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I used to get the occasional occurrence of sleep paralysis which could get pretty weird. Usually when I took a nap during the day for whatever reason. Wildest one I remember is waking up with a humanoid praying mantis standing over me. Did a bit of messing around with Lucid Dreaming at times in the past, which could get pretty interesting. Odd sensation, to realise that you're dreaming and experience a level of clarity you don't usually get whilst asleep. I once managed to materialise my bedroom within a dream, directly from lying awake in bed. It felt like I was falling down into my bed and I saw flashes of light, before a perfect copy of my bedroom appeared around me. Only difference being, that it was all the same colour! Never could manage to keep the dreams going long without waking up though.

Good point, well raised. Some of the issues are going to be pretty difficult to deal with. I guess we have to try and move forward as positively as possible, allowing for structural changes in society to follow as appropriate in due course. Obviously this only slightly covers it, but I'd personally love to see more done to provide and increase acceptance of mental health treatment. Even outside of the transgender subject, it'd be great to see people be treated for their trauma using the methods that exist but are not available. It's shitty to think that people are suffering from health problems that treatments are available for, purely because they exist in the mind.

I feel so bad for these people. I'm glad they are managing to get their own people in to either validate their concerns, or validate that what they are being told is true with regards to safety. If they do experience health issues, I can't imagine the fight they'd have on their hands to get someone to take responsibility.

From a psychological point of view, I thought it was interesting to see the below when I went looking for a bit of reading on the subject. Note: This isn't the extent of research on the matter. I guess some of the takeaway in the context of popular discussion, is that we should try not to let organisational failures undermine science and cause more harm than good when moving forward with policy etc. Behind the arguing of activists and talking heads, there are people just looking for an opportunity to get better and even save their own lives. Without being massively knowledgable on the subject, I feel that where the science is validating transgender people, it is also relevant to discussions such as those around safeguarding prisoners. Where this and similar safeguarding concerns exist in society, they are primarily around protecting people from people with bad-intentions. Transgender people may make up a tiny minority of a population, but that doesn't prevent bad people from exisiting in that population. We need to find a way of dealing with those people without attaching the problems they cause to a group they share parts of their identity with. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bauer, et al., 2015: Transition reducing the risk of suicide attempts. Less attempts further along in process. Moody, et al., 2013: Facilitating transtion in addition to family and social acceptance, as largest factors to reducing suicide risk. Young Adult Psychological Outcome After Puberty Suppression and Gender Reassignment: A clinical protocol of a multidisciplinary team with mental health professionals, physicians, and surgeons, including puberty suppression, ... cross-sex hormones and gender reassignment surgery, provides trans youth the opportunity to develop into well-functioning young adults. All showed significant improvement in their psychological health, and they had notably lower rates of internalizing psychopathology than previously reported among trans children living as their natal sex. Well-being was similar to or better than same-age young adults from the general population. The only disorders more common among trans people are those associated with abuse and discrimination - mainly anxiety and depression. Early transition virtually eliminates these higher rates of depression and low self-worth, and dramatically improves trans youth's mental health Trans kids who socially transition early and not subjected to abuse are comparable to cisgender children in measures of mental health. Dr Ryan Gorton: "In a cross-sectional study of 141 transgender patients, Kuiper and Cohen-Kittenis found that after medical intervention and treatments, suicide fell from 19% to 0% in transgender men and from 24% to 6% in transgender women” Murad, et al., 2010: Significant decrease in suicidality post-treatment. The average reduction was from 30 percent pretreatment to 8 percent post treatment. De Cuypere, et al., 2006: Rate of suicide attempts dropped from 29.3 percent to 5.1 percent after receiving medical treatment among Dutch patients treated from 1986-2001. McNeil, et al., 2012: Suicidal ideation and actual attempts reduced after transition, with 63% thinking about or attempting suicide more before they transitioned and only 3% thinking about or attempting suicide more post-transition. Smith Y, 2005: Participants improved on 13 out of 14 mental health measures after treatmen Lawrence, 2003: Surveyed post-op trans folk: "Participants reported overwhelmingly that they were happy with their SRS results and that SRS had greatly improved the quality of their lives Reduction in Mental Health Treatment Utilization Among Transgender Individuals After Gender-Affirming Surgeries: A Total Population Study: "Conclusions: "... the longitudinal association between gender-affirming surgery and reduced likelihood of mental health treatment lends support to the decision to provide gender-affirming surgeries to transgender individuals who seek them." This 2010 meta-analysis of 28 different studies, which found that transition is extremely effective at reducing dysphoria and improving quality of life.

I understand where pro-trans arguments with such passion come from, having trans friends who are perfectly well-adjusted and happy adults. This feeling can be bolstered when you see that they are vulnerable to getting assaulted in public places because they don't fit many people's societal paradigm. At the end of the day, most well-meaning people are trying to look out for others welfare and it's certainly a hard subject to know where to land on given the circus around it in recent years. I've also seen people question their gender identity briefly, somewhat due to peer pressure, and further seemingly start to feel more comfortable in themselves following conversations around the subject. In this respect, therapeutic models are a big part of pre-transition healthcare. Beyond anecdotes, Gender Dysphoria is a specific diagnosis within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Psychology is a science and there's a lot of research advising on strong positive results for those that do transition, which makes comments around irreparable damage a bit strong, especially when suicide is often seen amongst those suffering. Psychologists aren't magic and there are negative results amongst people who transition, but their aim is to safeguard lives within our best understanding. Hopefully as time progresses, these results will become more positive with developing practices and beyond that, I imagine the best way to safeguard children whose issues can be explained and treated under other diagnoses, is investment in provision of Mental Healthcare. I have to work at the moment, but I will try to update with some research etc that might be helpful to the discussion.

The below link is for Xbox, although I think the PS5 version is on there as well. Hogwarts Legacy - £40 Probably as cheap as it's going to be a for a good while, considering the reviews being as good as they are. Only played a couple hours so far, but the gameplay seems entertaining and the world looks to have been built extremely well.

Did you see the AI Seinfield that was playing on Twitch? I remember hearing that it got banned recently because it generated content where the characters were doing transphobic stand-up. I should probably try to get up to speed on AI, considering it appears it's going to be very relevant to our future. I've enjoyed listening to podcasts about theoretical uses and pitfalls etc, but my level of understanding about how they work isn't worth mentioning.

All the unclassified information about the objects shot down the US recently for those that are interested. From the congressional hearing The Spy Balloon: * They've already recovered a lot of the debris from what he referred to as “the Chinese spy balloon,” including propulsion equipment. * They expect to gain significant intelligence from the recovery. The Three UAVs * After this incident, a decision was made to start scrutinizing their air space more closely. Adjustments were made to how we process a lot of the data we collect about what’s flying overhead. The vast majority of this data was not being processed because of compartmentalization by the different agencies that collect it. There was no single system that exists for the purpose of identifying these kinds of objects. * The three UAVs that have been shot down since then were all “fundamentally different” from the spy balloon in that they were much smaller and they were flying much lower, between 20,000 and 30,000 feet. That put them within the altitude band for civilian air traffic, which was a factor in the decision to shoot them down. By contrast, the spy balloon was at an altitude of 60,000 feet. * However, each of the three UAVs were flying in proximity to a “DOD sensitive location.” That was also a factor in shooting them down. * In the U.S., academic and commercial balloons have to include transponders that let the FAA know where they are at all times. These UAVs did not appear to have transponders, and that was also a factor in the decision to shoot them down. * Of the three UAVs, one was much larger than the other two. Its size and shape is consistent with a balloon. The other two were roughly the size of “an A.T.V. or a four-wheeler,” making them extremely difficult to see. * All three UAVs appeared to “move in speed with the wind.” * It was repeatedly mentioned that there’s no evidence at this point that any of these three UAVs were doing anything nefarious and each of them could turn out to be academic or commercial. We won’t know until they’re recovered. Here’s what’s happening with the recovery efforts: * One UAV was shot down over Alaska. The debris is believed to be on an ice cap, which is moving, and the temperature is -50 with the windchill. * A second UAV was shot down in Canada in some very tall, snowy mountains. We’re assisting Canadians with trying to locate the debris. * A third UAV was shot down near the US/Canada border but is probably on the Canadian side. Another joint effort is underway. * The FBI is embedded with all three search and recovery teams to assist. * There are no other UAVs being tracked at this time. * This episode has sparked a new effort to develop a set of strategies for detecting and eliminating UAVS - ideally without having to use extremely expensive missiles - and a better notification system for our governors and allies.

It would be really interesting to get an idea of what they, and probably many other countries are dealing with. Heard that supposedly, the sudden uptick in anomalous objects being located is due to 'filters' being removed from radar technology. If I remember correctly, Ryan Graves, one of the Navy pilots to have spoken out about such objects in recent years noted upgraded radar as the reason they started to see such objects daily off of the US coast. I'm not personally holding out too much hope of hearing anything further about it from the US government / military, although the public eye is very much on them at the moment and so it might be harder to sweep it under the rug. I've seen that a couple of people from congress have been voicing an expectation that citizens are told what is going on in due course. If they're being truthful about recent news after having had offices set-up to investigate these things for years now, it's interesting that they are unable to clarify what they might be. There does however seem to have been an air of not wanting to address it internally, prior to having some fairly official types like Chris Mellon put their weight behind it publicly. Maybe they will put some real information out in due course. I have a hard time believing they wouldn't be able to recover the debris. Even if they don't, they'll have radar data, eye witness testimony and probably pictures considering the reconnaissance they did prior to shooting them down. You'd imagine it's in their best interests to publicly say that they've not been caught totally by surprise when it comes to possible adversarial tech knocking about over their territory. There is also the chance they're from the states, belonging to a private aerospace project of some sort. Plenty of funding goes the way of a few select companies in that respect.

No experience, but I do recall reading that research into efficacy has had mixed results, sometimes with placebo groups achieving similar improvements in mental health. There is research being conducted with if I remember correctly, psilocybin, where a fairly hefty dose is administered as part of the therapy process. In this respect and from a fairly layman point of view, a person's understanding of their cognitive processes could be important to the effectiveness of the psilocybin. Considering that therapy can require people to work with a professionals on things like possible problematic ways in which we evaluate everyday situations, it may be that the psilocybin makes it easier for us acknowledge these issues and further establish new ways of thinking when it comes to these situations. Again, I could be talking out my ass to a certain degree, but thought I'd offer a response with some basic understanding.

I think I remember that within the game, there are dead zombies attached to walls. The immediate area was always full of spores and the fungus stretched outwards along the walls from the body. Pretty sure the characters had to wear gas masks, although I recall that the TV series was going to leave out this aspect. Absolutely loving the TV series so far.

Lizardman's constant

It seems as though such objects have been hanging around North America for a good while, although public reporting on their being shot down is a turn of events probably caused by the Chinese balloon having flown by in full view of civilians across the US. It probably happens all over the world, but the US military/intelligence agencies have had specific task forces set-up for a while in order to catalogue and identify objects picked up on radar and sighted by mostly Navy pilots it would seem. The subject has become more prominent in recent years due to Navy/Intelligence personnel publicy raising concerns that not enough was being done to safeguard US airspace and pilot safety. Had a few members of congress pick it up and the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office was created in 2022 to investigate and report back to congress bi-annually. There was a news article I think it was last year, claiming that a US Navy ship had been swarmed by objects over 3 consecutive nights. When I read it at the time, they hadn't identified what they were or what state they belonged to. Other articles claim that Navy pilots report seeing objects out off of the West coast daily during training. It appears these occurences were mostly ignored, other than the 2004 case which became quite famous due to the pilots/navigators claiming what they saw didn't marry up with their understanding of our current technology. It'll be interesting to see if this recent spate of shooting things down leads to any public acknowledgement of who is testing the airspace off of the coast. Considering all the data is captured by military technology however, I can't imagine we'll be seeing anything publically other than documents covered in black lines. They do have a public hearing of the report AARO has to deliver to congress, although it'll likely be watered down due to the military data angle. With regards to the bi-annual reports, the below was the first open subcomittee hearing in this respect and they had a closed one for congress also. Pretty dry but interesting listen in relation to recent news. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSDweUbGBow

Just finished off bingeing 'Alice in Borderland' over the past week or so on Netflix. Really enjoyed both available seasons and felt it was consistently entertaining the whole way through. One of the few shows I've watched in a while, where I just wanted to play the next episode each time one finished.

Never really watched much Motorsports, but loved seeing his Gymkhana videos go viral every time he produced one. Just Awesome. Certainly seemed to have had a good time with the time he had! RIP

Looking to practice mediatation more consistently and possibly yoga, as I hear it's a good thing to take up as you head into your 30's. Could do with losing a little bit of weight and toning up a bit, but hopefully some motivation for that will come with the mindfulness.

Find myself on here a fair bit recently. I'll throw some names out. 1. Noam Chomsky 2. David Miscavige 3. Buzz Aldrin 4. Jack Nicholson 5. Ali Khamenei Under 40 . Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Just booked a week in Gran Canaria for March. Looking to hike the islands section of the GR131, with a couple days relaxing on either side. Haven't been over that way since my early teens, but looks like it has some beautiful scenery and some nice wild camp spots along the way. Looking forward to it.

To be fair, whatever your socio-political interests, there will be a number of activists making noise to spread awareness. For every one of those you hear from, there's usually a bunch more putting in work in the background. Anyone putting in work for a cause is going to believe what they're fighting for is an improvement on the status-quo. That's just the nature of it for most things. Just some things changing would impact more on peoples lives than others. I feel like that's how everything in human society works. People have interests and work to further those interests during their lives. That's the same whether it's sciences, arts or politics etc. Feminist activists in the UK might want better for humans in the Middle East, but that isn't going to stop them fighting for more equality between sexes in their home nations where they can have an impact. In addition to assuming that activists working with one issue also have an interest in other specific issues, prioritisation also assumes that you can drop your work surrounding a cause to pick up the effort with another. Things don't always progress from everyones point of view, taking the abortion rights being repealed in some US states for example. One activists victory is anothers defeat. People will always be working both in full view of you and behind the scenes, to try and ensure progression of their cause.

She shouldn't worry about it too much. He's probably not too bothered. I've got my own ideals and theres no room for any new-fangled woke rubbish. Also, woke ideals might have an impact on how I view the world and the current way I live my life.

Regarding the counsellor. Hopefully the circumstances should see you placed at the top of the wait list, in order that they'll contact you fairly shortly. The same thing happened to me. Fingers crossed for you, that they are experienced enough to pick up fairly smoothly where the last one left off.

Best of luck. In my unprofessional opinion, try to recognise the doctor as a professional and discuss your feelings in a way that will allow them to properly evaluate what support they can provide or signpost to. It's definitely easier said than done, but worth mentioning I think.

Definitely agree. Making sure those costs are distributed appropriately will be important, although I appreciate thats a subjective matter. I'm sure there's enough resources to do it, but the average person isn't going to be receptive to the idea of future crisis of society if they can't easily meet their physiological needs now, or feel like they're doing more than their fair part in avoiding them. I guess that's one of the ways in which that simple matter gets a bit more complicated.

Looks like there's a fair bit of further reading to complete on this subject. Professor Tom Baxter that's quoted in there regarding safety concerns, doesn't seem to think a while lot of it with regards to do feasibility surround clean energy either. Had a bit of a read and he touches on the work of a Robert Howarth at Cornell University who seems pretty passionately against it. He seems to have pissed off the people who want to continue with the status quo as well, which could be a good non-partisan sign lol. A quick takeaway is that they seem to be of a view, that politicians are being sold down the river by established gas companies, in order that they can be the ones in control going forward. The negatives seem to be around the amount of energy required via hydrogen to power houses as the largest consumer of natural gas, and the power required at source to create the hydrogen as a resource. Also seems like Hydrogen may be more expensive than powering your house solely on electricity at the moment, which seems like a hard sell.

Good point. I often find that some of my therapy sessions go by in a bit of a blur and I don't feel like said anything of much relevance. Maybe I need to make sure I put a bit of time in writing stuff out before the sessions!