Quitting cannabis, so far, is absolutely 10,000% easier than nicotine. At least on day one. Day one quitting nic was like an itchy haze of random sobbing and shouting at people and tearing my hair out. So far, I’ve just kept remembering that I can’t vape and getting a little bummed because I miss being fucked up. But it’s okay, I don’t have to be fucked up. It’s a lot easier to switch between tasks and Do More Things and that is worth giving up the peace of vaping through my day.
…well, BREATHING is worth giving it up, and the other stuff could be worse.
Again: I have been at this for eight years, and before that (with overlap), I was an alcoholic. I don’t really know what a Sober Sara is like. Certainly not a Sober Sara who has been a grown ass adult for so long. I was quite a young adult when I was last Chronically Sober and not just California Sober. A lot of people keep telling me that I might not change much at all from this. Will I be the same as I was last week? Last month? Is there a different Sara who’s been snoozing under the weight of our happy green flower friend, waiting to perk up and blossom?
It’s just so hard to imagine because I’m also really productive and full of interests when I’m stoned. Like, all the amazing things I’ve done in the last eight years, I did stoned. Being stoned didn’t let me do it, obviously. But it suppressed my energy (a desirable side effect for me, frankly) so I’m like…if that’s how awesome I am when I’m smothered by THC, how much more awesome am I gonna be the next few years when the fog is clear? Can I control the frenetic human-scribble energy of my psyche unconstrained by the sensory numbing of weed? Guess we’ll find out.
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NPR has an article about the medical applications of a ketogenic diet. I spent years on a ketogenic diet. I did experience a lot of benefits. But I also found it was incredibly punishing on my digestive system, isolated me from my family because I ate so differently, and fed into my neuroses around “clean” food.
I think the conversation around ketogenic diets misses that it really should just be a medical diet. I really think the average person should not be on keto. If you are dealing with seizures that need a ketogenic diet – or schizo-affective disorder – then obviously the costs of medicalized eating are absolutely worth it. But eating shouldn’t be medical or even functional for most people. It *should* be cultural, emotional, and a source of relief. (Not talking about binge eating. I’m talking about just eating normal meals with people you love and enjoying food that tastes good.)
The hormonal effects on women are not well understood, but there is reason to believe ketosis is not good for women (source: apocrypha). Also, ketosis is a stressful survival state. Your body will be more stressed, all the time. They call this “eustress” to mean that the stress is good for you…but think about how many other sources of stress are in your life, and ask if you need to be systemically stressed out *further*.
This article is fine because it’s urging medical applications, but I can’t see “keto” pass my feed without panicking a little because the scientific/medical appeal of it really, really appeals to orthorexia, and I don’t know many women who aren’t worried about eating clean in some way.
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I knew that 23andme had gotten hacked. I didn’t know they were going explicitly for accounts with genetic data associated with Ashkenazi and Chinese ancestry. (Engadget) Of course it has to be racist evil, it can’t just be more general bad behavior.
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I didn’t realize Cracked was still around, but they published an essay from Penn Jillette, famously libertarian, explaining why he is no longer a libertarian.
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Jessica Valenti reports that multiple states are trying to make it “trafficking” to take minors to states where they can legally get abortions.
On the other hand, Washington State is trying to enable pharmacists to prescribe and issue abortion pills.
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Al Jazeera English has a roundup of national reactions to the ICJ interim ruling in regards to the Gaza conflict.
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John Oliver says that it’s really exciting to see Jon Stewart back on late night for an election year, but also, he thinks Amber Ruffin and Roy Wood Jr should maybe have the desk. I agree. (Variety)
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AJE’s article about Panama’s “Little Hiroshima” was a sobering lesson in recent American history.
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Sierra Space is experimenting with inflatable habitats for humans in space. (Ars Technica)
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Variety’s interview with Suzy Bemba, a French actress in Poor Things, was a really interesting glimpse at the state of working in French cinema.
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ElevenLabs was identified as the creator of the Biden robo-phonecall discouraging Democrats from voting in the primaries, and they banned the account behind it. Okay, have fun with whackamole, guys. Pandora’s AI box is wide open. Are we going to pretend that things like fake political phone calls aren’t the main reason this crap exists?
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JD Barker, who came up in publishing because of a (distant) working relationship with Stephen King, was not protected by his faint friendships when he decided to ask for nudes from underage people on TikTok. He has been dropped by his agent. (Publisher’s Weekly)
Genres outside romance aren’t always good about moderating bad behavior so I was glad to see the hammer fall swiftly on this one.
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Britney Spears fans are NOT having it with JTimberlake’s new nonsense. (Variety)
