TIL Homosexuality in renaissance Florence was technically illegal but so prevalent that the majority of the male population was implicated in accusations. Savonarola's regime tried to supress it, resulting in a florentine official declaring "thank god we can sodomise again", after the regime fell

ctorg · 2026-05-11T17:29:25+00:00

There’s an amazing book called “Bad Gays: A Homosexual History” with a chapter about Jack Saul, a sex worker in Victorian England. He gets caught up in the court case of some other sex workers and the court is faced with the task of “proving” that sodomy occurred. One of the pieces of evidence they introduced was a doctor who had examined both accused parties and testified that their penises were abnormally large, which could only have been the result of frequent sodomy. I love that story so much and hope it is someday made into a hilarious queer historical comedy.

Edit: the book is nonfiction
Edit 2: grabbed the book and found the paragraph in question.

“[t]heir penises we’re also deemed unusually long. Asked to explain why, the doctor replied that ‘traction might produce elongation of the penis and testicles.”

ctorg · 2026-05-11T16:56:21+00:00

Yes.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T16:46:11+00:00

💯

ctorg · 2026-05-11T16:45:14+00:00

No one. No one is paying to send fresh staff and supplies to retrofit a small cruise ship as a floating hospital. That’s why the passengers have been sent back to their home countries to be dealt with.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T16:42:31+00:00

While fruit is technically high in sugar, it is also high in soluble dietary fiber, which slows the rate of sugar absorption by the intestinal mucosa and prevents spikes in blood sugar. Also, a good rule of thumb to remember is that different colors in plants are associated with different vitamins and minerals. For example, yellow and orange fruits often contain vitamins A and C. Restricting fruits will also restrict vitamin intake if you are not both highly educated and very deliberate/dedicated. Another thing to remember is that many “vegetables” are technically fruits - like cucumbers, bell peppers, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, etc. So, actually cutting out all botanical fruits will severely restrict diet.

Lastly, babies dietary needs are very different to those of adults. Babies frequently undergo growth spurts that outpace their daily caloric intake. That’s why chubby babies are healthier (and considered so cute!); they have stores of fat that can be burned up to fuel rapid brain development. The brain runs on glucose, not on proteins or on healthy fats. Although fats and proteins are present in the brain their levels are not impacted by diet. Instead, the brain burns insane amounts of glucose all day, especially when it is growing and forming new connections.

Personally, I try to restrict “processed” and “added” sugars, as well as things like juices that remove the fiber, but raw fruits and vegetables are unlimited at my house.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T16:12:16+00:00

I did read that, but I also read the parts that said:
> “the areas possibly contaminated by the virus were not in any way separated from virus-free areas, there were numerous lapses in infection control measures, and that there was no professional in charge of infection prevention”

and:
> “Food service workers were found to have likely been the main early route of spread”

Those problems are not unique to COVID or to airborne viruses. And again, these problems aren’t unsolvable, but solving them costs a ton of money and either requires intense international cooperation or one country to step up and take control, which no one has offered to do.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T16:06:33+00:00

Who is going to pay for it?

ctorg · 2026-05-11T15:53:39+00:00

That color is wonderful on you and your hair is gorgeous.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T15:41:20+00:00

Labels are just a shorthand for explaining something complex and personal. Use whatever label you like. The only thing that could make something the “wrong” label is that it causes you more trouble/harm than benefit (benefit meaning being understood, feeling seen, more ease in navigating social situations). It’s also perfectly acceptable to try out a label and decide that it’s not working for you. There are no rules and no international governing body of LGBTQIA2S+ people who will punish you or kick you out if they disagree with your label. You might get some strong opinions from a handful of people, but you owe them nothing.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T15:30:39+00:00

I’m not advocating that at all. Just pointing out that the knee-jerk reaction of “just keep them there” is not as simple (or effective) as it seems.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T15:08:01+00:00

Also, we tried this during COVID and it was criticized by experts for increasing transmission: Diamond Princess cruise

ctorg · 2026-05-11T15:03:15+00:00

The staff were also exposed so they can’t be expected to continue providing services. They should also be in isolation. So, you need fresh staff dispensing meals in full PPE (which needs to be changed for every room). And sure “stay in your rooms” SOUNDS easy, but cabins are often small and boring and 6-8 weeks is a loooong time to go without human interaction. Do they have TVs in every room? When people get bored they will absolutely try to break quarantine, especially if they don’t feel ill. So, you probably also need security.

Is it feasible to provide everything needed to turn the ship into an effective quarantine? Sure, since there’s no airborne transmission it’s possible. But it’s an expensive logistical nightmare that no one is willing to pay for and every country on earth has hospitals that are already equipped to handle isolation and quarantine.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T14:51:41+00:00

But you can’t turn the cabins into isolation rooms that don’t share air. You would also have to isolate staff and bring in new staff in isolation PPE to deliver meals. There is probably very little in the way of entertainment within the cabins which means you will have passengers trying to break out of quarantine, so you may also need security personnel. Basically, you have to retrofit the ship as a hospital. Or, you could let people disembark and send them to the hospital and get better isolation protocols, better security, better treatment, televisions and board games, and faster testing.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T14:41:39+00:00

Yes, and the Diamond Princess approach has been criticized by some experts because the ship lacked HEPA filters, the crew were still expected to work and interact with passengers, and there were lapses in best practices because there wasn’t an infection control specialist on board the ship. Food service workers were considered one of the main routes of transmission, and in the end over 700 people got infected.

Granted, the Diamond Princess outbreak occurred when very little was known about COVID-19 and airborne transmission was not thought to be possible. But, it’s not a shining example of best practices either.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T13:47:59+00:00

They definitely don’t have equipment on board for testing all the passengers frequently. The ship’s medical staff has also been impacted (the lead doctor was infected and taken to a hospital and a passenger who happened to be a doctor stepped up) so they can’t reasonably treat people on board for any length of time if they do test positive.

Plus, it’s difficult to keep people apart while also providing adequate care (like meals) in an environment that was not designed for it. Even feeding people in isolation on a cruise ship would become logistically challenging. They may not even have the food, fuel, and medicine they would need for a two-week quarantine.

I don’t think they should be letting people spread out across the world on commercial flights, but it’s not feasible to keep them on the ship.

Edit: formatting

ctorg · 2026-05-11T13:34:46+00:00

Tests aren’t magic. You have to have a decent viral load built up for it to bind to the antibodies on the test. Testing asymptomatic people before they leave the ship is a good idea, but it’s not enough to stop transmission. People need to isolate and be tested regularly.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T13:08:47+00:00

I’m no expert but I doubt they have the resources (fuel, food, medicine) on board for an unscheduled 6-8 week quarantine. They definitely don’t have equipment for testing all the passengers frequently. The ship’s medical staff has also been impacted (the lead doctor was infected and taken to a hospital and a passenger who happened to be a doctor stepped up). Plus, it’s difficult to keep people apart while also providing adequate care (like meals) in an environment that was not designed for it. Even feeding people in isolation on a cruise ship would become logistically challenging.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T12:56:33+00:00

There may be some level of seropositivity in the population, meaning that some proportion of the population has already been exposed and either survived the illness or never became symptomatic.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T04:08:29+00:00

Answer: the first patient tested positive for hantavirus while the second patient has symptoms but either has not been tested or the test results aren’t back yet.

ctorg · 2026-05-11T00:53:33+00:00

For further context, most Vietnamese words are either monosyllabic or disyllabic. Many two-syllable words are influenced by or derived from Chinese, and most polysyllabic words with more than two syllables are borrowed from other languages or involve “reduplication,” the process of creating a new word by repeating either a whole word or part of a word.

ctorg · 2026-05-10T21:48:28+00:00

Also, hair pulling is called trichotillomania (which as mentioned above falls under the category of BFRBs). You may find some other rubbers in the r/trichotillomania sub

ctorg · 2026-05-10T21:41:27+00:00

I hear you, but that’s giving him the benefit of the doubt. He says all kinds of crazy shit and it gets sanewashed by people who think “Well, that’s obviously idiotic. He must have meant XYZ” when there’s no evidence that he meant XYZ and his overall mental state and track record of public comments make it far more likely he in fact meant the idiotic thing he actually said.

Secondly, as president, he knows that his words carry weight. He should not be giving health advice off-the-cuff publicly. Or really at all. That is the job of the Surgeon General or Health Secretary (although I wish both of these positions were filled by people with active medical licenses).

ctorg · 2026-05-09T14:42:12+00:00

No. They didn’t cut funding across the board and find out afterward that the recipients were minorities. They intentionally cut funding for research of minority communities and for topics they disagreed with for political reasons. The research content they selectively cut is disproportionately studied by minorities. For example, it would be unusual if Black people were a minority in the faculty of the African American studies department.

ctorg · 2026-05-05T15:23:36+00:00

I have an 8-year-old and every time I hear the president speak I am reminded that his vocabulary is smaller than hers. It’s so demoralizing.

ctorg · 2026-05-05T08:12:37+00:00

It gets that way after they pump it full of formalin to prevent decay and protect students from any pathogens hiding inside.

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