matt1993 | Reading

Right now I am way too: busy

Scientists Thought Parkinson’s Was in Our Genes. It Might Be in the Water

New ideas about chronic illness could revolutionize treatment, if we take the research seriously.

All told, more than half of Parkinson’s research dollars in the past two decades have flowed toward genetics.
But Parkinson’s rates in the US have doubled in the past 30 years. And studies suggest they will climb another 15 to 35 percent in each coming decade. This is not how an inherited genetic disease is supposed to behave.
Despite the avalanche of funding, the latest research suggests that only 10 to 15 percent of Parkinson’s cases can be fully explained by genetics. The other three-quarters are, functionally, a mystery.
[---8<---]
Parkinson’s, it appeared, could be caused by a chemical.

conuly

Poll #33957 Chag sameach!

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15

View Respondents

But really, how do you spell it in English?

View Answers

Hanukkah
9 (60.0%)

Chanukah
4 (26.7%)

Hanukah
0 (0.0%)

Something else
2 (13.3%)

Also, please take a poem

Edit: Also, also, two videos

ysabetwordsmith

Right now I am way too: busy

Scientists find dark chocolate ingredient that slows aging

Scientists have uncovered a surprising link between dark chocolate and slower aging. A natural cocoa compound called theobromine was found in higher levels among people who appeared biologically younger than their real age.

Well, that's good news! :D Watch for clinical-grade chocolate with a high level of cocoa solids (dark or the higher end of milk), preferably organic and environmentally friendly. Enjoy a recipe:

Dark Chocolate Brownies with Raspberry Spread

ysabetwordsmith

Right now I am way too: busy

Three-year-old child forced to serve as her own attorney in Tucson immigration court

The child, barely old enough to talk, was one of 25 immigrant children forced to fight removal efforts by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at the Pima County immigration courthouse in Tucson on Nov. 24.

This article highlights numerous abuses and other problems.

( Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith

Right now I am way too: busy

Today is mostly sunny and quite frigid. It snowed copiously yesterday, wiping out our plans to visit a holiday market. :(

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus at least one mourning dove. The windows are frosted so much that it's hard to identify them.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/14/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/14/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/14/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen two male and one female cardinal. At one point, the sparrows were trying to fit 7-8 birds on an edge of the hopper feeder with room for maybe 4-5 if they weren't fighting. So it's actually beyond four-bird-cold today!

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

conuly

"He took the Walkman out of his pocket and flipped through the songs in the cassette."

Oh, sweetie. That's... that's just not how cassette tapes work. Not even overseas. You fast forward or rewind - literally winding the tape again - and hope that your timing is amazing. I mean, with practice I guess you can get pretty good, but still.

*****************

( Read more... )

conuly

I don't quite relish the idea of going out in it, and god knows where our shovel went, but gosh, I love looking at the snow!

****************************

( Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith

Right now I am way too: busy

One Critical Factor Predicts Longevity Better Than Diet or Exercise, Study Says

They then factored in other variables that can affect life expectancy, including physical inactivity, employment status, and educational level. The association between insufficient sleep and lower life expectancy still held. Only smoking had a stronger link.

Good, adequate sleep is a survival need. Modern society often sabotages it.

However, this study suggests that banking sleep on weekends can mitigate the effects of lost sleep during the week. I used to do that in school, and people said it didn't work, but it certainly helped my energy level. It may be a trick that some but not all bodies can do.

ysabetwordsmith

Right now I am way too: busy

Today's plan to visit a holiday market got wiped out by copious snow. Again. :( So I'm drowning our sorrows in a batch of Dark Chocolate Brownies with Raspberry Spread.

conuly

Watch on YouTube

conuly

The goal is to herd all the "What do you call this?" posts into the comments there. It never ever works. However, they do occasionally get comments like "Here are the answers to the questions you asked rhetorically as an example" and "Why do you keep posting this and asking the same questions" and "There is no such thing as a pork burger".

Yes, Virginia, there is a pork burger. This is why I have a picture of pork burger patties on my phone, so I can post it every time somebody says that those don't exist, or that they "really" mean a breakfast sandwich or a pulled pork sandwich or a ham sandwich or a BLT.

I always want to ask these people who, I guess, don't get out much why they're so sure that anything they haven't personally heard of before must not exist. It's a big old world, but apparently, not so much for them.

(I suppose I can be forgiven for being a bit snippy this time around, I mean, given everything.)

***********************

( Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith

Right now I am way too: busy

Human brains light up for chimp voices in a way no one expected

Humans may carry ancient neural traces that let us recognize the voices of our primate cousins.

Humans don’t just recognize each other’s voices—our brains also light up for the calls of chimpanzees, hinting at ancient communication roots shared with our closest primate relatives. Researchers found a specialized region in the auditory cortex that reacts distinctly to chimp vocalizations, but not to those of bonobos or macaques, revealing an unexpected mix of evolutionary and acoustic influences.

ysabetwordsmith

Right now I am way too: busy

Today is cloudy and cold with copious snow. This has wiped out our plans to visit a holiday market. :(

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, at least one female and four male cardinals, a mourning dove, and a tiny wren clinging to the bathroom window as it probed the edges for hibernating insects.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

conuly

And one email and voicemail later, my pay didn't come in and nobody has responded yet. (I did wake up pretty late, but seriously.)

I'll call again in the morning, I don't care if it is a weekend, but....

*headdesk*

I don't know what I'll do for groceries if this isn't resolved by Monday, but I'll wait until Monday to worry about it.

ysabetwordsmith

Right now I am way too: busy

Ground Zero: Los Angeles and the Endgame of the Growth Ponzi Scheme

Los Angeles didn’t mismanage its way into crisis. It built its way here.

I disagree. If a city does not track all of its liabilities, such as the maintenance costs of roads and utilities, that is mismanagement. You can't run a budget when you don't know where your money is going. That ought to be obvious.

( Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith

Right now I am way too: busy

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

Is the human tendency to create groups an overall positive or a negative trait in terms of general human flourishing?

Necessary. Insofar as we know, Homo like most primates is a troop animal, evolved to live in groups rather than alone. Individuals may choose to live alone, but it is much more difficult. Of course, humans can choose to create groups that are themselves positive or negative in structure and behavior, but that's a personal choice.

comet_scout posting in

addme

Me:

Comet, or Ju, 27, Brazilian, but I only post in English.

I mostly post about:

I like posting about things I may be into at the moment, like a game I played or something I’ve found interesting, and some basic thoughts about them. Mostly I have been logging in my Solo TTRPG plays, my Doronai Nui adventures mainly. Sometimes a post about real life, but not much. The plan is to just blog about anything I feel like sharing.

My hobbies are:

I play video games, I solo TTRPGs, I draw, I drabble, some fandoming, and some light toy collecting. Want to read more.

My fandoms are:

My main fandoms are Bionicle (G1) and Transformers (G1, Beast Wars, Skybound, Prime, and some IDW), I also like No Man’s sky, and have been getting into The Dark Crystal. And a little bit of many things. I have been playing a lot of Vintage Story.

My posting schedule tends to be:

Sporadic. I’ve made an effort to post more frequently, but it’s more interesting when I actually have something that has been on my mind.

I'm looking to meet people who:

Post similar things or may like similar things. I’m not around all the time, and I’m a bit quiet, so I don’t mind people who are similar.

ysabetwordsmith

Right now I am way too: busy

Scientists find hidden rainfall pattern that could reshape farming

Where rain comes from may decide the future stability of global food production.

New research shows that crops are far more vulnerable when too much rainfall originates from land rather than the ocean. Land-sourced moisture leads to weaker, less reliable rainfall, heightening drought risk. The U.S. Midwest and East Africa are particularly exposed due to soil drying and deforestation. Protecting forests and improving land management could help stabilize rainfall and crop yields.

Allow me to point out that the Midwest used to have copious fencerows of trees and bushes, more pocket forests, and more farmhouse yards. People cut down most of those to clear a few more acres of farmland. The results have been poor across multiple areas including wildlife losses, soil erosion, worsening winds with less interruption, and of course the aforementioned droughts.

ysabetwordsmith

Right now I am way too: busy

Today is partly cloudy and chilly. Yesterday it snowed.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

ysabetwordsmith

Right now I am way too: busy

'It is the most exciting discovery in my 40-year career': Archaeologists uncover evidence that Neanderthals made fire 400,000 years ago in England

Neanderthals were the world's first innovators of fire technology, tiny specks of evidence in England suggest. Flecks of pyrite found at a more than 400,000-year-old archaeological site in Suffolk, in eastern England, push back archaeologists' evidence for controlled fire-making and suggest that key human brain developments began far earlier than previously thought.

It's exciting to see such concrete evidence.

It's hard to describe this journal in just a few paragraphs... but I'll try

Just an autistic guy born in 1993 (hence the username) who's had this journal since I was 14. Has trouble phrasing things well especially in earlier entries, so keep that in mind.

My interests have fluctuated in the 17 years since I've had this journal, but the following has remained constant:
- I like Mario games (mainly the platformers, Mario Kart, Mario Party) and Super Smash Bros.
- I like Garfield
- I like Homestar Runner
- I like Enya
- And I've always loved the idea of wacky crossovers between ANY of my interests, whether it's in the form of a short-lived webcomic in 2006-2008, a short-lived backwards lyrics site in 2008, writing down weird dreams in 2009-2011, playing Tomodachi Life a lot in 2014-2016, or what most of my posts are about these days: playing around with Character.AI starting in 2023. I still can't believe I'm actually in a world where an AI of Enya can talk to AIs of Mario or Garfield or even my favorite obscure characters like Mary O. from Super Mario Maker. :O

Go to my sticky entry for more.

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

helscome my prolif. its not done.

Multiverse of Mattness

My LiveJournal

I Ramble Too Much About

1 - 155 uses
10 - 94 uses
11 - 77 uses
12 - 75 uses
14 - 56 uses
15 - 62 uses
16 - 48 uses
2 - 199 uses
2009 - 65 uses
2011 - 48 uses
25 - 55 uses
3 - 197 uses
4 - 131 uses
5 - 141 uses
6 - 105 uses
7 - 107 uses
8 - 108 uses
9 - 84 uses
ages - 62 uses
apocalypse - 108 uses
artificial intelligence - 135 uses
autism - 57 uses
backdated entries - 124 uses
backwards lyrics - 125 uses
backwards music - 139 uses
birthdays - 62 uses
celebrities - 59 uses
christmas - 58 uses
classes - 58 uses
college - 81 uses
colors - 65 uses
comics - 128 uses
comments - 62 uses
computers - 86 uses
crossovers - 238 uses
crushes - 65 uses
death - 50 uses
depression - 71 uses
detect button - 58 uses
dreams - 119 uses
dreamwidth - 76 uses
enya - 154 uses
essays - 80 uses
friends - 75 uses
garfield - 64 uses
glitches - 101 uses
holidays - 53 uses
homestar runner - 99 uses
homework - 122 uses
humor - 76 uses
inside jokes - 188 uses
internet - 50 uses
january - 48 uses
livejournal - 269 uses
lj comments - 54 uses
lj entries - 94 uses
lj friends - 55 uses
lj userpics - 85 uses
mario - 304 uses
math - 115 uses
meme - 52 uses
music - 103 uses
names - 51 uses
nes - 49 uses
nintendo - 401 uses
numbers - 80 uses
ours will you 1-up - 65 uses
pathvain_aelien - 116 uses
pessimism - 48 uses
pokémon - 59 uses
procrastination - 128 uses
prtsc land - 68 uses
public entries - 307 uses
puns - 64 uses
quiz - 135 uses
quiz galaxy - 56 uses
randomness - 55 uses
regrets - 57 uses
repost buttons - 425 uses
school - 155 uses
screenshots - 62 uses
stress - 91 uses
stupidity - 65 uses
super mario world - 65 uses
super nintendo - 67 uses
super smash bros. - 74 uses
tags will come later - 249 uses
unpopular opinions - 55 uses
userpics - 98 uses
video game music - 102 uses
video games - 448 uses
videos - 74 uses
webcomics - 96 uses
wii - 72 uses
wii u - 71 uses
worrying - 73 uses
writer's block - 248 uses
yoshi - 64 uses
youtube - 83 uses
zero - 49 uses

Page Summary

Style Credit

Base style: Brittle by sforzinda
Theme: Buttercup Yellow by krja

Page generated Sun, Dec. 14th, 2025 23:34

June 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 2025

People who aren't as weird as I am

Maybe I'll catch up on this page someday!

Reading

Safety

The sun's going down, so Happy Hanukkah pretty soon?

Food

Human Rights

Birdfeeding

A different fic....

I love looking out the window at the snowfall

Safety

Today's Cooking

(no subject)

So, over at /r/Englishlearning there is a weekly "What is this thing" post

Science

Birdfeeding

Well, my pay didn't come in

Economics

Philosophical Questions: Humans

(no subject)

Water

Birdfeeding

Early Humans

It's hard to describe this journal in just a few paragraphs... but I'll try

Expand Cut Tags

helscome my prolif. its not done.

I Ramble Too Much About

Page Summary

Style Credit