C.C. Francis's Blog, page 6
September 20, 2020
It has everything to do with reality — as a comparator.
It has everything to do with reality — as a comparator.
The mind has very real power. One of the things I’ve learned as someone with a chronic illness is the danger of acclimation. If you’re in a bad spot and you don’t have an aim (an ideal), it’s hard to gauge progress. If you are not careful, bad circumstances can very easily define you. I’ve seen this before with people with chronic migraine & depression.
Some people start out with 28 migraine days per month, they take positive steps, and they are satisfied with a reduction to 16. Going 3 days without a nauseating icepick headache is cause for celebration. They don’t take further steps because 16 migraines/month is better than 28. “Chronic” is the new norm. They’ve “acclimated.”
I’ve seen the same thing happen with clinically depressed people. The mind and body acclimate to ubiquitous fatigue and despair. Soon, they cannot even recall old hopes and dreams — and they don’t seek treatment.
There are a lot of articles out there about what led to our situation. (I’ve even written a few.) The value of a forward-thinking paradigm — an ideal outcome — is to help people realize what we might have to gain.
To build something better than what we have, each of us needs to take personal responsibility for what’s going on around us. It’s very important that we don’t acclimate. We can do so much better than this.
Vote.
September 16, 2020
Dream a Better World
With a pioneer mindset, humanity’s golden age lies ahead.
September 15, 2020
It's an interesting hypothesis.
It's an interesting hypothesis. Some people respond to choline supplements for migraine or depression, or to racetams that modulate that brain system (ostensibly depleting brain choline). Too much or too little choline can cause headaches.
Amitriptyline is also one of the most effective antidepressants. There are two types of ACh receptors - muscarinic and nicotinic. I believe amitriptyline has inhibitory actions on both. I'd be wary of drawing too many conclusions from that med though - it binds to a lot of receptor subtypes. Anticholinergic medications are also associated with dementia, used in the long-term.
The brain is very complex, and it seems unlikely to me there is one root cause of depressive symptoms. For instance, the BDNF/TrKB pathway is also likely to be involved, as a hippocampal neurogenesis actuator (indirectly in the case of antidepressants). This is likely why the SERT-selective antidepressants take weeks to work - the effect is indirect. But some people respond to atypical dopaminergic or serotonergic antidepressants straight away (like mirtazapine, bupropion, or modafinil).
This isn’t medical advice, and I’m not a doctor.
September 14, 2020
Mistborn also has some climate change themes maybe — or maybe I just feel that way because…
Mistborn also has some climate change themes maybe — or maybe I just feel that way because California feels like Scadrial right now.
I would recommend Schwab. A Darker Shade of Magic has some fun characters, and an interesting premise. I also really enjoy her writing.
Strange the Dreamer is great, too. Really sweeps you off to another world. Taylor’s prose is a bit florid, but she pulls it off.
3 more.
3 more.
Mistborn (trilogy) by Brandon Sanderson
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
Shades of Magic (series) by V.E. Schwab
September 13, 2020
Jeez people can be mean.
Jeez people can be mean. Don’t listen to them. It’s great that you’re writing and sharing during such a hard time. That’s not easy.
September 10, 2020
This article plays off of gender bias.
This article plays off of gender bias.
What if someone wrote about a protected group based on naked preconceptions (apparently ascribing personal experience to a population group), and finished with #notall___?
It wouldn't be any more or less socially acceptable then than this is. It's offensive, and it’s wrong.
September 9, 2020
Who is speaking isn't the issue - it only matters whether what is being said is valid (supported…
Who is speaking isn't the issue - it only matters whether what is being said is valid (supported by fact, logic, and reasoning).
Ask yourself why you felt the need to ask where I was getting my information — without offering any specifics, or points of your own. This is an easy way out of a discussion - "you're just believing what you're told." It's a suggestion of superiority that absolves the civic responsibility to listen or engage.
There's great value to be found in introspection and open-mindedness. There's value in the Socratic Method and in understanding the views of others in a deep and meaningful way so as to seek the truth. Without more, unadorned character-driven ethos rhetoric suggests a closed mind.
The suggestion that my opinions are a product of a leftist media machine is dismissive — and perhaps surprisingly inaccurate.
I agree wholeheartedly with you about the importance of discipline & personal responsibility (you can read some of my articles about this). Your point strikes me as a bit ironic considering what I just wrote about Trump's responsibility to contain the virus — and his behavior & messaging shortfalls.
It's important to be willing to listen, or else why speak? I'm not going to convince you of anything. Only you can do that. If the goal is only to convince others, you run the risk of fighting for a mistaken viewpoint. The goal of a productive discussion should be to grow in knowledge and understanding.
Ok, but the "how" is a separate question.
Ok, but the "how" is a separate question.
America isn't leading in defeating COVID-19. That's ROK/NZ/Australia/Taiwan/Japan/Canada/Germany/China. President Trump has to own our failures here. That's what leaders do. The USA is far behind other nations in response efforts.
We're ranked 12 in the world in most deaths per capita.
Maybe you're happy with that leadership performance — or content to judge the president based on his performance pre-pandemic. I’m not, because that performance is now irrelevant.
The President may not be able to wave a wand to fix this, but the buck stops at the top. He could at least have used his position to spread a message of caution and unity and responsibility.
He didn't, and he won’t. He won't even wear a mask — in September. He brings big groups together for rallies and conventions, without precautions. He talks about injecting bleach. He sows chaos and division on Twitter. He sidelines scientists. He says the alternative would be "worse," when we have almost 200,000 innocent people dead — and millions more infected with a disease with the potential for chronic sequelae.
Give me a break. This isn’t how a competent leader behaves.
