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Ok, I know I often have issues just getting up and starting a task that will onl...

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Ok, I know I often have issues just getting up and starting a task that will only take me 5 minutes in the end. But WHY is that? What happens in my brain?


This topic is very intricate and hard to explain in simple terms - I gave it my best shot, so please excuse the masses of text! Split into 2 images for easier reading

A huge graphic with the title ADHD paralysis: Why does it happen? We need Dopamine for our executive functioning, and especially for learning, starting and finishing tasks. Dopamine is, among other sources, released when we look forward to a reward. Then, we can use this Dopamine to start tasks! ADHD disrupts this Dopamine cycle. Without ADHD, we evaluate costs of a task. If we spend time, energy and more, will it pay off? In order to evaluate that, we imagine the outcome. Imagining a potential reward releases dopamine. With this dopamine we are then able to start a task. Once we finish that task and additionally get a reward, out brain will learn: this specific task pays off. Let's do it again in future!  But with ADHD, that reward cycle doesn't work right. We often don't get rewarded for simply finishing tasks by our brain, so we learn the opposite: this task wasn't worth it, let's not do it next time. Even if this task might be something absolutely vital like paying taxes. ADHD disrupts our ability to anticipate, wait for and be motivated by a future reward.  But if something catches our interest, we break out of this cycle and start hyperfocus. Our brain will quickly be overwhelmingly interested in the rewards we are getting! We invest all of our energy and time into this activity, often at the cost of our health, hygiene or relationships. That's why we often go from one instantly rewarding activity to the next, instead of working on long-term goals like studying or working out.ALT
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Nezchan
580 days ago
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This is an extremely good explanation to show to laypeople. For ADHD folks actually dealing with this, I'm hoping she'll do a follow-up with strategies to get around the issue.
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Editorial illustrations

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Nezchan
617 days ago
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Editorial illustration is an endangered species in this age of "AI" generated work. Platformer, for instance, gives bylines to Stable Diffusion and DALL-E for the majority of its illustration, a practice already threatening to become common.

New and interesting visions will have a much, much more difficult time, so we'll see more and more derivative pieces in their place.
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The End of Arizona Water

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This sort of thing is going to get more and more common. For decades, the assumption among people who want to move to the Southwest is that the government won’t let them run out of water. Never mind that the water is disappearing and that it can only support so many people. Nope, let’s just not think about it. The government will bail us out (as we vote for Paul Gosar of course because we hate the government). Welp…..that might not happen.

Joe McCue thought he had found a desert paradise when he bought one of the new stucco houses sprouting in the granite foothills of Rio Verde, Ariz. There were good schools, mountain views and cactus-spangled hiking trails out the back door.

Then the water got cut off.

Earlier this month, the community’s longtime water supplier, the neighboring city of Scottsdale, turned off the tap for Rio Verde Foothills, blaming a grinding drought that is threatening the future of the West. Scottsdale said it had to focus on conserving water for its own residents, and could no longer sell water to roughly 500 to 700 homes — or around 1,000 people. That meant the unincorporated swath of $500,000 stucco houses, mansions and horse ranches outside Scottsdale’s borders would have to fend for itself and buy water from other suppliers — if homeowners could find them, and afford to pay much higher prices.

Almost overnight, the Rio Verde Foothills turned into a worst-case scenario of a hotter, drier climate, showing what happens when unregulated growth collides with shrinking water supplies.

For residents who put their savings into newly built homes that promised desert sunsets, peace and quiet (but relegated the water situation to the fine print), the turmoil is also deeply personal. The water disruption has unraveled their routines and put their financial futures in doubt.

“Is it just a campground now?” Mr. McCue, 36, asked one recent morning, after he and his father installed gutters and rain barrels for a new drinking-water filtration system.

“We’re really hoping we don’t go dry by summer,” he said. “Then we’ll be in a really bad spot.”

In a scramble to conserve, people are flushing their toilets with rainwater and lugging laundry to friends’ homes. They are eating off paper plates, skipping showers and fretting about whether they have staked their fates on what could become a desiccated ghost suburb.

Some say they know how it might look to outsiders. Yes, they bought homes in the Sonoran desert. But they ask, are they such outliers? Arizona does not want for emerald-green fairways, irrigated lawns or water parks.

That point is true enough, but then this water is also tied up in the legal system. In this case, the city of Scottsdale is prioritizing its own residents over selling off water. Whether it should do that or not is a different question. It can and it is. All of these people building cut-out mansions in the desert and just assuming that the water will be there miiiiiiigggght just want to think a little harder. Hell, if they did that, maybe they’d even rethink Gosar.

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Nezchan
659 days ago
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This talks a lot about sprawl using up water, and that's valid and all, but very little about how unsustainable agriculture upstream is using far more of that water. It's much the same situation as Lake Mead, and many other depleting watersheds.
kazriko
659 days ago
Ehhh. Far more of the water is used for agriculture downstream, rather than upstream. The upstream states are using only about 1/5th of the total water in use.
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Are you interested in an official Mystery Flesh Pit horror game? Consider sharin...

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Are you interested in an official Mystery Flesh Pit horror game? Consider sharing or even supporting the official kickstarter.

http://kck.st/3ApR2Er

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Nezchan
718 days ago
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Sources: Elon Musk told Twitter's teams to find up to $1B in annual infrastructure cost savings, including reduced spending on cloud services and server space (Reuters)

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Reuters:
Sources: Elon Musk told Twitter's teams to find up to $1B in annual infrastructure cost savings, including reduced spending on cloud services and server space  —  Elon Musk has directed Twitter Inc's teams to find up to $1 billion in annual infrastructure cost savings, according …

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Nezchan
733 days ago
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A bit on-the-nose when he asks for cuts that pretty much exactly line up with how much his loan payments are for buying Twitter in the first place.

A bad sign really. This and monetization (the $8 checkmarks) are indicators of a company being gutted, to get some quick returns before the death spiral kicks in. Elon's speedrunning the process.
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Umberpumpkin: Return to the Kingdom of Autumn

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From: kruggsmash
Duration: 36:48

Out beyond the western hills past lands of sleet and snow
lies a place of calm and warmth neath' autumn's yearning glow
The people there live humble lives the likes of which we wish we knew
but come with me there now, my friends, the pumpkins welcome you.
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Autumn Kingdom Mod: https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=15706
Squamous Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themodsmith/posts
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A big thanks to my patreon members, to mrs K for her skills in colorization and of course, to you, ya bearded bastard.

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Nezchan
758 days ago
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Great time to hop on board with Kruggsmash's content, it's a whole new story.
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