Interesting Links for 21-05-2023

[andrewducker]

1. China calls in loans to Pakistan, Kenya, dozens more (many of such loans were made secretly, on unfair terms, and used for corruption)

(tags:corruption China loans economics Doom )

2. How many of these dating deal-breakers apply to you?

(tags:relationships polls )

3. Orcas have sunk 3 boats in Europe and appear to be teaching others to do the same. But why?

(tags:whales boats violence )

4. People taking Ozempic for weight loss say they have also stopped drinking, smoking, shopping, and even nail biting.

(tags:addiction medicine )

5. The Aristotelian Monroe-Warhol Bean Conspiracy

(tags:jokes art beans )

6. Canon! Vs! Fanfic!

(tags:fanfic canon funny fiction writing )

7. How involved were the Osage with Killers of the Flower Moon?

(tags:movies history USA )

8. Pfeilstorch - how an African spear told us what happens to birds in the winter

(tags:birds migration history Africa Germany )

9. Sex Ed Books Don't "Groom" Kids and Teens. They Protect Them.

(tags:children education books sex )

Comments

[kerk_hiraeth]

re: 3 ~ Mother Nature finally deciding to throw out the trash?

Just sayin'

kerk

[foms]

I spent a bunch of time and effort in the response to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_(orca). I'd say that it has been a worry for quite a while.

[rmc28]

4: that's absolutely fascinating; my brain immediately went to intersections with ADHD, especially the impulsivity aspects. That sentence in the last paragraph about one of the interviewees saying "her mind is quieter now, more peaceful" was reminiscent of the discussions of ADHD people getting on the right drugs.

[armiphlage]

I have clinically-diagnosed OCD, and have been on Ozempic for three weeks. After years of being in remission due to SSRIs and CBT, my OCD is starting to come back. Not sure what's going on, and one datapoint isn't sufficient to draw conclusions, but I think there might be some interesting studies to perform.

[rmc28]

Oh, I'm sorry you're getting this recurrence of symptoms, but yes, another data point for "it's doing Stuff to Brains too". I hope you can figure out how to manage the brain that you have, while we wait for studies across lots of brains.

[nancylebov]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/16/baclofen-controversial-pill-cure-alcoholism

A cardiologist found that baclofen eliminated his craving for alcohol-- and to his surprise, also took away his compulsive shopping, which he didn't even realize was a problem.

Unfortunately, he had a hard time getting a clinical trial to happen, and died before much of anything was found out.

[melchar]

5/6 - the Bean Conspiracy started off as funny and as it advanced, became almost painfully funny by the end [with the mosaic]!

[calimac]

6. And this adequately illustrates why most fanfic feels like scribbling graffiti all over a beloved work.

[kerk_hiraeth]

I couldn't disagree more.

kerk

[lannamichaels]

Foreign Policy magazine has been covering the Chinese Belt and Road loans a lot, here's a recent article on it that I bookmarked:
China’s Checkbook Diplomacy Has Bounced By Christina Lu

Orcas have sunk 3 boats in Europe and appear to be teaching others to do the same. But why?

[anef]

If it is a strategy in response to damage from human vessels that would be interesting. It isn't just the physical danger of ships but the noise we broadcast continuously underwater that could be upsetting them. https://wwf.ca/stories/underwater-noise-pollution/

Orcas are very intelligent and you have probably seen footage of a family group working together to hunt seals on ice floes. Unfortunately in encounters with humans they are more likely to come off worse.