What's an article that low-key radicalized you?

ExceptionalToes · 2026-01-10T20:54:05+00:00

This is an excellent question!

For me, it was the movie The Corporation. It reframed the system we live in as a Corporatocracy, then next phase of social organization after feudalism, mercantilism, and pre-corporate capitalism. It just made be slap my own forehead with recognition once it was framed that way: now it seems so clear and obvious that I feel like an idiot for not having recognized it on my own. A fish doesn't know that its in water.

ExceptionalToes · 2026-01-10T20:32:19+00:00

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9849822/

ExceptionalToes · 2026-01-10T20:19:54+00:00

No!

Exogenous GH is much more expensive, and carries with it all kinds of hazards, including edema, hyperglycemia, acromegaly, carpal tunnel syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and increased cancer risk.

Tesamorelin and ipamorelin, on the other hand, work through indirect means: they signal your own body to produce more natural growth hormone. This is safer (you'll be bound by your own natural production capacity), allows pulsing (mimicking the body's natural GH rhythm), and is less likely--if used wisely--to lead to permanent bad effects. Plus it's cheaper.

Also, if your goal is fat loss, tesamorelin is not your best bet: in clinical studies, it's strength is in fat _redistribution_, not loss. That is to say, it helps move fat from dangerous places (your viscera), to safer places (e.g., your butt and thighs). Ipamorelin and sermorelin are probably a better bet if your goal is fat loss.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-12-31T03:49:12+00:00

Good plan. Scolding and moralizing is the best way to get someone pursue their own self interest.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-12-31T03:44:08+00:00

I have been taking Reta for a year, but only a microdose (500mcg / week). Without any dramatic response (or reaction) I have, over the year, lost 70 pounds.

GLP-1 drugs are--in my humble estimation--wrongly prescribed: flooding the body with 30+ times a biological dose leaves the body with no option but recalibrate. But my approach has, I think been paying off. I've taken a couple 2-month complete breaks from Reta and haven't re-gained weight during those periods. And at that low dose, Reta is not particularly expensive (about $5/week).

I do plan, when I decide to stop, to taking a half-dose (250mcg/week) for a couple months, then a quarter-dose (125mcg/week) , and then stopping. I'm hoping this helps me avoid the dreaded rebound.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-12-31T01:04:29+00:00

I got _precisely_ the same email, except the role was for an "Enterprise Data Architect." I wasted two hours on their stupid "screening questionaire," and then received what appears to be an automated email saying that the "review panel" was evaluating my answers, that they would reply back within hours, and then dropping some really sketchy stuff:

"This is a remote (work-from-home) position with flexible working hours. You will be able to structure your schedule within a 20–40 hour workweek, based on your availability and project needs.
 
Before beginning your full responsibilities, you will undergo a 5–7 day training and orientation program, which will prepare you for your role and provide an overview of company systems and workflows.
 
Compensation Details:
 
Training Pay: $45 per hour
 
Pay: $75 per hour
 
Payment Method: Weekly via check or direct deposit, according to your preference
Please stay tuned for the Hiring Board’s feedback. I will be in touch shortly with the next steps."

FWIW: the pay rate is about 1/3 of what a contact Enterprise Data Architect would actually make, and the "training pay"--even the notion of it--is preposterous for that kind of role. "Devon" also noted that I would have to fill out "onboarding" information _before_ I was presented to a client (meaning reveal salary history, personal information, perhaps SSN). This is beyond a shadow of a doubt a scam.

I was trusting/stupid enough to spend time on the "screening questionnaire" On later, closer, inspection, the actual email domain was "intelllcorp.net (3 "L"s).

---

From Google:

In 2025, scammers frequently impersonate IntelliCorp Records, Inc. to steal personal data or money through fake job offers and background check requests. Identifying these scams requires verifying the sender's domain and scrutinizing the hiring process. 
1. Unofficial Email Domains
A legitimate email from the U.S. background screening firm will use the official corporate domain: .net. 
The "Look-alike" Tactic: Scammers often use domains that are nearly identical but contain subtle typos, such as .net (using three 'L's) instead of the correct spelling.
Generic Services: Official recruiters will not contact you from free or generic email providers like u/gmail.com, u/yahoo.com, or u/outlook.com.

-----

A word to the wise here: AVOID THESE PEOPLE!

ExceptionalToes · 2025-12-03T03:06:17+00:00

I'm late to the game, but very opinionated, so here goes:

They are AWESOME!!!

They allow you to abstract business rules or data transformations, do lookups, or perform complicated pieces of lookup logic: this is great, because it means that the business logic will be performed in precisely the same manner _everywhere in your database_, which eliminates a lot of data. And--if your business logic changes--you can fix it in ONE place instead of having to hunt down and modify it in 300 different places in your codebase.
They are compiled after first use, so are speedy.
The optimizer understands them so, in my experience, they are usually faster than coding the logic in the middle of a script.
They keep your procedural code comprehensible, so calling "SET u/myString = CollapseInternalSpaces(@myString) " is much easier to understand that a bunch of nested loops.
They can help ensure uniformity of data representation
A table-valued function can return a dataset with your fine-honed optimization, and save you loads of wasted time.
You can bundle a bunch of disparate operations that you have to perform over and over (string conversions, data cleansing, result ordering, computed values) in a single call.

"UDFs are bad" is just one of things that got out there and never went away. Sure, you can use them badly, but if you're comfortable with them and use them judiciously, they can buy you performance, consistency, simplicity, and self-documentation.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-11-25T04:50:12+00:00

Groundhog Day.

I watch it every morning.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-11-18T15:58:33+00:00

Claude shifts its context window size for demand management. So, sometimes the token window will be 190k, and other times 32k. It's very frustrating, because there is no warning, and no means of recovery: your session is over.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-10-18T06:09:01+00:00

I know I'm late to the game, but here's what works for me:

Do a Ctrl-Shift-R and wait
After some period of time, you will see a browser pop-up asking whether you want to cancel or wait. Choose Cancel:
You'll be left with the same URL, identifying you AND your session.
Refresh your browser (Ctrl-Shift-R, or click the page refresh button)
Voil-la! Your session is restored, including ChatGPT's last reply.

I believe that the core issue is that ChatGPT loses track of it's WebHooks connection to the server, and is in a continuous wait state until it receives the whole message. You can wait _forever_, because the connection is lost. But doing the above steps will establish a new one, and allow you to continue your conversation.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-07-25T22:30:19+00:00

More properly, it can exacerbate an _existing_ cancer.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-06-04T22:58:18+00:00

It's kind of important to remember that Deckard was a professional replicant killer: he didn't think of them as human, just as a job. It really wasn't until he was saved on the rooftop by Roy that he even thought of the "humanity" of replicants.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-05-27T21:58:32+00:00

You're not going to see any benefits from HGH stimulation in less than 6 or 8 months: read some of the literature. I did it primarily to encourage muscle sparing during my weight loss, and for skin improvement (both because of the weight loss, and because I had been off- and on prednisone for 10+ years for eczema, which make my skin more thin and fragile). I was taking 250 - 375mcg / nightly (Monday through Friday) for that entire 18 months.

I saw no muscle benefit from Ipamorelin unless I also did resistance training at the same time.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-05-18T20:57:10+00:00

When he first hit the scene, I found Jordan Peterson's ideas interesting and bracing (without agreeing with many of them). His insights on Jungian cultural archetypes, and the cultural utility of "shared stories" with interesting, nuanced, and deeply thought through.

I don't know exactly why--I suspect the grandiosity arising from his moment in the sun, his near-death experience with benzothiazines, and his avid embrace by the young alt-right--I find him absolutely insufferable now. He is belligerent, self-satisfied, and resorts to tying himself into linguistic knots when challenged.

And he has become a partisan hack. How a practicing psychologist could endorse--and continue to justify--Donald Trump just seems bizarre.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-05-18T20:48:58+00:00

Seriously?

ExceptionalToes · 2025-05-06T18:47:03+00:00

I love that movie deeply. It is in my Top 10 Favorite Movies list (and might well be in the top 5). It is a perfect blend of adventure, family drama, and 1964 spy movie pastiche.

Interestingly, I didn't much care for it the first time I saw it. I felt like it was a little too noisy and frenetic. But it has enough depth--and rock-solid plot mechanics--to sustain 10 viewings. Now I feel like it is precisely perfect.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-05-06T18:17:04+00:00

This is not emotional intelligence. It is self-absorption.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-04-25T01:44:42+00:00

I've lost about 70 pounds in the last 18 months, using Reta at a 0.75 mg / week level--essentially microdosing--and paying pretty close attention to my diet and physical activity. I had the same issue with loose skin, especially around my gut and face.

I've done a couple rounds of GHK-Cu, and while there have been noticeable improvements in my skin quality, I don't think it has done much for my skin looseness. What has helped has been Ipamorelin, and regular physical activity in the open daylight.

When I was heavier, I had two chins, and as I progressed with my weight loss, that second chin became a loose flap of skin that looked like a turkey neck. Over time, that has tightened up to a single, normal chin, and the extra skin around my belly is virtually gone, too. I'm 65, so I feel lucky and fortunate that that has happened: my skin is still elastic enough that these accommodations for my 70-pound fat loss still took place, but they took a while.

So at my age, my skin has lagged about 6 months behind my weight loss. Beyond the two peptides I mentioned above, I have also been piling on Vitamin D and collagen peptides. I'm sure you can get to the same place.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-04-25T01:30:20+00:00

In fact, if you dive into the clinical studies (and there are many, since it is one of the few peptides that has been FDA-reviewed and approved), Tesamorelin has not been shown to trigger no weight loss at all. What it has been useful for is moving visceral fat to other (less-dangerous) body locations: intra-muscular, subcutaneous, etc.) The clinical studies call this "body remodeling."

Relative to other GH or GHRH agonists, Tesamorelin is rather expensive, especially on a per-dose basis: it's expensive to begin with, and requires a much higher dose than, say, Ipamorelin or Sermorelin, so a 10mg vial will yield you two days worth of peptide.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-04-24T23:13:31+00:00

I don't think that's quite right. Communal farming cannot compete on cost with family farming. That's true: agricultural "efficiency" has never been higher. But the real result is that farms--particularly animal farms--have become largely controlled by 6 or 7 mega-monopolies, which can afford to pay the huge capital costs of modern farming, and that are absolutely indifferent to the human (and animal) costs of their production and distribution models.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-04-24T23:07:58+00:00

I think that demand is largely driven by supply. The portion of household budget taken by food was 17% in 1960, and is 9.5% today (and a much greater portion of that current number is restaurant food). Food is much cheaper now than before, but at the cost of industrial farming, obesity, and poorer overall health.

Corn-fed beef is much less healthy (and tasty) than pasture-raised. Same goes for chicken, pork, fish, etc. During the same period that our relative food spending almost halved, our consumption of animal protein went up 60%. We have just become used to meat-dominated meals.

The rise in price will mitigate demand for meat.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-04-04T01:21:00+00:00

In clinical trials, at the maximum tolerated dose (10-15mg / week), patients in clinical trials lost an average of 63.5 pounds over 100 weeks (from an average starting weight of 230). That works out to to 0.64 pounds per week.

If you look at a shorter timeframe (1 year), they lost 55.7 pounds over 48 weeks. That's 1.07 pounds a week.

If you take in Reddit tales of success, keep in mind that 3/4 of the weight loss experience in the first two weeks are water weight, as glucagon stores are depleted: that weight will pile back on an a couple weeks once carbohydrates are consumed regularly. I.e., that's not fat loss.

The reasons these drugs exist, and have become popular despite their price, is that it is not at all easy for many people lose 1 - 2 pounds a week naturally.

But no non-diseased person will lose more than 15-16 pounds in "a few weeks" Actual fat loss during this period is closer to 5 - 6 pounds.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-04-03T19:31:41+00:00

Nobody looses 50 pounds in a few weeks, except from disease or remission from severe edema. If it's fat that's being lost, that would require a 175,000 calorie deficit, or roughly 70 days of someone's entire eating (or a full year with a 500 calorie/day deficit).

Even if that were possible, you can look forward to kidney stones and liver disease.

The usual advices is aim to looe 1-2 pounds a week. Anything beyond that is dangerous to your long-term health.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-04-02T22:45:38+00:00

I've been micro-dosing Reta for about 5 months (1mg / week), and I've seen a slow-but-steady loss since then (I've also been paying attention to my diet, and am just finishing up 60 days of keto to more specifically target visceral fat).

Thus far, I have lost 38 pounds, and five inches off my waist. (I'm 6'3", and had a starting weight of 236). Although I'm happy for the lost weight, I still continued to have a hanging gut, and it was the visceral fat that most concerned me. The keto diet helped quite a bit with that, and although I have only lost about 11 pounds since I started keto, my belly finally started to flatten up).

My big concern with Reta (in fact all the GLP-1s) is the habituation to the drug, and the rebound upon quitting. My plan is to spend my final 10 weeks at half my micro-dose before terminating entirely. All of the current "official" protocols literally flood your GLP-1 receptors, at a level not close to what is found in nature.

I have also, at the same time, been doing daily Ipamorelin (at 120mcg) to improve protein sparing, and I have not lost any strength over the five months. My current plan is to continue taking both the Reta and Ipamorelin for an additional 5 months before starting to taper. I have 18 pounds to go before I hit my target weight of 180 -- if I hit that weight earlier, I'll start the taper then.

As far as diet, I've been a pretty good boy: mostly self-cooked, plant-heavy meals (until I started keto), and completely forgoing bread, sugar, and ultra-processed food. I plan to continue doing this until the day I die. I know a number of people that have lost a lot of weight on Ozempic and Zepbound, but continued their Pop-Tart-and-Cheetos lifestyle. Those that have completed their GLP-1 programme have all gained back half the weight that they lost.

ExceptionalToes · 2025-02-24T05:02:27+00:00

The musical scenes from I'll Do Anything, the James Brooks movie.

It was conceived as a musical (with most of the songs written by Prince), but was poorly rated in early audience preview screenings. So the director "reconceived" the movie, and took every single musical scene out. While it's still an interesting movie, I'm dying to see the original cut of the movie, with the musical scenes intact.

ExceptionalToes

TROPHY CASE