New NHS reforms announced today. Seems to be a story of two parts, plus a missing character. Quick thoughts (1/):

Eight years ago, Spencer Cox died of #AIDS. He had access to #antiretroviral therapy, but in his own struggles with #depression and substance use, he stopped taking them. 1/

Spencer left college, dropped out like me in the 80s, and we both found ourselves in @actupny where we joined the Treatment and Data Committee, doing battle with drug companies, the @US_FDA, the @NIH on a quest to save ourselves and our friends from near-certain death. 2/

Now everyone knows what those dark days before the advent of antiretroviral therapy were like. Waves upon waves of dying friends. A government who couldn't care less for the sick and dying. 3/

All this has happened before, and all this will happen again. AIDS. #COVID19. The next pandemic. The fire next time. 4/

And it changes you. Seeing so much death so young. Seeing those in power turn away from the catastrophe, even joke about it (find, listen to the tape of Larry Speakes in Oval Office w Reagan laughing about AIDS). 5/

So now we have a certified Serologic testing of Red Cross US blood donations to identify SARS-CoV-2-reactive antibodies, and that battery of testing shows widespread presence of SARS-CoV-2-reactive antibodies in donations made between December 2019-January 2020

Fun fact: the standard advice for if a dog, cat, or human bites your hand, is to feed the bite. Push your hand further into their mouth, forcing the jaw open.

Nurses, EMTs, veterinarians, etc are taught to respond this

The advice for a human biting you is to jam your hand or arm deeper into their mouth, and rub the spot under their nose back and forth.

If you attempt to remove your hand, or forearm, the teeth do what they're supposed to and gouge out a chunk.

This vicious wolf attack illustrates proper technique.

So: every EMT and nurse who gets bitten by a human, is trained to jam their hand or forearm deeper into the mouth, feeding the bite so the jaw widens enough to remove the limb

Also, every redneck learns this along with the advice of "never run from an angry dog"

I transformed my body in 6 months.

People charge INR 25,000+ for this information. It should be free.

Just follow these simple fat loss rules:

Exercise:
• 3-4x per week
• Weights > Cardio
• Compound movements first
• Cardio after weights

Don't focus on burning calories focus on getting stronger

Video

Nutrition:
• 20-25% calorie deficit
• 1.6-1.8 g/Kg Protein
• 2x fruits & veggies daily
• Limit eating out

Food quantity determines weight loss. Food quality determines health.

Video

Sleep:
• Fix wake up time
• Sleep 8 hrs
• No caffeine after 2 pm
• Dinner 2-3 hours before bed

Have a routine, and be consistent. Routines save your time and maximise your energy.

Video

Simple is beautiful.

Don't bookmark and forget.

• Commit to the end goal
• Disappear for 6 months
• Build yourself in private

Before you go, I would love to give you 10 bonus tips to make you unstoppable-

(with step-by-step video tutorials)

Once again I'm reminded that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The recent push by a large number of autistic people to 'own' their diagnosis and try to raise acceptance and dispel harmful myths has kicked up a minority of autistic people to fight against this.

This may seem bizarre - who fights against improved acceptance? - but actually has clear roots in the ongoing culture war the West seems engaged in. The identity positive autistic movement, of which I am a part, is viewed by some as another manifestation of 'wokeness'.

This is the right-wing definition of 'wokeness', of course - ie a modern equivalent of the pejorative take on political correctness, but it's definitely at the core of this 'neurorealist' movement - the idea the autistic community is being hijacked by 'woke lefties'.

They believe that the push for acceptance of neurodiversity and rejection of the medicalisation of autism is misguided and drawing attention away from those autistic people who, in their view, need more help and intervention.

The trouble is, this view is pretty much baseless. Firstly, there is little evidence that autistic advocates who push for acceptance are in any way harming autistic people who require more help and support. Second, the view effectively silences those of us who are able to share.