Spyke

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What's a scam that's so normalized that we don't even realize it's a scam anymore?

I'll try to list things that aren't in the typical internet echo chamber. Bring on the controversy. These are just my opinions.

50% of the shelf space at the grocery store is just different forms of corn syrup, sometimes with some trans fat mixed in, generationally twisting our idea of what food is in a race to the cheapest, most addictive product.

The only way it's profitable for someone to knock on your door to sell ANYTHING is if they are obscenely inflating the price (think 100-600% markup)

Most supplements, especially expensive ones with TV ads

Dr Scholl's and the goodfeet store

Genuine leather is just about the opposite of what you'd think

Bamboo fabric which is pretty much just a different way to say rayon but is pitched as a revolutionary and environmentally friendly cloth

Most bladeless fans just hide fan blades in the base

Many cleaning products don't do better than diluted soap and water (even for sanitizing) especially the ones with TV ads

Financial planners who are actually financial product salespeople

Most single-purpose kitchen gadgets, especially as-seen-on-TV

The realtors racket: I just paid $30k for an internet posting and mediocre advice

Many personal hygiene products are just repackaging the same two or three active ingredients by the same one or two megacorporations

Essential oils (even ignoring mystical claims) big names charge an order of magnitude higher than they should

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People with ADHD: What are the things about it that people don't get?

My 10 year old has ADHD, and threads like this have helped my understanding. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

What does my daughter need from me, her Dad? She has an understanding pediatrician and a good therapist. My wife and I have given her freedom to choose how she organizes her day within reason. She has never done poorly in school and has impressive interest in art and science. We've been fortunate to have flexible school teachers most years. The kid has developed coping skills of her own, but I can still tell that brushing her teeth or getting in the shower or getting started on her homework are monumental struggles every. single. time. I don't doubt that she will be fine in the long term, but I would love any advice on how to help day to day life to be a little less exhausting for her while still helping her learn how to function independently.

What are things people have said or done for you that helped you feel seen and loved?

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Revealed: WHO aspartame safety panel linked to alleged Coca-Cola front group

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The World Health Organization said it was safe up to a certain level. The people in the WHO who said that work for Coca-Cola.

This means we can't rely on the recommendation, and the actual "safe" amount may be much lower than that. The article goes into good depth and gives counterarguments too.

It is important to note that in reality there is no safe amount for a carcinogen. Sometimes a threshold is set to reduce risk to a reasonable amount in necessary workplace exposure or medical treatments.

The truth is, I think we'll all eventually realize any sweetener should be seen as candy, not a thirst quencher.

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How many other businesses would we be fine with operating like this?

The best way to fix this is to cancel the appointment if they make you wait. If enough people did this the clinic loses money which should cause change. Unfortunately, patients are largely a captive clientele, having already waited months and canceled work and with few if any alternative providers.

The next best thing is much more realistic. Plaster the internet with reviews complaining of the wait. If your doctor (or more likely your doctor's employer) does not respect your time, let everyone know.

Many of the other comments are also correct. I have worked in clinics in government, military, academic centers, venture capital, physician owned, and even free community health centers, all in the USA. Doctors running late is going to happen. I've kept patients waiting while in the operating room, while telling someone they have cancer or are losing a limb, and by my burnt out underpaid government scheduler incompetently overbooking. I will also tell you that when I have at least a little control over my own schedule, I've never made a patient wait an hour, even with the above happening. It can be done, it just isn't because for decades timeliness has not been a financial incentive.

Make it one. Name and shame on google, yelp, zoc doc, wherever. Do it gracefully and sensitively, recognizing that there is a high chance the delay is not the doctor or nurse's fault. Done right, you'll do them a favor when their employer feels the sting of lost patients.

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Keeping the dish drying rack empty. If it's empty, it is much more likely that the people you live with will wash their own dishes.

Also, if I am having a rough start to my day sometimes just grinning like a maniac into empty space for a minute sparks a better mood and motivation.

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How many other businesses would we be fine with operating like this?

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Your guesses might be right, but most likely you are talking about the questionnaires about your medical history and what's called the "review of systems".

In the US, medicare and most other insurances require those questions be asked every visit, however stupid that feels. Since your doctor may only get 10 minutes face to face with you, most of us will have an assistant or a paper ask those questions, so that we can say it was done but still have as much time as possible to talk about the more meaningful stuff.

Some places do it better than others. Usually, though, the form is hard to follow and photocopied to the point of total illegibility.

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Big factor for me is whether or not either of you have lived rural before.

I worked in a very remote medical center not too far from where you're considering. I needed to send a patient to a hospital for a severe infection one of my first days there. Life flight refused because of winter weather. The ambulance driver came to me and quietly asked if the patient really needed to go today. After I told him yes it was striking to see them strap tire chains, shovels, and a generator to the exterior before leaving. They really weren't sure they were going to get to town that night.

You miss out on many of the benefits of modern medicine when you're in a town of less than 20,000, and you'll need to be ok with driving for hours for specialist care in a city of less than 100,000.

I-80 in Wyoming closes so often for weather that they have permanently installed gates across all lanes.

That being said, an adventurous and self-reliant lifestyle is one of the best things you can do for your health and longevity. If you know what you are getting into and think this would help you thrive, I'd say go for it with the agreement that if health changes you will move back to a city.

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Why don't Americans plant trees and bushes of stuff that they can eat in their houses instead of having useless grass?

I've lived in 9 states and in every neighborhood many people have food producing plants. It's one of the healthiest hobbies you can have.

I love gardening and have a small orchard and have other food plants all around my house, but I still maintain a lawn because it gets my kids outside playing sports, it's a very multifunctional space, and because covering every square inch of my property in food bearing plants would be way more work and time than we have to give. In every home (except Arizona) I've kept at least some portion of the property as grass lawn.

Some people latch on to your idea but then a few years later end up with an unmaintained berry bramble of a yard full of invasive food plants that is totally unusable. Moderation and common sense in all things.

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I was just listening to eons in my car and specifically the episode about armored fish, and the thought occurred to me: isn't evolution ultimately selecting for adaptability?

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Yeah. Countless examples going both directions. I wouldn't call crocodilians super adaptable, but they are so well tuned for their specific environs that they've been largely unchanged for 94 MILLION years.

I would argue that being warm blooded makes an animal more adaptable. Interestingly, it seems cold blooded reptiles evolved into warm blooded archosaurs which eventually led to cold blooded crocodilians. Tellingly, these active warm blooded ancestors are all extinct in favor of the passive, cold blooded, low adaptability ambush predator.

In the opposite direction, the adaptable rat has done much better than the countless specialized species that have disappeared since the industrial revolution and human explosion.