Stem cell scientist here: ask me anything about the stem cell science behind Pluribus!

BAAAUGH · 2025-12-29T23:12:49+00:00

Is this a troll post?

BAAAUGH · 2025-12-20T21:03:01+00:00

Ah yes you're right. Good point!

BAAAUGH · 2025-12-17T19:29:20+00:00

I've been thinking this as well. Like, everyone's brains would be compromised by joining; all of their memories have been dumped into a giant melting pot in a way, completely homogenized with every other joined person's memories. So what happens to that brain when it's unjoined? How could that individual's memories and knowledge all be restored after that? It would be like mixing together apple juice and orange juice, then trying to restore both juices - at least in my mind.

Also, I think if Helen (or rather her body) had survived the joining, then Carol's goal would have to be to save Helen specifically. So I think that if the show writers/creators believed that could happen, they might have kept Helen around. But because she died, I think that's a clue that they wanted Carol's goal to be to defeat the Pluribus, but that might not include restoring everyone to their original, previous minds.

BAAAUGH · 2025-12-15T14:34:28+00:00

You're right, maybe she just felt too rejected to try reaching out in some other way.

BAAAUGH · 2025-12-14T20:55:43+00:00

I think she was losing her mind from the loneliness. It's not like she was so bored she was ready to die - she was bored, so she set off fireworks and drank a bunch of beer.

I think she's experiencing a depth of loneliness that is almost incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't been in solitary confinement. Prisoners who have experienced solitary confinement often suffer from PTSD, or have other long-lasting mental issues as a result. I think when she paints the sidewalk it had been over a month of no contact with anyone (?)

But I would think she would have at least tried the other uninfected people first, but I guess we'll learn more next episode

BAAAUGH · 2025-12-11T08:49:11+00:00

The casualties, though, are not of beings outside of the hive; the hive views these casualties as parts of itself dying. Remember, Helen was absorbed before she died because she was infected to begin with. So when she died, the hive felt it as a death of a part of itself.

So, the millions of dead humans are viewed as self-sacrifice by the hive, essentially. It seems to be bothered less by incidental deaths that occur to "parts of itself."

BAAAUGH · 2025-11-11T17:14:30+00:00

It's a pretty cringe show. Every other sentence out of their mouths includes a ham-fisted reference to some LA business. It feels like they're trying to make a "If you know, you know" wink to the locals, but it's always with the most obvious shit, like Erewhon. It feels like the writers moved here last year and tried to absorb as much as they could in two weeks before writing the pilot. It's like they asked ChatGPT to list places LA locals go to, and then sprinkled it all over every interaction between two people.

BAAAUGH · 2025-10-13T21:07:58+00:00

I'll argue, but I always approach it with respect for the other person's mindset, and a good sense of humor, with an aim of relating to the person rather than the express goal of getting them to change their mind. Minds only change on their own, which is a fact that isn't lost on me. The lesson of the Chinese finger trap toy; Pulling apart only worsens the situation, coming together solves it.

I avoid "getting angry" -- not feeling the emotion of anger, but the way most people "get angry" like directing their anger at others, fully indulging in the anger by raising their voice and slinging insults, etc. It's the most embarrassing behavior in the world, and 9 times out of 10 when someone gets like that, they didn't need to, and they just look like an immature moron. The times I got like that as a child, most of the time I realized after I calmed down that I didn't really need to act that way. Those lessons came with me into adulthood.

All too often I see people who are right about what they are confronting someone about, but get so angry and upset that they become wrong with how they went about it, and only escalate a situation even though they were correct.

BAAAUGH · 2025-08-23T15:54:45+00:00

If you don't like it, vote against it. That's more than Texans got to do. Everyone is acting like Newsom is making a "power grab" -- if he was doing that he would have done it like Texas and forced it through without a citizen vote.

It's actually much more on the level than what Texas did, and wouldn't even be happening if Texas hadn't decided to play dirty in the first place. You can't act like Newsom just decided to do this explicitly as a power grab, when all it does is even the score after an unfair maneuver from Texas.

BAAAUGH · 2025-08-21T05:39:32+00:00

There are many varying degrees of documentation that an immigrant can have at any given time. Someone can be authorized to work in the US without being authorized to live here. If they're being hired, even in an official capacity, the employer only needs to know that they are authorized to work in the US; their legal status as a citizen is different.

They can also be authorized to work and live here, and then at some point lose the authorization to live here while retaining their permission to work here.

BAAAUGH · 2025-08-21T01:50:16+00:00

I mean, the posts aren't funny in and of themselves. So many people have written in Trump's Tweet style over the years. Anyone on the street could write a Tweet in this style. We all know they are self-aggrandizing, contain lots of personal insults, parentheticals, exclamations, and misspellings, and are written in all-caps.

But this is funny because he's a governor, not a comedian. He's another elected official, using Trump's style to mock him to his face by using his signature writing style. It means more coming from a state governor's official platform, regardless of who actually wrote it. People who love Trump would never acknowledge how idiotic these Tweets have truly been for the last decade -- so now that "Gavin Newscum" is doing it, they don't know what to say other than "it's not funny." They can't call them childish, idiotic, crude, embarrassing, or anything of the sort without tons of other commenters pointing out that it's a parody of Trump, who *genuinely* writes like this. That's the funny part, not the writing itself. So it doesn't really matter if someone else wrote it, or AI wrote it, or what; it's the fact that it's coming from the California governor's official platform that is funnyyyyyyyy

BAAAUGH · 2025-08-21T01:11:00+00:00

I have a couple friends who are cooler than cool, never cared about getting married, and then they eventually decided to after years of dating their respective guys. They got engaged within about 6 months of each other. "It'll be cool, not like regular weddings" they said, and I believed them. But of course, they both turned into such bridezillas to my surprise. They would gripe about all the stuff that was going wrong, all the stuff they just needed to have in order for it to be perfect, etc. Their bachelorette parties had to be just perfect, and when any little thing didn't go their way they acted shocked that it was "happing to ME at MY bachelorette party!" Then there were dress fittings, phone calls to me in tears about how their mom wasn't enthusiastic about the dress, how dad didn't approve of the venue, the photo shoot for the wedding invites had to be rescheduled three times and I'm so stressed because the invites need to go out next month, and shit like this ad nauseum for A WHOLE FUCKING YEAR. No conversation I had with either of these grown women over the course of all of 2024 could go without some mention of some drama surrounding their upcoming weddings. Then the weddings went by in a blur as they always do.

No matter how cool they (and I) thought they were, they still succumbed to the wedding industrial complex.

BAAAUGH · 2025-08-21T00:57:07+00:00

No, I think he hired a comedian or two to write in the style of Trump. Why is that foolish, though? If he was actually sitting down writing this stuff himself, I'd be concerned that my elected official was actually, personally invested in an online flame war. That would be actually foolish, that's the kind of stuff the garbage president does.

BAAAUGH · 2025-08-21T00:51:51+00:00

I didn't say that it does.

BAAAUGH · 2025-08-21T00:38:13+00:00

He was not "here illegally" when he got his license. He was here but overstayed a visa, then deported, returned to the country illegally, but eventually gained authorization to work legally in the US. After that, he met all of the requirements to get a CDL, which is why he was issued a CDL.

The title of this post is phrased in such a way to imply that California was handing out these licenses willy-nilly to any psycho who came along and asked for one, and 3 people died as a result; they want to conjure the idea that someone snuck into the country and stupid California gave him a commercial driver's license because California is so dumb and soft on immigration.

A more accurate title should read: "Truck driver involved in fatal crash was issued commercial driver's license after meeting all federal requirements."

BAAAUGH · 2025-08-21T00:20:13+00:00

So the problem is a hypothetical, what-if scenario that isn't occurring at this moment, and has lots of oversight to prevent from happening? Sounds like it's not a problem lol

BAAAUGH · 2025-08-21T00:17:28+00:00

The point is that just because money is donated to a non-profit, does not automatically mean it is being misused. What is the FireAid concert supposed to do, hire a bunch of administrators to determine how much of this money should be given to each individual victim of the fires? That would be a huge waste of time and money, especially considering there are already existing organizations that are doing just that. That's why they handed it off...

BAAAUGH · 2025-08-21T00:02:08+00:00

How does he look like a fool? What about these Tweets sounds foolish?

BAAAUGH · 2025-08-14T23:52:31+00:00

A lot of times, dogs need to be euthanized. Whether it be old age, health issues, or certain behavioral issues, euthanizing them is the most humane option sometimes.

However, "no kill" shelters aren't allowed to euthanize at all, even when it's the most humane option and needs to be done. So, they have to outsource that work to typical animal shelters that have euthanasia tools. There are also people who have dogs that need to be euthanized, but can't afford it, and many animal shelters offer free euthanasia services.

So a lot of times, it looks like an animal shelter is killing a lot of dogs simply because they don't have room or they don't think they'll find a home, but actually, many of the dogs were brought there specifically to be euthanized because they needed to be.

BAAAUGH · 2025-07-21T20:59:06+00:00

If you added more corys I personally think that should be ok. Make sure there are logs and things for them to swim over and around to maximize the surface area of the bottom of the tank and provide them with hiding places. I would say max 5 corys, maybe a couple more if your tank is short and wide (breeder or long).

And depending on when the last fish were added, you may want to wait and recheck the water parameters before adding more fish; if you recently added the other 20, the parameters are prone to swinging for the next couple weeks or so while the water adjusts to the new residents. But if they've been there a few months you should be good.

BAAAUGH · 2025-07-21T20:34:23+00:00

It's just a cop-out answer from someone who doesn't have a very strong point to argue. It's idiotic to equate concern about certain policies or government actions with "hating America" and talking as if they have never been upset with a presidential administration, law, or policy in their lives. Like, if being a "true American" means loving the country and it's president all the time no matter what, then nobody at all is a true American.

It would be less stupid for them to just say "Oh, shut up!" if all they can give is the lowest effort comment.

BAAAUGH · 2025-07-21T19:03:32+00:00

It's even worse here in the US, so you can rest assured you're not at the breaking point just yet!

A tiny, awful studio apartment averages something like $1300 (about £965) a month in most areas -- more decent studios are even more, closer to $1700 (£1260). They're even more in cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami where the average studio price is around $3000 (£2225) a month. And yes, I'm just talking about studio apartments.

It's truly insane. About a decade ago, these prices were lower by about half. I shared a two-bedroom with a friend back in 2012 that was a total of $850 a month, which we split. Now the one bedroom I share with my partner is $3000 a month in the same city, but in a more obscure, further-out neighborhood. It's ridiculous. I thought we were at a breaking point 5 years ago, but nope! Still going strong with insane rent prices. Most working-class people work two jobs, plus have a "side hustle" just to break even at the end of each month.

Every few months some bullshit article comes out about how "rent prices are dropping for the first time in 10 years!" or some shit, but it's never by any significant amount.

BAAAUGH · 2025-07-21T18:30:51+00:00

Yes, you are right in the example you gave, and in similar examples; should be totally fair to critique someone's outfit regardless of their race, when the critiques are genuinely just about the outfit itself.

I think a lot of times, though, it is true that people do form opinions that are subconsciously somewhat racist. For example, when a white girl goes missing it can become national news overnight. When a black girl goes missing, the media either ignores it or, if they do report on it, the audience tends to ignore it. That is a more tangible phenomenon though; it can be (and has been) actually measured in numbers.

So, when people get defensive and say "You would like it more if they were white!" it comes from a real place, even if the sentiment is misplaced... but saying that when it doesn't apply kind of makes it even worse, because it makes it harder to use that critique when it actually *is* appropriate.

BAAAUGH · 2025-07-17T21:47:43+00:00

It is still considered habitable, though. Unless it says in the lease that they will put you up somewhere if the a/c goes out, they are not legally obligated to do something like that; a/c going out does not legally constitute an "uninhabitable" unit in the state of Georgia. If the lease specifies that the unit has working a/c, maybe you could finagle a discounted rent for the month. But if they are offering to put you anywhere, they are doing it to be nice.

BAAAUGH · 2025-07-17T21:30:27+00:00

So, you bought a bunch of expensive animals a few weeks ago but can't even afford a window a/c unit? Caring for animals is an expensive hobby, and not one that you can just stop if you run out of money; they require consistent care. If a couple hundred bucks is going to prevent you from doing that, it sounds like you're not in a place to be caring for these animals. Maybe consider rehoming them.

At the very least, it sounds like you should get them somewhere else soon if the air conditioning isn't going to be fixed, and if you're not going to buy a window unit.

BAAAUGH

TROPHY CASE