#most get like. 50-300 over the course of weeks. and i think the highest for any one post of mine has been 600ish.

[holopossums]

s. seven hundred and forty plus notes..... and keeps going up.... wow. equal parts flattered and scared of that number

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen X’s Gacha Rules for a ‘Good’ Gacha Game (Featuring Arknights)

Hey look, that Arknights essay came quicker than I thought.

Continuing on my goal of finishing up all my years-old drafts by the end of February, I think it’s pretty damn convenient that I glanced over this half-finished opinion piece just in time for the next limited banner for Arknight’s CN server to be announced. This is a topic I’ve been wanting to cover for awhile now. If there was anything that was a decent marker for Allen X’s gaming experience these past 4-ish years it was the fact that he got real into Gacha Games. I’ve dipped my toe into quite a few different Gacha phone games over the years. AFK Arena, Granblue Fantasy, Girls Frontline, and even an Ikkitousen gacha game at one point. And of course Arknights, which is my current main gacha game at the moment.  

Honestly, the only thing I didn’t play was Fate/Grand Order, and for damn good reason, but one thing at a time.

Anyway, with all that time I spent playing these games I’ve slowly given myself a ruleset and mindset for how I handle these gacha games. And I figured I’d talk about how I go about playing some of them, some of the experiences I’ve gained, and what I look into when it comes to the money portion of playing a ‘free-to-play’ game. I’ll mostly be talking about Arknights since it’s the main gacha game I’ve been playing for the past year and I don’t play two of these at once for damn good reason. 

So, with that all said, let’s start off with... 

Point 1: Methods of Ten-Pulls

For those new, the typical loop for most gacha games is to roll for rare characters and use them to complete segments of the game, whether for their looks, stats, or playstyle (but mostly looks). The characters themselves are usually drawn in an attractive and appealing way, along with having abilities and statistics that are desirable from a gameplay perspective, at least those of a higher rarity. The more you pull and buy into the gacha, the higher the chance you get for a rare character. Some games have deals where you pull can pull for free with some in-game resource like Girls Frontline, and more commonly the game encourages you to pull 10 at a time to increase your chances. 

For any good gacha game, I feel you should be able to pull for free at a fair rate. That varies a lot depending the game mechanics at play, how the game handles duplicate pulls, the rarity rate of gacha pulls, and so on, but in general if you can pull 10 times every two weeks I’ll consider the game fair, at least on that front. 

Arknights is actually a pretty good example of this. Headhunting aside, you can pull 4 times a day using in-game resources in the recruitment section of the menu, but those pulls tend to be a lot more common and not viable in the endgame like some of the ones you get in headhunting. And even without the recruitment section you can usually ten-pull about twice a month if you do the daily and weekly missions plus the weekly Annihilation missions. When I first discussed Arknights in this regard I had some confusion about how Annihilation worked and assumed it reset monthly. I apologize if I misled people with that statement. 

Anyway, by doing all the activities and missions that give you Orundum, the gacha currency, you should be able to collection about 10,000 Orundum every month, which is one guaranteed ten-pull a month. This is a little under what I would had preferred for Arknights and there’s a good chance I’m missing a free source of Orundum somewhere (and I’m rounding down to play it safe), but... it’s fair enough. 

But onto my second point.

Point 2: Premium Currency in Relation to Real-World Currency.

In short, I should have a clear idea how much it cost to pull a character if I was going to whale. Typically, in most gacha games you can purchase a premium currency in order to pull characters with real world money. The amount can vary from game to game, but there should be a clear idea of how much it cost to pull for a character. 

As a free-to-play game, most gacha games do need some kind of reliable income. Let’s be real here, this game doesn’t run on happiness and sunshine and I don’t mind giving money to products I want to see succeed and continue, but if it takes 20 bucks to ten-pull I’m going to find that ridiculous unless the gacha rate is in highly my favor.

Arknights uses Originium Prime as it’s premium currency, an item that can be transferred into 180 Orundum per unit. One Originium Prime costs one dollar. You need about 33 Originium Prime to get the 6,000 Orundum needed to pull ten times, or a little over 3 Originium Prime to pull once using 600 Orundum. This means on average it costs around $33 to pull on command.

This is absurd for a tower defense game.

Now, Originium Prime does a lot more than let you engage with the gacha, but the brass tacks of this is that for every ten-pull you do you could just as easily get 3 games off a Steam sale, maybe more. I also think I should note that Arknight’s store lets you buy 40 Originium Prime for $30 as a bundle, cutting that cost to about 75 cents per Originium Prime. There’s also an option for 66 Originium Prime for $50, but that for just a little over 75 cents per Originium Prime if my math is correct. Either way, Arknights is asking for quite the price to engage in one of its main mechanics. 

And yes, you can gain Originium Prime in game by perfect-clearing stages and clearing the challenge modes, but there’s a finite a moment of those stages and events maps are pretty scarce in Arknights, coming around once every two-ish months with about 15-20 chances for Originium Prime. As a casual player this is... fine, but for folks that rush the endgame this is... a tad much. 

Now, I’m a casual player. I don’t rush to the latest content and I don’t try and min-max a gacha game of all things. As much I mostly just buy a monthly pack that grants me about 300 Orundum for free daily for 30 days and 6 Originium Prime upon purchase. This makes the grind a little easier and it’s a cheap way to show monetary support to the development team. However, I do recognize there are people that do these min-max and rush content and my opinion of these folks aside I think those folks probably spend the most money as well, undeservedly so. But this is more a discussion of the individual person and not the gacha community as a whole.

So... moving on...

Point 3: Late Game Viability as a Free-to-Play

To me, it should never feel like you need the gacha to finish the game or get to the endgame content. For a free to play game, you should be able to at least finish the initial pre-update content without needing to try and a pull a rare character to get you through a hard segment of the game. Events and Post-Launch stuff have a bit of wiggle room, but overall I don’t think you should need a team of the rarest characters to just beat the game, at least not a meta-team. That doesn’t mean the desire to pull can’t be there, but at least for the launch-content, you should be able to finish it out as a free-to-play player. Thankfully, most games (most good games) will give you a pretty decent team to work with if you truly have bad luck with rolls. Girls Frontline is a good example of this.

Arknights... isn’t as generous as I’d like it to be.

In Arknights, by the end of Chapter 4, with limited engagement of the Gacha, you’ll have handful of 4-Stars that can be leveled to the late game with decent stats, Amiya, and an assortment of 3 stars that can technically get you through those first four chapters if used and placed wisely. But some four stars like Gavial, Courier, and Dur-nar are time-limited if I remember correctly, so as of me typing this there’s no reliable way to get some of those characters.

Meanwhile, in Girls Frontline you got most of team Anti-Rain by the mid-game pre-updates, a group of 4-star guns that had already great utility and with half of their members being in the meta of the pre-update endgame content, and are still viable to this day if I remember correctly. 

This is a major point of contention I have with Arknights. I think they’re fairer than most gacha games, but I’ll admit they don’t like giving handouts, not as many as I’d prefer anyway. Even the stingy AFK Arena gave you more stuff after maintenance updates and the like, and I hate the fact that I complimented AFK Arena on anything.

But onto my last point.

Point 4: 5-Star/SSR Rates Must be Around 4% or Higher.

This is the main reason I’ll never touch F/GO (along with other reasons). Every gacha game should, statistically, guarantee a five-star/SSR/highest-tier rarity after 30 pulls. Any more than that and you’re playing with a rigged slot machine by my standards. Like I said, the main goal of most gacha games is to get you pulling for these are fancily drawn jpegs and pngs, and while those characters technically have gameplay function and even limited animation in certain non-gameplay settings, they’re still pictures nonetheless. And if I have to dip more than 30 times to get something good then what’s the point.

Again, using Arknights, their 5-Stars are at a rather generous 8%, but their 6-Stars being at a tad crueler 2%. By all accounts, I shouldn’t be touching Arknights because of this, but due to the nature of how busted Six-Stars are and a few other details like base functions, potential levels, and some other factors in Arknights gameplay, I let this slide for the moment.

Regardless, I shouldn’t take more than 20 pulls to get a highly rated unit of some sort. The details of the specific unit can be discussed at a later date, but my point remains.

Also, any gacha game that mixes accessories and characters in the same pull pool is equally unplayable. Characters have utility and gameplay functions that can be used for multiple strategies and methods, along with out-of-game benefits ala the base mechanics of Arknights depending on the game. Accessories and items are stat buffs in game where grinding levels is already purposely tedious. Anything making that act more of a hinderance is honestly trying to rob you blind and should be avoided like the plague.

Now... one more thing to talk about. 

About Arknights Specifically

You know... between me bitching about Chapter 7, bitching about Chapter 6, bitching about 7-18, and bitching about Code of Brawl I get the feeling you all think I hate Arknights. 

Trust me, I only whine and moan because I love this game and the people who made it, I wouldn’t waste my breath or keystrokes otherwise. 

That said, I would like to see some things change about Arknights on a foundational level. I’ll try and keep this short, but no promises.

Endgame Team for Free

This is the team you have to work with for 6-7 because of story reasons and I think this team should gained for free to by the end of chapter 6, everyone in this squad should be in your rooster by the end. Even Blaze, her kit is good, but not as busted as Silverash so she wouldn’t shatter the game’s difficulty. This team overall is very well balanced for end game content and has all the essentials to get through it. E2 medics and guards, cheap vanguards and defenders for last minute placements to stall, a good sniper that can do solid burst damage, some specialists just in case you need to manipulate enemy movement and path detection. I believe you can get Rope, FEater, and Myrrh free, but Blaze and Greythroat for reliable lategame damage feels like a must. And I see nothing wrong with giving out those two for free anyway, especially for what was near endgame content at the time and how pivotal Blaze and Greythroat were to the storyline of Chapter 6. And yes I feel the same way about Rosmontis in Chapter 7 too. She’s actually a pretty niche unit and a 6-Star that’s expensive to upgrade, just having her in your pocket wouldn’t shatter the game like it would be if you gave us, again, Silverash.

Gacha Rates

I think arguing for cheaper prices with the Originium Prime is a fools errand because corporations will never listen, but I’ll at least say this. The rules of the gacha that followed the WWE Banner should be for all future banner. You should get a banner-specific currency that lets you outright buy the rare units on said banner if you have bad enough luck. You needed to pull 300 times to get W or Weedy and about 50 times to get  Elysium. I feel like both of these should be cut in half. Going by the math I previously did counting that requirement in half would mean only doing 15 ten-pulls, about 495 Originium Prime (89,100 Orundum) or a little over $370 for a limited operator.

This is still absurd for a tower defense game, but it is a far more fair than the original system.

Other Small Quality of Life Changes

A quick pull for recruitment operators so we don’t have to see the bag animation 4 times over. Girls Frontline had something similar by the time I left and it was all the better for it. 

A similar form of auto-play to Girls Frontline where you can send in one of your 4 squads to auto play a map off screen a number of times and come back later when they’re down for materials at the cost of extra sanity. 

Have a Orundum be a log-in reward. Again, something Girls Frontline did and I think coughing out 1,000 Orundum once a week wouldn’t kill anyone.

Buff Amiya goddammit. Either remove/shorten the stun on her S2 to make her have reliable (if random) magical burst damage or remove the instant retreat on her S3 so she can become a hard-hitting damage unit at the cost of a high SP cost and cooldown timer. Don’t give major drawbacks to your only non-event free 5-Star when Silverash exists. When Click and Haze has more viability than your main character you have a problem.

Anyway, that’ll be it for me. Next time... I talk about something that isn’t me bitching.

[big-sky-crypto]

Could There Be Another Financial Crisis on the Horizon?

I wrote this article back in Sept. of 2018 but thought it was worth republishing with everything that is happening right now. I first republished it on Medium back on Feb. 28th but forgot to republish it here so I am doing that now. And since I republished this on Medium things have gotten a whole lot worse. I won't go into all of the details here but basically, everything seems to be shutting down, Schools, businesses, sporting events, it feels like the whole world is coming to a halt.

The paragraph below was added before republishing it on Medium on Feb. 28th.

I have a feeling that the financial impact from the Coronavirus could be much greater than many people believe. Many corporations are already lowering their forward-looking revenue estimates and some are saying that their China revenue could drop by as much as 50%. IMO the Coronavirus has the potential to be that trigger or domino leading to a recession or at worst another financial crisis. I want to also say that I am not republishing this to scare anyone. If we panic then this could become a Self-fulfilling prophecy. My reason is just as food for thought, just to make people aware of one possible side-effect of this outbreak.

Below is the original blog post from Sept. 2018

It has been about 10 years now since the 2008 financial crisis and we are currently riding the 2nd longest economic expansion on record. Most places you look things look very good, the US stock markets are near all-time highs. The S&P 500 is up over 300% since bottoming early in 2009 and nearly double what it was at the peak in 2007. The unemployment rate is sitting at just under 4% near historic lows, the improving jobs market has been pulling more people back into the labor force and even with all the economic momentum inflation still seems to be under control. The US GDP for the second quarter topped 4% which is the highest growth rate since the third quarter of 2014 and US corporate profits are at an all-time high. Personally, I see help wanted signs almost everywhere I go and have read numerous articles about a labor shortage here in the US so to me all of this points to a very bright future.

But hold on! Are there dangers to our economy and financial system lurking below the surface? Could there be a domino waiting to fall which could trigger a chain of events leading us into another economic meltdown? I have already listed some of the positive indicators which point to further prosperity, so now let’s look at the possible dominoes out there that could possibly derail the US or even the global economy. So first let’s look at the very first thing that I wrote, we are currently in the second-longest economic expansion on record, now does that mean that it is going to end tomorrow or next week? Of course not, it could end up becoming the longest on record, but chances are it is closer to the end than the beginning. Economies move in cycles referred to as the economic cycle or business cycle. These cycles are identified as having four distinct phases, expansion, peak, contraction (or recession) and the trough.

We can see by economic indicators that the economy has been expanding for quite some time, so we are obviously in the expansion phase and I would argue that we are getting close to the peak. I am not saying the expansion will end tomorrow, but it could be only a matter of months before it does, and we then transition into another recession.

So, I think we can all agree that sooner or later the US economy will eventually transition into another recession. But that fact alone will not be enough to trigger a financial crisis, so what could be the domino that could trigger a crisis? Besides the danger from a black swan event, in my opinion, the biggest threat to our financial system right now is debt. More specifically, corporate debt, government debt is also out of control in my opinion but for this article, I will be concentrating on Corporate debt. Currently, by many analyst estimations, the corporate bond market is now in a bubble, and what is the most likely cause of this bubble? Ultra-low interest rates are a result of actions by the federal reserve to try and stimulate the US economy after the great recession. A recent report by S&P Global found that the debt held by US corporations has reached a record of $6.3 trillion which is higher than it was in 2007. As you can see by the chart below corporate debt to GDP is also once again reaching extreme levels.

This second chart shows another problem, a great deal of that corporate debt is going to be maturing over the next few years. It is true that U.S. corporations have amassed a record 2.1 trillion in cash to help service their debt but most of that cash is held by a few giant companies. In my opinion, the real issue here is that interest rates are on the rise making it more expensive for these corporations to not only service this debt but also more expensive to roll this debt forward. According to Wells Fargo Securities, corporations will need to refinance about $4 trillion worth of bonds over the next five years which is about two-thirds of all their outstanding debt. With interest rates rising these corporations are going to have to spend enormous amounts of money just to service this debt.

Now enter a recession into this mix, so now you have corporations dealing with servicing an enormous amount of debt and then due to a recession their cash flow and profits start to shrink. It is not too hard to imagine that this could push the balance sheets of quite a few corporations to the breaking point. Now one way the corporations could deal with this would be to shrink, layoff employees, reduce inventory, stop investing, sell assets, but if this happens on a large enough scale the only thing it will accomplish is to further deepen the recession, so this then become a vicious circle.

Another issue is the size of the financial markets, just prior to the 2008 financial crisis the global financial markets were many times the size of the global economy. They had tripled in size over the prior three decades until they were 347 percent of the global GDP, today they are even larger having grown to 360 percent of the global GDP, which is a record. In my opinion, the reason for much of this growth is due to actions by central banks around the world following the financial crisis. In an effort to help the recovery world central banks have massively expanded their balance sheets with much of this newly printed money ending up in the financial markets.

Many corporations have also been using money from debt to buy back their own shares thus boosting their stock prices. There is expected to be over $1 trillion worth of share buybacks this year after the passing of the tax reform bill. So, in addition to the bond or debt bubble, in my opinion, we also have a bubble in the financial markets, I don’t think you need to be a rocket scientist to see that this is a real problem. I have mainly focused on issues here at home but there are also other “dominoes” out there in the rest of the world that could just as easily trigger a global crisis, number one on that list has to be China’s debt bubble. In my opinion, it will only take one domino to fall starting a chain of events that could spiral us into another financial crisis.

So, I am not writing this to try and scare anyone, and I am not saying that this could happen tomorrow, just that “it” is out there. I believe we all need to be aware that no matter how great things seem right now economically, there are issues with our corporate and financial systems that combined with the right trigger could change things very fast, and not for the better.

I hope you found this article interesting and thought-provoking.

Until the next article, Take care!

BigskyCrypto

Website: https://www.bigskycrypto.com

Questions or comments? Email me at dwh.olm94@gmail.com

[your-dietician]

Postpartum depression on the rise, especially for women of color, during COVID-19 pandemic

New Post has been published on https://depression-md.com/postpartum-depression-on-the-rise-especially-for-women-of-color-during-covid-19-pandemic/

Postpartum depression on the rise, especially for women of color, during COVID-19 pandemic

Los Angeles — When Altagracia Mejía learned she was going to be a mother, happiness flooded her heart.

She picked out a crib. She took photos of her growing belly and redecorated her bedroom. She held a gender-reveal party on Zoom.

But her bliss didn’t last long.

Perplexing feelings of anxiety and doubts that she ever could be a fit mother for her baby crept into her head during pregnancy while living in her small one-bedroom apartment. And while the Panorama City resident tried to brush away her uneasiness, those feelings seized her again after she gave birth to her daughter, Alexa, in the middle of the pandemic, on Sept. 8, 2020.

By the time Mejía’s daughter was around 2 months old, the 26-year-old mother’s episodes of anxiety and irritability had darkened into thoughts of suicide.

“In my most lucid moments, I ask myself over and over again what is happening to me,” said Mejía, who immigrated to the United States from El Salvador four years ago in hopes of putting the poverty and violence of her homeland behind her. “I am supposed to be happy, resplendent and full of energy, but nothing is as they paint it on television or social networks.

“For society, especially for Latinos,” she continued, “it is unforgivable for a woman to feel sad or have thoughts of death at this moment that is supposed to be the happiest of her life.”

Mejía suffers from postpartum depression, a severe form of clinical depression related to pregnancy and childbirth. Symptoms include severe mood swings and deep despondency as well as impulses that can impel a mother to harm herself or her child.

Last week, Sandra Chico, the 28-year-old mother of three children found dead in an East Los Angeles home, was arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held on $2-million bail,  L.A. County Sheriff’s Department officials said Tuesday.

In an interview with the Times, Elizabeth Chico said her younger sister had exhibited symptoms of postpartum depression following the birth of her youngest child about a month ago. “All that stress, all that anxiety, it takes over you,” she said.

Although the California Department of Public Health has not released figures on the number of women with postpartum depression since 2018, experts say that an increase in calls from women asking for help from local nonprofit organizations, along with lengthening hospital waiting lists, indicate that postpartum depression cases may have increased dramatically over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Women of color continue to be among the most affected, in part because many do not have health insurance or their insurance covers little or no therapy, said Misty Richards, one of the directors of the Maternal Outpatient Mental Health Services program at UCLA. Evidence suggests that some Latina mothers may hesitate to seek help because of stigmas associated with mental illness, as well as cultural expectations surrounding motherhood and the traditional roles of women in Latin societies.

In addition, many of those afflicted are not being screened for postpartum depression, despite California’s maternal mental health bill, AB 2193, which went into effect on July 1, 2019, and requires that obstetricians and gynecologists screen mothers for these conditions during and after pregnancy and ensure that they get any needed treatment.

The most recent available CDPH statistics, from 2018, indicated that 1 in 5 California women suffered from postpartum depression during or after giving birth, which translated to 100,000 cases a year. The report also states that: “Black and Latina women experience the highest percentage of depressive symptoms of all racial/ethnic groups during both the prenatal and postpartum periods.”

According to the CDPH: “Disparities are particularly evident for prenatal symptoms of depression, which are twice as common for Black (19.9%) and Latina (17.1%) women compared to white (9.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.3%) women.”

Richards, of the UCLA clinic, said that she has seen a 30% increase in postpartum depression cases since the pandemic started. She expressed particular concern for low-income women of color who are disappearing into the cracks of an inaccessible healthcare system.

She estimates that she sees 15 women a week, or about 700 cases a year. If the clinic is full, as has been the case since the beginning of the pandemic, she refers mothers to other affordable clinics and nonprofit organizations.

“A single 90-minute visit to the reproductive psychiatrist in California costs $500 to $800 if you don’t have health insurance,” said Richards, who currently has a 15-day waiting list for treating patients. “That money cannot be paid by a low-income person.”

Responding to the pandemic, the California Department of Health Care Services  implemented a Provisional Postpartum Care Extension programon Aug. 1, 2020, that allows Medi-Cal eligible mothers who are diagnosed with a maternal mental health condition to remain eligible for assistance for up to one year after giving birth — 10 months longer than the normal 60-day period of post-pregnancy care.

However, in order to get help, mothers must be diagnosed with postpartum depression, and many health experts are not even aware of the existence of the program, which will expire Dec. 31.

Medi-Cal, the service that pays for more than 50% of all births in California, would have covered mental aid assistance for Mejía, but her condition was never detected, she said.

“In my clinic, I filled out forms about how I felt, and even though they knew I had depression, they never gave me a positive diagnosis even after giving birth,” she said.

While trying to navigate the labyrinthine U.S. medical system, Mejía felt isolated from friends and family. Fear of catching COVID-19, and shame over what she felt were her failures as a mother, kept her from seeking out others for comfort and support.

“Since I came to this country four years ago, I have worked as a babysitter,” she said. “It was not possible to share that I could take care of other children, and not even be able to breastfeed my own daughter.”

Because she couldn’t afford a private specialist, Mejía, along with her husband of three years, Walberto Gochez, a maintenance worker, and her father, Marco Antonio Mejía, had to seek help on their own from Maternal Mental Health Now, a nonprofit that advocates for screening and treatment of prenatal and postpartum depression in Los Angeles County.

Eynav Accortt, a clinical psychologist at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, who treats women with anxiety and depression during pregnancy and postpartum (known as perinatal mood and anxiety disorders), said the pandemic has added a layer of complexity and isolation that could substantially increase rates of such cases.

“Women have been under more stress from the pandemic,” she said. “They fear getting sick or their babies getting sick, they can’t have home visits and this adds to the worries of the day, even if they aren’t low-income.”

According to Accortt, the Cedars-Sinai Reproductive Psychology Clinic received twice as many calls from women seeking help between January and April of this year, as it did during the entire previous year.

“About 11 patients who could have seen me for individual therapy, because I am in the network with their insurance company, were referred to other community providers, many of whom were already full,” she said. “Right now, I have a three-week waiting list for a client to start individual therapy with me.”

In 2020, about 6,500 women were screened for postpartum depression at Cedars-Sinai, and 300 to 500 who were at risk for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders were referred to local organizations for help. In addition, 150 other women obtained direct services such as individual therapy or support group aid from the Cedars-Sinai Reproductive Psychology Clinic.

Alondra Espinoza, 36, of East Los Angeles, is among those women whose postpartum depression was exacerbated by the pandemic. She was shocked after learning she was pregnant for the third time, in 2019, while raising her daughter, Jocelyn, now 15, and son, Isaiah, 11.

“During my pregnancy, I didn’t want people to see me, I thought I was too old to start caring for a baby again,” she said. “I started crying all the time and feeling irritated at the same time. As the months went by, I started to feel lonely, frustrated and desperate about what my future was going to be like. “

In January 2020, three months before giving birth, she had to stop working as a teacher’s assistant because she suffers from sciatica.

In April 2020, Espinoza gave birth to Lexi, and by June, postpartum depression hit her harder when she learned that her husband, Jezreel, a building demolition worker, would have to return to work out of state.

“During the pandemic I couldn’t go out, I was afraid that we would catch [the coronavirus] and I didn’t know who to turn to,” Espinoza said.

“My girl cried all the time, and I felt useless next to her,” she continued. “I felt like she was freaking out. … I wanted to get out of the house and run aimlessly, I wanted to disappear.”

Like Mejía, Espinoza said, she was never diagnosed with postpartum depression despite filling out several forms at Garfield Medical Center in Monterey Park, where she gave birth.

“It took me about two months after giving birth to seek help on my own because I thought that asking for assistance was wrong,” she said. “I believed that people would think that I am not a good mother and then social services would take away my children.”

An employee of Garfield Medical Center, who did not want to be identified, said that since November 2019, the center has been screening all mothers before they return home with their newborns. “And if they screen high risk for postpartum depression, a social worker refers them to different resources,” the employee said.

Regarding Espinoza’s case, the employee said that there might have been a communication issue or “most likely she did not meet the criteria for high-risk postpartum.”

“We only see the mothers for a short period of time, about four days, after the delivery,” the employee said. “If they do not speak to us, we cannot catch them, we do not have a chance to help.”

Emily C. Dossett, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, maintains that even though screening women for postpartum depression is now encoded in state law, “there is still a lack of resources available to do so, which puts doctors in a bad situation.”

“If health experts are not aware of the postpartum screening laws or the [Provisional Postpartum Care Extension] law, and if there are not enough staff to refer women or therapists, there will always be mothers who will disappear into the cracks without any treatment,” said Dossett, who since the pandemic began has seen a 25% increase in referrals from mothers in need of therapy.

“Postpartum depression can occur shortly after delivery or even up to a year later,” Dossett continued. “That’s why we need more affordable support services because in my experience I believe that 80% of women with postpartum depression can be treated with therapies.”

Norwalk resident Adriana Rangel did not have postpartum depression until two months after giving birth to Ivana on Nov. 13, 2020.

“As if there was a switch in my brain, suddenly I began to feel sad, exhausted, I did not want to eat, I did not even want to take off my pajamas,” said Rangel, 31. “I was no longer the talkative, cheerful and outgoing woman that people knew.”

When her mother died of COVID-19 in February, Rangel plunged further into depression and feared getting sick or making her daughter sick.

She subsequently was able to get help for her condition. She has private health insurance and pays $25 out of pocket for each weekly appointment to see a psychologist at Providence St. Joseph Hospital.

Mike Sherbun, executive director of the Providence Mental Health Clinical Institute, which is made up of 11 hospitals in Orange and Los Angeles counties, said that cases of postpartum depression have risen as much as 25% during the pandemic. He fears those figures are undercounted and may keep rising because they don’t include women who don’t seek help.

“These increases are just the tip of a mental health crisis in California,” he said. “So our institute is in the process of opening more outpatient programs that can assist mothers with postpartum depression in Torrance and Tarzana.”

Sherbun stressed that more laws are needed in California to cover all mothers, while current laws need to be enforced.

In the case of E.R., who asked not to disclose her full name, her OB/GYN did not tell her that she suffered from depression during pregnancy or after delivery until she, too, sought help on her own, she said. The Los Angeles resident, who gave birth in January, began to suffer from anxiety almost three months after her pregnancy began.

“I worked as a mental health case manager and even though I was scared of getting sick with COVID-19, I didn’t want to stop working,” E.R. said. “I heard from so many people who lost their jobs and couldn’t pay their rent and didn’t want to be in that situation. At the same time, I began to be scared by my future, the safety and stability of the baby, so I decided to work until the very moment I gave birth.

“I think working helped me a little bit not to think about depression and anxiety. However, once I had my baby, my mental health declined faster. I cried all the time. I fought with my husband.

“Part of my depression was also due to being isolated from my family and close friends. I come from a Latino family where we celebrate everything, and this time we couldn’t because of the pandemic.”

In the moments when she couldn’t sleep, thoughts of ending her own life, or her child’s, closed in on her.

“I thought that if she was dead, things would be better,” she said. “What happens if I throw myself into a car or throw myself off a building?”

E.R. didn’t confide in her family for fear that they would think she was crazy or that they would take her baby from her.

“In my family, with a mother from Mexico and a father from El Salvador, it is not normal for a mother to feel this way, or you just solve it yourself or you approach the priest to give you advice,” she said.

E. R. asked her husband to accompany her to therapy groups, but he refused, wary of the stigma around mental health issues.

“Fortunately, he understands that I need help and has become more patient,” E.R. said. “He also takes the baby with him when I have felt like I want a break. Having him on my side has helped me a lot.”

Gabrielle Kaufman, clinical director of Maternal Mental Health Now, an organization that helps women with postpartum depression and advocates creating laws that benefit them, said there is still a lot to do at the state level.

“A couple of laws have been passed in the last three years to help this sector, but the pandemic has once again stalled us,” she said. “If as health experts we do not follow current laws and do not advocate for more laws that protect mothers, we will have a mental health crisis that is going to leave a dent in the future.”

Assemblyman Brian Maienschein (D-San Diego), the creator of the law to screen women for postpartum depression, acknowledges that new mothers need to be more aware of their rights .

“We want to remind [mothers] that experts should do postpartum screenings, and that they can ask for them if their providers don’t,” Maienschein said.

He added that “there is also a supplier problem. So a new law that I introduced to the Legislature in February will expand that group. After the diagnosis comes the next step, directing the mothers to the expert for treatment.”

AB 935, the Mothers and Children Mental Health Support Act, would provide the consultation service through telehealth from private insurers and managed care organizations such as Medi-Cal to close gaps when there is a shortage of providers.

However, the bill will not be discussed until 2022.

For now, Mejía and Espinoza attend Maternal Mental Health Now groups. Rangel  sees a psychologist at St. Joseph Heritage Hospital every week through her private health insurance. E. R. gets help in free therapy groups at Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles.

“No mother has to suffer from postpartum depression alone,” Mejía said. “Families must support their mothers so that there are no suicides, and in worse cases, even homicides. This mood disorder is real.”

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[stephenmccull]

California Counties a Hodgepodge of Highs and Lows in Vaccinating Vulnerable Seniors

Even as California prepares to expand vaccine eligibility on April 15 to all residents age 16 and up, the state has managed to inoculate only about half its senior population — the 65-and-older target group deemed most vulnerable to death and serious illness in the pandemic.

This story also ran on Los Angeles Times. It can be republished for free.

Overall, nearly 56% of California seniors have received the full course of a covid vaccine, according to the latest data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s about average compared with other states — not nearly as high as places like South Dakota, where almost 74% of seniors are fully vaccinated, but also not as far behind as Hawaii, which has reached 44%. The data, current as of Tuesday, does not include seniors who have received only the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.

But California’s overall progress masks huge variations in senior vaccination rates among the state’s 58 counties, which largely are running their own vaccine rollouts with different eligibility rules and outreach protocols. The discrepancies notably break down by geographic region, with the state’s remote rural counties — generally conservative strongholds — in some cases struggling to give away available doses, while the more populous — and generally left-leaning — metropolitan areas often have far more demand than supply.

In San Francisco Bay Area counties like Marin and Contra Costa, for example, more than two-thirds of seniors are fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, in the far northern reaches of the state, encompassing some of California’s most dramatic and rugged terrain, rural counties like Tehama, Shasta and Del Norte have fully vaccinated only about a third of senior residents, according to the CDC data.

“We definitely share one thing in common and that is that we have a fairly high percentage of people who are vaccine hesitant. And that even spreads into the seniors,” Dr. Warren Rehwaldt, health officer for Del Norte County, said of the Northern California counties with relatively low vaccination rates. Del Norte, which is 62% white and voted solidly for Donald Trump in the 2020 election, has vaccinated 36.6% of residents age 65 and older.

The county, population 28,000, has spotty internet service, leaving the health department reliant on phone appointments for its twice-weekly clinics, which have the capacity to give out 300 doses in a day.

“I don’t think we have filled any of them completely, and they are tapering off,” Rehwaldt said. Often, 100 or more appointment slots go unused, even after the county expanded eligibility to age 50 and up. “We expected that, but we didn’t expect it this fast,” he said.

Every Thursday morning, Rehwaldt joins a local public radio broadcast to encourage people to get their shots, and the department regularly airs public service announcements. “But it’s a really high hurdle to overcome serious misgivings about the vaccine itself,” Rehwaldt said.

Asked what resources might help bolster vaccination rates, Rehwaldt said he’d opt for a mobile van to travel to remote areas of his county. But moments later, he sighed and said he wasn’t sure a van would help much after all. “What kind of resources are going to overcome hesitancy? It’s not a resource problem,” he said.

Shasta County, whose population is about 80% white and voted in even stronger numbers for Trump, is also struggling to reach the 65-plus group, with just 36.6% of seniors fully vaccinated. Public information officer Kerri Schuette acknowledged health workers were encountering some hesitancy among residents but said their efforts also were hampered by early supply issues.

On the other end of the spectrum are counties like Marin, a largely suburban and affluent stretch of communities just north of San Francisco where 71.4% of seniors are fully vaccinated.

“There’s a thread of privilege that does lead to ease of access to vaccines that needs to be acknowledged,” said county public health officer Dr. Matt Willis. Many seniors in the county have access to computers and cars, he said, and have been able to access vaccine appointments with relative ease.

Still, the county made an aggressive plan to vaccinate seniors even before the first doses arrived, he said. Rather than waiting for the federal government’s program that relied on pharmacies to vaccinate residents in long-term care facilities, for example, the health department sent in workers as soon as it had vaccines.

The county also kept its eligibility rules tightly focused on seniors age 75 and older through the middle of February, while other counties were expanding to younger age groups and a broad array of occupations. At one point, the county briefly expanded eligibility to teachers, but pulled back just one week later when doses grew scarce.

“We showed that a dose offered to someone 75 and older in Marin was 320 times more likely to save a life than a dose offered to someone younger than 50,” Willis said.

Contra Costa County, a more diverse area on the other side of San Francisco Bay, has done nearly as well: 70.9% of seniors are fully vaccinated. Add in those who have received at least one dose, and the numbers are far higher: 90% of people ages 65-74 and 97% of those 75 and older, according to the county’s vaccine tracker.

To reach vulnerable seniors, Dr. Ori Tzvieli, Contra Costa’s deputy health officer, said the county worked with nonprofit groups to make lists of residential care facilities and low-income senior housing, then sent mobile clinics to each one. “For people who were literally homebound, we send someone inside. Otherwise, we set up a station in the lobby or right outside,” he said.

The county also set up mobile clinics at farms and places of worship. It gave community health workers dedicated appointments to sign up older residents directly. And rather than have residents track down their own appointment slots online, the department had people fill out forms and then scheduled appointments for them, prioritizing those who lived in low-income ZIP codes with high rates of disease.

With a population of just over 1 million, Contra Costa now is able to vaccinate 100,000 people a week, Tzvieli said, and has recently opened eligibility to everyone over 16. But even within the county, inequalities remain. In Bay Point, for example, a largely working-class Latino community, vaccination rates are still just half of those of some wealthier communities, Tzvieli said.

Farther south, in California’s agricultural Central Valley, Fresno County falls somewhere in the middle on vaccination rates. About 54% of seniors 65-plus are fully vaccinated, just under the state average. Just more than half the county’s residents are Latino, many of them farmworkers. And about a fifth of the population lives in poverty, which presents its own hurdles to a vaccination campaign.

“Poverty immobilizes, physically and mentally,” said Joe Prado, community health division manager in Fresno County. “For a wealthier population, going 3 to 5 miles away [to a vaccine clinic] is simple; you hop in the car and go. But if you’re living in poverty, that’s a big barrier.”

There are community pockets that have not engaged with the county health system, meaning health officials are coming up against vaccine hesitancy and distrust, Prado added. “Our health literacy is nowhere near where it should be, and now there’s a digital literacy problem, too,” he said. “We’re trying to deal with all this in the middle of a pandemic.”

At this point in the campaign, Prado said, most seniors eager for the vaccine have received at least an initial dose: “The final 25% is going to be the most resource-intensive, the most difficult to reach.”

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious-disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, calls this public health’s “low-hanging fruit phenomenon.” As the proportion of people who are vaccinated grows, he said, “we’ll have to work proportionally harder to keep advancing these numbers, because the eager beavers go first.” In rural counties from California to Tennessee, he added, supply is already outpacing demand.

So far, just more than 75% of seniors in the U.S. have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to the CDC.

“You can look at that as the glass is half-empty or half-full,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, during a recent episode of his weekly podcast. That still leaves more than 13 million seniors unprotected despite facing the highest risk of death; 8 in 10 deaths from covid reported in the U.S. have been among adults 65 and older.

It is crucial, Osterholm said, that states continue to direct efforts toward reaching and vaccinating vulnerable seniors who are homebound or hesitant.

“When we say we’re going to open up eligibility to everybody 16 or 18 years and older, that seems like a victory,” he said. “In many states, that is an admission of defeat.”

KHN Senior Correspondent Anna Maria Barry-Jester contributed to this report.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

California Counties a Hodgepodge of Highs and Lows in Vaccinating Vulnerable Seniors published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[gordonwilliamsweb]

California Counties a Hodgepodge of Highs and Lows in Vaccinating Vulnerable Seniors

Even as California prepares to expand vaccine eligibility on April 15 to all residents age 16 and up, the state has managed to inoculate only about half its senior population — the 65-and-older target group deemed most vulnerable to death and serious illness in the pandemic.

This story also ran on Los Angeles Times. It can be republished for free.

Overall, nearly 56% of California seniors have received the full course of a covid vaccine, according to the latest data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s about average compared with other states — not nearly as high as places like South Dakota, where almost 74% of seniors are fully vaccinated, but also not as far behind as Hawaii, which has reached 44%. The data, current as of Tuesday, does not include seniors who have received only the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.

But California’s overall progress masks huge variations in senior vaccination rates among the state’s 58 counties, which largely are running their own vaccine rollouts with different eligibility rules and outreach protocols. The discrepancies notably break down by geographic region, with the state’s remote rural counties — generally conservative strongholds — in some cases struggling to give away available doses, while the more populous — and generally left-leaning — metropolitan areas often have far more demand than supply.

In San Francisco Bay Area counties like Marin and Contra Costa, for example, more than two-thirds of seniors are fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, in the far northern reaches of the state, encompassing some of California’s most dramatic and rugged terrain, rural counties like Tehama, Shasta and Del Norte have fully vaccinated only about a third of senior residents, according to the CDC data.

“We definitely share one thing in common and that is that we have a fairly high percentage of people who are vaccine hesitant. And that even spreads into the seniors,” Dr. Warren Rehwaldt, health officer for Del Norte County, said of the Northern California counties with relatively low vaccination rates. Del Norte, which is 62% white and voted solidly for Donald Trump in the 2020 election, has vaccinated 36.6% of residents age 65 and older.

The county, population 28,000, has spotty internet service, leaving the health department reliant on phone appointments for its twice-weekly clinics, which have the capacity to give out 300 doses in a day.

“I don’t think we have filled any of them completely, and they are tapering off,” Rehwaldt said. Often, 100 or more appointment slots go unused, even after the county expanded eligibility to age 50 and up. “We expected that, but we didn’t expect it this fast,” he said.

Every Thursday morning, Rehwaldt joins a local public radio broadcast to encourage people to get their shots, and the department regularly airs public service announcements. “But it’s a really high hurdle to overcome serious misgivings about the vaccine itself,” Rehwaldt said.

Asked what resources might help bolster vaccination rates, Rehwaldt said he’d opt for a mobile van to travel to remote areas of his county. But moments later, he sighed and said he wasn’t sure a van would help much after all. “What kind of resources are going to overcome hesitancy? It’s not a resource problem,” he said.

Shasta County, whose population is about 80% white and voted in even stronger numbers for Trump, is also struggling to reach the 65-plus group, with just 36.6% of seniors fully vaccinated. Public information officer Kerri Schuette acknowledged health workers were encountering some hesitancy among residents but said their efforts also were hampered by early supply issues.

On the other end of the spectrum are counties like Marin, a largely suburban and affluent stretch of communities just north of San Francisco where 71.4% of seniors are fully vaccinated.

“There’s a thread of privilege that does lead to ease of access to vaccines that needs to be acknowledged,” said county public health officer Dr. Matt Willis. Many seniors in the county have access to computers and cars, he said, and have been able to access vaccine appointments with relative ease.

Still, the county made an aggressive plan to vaccinate seniors even before the first doses arrived, he said. Rather than waiting for the federal government’s program that relied on pharmacies to vaccinate residents in long-term care facilities, for example, the health department sent in workers as soon as it had vaccines.

The county also kept its eligibility rules tightly focused on seniors age 75 and older through the middle of February, while other counties were expanding to younger age groups and a broad array of occupations. At one point, the county briefly expanded eligibility to teachers, but pulled back just one week later when doses grew scarce.

“We showed that a dose offered to someone 75 and older in Marin was 320 times more likely to save a life than a dose offered to someone younger than 50,” Willis said.

Contra Costa County, a more diverse area on the other side of San Francisco Bay, has done nearly as well: 70.9% of seniors are fully vaccinated. Add in those who have received at least one dose, and the numbers are far higher: 90% of people ages 65-74 and 97% of those 75 and older, according to the county’s vaccine tracker.

To reach vulnerable seniors, Dr. Ori Tzvieli, Contra Costa’s deputy health officer, said the county worked with nonprofit groups to make lists of residential care facilities and low-income senior housing, then sent mobile clinics to each one. “For people who were literally homebound, we send someone inside. Otherwise, we set up a station in the lobby or right outside,” he said.

The county also set up mobile clinics at farms and places of worship. It gave community health workers dedicated appointments to sign up older residents directly. And rather than have residents track down their own appointment slots online, the department had people fill out forms and then scheduled appointments for them, prioritizing those who lived in low-income ZIP codes with high rates of disease.

With a population of just over 1 million, Contra Costa now is able to vaccinate 100,000 people a week, Tzvieli said, and has recently opened eligibility to everyone over 16. But even within the county, inequalities remain. In Bay Point, for example, a largely working-class Latino community, vaccination rates are still just half of those of some wealthier communities, Tzvieli said.

Farther south, in California’s agricultural Central Valley, Fresno County falls somewhere in the middle on vaccination rates. About 54% of seniors 65-plus are fully vaccinated, just under the state average. Just more than half the county’s residents are Latino, many of them farmworkers. And about a fifth of the population lives in poverty, which presents its own hurdles to a vaccination campaign.

“Poverty immobilizes, physically and mentally,” said Joe Prado, community health division manager in Fresno County. “For a wealthier population, going 3 to 5 miles away [to a vaccine clinic] is simple; you hop in the car and go. But if you’re living in poverty, that’s a big barrier.”

There are community pockets that have not engaged with the county health system, meaning health officials are coming up against vaccine hesitancy and distrust, Prado added. “Our health literacy is nowhere near where it should be, and now there’s a digital literacy problem, too,” he said. “We’re trying to deal with all this in the middle of a pandemic.”

At this point in the campaign, Prado said, most seniors eager for the vaccine have received at least an initial dose: “The final 25% is going to be the most resource-intensive, the most difficult to reach.”

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious-disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, calls this public health’s “low-hanging fruit phenomenon.” As the proportion of people who are vaccinated grows, he said, “we’ll have to work proportionally harder to keep advancing these numbers, because the eager beavers go first.” In rural counties from California to Tennessee, he added, supply is already outpacing demand.

So far, just more than 75% of seniors in the U.S. have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to the CDC.

“You can look at that as the glass is half-empty or half-full,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, during a recent episode of his weekly podcast. That still leaves more than 13 million seniors unprotected despite facing the highest risk of death; 8 in 10 deaths from covid reported in the U.S. have been among adults 65 and older.

It is crucial, Osterholm said, that states continue to direct efforts toward reaching and vaccinating vulnerable seniors who are homebound or hesitant.

“When we say we’re going to open up eligibility to everybody 16 or 18 years and older, that seems like a victory,” he said. “In many states, that is an admission of defeat.”

KHN Senior Correspondent Anna Maria Barry-Jester contributed to this report.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

California Counties a Hodgepodge of Highs and Lows in Vaccinating Vulnerable Seniors published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[lovemychinchilla]

Is a Chinchilla The Right Pet for Me?

Planning on getting a chinchilla? You should: they're great pets. But what do you need to know before you buy one? And what are chinchillas like as pets?

Should I buy a chinchilla? They make great pets if you're prepared for them! Chinchillas are friendly and trusting if you're a gentle owner. They're cute, cheap to keep and have fun habits like popcorning and wall-surfing. But they also have sensitive care requirements, e.g. temperature and humidity, and if you don't care for your chinchilla right it could easily pass away. So before buying a chinchilla, you ought to do lots of research.

Don't worry, though; chinchillas are fascinating, so reading about them is lots of fun. The guide below is intended as a starting point, from which you can learn all the must-know facts about owning chinchillas. There's lots more to learn besides, but that comes with time and experience.

Should I Get a Chinchilla? Is a Chinchilla Right for Me?

You should only buy a chinchilla if you fully understand what owning one would be like. Otherwise, you could either be left disappointed or not care for your pet properly.

Are Chinchillas Good Pets to Have?

Chinchillas make excellent pets when cared for properly. Chinchilla owners are a devoted bunch, and there's so much knowledge in the community which makes asking questions and getting answers very easy. If you're prepared to put the time and effort in, your pet will reward you in spades. Here's what makes chinchillas so fun to keep:

Chinchillas are cheap. Initial costs of buying a chinchilla and its cage aside, chinchillas are very cheap to keep. All of their needs can be met cheaply without neglecting your pet. The only issue is vet bills, but these can be expensive for any pet.

Chinchillas are cute. They're big balls of fluff, they're excitable, and once they trust you they enjoy spending time with you. They have all sorts of unique habits like wall-surfing, dust bathing, popcorning and more to discover.

Chinchillas are easy to feed. All they eat is hay and hay pellets. They don't need snacks, although if you want to give your pet some, you can (e.g. rose hips).

Chinchillas are interesting compared to other pets. Chances are you've had dogs or other pets before; chinchillas are something new.

Chinchillas can live a VERY long time. Twenty years isn't unheard of, and the record is 27.

Chinchillas aren't as smelly as other pets. Their poops are hard and dry, meaning they don't smell if you clean the cage frequently enough; they aren't completely odor-free, though, just better.

Chinchillas are generally low-maintenance. If your chinchilla has a cage-mate, they will keep each other company. And, of course, you don't need to worry about things like walks. Chins also don't need vaccines when you first get them.

The guides on this site explore these points in more depth. You can find relevant guides through the links in the list above.

Are Chinchillas Good Family Pets?

[caption id="attachment_1066" align="alignright" width="300"] Chinchillas are too delicate for kids to handle safely, so you have to teach them how.[/caption]

Chinchillas make good family pets if you teach your child how to interact with the chinchilla properly. These are delicate pets; their bones can be broken if you squeeze them, they don't like being picked up too quickly, and they don't like loud noises. Kids can be unintentionally rough with pets, which isn't a big problem with a dog, but is with a chinchilla.

That doesn't mean you can't keep chinchillas if you have kids. But it does mean that if your child is too young to learn how to properly care for a pet, you should pick something else.

One downside of keeping a chinchilla is that they're largely active at night. They're not fully nocturnal, so will be active at points throughout the day. But they'll spend much of their time awake at night. They can make noise, but also, this means you spend less time with a chinchilla than with other pets.

This can be a big plus, though. It means that your chin will be asleep while you're at work. It will then be active when you get home, as chinchillas are most active at dawn and dusk. Depending on your schedule, that might be exactly right for you.

Is a Chinchilla a Good Pet for a Child?

Chinchillas don't make good pets if you're planning on letting your child look after it for the most part. There are several reasons why:

Children can be unintentionally rough, and hurt the chinchilla easily as described above

Chinchilla bites hurt a lot, and because chinchillas are skittish, your child could easily push one too far if they don't understand their pet's body language

Chinchillas have sensitive temperature and humidity requirements, and can overheat even in weak direct sunlight; overheating makes them pass away

Generally speaking, buying a pet to give it to a child is a bad idea. You always have to do more work than you think you will. And if your child doesn't take care of their pet properly, you'll end up with big vet's bills.

What Should I Know About Chinchillas?

The main thing you need to know about chinchillas is that they have key care requirements. These aren't difficult to get your head around, but you may not know them if you've never kept a small pet before. The tips below are short and sweet, and if you follow them, you'll avoid all of the common mistakes that new owners so frequently make.

1) Temperature & Humidity

[caption id="attachment_1976" align="alignright" width="300"] You can measure humidity with a hygrometer, and temperature with a thermometer.[/caption]

Chinchillas come from the Andes Mountains in South America. They live at high altitudes where it's cold and dry. That's why they've developed such thick fur. While you don't have to keep your house frigid for your pet to be happy, you do need to avoid keeping it too warm.

Experienced owners suggest a limit of around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, or 21 degrees Centigrade. If you're like most people, you won't keep your house at warmer temperatures than this anyway. But this does mean you'll have to keep your chinchilla out of direct sunlight and in a room that doesn't get too hot.

The same applies to humidity. Chinchillas' fur is so thick that when it gets damp/wet, it takes a long time to get dry. If it's damp for a long time, ringworm can develop. And if your chinchilla gets wet and you don't dry it, it could even get hypothermia. 50% humidity is the highest you should let the humidity go, and you shouldn't bathe your chinchilla in water, but in dust.

2) Snacks Aren't Necessary

Chinchillas aren't like we are. They don't need a varied diet. As such, your pet will thrive if it lives on nothing but hay and hay pellets

Giving their chinchillas snacks is something all new owners do. But their choices are often completely wrong. Fruits and vegetables, for example, are a bad choice because they're so high in water and sugar. Enough of them could give your chinchilla diarrhea or make it gain weight over time (particularly fruits). And of course, any kind of processed human food is off the menu, too.

The key problem is sugar. Chinchillas don't need simple sugars, they need lots of fiber in their diet. Processed sugars make them gain weight. Their diet should be at least 90% hay and hay pellets, meaning you're limited to giving suitable snacks like rose hips once or twice a week, and only in small amounts. Timothy hay is perhaps the best hay for chinchillas.

3) Chinchillas Need to Keep Their Teeth Trimmed

Chinchillas are rodents, and rodents have unique teeth. They grow constantly throughout the chinchilla's life, like our fingernails do. If they're allowed to grow unchecked, one or more of several things will happen:

The front teeth won't be aligned any more. Your chinchilla will consequently find it very difficult to eat.

The misaligned teeth will cut into your chinchilla's gums. This causes painful swelling and abscesses.

The roots of the teeth will grow upwards into the jaw, and eventually block off the tear ducts of the eyes, often causing infection

This condition is called 'malocclusion'. It commonly affects chinchillas with novice owners.

You don't need to trim your chinchilla's teeth with clippers. Your pet will do the work for you. All you need to do is provide an appropriate fibrous diet, and give your chinchilla a chew toy. Chew toys are made from tougher fibrous materials like apple wood, and apple wood sticks are perhaps the most popular of all. These grind your chinchilla's teeth down gradually, just enough to keep them from getting too long.

Calcium imbalances also play a role in making the teeth grow longer. So, make sure you're feeding your pet the right diet, too.

4) Same-Sex Pairings Only!

[caption id="attachment_365" align="alignright" width="300"] Chinchillas can be affectionate with their owners, and with each other.[/caption]

If you're a novice owner, you should only keep your chinchillas in same-sex pairs. That means only keep a female with a female, or a male with a male.

The problem is that chinchillas aren't picky when it comes to mates. Any male and female pairing will eventually mate—some in hardly any time at all. While the idea of looking after chinchilla kits (as babies are known) is a fun one, it's not one we would recommend for a new owner. If that's something you eventually plan on doing, at least become an experienced owner first.

Something else you need to know is that chinchillas are easily mis-sexed. That means that pet shop owners frequently mislabel chinchillas as male or female when they're actually not. That's why it's important not to take the pet shop owner's word on the sex of your chinchilla, and to check yourself, or have a vet do it for you. This happens much more frequently than you might think.

5) Where to Buy a Chinchilla

On the subject of pet shops, we recommend not buying from one. It's a generalization, but one we're happy to make: pet shops are bad and you shouldn't encourage them. There are so many horror stories about pet shops keeping chinchillas (and, obviously, other pets) in completely unsuitable conditions with no regard for their health.

Instead, you should buy from a reputable breeder. There are organizations that chinchilla breeders can be a part of, and if they're a part of one, it's typically a sign that a breeder knows what they're doing. You can guarantee that:

Your chinchilla will be from healthy genetic stock

You ARE getting a male/female if that's what the breeder tells you

The breeder can give you hints and tips on how to care for it

This is far from all you need to know. But if you follow these tips, your chinchilla will at least be happy and healthy. Consider reading some more of our guides to learn as much as you can!

Below, you can find our chinchilla quiz, new posts for further reading, and a signup for our Chinchilla Newsletter!

[ays_quiz id='9']

#chinchillas #chinchillafaqs

[awhilesince]

Saturday, 29 November 1828

6

11 25/60

Bowels right ever since I ceased to notice the continuity – at Hoppus’s measurer (1/2 hour) till 7 1/2 –  from 7 40/60 to 10 wrote 3 pages and the ends small and close, to my aunt – breakfast at 10 10/60 – came upstairs at 10 40/60 – 

In the letter to my aunt mention the additional difficulty (some time ago) about Northgate title deeds – Lower brea ready to leave 6 yards in front of the house – to be begun next spring or as soon after as possible – In treaty with Joseph Wilkinson about the coals bought of Dr Drake – know not how the matter will end – going to try to get back the Pump servants‘ pew – mention all the railing done and doing some walling and setting stones at Mytholm wood – about 2/3 of the Cunnery plantation (or Coneyry spelt properly) now to be dignified with the name of wood, felled, and replanting with oaks – so much wood dead and worth little, and so much wanted for railing shall only get about £10 towards expect – 3 new hedges to be planted – Benjamin’s wellfield Wellroyde brow, and upper Cunnery – must do the rest of the Cunnery wood the next time of coming over much most on that account be at this time of year – the whole of the Clough to be planted and there to be one day a pretty walk – thorn planted near Allen Car well – Skelfler title not yet completed – Mr Robinson daily expected here – mortgage could not be transferred – would only perpetuate blunders – so new mortgage deeds made – 

‘my father seems better satisfied with me and my alterations there I fancied him at 1st; and we are getting on very well – His ideas of the picturesque are not of the highest order – would you believe, that he took up, and had planted in the hedges, as many of those beautiful single thorns in the upper fields, as they could remove? I have told him I would rather give him 5 pounds a piece to let them remain – and he will spare the spade in this kind of things in future – one of his plans, you know, was to straighten the course of the brook! After all, so long as he does not put his plans in execution, I cannot help smiling – what would have become of us all, if my uncle had done differerently?’ 

mention the history of Yorkshire coming out, to be published at Leeds, in one shilling 8vo octavo, and (proof plates 4to quarto) 2 shilling nos numbers, and the man’s coming to take a view of Shibden for the work – Dr. Belcombe died at 1 p.m. Monday the 17teenth instant – account of the funeral – M– (Mariana) to stay till next week and spend one day or 2 here on her return – ‘Her health very delicate – I know not quite what to make of it’ N–s (Norcliffes) going to Bath on the 2nd next month – Norcliffe to be in Paris this winter – shall at least spend Xmas Christmas in England – satisfied now Mrs B– (Barlow) is in Paris – she will give my not all necessary assistence – if not furnish with money will send it over – as to the apartment – 

‘perhaps you had best make sure of where we are for 3 months longer – you will know, on my return, that I had better ‘reason’ (allude to MacD–’s (MacDonald’s) sister at Tobermory saying, they had never sent for MacD– (MacDonald) to be with her mother, but she had ‘so good a place (thought it a pity – they may not always think so) then you can now imagine for determining to take back with me a woman servant – as for upper slower, you will soon see the inexpediency of such distinction – the work of each will be ascented; and each ought to be a comfort to the other – MacD– (MacDonald) has nothing to fear – nothing to lose, but surely something to gain – we will by and by setting all this, it being premised, that one of them must always in the anteroom – It seems Madame de R– (Rosny) did not forget her promise, tho’ made in such a manner, that if she had forgotten it, I ought not to have found great fault – I will thank her on my return’ – 

mention Miss Margaret Crompton’s intended match and the news of Mrs N–’s (Norcliffe’s) last letter – all right again at Crownest – Mr Wiglesworth’s affairs so bad, will hardly be anything for his grandchild – (worth £17.000 when dissolved partnership with Mr

Thompson – Gill, and his servant and mistress Caroline cheated him) – other local news Mrs Veitch very poorly but better – ask my aunt to ask Mrs B– (Barlow) to as Madame Galvani 

‘to tell me how and what to write to the Directeur généneral de Douanes at Paris, to get the duty on the plate I wish to take over, remitted’ – 

mention the rate of Duty and terms of Deposit – (vide Birmingham’s letter) – mention the quantity of plate packed up – from 10 40/60 to 11 1/2 wrote the above of today read over my letter and wafered and took it down forJohn to take to the post at 12 – to Madame Madame Lister place neuve de la madeleine No 2 Paris’ –

cut my nails Dawdling over 1 thing or other – wild, windy, rainy day – went out at 12 1/4 to the Coneyry Wood – the men gone to Dinner – very wild and rough and rainy – walked about – musing about planting 2 or 3 trees next west corner Lower Cunnery – down by Benjamin’s – on planting about 5 trees (at 10 yards distance) there – then to the new brook when the Godley road is to cross it – why have a brridge – from 18 to 20 feet  deep of cutting – why not slope down to it on each side? – this would save a bridge and we might the most casually get rid of the road altogether – mention this to Mr Waterhouse – and that I should be glad if could help me to manage getting that piece of ground of Mr Emmett’s, cut off on this side, at a reasonable price – went back to the plantation and found the men there (Throp and the 2 wallers) at 1 20/60 – Calculating the expense of planting Bairstow supposing 9 Daywere all trenched at 2/6 per rood acorns dibbled in at 6 inch distance in trenches 1 or 1 1/2 feet distance at 1/. per rood – and afterwards cleaning (hoeing or cartting up as one would here turnips) at 6 d pence per rood – would let the hill on fire before beginning to trench, let it lie all winter, and sow or dibble in in March – Reckoning the walling altogether at 15/. per rood, and allowing £70 for walling, at a rough calculation, said the thing could not

be done, and the trees upheld (cleaned) for 3 years under £300 – the trees from William Keighley we are now planting are of 3 years growth – In nurseries, keep the acorns and other tree seeds over winter and sow in March – make a spade breadth trench by running along the spade and this taking up the earth about 4 inches deep – in this drop the acorns pretty thick and cover about 4 inches deep – the acorns soon come up – some do, and some do not transplant oaks, they have such a long root – If planting in a poor soil and high, bleak place prefers planting in spring to now – the plants in that case often rot and die by being so long in the ground without vegetation – gave Nathan and Robert each £2 on account – Mosey and companion were here this morning, but the day so bad, they went away before dinner – left the plantation about 3 1/4 – met John, and sent him to help to finish the trees laid out and there till the men to go home – came in at 3 25/60 – very wet – changed even to my dressinggown – William Keighley junior came at 4 3/4 – paid him his bill – 2200 oaks putting in at £4 instead of 40/. or 42/. per thousand – ‘to felling wage’ at 1/. in the pound 20/. (having valued the sycamores here at £5.2.0) – I saw he was not at 1st., quite right at this having got the wood but I took no notice – will come and prune, and cut off the upper Cunnery hedge for me –thinks I do right to rail it – He is all for planting in spring, and drought comes, almost sure to droughted – wrote the last 24 lines of today which took me till 5 5/60 – 

from 5 1/4 to 6 40/60 wrote 3 pages and the ends, read over and sealed my letter to IN Isabella Norcliffe – nothing particular – said I had left the miniature (likeness of myself by Millet) – at Lawton, so could not now send it to Fisher’s – would send it in a parcel from London – IN (Isabella Norcliffe) – to write and give me her address in Bath as soon as they are settled – ‘You would, of course, think the death of an excellent and ‘lamented friend Dr Belcombe a happy release – they all seem to bear it as well as could be expected’ merely added that Mrs L– (Lawton) seemed to fear her mother would bear up less well by and by there now – M–’s (Mariana’s) health so delicate, know not what to make of it – ‘I often think on the subject with much and painful anxiety’ – no doubt, she can get things over from France, but must pay for them pretty dearly – will ask Birmingham about it – make no promises about Mac D–’s (MacDonald’s) gown – going to France and coming from there makes all the difference in the world – shall take even plate, books, linens, etc. etc. putting return to make for the permission of the Directeur général des Douanes to take over plate duty free, to have anything found that I had not fairly named – should be here over Xmas at least – sent off my letter to IN– (Isabella Norcliffe) (Langton hall, Malton) by John at 6 50/60 at which her dinner – dozed a little afterwards –

came up to bed at 9 40/60 – speaking of the Cunnery, my father would not build a farmstead there, but portion off the land to Benjamin Bottomley’s, Pearson’s, John Oates’s, George Naylors, and Charles Howarth’s – about 40 Daywere thus to divide amongst them – Mrs Robinson told them some time ago they said nothing now of any more building at Lower brea – an improvement in machinery – could get all done by this means at the mile – would set about it next spring – wild, windy,

rainy, rough day – the wind abated and very heavy rain all the evening – 3/4 hour studying Hoppus’s measure –

(SH:7/ML/E/11/0099)(SH:7/ML/E/11/0100)

https://www.catalogue.wyjs.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=CC00001%2f7%2f9%2f6%2f11%2f99&pos=1

https://www.catalogue.wyjs.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=CC00001%2f7%2f9%2f6%2f11%2f100&pos=1

[evanvanness]

Annotations for the latest Week in Eth News

I tweeted this week:

Feels like an accurate reflection of the broader week in the Ethereum ecosystem.  Just take a look at the most clicked:

“Yield farming” is the idea of figuring out how to leverage up to get the most yield, where part of the yield is usually a native token for the platform/protocol.  (Please do so very cautiously...if you get leveraged up, you’re juicing returns but taking large risk of losses).

With Compound, this meant various “trades,” which changed through the week.  First people were lending (and resupplying) Tether, because that had the highest rates.  Then the trade switched to BAT because some whale figured out (the advantages of scale!) that it wouldn’t be hard to drive BAT rates up even higher than Tether (USDT) and all the sudden an insane amount of BAT moved to Compound.  I kid you not: at the moment there is about $250m USD worth of BAT in Compound - though only 6% of supply as it gets circulated through a few times

Leveraged up?  Be careful!  If BAT price doubles, how many people would get liquidated?  

Hint: it’s those of you who are over 50% on the borrow limit you can see from your account page on the Compound UI.  Looking at exchanges, the order books are rather thin - how much would it cost a liquidator to drive all the BAT price up 2x compared to how much it could make liquidating?  Or what if Brave announces a big partnership?  Crypto is an adversarial environment (ahem, look at all those YouTubers with huge followings trying to sell you on the latest pump of some worthless token)

These order books are thinner than normal because....so much BAT got sucked into Compound from the exchange’s order books.  So the price is now easier to push higher.

Meanwhile, Balancer started its “liquidity mining” (same thing as yield farming) before Compound, but just released its token today.   And now it’s trading at $15 last I looked, or 1.5 billion USD fully diluted market cap.  

Signs of a bull market?  Feels like it to me.

These aren’t the only liquidity mining opportunities - and you’ll see a bunch more people do it now that this is what is bringing in users.

Back to Compound, it got listed on Coinbase Pro today and the price actually fell, as all the people who had “farmed” it got liquid, plus presumably some others as well.  However, it eventually held (at time of writing) at about $280. (that’s a 2.8b USD fully diluted valuation). It had been at $380 and looking at the orderbook when it opened, it appeared that the first trade (for a tiny amount) happened at $440.  We’ll see what happens when Coinbase opens it to retail.

The DeFi narrative is strong.  Seems clear that there is some demand for folks wanting to own a bit of what might be the next big financial platforms.

-------

The final thing I always call out in my intro is high-level things I suggest Eth holders might read:

Matter Labs’ ZK Sync rollup is live – tiny transaction fees, withdrawals to Eth mainnet in 15 mins, 300 transactions per second (with 2000 tps coming)

Reddit announces scaling competition to move Reddit’s community points to mainnet

It seems the mysterious and massive transaction fees were from a hacked korean ponzi called GoodCycle. Various miners have handled differently: Ethermine (already paid out). Sparkpool (said it would pay out but then victim identified, unclear to me if yet resolved). f2pool (said they’d return to new address)

ETH disrupting SWIFT: why fintech VCs are missing DeFi

As always, reverse order: 

Looking at ETH as a distruptor for SWIFT is a pretty interesting lens.  I’ve always rolled my eyes a little at “fintech” because it seems like playing fast with regulations and then if you get a certain scale hiring lawyers and lobbyists to hopefully make your issues go away.   This article argues that the real innovation is further down in the financial “stack” - Ethereum taking the place of antiquated SWIFT.

Personally I don’t think the massive mistake/hack transaction fees are a big deal, but it seems to be something that the crypto clickbait jumps on.  It’s not a danger to any normal user.  Just check the transaction fee before sending.

Reddit wants to put its Community Points on Eth mainnet, likely through a rollup or sidechain.   Very neat - it does feel like their deadline is just a little ambitious for rollups which might make them use a sidechain, which would be a bit of a shame if they can get better trust assumptions from a rollup by waiting an extra month or two.

And speaking of rollups, ZkSync is live.  Fast, cheap transfers with the data onchain and the execution offchain.  Woot!

Eth1

Trinity v0.1.0-alpha.36 (Python client) – BeamSync improvements, metrics tracking (influxDB/Grafana), partial eth/65 support

Updated Eth on ARM images. Geth fast syncs a full node in 40 hours on 8GB Raspberry Pi4

Miners began bumping up the gas limit (12m now), which sparked some polemics about the tradeoff between state growth versus user fees. Higher gas limit resulted in safelow gas fees in the teens for the first time in weeks.

Speaking of yield farming ruling the week, the gas prices are back to 30 gwei despite the fact that that throughput went up 20%.  My strong suspicion is that this has a lot to do with yield farming.

For the record, the max transactions per second of Ethereum right now is about 44 transactions per second.  It’s an easy calc to do (12m divided by 13.1 block time divided by 21000 gas per simple eth transfer). 

Of course that doesn’t include rollups, who put their data onchain to the point where they are arguably layer 1.5.

Personally I think we should make this gas limit increase “temporary” when gas prices go back down.  

Eth2

Prysmatic (Go) client update – stable Onyx testnet, 80% validators community run, RAM usage optimizations

Nimbus (Nim) client update – up to spec, 10-50x processing speedup, splitting node and validator clients

SigmaPrime’s update on their Eth2 fuzzer – found some Prysmatic bugs, fuzzing Lodestar (Javascript client), Lighthouse ENR crate bug, dockerizing the fuzzer so the community can run it

Jonny Rhea’s Packetology posts (one and two) on identifying validators

Attack nets – a testnet specifically for attacks

When Sigma Prime’s fuzzer is dockerized, does “are you fuzzing any eth2 clients” become the cool new question that Eth folks ask each other, instead of “are you running any testnets?”

There’s not much more to say otherwise.  This is the final slog to getting the eth2 chain launched.  The final tinkering, the testnets, thinking about validator privacy and cost of attack, an attack net for white hats.

Layer2

Matter Labs’ ZK Sync rollup is live – tiny transaction fees, withdrawals to Eth mainnet in 15 mins, 300 transactions per second (with 2000 tps coming)

Minimally viable rollback in Validium/Volition

The flipside to high gas prices is layer2.  It’s hard to get people to excited about layer2 when you can get onchain transactions done in a couple minutes at 1 gwei.  At 30 gwei, people get more excited about layer2, and stuff is working.

Network effects are real: layer2 also becomes much better to use the more people who are using it.  So there is a silver lining to higher gas prices, because it provides the incentive to push people to superior alternatives.  Obviously a really fast and cheap ETH/token transfer rollup is increasingly more valuable the more people are using it.

Crypto

a GKR inside a snark to speed up SNARK proving 200x

Attacking the Diogenes setup ceremony for Eth2’s VDF

Isogenies VDFs: delay encryption

Kate polynomial commitments explainer from Dankrad Feist

Reputable List Curation from Decentralized Voting Crites, Maller, Meiklejohn and Mercer paper for construction of private TCR voting

Debut of the “crypto” section.  It seemed like it was getting lost in the general.

Placement (compared to other sections) was rather random.  Categorization can be somewhat arbitrary, that’s something the newsletter will hopefully constantly evolve.

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Stuff for developers

Waffle v3 with ethers v5 support

WalletConnect v1 release, now with mobile linking

ethers-rs, a port of ethers to Rust

Solidity v0.6.10. error codes and bugfix for externally calling a function that returns variables with calldata location.

Inheritance in Solidity v0.6

Sorting without comparison in Solidity

Create dynamic NFTs using oracles

Deploying with libraries on Remix IDE

Wyre’s WalletPasses allow push notifications for dapps

Bunch of neat stuff in here. I’ve said it before, ethers is increasingly the thing that people use, even while most of the eth tutorials are still using web3js.

Code security

OpenZeppelin found a bug that affected 61 Argent wallets

Bancor bug: public method allowed anyone to drain user balances. Amusingly, the white hat draining got frontrun

DeFiSaver exchange vulnerability. They white hat drained it and also got frontrun.

Database of audit reports

Check out this newsletter’s weekly job listings below the general section

A special security section to break up the “stuff for devs” since it was a little big.

The whole “white hat drainers” get frontrun theme was...well, I used the word amusing in the newsletter, but I don’t think that’s quite the right word.

Ecosystem

Reddit announces scaling competition to move Reddit’s community points to mainnet

It seems the mysterious and massive transaction fees were from a hacked korean ponzi called GoodCycle. Various miners have handled differently: Ethermine (already paid out). Sparkpool (said it would pay out but then victim identified, unclear to me if yet resolved). f2pool (said they’d return to new address)

By default, Geth will no longer accept transaction fees over 1 eth

3box on demystifying the many facets of digital identity

The death (and web3 rebirth?) of privacy

Ethereum Foundation invests in Unicef’s CryptoFund startups

Unicef’s press release didn’t mention the Ethereum Foundation (and barely mentioned Ethereum! strange) but in fact EF did provide the capital.  Very strange that Unicef barely mentioned Ethereum.

And yes, I still love a good privacy essay.  I’m not a privacy nut, but I do think people should have the right to at least know when our every online action action is being surveiled.  

Enterprise

WEF, IADB and Colombian government project to reduce corruption in procurement

EY launches crypto tax reporting app

EY continues to push things for enterprise, and dealing with taxes is presumably just one more hurdle that they’re knocking down.  Of course many enterprises also still refuse to own crypto (even on a centralized exchange), so I remain curious as to whether 

the anti-corruption procurement project in Colombia suffers a similar problem: to be actually used, the Colombian government requires secret bids.  So they either have to change the law to try it, or they have to integrate...something like EY’s Nightfall  

DAOs and Standards

EIP2733: Transaction package

Anonymous voting using MACI and BrightID

Arguably the anonymous voting using MACI could’ve been in the crypto section, but it felt slightly more applicable here.

Application layer

$COMP was distributed and liquidity mining (“yield farming”) blew up. Compound passed Maker for #1 on DeFiPulse, and $COMP has had a fully diluted market cap over $3.5 billion

Uniswap v2 passes v1 in liquidity

Streamr’s data unions framework is live for anyone to create their own

5m KNC burned milestone

Yield farming on steroids from Synthetix, Ren, and Curve

A yield farming for normies (and the risks!) tweetstorms from Tony Sheng

this artwork is always on sale, v2 with 100% per year tax instead of 5%

My weekly what fraction of applayer section is DeFi: 5/7.

I was somewhat surprised Uniswap v2 took over this quickly. I suppose that’s a data point for “the power of frontends.”

Tokens/Business/Regulation

ETH disrupting SWIFT: why fintech VCs are missing DeFi

Nick Tomaino on the economics of Eth2

Personal token vote on Alex Masmej’s life decisons

Liechtenstein company tokenizes 1.1m USD collectable Ferrari

Opyn: hedging with calls

It does seem like the economics of Eth2 are still vastly underrated by “crypto” at large.  In my view that largely reflects the skepticism that Eth2 ever launches, as Silicon Valley went very skeptical on ETH 2 years ago when they pivoted away from FFG.  

New tokens from protocols valued in the billions and tokenized Ferraris.  It’s starting to feel like the true beginnings of a bull market.

No general section this week; I was surprised as you, but lately the general section had been dominated by cryptography and that got its own section.  

That’s it for the annotations!

Please RT this on Twitter if you enjoyed it:

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Job Listings

Synthetix: Deep Solidity engineer, 2+ years exp & US/EU friendly timezone

Chainlink: Product Manager for Blockchain Integrations and Lead Test Engineer

0x is hiring full-stack, back-end, front-end engineers + 1 data scientist

Celer Network: Android developer

Trail of Bits is looking for masters of low-level security. Apply here.

Want your job listing here? $250 per line (~75 character limit including spaces), payable in ETH/DAI/USDC to evan.ethereum.eth. Questions? thecryptonewspodcast -at-gmail

Housekeeping

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Permalink: https://weekinethereumnews.com/week-in-ethereum-news-june-21-2020/

Dates of Note

Upcoming dates of note (new/changes in bold):

June 24 – EIP1559 call

June 25 – Eth2 call

June 26 – Core devs call

June 29 – Swarm first public event

July 3 – Gitcoin matching grants ends (here’s my grant)

July 6-Aug 6 – HackFS Filecoin/IPFS and Ethereum hackathon

July 20 – Fork the World MetaCartel hackathon

Aug 2 – ENS grace period begins to end

Oct 2-Oct 30 – EthOnline hackathon

[gordonwilliamsweb]

California Counties a Hodgepodge of Highs and Lows in Vaccinating Vulnerable Seniors

Even as California prepares to expand vaccine eligibility on April 15 to all residents age 16 and up, the state has managed to inoculate only about half its senior population — the 65-and-older target group deemed most vulnerable to death and serious illness in the pandemic.

This story also ran on Los Angeles Times. It can be republished for free.

Overall, nearly 56% of California seniors have received the full course of a covid vaccine, according to the latest data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s about average compared with other states — not nearly as high as places like South Dakota, where almost 74% of seniors are fully vaccinated, but also not as far behind as Hawaii, which has reached 44%. The data, current as of Tuesday, does not include seniors who have received only the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.

But California’s overall progress masks huge variations in senior vaccination rates among the state’s 58 counties, which largely are running their own vaccine rollouts with different eligibility rules and outreach protocols. The discrepancies notably break down by geographic region, with the state’s remote rural counties — generally conservative strongholds — in some cases struggling to give away available doses, while the more populous — and generally left-leaning — metropolitan areas often have far more demand than supply.

In San Francisco Bay Area counties like Marin and Contra Costa, for example, more than two-thirds of seniors are fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, in the far northern reaches of the state, encompassing some of California’s most dramatic and rugged terrain, rural counties like Tehama, Shasta and Del Norte have fully vaccinated only about a third of senior residents, according to the CDC data.

“We definitely share one thing in common and that is that we have a fairly high percentage of people who are vaccine hesitant. And that even spreads into the seniors,” Dr. Warren Rehwaldt, health officer for Del Norte County, said of the Northern California counties with relatively low vaccination rates. Del Norte, which is 62% white and voted solidly for Donald Trump in the 2020 election, has vaccinated 36.6% of residents age 65 and older.

The county, population 28,000, has spotty internet service, leaving the health department reliant on phone appointments for its twice-weekly clinics, which have the capacity to give out 300 doses in a day.

“I don’t think we have filled any of them completely, and they are tapering off,” Rehwaldt said. Often, 100 or more appointment slots go unused, even after the county expanded eligibility to age 50 and up. “We expected that, but we didn’t expect it this fast,” he said.

Every Thursday morning, Rehwaldt joins a local public radio broadcast to encourage people to get their shots, and the department regularly airs public service announcements. “But it’s a really high hurdle to overcome serious misgivings about the vaccine itself,” Rehwaldt said.

Asked what resources might help bolster vaccination rates, Rehwaldt said he’d opt for a mobile van to travel to remote areas of his county. But moments later, he sighed and said he wasn’t sure a van would help much after all. “What kind of resources are going to overcome hesitancy? It’s not a resource problem,” he said.

Shasta County, whose population is about 80% white and voted in even stronger numbers for Trump, is also struggling to reach the 65-plus group, with just 36.6% of seniors fully vaccinated. Public information officer Kerri Schuette acknowledged health workers were encountering some hesitancy among residents but said their efforts also were hampered by early supply issues.

On the other end of the spectrum are counties like Marin, a largely suburban and affluent stretch of communities just north of San Francisco where 71.4% of seniors are fully vaccinated.

“There’s a thread of privilege that does lead to ease of access to vaccines that needs to be acknowledged,” said county public health officer Dr. Matt Willis. Many seniors in the county have access to computers and cars, he said, and have been able to access vaccine appointments with relative ease.

Still, the county made an aggressive plan to vaccinate seniors even before the first doses arrived, he said. Rather than waiting for the federal government’s program that relied on pharmacies to vaccinate residents in long-term care facilities, for example, the health department sent in workers as soon as it had vaccines.

The county also kept its eligibility rules tightly focused on seniors age 75 and older through the middle of February, while other counties were expanding to younger age groups and a broad array of occupations. At one point, the county briefly expanded eligibility to teachers, but pulled back just one week later when doses grew scarce.

“We showed that a dose offered to someone 75 and older in Marin was 320 times more likely to save a life than a dose offered to someone younger than 50,” Willis said.

Contra Costa County, a more diverse area on the other side of San Francisco Bay, has done nearly as well: 70.9% of seniors are fully vaccinated. Add in those who have received at least one dose, and the numbers are far higher: 90% of people ages 65-74 and 97% of those 75 and older, according to the county’s vaccine tracker.

To reach vulnerable seniors, Dr. Ori Tzvieli, Contra Costa’s deputy health officer, said the county worked with nonprofit groups to make lists of residential care facilities and low-income senior housing, then sent mobile clinics to each one. “For people who were literally homebound, we send someone inside. Otherwise, we set up a station in the lobby or right outside,” he said.

The county also set up mobile clinics at farms and places of worship. It gave community health workers dedicated appointments to sign up older residents directly. And rather than have residents track down their own appointment slots online, the department had people fill out forms and then scheduled appointments for them, prioritizing those who lived in low-income ZIP codes with high rates of disease.

With a population of just over 1 million, Contra Costa now is able to vaccinate 100,000 people a week, Tzvieli said, and has recently opened eligibility to everyone over 16. But even within the county, inequalities remain. In Bay Point, for example, a largely working-class Latino community, vaccination rates are still just half of those of some wealthier communities, Tzvieli said.

Farther south, in California’s agricultural Central Valley, Fresno County falls somewhere in the middle on vaccination rates. About 54% of seniors 65-plus are fully vaccinated, just under the state average. Just more than half the county’s residents are Latino, many of them farmworkers. And about a fifth of the population lives in poverty, which presents its own hurdles to a vaccination campaign.

“Poverty immobilizes, physically and mentally,” said Joe Prado, community health division manager in Fresno County. “For a wealthier population, going 3 to 5 miles away [to a vaccine clinic] is simple; you hop in the car and go. But if you’re living in poverty, that’s a big barrier.”

There are community pockets that have not engaged with the county health system, meaning health officials are coming up against vaccine hesitancy and distrust, Prado added. “Our health literacy is nowhere near where it should be, and now there’s a digital literacy problem, too,” he said. “We’re trying to deal with all this in the middle of a pandemic.”

At this point in the campaign, Prado said, most seniors eager for the vaccine have received at least an initial dose: “The final 25% is going to be the most resource-intensive, the most difficult to reach.”

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious-disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, calls this public health’s “low-hanging fruit phenomenon.” As the proportion of people who are vaccinated grows, he said, “we’ll have to work proportionally harder to keep advancing these numbers, because the eager beavers go first.” In rural counties from California to Tennessee, he added, supply is already outpacing demand.

So far, just more than 75% of seniors in the U.S. have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to the CDC.

“You can look at that as the glass is half-empty or half-full,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, during a recent episode of his weekly podcast. That still leaves more than 13 million seniors unprotected despite facing the highest risk of death; 8 in 10 deaths from covid reported in the U.S. have been among adults 65 and older.

It is crucial, Osterholm said, that states continue to direct efforts toward reaching and vaccinating vulnerable seniors who are homebound or hesitant.

“When we say we’re going to open up eligibility to everybody 16 or 18 years and older, that seems like a victory,” he said. “In many states, that is an admission of defeat.”

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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326: The Catastrophic Consequences of Sitting Too Much and What to Do About It With Dr. Turner Osler

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326: The Catastrophic Consequences of Sitting Too Much and What to Do About It With Dr. Turner Osler

Child: Welcome to my Mommy’s podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by Wellnesse, a new company I co-founded to tackle the toughest personal care products and create natural and safe products that work as well as conventional alternatives. I realized that even the most natural of my friends still used conventional toothpaste and shampoo because they weren’t willing to sacrifice quality. There are natural options and ones that work but find products that do both was almost impossible. We tackled the toughest first, creating the first and only natural toothpaste that is fluoride and glycerin free, and that has calcium and hydroxyapatite to uniquely support the mineral balance in the mouth. It also contains neem oil and green tea to support a healthy bacterial balance in the mouth and fight bad breath. Be the first to try it and our innovative natural hair care at wellnesse.com

This podcast is sponsored by The Ready State. If you’re at all like me, you might have perpetual stiffness and pain in your neck and shoulders from years of working, carrying kids and all of the demands of parenting. Or sore hips from too much sitting or multiple pregnancies. I found a great way to relieve my aches and pains and improve my fitness and flexibility. It’s from someone I highly respect… Dr. Kelly Starrett at The Ready State. If you don’t know Kelly, he’s a Mobility and movement coach for Olympic gold medalists, world champions, and pro athletes. He’s the Author of two New York Times bestselling books, including “Becoming a Supple Leopard”, which has sold over half a million copies. He has over 150,000 hours of hands-on experience training athletes at the highest levels. A Doctor of Physical Therapy who helps top companies, military organizations, and universities improve the wellness and resilience of their team members. He created a program called Virtual Mobility Coach. This program is easy to do from home each day, making it ideal for me, and for most moms. And I can do with my kids. Every day, Virtual Mobility Coach gives you fresh, guided video exercises. They show you proven techniques to take care of your body, relieve pain, and improve flexibility. And you can customize your videos in three ways. If you’re in pain, you can pull up a picture of the human body and click on what hurts. And from there, Virtual Mobility Coach will give you a customized pain prescription to help you find relief. Second, you can find a library of soothing recovery routines in the daily maintenance section. They’re a great way to wind-down and practice self-care from the comfort of your home. And third, for athletes, Virtual Mobility Coach also has an entire section of pre- and post-exercise routines for more than four dozen sports and activities. They help you warm-up before your workout so you can perform your best with a lower risk of injury. Right now, you can try Virtual Mobility Coach totally risk-free for two weeks without paying a penny. And after that, you can get 50% off your first three months. Just go to thereadystate.com/wellnessmama and use code WELLNESSMAMA50 at checkout. That’s half-off your first three months when you sign up for a monthly plan. And you’ll get personalized techniques to relieve nagging pain and improve your fitness and flexibility.

Katie: Hello, and welcome to the Wellness Mama Podcast. I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com, and this episode has some really fascinating, easy to implement, practical tips that can benefit posture, core strength, even sensory issues, and attention and focus in kids, and lower back pain in adults. And the best part is, today’s guest has created a solution to these problems that he is sharing as an open-source project so that you can make it at, essentially, almost no cost at home.

I’m here with Dr. Turner Osler, who’s the CEO and Founder of QOR360. He’s a retired academic trauma surgeon turned research epidemiologist, who has published over 300 peer-reviewed medical papers and book chapters. He definitely knows this topic. As a physician who suffered from the tyranny of conventional chairs for most of his life, his quest for a healthier way to sit led him to develop the RedRocker, which is a new geometric solid kind of a device, the Eccentric Bicylinder, and also these active seating products that we’re gonna talk about today, including one that can be used for kids and adults called ButtOn Chairs.

So, without further ado, I know that you’re gonna really enjoy this episode. And I hope that, as parents and those of us that are also educators, we can start implementing some of his practical solutions in our day-to-day lives. So let’s join Dr. Turner Osler.

Dr. Osler, welcome. Thanks for being here.

Dr. Osler: Well, I’m delighted to be here, Katie.

Katie: Well, I am so excited to go deep on a topic that I think is really, really important today and I know that you think it’s super important as well. And to jump in, I think let’s start broad and then kind of narrow down. So we’ve all probably heard that, you know, sitting is the new smoking and there’s all these things about why we shouldn’t be sitting as much and certainly, as Americans at least, we tend to sit more than we should. But explain to us from your really vast knowledge base on this topic, what is the science of sitting when it comes to this and is it as bad as we think?

Dr. Osler: Well, you know, it’s not just as bad as we think, it’s probably worse. The catchphrase these days is sitting is the new smoking, which is truer than you might think. I mean, it’s a pretty exact analogy. For most of the 20th century, people thought smoking was normal because everybody smoked and how could it be a problem? Now, even physicians were kind of sucked into thinking smoking was kind of a normal human activity. And it wasn’t until, you know, the spell was broken by research and statistical analysis that showed that smoking was terrible for people, not only causes lung cancer but emphysema and heart disease, and was the leading cause of amputation, you know, second after diabetes.

So now, smoking was a catastrophe for humans that was just hiding in plain sight. People couldn’t see it because they thought it was normal. Fortunately, we’ve gotten beyond the whole smoking catastrophe, but now it turns out that sitting is really bad for people. But it’s the same story again. You know, people think sitting is what everyone does because chairs are everywhere and people spend most of their day sitting. So how could it be a problem because it just seems normal?

Katie: Yeah, exactly. Well, and I think, I don’t remember the exact statistics off the top of my head, but especially for Americans, sitting is very much the norm and it’s kind of really drastic and scary how sedentary we are as a population.

Dr. Osler: Right. And it’s huge. The average American spends eight hours a day sitting, you know, how is that even possible? Well, you know, breakfast, lunch, dinner, the car on the way to work, you know, sitting at the PC at work, sitting at the PC at home watching…and it’s bedtime. People spend most of their waking hours sitting. But sitting is a profoundly unnatural thing for our species that for the last three million years were hunter-gatherers. You know, we were out chasing rabbits and running from jackals. When we all suddenly sat down about 100 years ago, you know, it was a vast science fair project. It’s really gone very badly for us.

You know, we have these increased rates of obesity and hypertension and diabetes and heart disease. The business of sitting in a sedentary way has catastrophic consequences for people’s health and wellbeing. But because it kind of crept up on us, we’re only just now being able to see the horror of the situation through the clear lens of medical research and epidemiology.

Katie: Yeah, exactly. And I think that’s an important point to underline. Like you mentioned up to eight hours a day, which is a lot of time to sit. And what was interesting about this, I think this is also a thing that at least a lot of us as Americans tend to do is like, okay, well then we should just counteract that by moving, like let’s do as much movement as possible in a short amount of time, like exercise. And of course, I’m not gonna downplay the importance of regular exercise. It is very, very important. But I think there’s a misconception that we can undo the damage of sitting just by going to the gym every day.

Dr. Osler: Right. And that came as a surprise to even epidemiologists because, you know, it seems logical that, you know, if sitting is bad then moving is good and if you get a whole lot of moving in in a hurry, that would be terrific. But it turns out that doing cardio at the gym is good and, you know, an hour of panting and sweating is terrific for your vascular system. But the real downside of sitting is that the mere act of being sedentary takes a toll on us and that toll is not undone by going to the gym and exercising vigorously. You know, it’s counterintuitive, but it’s very clear in the epidemiologic research that it is sitting still per se that is the problem.

Katie: Yeah, exactly. I don’t remember the exact number of the statistics, but I know that when they did the research, it was really surprising because all these people who worked out regularly and they met all these exercise standards for how often they should be working out and it was more than four days a week and it was the recommended amount of time and they met all these guidelines and still, compared to the control, it wasn’t actually much better because it turns out it you need more than just an hour even of active movement per day. Basically, this is something that we need to incorporate into our lives. And the other reaction that happens when, you know, sitting became the new smoking, there was this, okay, so let’s just all get standing desks and we’ll stand all day long and we’ll just do that instead. And I know you can speak to this much better than I could, but it turns out just standing isn’t the answer either, is it?

Dr. Osler: Yeah, no. So standing desks, you know, kind of took off, really without any research behind them, because it seemed like such an obvious answer, you know, if sitting is bad then standing must be good because standing is the opposite of sitting, right? Well, it turns out that’s not right. You know, standing may be the linguistic opposite of sitting, but it’s not the physiologic opposite of sitting. The physiologic opposite of sitting still is moving. And when you look at people at standing desks, you know, typically they’re not doing Tai Chi. You know, they lock a hip and they lean on the desk and they’re there just as immobile as they ever were sitting slumped in a chair. Arguably, it’s worse to be at a standing desk for a couple of reasons. One is that when you’re standing, you have this column of blood that goes from your left atrium down to your ankle that dilates all the veins in your legs. And this sets people up for varicose veins, which in the last century were a huge problem for people who stood all day on assembly lines.

I know I have personal experience with this because as a general surgeon, I was like, you know, stripping out miles of saphenous veins from people who had ruined the venous nerve system in their legs. And, you know, it was beyond the reconstruction and just had to be removed with big, ugly operations. And I think we’re gonna be seeing varicose veins and surgery for varicose veins coming back if standing desks really catch on. So that’s one problem with standing desks is it’s hard on people’s veins. You know, you can walk and your muscles are contracting your legs and squeezing blood out of the veins and things are fine. But if you stand still, the blood pools in the veins of your legs and stretches them and over, you know, years and decades can stretch them past the point where they can recover and now you need an operation.

But an even more concerning thing that was published in the “American Journal of Epidemiology” in 2018 by Smith et. al., they followed 7,300 people for 10 years, half of them at sitting desks, half of them at standing desks. And those are the standing desks had twice the rate of heart disease. This came as quite a shock because, you know, it was expected that standing would be better for people, but it turns out that it’s worse for their hearts. And heart disease, all you need is a little heart attack and it can change your whole life. So you know, the problem with diving into standing desks was that nobody really carefully examined what the repercussions might be. And really, the early research shows that standing desks are gonna be a much…or they’re gonna be part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Katie: Yeah, I agree. It’s really interesting because, like I said, I think that’s just our default. I don’t know if it’s as Americans or just as humans, it’s like, okay, theis one thing is bad, let’s pivot and focus completely on this other thing. And we’ve done that now multiple times. And we haven’t gotten it right yet. So let’s talk about what the ideal scenario is. And I know I wanna go in several directions with this, you know, for our kids, for us in a work environment, for our home environment, I think there’s so much we can change and optimize. But explain, just as humans and movement in general, what is an ideal scenario?

Dr. Osler: Well, the ideal scenario is to just go back to being hunter-gatherers where, you know, you spend most of the day walking. You know, as a species, we’re unique in that we have an exercise requirement. You know, our kindred species, you know, bonobos and chimps and orangutans and gorillas are quite comfortable just sitting all day, cracking nuts and eating them and then lumbering up into a tree and making a nest for the night. These species don’t require exercise. But when humans took the fateful step, you know, from the bush out onto the savannah to become hunter-gatherers, we adapted to the lifestyle of a hunter-gatherer, which would involve 5 or 10 or 15 miles of walking in a day. This is what our systems have come to require and even rely on. Hippocrates, you know, famously observed two millennia ago that walking is man’s best medicine. We’re really designed to be an active species and moving all the time. Shockingly, when we sit down, none of that happens. Our muscles go dark and we get zero exercise.

So what we really want is some way to sit that would let us be in constant motion or that would in some way recapitulate walking. And people have…you know, I’m up with the idea of treadmill desks so you can like tredge along at a mile or two an hour all day long. But this hasn’t proved very practical because your cubicle mates hate the noise and they’re expensive and it’s very hard to handle a mouse while you’re walking more than about a half a mile an hour. But what we want is to be moving while you’re sitting. And it turns out that, you know, you can design a chair that lets people move while they’re sitting, using their own…just kind of burning off their own nervous energy, create enough activity to change their biochemistry for the better and improve their posture through their core strength and many advantages that come with moving while you’re sitting.

Katie: That makes sense. And I feel like kids, we can learn from kids on this because they do it naturally. Like if you try to get a child to sit still in a chair, they don’t like it and they’re uncomfortable. And then over time we like learn to settle in and, you know, arch our lower back and get in a horrible posture position and get used to that because we have to do it so much. But I feel like we can learn so much from kids in actually doing this correctly. But let’s talk about this a little bit more too.

Dr. Osler: We kind of force this on kids, right? Because when they show up in first grade, they’re just like dancing on a chair and they have to be, you know, told to sit still, which turns out to be terrible advice. You know, kids know what they need and what they need is to move. And when we, you know, force them to sit still, you know, we do them a terrible disservice. And it turns out that the older kids get, the less they move.

There’s a terrific study that just came out in “The Lancet Psychiatry” just this weekend, or just this month actually, where they look at kids and how much they move and they move less and less and less as they go from being, you know, 14 to 16 to 18 years old. They put accelerometers on these kids just to see how much movement they were doing. And as they got older, they moved less and less and less. Very interestingly, their rates of depression went up and up and up. So it turns out that this business of letting kids move has profound implications, not just for their posture and their strength and their overall health, but also for their psychiatric wellbeing. I mean, we’re discovering just so much about how bad sedentary postures are for people and especially for kids.

Katie: Yeah, absolutely. And I think we’re a little bit different because we homeschool, but I’ve seen this even in my kids and I try to do everything I can to preserve them wanting to move and actually have them sit as little as possible. That’s one of the things we optimize for in homeschooling, but I know that this isn’t necessarily an option in every school scenario, which is why I love what you’re doing. I wanna talk a little bit more about this too because you’ve basically open-sourced this and made this available to all children. But unfortunately, in a lot of school situations, for now, kids still are required to be in the same place in one desk or in one area so they can do their work. And so I feel like you’ve created a really innovative solution that allows them to still move and not to get these all these downsides of sitting or standing. So can you talk more about what this is and how it works?

Dr. Osler: Yeah, no. So we had the idea that, you know, kids know what they need and what they need to do is to move, but the furniture that we forced on them doesn’t allow that. It encourages them to slump and just become motionless. So, you know, we designed a couple of chairs that let people move while they’re sitting. But the idea of getting chairs into 25 million school kids in the United States seemed like it would be a very expensive proposition for schools that are always strapped for cash. I mean, they can’t afford glitter for their preschoolers’ art projects.

So we had the idea that we would design a chair that we could give away. You know, we give away the design as a CNC router file, a router. It’s a machine that takes a piece of plywood and just like stamps out pieces like a cookie cutter. Only the pieces are big enough that they fit together and turn into a chair. And this chair has got like the joints designed into the pattern, so they just click together without screws or glues or anything. And promotionally, they started out using a tennis ball as the thing between the seat and the chair structure, but we found kids that were so active they would wear holes in tennis balls. So we switched now to using lacrosse balls. Let’s see them wear those out. Because these kids are so active, when you give them a chance, they just wear stuff out. So merely by putting a chair under kid that lets them move, you know, they instinctively move, but yet they can stay at their desk and stay, you know, scholastically engaged.

And the spinoff is that anecdotally, teachers report to us that kids are more focused because they can kind of get the wiggle out while they’re just sitting there listening or reading or writing or whatever the task is. And it kind of makes sense because we know that if you let people doodle while they listen to a lecture, they have better recall of what they heard in the lecture. By letting the body be active, the brain can kind of stay more engaged. Descartes got it wrong when he said the brain was just a computer sitting inside a bony box. You know, the brain is really part of the body. And if the body is functioning normally and naturally and moving, the brain can be naturally more engaged.

Katie: Yeah, exactly. And I think this is obviously true for adults as well. So I know you have the stool for children, but is it possible to modify for adults to use also?

Dr. Osler: Right. No, so we created the files for this thing in two sizes because we had the idea that grownups are ultimately gonna wanna try them anyway. So we just…you know, one of the versions is 24 inches tall. So it’s plenty big enough for most grownups to try out. And then we found that grownups really like it. So in fact, I’m sitting on one right now, you know. We make other chairs that, you know, look more like office chairs and have the normal adjustments and upholstery and this and that and the other thing. But these plywood versions, you know, use something as simple as a lacrosse ball, really touch all the bases. And I like it a lot. And you know, so many of my friends, you know, have these things and we really like the idea because, you know, anybody can make one for themselves because, you know, we give them the pattern.

Katie: Yeah. I love that. I love that you guys are not, you know, trying to turn this into a product and charge hundreds and hundreds of dollars for it. You’re just trying to get people to improve their posture and sit more actively. So for kids, obviously, I could see…I’m sure there’s immediate noticeable changes like you mentioned in their ability to concentrate and just their overall comfort and happiness. What kind of changes do you see with adults when they start implementing this active sitting?

Dr. Osler: Well, you know, that’s really been kind of shocking. You know, I had the idea that this would be good for people’s biochemistry, and it would be a hard thing to get people to buy into because, you know, this weirdo chair that we’re proposing, you know, will keep you from having a heart attack 20 or 30 years from now. Just, it’s not a powerful sell. But we noticed that when you put people on an active chair, their posture gets better really within minutes. Within about 90 or 120 seconds, you know, their sternum comes up, it comes back, the lumbar lordosis and their spine reasserts itself and shoulders relax. And really, people get into excellent posture very quickly if you just let them sit on something that requires that they continuously rebalance their posture.

And so that was the first thing was that when we were trying this out on, you know, innocent people who were just walking down the street, we have a few of our chairs out on Church Street in Burlington and just invite people to try them out. Well, the thing we noticed was immediately their posture got better. And people like it because it was kind of fun. And so, you know, we started, you know, trying these things out in other places and we dropped off a bunch of them at Burton Snowboard, which is a local business that makes all the snowboards in the world, I think. And so they took a dozen of them and then they called us up and said they wanted a dozen more. And when we went by to drop off a dozen more, somebody at the desk said, “You know, you should meet Seth. He’s a real fanboy.” So ultimately, we met Seth and Seth was the head of IT at Burton Snowboards and Seth got one of our chairs and within days his back pain problem was solved and, you know, he was just widely enthusiastic and said, you know, we’d given him back his career. Well, we just hadn’t…we had anticipated that our chairs would help people with their posture. I really hadn’t anticipated just what a big help it would be for people with garden variety back pain. Garden variety back pain doesn’t get much respect in the medical industry because nobody dies of it. But it is an immense problem. You know, it affects 80% of Americans and costs $100 billion a year. That’s right up there with the cost of cancer and heart disease. So back pain is an immense problem and it turns out that active sitting, you know, can be a big help.

Katie: Yeah, absolutely. And I think probably adults…even though kids naturally just are great teachers in this and they wanna move anyway, I feel like adults might actually see a bigger benefit because I know so many people, even in my own life, who just have this like mild lower back pain and it’s not horrible or debilitating, but it’s really frustrating for them. And so to be able to have a solution that’s simple that also is gonna hopefully reduce their risk of a heart attack down the road or also lead to these other changes, I think that’s really amazing to be able to have.

Dr. Osler: Right now, it’s hard for us to know, you know, where to begin telling the story because I think sitting actively actually provides all of these benefits and, you know, just exactly how important each of these things is kind of depends on who you are and what your problem is. But people with really bad back pain, you know, they write us emails that are pages long about just how this has changed everything for them. It’s really pretty gratifying and it makes all the time we spent inventing this thing seem worthwhile.

Katie: Absolutely. So I’d love to talk about kind of the differences around the world as well because I’ve mentioned in a couple of questions that I think a lot of these things are at least worse in the U.S. that our culture definitely we just ended up sitting a lot more. And I haven’t been to Japan, but I’ve read it a decent amount of how, like in places like Japan, for instance, they are better about this or their culture has naturally built-in better forms of sitting. Is that actually the case and what can we learn from them?

Dr. Osler: No, it’s very interesting. I was giving a series of lectures at a Feldenkrais Conference in Washington D.C. And there was a woman from Vietnam there who, you know, told a story that, you know, when her family came to the United States as immigrants, you know, they were taken in by a church in Milwaukee and provided with an apartment. So and these people right out of Vietnam where they had been fishermen suddenly are in Milwaukee. And so their sponsors were gonna come by and take them to dinner. And here they were in their apartment and there was all of this weird furniture that they had never seen before because they were Vietnamese and they’d never seen Western furniture.

So when their sponsors came to pick them up to take them out to dinner, they found them squatting on top of chairs and squatting on top of stools because the idea of sitting in a chair never occurred to them because the culture was built around the posture of squatting or sitting seiza on the floor or sitting cross-legged. But sitting in a chair was just something that wasn’t part of their culture at all. And incidentally, back pain is basically unknown in Vietnam. So the more the Western chair permeates a culture, the worse that culture’s problems with back pain and sitting disease become. So it’s the Western office chair is becoming the default chair and with it, it’s bringing a public health catastrophe.

Katie: Wow, that makes so much sense. So let’s talk about the biomechanics from both your experience as a surgeon and also a research epidemiologist. How does, for instance, sitting cross-leg or squatting differ? Is that considered an active form of being still? Like, how does that change our posture and are all of those other things we’ve talked about compared to just sitting?

Dr. Osler: Right. So when you’re sitting cross-legged, you’re responsible for the posture of your spine and you require your internal and external obliques and your multifidus all kind of position your spine so that you can sit upright. When you put someone in an office chair and they just slump backwards against the back of the chair, all their muscles go dark and their posture really turns to the worst possible form. A very famous Tai-Chi teacher once said “The back of your chair is for hanging your coat. If you feel like you need to lean against the back of your chair, you should go home and take a nap.” And I think that’s true. You know, you put a back on a chair and you just invite people to assume the worst possible posture.

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And that’s such a good thing to think about. And just like, I’m right now mixing between standing and sitting on a stool and then squatting, which is typically what I do when I podcast. But I’m curious, like, obviously these chairs I think are a great place to start and such an easy switch to make. But are there any other ideas or recommendations you would have on how we could upgrade and optimize our offices, our homes, for me, like, and for a lot of homeschool moms listening, our kids’ classrooms?

So I’d love your take on all of this. For instance, I feel like the more I move in general, the better I feel. So I have a balance board that I’ll stand on. Sometimes when I work, I have an inversion bench and I’ll try to do handstands every few hours just to get the blood flowing. And then things like a yoga swing and a yoga mat just to be able to get into different positions and move whenever I take a break from working. But based on your research, are there ways that we can upgrade our environment like that? Or what other suggestions would you have?

Dr. Osler: It sounds like you have like the world’s perfect playground for working. I mean all of your solutions are terrific. But, you know, many people in a standard cubicle wouldn’t have room for half of your stuff. And so, you know, if we’re trying to get people down to, you know, a manageable portfolio of things to sit on, you know, an active chair that lets them move while they’re sitting is a good place to start.

The business of squatting is such a terrific posture for humans in general. But unfortunately, almost no Western adults are able to squat. All children can, of course, but they lose that ability because we simply don’t use it. The hamstrings tighten and people just kind of lose the ability to squat. It’s a heavy lift to get it back. And I’ve almost got it back to myself, but it’s asking a lot of people to be trying to get that posture back. So the business of merely changing posture as often as you can, get up, walk while you’re talking on the phone, you know, walk to the water cooler as often as you can, sit on a chair that lets you move. And if your work environment lets you lie down and stretch or do handstands against the wall, well, that’s so much for the better.

Katie: I love that. Yeah. I think that’s another thing. Obviously, like people used to joke that like…and actually, there was a study that’s for a while that there were some metrics in which smokers were healthier than non-smokers, and they confused all these doctors and it was because they were at least walking every couple of hours to go outside. So they were getting outside, they were walking, they were moving, whereas non-smokers weren’t. But the lesson we should take from that is obviously not to smoke, but that we should have some habit that every hour or two, we have a reason to get up and maybe we’re hydrated enough that we need to go to the restroom every two hours or we’re just gonna go outside in the sun for five minutes. But just building that in as a habit rather than just sitting all day long. And there’s so many other benefits to that as well.

Dr. Osler: Well, you could take up smoking or you could get yourself a dog and I think a dog is a much better choice.

Kate: I like that. Yeah, we should all just get a puppy. That’s a great idea.

This podcast is brought to you by Wellnesse, a new company I co-founded to tackle the toughest personal care products and create natural and safe products that work as well as conventional alternatives. I realized that even the most natural of my friends still used conventional toothpaste and shampoo because they weren’t willing to sacrifice quality. There are natural options and ones that work but find products that do both was almost impossible. We tackled the toughest first, creating the first and only natural toothpaste that is fluoride and glycerin free, and that has calcium and hydroxyapatite to uniquely support the mineral balance in the mouth. It also contains neem oil and green tea to support a healthy bacterial balance in the mouth and fight bad breath. Be the first to try it and our innovative natural hair care at wellnesse.com

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Katie: So I wanna talk a little bit more about how we can actually get these chairs in schools and offices because I know that you guys have made these plans available and I would love to actually help, like this podcast be an impetus for creating change. And there’s a lot of moms listening who have, of course, best interest in our kids sitting in a better posture and getting the benefits that we’ve talked about. So let’s talk a little bit more about the practical ways. I know that these have been used now in offices in schools. What’s the best way for us as parents and as even just members of society to get these to schools?

Dr. Osler: Yeah, so we’ve set up a website, buttonchairs.org, so buttonchairs.org. And it’s a website that has some information about our ButtOn Chair Project as well as the computer numeric control file. So you can set up a CNC router to make as many of these things as you want out of a sheet of plywood. We also have plans that were worked out by one of the shop teachers here in Essex, Vermont so that if you don’t have access to a CNC router, you can make these chairs one at a time. There’s a pattern that you just glue on the plywood, cut it out, put it together, and there’s your ButtOn Chair.

And we’re also partnering with a company in the northeast corner of Vermont who just make these things, we’ll put them in a box and sell them to people basically at cost. The idea of, you know, people who don’t have tools but want one of these chairs to try out, you know, we’ll put it in a box and send it to you. But we really think that the best way is for people to, you know, make them by the hundreds for their school system. So people can try them out, we also have plans for making them one at a time with standard hand tools.

Katie: Any idea how people would go about finding one of these large scale router machines in their area? Is it something that like any kind of school would have or university or home improvement store? Where can people find those?

Dr. Osler: So for a while, I was using the CNC router at our makerspace here in Burlington, Vermont, which is called the Generator. But many high schools have them now. You know, they’re just part of shop class these days. It’s, you know, the modern way to cut wood. So almost any, you know, small to moderate-size city will have access to a CNC router someplace. Just last week I was in New Hampshire in Lebanon, New Hampshire visiting a school system that had found a mill shop that had a CNC router, and the guy got so excited about the school’s project that he donated the plywood and donated the CNC router to make a bunch of chairs for the school. So these partnerships can arise, you know, quite organically, when people have the machinery and are just eager to give back to the school system.

Katie: Yeah, I think that’s great. And I could see even if the high schools, for instance, had these, a lot of high school students have to do service hours. At a certain point, like this could be a great thing they could make for younger grades or for special needs students or for, you know, Montessori schools. Or universities I think sometimes have these or if there are Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts who are looking for a project that they could do, I think this would be amazing. And it sounds like a not super difficult thing that they could tackle that would make a big difference in their communities. Or even just parents, like that example you gave who are willing to donate the materials for it. I’d love to see this used more widely in school and I think, like you mentioned, we’d see some big behavioral changes if we could implement these more widely.

Dr. Osler: Yeah, no, it’s been fun to watch, you know, the community kind of embrace the idea and embrace each other, you know, as a way to, you know, support the school system by, you know, helping them make stuff. And the idea of high school students, you know, who have to do shop projects will find that they could have a shop project that actually produced something of use rather than just another cutting board.

Katie: Yeah, absolutely. And I’m even thinking like this would be cool to, not just in our schoolroom, but even in like a kitchen to change out for the chairs at the table. Because our family actually thought about doing the Japanese-style table, which is low on the ground sitting Indian style, but we have a very energetic dog that would make that difficult right now.

Dr. Osler: We have these chairs all over the house, of course. And when guests come for dinner, they’re all a little astonished that they’re gonna be sitting on something so weird. But everybody adapts to it pretty quickly and it’s sort of fun, actually.

Katie: That was gonna be my next question is I’m sure kids can adapt immediately because my kids will get on all these crazy like surf trainers or they get on skis or a surfboard for the first time and they learn it in 12 seconds. But for adults, is there much of an adjustment period or is it more really, like you said, within even just a minute or two, you start to see the difference?

Dr. Osler: Well, people’s posture immediately responds. You can just see it really in front of your eyes. But many people will have very deconditioned core musculatures from, you know, in some cases, decades of just sitting slumped in front of a computer. And for those people we say, you know, give it 15 or 20 minutes the first day and kind of work up from there. And depending on how deconditioned people are, sometimes it takes even a few weeks before people are sitting comfortably all day. But really, you know, we’ve got people who are in their 80s who sit on our chairs all day long and are delighted because as one of these old guys said, “For the first time in my life, I’ve got a six-pack.” And it is just very cool to hear an 83-year-old say that.

Katie: Wow, that’s really drastic and probably appealing. I mean certainly, like, core strength is something I’ve struggled with since having children since my muscles have been moved around so much. And it makes me think, I wonder is this also really beneficial for pregnant women? Because when I was pregnant, I made an effort to sit on a big yoga ball because my midwife said, you know, it’s much better for you if you’re not just sitting and arching your lower back and that you want your pelvis open and you want your hips open and you want your posture good so that when it comes time to deliver the baby, everything’s in the right position. So I was much more cognizant of that when I was pregnant. But I’m wondering if this would also really help a lot of pregnant women with some of those common complaints like sciatica and lower back pain and restless leg and just all those things that can also be a result of too much sitting, especially when you have increased blood flow like that.

Dr. Osler: Yeah, no, we have just a handful of women who’ve been through pregnancy, you know, kind of sitting on our chairs. And the early reports are very positive. But to actually do a research project, you need a lot of pregnant women and a spreadsheet and a few other things. So we don’t have scientific results. But we do have some pretty enthusiastic women. Squatting, of course, is a terrific posture to be practicing if you’re getting ready to have children as well if squatting is something that you can easily still do.

Katie: For those of us who…because I’m with you, I’m almost back to being able to do a natural squat. But like you said, a lot of people, this is something we lose the ability to do, even though all of my children, as soon as they could start walking, that was the first thing I would notice is they can do a perfect squat and they can stay like that for a really long time. And it’s like everything, I tell my kids don’t lose the ability to do all these things you can do, the pull-ups, the handstands, the squatting. It’s so much harder to get it back. But for those of us who are adults who have lost the ability to do some of these things, do you have any tips for learning to get it back? I would guess just active sitting and better posture it definitely is a step toward that. But are there other ways we can nurture these good movement patterns?

Dr. Osler: Well, active sitting is a long way there because you just have to make one change. You just have to take your Herman Miller Aeron chair and put it out in the garage and put an active chair under your desk. And then you get immense benefit really every minute that you’re sitting every day. Other than that, you know, the activities that appeal to you are the ones that you’ll be able to continue. So if you love yoga, yoga is a terrific solution. But if you love martial arts, martial arts is a terrific way to, you know, stretch and condition and so on. And so, you know, I think you just have to follow your passion, but rather than turn body maintenance into another task that you have to do every day. The genius of active sitting is that you get to do it every day, but you only have to decide to do it once by swapping out your chair.

Katie: Yeah, exactly. I’m a big fan of these, kind of, like passive changes that make a big payoff. And I think this is an easy one. Like, it’s not like something you have to remember to go work out every day or you have to remember to take supplements every day. It’s something, like you said, you do it one time and then you’re good. And another example of that for me is I have something called a chilliPad that goes under my sheet in my bed and it can heat or cool your bed. For me, I use it to cool my bed and it can go down to as low as 55 degrees. There’s all this research showing that sleeping in a cooler environment is really beneficial, but it takes a lot of energy to cool the entire house to a lower temperature. So by putting this in my room and programming it, now I sleep at a cooler temperature. It burns fat. It does all these things, improves sleep. But I don’t have to think about it anymore.

So I’m with you. I’m a huge fan of these onetime changes that can like have lasting benefits for our health. So there’s just another reason I love this and wanted to make sure I shared this with everyone listening today because I think it’s a low-cost, easy change, like you said, that can make a huge difference, especially with we’re seeing such rampant back problems and all these issues in our kids. And it’s that onetime easy switch.

Dr. Osler: I like the idea of burning more fat in a colder environment. And it turns out that babies can’t shiver, they just don’t have the neurologic setup to do it. And yet they have a huge surface area and get cold easily. So in order to keep babies from dying of hypothermia, they come equipped with something called brown fat, which is a different texture and color of fat that’s just typically around the back of the child and maybe around the kidneys and some other places. And what it does is it just burns glucose and generates heat to keep the child warm. It’s like a built-in space heater. It’s a very cool workaround for keeping babies warm when they don’t have the normal mechanisms of shivering.

But it was discovered that adults actually retain some brown fat and it can even be induced to proliferate. So by exposing yourself to colder environments, like finish your shower with a cold blast, you can induce your brown fat to grow and prosper and burn calories for you. It’s another workaround to increase your overall body health just by subjecting yourself to a colder environment. Like a shower is a very easy thing to make cold if you’re willing to do that. But it’s a decision you have to make after every shower.

Katie: Yeah, exactly. And I know one thing, an objection I commonly hear on things like this, is people say, “Well, that’s not a natural thing. Like, we just shouldn’t have to go out of our way to do all of these things.” And my response always is that never before have we faced so many of these negative inputs, like the idea of sitting for most of the day, or like the idea of being temperature-controlled at all times. This was never available in human history until now. And because of all of these negative inputs from pollution, from our poor food supply, etc., we need to now be proactive at counteracting them. And so when it’s small changes you can make that are not an effort every single day, that’s the easy starting point to, to me, 80/20 it and then do the hard stuff.

Dr. Osler: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It’s astonishing that the vast intelligence of our species has been devoted to making our lives “better.” But really, you know, by having food constantly available and the temperature constantly controlled, it’s been a catastrophe for our biologic life. And so, you know, trying to get back to our hunter-gatherer roots by at least experiencing cold occasionally or experiencing motion constantly is an essential part of being healthy in the 21st century.

Katie: Exactly. And my take on it too is that I’m a big fan of kind of the Pareto principle, 80/20 rule, and I think that you start with the biggest and easiest changes. Like I said, so sleep is something we all do every single day. Optimize your sleep environment. That’s an easy change you can make that has big dividends. Then we’re all sitting so much. If you can optimize the way that you’re sitting and optimize your posture, that has a big payoff. Same thing with like food. Most of us eat every single day unless we’re fasting. So optimize your food situation but then also occasionally mix it up and fast or do something different and work on that metabolic flexibility.

But because we live in a time when all of these things are always available, we have to be a little bit more intentional, like you said, about mixing it up and keeping our body in its optimal state. So I love that you are making this possible with this act of sitting even from kids from a young age. I think that’s such a gift to them. And I love that you have just open-sourced it and made it available to all of us.

Dr. Osler: Well, you know, I’m not gonna have another idea this good. So it’s extremely exciting for me to have so many people embrace it and you too, it’s terrific to be on your show.

Katie: Well, thank you for joining me. I, of course, will link to all of the things that we’ve talked about today in the show notes at wellnessmama.fm. So if you guys are listening while hopefully doing an activity or moving or especially driving, don’t worry about writing them down when you’re driving. Just go check out the show notes, wellnessmama.fm and you’ll have a link to where you can download the plans for these chairs and learn more about how they work as well as to some of Dr. Osler’s research and writing and work that I’ve found. But just for people listening, Dr. Osler, where can they find you and continue learning?

Dr. Osler: So we have a website, qor360.com that has a blog and, you know, other stuff. And I did a TED Talk, I don’t know, about eight or nine months ago on the whole ButtOn Chair Project of making chairs for free for schools. If you were to google TEDx and Osler, you’ll find my TED Talk pretty quickly.

Katie: Awesome. Well, like I said, I’ll make sure all of those are linked in the show notes. And for all of you guys who are listening who are parents or educators, I think this is a really cool thing we can do for our kids and our schools. And so I hope that you will check it out and see if it’s something that you can implement. And I also hope that this episode has raised awareness for all of us just on little changes we can make to begin moving more day-to-day without having to run a marathon or do anything extreme. But just those little movements that can let us have, you know, 6-pack abs when we’re 80 years old. So again, Dr. Osler, thank you for your work and for making this available and for your time today. And I am really grateful that you were here.

Dr. Osler: Well, thanks so much, Katie. It was fun.

Katie: And thanks to all of you for listening, for sharing your valuable asset, your time, with us today. We’re both so grateful that you did and I hope that you will join me again on the next episode of the “Wellness Mama” podcast.

If you’re enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes for me? Doing this helps more people to find the podcast, which means even more moms and families could benefit from the information. I really appreciate your time, and thanks as always for listening.

Source: https://wellnessmama.com/podcast/turner-osler/

[thrivous]

Friends have been asking me for an update on my dietary supplement regimen. The last time that I wrote about it was four years ago. Since that time, my goals have continued to be pretty much the same: think better and maintain health longer. But pursuit of those goals has led me to make quite a few changes, mostly additions, to my regimen -- my "stack," to use the common biohacker term.

I've continued to study and experiment with nutrients to support strength performance, nootropics to enhance mental ability, and geroprotectors to promote healthy life extension. And I'm presently supplementing with around 50 nutrients (40 on a daily basis, 6 on a regular basis, and 4 on an occasional basis) -- excluding a few with which I'm experimenting more tentatively.

Of course, supplementation isn't the only practice in which I engage to pursue my goals. I also aim, for example, to do the following:

sleep 7.5 hours per night

exercise vigorously at least 3 hours per week

drink mainly water, and avoid soft drinks

pray and meditate on gratitude daily

update my gratitude journal weekly

attend church services weekly

spend time with family and friends regularly

fast intermittently and over-eat rarely

minimize consumption of junk food

don't use illegal drugs

don't smoke or drink alcohol

manage high stress that arises from work

My health is generally good for a 44-year-old. I'm approximately the same height and weight that I was at the end of my teenage years. I can do 50 pushups quickly, without breaking a sweat. My max is probably around 100. And I regularly run a 7.5 minute mile as a warm-up, with plenty of energy for a full weight training session afterwards. I'm not sure how fast I could run a mile if I pushed myself, mostly because I hate running -- unless, like a dog, I'm chasing a ball.

My most recent medical checkup measured my blood pressure at 57/109 and resting heart rate at 60. And my most recent blood work found everything to be well within normal healthy ranges, with the exception of borderline-high eosinophils. That's probably related to allergies that affect esophageal function, which is currently my only long-term health concern.

In that context, I'm happy to share with you the details of my current supplement stack. It's based on years of analysis of decades of research by scientists worldwide. In my analysis, I generally look for supplements that meet three criteria:

First, I look for supplements supported by multiple clinical studies on humans – not just anecdotal evidence, one study, or studies on non-human animals. I have nothing against placebo, but I prefer to spend my time and money on more than placebo.

Second, I look for supplements with the highest ratios of evidenced-efficacy over expense. Given innumerable options and a limited budget, I want to spend my money as efficiently as possible. Supplements are expensive enough without being wasteful.

Third, I look for supplements that are legal and generally safe. If it's likely to put me in a prison or a hospital, I'm not interested.

Please keep in mind that this isn't medical advice. I'm not a physician. And even if I was, information like this simply can't be applicable to everyone. While we all have much in common, we're still all significantly different.

We have differences in genetics, varied anatomical states, and different environmental and social situations. These differences multiply quickly into complexities that will lead wise persons to do their own research and consult with their personal physicians before adopting any of the supplements that I describe here.

In the following stack descriptions, I have included links to supplements that Thrivous provides. So, if you use Thrivous Stack, you're already using most of the linked supplements. The only exceptions are the linked supplements in my energy stack, which you can get separately in Thrivous Surge Acute Nootropic. I generally buy the other non-linked supplements from reputable vendors on Amazon.

Morning Stack

Here's my morning geroprotector and nootropic stack. I take these supplements with breakfast on most days. I also take several of these supplements a second or third time with lunch or dinner on some days.

Acetyl L Carnitine Hydrochloride (ALCAR HCl) 500 mg -- nootropic geroprotector to protect brain from toxins

Ashwagandha Root Extract 600 mg -- nootropic to enhance confidence

Bacopa Monnieri Extract (Synapsa 55% Bacoside) 320 mg -- nootropic to enhance memory

Berberine Hydrochloride (Berberine HCl) 500 mg with Milk Thistle Fruit Extract (80% Silymarin) 100 mg -- geroprotector to support metabolic health, in combination to improve bioavailability

Blueberry Fruit Extract (25% Anthocyanin) 1400 mg -- geroprotector to support genetic health, and nootropic to support brain health

Boswellia Serrata Resin Extract (ApresFlex 20% AKBA) 100 mg -- geroprotector to support joint health

Coenzyme Q10 (Ubiquinone) 100 mg -- geroprotector to support cellular health

French Maritime Pine Bark Extract (Pycnogenol 70% Procyanidin) 50 mg -- geroprotector to support circulatory health

Garlic Bulb Extract (1% Allicin) 300 mg -- geroprotector to support heart health

Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract (24% Flavone Glycoside, 6% Terpene Lactone) 100 mg -- nootropic geroprotector to support brain health

L Alpha Glycerylphosphorylcholine (Alpha GPC from AlphaSize) 300 mg -- nootropic geroprotector to support brain health

Lutein 10 mg with Zeaxanthin 2 mg -- geroprotector to support eye health, in combination to improve efficacy

N Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) 600 mg -- geroprotector to support cellular health

Omega 3 Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA from Fish) 200 mg -- nootropic geroprotector to support mood and healthy triglycerides

Omega 3 Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA from Fish) 300 mg -- nootropic geroprotector to support mood and healthy triglycerides

Phosphatidylserine (PS from SerinAid) 150 mg -- nootropic geroprotector to support brain health

Polypodium Leucotomos Root Extract 240 mg -- geroprotector to support skin health

Rhodiola Rosea Root Extract (2% Salidroside) 300 mg -- nootropic herb to enhance cognitive endurance (focus, mood, and energy)

S Adenosyl Methionine (SAMe) 400 mg -- geroprotector to support joint health, and nootropic to support mood

Sodium R Alpha Lipoic Acid (Na R ALA) 150 mg -- geroprotector to support nerve health

Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid (TUDCA) 250 mg -- geroprotector to support liver health

Turmeric Rhizome Extract (95% Curcuminoid) 500 mg with Black Pepper Fruit Extract (95% Piperine) 5 mg -- geroprotector to support joint comfort, and nootropic to support mood, in combination to improve bioavailability

Vitamin B Complex (B1 as Sulbutiamine 25 mg, B2 as Riboflavin 5 Phosphate 25 mg, B3 as Nicotinamide 100 mg, B5 as D Calcium Pantothenate 100 mg, B6 as Pyridoxal 5 Phosphate 25 mg, B7 as D Biotin 300 mcg, B9 as L 5 Methyltetrahydrofolate 400 mcg, B12 as Methylcobalamin 120 mcg and Adenosylcobalamin 120 mcg) -- high-dose bioavailable B vitamers to support brain health

Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) 50 mcg -- high-dose D vitamer to support brain and bone health  

Vitamin K Complex (K1 as Phylloquinone 250 mcg, K2 as Menaquinone 7 125 mcg) -- high-dose bioavailable K vitamers to support bone health

Zinc (from Zinc Picolinate) 11 mg -- bioavailable form of Zinc to support mood

Evening Stack

Here's my evening geroprotector and nootropic stack. I take these supplements before sleep on most days.

L Theanine 200 mg -- nootropic to promote relaxation

Magnesium (from Magnesium Glycinate) 200 mg -- bioavailable form of Magnesium to promote relaxation and improve sleep quality

Melatonin 5 mg -- nootropic geroprotector to promote sleep and support metabolic health

Workout Stack

Here's my workout nutrient stack. I take these supplements before or after workouts, sometimes in combination with second or third servings of supplements from my morning stack.

Beta Alanine 3 g -- nutrient to enhance endurance

Creatine Monohydrate 5 g -- nutrient to enhance strength

Inositol 5 g -- nootropic to promote relaxation

Protein (from Peas and Rice) -- nutrient to support muscle health

Spirulina 3 g -- nutrient to support immune health

Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) 1000 mg -- high-dose C vitamer to support immune health

Productive Energy Stack

Here's my productive energy stack. I take these supplements occasionally, when I need an extra boost.

Caffeine Anhydrous 100 mg -- nootropic to enhance energy

L Theanine 200 mg -- nootropic to enhance relaxation

Panax Ginseng Root Extract (7% Ginsenoside) 170 mg -- nootropic to enhance focus

Immune Booster Stack

And here's my immune booster stack. I take these supplements occasionally, when I'm concerned about the possibility of sickness.

Echinacea -- nutrient to decrease length of sickness

Pelargonium Sidoides -- nutrient to decrease severity of sickness

Conclusion

I think it's important to have realistic expectations in association with this stack. Unfortunately, nothing here is going to transform me or anyone else into a superintelligent immortal -- not even close. But what this stack can do, judging from clinical studies and my own experience, is make incremental improvements in day-to-day life.

Hopefully, the daily benefits will add up to a significant extension of healthy life. And hopefully the extension of healthy life will increase my odds of being around long enough to benefit from more powerful therapies that biotechnological advances appear likely to enable in the future.

Why do I care? Probably like you, I care about healthy life in the future for all the reasons that I care about healthy life now. Today and tomorrow both matter to me. And while powers beyond our own (grace or luck, as you may prefer) will always be the most substantial factors, I trust that our efforts, or lack thereof, can and will make a real difference.

Originally published at thrivous.com on March 23, 2020 at 05:51PM.

[riding-alpacas]

Buenos Aires

The first stop of my trip is done and it was a promising start. Vancouver waved goodbye as only Vancouver can: With grey skies and plenty of rain. But a bit more than 24 hours and two stopovers later Argentina welcomed me with bright sunshine on a hot afternoon. Oh how much I missed this. The remainder of my first day turned out to be pretty lousy but in hindsight I blame my extreme fatigue for that (I didn't catch any sleep during the flight).

First thing I wanted to do after I checked in to my hostel was to get some cash and buy some food. The first two ATMs I tried didn't give me any money though. Everything on the screen was in Spanish, so I didn't really understand what the error message was saying. No problem I thought, then I'll pay for my food with my credit card. The first supermarket I went to didn't accept my Visa though and I had to leave confused, hungry and still empty-handed. Fortunately I managed to find one that did - but the process was quite laborious: They had to see my passport and didn't have these fancy electronic machines to transact the payment. I had to sign a receipt instead. This wasn't a surprise to me, I've read about this procedure before. But going through it for the first time when you're basically just buying some bread and butter just changes your perception. I was tired, I was overwhelmed, I just went to bed and hoped things would get better. Luckily they did.

There weren't many people in the hostel, but I managed to find a guy who explained the money situation in Argentina a little bit to me. Skip a few paragraphs if you don't wanna know. First of all, in Argentina cash is king (am I back in Germany?). Also the country is suffering from inflation - a lot. As a result, locals try to save their money in US dollars. All this shemozzle means that a few things are happening:

ATMs regularly run out of money during the day

You can't withdraw more than 4,000 pesos in one transaction (currently equals AUD 100 or 60 EUR)

You can't withdraw more than 8,000 pesos in one day

You are being charged between 300 and 600 pesos for every withdrawal (thankfully my Australian bank rebates these fees)

The government is making it hard for locals to exchange money and there are a lot of limitations in place

On top of that out of the two ATM networks here, one simply won't give me any cash. Ever. I tried many times. So far with the other ATM network my success rate was 50-50. I also found out that quite a few places actually accept credit card payments. You simply need to know where to go. My strategy now is to do little payments in cash and larger payments with credit card and I generally try to stay away from Argentine pesos as much as possible. You feel SO much better once you understand this stuff and can put a strategy in place.

Let's get back to Buenos Aires - the Paris of South America. This is actually true, a lot of buildings look very European and the majority of them look very French to me. The reason for that is quite funny, too: During it's best time (Argentina was the third richest country once), people wanted to differentiate themselves from all the other cities in South America. The rich travelled to Europe on a regular basis and when they came back, they tore down their buildings and decided to replicate all sorts of things they saw in Italy or France.

Teatro Colón

Well, rich humans just do super weird things when they are bored and it's quite apparent here when you dive a little into the history of this city. The most spectacular story I came across was the one about the church Basílica del Santísimo Sacramento. First of all only European material was used to build it. 100%. Every doorknob came all the way across the ocean. Then there is the motivation behind it: Mercedes Castellanos de Anchorena really, really wanted to be noble - nobody in Argentina was noble at that time. So she decided to build this church just across the road from where she was living in a decadent palace. She gave it to the church and ding - the Pope granted her a noble title. But the crazy story doesn't stop there. There was another rich woman called Corina Kavanagh who was the lover of one of Mercedes' brothers. Apparently Mercedes prevented them from getting married. Corina wasn't happy about that and she knew that Mercedes loved to see that church of hers from her balcony. So Corina went and bought the land right in front of the church, decided to put a high apartment building on it and block the view for Mercedes. At that time, this building was also the highest building in South America and became quite an iconic landmark for Buenos Aires. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

A church that makes you noble

I spent three days in total in the capital and it turned out to be the right amount of time. The city is quite big, very modern and I walked most of the time. First I explored San Telmo which is the oldest part of Buenos Aires. Lots of cafes and antique shops can be found on these old cobblestone streets. I also found some nice street art and the narrowest home - not wider than two doors basically. And it’s called La Casa Mínima. Spanish can be quite amusing.

Tiny house - not a new phenomenon

I continued strolling along Plaza de Mayo which is THE city square. On one end you find a big pink building which one might know from a speech held by a person called Madonna Evita.

Casa Rosada

For the rest of the day I decided to walk along a famous shopping street in the quest for one my most important purchase of the whole trip: A new pair of Havaianas. After finding them, I finished the afternoon with my first dulce de leche ice cream. Spoiler: There will be an extra paragraph about the food.

On day two I was mainly exploring Recoleta. This is where the posh people live and it was by far the cleanest area in Buenos Aires. It's also where I picked up the stories above. I learned a lot about the Falklands war, too and it made me hate Margaret Thatcher even more. The whole thing is still an important topic for Argentinians and during elections candidates are still being asked what their position is in regards to the Islas Malvinas. That whole conflict and how it came about left a huge scar in the nation's heart and it's still far from being processed.

I finished the day checking out the famous Recoleta cemetery. It was cruel and impressive at the same time. I'm always amazed when I go to cemeteries outside of Germany, they are usually so different. I think the correct term to use is "monumental cemetery", whilst in Germany "lawn cemeteries" are more common. Similar to what I've seen in Paris and London this cemetery is structured like a little town with street names and stuff. There are impressive monuments everywhere, some in really good shape, others sadly falling apart. Of course I had to go to Evita's grave which is actually quite easy to find - don't let tour operators fool you. Yes, there are cemetery tours up to 2 hours long. Now to the cruel part: I did a little research into how the remains of Evita and the national hero José de San Martín (there are statues of him everywhere) were treated and boy oh boy, humans can be so shitty to each other. Even when they're already dead. Both of them were basically constantly moved around, buried upside down, their coffins put in an angle... and all because they believed in things or did things in their life that other people didn't approve of.

I see dead people

On my last day I went North and explored the neighbourhood of Palermo. Apart from the usual stuff (shopping, restaurants, cafes...) there were also two museum in this area that sounded interesting: The Evita museum and a place called MALBA. The Evita museum obviously gives you a deep insight into Eva Peron's life. Very informative and nicely done. MALBA is an art museum in a pretty cool building. One of the exhibitions was quite interactive and fun.

MALBA

One of the things I missed the most on all three days was water! I have no idea how the citizens of Buenos Aires survive these hot summers without access to a natural body of water. There were some little pools that were totally crowded and even though it looks like the city would be by the sea, it's actually at the mouth of River Plate which is definitely not feasible for swimming as it is super silty.

One of the last things I have to write about is the food. I was looking forward to try the Argentine cuisine and so far I haven't been disappointed at all. In fact, if I continue eating like I did in the last few days I will very soon look like the guy in the illustration. This is the stuff I've tried so far:

Steak My favourite cut so far is called bife de chorizo. They sometimes put egg on it which makes we wonder if the dish then qualifies as breakfast.

Yum!

Pizza The difference to Italian pizza is that Argentinians like to put loads and loads of cheese and olives on their pizza. As a person who usually puts extra cheese on their frozen pizza, I surely won't complain about this.

Empanada Should be renamed to "pockets of gold". Small, fried dough pockets stuffed  with... well... meat! Prepare me a bath of Empanadas and I will swim in it the whole day.

Helado Argentinian ice cream. Coming from a country where I was struggling to find really good ice cream, pretty much every ice cream I had in Buenos Aires so far was a gazillion times better.

Also yum!

Alfajores A type of biscuit: Dulce de leche sandwiched between two crumbly cookies. Not my favourite but still a lot better than bloody Oreos.

Medialunas Like a croissant but a bit smaller and denser. I think I prefer them over croissants because they are less messy.

Mate (the tea) I'm not entirely sure yet what I should think about this drink. It will surely get a separate blog post at some point as it it closely linked to a whole social event with a mate etiquette etc. Stay tuned!

Short version: I think I'm in food heaven and it will be hard to continue with my one or two veggie days a week strategy. There is still a lot more to try and I can't wait to participate in my first Asado.

Tango tango

All in all I would say that I enjoyed my time in Buenos Aires. I felt pretty safe, the weather was great and the food was to die for. It would have been nice to have a few more people in the hostel (on my last day we were down to three) but this will probably change now that I'm on my way to Patagonia where it's peak season. I'll be in cold Ushuaia for a week or so before gradually going up North again.

[lovemychinchilla]

Is a Chinchilla The Right Pet for Me?

Planning on getting a chinchilla? You should: they're great pets. But what do you need to know before you buy one? And what are chinchillas like as pets?

Should I buy a chinchilla? They make great pets if you're prepared for them! Chinchillas are friendly and trusting if you're a gentle owner. They're cute, cheap to keep and have fun habits like popcorning and wall-surfing. But they also have sensitive care requirements, e.g. temperature and humidity, and if you don't care for your chinchilla right it could easily pass away. So before buying a chinchilla, you ought to do lots of research.

Don't worry, though; chinchillas are fascinating, so reading about them is lots of fun. The guide below is intended as a starting point, from which you can learn all the must-know facts about owning chinchillas. There's lots more to learn besides, but that comes with time and experience.

Should I Get a Chinchilla? Is a Chinchilla Right for Me?

You should only buy a chinchilla if you fully understand what owning one would be like. Otherwise, you could either be left disappointed or not care for your pet properly.

Are Chinchillas Good Pets to Have?

Chinchillas make excellent pets when cared for properly. Chinchilla owners are a devoted bunch, and there's so much knowledge in the community which makes asking questions and getting answers very easy. If you're prepared to put the time and effort in, your pet will reward you in spades. Here's what makes chinchillas so fun to keep:

Chinchillas are cheap. Initial costs of buying a chinchilla and its cage aside, chinchillas are very cheap to keep. All of their needs can be met cheaply without neglecting your pet. The only issue is vet bills, but these can be expensive for any pet.

Chinchillas are cute. They're big balls of fluff, they're excitable, and once they trust you they enjoy spending time with you. They have all sorts of unique habits like wall-surfing, dust bathing, popcorning and more to discover.

Chinchillas are easy to feed. All they eat is hay and hay pellets. They don't need snacks, although if you want to give your pet some, you can (e.g. rose hips).

Chinchillas are interesting compared to other pets. Chances are you've had dogs or other pets before; chinchillas are something new.

Chinchillas can live a VERY long time. Twenty years isn't unheard of, and the record is 27.

Chinchillas aren't as smelly as other pets. Their poops are hard and dry, meaning they don't smell if you clean the cage frequently enough; they aren't completely odor-free, though, just better.

Chinchillas are generally low-maintenance. If your chinchilla has a cage-mate, they will keep each other company. And, of course, you don't need to worry about things like walks. Chins also don't need vaccines when you first get them.

The guides on this site explore these points in more depth. You can find relevant guides through the links in the list above.

Are Chinchillas Good Family Pets?

[caption id="attachment_1066" align="alignright" width="300"] Chinchillas are too delicate for kids to handle safely, so you have to teach them how.[/caption]

Chinchillas make good family pets if you teach your child how to interact with the chinchilla properly. These are delicate pets; their bones can be broken if you squeeze them, they don't like being picked up too quickly, and they don't like loud noises. Kids can be unintentionally rough with pets, which isn't a big problem with a dog, but is with a chinchilla.

That doesn't mean you can't keep chinchillas if you have kids. But it does mean that if your child is too young to learn how to properly care for a pet, you should pick something else.

One downside of keeping a chinchilla is that they're largely active at night. They're not fully nocturnal, so will be active at points throughout the day. But they'll spend much of their time awake at night. They can make noise, but also, this means you spend less time with a chinchilla than with other pets.

This can be a big plus, though. It means that your chin will be asleep while you're at work. It will then be active when you get home, as chinchillas are most active at dawn and dusk. Depending on your schedule, that might be exactly right for you.

Is a Chinchilla a Good Pet for a Child?

Chinchillas don't make good pets if you're planning on letting your child look after it for the most part. There are several reasons why:

Children can be unintentionally rough, and hurt the chinchilla easily as described above

Chinchilla bites hurt a lot, and because chinchillas are skittish, your child could easily push one too far if they don't understand their pet's body language

Chinchillas have sensitive temperature and humidity requirements, and can overheat even in weak direct sunlight; overheating makes them pass away

Generally speaking, buying a pet to give it to a child is a bad idea. You always have to do more work than you think you will. And if your child doesn't take care of their pet properly, you'll end up with big vet's bills.

What Should I Know About Chinchillas?

The main thing you need to know about chinchillas is that they have key care requirements. These aren't difficult to get your head around, but you may not know them if you've never kept a small pet before. The tips below are short and sweet, and if you follow them, you'll avoid all of the common mistakes that new owners so frequently make.

1) Temperature & Humidity

[caption id="attachment_1976" align="alignright" width="300"] You can measure humidity with a hygrometer, and temperature with a thermometer.[/caption]

Chinchillas come from the Andes Mountains in South America. They live at high altitudes where it's cold and dry. That's why they've developed such thick fur. While you don't have to keep your house frigid for your pet to be happy, you do need to avoid keeping it too warm.

Experienced owners suggest a limit of around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, or 21 degrees Centigrade. If you're like most people, you won't keep your house at warmer temperatures than this anyway. But this does mean you'll have to keep your chinchilla out of direct sunlight and in a room that doesn't get too hot.

The same applies to humidity. Chinchillas' fur is so thick that when it gets damp/wet, it takes a long time to get dry. If it's damp for a long time, ringworm can develop. And if your chinchilla gets wet and you don't dry it, it could even get hypothermia. 50% humidity is the highest you should let the humidity go, and you shouldn't bathe your chinchilla in water, but in dust.

2) Snacks Aren't Necessary

Chinchillas aren't like we are. They don't need a varied diet. As such, your pet will thrive if it lives on nothing but hay and hay pellets

Giving their chinchillas snacks is something all new owners do. But their choices are often completely wrong. Fruits and vegetables, for example, are a bad choice because they're so high in water and sugar. Enough of them could give your chinchilla diarrhea or make it gain weight over time (particularly fruits). And of course, any kind of processed human food is off the menu, too.

The key problem is sugar. Chinchillas don't need simple sugars, they need lots of fiber in their diet. Processed sugars make them gain weight. Their diet should be at least 90% hay and hay pellets, meaning you're limited to giving suitable snacks like rose hips once or twice a week, and only in small amounts. Timothy hay is perhaps the best hay for chinchillas.

3) Chinchillas Need to Keep Their Teeth Trimmed

Chinchillas are rodents, and rodents have unique teeth. They grow constantly throughout the chinchilla's life, like our fingernails do. If they're allowed to grow unchecked, one or more of several things will happen:

The front teeth won't be aligned any more. Your chinchilla will consequently find it very difficult to eat.

The misaligned teeth will cut into your chinchilla's gums. This causes painful swelling and abscesses.

The roots of the teeth will grow upwards into the jaw, and eventually block off the tear ducts of the eyes, often causing infection

This condition is called 'malocclusion'. It commonly affects chinchillas with novice owners.

You don't need to trim your chinchilla's teeth with clippers. Your pet will do the work for you. All you need to do is provide an appropriate fibrous diet, and give your chinchilla a chew toy. Chew toys are made from tougher fibrous materials like apple wood, and apple wood sticks are perhaps the most popular of all. These grind your chinchilla's teeth down gradually, just enough to keep them from getting too long.

Calcium imbalances also play a role in making the teeth grow longer. So, make sure you're feeding your pet the right diet, too.

4) Same-Sex Pairings Only!

[caption id="attachment_365" align="alignright" width="300"] Chinchillas can be affectionate with their owners, and with each other.[/caption]

If you're a novice owner, you should only keep your chinchillas in same-sex pairs. That means only keep a female with a female, or a male with a male.

The problem is that chinchillas aren't picky when it comes to mates. Any male and female pairing will eventually mate—some in hardly any time at all. While the idea of looking after chinchilla kits (as babies are known) is a fun one, it's not one we would recommend for a new owner. If that's something you eventually plan on doing, at least become an experienced owner first.

Something else you need to know is that chinchillas are easily mis-sexed. That means that pet shop owners frequently mislabel chinchillas as male or female when they're actually not. That's why it's important not to take the pet shop owner's word on the sex of your chinchilla, and to check yourself, or have a vet do it for you. This happens much more frequently than you might think.

5) Where to Buy a Chinchilla

On the subject of pet shops, we recommend not buying from one. It's a generalization, but one we're happy to make: pet shops are bad and you shouldn't encourage them. There are so many horror stories about pet shops keeping chinchillas (and, obviously, other pets) in completely unsuitable conditions with no regard for their health.

Instead, you should buy from a reputable breeder. There are organizations that chinchilla breeders can be a part of, and if they're a part of one, it's typically a sign that a breeder knows what they're doing. You can guarantee that:

Your chinchilla will be from healthy genetic stock

You ARE getting a male/female if that's what the breeder tells you

The breeder can give you hints and tips on how to care for it

This is far from all you need to know. But if you follow these tips, your chinchilla will at least be happy and healthy. Consider reading some more of our guides to learn as much as you can!

Below, you can find our chinchilla quiz, new posts for further reading, and a signup for our Chinchilla Newsletter!

[ays_quiz id='9']

#chinchillas #chinchillafaqs

[sierrawestla]

Edna Erspamer

Edna Erspamer has the perspective of being a Sierra Club member for half a century, so when I had the opportunity recently to interview her, I was curious to know what important message she would most like to convey to new members of the Sierra Club. Her answer was simple, “Go hiking! It’s wonderful”. Edna is the author of “Getting High: Confessions of a Peak-Bagging Junkie” (published 2009 and available on Amazon), a mother of six, an artist, a trained teacher, and a self-confessed hiking/climbing addict. As we sat at her kitchen table, here is what she told me about her remarkable life:

Edna was born 1931 and raised in Western Pennsylvania, and it’s here she “took to the outdoors” and found she loved walking in the woods and hills. Her family moved around and came to California in 1946 where a few years later she attended UCLA and met her husband.  They had 6 kids and the family went car camping each summer. On one of these camping trips, in Sequoia NP, something clicked in her mind when she found she couldn’t keep her eyes off a granite cliff and was “overcome with the beauty of creation”. As she describes in her book, she vowed then and there that “I would never stop hiking as long as I was physically able; it’s the cure-all, the stress reducer, the definitive medicine for the mind as well as the body”.

After living in different parts of the country, Edna and family returned to Santa Monica 1969 (when she was in her late 30s and her kids were 4 to 14 years old) and she heard about the Sierra Club from friends. She didn’t know what the Sierra Club was–thought it had something to do with California missions–but when it was explained to her, she joined immediately and started going on day hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains while her kids were in school. It was a way of meeting new people, enjoying the outdoors, and an unexpected benefit was that it helped her quit smoking! During a rest stop on one hike, she wandered off to nearby bushes with a friend to have a cigarette. This didn’t go down well with the rest of the hikers and before long, she’d stopped smoking.

As she kicked that bad habit, a new, healthy habit emerged. Edna got thoroughly addicted to hiking, backpacking, and then to reaching the top of mountains.  It began when one of the night hike leaders told her that if she could lead her kids hiking and backpacking, that she could certainly lead Sierra Club groups on outings.  In quick succession she took the leadership training with a friend and then basic mountain training with her sons. She didn’t stop there. Edna started climbing mountains with the Sierra Peak Section (SPS), the Hundred Peak Section (HPS) and the Desert Peak Section (DPS). She is past chair of both DPS and HPS. Through her 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s Edna’s hiking boots took her on many trails, and, as she puts it, leading her to greater independence.

A year after her divorce, Edna took her first international ‘trekking’ trip in 1979 to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco where she climbed Mt Toubkal, elevation 13,655’. This led to an incurable disease called “peak bagging” and ignited her interest in exotic travel.

The first time someone said to Edna that she just had to climb a certain mountain, she dismissed the idea as ridiculous. Why did she have to climb anything? As she recalled this story to me all these years later, she grinned widely because, of course, not long after joining the Sierra Club, she developed “an insatiable zeal for completing lists” and simply had to climb.

I was surprised when Edna said that it was not unusual at this time for women to join the Sierra Club and be so keen on mountaineering and outdoors adventures. In fact, Edna conducted a survey for her book of 22 women to find out what motivated them. The primary reason was companionship as well as a desire to climb with good mountaineers and because they felt an attraction to the beauty and peace offered by mountains; a few were seeking romance too. Many of these women became good friends and remain so. Among these friends 15 out of the 22 women finished the DPS list once, two twice, and one had done them 3 times; and there were six women who were Triple List Finishers, at the time of her book printing, 2008.

In addition to climbing peaks on the SPS, HPS and DPS lists, many of them twice, Edna then heard about the Highpointers Club, and had to climb the highest point in every state. She did 45 out of 50 of them. Many were challenging as well as high, but a few like Florida were/are easy and low (345’). Judging by her smiles, I think Edna preferred the high ones! Whenever she could get away, Edna was also taking climbing trips abroad. She climbed several of the big names like Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Kinabalu on the island of Borneo (Malaysian half), Picacho del Diablo in Baja, Mexico; she spent a month in Nepal and climbed to the base camps of Everest and Annapurna; and she climbed Mt. Kosciusko, the highest point in Australia. She went off the beaten track in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Iraq, Syria and Guyana. She didn’t sneer at lesser peaks like my favorite, Mt Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales and England at 3560’, and the West Highland Trail of Scotland. The appreciation she felt for all mountains - the tallest, the tall and not so tall, is evident in her artwork. While in the mountains, Edna took photographs and from these she created a series of silk screen prints, beautiful depictions of the scenes she saw. Edna is clearly an accomplished artist, though it is surprising that she found the time.  Many of these prints were sold but some adorn her living room walls, so as the interview proceeded, I discovered that the artwork surrounding us added a tangible emphasis to her stories.

Another list Edna had to tackle came when someone gave her the Century Travelers List. There were over 300 countries and territories in the world on this list. By now the reader must know what Edna felt compelled to do next! Check them off, of course. She’d already visited numerous countries but now she found herself visiting remote islands and colonial territories, from Tristan da Cunha and Ascension Island to Greenland and the Isle of Man, and scored 273 out of 327. Even as hiking and climbing decreased due to a touch of arthritis, her enthusiasm and love for traveling to new places and meeting new fellow travelers remained strong.

To this day Edna remains so active that it could put a person half her age to shame. She swims twice a week, attends writing classes (SMC Emeritus), is writing her memoirs, and belongs to a singing group. She also takes trips with Road Scholar now; and she plans the annual camping get-together for her family at Kings Canyon. Her love of hiking has been passed on to her kids and grandchildren. One son is an avid mountaineer and whenever he signs the book at the top of a mountain, he gives thanks to his mom, Edna Erspamer. No doubt she is a mountain of inspiration to them all.

                                                                                                   by Andrea Ehrgott

[r-o-se]

EXACTLY 101 comments over P101 S2E4 wow how did I manage that don’t ask me also sorry for the shit screencaps lmao NOTHING THAT CUTE OR COOL HAPPENED IT WAS JUST SAD

Yo those eps are getting subbed faster than they used to idk whats going on but I’m definitely not complaining lol lets get riiiiiiiiiight into the neeeeeeeeews

1.      Flashback scenes to Jisung and Jinwoo’s teams losing are not appreciated at all stop the MMO abuse

2.      ‘3000 votes is too many’ I AGREE the Be Mine team is training everywhere and all the time poor fucking kids

3.      Who edited this and thought that ‘wow a piano rendition of out song would be a great and dramatic choice’ newsflash it’s not I’m already done with this song lmao

4.      SHINEE SHINEE SHINEE REPLAY TEAMS YOOOOO

5.      Pink team Ren and Yuehua chinaliners vs green team Sanggyun  and MMO Jaehan and Taewoong

6.      The pink cutesy Ren team is…. Too aegyo-ish  I’m older than 80% of them yet I feel like a pedophile watching this SAVE ME SOMEONE

7.      Sanggyun and Justin are the centers and both fucking wreck their roles in the best way possible

8.      Justin is so overacting and cheesy I’m rotting lmao love my kid tho

9.      Lee Gunhee aka the (RBW?) kid whose intro vid was him singing while getting hit by shit to show how stabile he is keeps getting out of tune I’m sad and worried

10.   The vocals trainers in this show I stg their method is just singing the high notes and then looking at the trainee like ‘what u cant do this lol? Try harder’

11.   Ren is comforting the kid whos dying of self doubt u g h

12.   AND HERE WE GO LMAO THEIR SMILES ARE SO BRIGHT SOMEONE STOP THE PINK TEAM

13.   U get the most flowerboyish pretty boy that has ever lived (Ren) and u give him the ugliest haircut u can think of pretty sure this counts as a crime

14.   GUNHEE DID IT IT ONLY BROKE A BIT IN THE VERY VERY END HE PULLED IT OFFFFFF AND HE PULLS OFF ALL THE NOTES AFTER THAT TOO

15.   Zhu Zheng did a frontflip of course he did lmao also Jihoon is probs pissing his pants because everyone around keep winking lmao

16.   Team 1 is playing around and being cute w the camera but team 2 look a bit troubled also ugh they are too hardcore for this fucking god Zhu Zheng kiddo I love you but you put them into such a shitty position aaaaa

17.   Here we gooooooooooooo green team lookin cuter than I expected holy damn Sanggyun is SINGING and it’s SO GOOD FOR A RAPPER

18.   HE IS ALSO SHOWING HIS ABS LMAOOO THIS ISNT THAT SORT OF SONG AAHAHAH FUCK

19.   Their performance is really good? A Lot cuter than I predicted and the vocals are so goooood

20.   Why do all other trainees look so sour did u want them to fail or some shit just let the kids live they were forced into such an uncomfortable concept aaaaaaa I WANNA VOTEEEE

21.   Time for pain and results team 1 won with ~70 votes im SAD Sanggyun was the only one who took the position points win aaaahhhhhh  ngl I was rooting for #2 eventho #1 had Ren and Yuehua kiddos also 3000 votes is TOO FUCKING MUCHH I HATE P101

22.   Now its Mansae aka power vocals vs the leftovers rip

23.   Woodam is one of my fav vocals overall this season all of the shit he’s done his intro clip his evaluation and reeevaluation clips are all so golden I love that dude and obvs he’s SLAYING THIS SONG TOO AGH

24.   Team 1 Yoonsung left due to health problems this is what happens when u don’t give kids food and make them get stage ready within a week and rearrange within 2 days

25.   It stressed Woodam the fuck OUT and he messed up a looot during rehearsals, missing notes and whatnot

26.   Their rapper reminds me of cube Soyeon last season with his kinda small and cutesy looks yet super charismatic stage presence

27.   Woodams VOCAAAAAAAALSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

28.   Ok now the leftover group I really hope they will do alright they make me really sad ugh I really really really hope they’re okay u g h

29.   Theres this kid Hadon who is really salty about being in that team and leaves in the middle of practice and then won’t cooperate during trainers thing aahhh kid please

30.   Neverminddd they got nothing to show shit this is gonna be bad I am Very Worried

31.   Kahi is so nice I love her so much she’s so friendly and sweet and good truly the queen of this show without her it would be so much worse

32.   Hadon got his confidence back and their teamwork is so much better now and literally all of this got started by Kahi I LOVE KAHI SO MUCH BEST GIRL

33.   Their energy is a lot better than I expected I’m so glad they went through with their training and everything

34.   The Kim Youngjin kid has absolutely acceptable vocals I’m so glad they didn’t make any mistakes and just agh this team makes me sad

35.   Team 1 wins with overpowering 500 votes they got 500 votes MORE than team 2 it’s just so fucking sad dude 600+ vs 150

36.   But WOODAM ALONEGOT 207 VOTES WHICH IS MORE THAN ENTIRE TEAM 2 HOLY SHITTTTT THIS IS WHAT A POWER VOCAL DOES

37.   SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY

38.   I’ve waited for this stage for sooooooo long they got all of my fav kids in Minhyuns team and then Ha Minho and Seonho and Namhyung in the other team aaaaaaahhh I’ll call them red and black since that’s their suits Minho ‘s team is red and Minhyun’s is black. They all look so good truly nothing wrong with a nice suit

39.   Minho and Namhyung want to insert a self written rap since they’re both rappers and Sorry Sorry has no rapping parts

40.   Minho really really wants to rap but Seokhoon (the vocal coach) doesn’t want to let him and also is mad at him because he wants to rap instead of singing like wow what? A rapper wants to rap instead of singing?? Wow unbelievable

41.   CHEETAH CAME IN AND SAID HE WANTS TO HEAR THE RAP THANK U THANK U THANK U Minho kiddo looked like he’s gonna tear up when he saw her

42.   Seunho was chose to jump on other’s backs since hes so handsome and APPARENTLY ALSO A PIANO GENIUS WOW WHAT ON EARTH DID HE JUST PLAY

43.   I really hope this group will do good since their opponents are sooo strong

44.   Aaahahahha fuck their choreo is so good and the harmonizations I might be biased but the Sorry Sorry stages are literally The Best of this show so far

45.   Seunho is like what 16 yrs old who let him look so good go away his body build makes him look so much older

46.   DANCE BREAK IS SO GOOD DUDE WHAT AND SEUNHOS JUMP WAS SO GOOD HIS EXPRESSION AFTER THAT WAS SOO IMPACTFUL AAHAHAH FUCK DUDE some dude in the audience screamed like someone bit his leg off honestly same

47.   I’ve watched maybe 3 original SuJu sorry sorry versions yet I can sing almost the entire thing that’s what an impactful song means lmao

48.   TEAM 2 AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH THERE THEY ARE MY ULT KIDS

49.   JR is taking care of Hyunbin this is like Sejeong and Sohye last season honestly SO CUTE I LOVE JR SO MUCH THAT KID IS THE SOFTEST LEADER I LOVE HIM SO MUCH

50.   Their vocal coach tried to drag JR’s leadership uhh maybe kindly fuck off that kid doesn’t need your picking to hate himself when will he stop BLAMING HIMSELF

51.   Hyunbin is making mistakes and their dance coach keeps bullying JR like fuck no other leaders got this much shit even when their teammates couldn’t get it done right

52.   He takes all his time to take care of the others like help Hyunbin and Jaehwan with their dance and sleepy/sick Daniel

53.   JR finally broke when Hyunbin isn’t taking it seriously enough

54.   Sorry Sorry black team laughing together in deliriously sick sleep deprivation and choking stress is still probably the most beautiful ray of hope and sunshine in this ugly show I LOVE THIS TEAM SO MUCH

55.   There we go the best stage of this cursed show is here Seungwoos expressions are SO ON POINT ITS SO GOOD JUST DEBUT THEM NOW

56.   They all look so good I’m shook Daniel with a middle part was something I didn’t know I needed before I had it

57.   Lmao Jisung jokingly doing the moves along when Daniel appeared

58.   JAEHWANS VOCALS AND HARMONIES!!!!!!!! F U C K !!!!!!!

59.   I’m so biasaed towards this team if u decide to bring my follower count into single digits for this it’s understandable

60.   But I still really love team 1 too please don’t misunderstand Ha Minho is my lil kid with enough balls to speak his mind even if he gets fucked by rude coaches for it

61.   ‘Result is important but other team did well so I told them that too’ I love JR ok friendship is magic

62.   HYUNBIN GOT THE HIGHEST SCORE OF THEM ALL. WHAT THE HECK DUDE LIKE BRO FELLA BROTHER I LOVE HYUNBINN HAVE LOVED FOR A WHILE BUT. THE HIGHEST SCORE?? BRUH? HIS OPPONENT ONLY HAD 7 VOTES THIS IS SO SAD IM SAD THIS KID IS DEAD INSIDE

63.   Everyone in team 2 besides Seunho got really low votes I’m so sad…… bruh…. They’re so so so so SO talented but they went against the popular kids…

64.   Showing individual votes is so cruel and 3000 EXTRA VOTES IS TOO MUCH IM E M O THIS IS SO UNFAIR FUCK THIS SHOW!!! Team 1 looks so wrecked I’m so sad they have almost a 300 vote gap

65.    It is BEAST TIME ONE OF THE BOYS HAS A CRUTCH WHAT THE HELLLLLL

66.   The crutch boy is Dongmyeong and he’s in team 1 as well as Sunghyuk with thick lips and looks a bit like Shownu

67.   Team 1 has a loooot of problems distributing parts and practicing in general while team 2 was almost ready

68.   Sunghyuk is sadddddddd and crying bc he feels like they’re gonna lose but in the end the practice went better tho thank god

69.   They look great Dongmyeong’s hair looks like vanilla ice cream with strawberry swirls and he’s sitting in a chair and singing doing the choreo with his hands SO CUTEEE

70.   The second team is very vocally gifted and has AMAZING HARMONIES WOOOO their main vocal Jinhyung is AMAZING

71.   Dongsoo from S.How I think got forced into a rap position and has a leg injury but he’s covering it up from teachers

72.   DONGSOO DID SO WELLL SO MUCH BETTER THAN THEYE SHOWED IN PRACTICE THANK U MNET FOR SHOWING HIS PROGRESS

73.   EVERYDAY I CHUG (CHUG) EVERY NIGHT I CHUG (CHUG)

74.   Team 2 won by like 100 votes, all of the team 1 members are very hopeless, esp Sunghyuk,  Team 2 Park Heeseok only got 5 votes holy shitt POOR BABY THIS MUST FEEL SO BAD HE LITERALLY TAUGHT THEM THE DANCE

75.   BE MINE BE MINE WOOOOOOOOOOO FUCK THIS SONG WAS MY FIRST EVER KPOP FAVE

76.   Hwiseung already did his military service holy shit he looks so young

77.   I don’t even know who I am rooting for both those teams are great team 1 has great vocals and teamwork+FNC Hwiseung the power vocal. Team 2 has great dance, more popularity + the little Woojin, Takada Kenta, BNM alpaca Youngmin and oldie Sungwoo

78.   Team 1 has an injured ankle too, Yehyun, but he’s still dancing  without crutches or anything

79.   HWISEUNGS VOCALS SAVED MY LIFE I WANT HIM, JAEHWAN AND WOODAM IN A TRIO PLEASE

80.   They changed Sungyeol’s ‘Can you hear me?’ into ‘Pick me pick me’ im ded

81.   Kahi is the best teacher I love her so so so much she’s the best thing in this entire show

82.   I FORGOT TIPTOES WAS SUNGWOOS NICKNAME THIS IS AMAZING

83.   I’m so glad they’re doing Infinite honestly I love Infinite can we do B.A.P or Teen Top or VIXX next

84.   Team 2 wins almost exactly by one hundred and the votes are veeeeery equal and Youngmin barely got anything why are the dancers not appreaciated

85.   AVENGERS VS BAEKHOS TEAM YOOOOOOOO Baekho has also Sangbin and Guanlin and RBW Lee

86.   IM CHOKING THE AVENGERS ALL SOUND LIKE BABIES WHY DID THEY CHOOSES THIS SONG IM CHOKING

87.   They can’t really sing, the avengers, damn. They lay it all on Daehwi but like cmon hes 17 and just tryna survive with the popular kids lol

88.   AAahahahahah they’re just little kids this is so funny to watch I’m sorry all Avengers fans but like shit when they break into the chest pounding part I just start to laugh their voices are so high don’t get me wrong I looooooove Samuel and Sungwoon but fuck this is funny

89.   They should’ve gone with Seventeen or SHINee something with a morer fitting image

90.   The Real Fuckbois team is now up fuck I love this team so much aahahahah like no shit they will lose to all of those popular kids but still

91.   Oh nooooo Baekho pointed out that the Avengers were cheating and using a third vocal for thhe high note without telling anyone WHAT AN EVIL MAN anyways Baekho produces music and does vocal coaching he knows what he’s talking about lmao lmao

92.   THEY LOOK LIKE SUCH DIRTY FUCKBOIS HOLY SHITTTT THIS IS BEAUTIFULthis stage is SO LIT dude I love it they just carried Guanlin as if he was on a throne now both Cube kids get to sit/step on other trainees lmao

93.   SOMEONE DID A BACKFLIP WHOS THAT IT’S THE BLONDIE KID WITH A LOOSE TIE ITS LEE INSU

94.   Team 2: are fuckbois

Entire dressing room: stands up and claps

It’s true I was there, clapping

95.   Guanlin trumped Samuel, Baekho trumped Sungwoon, all other wins go to team 1

96.   Am I salty? Yes I am Team 1 won with abt 200 votes. They have more views and likes on YouTube though.

97.   Mansae first team got the most votes out of all teams and gets to go to MCountdown IM SO GLAD ALL OF THOSE KIDS WHO AREN’T ON SUCH HIGH RANKS GOT SAVED I’M SO GGLADD

98.   I’m SOOOOOOO FUCKING ANGRY SO MANY A AND B RANK TALENTED KIDS ARE IN SUCHHHHHH LOW RANKINGS THIS IS DEPRESSING

99.   Lbr for a moment this show really isn’t about talent it’s about popularity and visuals

100.  WOODAM GOT FIRST THO IM SO FUCKING AMAZED THIS KID DESERVES IT SO SO SO SO SO MUCH DUDEEEEE THAT KID IS SO TALENTED I’M SO GLAD PEOPLE RECIOGNIZED IT

101.   SANGBIN FELL TO LAST PLACE WHY ARE THEY GETTING SO SO MANY VOTES 3000 IS TOO FUCKING MUCH IM SO MAD ALSO THEY SHOWED JINWOO FOR A MOMENT AND SANGGYUN IS WORRIED IM SSO SO SADDDDD THE NEXT EP IS ONLY A FEW DAYS AWAY ITS RELEASING ON THE SAME DAY AS BAP ARE IN GERMANY

YOOOOOOOOO Sorry for the screencaps again also pls message or talk to me I am... So Emotional over this show I love everyone i will cry when this is over and I won’t see like 40 of my kidws ever again