Lemmeenym

This is more philosophical than practical and hopefully it's appropriate to the community.

This is something I've pondered over since I was young. What first got it running through my head was when my grandfather developed COPD and at about 10 I was tasked with helping him figure out his inhalers because I already had about a decade of experience using them. He was a very physical, active man. He was a WW2 veteran, he was a master carpenter and had built his own company, he was an expert woodsman and survivalist. Then he developed COPD and then Parkinson's. He had opportunities and accomplishments and a life that was forever closed off to me and that was a burden but I think he had at least an equal burden of having the knowledge, experience, and drive to continue to live as he previously had but no longer the physical ability. He had to relearn how to do lots of things with his new limitations as his Parkinson's progressed and it always seemed to me that it was an advantage that I never had to relearn things, I had figured out alternatives that worked for me to begin with. The biggest advantage to our situations was that we both had someone to have real conversations with about what we were dealing with. Someone it was ok to not be ok with.

Accessibility has come a long way since I was a child. Sports associations took way too long to decide that corticosteroids and anabolic steroids are not the same thing. You had to walk through the smoking section to get to the non-smoking section that was in the same room with no dividers or anything, sometimes even in medical offices. When I went to college I chose the one that I did because it actually had an office for students with disabilities. It was at the top of a hill in an old converted house that could only be entered using stairs and the closet disabled parking was a quarter mile away but it existed. The one counselor in the office basically set up a second office in a library study room so that students could actually meet with her and unfortunately she wasn't always convinced that invisible disabilities were legitimate. She did help with making sure I didn't have back to back classes on the opposite side of campus and she passed information from my doctor to the professor in my physical education requirement so I got what I needed from her without too much arguing.

A lot of the progress is really just awareness and destigmatation. It was very important to my parents and kindergarten teacher that I did not have autism, I have Asperger's. They thought that people with autism were mostly nonverbal, never did well in school, and had no future so the testing that said I was mildly autistic disappeared and I didn't find out about it until I was diagnosed in my early twenties and my grandmother told me that "we" already knew. I still don't disclose my disabilities unless I have to but it's kinda amazing how open people can be about their health issues and need for accommodation now.

completefoods.co is still up but building new recipes with the recipe builder doesn't seem to work anymore. Are there any recipe builders still working that calculate the full list of FDA rdi vitamins and minerals?

The ubiquity of audio commutation technologies, particularly telephone, radio, and TV, have had a significant affect on language. They further spread English around the world making it more accessible and more necessary for lower social and economic classes, they led to the blending of dialects and the death of some smaller regional dialects. They enabled the rapid adoption of new words and concepts.

How will LLMs affect language? Will they further cement English as the world's dominant language or lead to the adoption of a new lingua franca? Will they be able to adapt to differences in dialects or will they force us to further consolidate how we speak? What about programming languages? Will the model best able to generate usable code determine what language or languages will be used in the future? Thoughts and beliefs generally follow language, at least on the social scale, how will LLM's affects on language affect how we think and act? What we believe?

In the future direct interfacing between the brain and technology seems likely. The rudimentary technology has already been demonstrated and Musk's company is working on an implant meant to be a commercial product. My question is about how you see the interface eventually working. In particular I am curious about what the advantage of an implant is.

From the demonstrations I've seen things like typing, moving cursors, ect can be achieved with sensors applied to the body externally like an fmri skullcap or a neckband that reads vibrations in the vocal cords. External sensors are much safer to apply than a brain implant, they can be replaced much more easily if they malfunction, and they can be upgraded. I have read an article that said there are advantages to implants for people with medical issues like paralysis because the implant can offer feedback providing a more "normal" experience and interacting with specific nerves gives more precise control and less lag time. For medical applications like restoring lost function that makes the risk of surgery make sense. For the average person what advantages do implants offer over external sensors that make the risks of brain surgery worth it?

I have a cat that absolutely hates topical medicine. I use Revolution+ because it's an all in one and was what the vet recommended when I got my cats but one of my cats runs when he sees the box, fights when I am putting it on him, and hides for a few hours after he gets treated. My other cat doesn't really like getting it put on but I put a spoonful of wet food down, apply it while she's eating and she's over it by the time her treat is gone. I wish my male cat took it that well, I hate that I have to do it monthly when he reacts so badly.

They are due for their annual vet visit in June and their current supply of Revolution+ will run out the same month so I'm planning on asking the vet about alternatives then but would like to have some research done and some specific questions to ask and/or products to ask about. The cat that has the strong reaction is a door dasher and occasionally spends 15-20 min outside eating grass and my dog has daily walks near a wooded area so I treat them all as if they were indoor/outdoor. I'm fine with using separate products for flea/tick and internal parasites as long as I can stop chasing him down and fighting with him once a month.

What are the best options to treat cats who hate topical products for parasites?

I've got a simple chickpea salad recipe that I would like a quick and simple alternative for. The recipe makes 10 servings.

8 cans chickpeas drained

1 bag frozen chopped onions

1 bag frozen chopped spinach

680 grams plain nonfat Greek yogurt

160 grams hot salsa

Tajin powder added to servings individually to taste

I'm not looking to replace this completely, just something for an alternative and to fill in when I don't have any made up. The alternative doesn't need to similar in taste but some nutritional aspects are important. It needs to be 400kcal or less and have at least 20g of protein and 10g of fiber. I know that Soylent and Huel fit the bill but I'm hoping to find something I can get at Kroger.

The parameters of the challenge are:

Must use an instant pot.

Must feed 4.

Must be vegetarian.

Servings can be no more than 650kcal each. (Max total 2600kcal)

Must be storable/freezable.

The challenge is for a meal planning/food prep group so I'm using frozen or canned ingredients.

Here is the recipe I have right now:

1 box chickpea rotini (900kcal)

1 bag frozen chopped onions (120kcal)

1 bag frozen sweet corn (360kcal)

1 bag frozen peas (240kcal)

1 can sliced Spanish olives (175kcal)

1 can mushroom stems and pieces (60kcal)

1 can diced tomatoes with jalapenos (75kcal)

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (140kcal)

1 carton vegetable broth (20kcal)

Half teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons black pepper

It's a total of 2090kcal right now which is 523kcal per serving.

I can still add about 500kcal and I'm thinking about adding some vegetarian cheese because I'm concerned it won't be creamy enough. I put the tomatoes and olives in because everything had a a similar flavor and I thought adding some contrasting acidity would keep it from being bland.