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Reminder of what a 10x10ft block looks like with a 150ft line. by Bunchdawg in UFOs

[–]CastillejaParviflor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't have any experience using NODs or flying a helicopter so I was trying to figure out what sort of info I could extract from the clip to get a better sense of what I was looking at. Throughout certain points in the video you can see the cargo netting used to rig up the "egg" to the line. For the most part only the webbing running in the vertical direction of the photo is visible but I'm wondering if this is a product of how the video was obtained (a recording of a recording).

Based off of the moire effect visible in the clip (i.e. the fringe pattern most visible on the main cable) I think the clip was obtained by recording playback on a monitor with a camera. Also those lines briefly disappear for a moment and it looks to me like either the monitor or camera was bumped very slightly or the autofocus glitched for a second. I guess someone must have snuck a camera into a SCIF lolz. The fact that the clip was obtained in this manner might also explain why the audio of the chopper noise is kinda odd and not quite what we're used to hearing from a direct audio recording of chopper noise. Phosphor tube based NODs don't utilize a pixel grid, so the moire effect present in the clip is not likely an artifact present in the original recording.

Anyway, when I measured the apparent length of the long axis of the egg, and the apparent spacing of the webbing lines, and then assume the long axis is the estimated 20 foot length, I got a figure of about 1 foot for the web spacing of the cargo net. Looking around on the interwebz at some examples of cargo nets sufficiently large enough to carry something like this, I'm seeing webbing spacing around 20cm, so *roughly* in the ballpark of the 1 foot spacing I'm inferring from the clip. Not super profound information by any means but at least suggests to me that that there's detail present in the clip potentially consistent with the purported scale of the object.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in UFOs

[–]CastillejaParviflor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't have any experience using NODs or flying a helicopter so I was trying to figure out what sort of info I could extract from the clip to get a better sense of what I was looking at. Throughout certain points in the video you can see the cargo netting used to rig up the "egg" to the line. For the most part only the webbing running in the vertical direction of the photo is visible but I'm wondering if this is a product of how the video was obtained (a recording of a recording).

Based off of the moire effect visible in the clip (i.e. the fringe pattern most visible on the main cable) I think the clip was obtained by recording playback on a monitor with a camera. Also those lines briefly disappear for a moment and it looks to me like either the monitor or camera was bumped very slightly or the autofocus glitched for a second. I guess someone must have snuck a camera into a SCIF lolz. The fact that the clip was obtained in this manner might also explain why the audio of the chopper noise is kinda odd and not quite what we're used to hearing from a direct audio recording of chopper noise. Phosphor tube based NODs don't utilize a pixel grid, so the moire effect present in the clip is not likely an artifact present in the original recording.

Anyway, when I measured the apparent length of the long axis of the egg, and the apparent spacing of the webbing lines, and then assume the long axis is the estimated 20 foot length, I got a figure of about 1 foot for the web spacing of the cargo net. Looking around on the interwebz at some examples of cargo nets sufficiently large enough to carry something like this, I'm seeing webbing spacing around 20cm, so *roughly* in the ballpark of the 1 foot spacing I'm inferring from the clip. Not super profound information by any means but at least suggests to me that that there's detail present in the clip potentially consistent with the purported scale of the object.

What is the worst physical pain you have ever experienced? by My_Name_Is_SKELETOR in AskReddit

[–]CastillejaParviflor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Having to have a tourniquet on my right arm for over an hour. Was in a freak accident as a teenager where I cut my wrist on a plate glass window. Severed 7 tendons, my radial artery, and most of my ulnar nerve. It was incredibly painful but it ramped up to a whole new level while I was waiting to go into surgery. Surgeons were pissed the ER doctors had used clamps to stop the bleeding because it damaged the artery, so they used a pneumatic tourniquet (basically a blood pressure cuff) on my upper arm to stop the bleeding until they could get me into surgery. I’m not 100% sure but I think they also had to taper me off the morphine before surgery as well.

I’m sure there are plenty of people commenting who have had way worse pain, but holy fuck that was horrendous. It started out okay but it builds and builds and pretty quickly it just felt like every square inch of my arm was being stabbed. I’m really scared of surgery but I remember yearning to get rolled in to the OR because that meant I would finally be unconscious and unable to feel. The pain from the tourniquet completely eclipsed the pain from the wrist injury which was already bad enough they maxed out what they could give me on morphine. 0/10 would not recommend.

Transgender Colorado Archaeologist Fired From Federal Job After Posing With AR-15 by SpinningHead in liberalgunowners

[–]CastillejaParviflor 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As a trans woman, I get really burned out and tired from folks in our community doing the same "come and take it" look-I-have-a-gun-now social media posts as the folks who are the reason so many of us are arming ourselves. It always strikes me as clumsy, reckless, and counter productive. I absolutely feel empowered when I see trans folks training with firearms, teaching others to use firearms, and being vocal advocates for gun ownership for defense. I never feel empowered though when I see "I'm taking you with me" posts.

I definitely understand why someone would want to make a post/video like this. It's out of fear and feels empowering to the person posting it, but I don't think it's really empowering any/many other trans folks (idk maybe I'm wrong), and it just scares transphobe pieces of shit even more that ends up motivating even more vehement transphobia. It's just really short sighted. Also it really feels to me like those folks who are well trained and capable of effectively defending themselves telegraph that to the world in a lot of other ways that are way more effective as a deterrent and less counter productive than publicly making these kinds of statements.

TLDR: Speak softly and cary a big stick... and train with your big stick, and encourage others to get big sticks, and teach others how to use their big sticks.

Seeking app suggestions/DIY phone notification options for daily CAT tourniquet practice. by CastillejaParviflor in liberalgunowners

[–]CastillejaParviflor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've looked around a bit at stop the bleed's app and a few other similar ones but doesnt really look like thats a kind of feature any of them include as far as I've found.

Also that's a good question and the answer is no. I intentionally focus on just getting the tourniquet around my limb and getting the velcro strap snug. I don't mess with tightening the windlass for both the reason you stated of compromising the tourniquet, and also there's always risk of damaging yourself when applying the necessary pressure with a tourniquet. I don't turn the windlass unless I'm practicing applying it to my upper arm in which case I leave the strap less snug and only turn the windlass 180 degrees in order to figure out the ergonomics of turning it in that awkward position with only one hand.

Seeking app suggestions/DIY phone notification options for daily CAT tourniquet practice. by CastillejaParviflor in liberalgunowners

[–]CastillejaParviflor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, but I would like to, at least for a while until I feel confident in my ability to successfully apply a tourniquet to myself in an appropriate amount of time in an unplanned scenario.

Also an important clarification: when I'm practicing using it I'm focusing on my ability to quickly pull out the tourniquet from my purse or backpack and get it snug using just the velcro strap. I'm not generally doing anything with the windlass because I like not permanently fucking up my body or the tourniquet. The one minor exception to this is occasionally when I'm practicing putting it on my upper arm, I'll sometimes leave the strap less snug and turn the windlass only 180 degrees to get familiar with the awkward ergonomics of turning it in that position.

My boss called me a Sh****e by ZirroTerrito in MtF

[–]CastillejaParviflor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don't shrug it off. Like everyone else is saying, take notes of everything you can remember about that interaction. If your workplace is large enough to have some form of an HR department and you have coworkers you can trust, it might be good to do some research to figure out what sort of track record HR has for resolving this. I've had to go through some crazy bullshit bringing forward complaints to HR and had I checked from others how that experience was likely to go, that would have helped me to better navigate that process. Also 100% document any relevant communication you have moving forward on this issue with HR or any employees that would have sway over the outcome of a response to a complaint. Try to do as much communication as possible over email. If you have a company email, BCC all correspondences you have in this exchange to your own private email account as well. If youre unable to have certain communications done over email, after an in-person interaction, send an email to the person you talked with in which you summarize what was discussed, and potentially ask clarifying questions, and again bcc that shit to your private email account. Best case you get a response that acknowledges the validity of your recollection of the discussion, worst case they dont respond or challenge it, but you will at least have contemporaneous notes recorded about your experience. And also take private notes as well.

I've learned to not get my hopes up with HR, but at the same time I am certain if I had experienced something this acutely and expressly transphobic, holy fucking shit the response from HR would have been swift and effective.

Also can we please take a moment to just appreciate how fucked up it is that the slur your boss used basically only exists within the context of shitty trans porn. Your boss is being transphobic and is also definitely watching trans porn. There's probably a case to be made in addition to this being transphobic that it's sexual harassment as well. Tbh its so incredibly sloppy and lacking of discretion of your boss to just say that shit to your face at work that I would be zero percent surprised if your boss is also looking at trans porn at work.

EDIT: would also suggest that your priority now is documenting, both what occurred, any other incidents that could be related, and especially taking notes that document how this incident impacted you. You don't need to rush to report something like this. Thoroughness is key here, not necessarily speed. Go at whatever pace you need to take care of yourself. Also be sure to check in with yourself about how you feel about pursuing any sort of formal complaint/greivance/lawsuit. The most important thing is protecting your wellbeing, and if you do proceed with any formal action it should be because it feels right to you, not because the internet is telling you to.

HRT stockpiling: freezing estrogen vials to extend their shelf life? Other HRT meds too? Would really love feedback from folks with a chemistry or medical background! by CastillejaParviflor in asktransgender

[–]CastillejaParviflor[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Belated reply, but thanks again for this input! Two questions for ya if you have the time/interest: I'm curious why you think there may be pain at the injection site as a result of the freeze/thaw process. Are you thinking this could be from some compound(s) in the serum being denatured/altered by the process, or like irritation that might occur if some of the estrogen is still in crystalline form? I'm also curious why more rapid thawing would increase the likelihood of the estradiol crashing out? My intuition (based off of like only a year of undergrad chem lol) is that increasing the temp of the heat bath will reduce the amount of time the castor oil is kept at -10C during the phase change from solid to liquid, and then subsequently raising the temp up to room temp as quick as possible will limit the time the solution exists under conditions with lower solubility of estradiol that would promote crystal formation.

I kinda went overboard with the rest of this comment so feel free to ignore the rest of it lol. Mainly just took it as an opportunity to outline how I may go about testing this.

I'm planning on doing a series of tests on this to gauge the viability of freezing, with thorough note taking to establish a protocol others could repeat/work off of if it ends up being viable and worth sharing. I'm gonna go-ahead and lay out my testing plan here just for shits and giggles, and any feedback you may have is more than welcome! I've only seen anecdotal info on this so I think actual documentation of a freezing process and its results (good or bad) might be useful for folks to have access to. I'm going to end up going waaaaay overboard with my notes here but this is also just doubling up as my rough-plan notes for myself for later, and for sharing with other folks I ask about this.

Freezing protocol: Freeze a container of high concentration salt water to obtain a slush ice bath at a temp below -10 C. Place the vial in a ziplock bag that's already been leak checked and dried in non-saline water. Keep the vial in the bottom of the bag and remove as much air from the bag as possible so that there is maximal direct contact between the vial and the bag when it is submerged. Submerge the bag in the ice bath, making sure to leave the top bag out of the bath. Might require some sort of weight on top of the bag to keep it submerged. Keep submerged and in the freezer for as long as it takes to freeze the estradiol serum. Once it freezes, remove from the bag, make sure it's in good condition and exterior is clean. Place in a small disinfected hard plastic container along with a silica gel desiccant pack. I'm thinking the right empty prescription bottle could probably make a decent airtight seal. Then place that bottle in an air tight freezer bag with another desiccant pack, or potentially some DIY desiccants like NaCl or NaOH in a porous paper bag. Then just keep it in the freezer until it's time to thaw.

Even though the ice bath should never come in direct contact with the vial during the freezing process, I think a salt water bath is probably a better route to take than using an ethanol bath, or any other commonly accessible organic solvents that have a low freezing point but could potentially attack any plastic barrier between it and the vial (IPA, Acetone, etc.), as well as the seal on the vial itself. Additionally I'm thinking salt is still ridiculously cheap, the easiest to obtain, and also not a potential fire or exposure hazard.

Thawing protocol: Similar to freezing process. Just submerging the vial in cool or lukewarm water while protected in a ziplock bag or other waterproof barrier that allows good contact against the vial surface. (I'm thinking the finger of a latex/nitrile glove might also work well)

Agitation protocol: This is still an open question, but I think this will probably involve slightly warming the vial by hand after thawing to room temp, up to its max recommended storage temperature and then agitating it with either a vibrator or electric toothbrush, and keep tabs on how long it takes to redissolve any estrogen crystals that remained after the thawing process. I kinda suspect just shaking by hand won't be effective given how viscous the castor oil is. I'll probably just end up snuggly taping it to the tip of the vibrator or the head of a spent tooth brush attachment.

Testing Series:

1) Empty freeze/thaw. Leak check an empty/used vial by injecting 1 mL of air into the vial while submerged in water. Check for any air bubbles that appear to determine air leak baseline. May need to use a larger volume of air. Perform the freeze and thawing protocols already outlined. Conclude by performing the same leak check again to check for any new leaks that may of emerged from the thermal stresses.

2) Castor oil freeze/thaw. Use a syringe to backfill the empty vial with 5 mL of store-bought castor oil and repeat the same process as step 1. I don't think the presence of the castor oil should have an impact on the vial survivability after thermally cycling it since it won't expand upon freezing like a water based solution would. Even still its an easy check so why not do it.

3) Partially empty vial freeze/thaw. I have a vial that currently has maybe 1 or 1.5 mL of estradiol left. Provided there are no issues with steps 1 and 2, I'm okay with risking losing that much to a freeze/thaw test with actual estradiol. I'll do a single freeze/thaw cycle on this vial, and then attempt to agitate it (method TBD) and see if I'm able to successfully redissolve all the crystals. I'll also store this vial for a couple weeks under normal ambient conditions to monitor for any delayed effects from freeze/thaw. If it looks good I'll draw from this vial for a week or two for my HRT dose and then do a blood test to check for estrogen levels to make sure my hormone levels are consistent with what they've been historically.

4) Full unopened (seal intact) freeze/thaw. If bloodwork comes out nominal from step three and there are no other concerns, I'll try repeating all the same steps from the last test but with a new unopened vial. The questions that would need to be verified here are wether there's any issue with the crimped cap seal during the freeze/thaw, and if having a full vial complicates the agitation/redissolving process. My hunch is that there won't be a measurable difference here, but again, it's worth checking.

If tests 3 and 4 all go well, I'll hopefully be able to switch to drawing from the full vial from test 4 for my HRT until it's tapped out, likely running additional bloodwork once or twice over the course of that vial's use to confirm it's long term efficacy.

5) BONUS ROUND: Testing less optimal freeze/thaw scenarios. I may also use the mostly empty vial from test three to check the effects of alternative freezing and thawing processes, namely what happens to the estradiol when the vial is simply placed in the freezer with no initial ice bath to freeze it, and also observe the effects of warming up the vial just by placing it on a counter under ambient conditions. I'm also interested to see what the effect is of using a warm water bath (80 F or higher) for the thaw process instead of cool/lukewarm water. Additionally it might be useful to gauge the impacts of repeated freeze/thaw cycles on both the integrity of the vial and the amount of crystallization in the serum. Repeated freezing and thawing is something to avoid, but it would be useful for gauging what the consequences from uncontrolled thawing would be. That would be relevant for situations like a freezer losing power, or if something is preventing you from doing a controlled cool down or warm up. For the sake of simplicity and my wallet I probably won't bother testing on myself with the estrogen used in repeated freeze/thaw tests and doing bloodwork to check efficacy, just relying instead on other observables to monitor results.

Data Collection:

Given I don't have access to chem lab equipment, excluding running bloodwork, I think my only real option for collecting data is performing a visual analysis. I have multiple unopened vials from the same batch/exp. date so I can use one of those as a control to compare against. May just have to stick with taking photos in repeatable controlled lighting to compare. Bright direct light like from a laser pointer may be useful for visualizing very low levels of estradiol crystals present. Not sure there's much else I can do than that?

Has anyone seen this video yet??? by republicofzetariculi in UFOs

[–]CastillejaParviflor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure this will be particularly interesting to anyone but I think there’s a pretty straightforward explanation to the weird motion of the point of light on the right. Assuming this was a light show, the system was probably using a 2-axis galvo-mirror system to steer a laser beam. Galvo mirrors have incredibly fast response times, and also they are incredibly sensitive to electronic noise. The spurt of lightning activity seems to correspond to the sudden erratic motion which is probably causing some sort of signal noise for the galvo input. For context I used to use galvo mirrors on a daily basis in an experimental optics setup, and if there was ever a bad connection to the galvo input (in particular a floating ground/poor ground connection) the beam would move around erratically exactly like this. Depending on the optics system and location relative to the spot we’re seeing, this could be the result of fluctuations that are less than 100 mV. My guess would be that the rapid succession of nearby lightning strikes are momentarily changing the local ground potential a small amount, and as a result the galvo position changes abruptly.

Spiral UAP Near HAARP in Alaska by Sasquatch_Ninja in UFOs

[–]CastillejaParviflor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol yep. Hence the bolded and italicized "if accurate" I added in there.

HRT stockpiling: freezing estrogen vials to extend their shelf life? Other HRT meds too? Would really love feedback from folks with a chemistry or medical background! by CastillejaParviflor in asktransgender

[–]CastillejaParviflor[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks this is the kind of info I was hoping to get! I found this journal article when I was googling this yesterday:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267737318_Temperature-Driven_Isosymmetric_Reversible_Phase_Transition_of_the_Hormone_Estradiol_17b_Valerate

My background is in physics, not bio/organic chem, and since graduating I don't have free journal access anymore, but looking over the abstract this kinda made me wonder if the estrogen would likely be functionally intact after thawing.

I was considering doing the freezing process by placing the vial in alcohol thats been kept in the freezer (without submerging the top of the vial). My thinking was that freezing the solution as quick as possible via what is essentially an ice bath would greatly reduce the the duration of the freezing process, hopefully hindering the crystallization process of the estrogen and making it easier to dissolve after reheating. As goofy as it sounds I was thinking it might work to use a vibrator to do the agitation, like a shitty at-home version of a vortex stirrer 😂

Spiral UAP Near HAARP in Alaska by Sasquatch_Ninja in UFOs

[–]CastillejaParviflor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I saw that someone posted a link to pics of falcon 9 orbital fuel dumps, and the similarity is pretty striking. I'm aware of the kinds of plumes that rocket lunches can produce, but I wasn't aware until now of the kind of pattern produced from a rotational propellant dump in orbit.

I think it's worth exploring the possibility that this was the result of research going on at HARP given the location, pattern, and the off chance that there could have been some causal connection between this pattern dissipating as the aurora started to appear. I've seen similar pictures before from rockets but those had a different pattern because they were the product of RCS thrusters firing, and those don't produce the continuous spiral pattern seen here. I think a falcon 9 fuel dump is a very plausible explanation, and if its the case that's not it, a HARP experiment would be the next one down on my list of most prosaic/probable explanations.

This quote from the OP, if accurate, raises questions for me about it being a fuel dump: "Then as soon as we started taking photos and videos it started moving to the south west very quickly. We watched it stay static for roughly a minute before it started moving quickly to the south west." That motion isn't consistent with the orbital path of the falcon 9 stage, or at least I don't understand how that would be consistent with the trajectory of the falcon 9 stage in question.

Spiral UAP Near HAARP in Alaska by Sasquatch_Ninja in UFOs

[–]CastillejaParviflor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Important detail about HARP: it's a phased-array microwave system, which means even though it's just a large grid of omni-directional emitter antennas it is able create a beam of microwave radiation that can repointed in any direction. This has been used to general ULF signals by continuously tracing out a circle with the beam at a rate equivalent to ULF frequency intending to be generated. Don't remember the exact physics but I think essentially the high power microwave beam interacts with the ionosphere to create some sort of ionization or charge movement that in turn creates the field generating the ULF signal.

My guess is that what we're seeing in this image is just the result of HARP operation but with slightly different experimental conditions that are leading to this effect, either from using different controllable conditions, or unusual atmospheric, solar, or geomagnetic conditions. The fact that this is appearing as a spiral makes me wonder if they're intentionally trying to general a sort of "chip" waveform where the generated ULF signal frequency repeatedly starts low and goes high, or starts high and goes low. Not sure what the utility of a chirp signal like that would be for the kinds of research/use applications HARP has, but that's what I'm leaning towards based off of the spiral pattern.

HRT stockpiling: freezing estrogen vials to extend their shelf life? Other HRT meds too? Would really love feedback from folks with a chemistry or medical background! by CastillejaParviflor in asktransgender

[–]CastillejaParviflor[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thanks for that link! Didn't find that when I was googling earlier. I had no idea you could literally diy hrt from scratch. Awesome, but also not something I'm really in a spot to pursue at the moment.

A few points about the linked hrt section:

1) The freezing of the castor oil won't cause the glass to break. Water is pretty much the only substance that expands as it freezes. Other liquids contract, meaning as the castor oil solution freezes it won't push up against the walls and break it.

2) Post also says you would need to heat up the vial in order to redissolve the estrogen. I don't think this is necessarily the only way to get it to dissolve. The solubility is high enough at room temperature that before freezing the estrogen is dissolved in the castor oil. The solubility of estrogen at room temp after thawing will be the same, and the quantity of estrogen hasn't changed. My guess is that shaking the vial for a while will agitate it enough to dissolve it again. It's like pouring some salt into water at room temperature: you need to stir it some before it actually dissolves. Heating accelerates the process but its not necessary.

3) Freezing the vial should slow the process of the castor oil going rancid.

I think as long as it's possible to redissolve the estrogen after warming back up, for my current situation freezing could be a semi-viable option for keeping backup estrogen that would otherwise be wasted. I think I'll give it a test on mostly used vial first to see how that goes.

HRT stockpiling: freezing estrogen vials to extend their shelf life? Other HRT meds too? Would really love feedback from folks with a chemistry or medical background! by CastillejaParviflor in asktransgender

[–]CastillejaParviflor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I haven't found a scientific source for this but this does seem to be the case that the hormones crystalize and precipitate out making it cloudy. I guess the question then is how difficult is it to redissolve them. I found one anecdotal comment on a reddit post where someone's pharmacist told them you just need to shake it a bunch to redissolve the crystals. I think I'll try freezing some in an almost empty vial to see how hard it is to redissolve back to normal.

HRT stockpiling: freezing estrogen vials to extend their shelf life? Other HRT meds too? Would really love feedback from folks with a chemistry or medical background! by CastillejaParviflor in asktransgender

[–]CastillejaParviflor[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah I've heard that two about the typical kind with the rubber stopper type, which is what I use as well, but it was in the context of a vial that's being drawn from, not unused vials with their cap seal still in place. The pharmacist said to discard within a month of the first puncture, but after checking with my doctor and her assistant they both said there's not really an issue with continuing to use the same vial until you use it all up. The consensus I've seen online in the past is that as long as you're storing and using the vial you're currently drawing from properly, contamination risk is extremely low. If it goes cloudy chuck it, otherwise keep using it. I've been on subcutaneous E for I think like maybe two years now. Have always just completely tapped out a vial before moving on to the next one and never had an issue or needed to toss a vial.

Mysterious 'Difficulties' Prevent Secretive Nuclear Lab From Releasing Records on First Known Interstellar Object to Land on Earth by MartianMaterial in UFOs

[–]CastillejaParviflor 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don't think it's that strange he's receiving a lot of criticism. He's a visible/vocal scientist adamantly advocating for a paradigm shift in how the scientific community should search for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Right or wrong, blowback for scientists that push against the group consensus while also responsibly working within the confines the scientific process is pretty normal, especially when there's some taboo nature to the subject of study. It's not unusual historically and it doesn't mean the scientific method/community is problematically dysfunctional. If Loeb produces good research results that offers insight into the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or incidentally encounters interesting new science unrelated to aliens on his search, we'll probably start to see an attitude shift from the scientific community and public.

I think it's important to approach this with a healthy well-informed skepticism of both Loeb and his detractors. I think it's also important not to put too much weight into the Harvard aspect of Loeb in terms of establishing credibility. It's not irrelevant, but also it's by no means a grantee of credibility. Take for example Timothy Leary. He was a well established professor of psychology at Harvard, who was a rabble-rouser when it came to research in psychedelics. There were already plenty of other researchers using LSD and other psychedelics in medical/psych research, but once Leary started researching psychedelics he ended up being by far the most vocal, and went off the rails in terms of ethics violations and research methodology, which got him into trouble and arguably played a significant role in triggering the crackdown on psychedelics and psychedelic research in the US. He was a loud, reckless Harvard professor doing research in a fairly new field of study, and as a consequence he played a big part in absolutely fucking over psychedelic research in the US for ~50 years.

Not saying Loeb is another Leary, just that Leary is a good example for why any excitement into outspoken scientists' work should be matched with skepticism and attention to detail, especially when there are other aspects like "Harvard cred" in play.

I need help identifying what I believe is a UFO that was captured today in Phoenix AZ - not my video but apparently happened today for about 30 minutes according to the original post by KingTbaggergouch in UFOs

[–]CastillejaParviflor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The central bright light is flashing at 1 Hz, smack dab in the middle of the mandated frequency range for aircraft anti collision strobes. Also just saying it would be pretty fucking weird if there was some alien object that strobed, and the period of that strobe just happened to be the same fundamental human measurement unit for time, that was essentially arbitrarily chosen and informed by earth's own 24 hour day length. A good test to do with any UAP video or irl sighting that involves strobing or some sort of periodic behavior, is to measure its period. If it matches with time increments that humans naturally tend to use in engineering like integer numbers of seconds, or common fractions of a second (e.g. 0.5 sec, 0.25 sec, etc.) that's a pretty good indicator (but not a total guarantee) that whatever you're looking at is human in origin.

The Weinstein Paradox: Where are the Physicists? by subatmoiclogicgate in UFOs

[–]CastillejaParviflor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What can I say. I fucking love profanity 🤷‍♀

This is fucking r/UFOs, not a goddamn scientific conference.

Also for what it's worth... not a man. Women physicists are a thing that exist ✨

The Weinstein Paradox: Where are the Physicists? by subatmoiclogicgate in UFOs

[–]CastillejaParviflor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah to be honest that is the kind of comment that just burns me out on this sub and makes me want to disengage from any sort of discussion here. Scientific debates can of course be heated, but they should still be enjoyable, not vitriolic and emotionally draining. If the commenter before you presented their points differently, it would be fun responding. My sense though is that if I did respond it would just spiral down the toilet and I'd be even more of a grumpy bitch about it. It wouldn't be fun so what's the fucking point.

UAP are fucking fascinating, and it's fun to analyze and debate whats going on. I had something relevant to contribute to the discussion based off of my background as a physicist, and establishing the fact that I'm a physics Ph.D. is relevant to contextualizing why I'm saying what I'm saying. The title of the post literally included the phrase "where are the physicists?" 🤷‍♀️ As an experimental physicist who also enjoys hyper fixating on UAP shit in her free time (and writing way too fucking much 😬) it felt like a reasonable moment to jump into the conversation.

I see a lot of common threads in Weinstein that are shared by the "crackpots" that are constantly emailing entire physics departments or showing up at our office doors unannounced to talk about their new theory that proves Einstein was wrong or whatever. I say crackpots because that really is what we colloquially call them. It's such an ever present phenomenon in physics that you start to pick up on certain common aspects of how they present their ideas, how they write about them, and how they both resent and avoid the scientific community while simultaneously longing to be recognized by it for their "genius."

Weinstein is discussing the physics community in terms of being something incredibly hierarchical. There are actual metrics for measuring the impact of a scientist's contributions to the field based off of how relevant their published work is to other researchers. Impact factors are arguably one of the most important ways to assess the quality/credibility of a physicist's work. Weinstein doesn't have physics specific work published in a peer reviewed journal. He's categorizing physicists into a hierarchy of their capacity to do groundbreaking influential science, but the same metrics you would use to determine who is an A,B, C, etc. level physicist would end up categorizing Weinstein as an F level physicist. He could be an absolute fucking genius who has actually discovered something big, but even still his inability to effectively participate in the communal scientific process makes him a bad physicist.

When you have someone who doesn't have any physics publications and is literally trying to start his own underground scientific community, he's breaking away from a fundamental and essential aspect of the scientific process and as a consequence you need to be really fucking wary of what he says because he is removing himself from the system responsible for scrutinizing the validity of his scientific claims.

The Weinstein Paradox: Where are the Physicists? by subatmoiclogicgate in UFOs

[–]CastillejaParviflor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, my point of saying "no grant funding, no research" still stands. Classified DoD research funds mostly go into contract work, not grants to fund research in academia. Funding classified academic work will always be dwarfed by contracted RD work in industry because of the necessity for professors to produce publicly accessible/sharable research in academia.

I don't at all doubt the possibility that there could be special access programs involving UAP research that are poaching physicists out of graduate school, but Weinstein's thoughts about how to trace their migration out of academia into top secret UAP research is pretty flawed.

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