Even Hypochondriacs Can Get GAINZZZ

A couple of weeks ago, I expressed some doubt that "long covid" was a real thing.

A study in 2021 suggested that many of the people claiming the condition might just be imagining things.

Mind over matter? Long Covid study sparks controversy

A large-scale French study suggesting symptoms of so-called long COVID may be more due to psychological factors than to infection with the virus has sparked debate among patients and scientists.

The report that appeared earlier this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association focused on nearly 27,000 participants across France who took antibody tests to screen for COVID infection.

After the subjects had received the antibody test results, researchers asked them whether they believed they had been infected with COVID and to report on symptoms like fatigue, breathlessness or impaired attention.

The vast majority of respondents--over 25,000 people--tested negative for COVID antibodies and believed they had never been sick.

Of the some 1,000 who tested positive, about 450 believed they had contracted the virus.

Finally, about 460 people who received negative antibody tests said they nonetheless believed they had had COVID.

So they never had covid at all, but think they have "long covid."

The study does note that many people who really did contract covid continue complaining of a loss of smell, months after infection.

They concluded that persistent physical symptoms "may be associated more with the belief in having been infected with SARS-CoV-2 than with having laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection".

This is mostly women claiming to have long covid.

If I sound skeptical, well, it's because I keep seeing women claiming to have exotic diseases with vague symptoms. As "the spoonies" claim.

Hurts So Good

Why are so many young women suffering from invisible illnesses? Meet the girls in a world of pain.

In July 2019, Morgan Cooper was in a hospital bed when her gastroenterologist, psychiatrist, internist, a few nurses, and her mother marched into her room. She was 16, and for four years Morgan had been having stomach pains every time she ate. It had gotten worse in high school. The doctors had tested her for allergies and ulcerative colitis and gastroparesis. All negative.

She had recently been diagnosed with median arcuate ligament syndrome--MALS, a vascular condition--and she was set to be operated on by a surgeon in Atlanta. But first she needed to gain 25 pounds, which wasn't going well. She was five foot seven, 98 pounds, and she was being fed through a tube placed in her stomach.

Cooper had lobbied for the tube after seeing other spoonies with it.

The spoonies were Cooper's whole world. She had discovered them late in 2018, right after she set up a separate Instagram account dedicated to her medical struggles (@morgansfight, which is no longer active). She told me the account was for updating the family and friends who were always asking how she was doing. But a single tap on the MALS hashtag--or the one for any other illness--instantly revealed a world of chronic illness sufferers who track their many pains, tests, diagnoses, and doctors visits online.

These were the spoonies. They were mostly young women, and it seemed like there were thousands of them. (There aren't strong spoonie stats available, but there are a ton of Facebook groups and pages--one with over 130,000 followers; nearly three million tagged Instagram posts; and videos garnering nearly 700 million views on TikTok. According to the CDC, six out of every ten Americans suffer from a chronic disease, with four in ten having two or more.)

Cooper created a YouTube channel, too. "I had one video just called 'I'm Sick' and the thumbnail was me crying," she told me. "On Instagram, whenever I would post a picture of me looking sad, or with pills in my hand, or in a wheelchair, it would get like 2,000 likes." Pictures of Cooper smiling would get about 100.

The spoonies made Cooper feel less alone, but the more time she spent online with them, the skinnier she got. In her journal, she'd written: I don't know if I will live to see college. "It really felt true at the time," she told me.

On that summer day in 2019, the doctors had come for her phone. Cooper's medical team was having weekly meetings to discuss her care, and her mother had just sat in on one, so Cooper suspects that she brought it up. The only way to get better, they'd decided, was to cut Cooper off from the spoonies.

"I was lying in the hospital bed and my mom plucked my phone right out of my hands," she told me. Cooper said she went "ballistic." She remembered screaming and crying. "I told them, 'You're taking away my only source of friendship and the only people who get what's going on with me.'"
(Ben Welsh via Getty Images)

The blogger Christine Miserandino, who has lupus, coined the term spoonie in a 2003 post called "The Spoon Theory." A spoon, Miserandino explained, equates to a certain amount of energy. The Healthy have unlimited spoons. The Sick--the spoonies--only have a few. They might use one spoon to shower, two to get groceries, and four to go to work. They have to be strategic about how they spend their spoons.

Since then, the theory has ballooned into an illness kingdom filled with micro-celebrities offering discounts on supplements and tinctures; podcasts on dating as a spoonie; spoonie clubs on college campuses; a weekly magazine; and online stores with spoonie merch. In the past few years, spoonie-ism has dovetailed with the #MeToo movement and the ascendance of identity politics. The result is a worldview that is highly skeptical of so-called male-dominated power structures, and that insists on trusting the lived experience of individuals--especially those from groups that have historically been disbelieved. So what do spoonies need from you? "To believe; Be understanding; Be patient; To educate yourself; Show compassion; Don't question."

Spoonie illnesses include, but are not limited to, serious diseases like multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease, but also harder-to-diagnose ones that manifest differently in different people: polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), endometriosis, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, dysautonomia, Guillain-Barré Syndrome, gastroparesis, and fibromyalgia. Another spoonie illness is myalgic encephalomyelitis--or chronic fatigue syndrome--which has now been linked to long Covid.

These illnesses are often "invisible": To most people, spoonies may appear healthy and able-bodied, especially when they're young. Many of the conditions affect women more frequently, and most are chronic illnesses that can be managed, but not cured. A diagnosis often lasts for a lifetime, while symptoms come, go, morph, and multiply.

Spoonies find community in having complicated conditions that are often hard to identify and difficult to treat. That's why a lot of spoonies include a zebra emoji in their social media bios, borrowed from the old doctor's adage: "When you hear hoof beats, look for horses, not zebras." In other words: assume your patient has a more common illness, rather than a rare one.

The spoonie mantra might be: I am the zebra.

Although the term is relatively new, the spoonies fit into a long history of women having amorphous, hard-to-diagnose conditions. Since ancient times, women who were diagnosed under the general category of "hysteria" were prescribed treatments such as sex, hanging upside down, and the placement of leeches on the abdomen. Then, in the 19th century, the new field of psychoanalysis concluded that women with hysteria were not suffering from physical disorders, but mental ones. Whether the women's inexplicable pain was a function of their brains or of their bodies--or of each other (see mass hysteria), or of the devil (see Salem, 1692)--has always been a fraught subject.

I first heard of "spoonies" from Taylor Lorenz. She was, get this, hysterically condemning this article on Twitter, saying that Suzy Weiss was evil for suggesting this made-up condition might be made-up.

So I'm a bit biased here -- when your first exposure to a "disease" like spoonyism is known hypochondriac and madwoman Taylor Lorenz insisting it's real, you form the reflexive opinion that it's fake.

I do have sympathy for the complaints about feeling low-energy. I've complained about that to doctors for a while. I mean, during routine visits, when they ask if anything's wrong. I just say: I'm Low Energy Jeb. It feels like I should have more energy.

I probably will just always be Low Energy Jeb, especially now that I'm Almost 29. But a few things I've found increase energy: getting a good night's sleep, for one. And for another, losing weight and just going to bed hungry. You don't sleep well if your stomach has anything in it still in need of digestive work.

Sometimes, when I'm feeling tired, I fast for a few days. Fasting really improves sleep, and bizarrely, fills you with energy. People aren't aware of how much energy the process of digestion actually takes until they turn the digestive system off for a few days.

Scientists say that smelling other people's bodily odors can reduce social anxiety.

A group of European researchers have shown that exposure to human odors, extracted from other people's sweat, might be used to boost treatment for some mental health problems.

In a preliminary study, the researchers were able to show that social anxiety was reduced when patients underwent mindfulness therapy while exposed to human 'chemo-signals', or what we commonly refer to as body odor, obtained from underarm sweat from volunteers. Presenting the results of a pilot study at the European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris, lead researcher Ms Elisa Vigna, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm said, "Our state of mind causes us to produce molecules (or chemo-signals) in sweat which communicate our emotional state and produce corresponding responses in the receivers. The results of our preliminary study show that combining these chemo-signals with mindfulness therapy seem to produce better results in treating social anxiety than can be achieved by mindfulness therapy alone".

Social anxiety is a common mental health condition where people worry excessively about participating in social situations. This can affect interactions, for example within the workplace or relationships, but also in everyday situations such as shopping or holidays. This may make it difficult to lead a normal life without excessive worrying about contact with others.

...

Ms Vigna continued, "We found that individuals who undertook one treatment session of mindfulness therapy together with being exposed to human body odors showed about 39% reduction in anxiety scores). For comparison, in the group receiving only mindfulness (i.e., the control group) we saw a 17% reduction in anxiety scores after one treatment session.

If I ever stick my schnozz into your armpit, that's just me saying "I feel awkward, I think this will help."

So here's why I think, maybe, this is not necessarily just crazy:

I had social anxiety. Still do, but I would say it's now "subclinical." It's just a failing, not a mental issue. My social anxiety led to generalized panic disorder and then to agoraphobia.

I controlled the panic with klonopin, but when I really completely got over it, and stopped taking klonopin, was after I joined a martial arts class. There was an element of "confrontation therapy" in forcing my Almost 29 year old body into a class filled with actual twenty somethings, and wearing that stupid white belt.

And who knows? Maybe being around a lot of sweating people did something.

When people isolate, they grow to like isolation, and fear being out in the real world. We're seeing a lot of mental illness caused by the self-isolating nature of the internet. It stars as a minor preference not to go out and see people and ends up... well it ends up all sorts of pathological places.

I do not think it's necessarily crazy that the subliminal smell of other people's odors would be a kind of immunization against the bad effects of self-isolation. And I think anytime you collide with hard reality, and maybe even smell stinky biology, you undo some of the bad effects of routine self-isolation.

So go out into the world unshowered and reeking and farting with abandon. The life you save could be your own.

Games Workshop -- which publishes the massively-popular miniatures game Warhammer 40K -- now wants you pencil-necked geeks to get jacked by using the power of Warhammer.

Click that link, it's fun.

I don't know if this is real. I don't see any link on their site to actually order it.

Now before you say, "Chuy, you big dummy, of course it's fake!" -- hang on there, Pointdexter. It's not at all silly. Or, maybe it's silly, but that doesn't make it fake -- people are selling "fitness maces," like the medieval weapon, for working out.

There's a whole fitness fad called "functional fitness" where you're supposed to mimic actual body motions used in real life, rather than just pumping iron. Swinging a heavy mace is something humans do (or used to do) in real life.

Using a sledgehammer for a workout is pretty plausible. I don't know if it's a good idea, but it's definitely not beyond what people are actually trying.

Of course, they'd have to offer their Warhammer Workout Hammer in different weights for it to be an effective workout tool, and I don't see any mention of that, so I'm going to say "fake."

For the moment.

Oh, and, also, minor update: This was posted on April 1. That might be an indicator of its veracity or falsity, though I'm not sure in which direction the date of publication pushes.

Chonker raccoon goes on a diet.

GAINZZZ encouragement -- and then some discouragement.

Possibly staged, but looks real to me.

Long distance duck.

Always work out with a spotter.

I think I'm going to try this. Easy GAINZZZZ.

Duncanthrax, did you know that penguins are technically amphibious bats? It's true, I read it on the internet.

Finally: the usual questions: What are your GAINZZZ this week?

Any PROJEXXX? Any PLANZZZ?

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Human odors.

I have pretty much smelled it all.

No wonder I have so much energy.

Loved that baby roo…until he becomes big ball sack tearing big roo.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 14, 2023 06:19 PM (R/m4+)

2 I've always thought "long covid" was bullshit.

Posted by: Toni at April 14, 2023 06:21 PM (PgM6e)

3 Scientists say that smelling other people's bodily odors can reduce social anxiety.

***

My butt sniffing doggeh endorses this

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 14, 2023 06:23 PM (m/E2e)

4 I don't have an opinion on long Covid. Epidemiology and medical causation are hard; it's hard to generate good proof for health conditions, side effects etc.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls - an election is simply a festival for the majority at April 14, 2023 06:24 PM (ppBhU)

5 I keep seeing women claiming to have exotic diseases with vague symptoms

And t'will be ever thus.

It used to be hypoglycemia, and another point it was mononucleosis, and now it's long COVID.

Any disease with vague symptoms of listlessness and lack of energy will get glommed upon by depressed women.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 14, 2023 06:25 PM (2tUFv)

6 Scientists say that smelling other people's bodily odors can reduce social anxiety.

Oh, indeed. Indeed.

Posted by: Joe Biden, Child Sniffer at April 14, 2023 06:25 PM (ppBhU)

7 People do use sledgehammers for working out. They generally hit big tractor tires with them. Also then they do “tire flips” where, you guessed it, they flip those big tractor tires.

Probably mostly a CrossFit type thing. CrossFit was big on the “functional fitness” thing when it first started

Posted by: Gman at April 14, 2023 06:25 PM (NvorH)

8 I have several friends with persisting wang fang chang bang fong wong symptoms even a year after getting it

Just because it didnt happen to you doesn’t mean it isn’t real, so fuck off

Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger at April 14, 2023 06:25 PM (VTu1l)

9 I'm on an EDS fb group (joined out of curiosity since our family has double jointedness and a few other things)

Some, in fact a lot, of ppl there are like that.
Ironically it made me feel like - oh I'm healthy as a horse compared to these ladies.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 14, 2023 06:26 PM (m/E2e)

10 Some commenters here have said they have long Covid.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 14, 2023 06:27 PM (63Dwl)

11
Why are so many young women suffering from invisible illnesses?

____________

A not unreasonable theory is that something has gone wrong with the coping mechanism. We live in a world of pains and annoyances but for these people the ability to get along anyway has broken. That's why so many get treated with anti-depressants.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at April 14, 2023 06:27 PM (MoZTd)

12 Top 10?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 14, 2023 06:27 PM (omVj0)

13 Took about six months for kid to get smell and taste back. From delta. Omicron had no lingering issues.

Posted by: NCKate at April 14, 2023 06:27 PM (d5Qya)

14 OTOH you have doctors (like mine) who are so reluctant to consider deeper dx that they do overlook stuff

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 14, 2023 06:28 PM (m/E2e)

15 >>>4 I don't have an opinion on long Covid. Epidemiology and medical causation are hard; it's hard to generate good proof for health conditions, side effects etc.

I don't have an opinion about whether or not it exists, but I have a very firm position about whether people inclined to claim they have every "invisible disease" they hear about are now claiming they have this, too.

Posted by: ace at April 14, 2023 06:28 PM (iHBZj)

16 Brattleboro is be pruod to announce thats the city will began its Animal Transgindar Program beginerring 1 may. We be hopes the progrim will be a succcess !!!

Posted by: Mary Clogginstein from Brattleboro, VT at April 14, 2023 06:29 PM (IOY84)

17 Grab an axe, cut down a tree on a 100 degree day and release all those juices.

Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 06:29 PM (vcqaG)

18 I didn't know people here had long covid. That's a data point!

Posted by: ace at April 14, 2023 06:29 PM (iHBZj)

19 I kinda want a Warhammer fitness hammer.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls - an election is simply a festival for the majority at April 14, 2023 06:30 PM (ppBhU)

20
Never skip leg day.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at April 14, 2023 06:30 PM (a3Q+t)

21 I have anxiety and some of that translates to medical anxiety.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 14, 2023 06:30 PM (m/E2e)

22 Well, almost top 10!

This whole Innernet/Twatter/Insta-panic technology has led to this. People with neurotic conditions either got over them by doing outside world things, or they didn't and had to be treated. But they did not have thousands and thousands of people encouraging them to *continue* to be neurotic.

I recently bought a new phone and had to take a new number. So far I have given the number to few people, and I have not installed email on the phone or "paired" it with my car or anything else. It's there to take photos of things and to let me make *important* or emergency calls. It doesn't continually give me updates on stuff unless I ask for them. And I am content with that!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 14, 2023 06:31 PM (omVj0)

23 Back in Aught-diggity, we used to call it "the Vapors". The best cure was to make 'em eat a whole onion, which I had on my belt, because it was the style at the time.

Posted by: Abraham J. Simpson at April 14, 2023 06:31 PM (PiwSw)

24 My rule of thumb is if it’s a woman claiming to have long wrong schlong, it’s bullshit, but if it’s a guy, it’s probably legit

Unless the guy is a tranny or simp, but I repeat myself

Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger at April 14, 2023 06:31 PM (VTu1l)

25 I don't have an opinion about whether or not it exists, but I have a very firm position about whether people inclined to claim they have every "invisible disease" they hear about are now claiming they have this, too.

Sure, that makes sense. Serial hypochaondriacs and malingerers are serial hypochaondriacs and malingerers.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls - an election is simply a festival for the majority at April 14, 2023 06:31 PM (ppBhU)

26 So Covid symptoms turn out to have a noticeable psychosomatic element? Well, I'm sure that has nothing to do with the 2+ years of COMPLETELY FUCKING INSANE hysteria from the Government Media YOLO Complex.

Posted by: CppThis at April 14, 2023 06:32 PM (PZvjL)

27 Snuffy the crotch sniffing dog enters the chat

Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 06:32 PM (vcqaG)

28 i used to get pains in my chest which gave me serious anxiety about having heart problems for two years. It turned out it was just little spasms in the muscles between the ribs. Once I found that out I stopped worrying about it and also stopped even feeling the little pains that had caused the worry in the first place.

Posted by: ace at April 14, 2023 06:33 PM (iHBZj)

29 "Snuffy the crotch sniffing dog enters the chat
Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 06:32 PM (vcqaG)"

I just spit a beer I'm not supposed to be drinking all over the place.

Posted by: Marcus T at April 14, 2023 06:33 PM (Y45pj)

30 26 So Covid symptoms turn out to have a noticeable psychosomatic element? Well, I'm sure that has nothing to do with the 2+ years of COMPLETELY FUCKING INSANE hysteria from the Government Media YOLO Complex.
Posted by: CppThis at April 14, 2023

***
Even during the whole thing, I called it The Big Hysteria. Now I call it The Sniffle Scare.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 14, 2023 06:34 PM (omVj0)

31
I guess, then, unlike the Moonies in Berkeley back in the day, one need never worry oneself about accepting an invitation to dinner up at the big Spoonies mansion on the hill.

Amirite?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 14, 2023 06:34 PM (hn0eg)

32 I have not even had a cold for more than 4 years and I'm old. Wash your hands, kids. It's the most useful thing you can do in preventing disease.

Posted by: huerfano at April 14, 2023 06:34 PM (dTFZY)

33 I have not even had a cold for more than 4 years and I'm old. Wash your hands, kids. It's the most useful thing you can do in preventing disease.
Posted by: huerfano at April 14, 2023

***
Wash your hands, stay out of crowds, don't lick doorknobs. Done.

(The staying out of crowds might keep you from being harmed in other ways too. Like being shot or knifed.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 14, 2023 06:35 PM (omVj0)

34 Signed up for Raw Natls in Memphis this September.

Not sure whether I stay in the 100kg class, or just let my weight naturally fall back to the 90kg class.

Let the real gainzzz commence:

Can we hit a 500kg total ?

Desperately need a 182.5kg Squat…otherwise it’s not gonna happen.

Posted by: browndog on his cell at April 14, 2023 06:36 PM (CCSxw)

35 7 Probably mostly a CrossFit type thing. CrossFit was big on the “functional fitness” thing when it first started
Posted by: Gman at April 14, 2023 06:25 PM (NvorH)

Crossfit really was brilliant like that; they understood that guys gonna guy. Show a guy a heavy weight and he'll pass up because he's busy or going to the gym sucks or whatever, but show him a tractor tire and he'll lift that puppy all day errday because it's a tractor tire and it needs lifting.

Posted by: CppThis at April 14, 2023 06:36 PM (PZvjL)

36 Wash your hands, kids. It's the most useful thing you can do in preventing

********

Oh please, next you’ll be telling us to brush our teeths too

Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger at April 14, 2023 06:36 PM (VTu1l)

37
John has a long COVID
John has a long COVID

Blessent mon coeur d'une langueur monotone
Blessent mon coeur d'une langueur monotone

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 14, 2023 06:37 PM (hn0eg)

38 Desperately need a 182.5kg Squat…otherwise it’s not gonna happen.

**********

Why are we using the metric system here, isn’t that against the rules?

Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger at April 14, 2023 06:37 PM (VTu1l)

39 "Snuffy the crotch sniffing dog enters the chat
Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 06:32 PM (vcqaG)"

I just spit a beer I'm not supposed to be drinking all over the place.
Posted by: Marcus T

That was pretty good.
Hi Ben Had!

Posted by: BifBewalski at April 14, 2023 06:38 PM (3CCua)

40 Long-term problems from flu and other common infections are also a thing. As I recall it's been studied a bunch, it affects a small % of symptomatic infected people.

When "long COVID" was first discussed it - of course - was treated as yet ANOTHER AMAZING SUPER UNIQUE THREAT THINGGY THAT WAS GOING TO DESTROY THE PLANET unless everyone wore masks to bed and voted by mail and shut down small businesses. As with most of the other baseless hysterical idiocy that defined the pathetic episode, this was quickly slapped down by actual medical scientists who noted that long-term problems from, e.g., flu, were known to happen and had been studied.

So ace's suspicions are well founded, even if derived from a separate legitimate basis.

Posted by: rhomboid at April 14, 2023 06:38 PM (OTzUX)

41
Oh please, next you’ll be telling us to brush our teeths too
Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger

___________

After your annual bath.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at April 14, 2023 06:38 PM (MoZTd)

42 I just figured anyone who had "Long Covid" should probably check to see if they have Long AIDS, or something else that's compromising their immune system.

Guess I never considered the Long Hypochondria angle.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 14, 2023 06:38 PM (+r+Na)

43 Duncanthrax, did you know that penguins are technically amphibious bats? It's true, I read it on the internet.

This is a disinformation campaign being funded by Big Penguin. Don't believe it.

As Chuy said a day or two ago, "If it's old and stupid, it's Penguin!"

Posted by: Duncanthrax at April 14, 2023 06:39 PM (a3Q+t)

44 After your annual bath.

********

I try to extend that to two years now to fight climate change

Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger at April 14, 2023 06:39 PM (VTu1l)

45 * big hug for Marcus T*

Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 06:39 PM (vcqaG)

46 Sitting at Dutchess County Stadium watching Yankees single A home opener. They have an absolute stud of a prospect named Spencer Jones. Six foot seven outfielder. The idiots are sitting him tonight. Still a good time

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 14, 2023 06:40 PM (386ly)

47 Been taking my vitamins and daily fresh vitamin C. Been pretty good

Posted by: Skip at April 14, 2023 06:40 PM (xhxe8)

48 After your annual bath.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at April 14, 2023 06:38 PM

I've found MoMe attendees tend to take that just before the MoMe, for some reason.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at April 14, 2023 06:40 PM (a3Q+t)

49 Why are we using the metric system here, isn’t that against the rules?
Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger at April 14, 2023 06:37 PM (VTu1l)

I denounce myself...

USAPL uses metric (as does almost every other federation)

I'm shooting for a 1100lbs total, and need a 400lbs Squat for it to happen.

Posted by: The Woke Gollums at April 14, 2023 06:40 PM (CCSxw)

50 Think hand-washing is mostly useful against bacteria. There was some early research on fomite transmission (from inanimate surfaces) re C19, as I recall it didn't show much of a thing there, but I gave up on it all (and the populace and the institutions) by summer 2020, so dunno what's been found since.

Posted by: rhomboid at April 14, 2023 06:41 PM (OTzUX)

51 Oh, and the Games Workshop thing was absolutely an April Fools joke. The company does some shady corpo/legal stuff but they have a genuine sense of humor that shows up pretty regularly in their marketing material. Most of it's 28mm wargaming inside-baseball stuff, but some like this and the one where the guy takes a paint pot to a restaurant for Valentine's Day are approchable for a general audience.

Posted by: CppThis at April 14, 2023 06:41 PM (PZvjL)

52 /off day old sock

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at April 14, 2023 06:42 PM (CCSxw)

53 Smell the Glove, curious: what's the approximate total tab for that game? Minor league is the best, not only because (last time I experienced it, quite a while ago) it was about 1/30 the cost of a major league game.

Posted by: rhomboid at April 14, 2023 06:42 PM (OTzUX)

54 Ace, just got through reading your Sanderson piece and thinking (as someone who's publishing soon :party-emoji: ) that the nasty truth about writing is it is a CRAPTON of work.

And (unless you're Sanderson, at this point) it's a lot of non-writing work beyond the writing. Marketing is key and writing what people want (and not what your weirdo poet soul wants you to write) and figuring out what they want...

I mean, it's the inverse of everything you might learn in college. It's creating a product for other people. You, as the creator, barely matter.

If you think about it, the "I'm an artist"-type you'd meet in college in decades past is the "I'm LGBPTQHUASD+&%!" today.

"Appreciate me not for what I do, but for who I am. And give me lots of money for it, too."

Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2023 06:43 PM (asXVI)

55 We’ll, we’ve seen how trangenderism can be socially contagious among teens, so why not long Covid among wine moms?

Posted by: Lizzy at April 14, 2023 06:44 PM (GhrPK)

56
It used to be hypoglycemia, and another point it was mononucleosis, and now it's long COVID.


What am I, chopped liver?

-- fibromyalgia

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 14, 2023 06:44 PM (hn0eg)

57 Critters & stuff? Is this the GAINZZZ cafe or will there be a real cafe later?

Posted by: mindful webworker - the classic original at April 14, 2023 06:45 PM (FnQzb)

58 Long-term problems from flu and other common infections are also a thing. As I recall it's been studied a bunch, it affects a small % of symptomatic infected people.

********

All my research suggests that due to its spike protein makeup it can have more difficulty exiting the body than the normal flu, and long wang commie chung darpa invented virus can either still be active in areas of the body the immune system can’t get to, or it leaves junk DNA debris behind, but it boils down to the immune system remaining overactive and causing autoimmune disorders such as mast cell syndrome

Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger at April 14, 2023 06:45 PM (VTu1l)

59 "big hug for Marcus T*
Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 06:39 PM (vcqaG)"

Right back at ya. I needed that.

Posted by: Marcus T at April 14, 2023 06:45 PM (Y45pj)

60 Sitting at Dutchess County Stadium watching Yankees single A home opener. They have an absolute stud of a prospect named Spencer Jones. Six foot seven outfielder. The idiots are sitting him tonight. Still a good time
Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 14, 2023 06:40 PM (386ly)

Single A.... what do they do with that these days, make them play T-ball? Start runners on third base? Play two innings, then nap time?

Never thought I could hate pro baseball, but it's been ruined forever, being run by a bunch of ninnies.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 14, 2023 06:45 PM (+r+Na)

61 Bif, hope you and yours are well. Any trips this way?

Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 06:45 PM (vcqaG)

62
I've found MoMe attendees tend to take that just before the MoMe, for some reason.
Posted by: Duncanthrax

Because they're givers, one and all!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 14, 2023 06:46 PM (hn0eg)

63 The study does note that many people who really did contract covid continue complaining of a loss of smell, months after infection.

Caught the omicron and got moderately bitchslapped. I'd say it took about 6 months to get most of my sense of taste and smell back and about a year to get really back to normal.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at April 14, 2023 06:46 PM (ZSK0i)

64 Scientists say that smelling other people's bodily odors can reduce social anxiety.

-
That's gonna cut into that Lume doctor's market.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 14, 2023 06:46 PM (FVME7)

65
Single A.... what do they do with that these days, make them play T-ball? Start runners on third base? Play two innings, then nap time?

Juice boxes and orange wedges during the seventh inning stretch!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 14, 2023 06:47 PM (hn0eg)

66 Duncanthrax, did you know that penguins are technically amphibious bats? It's true, I read it on the internet.

Nice try, batless boy

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 14, 2023 06:47 PM (0hOvj)

67 Judging by the scent of the one I let fly just before my 5-o'clock snooze, I have never had Covid at all either.

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 14, 2023 06:47 PM (Vwz3I)

68 As far as GAINZZZ, my cardio workouts (3-4x a week) are going well: 1 to 1.5 miles, 1/3 of it trotting or jogging, the rest walking, with stretches before and after. The sciatica pain I had after a fall late last year in my right hip and thigh is long gone, too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 14, 2023 06:48 PM (omVj0)

69 GAINZ SITREP: 45 pounds down since January. I've been doing alternate day fasting (i.e., 40: and it's helping. I'll probably be cranking that up to 64:8 before I finally reach my fat loss goal, but I'll jump off of that bridge when I get there.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at April 14, 2023 06:48 PM (DTX3h)

70 We’ll, we’ve seen how trangenderism can be socially contagious among teens, so why not long Covid among wine moms?
Posted by: Lizzy at April 14, 2023 06:44 PM (GhrPK)

AKA Munch Covid By Proxy Syndrome.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 14, 2023 06:48 PM (+r+Na)

71 Scientists say that smelling other people's bodily odors can reduce social anxiety.

*********

I just saw a headline where people who don’t like the smell of sweaty feet are more likely to be xenophobic

Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger at April 14, 2023 06:48 PM (VTu1l)

72 fucking emojis

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at April 14, 2023 06:48 PM (DTX3h)

73 Scientists say that smelling other people's bodily odors can reduce social anxiety.
---
Clearly, these scientists have never been on a Russian trolleybus in later summer.

Posted by: screaming in digital at April 14, 2023 06:49 PM (aBJcM)

74
This is a disinformation campaign being funded by Big Penguin. Don't believe it.

That's EMPEROR Penguin to you, peasants!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 14, 2023 06:49 PM (hn0eg)

75 53 Smell the Glove, curious: what's the approximate total tab for that game? Minor league is the best, not only because (last time I experienced it, quite a while ago) it was about 1/30 the cost of a major league game.
Posted by: rhomboid at April 14, 2023 06:42 PM (OTzUX)

AAA Buffalo Bisons aren't bad.

A family 4 pack is $87.00, with discount tickets for food and beverages in the amount of $25.00

Plus there are always giveaways to be had except of "special" nights.

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at April 14, 2023 06:49 PM (CCSxw)

76 I don't have an opinion on long Covid. Epidemiology and medical causation are hard; it's hard to generate good proof for health conditions, side effects etc.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls - an election is simply a festival for the majority at April 14, 2023 06:24 PM (ppBhU)

Thought I read something recently where clinical results of the lack of blood oxygen due to wearing masks 24/7 has effects similar to those of long Covid.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 14, 2023 06:50 PM (eoQWY)

77 Good evening, horde!

Darn, late to the GAINZZ thread. Because I was workin' out!

I've seen a hammer workout on another youtube or instagram video at some time or another. That particular warhammer might be a spoof, but you could get one at your local hardware store.

World's Strongest Man is next week in Myrtle Beach. One of these days, I'm going to plan a vacation around that.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 06:51 PM (OX9vb)

78 Scientists say that smelling other people's bodily odors can reduce social anxiety.

Our scent reduces female inhibitions dramatically!

Posted by: The Axe Body Wash Marketing Agency at April 14, 2023 06:51 PM (a3Q+t)

79 "So go out into the world unshowered and reeking and farting with abandon. The life you save could be your own."

Shit! I'm just trying to keep people away from me not save them.
Guess I need a new stchick. Off to the shower.

Posted by: Reforger at April 14, 2023 06:51 PM (ehJ5Z)

80 Pooky has confirmed that the Warhammer Fitness thing is an April Fool's joke.

Posted by: pookysgirl has lots of Citadel paints in her house at April 14, 2023 06:51 PM (dtlDP)

81 "spoonies"

Nice one ladies, way to take a perfectly reasonable means of explaining to energetic narcissists that not everyone is as energetic as they are, and turning it into a pathology.

Posted by: FeatherBlade at April 14, 2023 06:51 PM (ou9hh)

82 @53 we got tickets for free, but good tickets are like $10. For those who like baseball it's excellent and fun to watch. I'm 50 ft from home plate, . Go to your local minor league stadium for a good time . No T-ball and food and beer are cheap.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 14, 2023 06:52 PM (386ly)

83 Might as well jump!!

Posted by: Van Halen at April 14, 2023 06:52 PM (DhOHl)

84 Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls - an election is simply a festival for the majority at April 14, 2023 06:24 PM (ppBhU)

Thought I read something recently where clinical results of the lack of blood oxygen due to wearing masks 24/7 has effects similar to those of long Covid.
Posted by: Oldcat at April 14, 2023 06:50 PM (eoQWY)

Similarly, what they've noticed with all the kids needing speech therapy these days, wearing masks impedes the progress of speech therapy.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (+r+Na)

85 Only GAINZ this week: going to doc for ear issues, wants me to take allergy meds for plugged eustachian tube.
Not the kind of GAINZ you're looking for.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (ynpvh)

86 >>Oh, and the Games Workshop thing was absolutely an April Fools joke.

I know, i'm just playing along.

Posted by: ace at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (iHBZj)

87 It used to be hypoglycemia, and another point it was mononucleosis, and now it's long COVID.

Any disease with vague symptoms of listlessness and lack of energy will get glommed upon by depressed women.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 14, 2023 06:25 PM (2tUFv)

Don't forget Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.

I married a hypochondriac. He's dying of something every other week.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (OX9vb)

88 77 Good evening, horde!

Darn, late to the GAINZZ thread. Because I was workin' out!

...

World's Strongest Man is next week in Myrtle Beach. One of these days, I'm going to plan a vacation around that.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 06:51 PM (OX9vb)

Come up for The Arnold in Columbus in March. It's way more fun...

Hell, I might be competing in the Masters division.

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (CCSxw)

89 Caught the omicron and got moderately bitchslapped. I'd say it took about 6 months to get most of my sense of taste and smell back and about a year to get really back to normal.

When I got the Wu Flu it didn't block my sense of taste but everything tasted really weird for a while and I lost my love of guac. Its okay now but I used to really love it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (0hOvj)

90
Thought I read something recently where clinical results of the lack of blood oxygen due to wearing masks 24/7 has effects similar to those of long Covid.
Posted by: Oldcat

That was stated in the "wearing masks during the late unlamented COVID-19 pandemic was a complete waste of money and time, as well as being injurious to one's health" article posted here within the last few days this week.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (hn0eg)

91 84 Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls - an election is simply a festival for the majority at April 14, 2023 06:24 PM (ppBhU)

Thought I read something recently where clinical results of the lack of blood oxygen due to wearing masks 24/7 has effects similar to those of long Covid.
Posted by: Oldcat at April 14, 2023 06:50 PM (eoQWY)

Similarly, what they've noticed with all the kids needing speech therapy these days, wearing masks impedes the progress of speech therapy.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (+r+Na)

If you want to encourage masking, tell people that masking has the same effects as drinking x shots.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at April 14, 2023 06:54 PM (ynpvh)

92 It wasn't me!

Posted by: Spot, the family dog at April 14, 2023 06:54 PM (DhOHl)

93 @83

That brings up a good point, Mr. Roth. I've been interested in skydiving for a long time but only recently have I been well under the typical maximum allowed weight.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at April 14, 2023 06:54 PM (DTX3h)

94 There are five iconic players in American team sports today.

Ovechkin
James
Curry
Mahomes
Ohtani.

Posted by: JmT at April 14, 2023 06:54 PM (BR6SG)

95 Speaking of GAINZZZ . . .

Apparently Big Science is hiding studies that show eating ice cream is ACTUALLY GOOD FOR YOU!

Michael P Senger@michaelpsenger
Life-changing article. Overwhelming evidence of the health benefits of ice cream has long been suppressed because it discredits nutrition scientists.

All this time. Here I thought my respect for “the science” couldn’t sink any lower. #NoAmnesty

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 14, 2023 06:55 PM (FVME7)

96 87 It used to be hypoglycemia, and another point it was mononucleosis, and now it's long COVID.

Any disease with vague symptoms of listlessness and lack of energy will get glommed upon by depressed women.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 14, 2023 06:25 PM (2tUFv)

Don't forget Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.

I married a hypochondriac. He's dying of something every other week.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (OX9vb)

We're all dying of something. It's just a matter of how long. Life in this universe is 100% fatal for us.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at April 14, 2023 06:55 PM (ynpvh)

97 fucking emojis
---------
💪 🖕

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 14, 2023 06:55 PM (Vwz3I)

98 87 It used to be hypoglycemia, and another point it was mononucleosis, and now it's long COVID.

Any disease with vague symptoms of listlessness and lack of energy will get glommed upon by depressed women.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 14, 2023 06:25 PM (2tUFv)

Don't forget Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.

I married a hypochondriac. He's dying of something every other week.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (OX9vb)

No one's mentioned:

Morgellons

The hypochondriac's dream disease...

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at April 14, 2023 06:55 PM (CCSxw)

99 This guy has been providing (free) instructions for a sledgehammer workout for decades.
https://www.shovelglove.com/

Posted by: TD at April 14, 2023 06:56 PM (hazdd)

100 >>>These illnesses are often "invisible": To most people, spoonies may appear healthy and able-bodied, especially when they're young. Many of the conditions affect women more frequently, and most are chronic illnesses that can be managed, but not cured. A diagnosis often lasts for a lifetime, while symptoms come, go, morph, and multiply.

Fortunately, there is a cure. Tried and true. Happens to be the same one they came up with for female hysteria.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2023 06:56 PM (gv7Yb)

101 World's Strongest Man is next week in Myrtle Beach. One of these days, I'm going to plan a vacation around that.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 06:51 PM (OX9vb)

The funniest part of those things that between the "throw a beer keg up and over a wall you are at the bottom of" and "Drag a truck" events there was one where the guys would just hang from a bar. And they could hardly do it any longer than I could at the time, cause they were so heavy with muscles.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 14, 2023 06:56 PM (eoQWY)

102 guac. Its okay now but I used to really love it.

*********

For several months after getting virus raped every toothpaste I used tasted liked chemical vomit

Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger at April 14, 2023 06:57 PM (VTu1l)

103 Thanks, Smell the Glove (and browndog). As I thought. No minor league option here short of an hour+ drive. Haven't been to the Padres' stadium in ...... ? .... 6 or 7 years. Even back then it was ridiculous - everything. Fortunately I've never paid a dime to enter that place, always had free tickets, or friends did. Some guys in the hockey locker room were talking about cost of a game (but that was the playoffs, so a bit boosted) back last fall and the numbers were absurd.

Posted by: rhomboid at April 14, 2023 06:57 PM (OTzUX)

104 Bif, hope you and yours are well. Any trips this way?
Posted by: Ben Had

I had a turn and burn down to TX A&M the weekend of March 26th, but I drove on Friday & Sunday with Saturday set for judging the state finals for 7th -to- 12th grade kids.

Hoping for October, but my company assigned me to another contract and now I have to go Guam (hope it doesn't tip over while I'm there) next Friday. Not sure what my schedule will look like as I've only been in this new contract for a week.

Fingers crossed, it may work out.

Posted by: BifBewalski at April 14, 2023 06:57 PM (3CCua)

105
Fortunately, there is a cure. Tried and true. Happens to be the same one they came up with for female hysteria.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous

Yank it to tank it?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 14, 2023 06:57 PM (hn0eg)

106 Casa Ben Had offers the "shovel the shit work out" for $19..95 and the ammonia breathing package for free.

Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 06:57 PM (vcqaG)

107 I was terribly shy as a yoot and, frankly, through my 30's. Then I hit my 40's, and pounded cans of IDGAS and EEST (everybody else sucks too). 50 or 60 mg of cannabis sativa, and cranking my guitar and keyboard are better than any big pharma product or some overpriced psychotherapist who's going to tell me it's all in my head. Oh yeah! Guess what's in my Friday evening? :-> (Getting to bill 3 and a half hours for this morning's winning SLAPP motion hearing also helps.)

Posted by: SFGoth at April 14, 2023 06:58 PM (KAi1n)

108 So- spoonies are just another shade of 'victims'. This obsession with attracting attention to oneself is bizarre. It drives most, if not all, of this gay/trans insanity.

Posted by: DB - facing the thing at April 14, 2023 06:58 PM (geLO8)

109 Just finished lifting. I am Stronk.

Been running & lifting regularly for several weeks, for the first time in well over a year. I also decided to drop my dessert habit. I've only lost 5 pounds so far. But I feel better, and it's keeping me out of the loony bin.

Posted by: screaming in digital at April 14, 2023 06:58 PM (aBJcM)

110 100

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2023 06:56 PM (gv7Yb)

My wife has had stage 4 cancer for over a decade now. Except when she loses her hair, most people don't realize how sick she is. People can be good at hiding how bad they feel sometimes.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at April 14, 2023 06:58 PM (ynpvh)

111 Thought I read something recently where clinical results of the lack of blood oxygen due to wearing masks 24/7 has effects similar to those of long Covid.
Posted by: Oldcat

That was stated in the "wearing masks during the late unlamented COVID-19 pandemic was a complete waste of money and time, as well as being injurious to one's health" article posted here within the last few days this week.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (hn0eg)

Like anyone reads the content....

Posted by: Oldcat at April 14, 2023 06:58 PM (eoQWY)

112 34 Signed up for Raw Natls in Memphis this September.

Posted by: browndog on his cell at April 14, 2023 06:36 PM (CCSxw)

That's great! Will it be live streamed?

I have not even tried a squat with a bar at this point. I don't have a training partner, so no spotter, and I don't want to embarrass myself. I'm only up to 25 lb goblet squat with good form, anyway. Have a way to go.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 06:59 PM (OX9vb)

113 Steroids kill your adrenals. That's part of the reason you have to taper off prednisone. I usually take a supplement for them.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 14, 2023 06:59 PM (u7leW)

114
For several months after getting virus raped every toothpaste I used tasted liked chemical vomit
Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger

Good news, guys! We got a solid lead on who purchased that batch of Colgate where we inadvertently left out the flavoring ingredients!

-- Colgate-Palmolive Product Complaints Resolution Team

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 14, 2023 07:00 PM (hn0eg)

115 Bif, hope you and yours are well. Any trips this way?
Posted by: Ben Had

Smash & Junior-ette are both doing well. Junior-ett is two weeks away from completing her first year at UAH here in Huntsville. She's snickering about the washout rate in calculus, lost dang near 2/3rds of her Calc b class, and half of her Calc a class.

All "A"s with one "B" in English.

Posted by: BifBewalski at April 14, 2023 07:00 PM (3CCua)

116 106 Casa Ben Had offers the "shovel the shit work out" for $19..95 and the ammonia breathing package for free.
Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 06:57 PM (vcqaG)

Ha!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 07:01 PM (OX9vb)

117 Dash, sounds like you're doing great. I'd wave at you but I can't lift my arms.

Posted by: screaming in digital at April 14, 2023 07:01 PM (aBJcM)

118 PROJEXXX helped me with GAINZZZ. Putting in a drain tile below the pond, so I don't have an inconvenient ditch ... which is in my view from the house. Mostly finished as of today. I don't last long doing some hand shoveling, needed to get my slope correct, but feels good to be tired. Got in about 10k steps a day, and lost about 5 pounds. hurray.

Infinite projects ahead on the farm ... but no big pains at this time, which really helps. Just a little weight work for the shoulder PAINZZZ really made a difference ... and some stretches as advised by Bob And Brad, internet physical therapists.

Posted by: illiniwek at April 14, 2023 07:02 PM (Cus5s)

119 I've seen many patients with long Covid.

Covid is not a naturally occurring virus. I do believe it can have very different long term effects on different people. Luckily, I seem to have fully recovered. It did knock me on my ass for two weeks and then another two to get to 100%.

Posted by: nurse ratched at April 14, 2023 07:02 PM (3XMoj)

120 Don't forget Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.

I married a hypochondriac. He's dying of something every other week.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (OX9vb)

There's some evidence of the correlation between trauma and vague physical symptoms/illnesses.

The ex was always in pain, had all these exotic diagnoses, and frequently accused me of not believing her pain was real.

Well honey, I would believe you more if you stopped accusing me of not believing you so much.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 14, 2023 07:02 PM (+r+Na)

121 @103 most food is $5, as is beer . Cans are 25oz. A lot of kids. Games and give aways between innings. Its about 30 miles from home.. game started at 6:15 already bottom of 4th, 0-0

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 14, 2023 07:02 PM (386ly)

122 Some guys in the hockey locker room were talking about cost of a game (but that was the playoffs, so a bit boosted) back last fall and the numbers were absurd.
Posted by: rhomboid at April 14, 2023 06:57 PM (OTzUX)

I dropped my season tickets to the Sabres back when they moved to a new arena in 1996.

Ticket prices went through the roof. Plus the new arena sucked from an acoustic and game experience standpoint. Blame the ADA for ruining being close to the action.

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at April 14, 2023 07:03 PM (CCSxw)

123 Bif, wish them both the very best from me.

Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 07:03 PM (vcqaG)

124 Don't forget Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.

Like Gluten intolerance, those are real but often people claim it that are nothing of the kind.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 14, 2023 07:03 PM (0hOvj)

125 hiya

Posted by: JT at April 14, 2023 07:04 PM (T4tVD)

126 Posted by: SFGoth at April 14, 2023 06:58 PM (KAi1n)

Agreed. Guitar is one of the things that has kept me sane.
I suck but enjoy the hell out of it.

Posted by: Reforger at April 14, 2023 07:04 PM (ehJ5Z)

127 I had heart stuff that doctors kept dismissing as not real... until I finally had an episode during an EKG and they were like ooops! There is a problem after all.

No kidding Sherlock.

I'm sure some of the long covid cases might be psychosomatic. But we've all known people gaslit by doctors as thinking they are crazy until they finally can diagnose a real problem. I'm also sure doctors don't want to admit long covid might be real, because it implicates them for how they've treated patients during the pandemic.

Posted by: That captain from Jaws at April 14, 2023 07:04 PM (fdJyp)

128 I've cycled for... 66... 67 minutes at level 6 resistance today.

Several months ago, I decided that the thing to do to lose weight was to only eat during business hours, cycle for an hour a day (on average, during the business week), and shoot for stabilizing my weight within a given 5 lb weight bracket before... well, not fasting, but only eating one meal a day for a weekend to drop to the next lower bracket.

I've dropped two brackets since then, though I'm kind of having trouble staying in this one for the last week. Dunno if it's too much food or not enough cycling.

Maybe both.

Posted by: FeatherBlade at April 14, 2023 07:04 PM (ou9hh)

129 >>My wife has had stage 4 cancer for over a decade now. Except when she loses her hair, most people don't realize how sick she is. People can be good at hiding how bad they feel sometimes.

Sorry to hear that. Best to both of you.

Posted by: JackStraw at April 14, 2023 07:05 PM (ZLI7S)

130 That's great! Will it be live streamed?

I have not even tried a squat with a bar at this point. I don't have a training partner, so no spotter, and I don't want to embarrass myself. I'm only up to 25 lb goblet squat with good form, anyway. Have a way to go.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 06:59 PM (OX9vb)

Yes it will...

Saturday the 16th. Not sure of what time at the moment.

If you can do a Goblet Squat, you can get under a bar.

Be bold...!

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at April 14, 2023 07:05 PM (CCSxw)

131 And there's another study that vitamin D helps with long covid. We might have more healthy people if doctors tested D levels and folks just took supplements in the winter.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 14, 2023 07:05 PM (u7leW)

132 Well honey, I would believe you more if you stopped accusing me of not believing you so much

*********

I bet she also complained that you never washed the dishes correctly either, right?

Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger at April 14, 2023 07:05 PM (VTu1l)

133 >>>I do not think it's necessarily crazy that the subliminal smell of other people's odors would be a kind of immunization against the bad effects of self-isolation.

It's when the smell moves out of the subliminal and into the slap you in the face with stink territory, and you LIKE it, that the crazy begins.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2023 07:06 PM (gv7Yb)

134 Long COVID = Fractured Taint Syndrome

Posted by: Pimp Daddy Welfare at April 14, 2023 07:06 PM (//5hD)

135 The April Fool's joke that Games Workshop pulled last year was a trailer featuring the return of a race that had been present in the earliest editions of Warhammer 40,000, but that had subsequently been disappeared.

And then on April 2, a second trailer revealed that the real joke was that the race in question really was coming back.



So questions about the truthfulness of a GW ad on April 1 aren't as out there as you might think...

Posted by: junior at April 14, 2023 07:06 PM (pdn6H)

136 106 Casa Ben Had offers the "shovel the shit work out" for $19..95 and the ammonia breathing package for free.
Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 06:57 PM (vcqaG)

I'll muck a stall or two for/with you Ben...

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at April 14, 2023 07:07 PM (CCSxw)

137
Caught the omicron and got moderately bitchslapped. I'd say it took about 6 months to get most of my sense of taste and smell back and about a year to get really back to normal.
Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy

Just wait until you get ARCTURUS!

https://tinyurl.com/mspvt7wp

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 14, 2023 07:07 PM (63Dwl)

138 Feeling depressed? Go drinking at the Blue Note.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rKWoI6ivRyw

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 14, 2023 07:07 PM (FVME7)

139 I can't really do fasting--I don't get enough to eat and after a day or so I get a migraine. Don't know why, and my doctor hasn't been any help about it.

Posted by: Rick C at April 14, 2023 07:08 PM (BMUHC)

140 117 Dash, sounds like you're doing great. I'd wave at you but I can't lift my arms.
Posted by: screaming in digital at April 14, 2023 07:01 PM (aBJcM)

Hi, sid!

*scrolls back up to see what's wrong with screamie's arms...

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 07:08 PM (OX9vb)

141 135 So questions about the truthfulness of a GW ad on April 1 aren't as out there as you might think...
Posted by: junior at April 14, 2023 07:06 PM (pdn6H)

This is a fair point...and I remember that video, I play tabletop 40K. But I think it's been long enough after the event to conclude that this time around GW was funnin' as GW often does.

They do love money though, so no doubt if there was sufficient interest they'd be happy to sell it.

Posted by: CppThis at April 14, 2023 07:08 PM (PZvjL)

142 Casa Ben Had offers the "shovel the shit work out" for $19..95
Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 06:57 PM

I think that marketing can be improved upon, particularly for today's concerned urban elite.

May I suggest "The Casa Ben Had Total Body Workout Utilizing The Finest in Organic, Free-Range, Carbon-Sequestering Digestive Products."

This workout puts any CrossFit functional exercise routine to shame. It's good for you, AND good for the environment. Your workout will be accompanied by BOTH kinds of music, Country AND Western.

Slots and stalls are limited, reserve your workout now!

Posted by: Duncanthrax at April 14, 2023 07:08 PM (a3Q+t)

143 My wife has had stage 4 cancer for over a decade now. Except when she loses her hair, most people don't realize how sick she is. People can be good at hiding how bad they feel sometimes.

Sorry to hear that. Best to both of you.
Posted by: JackStraw

Seconded !

Posted by: JT at April 14, 2023 07:09 PM (T4tVD)

144 Yeah, funny how, after avoiding and refusing the face diaper for 18 months or more, taking ivermectin once a month and Vitamin D3 every day, working out and getting sunlight . . . I have been sick once since Dec. 2019. It might have been the coof, and it was no worse than other flus or strong colds I've had.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 14, 2023 07:09 PM (omVj0)

145 109 Just finished lifting. I am Stronk.

Been running & lifting regularly for several weeks, for the first time in well over a year. I also decided to drop my dessert habit. I've only lost 5 pounds so far. But I feel better, and it's keeping me out of the loony bin.
Posted by: screaming in digital at April 14, 2023 06:58 PM (aBJcM)

Iron Therapy...

Good for what ails ya!

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at April 14, 2023 07:09 PM (CCSxw)

146 Why do dogs sniff each other's butts?

Posted by: Asking for a pet at April 14, 2023 07:09 PM (DhOHl)

147 From the "future planning" Dept. If you had no problem with the host hotel from last year--- they are giving the SAME rate as last year. Be sure to call the local desk, not a third party. If you need the number let me know.

Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 07:09 PM (vcqaG)

148 I bet she also complained that you never washed the dishes correctly either, right?
Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger at April 14, 2023 07:05 PM (VTu1l)

Nah, she wasn't a nag, mostly. Just always wanted others to feel sorry for her, and had a way of creating some way of being a victim.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 14, 2023 07:10 PM (+r+Na)

149 I am a functional health coach and I avoid people who "identify" as their symptoms. They get attention and special care, considerations, treatment, and reduced responsibilities. Why feel better? I only work with people who want to make changes that underly their symptoms and are not using those symptoms as excuses. Spoonies are easy to spot. I mostly work with the over 45 crowd, so I don't get many.

Posted by: Hazchic at April 14, 2023 07:10 PM (Pdgks)

150 Hi, sid!

*scrolls back up to see what's wrong with screamie's arms...
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs!

When ya find out, let us know !

Posted by: JT at April 14, 2023 07:10 PM (T4tVD)

151 noodle

Posted by: yoeman at April 14, 2023 07:11 PM (BYNHj)

152 Guitar is one of the things that has kept me sane.
I suck but enjoy the hell out of it.
Posted by: Reforger

I suck at it too, but I have been able to write a few songs that I'm going to have an actual producer (local guy) re-record competently for me. Not for public consumption (though I sent one to Doof) but so I can actually, finally, after all these years hear what these songs *should* sound like.

Bought a 50lb dumbbell last week for dumbbell bench press (on my couch - works quite well because the couch is firm, but I have to switch sides to work the other arm). Routine is now 15 x 30lbs, 15 x 40lbs x 2, 10 x 50lbs x 2. Near-term goal is 15 x 40, 15 x 50 x 4. (I do 6 sets of pushups, 2 each regular, narrow, wide, later in the workout.)

Posted by: SFGoth at April 14, 2023 07:12 PM (KAi1n)

153 Oh, and I think long covi is just "cell danger response" if the symptoms are legit. It takes time for the mitochondria to fire back up if you are not treating your body with respect.

Posted by: Hazchic at April 14, 2023 07:12 PM (Pdgks)

154 >>>Finally, about 460 people who received negative antibody tests said they nonetheless believed they had had COVID.

During the "pandemic", I have had various sniffles and other minor cold and flu symptoms. All cleared up in a short amount of time.

Have I had Covid? Damned if I know. I have never even gotten tested, so maybe one of those minor illnesses was really the overblown Covid virus. Or maybe not. If I had to choose Yes or No, I would guess yes, even though I may test out as a no.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2023 07:12 PM (gv7Yb)

155 Wasn't Spoonies that awful Spielberg movie with Short Round and one of the Corey's (Feldman) and John Matuszak as the big ugly guy?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at April 14, 2023 07:14 PM (PiwSw)

156 Duncanthrax, The check is in the mail for that piece of marketing. We'll played.

Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2023 07:14 PM (vcqaG)

157 I don't get enough to eat and after a day or so I get a migraine. Don't know why, and my doctor hasn't been any help about it.

*********

I fast all the time, the reason for your migraine is likely because the body has to switch gears to burn energy, so if you do a relatively high carb diet and then fast, the body is temporarily enduring a loss of energy before it switches into ketosis to burn fat, during that limbo you’ll suffer fatigue and migraines

That’s why fasting is much easier when you do low carb or keto, the body is already in a state of ketosis, so when you fast there’s no switching of the gears from burning glucose to burning fat, so youre less likely to suffer any ill effects

PS your doctor is a fucking idiot

Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger at April 14, 2023 07:15 PM (VTu1l)

158 Taylor Lorenz took one of my spoons.

Posted by: Marooned at April 14, 2023 07:16 PM (kt8QE)

159 When ya find out, let us know !
Posted by: JT
---
well I would answer but no one reads my comments ;-)

Posted by: screaming in digital at April 14, 2023 07:16 PM (aBJcM)

160 browndog I used to have a partial (10 game) plan with some other guys back in DC for the Capitals. This was when they played out in East Bumf**k at the Cap Center. We stopped going - this was about the same time as when you dropped the Sabres - and it was funny how it happened.

One night, I remember it was against the Maple Leafs, at almost the same moment halfway through the second period, 2 of us remarked on how exhausted the teams looked. They were mailing it in, both sides. Combined with the incredibly boring Caps old Patrick Division style (dump, and sorta chase), it made the game very uninteresting. Four of us decided right then that was the last year.

We always got tickets based on the visiting team (to see Gretzky, Detroit with the Russians, etc), none of us were Caps' fans per se. Speaking of which, at least back then, amazingly illiterate fans. They booed hip checks against Washington players - when their own eternal captain, Langway, was one of the last fine practitioners of the art. Half the place would leave with 10 minutes left in the third. Remember the time people poured out with 5 minutes left - game was 3-2 or something. Gretzky and the Kings. WTF??

Posted by: rhomboid at April 14, 2023 07:16 PM (OTzUX)

161 Come up for The Arnold in Columbus in March. It's way more fun...

Hell, I might be competing in the Masters division.
Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at April 14, 2023 06:53 PM (CCSxw)

Mr. April and I went to the Arnold about five years ago. We were packed in there like sardines, literally could not get from one end of the venue to the other in an hour, so missed everything we hoped to see. In the middle of that packed convention center, he started having panic attack and I was afraid he'd get homocidal before we reached an exit.

I'm going to avoid that.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 07:16 PM (OX9vb)

162 My wife has had stage 4 cancer for over a decade now. Except when she loses her hair, most people don't realize how sick she is. People can be good at hiding how bad they feel sometimes.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at April 14, 2023 06:58 PM (ynpvh)
*********
Wow, that must be really tough on her.
Sending prayers for your wife, Jim.

Posted by: redridinghood at April 14, 2023 07:18 PM (NpAcC)

163 Mr. April and I went to the Arnold about five years ago. We were packed in there like sardines, literally could not get from one end of the venue to the other in an hour, so missed everything we hoped to see. In the middle of that packed convention center, he started having panic attack and I was afraid he'd get homocidal before we reached an exit.

I'm going to avoid that.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 07:16 PM (OX9vb)

I can see that...

Though they have gotten better post Covid.

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at April 14, 2023 07:19 PM (CCSxw)

164 109 Just finished lifting. I am Stronk.

Posted by: screaming in digital at April 14, 2023 06:58 PM (aBJcM)

Oh, there it is! *fistbump

We will be stronk like b**ch who fights bear in the woods!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 07:21 PM (OX9vb)

165 One night, I remember it was against the Maple Leafs, at almost the same moment halfway through the second period, 2 of us remarked on how exhausted the teams looked. They were mailing it in, both sides. Combined with the incredibly boring Caps old Patrick Division style (dump, and sorta chase), it made the game very uninteresting. Four of us decided right then that was the last year.

We always got tickets based on the visiting team (to see Gretzky, Detroit with the Russians, etc), none of us were Caps' fans per se. Speaking of which, at least back then, amazingly illiterate fans. They booed hip checks against Washington players - when their own eternal captain, Langway, was one of the last fine practitioners of the art. Half the place would leave with 10 minutes left in the third. Remember the time people poured out with 5 minutes left - game was 3-2 or something. Gretzky and the Kings. WTF??
Posted by: rhomboid at April 14, 2023 07:16 PM (OTzUX)

I feel that...I really do.

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at April 14, 2023 07:21 PM (CCSxw)

166 Just wait until you get ARCTURUS!
------

That could be Sirius.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at April 14, 2023 07:22 PM (oLF0J)

167 We will be stronk like b**ch who fights bear in the woods!
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 14, 2023 07:21 PM (OX9vb)

I understand that meme

***golfclap***

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at April 14, 2023 07:23 PM (CCSxw)

168 155 Wasn't Spoonies that awful Spielberg movie with Short Round and one of the Corey's (Feldman) and John Matuszak as the big ugly guy?
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at April 14, 2023 07:14 PM (PiwSw)

Nah, I think Spoonies is that guy who did funny video game and movie reviews on YouTube before TDS ate his brain.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at April 14, 2023 07:34 PM (DTX3h)

169 I had Covid-19 august of last year. My first symptom was a severe headache at my right temple. I continued to have headaches at that same location for many months afterwards, and when I did not have a headache there, there was a palpable pressure. After about 5 months it finally died down and went away, but I am pretty convinced it was a long covid symptom. Along with the headaches, I would have short periods of time where I was unable to decypher the meaning of printed words I was reading. I would have to read and reread sentences several times to get the gist of the messages. I believe there is a long covid-19. It might not be covid causing the problem, so much as covid caused damage taking time to heal, but it certainly exists.

Posted by: astonerii at April 14, 2023 07:43 PM (B9VxK)

170 My wife fixed our washing machine today. I'm very proud of her. Not surprised she could do it or anything, but juggling three kids 6 and under makes it difficult to actually do anything. Oh, and that was my weekend project... so I won't be doing that. I'll fertilize the lawn instead

Posted by: Inogame at April 14, 2023 07:44 PM (D/9Qo)

171 The Maffetone method might be the same thing as Ace's run/walks (apologies if this similarity has already been noted). It's a heart-rate based approach to distance running. The runner is supposed to stay in Zone 2 for the full run. I have been following for a while and it is cool to finish a run and feel good instead of wiped. I also think the workout has little to no impact as far as increasing my appetite goes. Very cool.

Posted by: Oglebay at April 14, 2023 07:49 PM (wscPk)

172 Whatever happened to the frogs and lizards?
Ya know, the good ol' days

Posted by: kactus at April 14, 2023 07:54 PM (azTeW)

173 I've seen a lot of people who have YouTube channels shilling for a supplement called AG1, made by a company called Athletic Greens.

The basic idea is that it gives you everything your body needs, which will make you feel better. The guys shilling the stuff swear that they are shilling it because they have tried it and it really works.

It's $100 for a 30-day supply, or $80 if you sign up for a subscription.

Now, it does make sense to me that you might feel better if you are getting everything your body needs. So I'm interested in this stuff.

Is anyone here using Athletic Greens AG1? Do you think it makes a difference?

And how well does it mix with Valu-Rite?

Posted by: mr_jack at April 14, 2023 07:57 PM (LNPSJ)

174 >>I do not think it's necessarily crazy that the subliminal smell of other people's odors would be a kind of immunization against the bad effects of self-isolation.


Makes me think of Play It Again Sam, when Woody Allen is preparing for a date and puts on every cologne:

Bogie: "For Christ sakes kid, you're gonna smell like a French cathouse!"
Woody: "I need them"
Bogie: "Why? You ashamed of sweat?"

Posted by: J. Frank Parnell at April 14, 2023 08:34 PM (t4BDZ)

175 I'll fertilize the lawn instead

Is that a metaphor for engaging in Onanism in the backyard?

Posted by: Reuben Hick at April 14, 2023 09:21 PM (YXHzG)

176 People do use sledgehammers for working out. They generally hit big tractor tires with them. Also then they do “tire flips” where, you guessed it, they flip those big tractor tires.

Probably mostly a CrossFit type thing. CrossFit was big on the “functional fitness” thing when it first started
Posted by: Gman at April 14, 2023 06:25 PM (NvorH)

Tripling what Gman said

Posted by: Draki at April 14, 2023 09:37 PM (h4QKj)

177 Both my millennial daughter and her husband got the coo and were quite sick for over a week. My daughter lost both her sense of taste and smell, which as others have mentioned can also happen with the flu. It took over a month for her taste and smell to start improving and a full three months to completely recover it. She also began having excruciating migraines every week since having the coo, that last for half a day to a full day. She has never had migraines and is not a baby about pain. She works as an archeologist, putting in 10 plus hour days hiking to a site for miles carrying heavy equipment and digging 25+ shovel test pits with her crew. She loves the work and is not one to complain or whine about aches and pains. But these new migraines can be so bad that she feels nauseous. She's lost time off from work. The only thing that helps slightly is to lie still in a dark room. After many months, she now may go 3-4 weeks before a migraine suddenly knocks her down for half a day. It's interesting that now that the "pandemic" is waning that there is a movement to attack those who were actually harmed by this deliberate release of a bioweapon. Who does that benefit? The governments

Posted by: Annie Rose at April 14, 2023 11:35 PM (c+Du/)

178 My non-medical opinion on long Covid is it’s real but caused by the vaccine not Covid infection

Posted by: BigG at April 15, 2023 12:10 PM (EiXGx)

179 I find it beyond irony that a site that hyperventilates over diet/workouts/ Gainzz....would assume that 'women' are talking about 'invisible' ailments...

Pot meet Kettle.....

Posted by: bls46 at April 15, 2023 12:56 PM (xw1YD)

180 Can I јust say whаt a relief to discover somеbody that truly knows what they are discussing on the internet.
Yоu certainly rеaliᴢe how to bring аn issue to light and make it important.

A lot moгe people really neеd to look at this and understand this side of your
story. І was surprised that yοu aren't more popuⅼar because
yoᥙ surely have the gift.

Posted by: decipher at May 11, 2023 04:50 AM (6hczS)

(Jump to top of page)

Name: *

Email: *

URL:

Comments:

Processing 0.03, elapsed 0.0598 seconds.
15 queries taking 0.028 seconds, 189 records returned.
Page size 130 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.