Pluto was discovered because the orbit of Neptune didn't match predictions, so astronomers decided that there must be a ninth planet out there. It was very close to where the math predicted it would be.

It turned out later that Pluto was much, much smaller than at first thought, and couldn't be the 9th planet. It then turned out that the mass of Neptune was greater than expected, and the orbit actually matched expectations without the need for a 9th planet.

I took a smoking flight once. It totally reeked. Even as a smoker it was unpleasant. I also smoked in my hospital room after an appendectomy, which in hindsight seems absolutely nuts.

I quit 12 years ago after trying dozens of times. I credit e-cigs with helping me finally wean off of tobacco.

Why is Whitmer right out? I'm in Michigan, so I may not have a good perspective on what the rest of the US thinks of her.

What a flock of raging assholes. How did they justify forcing working conditions like that on you that you clearly did not want? Did they offer any excuse for doing that?

Is this more of an ADHD thing, or an ASD thing?

I don't like bright overhead lights, either. I was diagnosed ADHD at the tender age of 56.

A couple of people mentioned Linux. I switched my main laptop to it 2 months ago. (Mint, specifically.)

I use it for work (office apps, chat apps like slack and teams, XMind, Joplin, TickTick), to play BG3, and some light programming in Python. It has been my daily driver at a new job (SE director), and I never use the Macbook they sent me.

Yes. I've been told that by cops in prior years.

That said, things have improved enormously in the last 10 years. There is a vibrant downtown area, and fairly large pockets of redevelopment around it, with safe(-ish) and affordable housing.

As a Detroiter, I think I really need to watch this.

I think most Americans like the idea of public transport, and including a robust national rail network. The reason it doesn't exist are the oil and automotive lobbies. (Mostly oil.). Poorly educated Americans (the ones wearing MAGA hats) are easy to manipulate by these groups, as well.

I was diagnosed at the age of 56. It might be worth you trying meds again. I have found Strattera to be extremely helpful to me.

And I followed every productivity guru in the world for decades just to try to keep things going for myself professionally. I have so internalized that I am just lazy and need to rail on myself to keep myself in line, that even though I know it isn't true I still do it to some extent.

I don't notice anything else related to vasoconstriction. My BP hasn't changed since I started on it, for instance. It doesn't really affect my appetite for sex, just my ability. This has lessened over time, but it's still present. (And after ~8h, everything is fine.)

You can take it before bed if you like. Some people find it sleep-inducing at first. I find it simulating an hour or two later.

From what I have read, there are several different experiences from it. You'll likely have to try it and see how it works for you, and what accommodations you'll need to make. Hopefully the comments in this thread give you an idea of what to look out for.

Yes, its daily. It took a few days to notice a difference for me, but it definitely helps me with executive function. I'm up to the max dosage after 18 months, but it's still working.

Side effects for me are nausea for maybe an hour after I take it, and major "shrinkage". Sex is a real challenge for around 8h after taking it, and it looks like I've been swimming in the Arctic sea for about that long. This isn't a major problem because I take it in the morning, but it has been occasionally frustrating. That effect wears off by evening, though, so my spouse is ok with me taking it. 🙂

I have never taken stimulants, so I can't offer a comparison there.

<BANG!>

Say hvad again. I double dog dare you!

Is there a good source explaining how these drones are used in the US by the Chinese govt? Are they sold to consumers, but upload to a China-based cloud? There was zero background in that article.

I keep seeing this showing up in memes. Was there anything particularly interesting actually being shown to her? Her expression is pretty funny.

I've tried paid versions of ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. I am currently using Gemini, and it is working reasonably well for me.

I mostly use it to replace searches. I haven't used Google in years, but mainly relied on DuckDuckGo until SEO made it less useful. My secondary use case is for programming. I tend to jump around to a lot of different languages and frameworks, and it's hugely helpful to get sample code describing what I want to do when I don't know the syntax.

Once in a great while, I will have it rewrite something for me. That is mostly for inspiration if I want to change the tone of something I wrote (then I'll edit). I think that all of the LLMs suck at writing.

I would love to understand this better. I have worked in power generation before (writing maintenance software for a nuclear plant, so I picked up a few things). I don't understand the distribution side at all, though.

Can you suggest a book or article on the subject?

Renewables are an important part of the mix, but seems like nuclear is more important right now. It's the best way to move industry away from coal and gas in the long run, though it's something we in the US should have started on 30 years ago.

I'm aware that nuclear power has it's own set of complications, but they're more solvable than reducing emissions without it

Non-competes aren't enforceable, but proprietary "work-for-hire" clauses might be. I think the difference is that a company can't stop you from working for a competitor, but they can force you to sign away your rights to anything you create while employed there. I have worked for a couple of big-box consulting companies, and they have you list anything you created before joining them, so any new creations are automatically theirs.