jet

The pattern for each age appears to be those resisting change are blind to their folly and those embracing a new dynamic win, it would be fun to have a chapter on a moment when staying the course was the right method (i.e. all the time between the 75 year incidents).

• Carb hangover definition: a post-indulgence crash with fatigue, brain fog, ravenous hunger, bloating, cravings, mood swings, poor sleep, and sometimes joint aches or headache after more carbs (often sugar + ultra-processed food) than the keto baseline.
• Why it can hit hard after keto: after sustained keto, my metabolism is adapted to fat/ketones; sudden carbs force a fast fuel switch that can feel abrupt.
  • Mechanism 1 — insulin whiplash: low/stable insulin on keto shifts to a rapid glucose rise + insulin rise; an overshoot can lead to a reactive low with shakiness, hunger, anxiety, and strong carb cravings.
  • Mechanism 2 — glycogen refill + water shift: carbs refill liver/muscle glycogen; glycogen pulls water; the scale can jump 2–8 lb from water + glycogen + inflammation + food volume (plus sodium-related water), not overnight fat gain.
  • Mechanism 3 — gut microbiome shift: fewer fermentable carbs on keto can mean less gas/bloating; a carb-heavy meal (breads/sweets/sugar alcohols/processed foods) can trigger bloating, gas, cramps, reflux, and stool changes, especially for foods not eaten for months.
  • Mechanism 4 — inflammation signals: indulgences often bundle ultra-processed carbs with seed oils/additives/emulsifiers/high sugar; susceptible people can feel puffy, achy, headachy, or get skin flare-ups and tight rings.
  • Mechanism 5 — sleep disruption: big late meals, sugar swings, alcohol, reflux, and histamine-rich holiday foods can disrupt sleep; poor sleep then increases hunger hormones and cravings the next day.
  • Mechanism 6 — appetite + reward: processed carbs can reactivate “more” circuitry and dopamine-driven reward eating; “I wasn’t hungry, but I couldn’t stop” fits food engineering + biochemistry.
• Language and mindset: calling it a “cheat” can trigger “I failed, so keep going”; I treat it as a planned or unplanned indulgence with the same job afterward—return to baseline quickly and calmly, with no shame or punishment.
• Two-day keto reset protocol after an indulgence:
  • Step 1 — hydrate steadily: carbs shift water/electrolytes; aim for steady hydration, add electrolytes/sodium if tolerated, avoid late-night water chugging.
  • Step 2 — next bite is the reset: protein first, then fat, then everything else; start at the next meal with high-protein keto food, add fat for satiety, keep carbs low (examples: eggs+bacon+avocado; ground beef with salt and a little cheese if tolerated; salmon+butter+asparagus if using low-carb veg).
  • Step 3 — walk after meals: 10–20 minutes post-meal walking helps move glucose into muscle and reduce the spike; no intense exercise required.
  • Step 4 — 24 hours of clean keto: whole foods only; avoid “keto junk” and alcohol; focus on meat/eggs/fish/non-starchy veg if used/basic fats; goal is lower inflammation and stabilized appetite, not punishment.
  • Step 5 — optional short fast: if already comfortable fasting, a 12–16 hour overnight fast can help slide back into ketosis; if fasting causes obsession, shakiness, or binge-proneness, skip it.
  • Step 6 — salt + sleep: adequate salt can help after water shifts; prioritize sleep because sleep is hormonal therapy.
• The mistake that turns a detour into relapse: trying to “make up” with punishment (starving all day, over-exercising, harsh self-talk) increases stress, worsens sleep, increases cravings, and often leads to more overeating.
• Indulgence without a big price: the three-P rule.
  • Plan it: choose the event and the food that actually matters, not random breakroom donuts.
  • Protein buffer: eat protein earlier so you don’t arrive starving.
  • Portion with purpose: have a real serving, enjoy it, stop; treat it as celebration, not self-sabotage.
• Closing takeaway: the carb hangover is feedback about stability; learning the pattern (insulin swing, water retention, gut reaction, inflammation, sleepiness) reduces spiral power and supports metabolic health.

• The internet should work like the early web: people own their space, audience, and rules.
• Platforms replaced the web by taking ownership; the goal is to rebuild the web’s utility without surrendering control.
• Privacy is not about being unseen; IP addresses are observable; the goal is minimizing who must be trusted.
• Avoid building a new centralized service; publish open software so anyone can run servers; operators are replaceable.
• Build for the 99%: strong defaults and UX so security is not limited to experts and custom ROM users.

What SimpleX is building

• A messenger without user IDs; connections start via one-time links or QR codes.
• Messaging uses unidirectional message queues; each direction can use different relays.
• Each contact can use different relay servers; rotation limits correlation and reduces single-operator power.
• Relays route encrypted blocks and cannot enumerate users or social graphs.

From messenger to “next web”

• SimpleX extends into primitives: messaging, groups, channels, bots, and “sites”.
• Communities become user-owned spaces like websites: owners control content, moderation, and membership.
• Scaling model: many rooms and roles; a 100,000-member community should not be one chat.
• Target experience: Discord-like communities with far more owner and user control.

Decentralization and moderation realities

• Federated networks form clusters where admins own accounts and can coordinate policy and censorship.
• If a few percent of nodes are captured, randomized routing can still be forced into an attacker’s path.
• Better model: many independent operators with low individual visibility; users choose and can switch.

Metadata and transport privacy

• IP metadata is theoretically observable; Tor/VPN/mixnets change who can see it, not whether it exists.
• Padding sends fixed 16KB blocks so relays can’t infer content size or activity type.
• A relay sees counts, not contacts; 100 messages could be 1 or 100 recipients.
• Roadmap includes supporting alternative transports like I2P and mixnet-style routing.

Security engineering posture

• Deniability matters for casual conversation; OTR introduced practical repudiation and forward secrecy.
• Two security audits completed; recurring audits planned.
• Spam and abuse controls avoid identifiers; optional user addresses can be deleted or rotated.

Business and distribution constraints

• App stores gate distribution; sideloading and F-Droid matter for reach.
• Funding reality: privacy tech competes with products backed by 100x–500x more investment.
• B2B2C model: communities pay so members can be free; 80/20 traffic economics inform pricing.

References

• [00:00] SimpleX Chat — https://simplex.chat/
• [00:00] Signal Protocol — https://signal.org/docs/ [00:18] Nostr Protocol — https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr
• [00:49] Off-the-Record Communication, or, Why Not To Use PGP — https://doi.org/10.1145/1029179.1029200

Growth vs repair

• AMPK turns on when energy is low and tells cells to stop building and start repairing.
• mTOR turns on when food is abundant and tells cells to grow, build, and divide.
• Modern life keeps mTOR on all day through constant food, insulin, and growth signals, which crowds out repair.

What AMPK does when it is on

• AMPK is an energy sensor and rises with low cellular energy.
• Autophagy increases, and the cleanup program removes damaged proteins and dysfunctional mitochondria.
• It supports stress-response transcription factors (FOXO and NRF2) and suppresses inflammation.
• A 2012 paper links AMPK, mTOR, and ULK1 as a direct control point for autophagy initiation.

What chronic mTOR does

• mTOR is a growth and nutrient integrator (insulin, amino acids, calories).
• Short, meal-driven mTOR activation supports building, and chronic activation reduces cellular maintenance.

Ways to shift the switch toward repair

• Time between meals moves signaling toward AMPK.
• Lower insulin signaling reduces mTOR activation.
• Protein amount and amino-acid mix matter because amino acids (especially leucine) activate mTOR.

Drug examples in longevity narratives

• Rapamycin targets mTOR, and a 2009 Nature paper shows longer mouse lifespan even with later-life dosing.
• Larger mouse lifespan effects are shown at higher doses in later studies.
• In humans, rapamycin-class drugs are used for transplantation and have reproductive side effects in men and women.
• Metformin is an anti-diabetic drug tied to AMPK, and a Nature paper links metformin binding to PEN2, ATPase inhibition, and AMPK activation without ATP depletion.

Ketones and ketogenic diet signaling

• Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) is a ketone that can activate AMPK and support autophagy.
• A Cells paper links BHB to the autophagic–lysosomal pathway and shows brain changes in mice on a ketogenic diet.

Bottom line

• Aging slows when the cell periodically shifts away from constant growth signaling and back toward repair and cleanup.

References

• [00:04] AMPK and mTOR regulate autophagy through direct phosphorylation of Ulk1 — https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb2152
• [00:08] Rapamycin fed late in life extends lifespan in genetically heterogeneous mice — https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08221
• [00:19] Low-dose metformin targets the lysosomal AMPK pathway through PEN2 — https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04431-8
• [00:20] Effect of the Ketone Body, D-β-Hydroxybutyrate, on Sirtuin2-Mediated Regulation of Mitochondrial Quality Control and the Autophagy–Lysosomal Pathway — https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12030486

• DS9 moves from episodic exploration to long-form politics.
• DS9 puts colonization, settler colonialism, and decolonization on-screen.
• Bajor: a spiritual, peace-leaning society after Cardassian rule.
• Cardassians: stiff, polite imperialists; empire dynamics in space.
• Ferengi: profit-first middlemen; an uneasy ethnic mashup in the metaphor.
• Dominion: persecuted shapeshifters become an expansionist state; cycles of harm.

Old Trek carries material critique; New Trek carries corporate "wokeness".

• Star Trek peaks in DS9 with postcolonial critique of imperial power.
• New Trek is written by elite-college pipelines and corporate shareholders.
• Starfleet Academy opens with loud messaging and weak craft.
• Kurtzman-led teams keep failing upward while the franchise falls.

Corporate "wokeness" is marketing skin over power.

• Fearless Girl looks like feminist defiance but works as fund advertising.
• The campaign promotes State Street's gender-diversity product (ticker: SHE).
• The statue is built for PR by McCann Worldgroup.
• Charging Bull is guerrilla art by Arturo Di Modica, dumped at the NYSE.
• Fearless Girl vs Charging Bull becomes a clean corporate story over a messy one.

Spectacle and recuperation hollow out radical culture.

• Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle targets culture under capitalism.
• Recuperation sterilizes subversive acts and sells them back as safe symbols.
• Protest slogans, 1960s counterculture, and early political hip hop get commodified.
• Star Trek goes through the same sterilization into corporate "wokeness".

Ownership explains the shift.

• Skydance is in Star Trek Into Darkness credits as a rising finance engine.
• Skydance bankrolls big franchises, then buys Paramount and the Star Trek library.
• David Ellison leverages Larry Ellison's Oracle wealth to consolidate Hollywood.
• Control of CBS News tightens; stories get spiked to fit owners' tastes.

The missing future.

• Star Trek's radical idea: no billionaires; wealth is shared for human flourishing.
• New Trek talks emotional safety and dodges billionaires because billionaires pay.
• While billionaires own Star Trek, Star Trek never becomes woke again.

References

• [00:17] Paramount closes merger with Skydance — https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/paramount-closes-8-billion-merger-with-skydance-after-settling-60-minutes-2025-08-07/

• Why this topic is back
  • The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans keep a 10% cap on saturated fat.
  • The same guidelines push more protein, fewer grains and sugars, and a low-carb option for metabolic disease.
  • They also list butter and tallow as cooking fats, which can look inconsistent with the cap.
• My bottom line upfront
  • Saturated fat from minimally processed whole foods, in a lower-sugar / lower-refined-carb diet, is a different exposure than saturated fat in a standard American diet.
  • The food source and the surrounding diet matter more than a single saturated-fat number.
• Evidence bucket 1: long-term diet surveys
  • These studies use self-reported diets and track heart disease over time.
  • Results are weak and inconsistent: some link higher saturated fat to higher risk, others do not.
  • Effect sizes are small (hazard ratios ~1.1–1.4), compared with smoking and cancer (~15–20).
  • Big problems: confounding (smoking, exercise, income, access to care), “healthy user” behavior, and recall/FFQ error.
  • They also mix food sources (steak and cheese get lumped with pizza, pastries, and ice cream).
  • Useful for hypothesis generation; not strong for cause-and-effect.
• Evidence bucket 2: controlled feeding and mechanisms
  • These studies often show saturated fat can raise LDL cholesterol in many people.
  • A key mechanism: saturated fat can lower liver LDL-receptor activity.
  • Limits: LDL is a risk marker, not a heart-attack outcome.
  • Many studies miss the broader risk picture: insulin resistance, triglycerides, HDL, inflammation.
  • Practical move: measure your own labs on the diet you actually eat, including ApoB if available.
• Evidence bucket 3: randomized trials that lower saturated fat
  • People are assigned to reduce saturated fat or not, often swapping it for carbs or polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs).
  • Typical pattern: modest LDL lowering, little or no change in all-cause mortality, mixed/neutral heart attack and stroke results.
  • A major limit is duration: often ~5 years, which can be short for coronary disease outcomes.
  • Substitution matters: saturated fat → carbs is neutral or worse for heart attack risk in some trial sets.
  • Saturated fat → PUFA has a small benefit signal, but the supporting trial set has high bias risk.
• Evidence bucket 4: studies that separate saturated fat by food source
  • When saturated fat is split by source, whole-food sources (dairy, unprocessed meats, chocolate) are often neutral, sometimes favorable.
  • Many dairy findings show a small signal toward fewer cardiovascular events.
  • Processed foods that combine saturated fat + refined carbs show harm more often.
• Evidence bucket 5: low-carb and ketogenic trials
  • These are interventions where carbs drop and saturated-fat intake often rises.
  • The saturated fat shifts from processed fat+carb foods toward whole-food fat sources.
  • Typical results: lower triglycerides, higher HDL, better insulin sensitivity.
  • Often: no rise, or even reductions, in ApoB and LDL particle counts; broader risk markers improve.
  • A small subset shows large LDL rises; long-term outcome meaning is unclear.
  • Keto-CTA comments: an early plaque-progression result tied to one analysis did not match three other analyses, which showed slower progression or regression; more results are expected.
• Comment responses and takeaways
  • Allowing saturated-fat foods is not permission for a standard American diet; it fits a whole-food pattern where LDL does not automatically rise.
  • “Plant-only reversal” talking point: Ornish-style reversal programs bundle diet with smoking cessation, exercise, stress management, social support, and medical therapy, so diet alone is not isolated.
  • “Blue zones low saturated fat” pushback: Mediterranean island patterns include goat milk, lamb, pork, and cheese, not a saturated-fat–free diet.
  • Individual testing is endorsed: labs plus carotid imaging, coronary calcium scoring, or coronary CT angiography can guide personal nutrition choices.
• Close
  • Stop treating saturated fat as one thing.
  • Track food source, processing, carb context, metabolic health, and measured biomarkers.

References

• [00:05] Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030 — https://cdn.realfood.gov/DGA.pdf
• [10:18] Longitudinal Data From the KETO-CTA Study: Plaque Predicts Plaque, ApoB Does Not — https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacadv.2025.101686
• [10:18] New KETO-CTA Data - Clarification and Update on Cleerly — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJobOSRdIOM
• [13:19] Intensive Lifestyle Changes for Reversal of Coronary Heart Disease — https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.280.23.2001

Getting all the plastic snaps off the back of the monitor was the single longest part of this... very annoying. I miss easy to repair devices.

• Aim: improve desk-focused life by improving the desk-focused body via powerlifting.
• Issue: long desk hours drive posture pain, back issues, and RSI patterns.
• Ergonomics alone stays reactive; strength work builds resilience.
• Safety: over 18 and medically cleared.
• Baseline: years of posture-related back problems and recurring physio visits.
• Principle: prevention beats repeated fixes after flare-ups.
• Powerlifting fit: heavy barbell work gives high return for limited gym time.
• Analogy: lifting acts as a contract test between brain intent and body reality.
• Core novice arc:
  • Rapid linear loading: about +2.5 kg (~5 lb) each gym session at the start.
  • Timeline: months to ~1 year of fast progress; early gains are "newbie" gains.
  • Capacity: within ~1 year, reach ~80% of long-term lifting capacity.
  • Mechanism: early progress is skill and proprioception, plus some muscle.
• Primary lifts for desk-work damage:
  • Squat: neutral neck, shoulders back/down, braced core, pelvis-to-legs linkage.
  • Squat point: with correct mechanics, knee ligaments take no stress in the lift.
  • Press/bench variants: build upper-back and shoulder strength against rounding.
  • Deadlift: train posterior chain and safer picking-up mechanics for the back.
• Simple template (Starting Strength-style novice focus):
  • Train ~3x/week with squat, press, and deadlift as the base.
  • Work sets: 3 sets of 5 reps per lift, with ~1 minute rests between sets.
  • Session length: ~30 minutes; most time is rest between heavy sets.
• Recovery rules:
  • Heavy weights need rest days; daily training breaks recovery.
  • Eat, sleep, rest; add a little weight next session; watch body feedback.
• Long-run view:
  • Consistency matters more than perfect program details.
  • Complexity can come later; the basic barbell lifts compound over time. References
• [00:01] I Didn’t Start Weight Lifting Because I Wanted to Be Strong — https://www.thecut.com/2022/02/casey-johnston-didnt-start-weight-lifting-to-be-strong.html
• [00:01] Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 3rd edition — https://aasgaardco.com/store/books-posters-dvd/books/starting-strength-basic-barbell-training/
• [00:15] A Physical Education — https://www.grandcentralpublishing.com/titles/casey-johnston/a-physical-education/9781538773253/