[x-post r/space] Remembering Project Gemini: Collected here are remarkable images of Project Gemini half a century ago -- some beautiful, some technical, and a few surprisingly intimate

NGC300 · 1 month

Amazing photos. Especially timely for me given that I'm currently reading "Failure Is Not an Option" by Gene Kranz!

walkntalk · 2 months

I'm reading "Failure Is Not An Option" by Gene Kranz, and I have to say - the entire space program at that time was insanely expensive and resource intensive. Tracking stations in far-off locales around the globe staffed with full teams. Over 20 ships. Thousands of military personnel. Thousands of operations people on the ground. Sure there's way more infrastructure in place now, but I'd say it's bloody amazing what Elon Musk has been able to do on the equivalent of a shoestring budget.

lax13 · 3 months

Chicks dig calluses.

come2gether · 3 months

I actually used to have the same problem - I recently added face-pulls to my routine and I've found the popping has gone away.

yoitsatrap · 4 months

Balls is not overthinking it! I'm as clueless as anyone... on two different occasions I've had waitresses give me their numbers with no prompting. The key is to bring a book and look lonely, but dress well so they think you're rich!

yoitsatrap · 4 months

Balls. It is lacking in balls.

9numbernine9 · 4 months

That's why I use Teksavvy!

neoronin · 6 months

Isn't that the scientist who was always standing and walking?

StellarMate · 6 months

How long ago was your surgery? You still can't feel parts of your shoulder/face?

StellarMate · 6 months

I have Hashimoto's, currently with only 1/2 of a Thyroid :-D

Synthroid is interesting... I've found I don't really feel 100% the same as I did pre-surgery. Anyway, here's what I've found:

Strenuous cardio is more important than ever. I felt pretty shitty for a while until I started adding in 30 minutes of cardio on a regular basis.
Once you get your dosage right strength-training and muscle gain should be no problem. My 1RM for squat, deadlift, bench are all higher now than they ever were before surgery.
I do find myself craving carbs more than I should and I find it a bit harder to control. I think this is just because I've fallen into bad habits (eating out all the time etc.)
My bodyfat is a bit higher than it should be, but again I blame this on bad habits more than my thyroid.

I will say that it was weird for a while doing weightlifting after the surgery. When they cut into your neck they cut through some nerves and I think some muscle as well, so holding anything heavy for a while made me acutely aware of how much your neck muscle actually get engaged. shudder

Also, why on earth do you tweak your dosage like that once a year? What is your physician's rationale for that?

shookas · 6 months

I come at it from the reverse angle... I have Hashimoto's and would uncorrected be hypothyroid after surgery for (what they thought) was thyroid cancer.

A piece of advice: If you can avoid it, stay the fuck away from surgery. It will mess you up for months or possibly years as you try to get your hormone levels back to normal.

That said, being hyperthyroid has all sorts of negative health impacts so you'll need to consider the tradeoffs.

FritzMuffknuckle · 9 months

I've only been asked to step into these scanners twice and I travel back and forth to the US a lot. Each time I've refused and they've done full-body pat-downs.

It's sort of funny because the TSA agents are typically more uncomfortable with it than I am. I just put on a big 'ol stupid grin and whistle through the whole thing. Heck, if you imagine you're getting a free massage it's almost fun!

treein303 · 10 months

You have correctly identified Toronto's hipster mecca... The Annex, second only to Queen West of course.

monkeyshoe · 10 months

Haha damnit, I see that sign almost every day on my way to work.

technobabbler · 10 months

LOOK AT THE INNOVATIVE FEATURES. LOOK AT THEM DAMN YOU.

GiantMarshmallow · 10 months

I just ordered Engineering Mathematics by K.A. Stroud to brush up on my own fundamentals. Covers calculus, algebra, and a degree of probability - the follow-up book, "Advanced Engineering Mathematics", covers much more advanced (grad-level) engineering math topics.

It seems interesting because it's all very much guided self-study as opposed to your usual textbook that's only useful when paired with lectures. As a warning, it's a honking 1200 pages.

Anyhoo, YMMV. It seems to be rated quite highly but I'll tell you how it goes when I get the book.

BeardNoir · 10 months

A lot of people get chest palpitations/spasms occasionally for no particular reason (including me), and they're usually not harmful, but it's always best to raise it with your doctor and see what they say. Sometimes exercise-induced palpitations can point to some underlying condition, though usually it's no biggie.

quackmeister · 10 months

That's a good point, although I haven't seen particularly convincing evidence that T4 -> T3 conversion is actually a problem. It seems to get mentioned a lot as an argument as to why you should take dessicated thyroid without much in the way of supporting evidence... I wouldn't be surprised if it had worked its way onto Wikipedia.

Ultimately, any simplified argument like that is probably an oversimplification. It's a much more complicated process than people think...

quackmeister · 10 months

I think the research needs to be more biological than clinical at this point. We need to better understand how synthetic T4 crosses the cell membrane of various types of cells, what serum levels of T4 mean on actual availability in various different tissues, how it differs from normal Thyroid function, etc.

This can all be done with animal research.

EDIT: also, the perfect ethically okay version of what you've suggested is thyroid cancer patients where there was no thyroid dysfunction before surgery and a total or subtotal thyroidectomy. Then you have a pretty good night-and-day comparison... they will instantly become hypothyroid after surgery and need to go on thyroid replacement.

tocwaste · 10 months

Red Mars (and the rest of the Mars trilogy) by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Amazing, amazing books.

quackmeister · 10 months

This is a good point - for the first year I really fought against the changes, thinking that if I just got dosages right I could feel exactly the same as I used to before the surgery. I've now accepted that it's just going to be different, and I try to get to a place where I feel ok and I can use exercise as a means to feel pretty good overall.

I do, however, think that there is painfully little research going into exploring how synthetic T4 works on the body vs. normal thyroid function. I would not at all say that the book on the subject is closed, and I think improvements in understanding could lead to better treatment options for millions of patients who currently reach out for placebo options to help them feel better.

quackmeister · 10 months

This is exactly my point... most endocrinologists shoot for lab results anywhere in the "normal range" and leave it at that.

Anecdotally, for what this is worth (not much I suppose), I've found that within the normal range I can go anywhere from feeling undertreated to feeling overtreated without slipping outside of the range of acceptable TSH. I've found that I need to be aggressive with my doctor about suggesting changes in dosage (he's pretty cool, so he thought my hypothesis was reasonable) because the thinking usually goes "Well, he's in the normal range so my work here is done!"

I really wish there was better education about this... on the patient side there's so much bullshit literature muddling up the situation with idiotic suggestions like "adrenal fatigue" is the cause, or that liver cleanses are the solution, that I think most endocrinologists dealing with hypothyroid patients have become pretty wary about different ideas their patients are bringing to the table. This idea isn't very radical, luckily, so it's relatively easy to get buy-in from an open-minded endo or GP.

quackmeister · 10 months

Some of the claims made in this book:

You need to do regular liver "cleanses"
Adrenal exhaustion is a cause of these symptoms
You need to use specially-formulated supplements that only the author sells
Avoid gluten, because gluten is bad. Bad gluten!

This is exactly the bullshit quackery that I'm talking about... a poorly researched, dangerously wrong infomercial of a book. A lot of people looking for answers turn to books like this, and I think it's a crime that people are being taken advantage of by shady "doctors" like this asshole.

quackmeister · 10 months

I agree regarding the anecdotal point... to be honest, I would like to see a proper study examining quality of life along various metrics (general energy levels, amount of sleep needed for normal function, etc.) among treated hypothyroid patients vs. untreated hypothyroid patients vs. the general population.

With that said, there is a such a huge industry catering to people with thyroid disease who are unhappy with their treatment that I can't help but think that there's still a lot we don't understand.

Anecdotally, my energy level is on average lower, I require more sleep to function properly, and I think the speed of my mental processes has dipped somewhat. I do okay and exercise helps a ton, but it's definitely not optimal.

Have you tried upping your dosage a little bit until you bump up against the lower level of normal TSH? My doctor has been quite good to work with... I explained my philosophy on treatment, and he agreed that so long as I don't fall outside of the normal range of TSH that it should be okay to tweak dosage based on how you feel.

P.S. The paper I mentioned is absolutely worth reading if you'd like to understand why it's not quite as simple as a feedback loop.

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