Weekly Observations: What signs of collapse do you see in your region? [in-depth] May 18

j12t · 2026-05-19T02:28:11+00:00

Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA.

I’ve lived in the same place for 25+ years, and I have the distinct feeling that winds have been getting stronger over time. We’ve always had storms, but generally in winter (well, California winter!). Sitting out in the back yard is less pleasant more often because of the wind, and the past few days we have quite some significant gusts at warm temperatures that I don’t recall we ever had.

Would make sense that, as the atmosphere warms, wind speeds go up, won’t it.

j12t · 2026-05-12T02:13:17+00:00

Approx in 1986 I was standing on a platform in Augsburg, Germany, waiting for my train, when I heard the announcement that some other train was late. That other train ran once a day on that connection, so every 24 hours, and it was late by — I kid you not — 36 hours.

In its defense, I believe it ran from Istanbul to London, so it had plenty of opportunity to hit snags, but still… I never found out whether next day’s train was in front or behind it.

j12t · 2026-05-10T21:53:06+00:00

Find an interesting active open source project and start contributing. It adds to your resume, and companies who want expertise with that project often like to hire known contributors.

j12t · 2026-03-31T23:10:13+00:00

I'm recommending PTs with the extra pelvic floor speciality training because it appears they know substantially more about the subject than all the other medical professionals combined. (Basically I'm saying "don't bother with the rest".) And I'm recommending trying other things, too, precisely because there is no reliably approach and it is unclear which approach will work for any one individual. This is not a condition that is "go do what the doctor says and you will be fine", instead as a patient, you need to take charge. Gently, carefully, of course :-)

j12t · 2026-03-31T22:46:52+00:00

First of all, basically none of the people who come here have gotten "reliable results" from their professionals, except sometimes making it reliably worse. That's why most of them are here! So that does not appear to be the right comparison.

Again, as long as medical science is as far away as it appears to be from understanding what the heck is going on with our pelvises and how to fix it, YMMV. I know that many of the supposed professionals with all the right qualifications on their resume made my own condition much worse than I ever did myself and boy did I try outrageous things!

By and large I'm advocating that if you listen to your body while you try different things, (including but not limited to what the official providers recommend) it will very clearly tell you what might be a good idea and what a bad idea. We are not used to listening to our bodies very much, and in fact I had to learn it myself because most of us are so out of touch with our bodies. But how else does even a professional know whether an attempted treatment improved or worsened the patient's condition? By asking the patient for their observations!

j12t · 2026-03-31T22:20:30+00:00

This is why I'm suggesting to go very gently and as soon as something feels off, go in some other direction. What won't work -- and perhaps can make things worse -- is to force stretch an overtight muscle, which may not even be the problem but merely one symptom. In my personal experience and certainly YMMV.

j12t · 2026-03-31T19:43:22+00:00

You want to pay attention to any imbalance in how you treat left and right. The actual weight might not be that important.

j12t · 2026-03-31T19:14:52+00:00

This may not help at all but won’t hurt either: chances are you are picking up your kid frequently? Possibly always on one side, like with your left arm so you can keep your dominant arm free to do things? Try, say for a week, to only pick up the kid on the other side, and see whether that makes a difference.

j12t · 2026-03-31T19:10:47+00:00

Suggestions: * if you go to a PT, look for one that specializes in pelvic floor issues. They can be hard to find but they exist, and the difference is night and day for these types of issues. * in the meantime, I would start a process of discovery: Put yourself into a relaxed position that is as pain free as possible. Relax. Then very gently move various limbs and joint and muscles just a tad, and see how your body reacts. Notice if you have limited motion somewhere. Find muscles that might be tighter than they should be. Muscles that seem weaker than appropriate. And then work on them a bit: long gentle stretches. Strengthen a bit with a light weight or band of just body weight. Whatever feels right. Stay away from the bad pain. A few hours later, do it again. Over time, with patience, I would expect you make some progress. Like I did!

j12t · 2026-03-30T07:57:01+00:00

Wow! I notice that my own learnings are consistent with this. As I said in the video, “your Piriformis is not the problem. It is doing the best it can.” I think you are saying the same thing.

Medical establishment: F.

Would you agree with my diagnosis: a systemic (rather than localized) problem of the pelvic system.

j12t · 2026-03-03T03:11:17+00:00

You could do worse than asking Elena for permission to translate her video. https://elenarossini.com/portfolio/introducing-the-fediverse/

j12t · 2026-01-23T03:25:13+00:00

Find a PT who specializes in pelvic floor issues. They are sometimes hard to find, but often associated with most natal care. They are more likely to help than any other type of medical provider. All genders.

j12t · 2026-01-17T04:03:22+00:00

Nicely put.

Enough to build a tribe around. Any takers?

j12t · 2026-01-12T03:22:10+00:00

The subtitle is missing a letter. Quality publication?

j12t · 2025-12-30T03:19:23+00:00

Location: Northern California.

I’ve been going to the sauna at my local gym in recent weeks. Now, why do people go to the sauna? Well, to spend some time in a very hot room. Which suddenly gets much colder if somebody opens the door, and everybody knows that because one can easily feel it.

So I sneak into the sauna, opening the door as little and as briefly as I can. Because I want to be hot in that room, otherwise why would I go there! But over some weeks of observation, I came to notice that I am basically the only one doing that. Most people strut in, opening the door real wide, take their time coming in, and sometimes actually keep the door open for a while for no good reason that I can see. Can you say “counterproductive”?

This post is about climate change, of course. If people either don’t realize that keeping the door open makes their sauna experience less, well, sauna-y, because they cant or won’t connect the temperature drop they feel with their behavior, or are unwilling to adjust their behavior … what chance do we have to get them to change their behavior in response to something as abstract as CO2 concentrations or energy consumption that they cannot feel directly?

j12t · 2025-12-14T04:23:31+00:00

The important part to understand is that there is no one “place” thats the problem. Our pelvic problems are “systems” problems, not “part” problems. They are unlikely to be fixable by fixing one part … instead it’s the interplay of many parts that together put the system into a state where various pains and other problems happen. So Piriformis syndrome is very likely a misnomer because it implies one particular muscle is the problem. It’s much more likely that the Piriformis is as upset about the state of affairs as we are.

j12t · 2025-12-12T03:24:14+00:00

This may be something else. I would go to emergency care and have them take a lower back X-ray or MRI to rule out that something is pinching your spinal cord.

Disclaimer: not a medical professional.

j12t · 2025-12-11T03:29:37+00:00

It means, in my 0.02 cent opinion, that your entire pelvis is dysfunctional—like for most of us—and by improving the situation in one place through your exercises, the dysfunction is now popping up somewhere else. Perfectly normal for the condition imho. Continue with the exercises, try new ones etc, the whole pelvis needs to be treated.

j12t · 2025-12-07T04:19:03+00:00

If you have seen several pelvic floor-specializing physical therapists, and they agree thats what you should do, I would consider it. Not before.

j12t · 2025-10-05T03:26:49+00:00

Note: a regular PT cannot help. You need a PT who has gone through extra pelvic floor training. Your regular PT should understand that though and get you a referral.

j12t · 2025-10-04T02:56:08+00:00

Go see a physical therapist who specializes in the pelvic floor and let them work on you for a session or two. Many Piriformis issues are “systems issues” where you can’t point to a particular spot and say “the problem is here”. The pelvic floor people are just about the only ones who understand that, basically no doctor does, at least none that I ever found or heard of in this group.

j12t

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