Not sure about all artificial sweeteners, but saccharin has been shown to increase insulin response.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.go...

Though a big problem with artificial sweeteners is how they possibly negatively impact gut microbiome. As we should all know, gut microbiome is our second brain. It has a huge impact on health and wellbeing.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

To round it off, and bring this back on the topic, artificial sweeteners apspartame and ace-k (acesulfame-K) are shown to increase cancer risk. That was a study done one and a half years ago.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

Yeah, this got me as well. Bought a bunch of things from Amazon last Christmas period, and accidentally subscribed to Prime in the process. Due precisely to how you described the checkout payment buttons.

It didn't worry me too much, as I had never subscribed to Prime before, and it was the complimentary 1 month subscription. Used it for a bit, even paid for a few more months, then cancelled it.

But still, it's a real worry about how they obscure the continue without Prime option for checkouts. Happy for the FTC to force Amazon to make this more prominent.

It does make a kind of sense. We do live in an era where "review bombing" is a common thing.

The problem isn't always YOU. It can be people that have an agenda to push against you, or those that hear of a biased reaction and react themselves without actually viewing your content. What is hurt isn't always feelings; the livelihood of those making content can be affected.

Youtube's policy helps to mitigate the problem. Though it does also prevent genuine negative reactions, which is a shame. Perhaps there are smarter ways of handling it, but removing dislikes is simple, clean, and doesn't cost Youtube anything in terms of extra resources and policing. I'm sure that last bit helped in making the decision.

Actually, AI means everyone can now be a CEO. And would likely be better at it, at least going by the comment from the Nvidia CEO.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

Also, article shows saccarine and sucralose affect the gut biome, but the effects of that are yet to be understood.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

  Artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame and acesulfame-K (ace-K), are shown to be associated with increased cancer risk.

https://www.tandfonline.com/do...

  Aspartame is linked to behavioural and cognitive problems.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

  Artificial additives, including artificial sweeteners, can be a driver of inflammatory bowel disease.

  It's really not looking very good for artificial sweeteners. Seems to be best to avoid them if you can. Though for a non-sucralose sweetener, stevia gets a tick for having anti-cancer properties:

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049...

Be wary of artificial sweeteners as well. They apparently play havoc with your gut. One example research paper:

https://www.cell.com/cell-meta...

Not only that, but artificial sweeteners like aspartame and ace-k are linked to higher probability of cancer. This podcast does a good job of outlining the issues with artificial sweeteners and provides research paper links in the description:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

If you really want something that tastes sweet, natural sweeteners like stevia are the best compromise. Though really, as you say, we should be weaning ourselves off the desire for sweetness and reducing sugar in our diet.

"People familiar with deliberations"? That's rather dubious as a source. It could be true, but otherwise, I'm taking this article as click bait.

I would have been interested in getting a PSVR2 myself, if only Sony had ensured backward compatibility with my current PSVR titles. I'm sure I'll pick it up in the future, but to preorder it, backward compatibility was a must.

I was going to post about this, but you beat me to the punch.
I use Terminology as my standard terminal program. It's great. Definitely has a few novel features that other terminal programs aren't capable of.

It's not a bribe if it's law.

If you want to do business in a country, you have to abide by that country's laws.

There isn't anything that the US government can do about it. Other than trying to coerce that foreign country to drop those laws. But that would, frankly, be unethical behaviour on the part of the US government, so I'm glad they didn't stoop to that level. The US govt has already forced DMCA-like laws into Australia. The copyright term has also been extended to be US-like. I think that's enough meddling by the US. I mean, really, 70 years after an author's death?! That's absurd to the point of despair.

Now I do agree with you in part. Forcing a news collector to pay news sources to link to their news articles, especially when those news sources provide this (mostly) free to the general internet, isn't what I'd call fair play.

Though to look on the positive side of things, it does manage to tie up the equation of funding those news sources. From what I understand, journalism in Australia had been going through a downward spiral, with journalists being let go to cut costs. This law has helped to ensure that Australia retains some of these quality journalists. And for a healthy democracy, quality journalism is an essential piece.

So if you look at it that way, this law is helping Australia to be a better democracy. That can't be a bad thing.

Yeah, some will also be going into Murdoch's back pocket. Can't be helped, unfortunately. The devil has to take his percentage. Main thing is, this law is definitely having a positive effect on journalism in Australia. The positives outweigh the negatives. For that, I support it.

To paraphrase the twist from the movie Soylent Green, social networks are people. Sorry for the spoiler.

So what you're effectively saying is that people are a threat to society. Which, to be fair, is a valid opinion. The heart of the problem is that many people can't or aren't willing to think for themselves. They rely on social cues to form their own opinion, and that opens them to manipulation by other people, through whatever social platform the person is using. This is also a big problem with media in general. I'd argue that opinion / entertainment programs in news channels are a greater form of manipulation than social media.

But all this is governed by Darwinism. The people that are easily manipulated will suffer. Those that have the ability to do critical thinking will be the stronger for it. Hopefully we can evolve as a people and better cope with media manipulation in the future. Failure to evolve, well, that is the true threat to society.

I'm getting mixed messages about this US domestic oil production thing. On one side, you're claiming that Biden killed off domestic production on day one of his term. On the other side, I see articles like this:

https://biologicaldiversity.or...

Which claims that Biden sold more oil/gas leases in his first year than what Trump did over the same period. And granted, that doesn't necessarily mean that domestic output will increase, but it does put the onus on the oil industry rather than the Biden administration.

I'm generally leaning towards what the article says, because it seems to be based on data rather than feelings. Not unless someone wants to clarify the situation.

What was botched? My Debian work systems still boot. Their services still start, along with custom services I've defined on them. My laptop also starts fine, along with services I've enabled there.

From where I'm standing, your complaints about Debian and SystemD just appear to be shrill.

What I DO appreciate though, is that the Debian installer will now have non-free firmware available. Which would have been a great convenience on my recent install of Debian onto a new laptop. Damn Intel wifi always gets you.

Anyone who thinks that employees working from the office don't also goof off, is equally delusional. And often, these employees expend energy to try and cover it, which just exhausts them and adds nothing to productivity. Never mind those casual office chats which can detract from work focus, albeit they're a good way to recover.

Totally agree about managers needing to set goals. Not only that, they should also try to generate enthusiasm and motivation. Good morale in the office can be a great incentive for productivity.

In the end, it comes down to the manager. Whether they have an exclusive "us or them" attitude, or an inclusive "we're all in it together" attitude. The latter is essential for driving self-motivation, and the former often leads workers to resort to goofing off because they need a coping mechanism for their shitty boss. Quite frankly, the title to this Slashdot article screams shitty boss "us or them" attitude to me.

Never heard that before. Do you have proof of this claim?

Indeed. Cholesterol is essential to the health of anyone. It's involved in the synthesis of our hormones, cell membranes, bile acids, and nutrients like vitamin D. Both LDL and HDL are essential.

The danger with cholesterol is if it oxidises. Then your immune system attacks it, causing inflammation, which then attracts blood platelets to build up (normal reaction to try and stop bleeding), and you then have a blockage.

So, try to avoid eating oxidised cholesterol. Reduce or avoid refined foods and sugars, trans fats, and deep fried food. Eat fresh food that have plenty of antioxidants. Then, it doesn't matter what your cholesterol level is. Your LDL cholesterol won't be oxidised, won't be a danger, and can instead contribute to your body's needs.