changing, specifically involving changing one's DNA, I have serious trouble suspending my disbelief. I've always had trouble describing why, but I finally figured out how to describe the problem. (The explanation could never be a sound-bite.)

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MtF hormone cycles necessary?

In a TG social site one of the girls mentioned GG go through hormone cycles every month. Well duh, that's a give. She went on, the purpose was to give the estrogen receptors in their body a chance to reset. Otherwise the receptors become tired and accept less and less estrogen over time. Her next comment kind of caught me off guard. MtF transgender also need to take monthly breaks for the estrogen receptors to utilize the estrogen they are putting into their body.

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Is This Real?

Or is this an Onion-type article? 56% of Americans think that Arabic numbers shouldn't be taught in school. 15% more are neutral. Unfortunately, I haven't actually found the poll at https://civicscience.com/ .

The scary thing is that I find it all too plausible.

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