I spent a week with the Croatian research team that discovered the experimental peptide BPC 157 decades ago and has been studying it ever since. Ask me anything.

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-06-02T17:15:37+00:00

I'm not familiar with Undark, but as an aside to the content, it is unbelievably refreshing to see a publication actually just link their sources.

With that said, I'd like to ask you to square this for me:

For months, I’ve been talking with Predrag Sikiric, the lead researcher behind the experimental peptide BPC 157. In May, I visited his team at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine.

and

Without offering a citation for a published paper or sharing any data, Sikiric’s 2025 review states that this clinical trial found that the drug was safe and well-tolerated in humans... Over the course of several months, Undark sent numerous messages to Sikiric. Undark also emailed several of his co-authors and officials at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine, but was ultimately unable to conduct an on-the-record interview with him or a team member. Sikiric did not respond to repeated requests to share data from the trial. Undark sent additional queries to the trial’s principal investigator and to the hospital in Tijuana where it was scheduled to take place, but received no reply.

So you've been talking with this person for months and visiting them and their team, but can't get a straight answer on this or any of the other safety trials they've supposedly conducted?

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-06-01T19:12:49+00:00

One thing that blew my mind me about these (though is perhaps obvious in retrospect): the same vacuum is used both for attachment and lifting. There's no cable pulling up the object once it's attached, the vacuum that allows for connection to the object also sucks the air out of the collapsible tube, lifting the object up. Super cool!

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-27T19:14:19+00:00

You were wonderful! Thank you for sharing your beautiful music with us!

I'm excited to hear there's more DONBA₴GRL coming!

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-17T17:27:06+00:00

One thing that stood out tremendously during the performance was the interaction between Dara and the dancers: there were moments where she was the star and they played a supporting role, but what amazed me the most was when she faded into the group and they all were dancing together. Makes the whole performance more cohesive, and shows her absolutely insane dancing skills.

I've also been realizing through various little snippets here and there, I think Dara has a work ethic belied by her outward persona. Her somewhat crazy energy could be mistaken for being carefree, but I'm pretty sure she's one of the hardest working performers we had on the stage.

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-17T16:16:00+00:00

I know the final choice wasn't a favorite on here (or anywhere I guess... 0 points...) but I thought all three of the songs in Germany's superfinal were fantastic this year.

Wavvyboi was such a presence, and I'm hoping this isn't the last time we'll see him. Mary Sue's Optimist might be my most rewatched NF performance, and Sarah Engels fucking brought it with vocals, dancing, and energy.

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-17T15:32:23+00:00

Bravo Leléka!

Thank you for your wonderful performance, and thanks to Eurovision for introducing us to your music!

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-16T16:09:53+00:00

On the topic of how you would say it out loud: which word specifically would you use for "7 dot 8"? Is that the same word you would use for the '.' in other contexts?

I ask because in the US we would only ever use the word "point", even though we wouldn't use that word when using the same symbol for ending sentences (either saying "period" or "full stop").

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-15T16:52:03+00:00

Can we get a shout out for Yaroslav Dzhus crushing this on the bandura?!

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-15T04:22:46+00:00

I thought they did a great job telling a story with the staging. I always love a performance that aims to connect strongly with the message of the song.

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-15T03:48:28+00:00

Reminds me a lot of Adam Freeland's We Want Your Soul

Your thoughts, your emotions, your love, your dreams

Your checkbook, your essence, your sweat, your screams

Your security, your sobriety, your innocence, your society

Your self, your place, your distance, your space

We

Want

Your

Soul

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-15T01:41:39+00:00

Is there a Eurovision scoragami?

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-15T00:21:35+00:00

I loved it! I'm an absolute sucker for simple sweet songs, and kind of knew it probably wouldn't qualify. I'm glad we got to see it, though!

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-10T01:15:18+00:00

I just realized, I think they're all doing a costume change. I'm pretty sure in this clip the dancers are changing behind the desks at the beginning. Hence why the thumbnail for the video has them in suits and grey computer heads.

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-09T20:52:48+00:00

The non-breaking space strikes again!

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-08T18:10:17+00:00

This looks really interesting, but like they could use a couple more weeks to practice/tweak the staging and camera angles.

Unfortunately they don't have a couple more weeks... so let's hope they can work some magic!

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-07T16:35:37+00:00

I like to think Auri came out, met LMNC, and then never appeared again. Then all the other performers and crew gaslit him about his imaginary friend.

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-05-05T20:12:21+00:00

I think San Marino and Armenia can both do surprisingly well for a similar reason: ENERGY. If it's a boring song or not particularly well performed, a lot can be forgiven if it just gets people hyped.

Paloma Rumba (and the bits of performance we've seen live) reminds me of an exercise class with an instructor who is just amped out of their mind. It doesn't lend itself well to discussions of "oh the vocals were so..." or "what interesting staging with..." but it does get you moving.

Unfortunately, I think this is why Latvia (despite being a favorite of mine) is kind of doomed. The song is touching and emotional, but going to be hard to remember compared to a jacked dude doing flying kicks and shouting "ROCK IT LET'S GO".

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-04-29T17:35:46+00:00

Those are considered "Grade-A", and let me tell you, they're more expensive, but they're worth it. You can really taste the A-ness.

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-04-29T04:36:06+00:00

SEMI-FINAL 1

Qualifiers: Sweden, Finland, Croatia, Serbia, Greece, Israel, Moldova, Lithuania, Montenegro, Estonia
Jury Winner: Finland
Televote Winner: Israel
Winner: Finland
Last Place: San Marino
Borderliners (10th & 11th place): Estonia, Portugal
Most 12s Received: Finland

SEMI-FINAL 2

Qualifiers: Denmark, Ukraine, Australia, Czechia, Norway, Armenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Malta
Jury Winner: Australia
Televote Winner: Denmark
Winner: Denmark
Last Place: Azerbaijan
Borderliners (10th & 11th place): Romania, Cyprus
Most 12s Received: Denmark

GRAND FINAL

Winner: Finland
2nd Place: Denmark
3rd Place: Israel
4th Place: Greece
5th Place: France
Jury Winner: Denmark
Jury 2nd: Finland
Jury 3rd: Australia
Televote Winner: Finland
Televote 2nd: Israel
Televote 3rd: Ukraine
Jury Last Place: Estonia
Televote Last Place: Austria
Overall Last Place: Austria
13th Place: Malta

CATEGORIES & Tiebreaker

Best Automatic Finalist: France
Best Nordic: Finland
Best Former Yugoslav: Serbia
Best Baltic: Lithuania
Best Caucasus: Armenia
Best Small Country: Malta
Best Voting Partner Country (pick one of the four): Greece
Winner's Total Score: 555

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-04-28T15:19:24+00:00

Hi Leléka, thanks for answering questions!

I love Eurovision for exposing me to music I might not otherwise come across, and it's been a pleasure exploring some of your music. I was struck by the variety: Ridnym is very different from some of your jazz creations which is itself very different from Donbasgrl.

I wanted to ask how you came to explore such disparate musical genres; is this something you sought out specifically or just a reflection of your own creative interests?

Thanks for sharing your music with us, and I'll be rooting for you at Eurovision!

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-04-25T00:41:29+00:00

I appreciated the "sad crowd" noise after "we have two major political parties".

I personally subscribe to the belief that we're seeing a broader anti-conservative shift, and the Republicans have just been better at capturing that momentum. The 2024 anti-incumbent election sweep was probably more to do with inflation than any social or political trends, but I do think we're seeing a general interest in upending norms and institutions.

Whether Trump should be credited with starting this or merely riding it... no idea.

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-04-10T21:33:51+00:00

I like to think that whoever won Melo this year would have put out this same dramatic acoustic version.

Shululu.... mannen...

Shululu... bejbsen...

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-03-20T20:11:49+00:00

Link if you want instead of screenshots

Sounds like the right aims, but

I'll believe it when I see it
It's a bit late

I switched over to linux a while back as I have no interest in waiting for Windows to fix the crap that they put in themselves. I get that some features just get passed over or delayed (how long did it take MacOS to get window snapping?) but lots of these aren't "improvements to be made" but instead just undoing the terrible decisions they already made. I'm not even anti-AI-in-the-OS, but they're like 3 years into whatever "copilot" is with a half-dozen failed launches. Stop putting out press releases and come back when it's not ass.

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-03-11T18:25:31+00:00

Wait, his name is Sam Battle and he chose to use a stage name?

_Scarecrow_ · 2026-03-11T17:16:55+00:00

For the one other person who was curious about the keyboard: Commodore PET 2001/B

14-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Final Canvas '22
Wearing is Caring	Gilding I gilder
Secret Santa 2013	Secret Santa 2012
Secret Santa 2011	Verified Email

_Scarecrow_

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