Me, from the USA:

+1 for Winix. I’ve had several of the 5500-2 units for 2-3 years now. They do a good job and I appreciate that they have HEPA + charcoal filters so eliminates more than just particulates. My main complaint is that the lights don’t fully turn off at night so I always have to cover them with something (usually a T-shirt). Otherwise I really like them.

Plane went down over the Atlantic during mysterious circumstances.

This is a perfect analysis that was thoroughly ruined by not ending it with:

aNy qUeStIoNs?!?

That’s true for a certain percentage but misses part of the point here. Once an alcoholic has successfully detoxed, it is possible and highly encouraged that they do not partake any alcohol going forward.

That simply isn’t possible with obesity as humans require food to survive. So this is where the analogy with alcoholism breaks down as it is never possible for the obese person to be the equivalent of “sober.” Instead they have to learn moderation which is conceptually a different challenge than becoming a teetotaler.

You talking about Tortured Poets Department? Jokes aside about recommending a popular artist as an ‘unpopular’ opinion - I actually do disagree. I’m a pretty solid Swift fan but TPD doesn’t really do anything for me. I’ve listened to the whole album a couple of times and I found the songs all kind of samey and forgettable.

If you want to introduce people to Swift, I’d vote for “All Too Well” which I think is just such a brilliant, relatable song about unrequited love.

Edit: Currently relistening to TPD and I have to admit Florida!!! is better than I remembered.

Doctor here. 👋 I just wanted to give my experience. I had to do eight years of schooling/debt, THEN I had to do 6 years of post graduate training (internship, residency, fellowship).

Now the post graduate years are paid like a job but not at a physician salary rate so paying on student loans during that time was next to impossible for me because I was in a high cost of living area. So my interest continued to compound during that time. It sucked.

As for the OP I just want to say that part of the reason I expect a higher salary is because I gave up 14 years of my life - most of my youth - in training to get here. Those 14 years were immensely valuable and I often regretted going down this path because of all the things I gave up instead. The training was incredibly difficult and time consuming. I lost touch with all my friends, had to move repeatedly, etc. It was absolutely brutal and felt endless. That’s part of what those paychecks are paying for.

Even if it ends up NOT being ankylosing spondylitis exactly - you should know that there are some hereditary factors that predispose to AS but also to other, similar conditions which are collectively called “inflammatory spondyloarthropathies.” Given your brother’s diagnosis you probably have a higher chance of one of these conditions because of your shared genetics. So yeah absolutely ask another physician until someone investigates your symptoms!

It’s really interesting to me that you have provided this additional clue because ankylosing spondylitis was literally the first thing that popped into my head reading your story. I agree with others that your story sounds much more than typical aging symptoms and you should seek the opinion of another physician.

Apparently posted a video about how to avoid ads on YouTube using adblockers, etc.

I’m trying but I’m in a new place and the past few years every time I start to make a friend….

Not sure if this is a joke. For years my phone was the only one paired with the Bluetooth on my wife’s car as I like to play music when I drive it but she couldn’t be bothered to mess with it and listens to the radio. That doesn’t mean that I am usually the driver in the car though as she usually drives it. It was paired for the few times she wasn’t in the car and I had to use it.

Deep Rock Galactic.

Rock and Stone, Miner!

We’ll gladly accept and responsibly recycle the following:

Adapters & hubs

Apple® AirTag® trackers

Battery backup devices

Cable/satellite receivers

Calculators

Car & wall chargers

CD/DVD/Blu-ray discs & players

Coffee brewers (less than 40 lb.)

Computers & Mac®

Computers

Computer speakers

Connected home devices

Digital & video cameras

Digital projectors

Earbuds & AirPods®

Fax machines

Flash drives

Gaming consoles & controllers

GPS devices

Hard drives

Headphones & headsets

Keyboards & mice

Label makers

Laminators

Laptops & MacBook®

Mobile phones & iPhone®

Monitors (CRT, LED/LCD, plasma)

MP3 players & iPod®

Printers & multifunction devices

Routers & modems

Scanners

Shredders

Small servers

Smart speakers & HomePod®

Smart watches & Apple Watch®

Stereo receivers

Streaming devices & Apple TV®

Stylus pens & Apple Pencil®

Tablets, iPad® & eReaders

USB & Lightning® cables

Webcams

I bought Deep Rock Galactic, Subnautica, annd Satisfactory in early access and have no regrets. These are great games and I would rather pay to be a beta tester on them than play many AAA finished pieces of junk. I think in general it’s not a bad thing to be wary about early access but I’m not sure it warrants an all or nothing approach.

People do understand this is a medical device. What you seem to not be getting in this situation is that Elon Musk is an absolutely horrible human who has a long track record of badness. There are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic that this project will end badly for people who aren’t him.

Awhile back it was discovered that Tesla had quietly programmed Autopilot to disengage if it detected a crash was eminent. Why? Because they were asked to report how many crashes occurred while autopilot was active. Their solution was to game the system rather than actively try to solve any potential problems and be honest / critical of what they had built. This is a system that already has the potential to get people killed. Do you suppose that sort of unscrupulous decision making is going to stop when his people are implanting devices in human brains?

I’m a radiologist and I too have seen multiple cases of vertebral artery dissections and stroke immediately following chiropractic manipulation. Absolutely no chance I would ever suggest someone see a chiropractor.

We grew up in the south, right on the edge of the Midwest though. I remember one time my wife’s grandpa talking about how when he was a kid they all had ice skates because the ponds would freeze in the winter and the kids would skate. I was like that’s cool but the ponds don’t really freeze that solid in the winter.

Much later I had a moment of realization.

Their username makes this joke even funnier.