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Submission + - GLP-1 Medication Gains Are Lost After Stopping Use (bmj.com)

Supp0rtLinux writes: Scientists at the University of Oxford examined multiple of studies following people after they discontinued GLP-1 based obesity medications. Former users typically regained close to a pound a month and they regained weight faster than people who shed their weight through positive lifestyle changes alone (calorie reduction, healthier dietary choices, exercise, etc).

Personally, I need to lose a few pounds but I would rather do it through diet and exercise than a pill; mostly for the personal reward/encouragement factor, but also for the other overall health benefits. But the bigger concern with dropping GLP-1 options could be the fallout from those that saw unrelated, off-market changes related to addiction tendencies. We've read how many obesity drugs don't just suppress appetite, but also help with addictive behaviors and related (smoking, alcohol consumption, sex addiction, other compulsive activities, etc). The question is if you go off the drugs do the other vices return as well? Or since those are more habit forming, can you still get the benefits? Does using a pill long enough to break a habit result in long term results or will you revert similarly to regaining lost weight?

Comment What about lost context? (Score 1) 31

So I don't read romance novels... but I know enough to know that you can't just do a word-for-word translation in many cases. Granted both Google's and Apple's real time translation apps are pretty good. But even they make mistakes when doing literal translations vs what is meant in context. So unless they plan to keep a few people around to proof-read the translations and provide contextual translation updates, I see this being prone to challenges... the kind of challenges where people read them and quote it online to show either how wrong it is or how the true meaning is lost. Compared to coding which is much more binary (yes, pun intended), human emotion... especially which I assume would be heavy in the romance section... isn't always perfectly translatable by what are still mostly binary-thinking AI agents. Also, worth a mention that "romance" wording often times uses words that have multiple meanings and/or are plays on words. Even "foul" language words have different meanings in context (anyone remember the gravelly voiced guy discussing all the various uses of the word f**k). A simple word like "steamy" can be used in multiple ways in English alone and then they have to transliterate that to another language. They'd be better off using AI to translate encyclopedias... if we still used them.

Comment This is more for the kids than adults... (Score 1) 22

My overall thought is this is going to be more for kids that actually play with Lego's than for adults who tend to build and collect them and put on shelves for viewing. My 5 year old would love something like this for his Lego T-rex or his Technic Grave Digger, but as an adult I doubt I'd care for this as a general rule. An exception may be something like the Soundwave Transformer (imagine sounds as the cassettes eject and transform), but still... even on my shelf I'm unlikely to have it make any more sound than it already can. Personally, I would've preferred a more native lighting solution such as many 3rd parties sell but without all the wiring... (I know, next to impossible with today's wireless options). But still, would look great in the Tron Lightbike or similar. Will be interesting to see if Lego understands this as well and targets the kids models vs the UCS ones, etc.

Comment What happened to evolution? (Score 0) 90

"This also raises the question of whether we should adjust our diets in some way, or how we grow or produce our food." If we truly believe in evolution, survival of the fittest, etc then we really shouldn't need to do anything. We will continue to evolve even as our sources of food change.

Comment Safari and Chrome on IOS do this too (Score 1) 143

This isn't all that much different than what happens with Safari and Chrome on IOS. At present, all IOS browsers are Webkit based so if you have tabs open in Chrome on IOS or iPad OS... through Continuity on your Mac you can have them show up in the Dock to view on your Mac the same as if they were open in Safari on IOS or iPad OS. Honestly this freaked me out the first time it happened but once I realized why it made sense. With Edge and Chrome, they're all based on Chromium so makes sense you could have a "similar" experience. Edge is really just Chrome at the core but with MS "extensions".

Comment X1 does this already (Score 1) 14

X1.. the fintech that made waves by offering cards with higher credit limits based on income and a soft pull only recently added this feature. If you're maxing out your cashback/rewards you can use it to pay off purchases, as a statement credit, or to be common stocks like Apple, Tesla, etc. I find it quite convenient.

Comment Divorce, Separation, & Minor or College Kids (Score 1) 77

Its going to be interesting to see how Netflix handles this in terms of location and disconnected familiies. I'm divorced with a 17 year old and a 21 year old in another state. But I've also re-married and have a wife and kids here. So here locally I have a family with 3 iPhones, an iPad and 2 Apple TVs. The 17 year old lives with her Mom in another state and uses my Netflix account on her phone, Mac, iPad, and a Smart TV (the ex doesn't use it). My 21 year old is on her own (not living with her mom), but also uses my account. Even with all the users and devices... we manage to all use it and stay under our simultaneous connection limits due to differing work and school schedules. But in the end, my children would be permitted to use my account if they were here with me and should be allowed to even if in another state. Same for most kids going to college, etc. So its going to be interesting to see what Netflix considers "sharing". And if they lock things down... will they have an appeal process, etc.

Comment No mention of the direct competition? (Score 3, Interesting) 66

A lot of people don't realize that Zelle is just branding for a backend system. Zelle (which is short for gazelle due to the speed of the animal) is actually the Real Time Payments platform/network run by the Clearing House Payments Co (TCH). TCH competes directly with the Fed for CHIPS, image (the process to take pics of your checks in an app on your phone), and ACH (how you typically get paid with direct deposit).TCH has been running a realtime payment solution for years. The Fed (Federal Reserve... which ironically is the only org with "Federal" in the name that isn't actually part of the US federal govt) is years late to this. The only banks that will use it are those that want redundancy in the event that TCH's solution were to go offline. Also, I think the Fed is missing a lot with this comment: "it would make money as we know it more competitive with cryptocurrencies"... its more likely to compete with the fintech's like Paypal or Apply Pay or Venmo or Cashapp... moreso when you consider that a real time payment network isn't going to allow you to mine your coins or see 10,000x growth in value... its just going to move money faster than the aging ACH credit/debit systems.

Comment Reduces financial liability for the company (Score 1) 126

One of the key quotes is "With UPTO, workers are not technically owed any vacation days, since there's no fixed number, and everything must be cleared by the boss on a case-by-case basis". This also means that when you quit or are laid off or fired, there's no vacation day payout with your final check. Many orgs like to avoid the liability of keeping the cash on hand for these events. Some do vacation cash outs or similar. So force you to use it with a "use it or lose it" policy. Some allow rolling it over year after year but usually with a cap of hours. This sounds good for the employees and there will always be those that abuse it as well as those that never use it. It's not unlike unlimited sick days, the exception being that unused sick days usually aren't paid out when you leave. In the end, this is one less thing the big companies need to keep on the books. Do some fast math and say you have 1000 employees making an average of 75K a year with 4 weeks of vacation each. That's not an insignificant financial liability.

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