#55 | POSTED BY GALAXIEPETE AT 2024-04-22 01:59 PM | FLAG:

Most do - I certainly didn't mean that to imply either steroid users or MtF maintain all their muscle mass. Nothing close. But that study and others I have seen - larger cross section in the quads than controls and such - imply that one can build a base that is still stronger than one's natural potential for steroid users, or alternately, than a FtM would have had had they never been exposed to male androgen levels. They might deflate once no longer exposed to supraphysiological hormones, but not necessarily to the point they would have had they never used them.

Apart from studies, sources are a couple decades in healthcare and having been big enough into body building in my 20's and early 30's I did seriously consider and research PED's hard. Decided to stay natty as I just didn't want to deal with all the long term side effects - but between hobby and career, picked up more than a fair amount of endocrinology over the years.

#33 | POSTED BY ALEXANDRITE AT 2024-04-22 12:03 PM | FLAG:

Excellent post - but my comment was somewhat tongue-in-cheek. It's more that I find the cognitive dissonance irritating from those who want parity in female representation in every traditionally male-dominated area and field, treating them as entirely the same, yet immediately doubling back on that when it comes to something like whether transgender people have brains more resembling how they identify.

#36 | POSTED BY GALAXIEPETE AT 2024-04-22 12:06 PM | FLAG:

Untrue. Obviously, one loses most of the gains. But there are some permanent changes

Why isn't this an injustice in academics and business too?

#21 | POSTED BY SNOOFY AT 2024-04-22 10:56 AM | FLAG:

Because the brain isn't a gendered organ, and unlike the physical, there's no difference between the mental capabilities of men and women.

Or so we used to be told, before transgendered people became a more prominent issue. Now I guess the progressive view is women's brains don't work like men's do?

Does this mean Google now owes James Damore an apology?

Leaving it to the governing bodies makes the most sense.

I've posted it before, but steroid use imho should result in perma-banning from most sports. Why? It results in permanent changes to muscle physiology that last even decades after hormone levels renormalize. Primarily, a permanent increase in myonuclei, which allows for greater adaptation to strength training than a lifetime natural athlete would experience, and muscle cross sections continue to show greater mass long afterwards as well.

This effect is even more striking when you consider that steroid users generally permanently damage their endogenous testosterone production at least slightly.

This is directly analogous - and even more pronounced - to anyone who has gone through male puberty, and then some, as the body is not only creating a massive surge of testosterone, DHT, etc, but doing so while bone, muscle and organs are still developing, resulting in also generally greater reach, pulmonary volume, hips that are mechanically more efficient for running, etc. These, except likely bone density - are also permanent.

It leaves a valid argument for those who took puberty blockers not having an unfair advantage, although that's an entirely different can of worms that I do not actually have any extensive knowledge to speak on, so will leave to others.

Millions of MAGA dearly hold the same delusions as this now dead man. What shall we do with them?

#41 | POSTED BY ZED AT 2024-04-20 10:40 AM | FLAG:

You realize this guy was protesting Trump, among other things?

I even get where he's coming from, minus the crazed conspiracy theories tying it all up to a Harvard cabal using the Simpsons to demoralize the American wage slave into accepting their subservience and such. (Which is definitely not a right-wing take.)

I mean, if you're left wing on principle and not concerned about party, despite the republicans screaming about communism and socialism everywhere, there's no one actually representing you. Republicans are absurd authoritarian right. Democrats are less absurd, but still right wing, just as authoritarian only in different ways, and not even the "center left" many make them out to be.

Not exactly many politicians with any real power pushing to break up oligopolies, nationalize healthcare and higher education, protect individual rights and free speech against enormous international corporations, keep us out of foreign wars, or effectively separate money and politics, are there? A few Dems that at least pay lip service to some of those ideals, but none exactly striving hard for all of them.

And the presidential race? Arguably your pick of which corrupt, rich, out of touch ancient white pathological liar, slipping into dementia and incapable of two coherent sentences in a row, that shouldn't be left alone around any woman - including their own daughter - you want in. Most defining difference? Whether they've opted for Oompa Loompa or corpse like pallor. No matter who gets in, the rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer, and we're going to be involved in a war somewhere, be it directly or indirectly.

Yes, I'm overly simplifying, and still probably going to have to vote Biden. But just saying, reading this guys stuff, and no, he's no Trump supporter. This is what happens when the reality of a government there for no reason but to serve corporate interests meets the tragedy of our mental healthcare crisis and someone goes right over the edge.

At least he only took himself out.

Always wondered what the bar was to get banned from Walmart. It certainly wasn't aesthetics.

The schadenfreude is great, but my inner leftist will NEVER be comfortable seeing huge corporations able to trample on the speech of individuals.

Not quite the point of the article, pointing out the lack of moral fortitude on the right to actually stand for the morals they give lip service to, but what a BS title. There was never a "pro-life" party. There was a pro-forced birth party that was also adamantly pro-death when it came to capital punishment, no matter how many were wrongfully convicted, that also cared nothing for the quality of that life after birth.

Though to flip it back - seems to be human nature. I haven't seen too many staunch anti-war or pro-civil liberties democrats since Dubya left office either.

Party not principle in our tribal politics these days.

Even Killer Kyle could have gotten in under that program!

#6 | POSTED BY CORKY AT 2024-04-11 03:01 PM | FLAG:

Nah. Under 30 on an ASVAB, even Marines get scared somebody will choke when they get issued their crayons.

Personally, I believe in the sanctity of human life - that every life can be of infinite value, at least to the one living it - but in this definition of human life, it has to include conscious awareness. Leaving me pro choice.

Oddly enough, religious arguments convince me the least. If there is God and a soul, heaven and all that - it doesn't even matter does it? Just sending them someplace better faster. Kind of a weird argument.

Sadly there will never be room for compromise on this issue.

You either believe abortion is murder or not.

If you believe it's murder, how can you just stand by and let it happen in good conscience? If you don't believe it's murder, how can you stand by and let others control women's bodies like cattle in good conscience?

Well that blows.

#15 | POSTED BY SENTINEL AT 2024-04-04 10:32 PM | FLAG:

Basically - that. And how far have they really tried? Consistent counseling? Have they gone a little more experimental, ketamine, mushrooms maybe?

28 is young, and there's a lot of opportunity ahead for change. Absolute failure of the system, and while I agree with a right to die for those with terminal illnesses, it sounds like all she has is terminally incompetent care.

Guess I missed that headline, so here I was assuming Biden just hid his own Easter eggs successfully.

Okay, you changed my mind. If Kyle actually was this mentally incompetent, then he should be on death row right now.

#7 | POSTED BY SENTINEL AT 2024-04-03 03:20 PM | FLAG:

Couldn't pass Marine ASVAB?!? Why bother with death row? He's already brain dead, somebody is bound to step on his cord and pull the plug eventually.

Kennedy is not far off on this one.

Biden's little attempt at a "ministry of truth," the attempts to influence what can and cannot be said on social media are insidious attacks on liberty at its most basic level - freedom of thought, expression, and information. They bring to mind both Mussolini defining fascism as the merger of government and corporate power, and the old quote about those who would give up a little liberty for safety deserving neither.

Trump IS less dangerous in this manner. He's a bull in a China shop. You know what to oppose. But Dem partisans will just jump on the train of whatever the party platform is, no matter how it's changed from what they opposed just a few years prior under a Republican. Just look at how concern about the Patriot Act, FISA courts, gag orders, and all the other tools a truly fascist nation would want at its disposal just went away when Obama took the place of Bush.

It's never about principle, only party. And party is only about power, never relinquishing it.

If I had to bet - I suspect Biden will begin to lean heavily on the Fed to cut rates by this summer. We'll kick the can down the road slightly, but I think it will buy months, not years, and whoever gets the presidency in 2024 will face a crippling recession.

I'm not confident in either to handle it. Biden slightly better, perhaps as more inclined to listen to advice. Trump is a two-trick pony - he's got tax cuts and pushing even lower rates. Both of which will probably reignite inflation catasrophically. Biden will lean into even more deficit spending (this is relative - compared to Trump, who set record deficits himself) but at that point, you'd have a growing unmanageable national debt and interest at the same time as a falling GDP. Not a good combination.

I'm not being partisan. This is the trajectory we have been on since Reagan.

And I would LOVE to be wrong. I'm not enjoying this doom and gloom.

But Cramer. We're boned lol

People have been saying that word since 2006. It loses it's meaning after 18 years.
#11 | POSTED BY NIXON AT 2024-03-29 10:04 AM | REPLY

Yes, and some of it - real estate and a bit of tech - popped once in that time. If you remember, 2008 wasn't the greatest of times financially.

The problem is it has NOT lost its meaning - it's been kicked down the road, snowballing the whole way.

Trump's economy was artificially propped up the entire time by artificially low interest rates, as he pushed on the fed not to raise them. We should have, needed to have, been in a recession then, not falsely driving growth through what were essentially negative interest rates that were among the many factors that later contributed to 2020 on inflation. Then his covid spending blew up the national debt, every bit of which goes toward further devalueing the dollar. Biden has since driven even greater inflation with even more massive government spending, beginning at a time when supply chains were still endemically disrupted.

So what are we looking at now?

Wall Street is doing amazing. Like 1928 amazing. A quick check of latest S&P 500 figures shows 89-149% overvalued. Fitch Ratings has housing overvalued at 11%, but tack that on to a stagnant housing market as that bubble merges with current interest rates.

Wages began to outpace inflation, but have begun dialing back, sometimes falling to pre-pandemic levels, while inflation has accumulated at close to 20% in that time. Not counting food, fuel, etc. Consumer spending is still up, but it is debt spending. Repossesions are up, credit card debt and default is up. Unemployment remains low - but this is a difficult marker to parse, as people fall off the roles. A more accurate figure - US Labor Force Participation Rate is at 62.50%. This is static over several years, and slightly lower than average, painting a rather different picture. Many of the new jobs participated in are in government and healthcare. These fudge GDP data, as they are financed through deficit spending. M2 has fallen in a way not seen since the Great Depression.

The yield curve has been inverted a shockingly long time. Media has begun considering that this is no longer an effective predictor. I'd argue rather, the longer this holds, the worse the "correction" is likely to be.

Last of all - and my worst predictor of doom and gloom - Cramer predicted a soft landing.

I guess we are going to have to ban assault knives.
#3 | POSTED BY BELLRINGER AT 2024-03-28 10:53 AM | FLAG:

Scary pommel?

That's a paddlin'.

Trump is an abyss of hedonism and self gratification.
#29 | POSTED BY SNOOFY AT 2024-03-28 10:20 AM | FLAG: | NEWSWORTHY 1

Wait, I thought you were against him, and here you are talking him up lol

And they're horribly overvalued. Can we say "bubble?"

Please tell me the covers are on upside down

See that's why I buy Nikes. Keeps the kids off the street, and you just can't beat those tiny hands and their tiny stitches.

In times I am more irritated at the democrats - their corporatism, indistinguishable foreign policy from neocon republicans, failures to bring real change like single payer, or their seeming embrace of identity politics over far more substantive class issues, I absolutely consider voting Trump.

I don't know where they came up with "shake up for the better" though.

Maybe I'm just realistic about the effects. I'd call it accelerationism.

I try extremely hard not to get that angry over politics though.