Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds

JUSTICE:

AS USUAL, ERIC S. RAYMOND NAILS IT:

ILHAN, GO HOME:

OPEN THREAD: Tuesday’s groovy.

ADMIT IT, YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO BE TOLD THIS:

METFORMIN UPDATE: Could a Decades-Old Diabetes Drug Help the Body Age More Slowly?

A cautionary note: While metformin is regarded as quite safe, a reader wrote that he suffered severe and lasting side effects from metformin and a GLP-1 (he didn’t say which one). I tried microdosing Ozempic and then Tirzepatide, which a lot of medical people I know are doing for metabolic and neurological benefits (it’s thought to reduce dementia risk). In my case I found that it raised my resting heart rate from the mid-50s into the low 70s in the case of Ozempic, and the mid 60s with Tirzepatide. That’s a known side effect considered harmless, but I didn’t feel good about it. It also reduced my HRV (Heart Rate Variability) which is possibly bad. I have gone back to normal since going off, but it took a couple of months. (And I wouldn’t have even known absent the Oura Ring, which tracks those things.)

LACK OF CONTROL: Compared to driving, flying is extraordinarily safe – but why doesn’t it feel that way? “Driving gives people a steering wheel, a brake pedal and the belief that their skill can protect them. Flying asks passengers to place control in the hands of pilots, airlines, regulators, air traffic controllers and a complex technical system.”

One of my colleagues who used to fly B-52s hates flying as a passenger. I feel the opposite: If the plane crashes, it won’t be my fault. “Duty is as heavy as a mountain; death is as light as a feather.”

Or as one of my friends says, people will be afraid to fly in a 777, but will climb onto a Ferris wheel that was put together in a grocery store parking lot in three hours by a 25 year old meth head.

ONCE THE JEWEL OF PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION: