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Cake day: January 21st, 2025

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  • She became a billionaire and has almost certainly curtailed her social network to sycophants that not only agree with everything she says, they also boost her ego. That plus not wanting to lose the attention of the world will have her respond to whatever provokes the attention of the masses.

    I’m not up 100% on how this all started because I genuinely don’t give a shit about Harry Potter but I would not be surprised if she made a controversial statement as a person with a huge platform, got a bunch of flak, and then once the dust settled realized how much “engagement” (read: attention) she got from it and subsequently doubled down over and over.

    A great deal of human behavior is attention maintained. We have this ignorance though that “bad” attention is not desirable. Research continually shows that attention maintained behavior is perpetually reinforced by attention, not attention of a certain quality. Eg if your child exhibits an attention maintained behavior and you say “stop doing that or you’re grounded” the likelihood is that the behavior is still reinforced (and will subsequently be more likely) because attention was still achieved. The attention may have higher reinforcement potency if it is “positive” but that doesn’t mean “negative” attention doesn’t have a potentially powerful impact.

    This is why the current social landscape of 3rd place community centers being social media, which almost exclusively give algorithmic favor to content that shows high “engagement” (read: annoying bullshit that many simple can’t resist interacting with) is probably one of the most toxic developments in the modern history of humanity. It encourages ugly behavior and reinforces disgusting belief systems. It is also why the age old advice of “don’t feed the trolls” is sage wisdom



  • When I’ve worked with older trans clients spironolactone seems to be what really kickstarts hair growth, especially if they get it in before alopecia really sets in and miniaturizes follicles in a way that can’t be reversed (at least with current medications, and barring surgical intervention). Estrogen too. Either way you’re reducing the amount of androgens. As a result it can be much more effective than rogaine, which works as a vasodilator to enlarge hair follicles (probably, mechanism isn’t fully understood) or finasteride/propecia, which works by blocking androgen DHT rather than reducing it.

    I’m not familiar with research on efficacy for this purpose but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was more effective. While some people have dramatic responses to minoxidil and finasteride many have a more minor response or none at all, even.