wednesday linkspam

[sciatrix]

muccamukk hosted a discussion about opt-in versus opt-out linking, and the ethics of linking in light of the knock-on effects of your readers and what they choose to do.

lannamichaels found out that a Vienna Teng song is about politics, which makes total sense in the context of the lyrics but is not something I would have guessed. I love "Stray Italian Greyhound" to pieces, and knowing this thing just makes me love it more.

For as little as $29, this company promises to "brainwash" an individual person on Facebook. Whether or not the startup in question can effectively pull this off--and neither the author nor I am convinced--this is a really creepy fucking thing to see, and a good nudge to me to turn my adblockers back on. (Fuck, it's hard--I want to give certain places the benefit of the doubt and revenue, but at the same time, I don't like to be manipulated. The internet is very, very bad at working out what I might like, so I hope it's working.)

This piece on what it's like to be an internet advice columnist is pretty hilarious.

So is this list of "unparliamentary language" that NZ politicians have gotten penalized for using. And there's a Canadian edition here, too.

Still giggling at weird Puritan names, okay. Has-Descendants! Tace! Wrestling!

This Maia Szalavitz piece on media coverage of opiods is excellent. I really like her writing generally.

Remember when feral emus roamed Texas?

This reflection on the creation of the bisexual pride flag gave me a lot of feelings.

Man injects 18 doses of semen into arm to cure back pain. Spoiler: did not work.

Via kabarett: To unlock the brain's mysteries, puree it. Still working out what I think of this one. I work on enough brains to think that cell counting is probably not the best way to go about what we're doing, but most of her conclusions support and inform certain other aspects of comparative neuroanatomy (e.g. the importance of cortical volume, at least for mammals). I notice that the article doesn't mention a thing I would think is completely essential to understanding the findings it mentions in birds, which is that birds don't have a cortex as we understand it--that's a mammals thing. Birds do have an older analogous structure, but their brains are organized a little differently, and they do not rely on cortical surface area to get things done as mammals do. It's really interesting in that vein that bird brains are so much denser in terms of neurons.

I have to wonder how important the specifically cortical structures are outside of a mammalian context, that's all. (I brought it to Metafilter, where a few other neuroscientists weighed in.)

Comments

first link?

[hellofriendsiminthedark]

Your first link directs to an entry on LJ fandom wank, which I'm not sure is the one you intended.

Also:

Most opioid patients never get addicted and most people who do get addicted didn’t start their opioid addiction with a doctor’s prescription. The result of this skewed public conversation around opioids has been policies focused relentlessly on cutting prescriptions, without regard for providing alternative treatment for either pain or addiction.

This just screams "society is going to become more scrupulous and puritanical!" Limiting opoid prescriptions is a terrible way to end drug abuse! People in pain are allowed to take pain meds, or else require an alternative! Ahhhh!

In order to do better, journalists must recognize that addiction is not simply a result of exposure to a drug, and that “innocence” isn’t at issue. The critical risk factors for addiction are child trauma, mental illness, and economic factors like unemployment and poverty.

THIS. Addiction is a coping mechanism which enables people to cope with bad things that are happening in their lives, in lieu of better/more effective/more sustainable/more immediate/more accessible options. And no amount of pretending otherwise is going to humanize addicts more than realizing that addiction/dependence is a response to worse social failings or a prevention of real pain, and is not a personal failure.

Re: first link?

[sciatrix]

ASHFLGHL this is why I should not link to things when I'm tired and running very late. Let's try this muccamukk post, which is actually the one I meant for that linkspam.

/o\

Also: yyyyeeeeeeepppp. Also, please, please, please can we engage in evidence-based harm reduction approaches instead of just shaming and punishment, please and thank you.