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Underrated comment! ;)


Germany here. Fax is king.


I hope they also get to use the new JUPITER supercomputer in Germany which was built, among other things, to strengthen the AI aspirations and self-sufficiency of Europe.


Trip down the memory line, this article. Serious question: does anyone care to have hardware audio cards nowadays, let alone from Creative?


Only for professional audio applications, and nearly all are external USB/Thunderbolt devices. A few products still have a PCI Express component, like the Focusrite RedNet PCIeR and the Avid ProTools HDX.


Geothermal is not without its dangers, as the story of Staufen (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279963863_Damage_to...) showed, but I am glad there is still good research going on about it.


What about going all in and doing a CT coronal scan with contrast? This is even better than the CAC scan, but of course the radiation is higher.


All the best! I personally came to know Oxide for their cool RFD culture. It's worth a read:

https://rfd.shared.oxide.computer/

Start from RFD 1 ;)


Just because it's hopelessly on-brand for us to offer up a podcast episode for everything, you may also be interested in our Oxide and Friends episode on RFDs with our colleagues Robert Mustacchi, David Crespo, Ben Leonard, and Augustus Mayo.[0]

[0] https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/rfds-the-ba...


I need to dive back in. Lots of distractions recently.


Bryan you absolute legend. You give the best technical seminars i've ever watched (& countlessly rewatched). Ty for inspiring a generation of engineers. Best of luck with everything at Oxide!


What was it?


I love the idea. RFD 1 mentions taking inspiration from Golang and Rust proposal processes. The Haskell Foundation also uses the same proposal process, and I love it.

I'm a big proponent of the "writing is thinking" mantra. Unfortunately, in my experience, not all technical leaders value grassroots proposal processes like the Oxide RFDs


the rfd interface looks really nice. I couldn't find the github repo for it, is it proprietary?

Edit: some popup on their page links to https://github.com/oxidecomputer/rfd but it's a 404

Edit2: it's at https://github.com/oxidecomputer/rfd-site


The manifesto reads very leftish with many radical weasel words, as if the alternative is fantastic. Without a capitalistic structure they would have been long ago been headless chicken.

Now, don't get me wrong, it sucks majorly for the employees and it is painful; but particularly for the long-running ones, where is your equity? Komoot was once a startup, why did you accept to work there without equity.

Last but not least, indeed, never believe the bosses, unless you have (almost) the same end-game privileges.


I think Radon exposure is a serious matter, but its concentration in the USA either is probably overrated OR indeed you have a local geological problem. In Europe we even have the tradition of Radon Therapy for certain pathologies in Spa. Of course, one should do these therapies under medical consultation.

https://www.alpentherme.com/en/therapy-health/therapy/radon-...


> How radon works: Cellular repair in the body is stimulated, the number of free radicals is reduced.

Yikes! Not only are free radicals increased, because you're being bombarded with ionizing radiation, but any cellular repair stimulated is because of the cellular damage done!*

I have to assume "the number of free radicals is reduced" is intentionally written awkwardly and in a passive voice, to avoid adding "...after the "radon therapy" stops.

* - And it's not gonna be a net positive!


Many physical therapies work on the principle of the stimulus and some net effects happen after that is stopped. Even fasting diets work like this according to specialists like Walter Longo: the best part happens when you stop the fasting and start eating again. You could argue something similar happens when you finish the certain exposure to radon after a trip to Bad Gastein.


> You could argue something similar happens when you finish the certain exposure to radon

I could, but then I'd be arguing something I don't believe, and have no evidence to support!

I don't know that it would be worth it to entertain a hypothesis that, as far as I can tell, nobody here believes and has evidence to support.


The hormesis hypothesis has not been widely proven, but it has not disproved either. It's still a working hypothesis. And yes, patients sometime work with hypothesized therapies, especially if conventional therapies don't work for them or they get many adverse effects from them.


If I told you that hitting yourself in the dick with a hammer was good for you, would you have as much support and deference for The Schwanzhammertherapie Hypothesis as you do for hitting yourself all over with ionizing radiation? After all, I can't find any studies disproving it.

Here is how Schwanzhammertherapie works: 'cellular repair in the body is stimulated, the number of dick hammerings is reduced'.


Don't be silly by making the conversation ad absurdum. What is your working hypothesis for the "Schwanzhammertherapie Hypothesis"? :)

There's a big difference here between you, acting like a clown, and the scientists or clinicians of yesteryear that formulated the hormesis hypothesis.


> What is your working hypothesis for the "Schwanzhammertherapie Hypothesis"? :)

Thanks for asking! I explained this above: "cellular repair in the body is stimulated, the number of dick hammerings is reduced". To elaborate:

1. After being pummeled with [hammer|radiation], the body naturally tries to heal. The body is made of cells. Therefore: "cellular repair in the body is stimulated" in both therapies.

2. The number of [schwanzhammerings|free-radicals] during the therapy is N, and after the therapy is <N. Therefore: "the number of [schwanzhammerings|free-radicals] is reduced" in both therapies.

I think we can agree that both schwanzhammerings and free-radicals are bad, therefore reducing them is good. These two very similar therapies achieve that goal.


In the early 20th century America also used to have lots of radiation therapy providers. It's quackery, and harmful quackery at that.

Just because you have a tradition of something doesn't mean it's effective. Or safe. Or wise.


People with rheumatological diseases beg to differ. I understand nowadays it's a little bit odd, given the more sophisticated technological therapies that exist, but getting exposure to radon in certain calculated doses is how it was supposed to work.

I agree that the mechanism of "radiation hormesis" is kind of weak, but it has not been disproved as quackery either. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hormesis


Absolutely bunk science with no real evidence supporting. It’s like saying autism is created from vaccines.

A lot of the US has radon exposure. I don’t how people come out saying things like you do but at the end of the day it’s exposure to radiation. I have seen it all, people will say it only impacts children or the elderly. Or that it’s an overblown conspiracy. Radon is radioactive, I am sure there are discussions on safe exposure levels but mitigation is so inexpensive and normalized why risk it.


Not on the same level as autism correlated to vaccines. And radiation hormesis has not been disproved as "bunk science" as far as it is widely known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hormesis


Nothing you have said in this thread has been supported by studies. Everything is a hypothesis or proposal. I would expect if this was real that there would be more concrete evidence over the decades, yet none exist. Maybe it’s not a falsified hypothesis but it’s at best a hypothesis. I am much more into the proven by a study science and medicine and not feelings.


Actually there are many (admittedly weak or low in n) studies in Europe, which show some benefit. I will post some titles later, check this space.

I agree that there are no big prospective studies and probably will never anymore be, because there is really no interest or gain from big pharma. The big time of physical therapies was last century and all studies, at least in Germany, stop by the 90s.

An interesting article to read about the different approaches in Europe and America is this: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2203/dose-response.06-00...


Please don’t I won’t read them. I already saw the overview ok Wikipedia. Some studies that may suggest hormesis, most of them flawed. Everything is either a proposal or hypothesis. Absolutely it should be studied but those radiation spas are bunk science for now.


Prove where is the flaw first. A small or old study is not necessarily flawed. The burden of proving they are flawed falls on you. And no, I care less that they have not been replicated because the community lacks interest. Nobody said the effect is miraculous or similar, to compete with modern medical applications, but certainly they are cheap methods that complement with other general wellness effects of spas.


The burden of proof is on the person making claims that goes against the various world organizations that claim otherwise. I agree the current models that deal with exposure are probably not accurate but again nobody has proven the beneficial claims you have stated. I tend to believe in the markets being efficient in the long run, if these spas were beneficial surely someone would have captured the data after multiple decades.


What are the various world organisations you are talking about? Because the German ones (among others) certainly have not found it harmful and have not banned it.

I told you many times, unfortunately, no one will do studies on these things anymore because there is no money it and it cannot be patented. That spas generally are beneficial, though, for general wellbeing and especially if combined with known thermal stimuli (such as sauna) is well known and there are several Finnish studies to prove it.

Last but not least, I have come across to many Americans who are generally doutbful of the medical indication of spas because there is little to no tradition overseas.


No world organization accepts radiation hormesis. Full stop. I am glad you find benefit and I am not suggesting it’s dangerous but I am also not accepting that it is beneficial.

This is not an American vs European thing please don’t make it. I am simply saying no governing body has accepted it beyond a study. Your view of the world is skewed if you think studies are not happening.

People have been questioning LNT, which is the accepted policy by most of the world including Europe. There is nuance and suggestive evidence that low dose is ok, after all humans evolved with background radiation. What is unclear is how beneficial it is and at what doses it becomes harmful. There is no clear study that shows benefit hence LNT being the adopted approach.


Bogoljudow VM (1988) The clinical aspectsof radon therapy. Y Phys Med Baln Med Klim (Sonderheft 1) 17: 59-66

Pratzel et al (1933) Wirksamkeitsnachweis von Radonbädern im Rahmen einer kurortmedizinischen Behandlung des cervicalen Schmerzsyndroms. Phys Rehab Kur Med 3: 76-82

And I found many more particularly from a certain Gunther R who has published a lot in Germany between the 70s and 90s with minor studies referenced. As said before, this is a dying tradition and no one cares to redo the experiments with better conditions, unfortunately. But until proven otherwise, it's all we have.


Thank you for proving my point. These are at best a hypothesis that no global body has approved. Is the LNT model overly strict? Probably. But is there strong evidence that low doses are beneficial? Nope.


No, you have proven my point. There is no strong evidence and IT WILL NEVER BE cause it's like trying to make a new study for a drug that has its patent expired. Are you willing to sponsor studies with your own money? Cause nobody else will.

Unfortunately, we are stuck with the little evidence there is from the last century when it was the heyday of balneological applications. However, these little studies we have, even with few patients is better than nothing and certainly there is also not enough proof that these patients have been harmed, if doing radon therapy according to modern standards of exposure.

As mentioned before: the linear extrapolation of the risk from high doses of radiation to low doses assumed by the LNT model greatly overestimates the risk of harm, and ignores the potential benefits. Low doses of radiation have been found to stimulate growth (Stebbing 1982), DNA repair (Kondo 1998a and 1998b), antioxidant action (Feinendegen 1987; Pollycove 1998), and immune response (Liu et al. 1987). Other studies have shown that cancer rates actually decrease in populations exposed to low levels of radiation beyond normal background radiation (Bogan 1998; Cohen 1995; Dissanayake 2005; Hattori 1997; Kondo 1993; Mifune 1992). The overestimation of risk by the LNT model is considered important by hormesis advocates, because its cautious perspective prevents patients from receiving low-level ionizing radiation treatments, such as radon, which might help them. Moreover, if radon levels were held to the standards mandated by the EPA and other agencies following the LNT model, the costs of residential radon abatement would be extraordinarily high (Macklis and Beresford 1991; Thomas and Goldsmith 1995).


And yet it’s still all an unproven hypothesis. Glad you believe in it, placebos can be strong.


If a placebo or nocebo is cheaper than a costly medical intervention, then it's good as that if not better. The problem is: you name it placebo although patients (for example with rheumatological diseases) have really responded to it, sometimes equally good to medications. And rheuma diseases are real debilitating diseases, a placebo would no work so easily. The mechanisms of action of radon baths are potentially many, and many have been already described: 1. Hormetic Effect (Low-Dose Radiation), 2. Anti-Inflammatory Effects, 3. Immune Modulation, 4. Analgesic Effects (Pain Relief), 5. Neuroendocrine Regulation.

Again: unfortunately there will never be studies with thousands of patients to prove this or disprove this, because there is no money to be made. So we stay with the little proof have 20th century studies in Europe with the limited patients evaluated.


What are you even ranting on about? There are multiple papers and work trying to question LNT every year. Despite what you think, not all research is fueled by patents. If you could prove that radiation therapy actually reduces cancer in populations that would be quite a prestige and also a lot of economic opportunity.

You keep sharing anecdotes but again none of them have been proven by science. I understand Germans have a love for homeopathy and some of it may work, similar to TCM but a lot of it does not.


What? Is gravity an unproven hypothesis, because Newton had the idea some centuries ago and now nobody bothers to prove it, because nobody expect it not to?

I have no stance on radon, but rejection studies solely because they're 30years old is dumb.


The only thing that is dumb is your argument. As I keep repeating myself. No governing body has accepted these therapies as valid. It’s at best a hypothesis. There are been no conclusive studies of the benefits. LNT is probably overly protective at low dose ranges but there is not conclusive evidence on low dosing being beneficial and especially at what doses it becomes harmful. Everything you read are anecdotes or studies that have holes in them. Who is questioning gravity???



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