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The Purge, COVID, and Return of GERD

The Purge

I've been nostaligic for the days five to ten years back when the worst interaction you might have online was a nasty comment or two. Moderators, who might have to deal with a few hundred comments at most, blocked the trolls if they became too disruptive. Now that Facebook and Twitter are excommunicating people wholesale, maybe we'll go back to smaller, moderated sites and leave the yelling and screaming to the maddening crowds over there. 

Dave Rubin asked Tulsi Gabbard today how she'd moderate Twitter. In practice, I don't think it's possible. It's too big with too many users who are completely unhinged and ready to come after you IRL if they don't like what you say. Then there's Facebook, which seemed like a platform for narcissists during the few weeks I used it long ago. They say people used to live in groups of about 150--maybe it's time for virtual communities to return to something closer to that number. Not only was there less troublemaking on smaller sites, but the discussion was better quality. 

Christmas COVID Spike?

In states I looked at on the COVID Tracking Project (those from previous posts), there was no spike in deaths or hospitalizations a few weeks after Christmas. If anything, some states saw a dip in deaths around Christmas. But whatever trends that were around before Christmas continued. 

Vaccine Refuseniks

About half of medical professionals are refusing to take the COVID vaccine, citing concerns about unknown long-term side effects and, especially among black people, being experimented on. Our healthcare heroes are now cast as morons, drooling while they read vaccine conspiracy theories about growing a third ear on social media--the same social media sites that are purging non-corporate COVID information as fast as they can. Yes, some doctor really did say "grow a third ear." Perhaps rhetorically, but it's clear she thinks people who don't want the vaccine are knuckleheads.

Digesting Keto Comfort Foods



Delish Magazine came out with an issue called Keto Comfort Foods. I've made several recipes from it--bagels, brownies, enchiladas, soup--and they've turned out great. But they gave me terrible GERD! I'd understood GERD or acid reflux was caused by too many carbohydrates making too much gas and pushing up your stomach acid. But I read about a few people getting GERD on keto and even during fasts. So something else had to be at work. The only thing I could come up with was the peristalic motion of your digestive system was off and actually running in reverse. Your muscles need magnesium to work right, and keto diets can purge a lot of magnesium. Sure enough, more magnesium helped. 

If you're using Dr. Davis's magnesium water, make sure the milk of magnesia doesn't have sodium hypochlorite, aka bleach. Nobody can find milk of magnesia without it. Instead, I've been taking 400 mg of magnesium citrate per day (spaced out). Fortunately, we have our own chat site where we don't have to cater to anyone's interests but our own. 

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