unicorn

Yes, unlike topical minoxidil, which really has no side-effects, finasteride, as a testosterone-blocker (blocks conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, where the hair follicles have receptors), has some I'd consider nasty, namely decreased sex drive and decreased cum volume. However, once the medication is stopped, these side-effects should go away, since finasteride doesn't destroy the testicles or otherwise alter testosterone production. It merely blocks testosterone conversion to its active form.

I can understand that sentence when it comes to multiple murderers who kill without any motive other than because they can. Neither Kohberger nor the Air India pilot (nor the German Wings pilot) had any reason to kill all of those people.

Although it's interesting that some murderers are sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences... https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/bryan-kohberger-idaho-murders-life-sentence-live-updates-rcna219540 "...Idaho District Judge Steven Hippler sentenced Bryan Kohberger, 30, to four consecutive life sentences for the 2022 fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students...".

Obviously when one stops a therapy, the therapy stops... 🙄

Cane sugar. And that's the only good thing Trump has done. 😉

Not all metals are magnetic. Gold isn't. I'm guessing that the decedent's chain was iron or steel.

Weighing 9 kg? I've never seen anyone wearing a 9 kg (20#) chain. 9 kilograms of gold is currently worth approximately $985,529.26 USD. This is based on the spot price of gold at $109,503.03 per kilogram, according to APMEX and JM Bullion. That'd me a million-dollar chain of gold.

Almost criminal? About as criminal as one could imagine. Deserving of the death penalty.

767's have had a pretty good safety record in their 44 years of use. I'd think it's one of the oldest lines of planes still in production.

If he was literally allowed into the room wearing a 20# (9 kg) chain around his neck, that facility is in deep doo-doo. One would think a chain of that size would be clearly visible. Can't say I've ever seen any chain that large...

The closest I knew of that name was General Jean-Baptiste Kléber, of Avenue Kléber fame in the 16th neighborhood of Paris....

I feel a joke coming on...

Yikes. What a gruesome way to die. A reminder not to wear metal near an MRI scanner... https://people.com/man-killed-in-freak-mri-accident-wife-recalls-watching-machine-snatch-him-11775514?did=18645084-20250720&hid=089247988732f9a900151e1f8c73f2c531df3c3a&lctg=089247988732f9a900151e1f8c73f2c531df3c3a&lr_input=3911d0b923e8d92c50f8b74007080afa59d66697825b8a1e414be8db883b8062#comments And the decedent wasn't even the person whose MRI was getting done! "...Recalling the incident that led to his death, the grieving wife said that after an MRI on her knee, she asked the technician to retrieve her husband to help her get up. She said he was let into the room, despite the fact that he was wearing a 20-lb. chain on his neck. “In that instant, the machine switched him around, pulled him in, and he hit the MRI," she told News 12 Long Island of the tragedy. Both Jones-McAllister and the technician tried to pull her husband off of the machine, to no avail. Through tears, she recalled: “I was saying, ‘Could you turn off the machine? Call 911. Do something. Turn this damn thing off!’ "Patients are typically asked to remove any metal and electrical objects from their person before undergoing an MRI. According to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, MRI machines use powerful magnets to scan bodies for diseases and ailments while producing images of “non-bony parts or soft tissues.”...".

I must respectfully disagree with the view that the bombings of German cities wasn't justified. As the son of a Belgian resistance private, and grandson of a Belgian resistance colonel, I will attest that they also witnessed the indiscriminate bombings of civilians by the Nazis. As my father said, "It was important for the Germans to understand that war isn't simply about reading stories in the newspaper of foreigners getting killed." If the Germans were going to raze the allies' cities and kill civilians, it was also important that they, too, understand that the same could happen to them. This may be part of the problem in the Russia/Ukraine war. The typical Russian probably reads in Izvestia about the hundreds of civilians being killed in Ukrainian food markets (or sees it on TV), and thinks "That's nice. Good thing we're in no danger." When one's opponent repeatedly targets the civilian population and its structures, rather than military ones, they should perhaps be given one warning, then expect the same in return. That's probably the only way to change the minds of those who support tyrants. At a certain point, one has to stand up to bullies.

I never thought of it as a great way to get people to shut up before the overture. Yeah, you're right--that makes sense. As a friend of a professional opera tenor, I assure you that the singers greatly appreciate applause after a successful aria. I think that most of the rebuilding of Dresden came in the first 15 years after re-unification. I went there once in the late 80s when they were part of the DDR, then another time about 10 years ago. It was like an entirely different city. Until re-unification, the church was just a pile of bricks left at the site, labeled as a so-called "memorial to imperialism."

Am I alone in thinking it's a bit silly when the audience claps as the conductor enters the orchestra pit, or when the curtains rise at the start of a play, musical, or opera? I certainly clap after a piece is played, or after a well-sung aria, and so on. But should just showing up for work merit applause? Occasionally, I will applaud as the curtains are raised, when I see an impressive set. But then I'm applauding the set designer(s)/production crew, whose work is on display, rather than the actors or singers, who haven't started working yet.

Hey, I just realized that the man in the center was the man at the party I threw last month whose tattoos I was discussing in another string. He has more tattoos now (including some in foreign scripts). I'm throwing another party in 3 weeks, and I hope to see him there. He did seem to be having fun at my first summer party.

Apparently it was the Captain, not the co-pilot who switched off the fuel. I guess that goes into explaining the 10-second delay. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/air-india-cockpit-recording-suggests-captain-cut-fuel-engines-before-crash-2025-07-18/ "A cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last month supports the view that the captain cut the flow of fuel to the plane's engines, said a source briefed on U.S. officials' early assessment of evidence. The first officer was at the controls of the Boeing 787, and asked the captain why he moved the fuel switches into a position that starved the engines of fuel and requested that he restore the fuel flow, the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity because the matter remains under investigation...". It's hard to imagine anyone could be such an asshole, but it looks as though that's what happened.

I guess that one can always make a fortune telling people things they want to hear. So many people will welcome the message even if all common sense points to chicanery. Just look at those who'll buy sugar lotions to put on their scalp because they want to believe it works, science be damned. 🙄 Of course, one could say the same about religion in general...

What I don't understand is: to where do the people who send money to these charlatans think the money is going? Do people who describe themselves as Christians honestly not know that the apostles repeatedly quoted Jesus as saying “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”? (Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25), or Luke 6:24 "But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort." Luke 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

You could have said "Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps." 😉But, seriously, epidemiology is not even designed to show associations, much less causation. Epidemiology can only serve as a starting point for ideas of "real" research. The next steps are case-control studies, in which populations are followed and controlled for known factors. Those studies still can only show associations, not causation. To show causation, one has to randomize a given population and give some the intervention (such as jellyfish extract), and the other a placebo, then follow them over time. Ultimately, causation is accepted when multiple RCT (randomized controlled trials) are pooled together in a meta-analysis.

No, according to the report the 10 seconds included the time the one pilot asked the other why he cut off the fuel, as well as the mendacious response that he did not. You may believe that you would have immediately reached over and flipped the switches back, asking the question later. However, the fact of the matter is that this is not what happened. Had the sane pilot known that the insane one was suicidal/homicidal, he might have figured things out more quickly. He couldn't have suspected the other pilot was intent on killing him and everyone else on the plane. I don't think this method has been used before to crash a plane intentionally. I suspect that if someone tries this again, the time to switch the fuel back on will be quicker. Additionally, there may have been a struggle.